Books I read in spring 2019

Since I want to document what I read (or I forget) and my reading has been going at a snail's pace, I decided to group everything I read this spring into one post.  Here's hoping I read more in the summer.

Becoming by Michelle Obama ***

I was intrigued by this book.  Even though she's a bit older than I am, her children were born about the same time as mine were.  It was fascinating to compare the vast differences in our experience.  Her childhood in Chicago and life in the White House were nothing like anything I've lived.  I liked that the book wasn't super political.  At the end, she launched into a list of everything they had accomplished and since I was listening to the book, I just started pushing skip.  I wasn't as interested in hearing how great she thought they were.  I probably wouldn't be interested in anyone telling me a list of how great they were.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng ***

We read this one for book club.  Set in Shaker Heights, Ohio, this book centers around a wealthy family and their tenant/housekeeper.  It's mainly about mothers and daughters and really covered it all:  abortion, abandonment, adoption, dysfunction, surrogate motherhood.

It was chock full of unlikable characters who led self-destructive lives (and sometimes were destructive to other people).  It led to a rollicking book club discussion.  Quite often I have a different opinion than most people in my book club.  They thought the author had an agenda and was trying to make us sympathize with one of the characters.  I felt like the character was so awful, who would sympathize with her?

The book did keep me interested the whole time though.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens****

Loved this one!  It was part coming of age story, part murder mystery.  Set in the swamp on the North Carolina coast, a girl is abandoned at a young age and with some help from friends, manages to raise herself.  The swamp was basically one of the characters in the story and I loved how immersive it was.  Also, even though I had my suspicions, I didn't know until the end who the murderer actually was.

The Twenty One Balloons by William Pene du Bois **

This is a Newbery book and I thought it was OK.  It's about a man who is a retired math teacher.  He uses his savings and sets out on a hot air balloon journey to go around the world.  He ends up on Krakatoa, discovering a civilization there.  Then the volcano erupts.  The story was pretty good and I think kids would like it but it was really heavy on engineering details that didn't interest me.  I kept thinking my dad or Mark would like that part.

Clock Dance by Anne Tyler ****

How I love Anne Tyler!  No one writes characters like she does.  They are delightfully quirky and real.  This was a great book.  There were a few vignettes at the beginning about the main character's childhood/young adulthood that felt sort of random because they never figured into the main part of the story.  I still loved it.  It's about a woman in her 60s who feels like she's at loose ends and sort of creates her own family.

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave ****

This was another book club book.  I thought it was great and lots of people in my book club did not.  (Do I just have a book club full of haters?  I don't know.  I still love them.)  This book is set in London during World War II.  It's about a young wealthy woman who wants to join the war effort and becomes a teacher.  When all the children are evacuated except the "unwanted"--either for racial reasons or because they're disabled--she still teaches them.  Some of the characters are also soldiers fighting in the war.  It was tragic so if you're looking for a happy read, keep looking.

Grateful Friday

Today is smoky.  There's a fire in south Utah County/Juab County that is growing and warm dry wind blowing.  People have been evacuated and then there's Hurricane Florence.

Braeden's mission is the path of the hurricane and missionaries have been evacuated.

My heart goes out to all of them.

Being grateful that I'm not in their shoes feels a little selfish but I am grateful.

I'm grateful that my troubles are small.  For example sleep.  It is illusive sometimes and I have gone through this week a little like a zombie.  But feeling tired?  I'll take it over losing my home.

Last night was book club and I was tired but I still wanted to go.  I'd missed the last two book club meetings because I had been out of town.  Also, I'd read the book and wanted to talk about it.

When I arrived, people greeted me.  They told me they'd missed me.  I took my chair and didn't say too much because there are some people at book club that are talkers and some that are listeners and I'm in the latter camp mostly.  I enjoyed being there.  I love hearing insights and personal experiences and feeling like we're all in this together.

Before I left I chatted a little with a book club friend and she told me she'd missed me too.

I told Adam later how nice it felt to belong to a group.  Human connectedness is where it is at.

This morning on Facebook, I saw people posting information and help for fire evacuees.

Human connections.

Books I read in June 2018

Real Moms by Lisa Valentine Clark ****

I read this book last month and forgot to include it in last month's post.  I loved it!  I used to read her blog years ago when she had a blog.  It was the same engaging style as her blog plus Emma is friends with her son in real life so it was kind of fun to read about her parenting in that respect too.

