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.
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