Reading for Me

Hello, fellow Reader! I have missed sharing my reading adventures with you, but I needed to take a real break this summer. So I put a pause on EVERYTHING and enjoyed some time in meditation, personal reflection, and watching baseball. (Go Braves!) I didn’t completely stop reading this summer, but I did stop providing weekly updates on that portion of my life. Now that I have recovered from COVID — yeah, that wasn’t how I wanted to begin the fall semester — I’m finally ready to begin blogging again about my reading life. So here is a list of the books that I read this summer and a brief description of my thoughts on some of the works.

#12: Shuggie Bain (Douglas Stuart) – Not one of my favorite reads and not something I would recommend to anyone else.

#13: They Both Die in the End (Adam Silvers) – This was a recommendation from one of my students and turned out to be a very enjoyable YA read. The title says it all, but there is SO MUCH that happens before they both die. Check this quick read out for yourself.

#14: Pick Me (May Archer) – I enjoyed the other audio book by Archer that I listened to earlier this summer. Her attention to romance details are astounding. Not for the faint of heart though; read this as part of the LGBTQ+ challenge for my 2022 reading project. Things get steamy…..you’ve been warned.

#15: The Messy Lives of Book People (Phaedra Patrick) – Several months later I don’t remember a lot of the details about this book, but I remember that I liked it.

#16: Big Little Lies (Liane Moriarty) – Fun mass market read. Trigger warnings for domestic abuse, but wonderfully written.

#17: Miller’s Valley (Anna Quindlen) – This was probably my favorite read of the summer. Amazing story about a small forgotten town and the people who populate it. Worth taking a look at by any lover of literary fiction.

#18: The Lifestyle (Taylor Hahn) – This was NOT what I expected when I read the book jacket, but I laughed out loud throughout this cute romance. A marriage on the rocks decides to explore the lifestyle of swingers in order to fix their problems. Once again, not for the faint of heart, but not as graphic as Pick Me.

#19: The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle (Jennifer Ryan) – This novel from the Book of the Month Club looked like something I thought my mother would enjoy. Of course, I had to read it first. It was a beautiful story of friendship and survival set against the Nazi bombings of London and the English countryside in the days of World War II. Possibly a little longer than it needed to be, but an enjoyable novel nonetheless.

#20: A Single Man (Christopher Isherwood) – This short novella explores a single day in the life of a man after the death of his longtime partner. Considered one of the important early works of gay fiction, I was asked to read this alongside a young man I mentor who is struggling with his self-identity. There were some beautiful expressions of friendship, community, and the desire to be accepted expressed in this short work.

#21: The Viscount Who Loved Me (Julia Quinn) – I just finished the second of the Bridgerton novels early this morning and enjoyed every minute of it. This installment focused on Anthony and his developing relationship (and ultimate marriage) to Kate. I enjoyed the shift to seeing the struggles of romance from a male perspective. I think Quinn was in better form here than in her first novel of the series, The Duke and I. I’m looking forward to making a return visit to Bridgerton before the year is out.

There you have it…..that’s everything I have read since returning to the Geriatric Ward in early May. What’s on my reading table now? I felt a bit of nostalgia as I was selecting my latest read, so I’m heading back to high school momentarily and looking at A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I’ll let you know how it goes in a few days.

February’s first reading challenge asked for a book of speculative fiction. I must admit that the term was not familiar to me, so I turned to a trusted source: Google. That’s where I ran across this definition from Wikipedia. “Speculative fiction is a broad category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, nature, or the present universe.” Okay…..so something somewhat far flung was in order. Since I was moving into a genre that is well off the beaten path for me, I decided to pick up a copy of The Martian and give it a go. I managed to finish the work and enjoy the adventure along the way.

In case you are not familiar with the basic premise, The Martian tells the story of Mark, an astronaut who finds himself left behind after a Mars mission is aborted and he is presumed dead. Through skill, good luck, and sheer determination, Mark manages to be reunited with his crew despite attempts by the Red Planet to kill him.