Remarkable Utah Women by Christy Karras ***

We read this one for book club and I liked it.  Apparently there is one for every state which I think would be interesting to read--maybe after all the Newberys....

It made for a very interesting discussion amongst Mormon women who live in Utah and experience varying levels of freaking out about polygamy.  There was also some really good insight which is why I love book club.

Lady Susan by Jane Austen **

I decided to reread everything by Jane Austen this summer.  (I'll try.)  I read Lady Susan first because it was written first.  It's by far my least favorite but Jane Austen was a teenager when she wrote it so who am I to judge?

Thin, Rich, Pretty by Beth Harbison ***

Funny and entertaining (although not always great language--warning so I remember that in the future) but I liked it.  It's about three women who met at summer camp as young teenagers and then the story follows them into their 30s.  One wanted more than anything to be pretty, one wanted to be thin and one wanted to be rich.  But it didn't work out like they thought it would.  It was a good book about just being you.

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer ***

This is a Newbery honor book and a book Mark has been wanting me to read it because he loves it.  It's a dystopian book about a clone which is why it took me so long to agree to read it.  I liked the book though.  It was an interesting story with good characters and plenty of suspense.

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson **

This was another book club book.  It wasn't too long and I skimmed it because 1) I'm not super into mountain climbing and 2) I wanted to pass it on to the next lady in my book club.  Besides the skimming, it was a very fascinating story about a man who broke his leg while climbing in the Andes.  His partner thought he was dead so cut the rope that was tethering them together.  (That's a really terrible description of what happened but I'm not great at book reviews even though I persist.)  It didn't look good at all but the man who broke his leg wrote the book so spoiler alert, he survives.  I was at once impressed by human survival and convinced I never want to be a mountain climber.

Books I read in April 2018

I only finished two books in April.  I think I need the lazy reading days of summer, stat.

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by Mark Twain ***

We read this for book club.  It's one of those books I probably wouldn't have picked up and definitely wouldn't have finished if it wasn't for book club.  Reading it felt a lot like homework, especially since it was over 400 dense pages.  I am glad I read it though.  I can't pronounce Rouen, but I've been there and that is where Joan of Arc was tried and burned.  I also think Joan of Arc is remarkable and this book only solidified that feeling.   By the end of the book I was hopping mad at the French king and the terrible men who had her killed.

The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows ****

I can't say enough good things about this book.  I had read it before (and talked about it on my blog before) but we are reading it for book club and I wanted to reread it.  I am a perfect candidate for rereading because I don't remember what I read all that well.

This book is impeccable though.  The story is great, the setting is great, the characters are perfectly drawn.  It is set during the Depression in small town West Virginia where they greet each other with "how-do" which delighted me.  One of the main characters is on the WPA and part of the Writer's Project and while she is writing a history of the town, she boards with the Romeyn family and the book is the unraveling of their complicated family history.

Grateful Friday

A list:

I'm grateful that today is Dillon's wedding and since it is practically in our backyard (Mt. Timpanogos  temple) we get to go.  I'm excited to see Stephanie--OK, the whole family.

I'm grateful for spring weather.  (For real spring weather, not the snowy kind.)  I want to set up the deck furniture tomorrow and let the evenings out there commence.

I'm grateful for creative projects that make me happy.

I'm grateful to Emma for teaching me how to use Snapchat and then sending me snaps.  Is that how we say that?

I'm grateful Emma has extra money on her meal card so we can all join her for family dinners from time to time.  Even though "The Canc" as Emma calls it is not as good as it was in the Pax Thelma, I like family dinners there.  We're the only ones sitting around laughing too loud.  It reminds me of when I was a freshman and laughing with Adam and Robbie and Erin and Rachel.  Adam is still making me laugh, but now we have these witty kids too.

I'm grateful for Braeden's and Mark's relationship.  They are straight up friends where they used to be big brother and little brother.

I'm grateful the semester is almost over and we will 24/7 be together for awhile.  I'm bracing myself for the noise/laundry/dishes/groceries.  Totally worth it.

I'm grateful I get to volunteer and tutor.  When kids have that I get it now look in their eye it is one of the best feelings in the world.

I'm grateful for book club (we had it last night).  One of my book club friends told me about some books she read set in Seattle.  She said, "I thought of you.  You might like them."

I'm grateful there are SO many books I haven't read yet.

Grateful Friday

I hosted book club last night.  Book club is one of my favorite things.  There's just something about getting together with like minded women.  Also, there's something about getting together with sort of diverse women who all like to read.  There are empty nesters, almost empty nesters, mothers with elementary age kids and mothers with newborns.  There's the one who really wants to read vampire books, the one that loves an unhappy ending, the ones who really have good insight about the characters and the ones who are really just there for the food.

I love them all.  I'm grateful they're in my life.

For the book I chose Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel.  Mostly people didn't like it and I predicted that, but there was a lot to discuss (which is what makes a successful book club pick).

In the book one of the characters hung model airplanes from her ceiling.

Mark helped me do the same.

Another character made cheese.  Also, it's set in Seattle so I had a theme to run with.

It was fun and I'm grateful for book club.  I'm one of the old ones in the group and I'm a tiny bit exotic too (I've never been exotic in my life) because I didn't grow up here and marry a boy who grew up here.  Almost all of them went to Pleasant Grove High School back in the day and then they got married and stayed.

I kind of like being the old one too.  When one of the women said her kids were obsessed with cats and she didn't want a pet cat, I said that Emma used to be obsessed with cats too.  I said, "She got over it."  Then I introduced her to Horace, the world's best pet.

I also told another woman not to take her kids to Disneyland until the youngest was six.  The first time we went, Mark was four and I ended up carrying him all day.  And he wasn't light.

That's me, the wise old sage, dispensing cautionary tales about Disneyland.

Books I read in September 2017

I had a good reading month!

The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright ****

Loved it!  Geri loaned me this book and I'm grateful.  It's the true story of a little boy who was kidnapped in India and then adopted by an American couple.  The story was fascinating and I loved that the couple lived in Utah County so the setting was very familiar to me.  It made me want to go to Bombay House in Provo for dinner.

Shadow in the Sea by Sheila Nielson ***

When we read Forbidden Sea for book club, the author told us about this book which was the sequel.  I liked it.  The cover is weird but the book wasn't.

Maude by Donna Mabry ****

We read this for book club too.  Oh my.  It is also based on a true story, written by Maude's granddaughter.  Our general consensus was that the author was a little too self congratulatory and the book may have been more effective had we not known her connection.  The story was amazing though.  It is hard to fathom that many things happening to a person. 

The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman ****

Another book I loved reading.  It started in 1999 at the height of the internet bubble, then the bubble burst, then September 11 happened.  Against that backdrop was the story of two sisters and the concentric circles of their lives.  Seriously, there were A LOT of characters.  

The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin ****

Satisfied all my anglophile and Downton Abbey-esque proclivities.  At the same time it made me appreciate being American.   Daisy Goodwin also wrote the screenplay for Victoria which Adam and I are watching (and enjoying!) on Masterpiece Theater and when I learned that it made a lot of sense.  There are similarities.  The American Heiress is about a wealthy American girl who married a Duke and tried to navigate all that entailed.

Books I read in August 2017

The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G Birney ***

Sometimes a good children's book is just what you need.  This was a short and sweet book about a kid who lives in Sassafras Springs, MO.  He wants to see the world and feels like he's stuck in a boring place.  His dad challenges him to find seven wonders of Sassafras Springs.  If he can, he can go on a trip to visit his cousins.  What followed were his adventures talking to people in the town.

Forbidden Sea by Sheila A. Nielson ***

We read this book for book club.  It is written by the best friend of the person who suggested it.  That may feel like a red flag, but it was a great book.  It is YA fiction about a girl with a hard life who meets a mermaid.  The author came to our book club and it was fascinating hearing about the process of writing and having Scholastic accept the book.  She got no say in the title or cover which we thought was interesting.

Today Will be Different by Maria Semple ***

I picked up this book because it was by the same author who wrote Where'd You Go, Bernadette, which I love.  I didn't love it as much as that book, but it was good.  I love that it's set in Seattle and I knew exactly what she was talking about.  It basically takes place on one day with a woman struggling to function despite family troubles and being a sort of floundering mother.

Goodbye for Now by Lauren Frankel ***

This book is a great contender for book club!  There is a lot to think about and a lot to discuss.  It's about a young man who falls in love with a woman whose grandmother passes away.  He is a programmer and comes up with a way for her to still email her grandma based on the past emails the grandma used to send.  They sound just like her.  It was also set in Seattle.

 Fablehaven by Brandon Mull ***

We (and by we I mean not me because I can't read in the car) read half of this book out loud on our trip to Seattle.  Our kids and Adam had all read it (Adam read the series to Mark when he was younger) but I had not.  So it was their introduction of it to me.  I liked it.