Normally, I am not a fan of this type of writing. I thought this was going to be the case for the first few days of reading as well. I struggled through terminology and getting a sense of the challenges being alone on Mars would present to an astronaut. Once contact was re-established with NASA in its crudest form, I found myself drawn into the story and rooting for Mark’s survival. I suppose that exploring the impact of a failed mission on everyone involved — Mark, his crew mates, administrators at NASA, as well as the rest of mankind who watched events unfolding helplessly — made the story much more enjoyable. The fast pace of the novel also helped keep me moving and rapidly propelled me to a satisfying conclusion. If this is what speculative fiction is really all about, I’m on board. I don’t think I’ll turn to it very often, but now that I have had a good experience, I won’t be as fearful to make a return visit to the form.

What’s next in my reading challenge? This one was fun…..I’m to read a book with a bird on the cover! I selected First Comes Love by Emily Giffin on my last visit to the bookstore. I just started reading the novel this afternoon, so I don’t have too much to share yet, but I can tell you that I am already invested in the story and interested to see where these events are going to take me. Now we just have to see how attending a state music conference impacts my reading life this week. I’ll be in touch again next Saturday!

I began listening to Katie Couric’s latest memoir while driving back to West Texas after spending the holidays with my parents in Arkansas. At 15 hours, 27 minutes, Going There was more than enough material to get me back to Texas and provide listening for several more hours during the month.

I have long been a fan of Couric’s work, especially on The Today Show. It was enjoyable to hear stories of her early career peppered with meeting her beloved Jay, the births of their girls, and the grief that came from Jay’s battle with colon cancer. I’ll admit that I was also intrigued to hear about the embattled times at CBS News – specifically The CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes — as well as her perspective on the ultimate downfall of Matt Lauer. I was not disappointed.

I did feel that the memoir was just a bit too long. I appreciated all of the stories and enjoyed hearing Katie’s voice again. However, I wonder if she would have been better served by publishing two separate works. As the reader approaches chapter 75, I found myself wondering if this was just an attempt to be back in the spotlight again. Really? Is it appropriate to talk about oneself for this long? (For the record, the memoir continued for over 20 more chapters!)

Was the memoir entertaining? Yes, most certainly. However, I also found myself just ready to reach the end of a personal saga much sooner than Couric decided to bring to the work to a fitting and appropriate conclusion. I think the audio book was quite good, but I do recommend that the reader give themself permission from the beginning to turn the story off when they have reached the point of satiation. There can always be too much of a good thing.

Let’s start with a warning. I have been very slothful about blogging my reviews of books recently. I suppose I have enjoyed reading a bit more than writing about my thoughts. On this chilly Saturday afternoon, it seems like the perfect time to play a little catch up. I apologize to those of you who have subscribed to this blog for the three posts you will (hopefully) receive in rather rapid succession.

On January 29, I finished my final reading challenge book for the month of January. Where the Crawdads Sing represented a book that is the basis for a 2022 movie release. The film by Sony Pictures is currently scheduled to be released on July 22, 2022.

I had high hopes for this novel. Everyone had been raving about what an amazing story it was. By the time I finished it, I simply said “ehhh.” It wasn’t horrible; I just found some of the plot points confusing. Kya was a black girl? I didn’t grab that fact until well into the novel. Does it matter to the plot? Not really. I think the bigger issue was the abject poverty she faced, not the color of her skin. I was rather offended with her race became such an issue of contention in the novel. Why had this not been a theme throughout if it was going to be so important? I also found the time shifts abrupt and unseemly. I understand that Owens was using a familiar literary device. I just don’t think it was effective. Rather than building suspense and unraveling the mystery gradually, the constant shifts of scenes and settings only made me seasick.

I’m not going to rule out reading other works by Owens. I’m hearing from others who were also let down by Crawdads that they really enjoyed reading some of her other works. I’m just happy to know that I am not alone when I give this work a disappointed thumbs down.