July 2018 Reads

July started out with the finishing of 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson which I read aloud to the kids. Ben was starting detasseling any day so I read longer each morning in hopes that we would get through it while he was with us. This book was previous featured on the Read Aloud Revival. A kid goes to stay with relatives while authorities supposedly try to find his parents who have been lost. He hears noises at night and discovers a wall with 99 cupboards that have been covered over with plaster. The cupboards turn out to lead to different worlds and they have to rescue people in those worlds and so forth. The book is the first in a series so the magic doesn’t even start until you’re halfway through the book so it feels like it’s cut a bit short. It wasn’t bad, but I don’t know that I’ll be reading any more books in the series anytime soon.

On the 4th of July, I finished The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, a collection of short stories. I had started it in early April so this one took a while. I listened to the audio version – the narrator was great but the audiobook chapters in no way corresponded to the book chapters. It’s one thing to stop in the middle of a chapter in a novel – it’s quite different to stop in the middle of a short story, especially if you’re just two minutes from the end. The stories seemed to be heavily character driven, though, so eventually I decided I didn’t care if I stopped mid-story. I listened to the remainder of the book on my morning walks, living in the moment and enjoying them for what they were.

The next book I finished was an Ambleside Online Year 10 selection: What Would Thomas Jefferson Think About This? by Richard J. Maybury. Between previous books I’ve read by Maybury and what I knew of Thomas Jefferson’s reading habits from John Adams (McCullough), I had high hopes for this book. It was a grave disappointment. He just reiterated principles from his other books and then listed several titles at the end of each chapter as suggestions for more reading, many of which I’ve read. If I need to lighten the schedule for any of my kids in AO Year 10, this book will be the first to go.

On Friday, July 6, the kids and I took a day trip to visit several stops on the Nebraska Passport list. I decided it would be fun to listen to an entire book in one day so I downloaded Rascal by Sterling North and turned it on as we set out. North tells the story of a young raccoon he caught and raised as a kid, taking it to school and all sorts of other adventures. Eventually he is forced to let it return to the wild so the book had a sad ending, though not sad like Where the Red Fern Grows.

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt was the Read Aloud Revival selection for July, featuring an interview with the author. Sarah Mackenzie recommended it for older kids so I decided to read it myself before handing it off to the kids. It was a wonderful book! I’m generally not a big fan of YA, but this one defied expectations. It’s the story of a kid in 8th grade who moves to a new town where he knows no one. He struggles academically, and you really feel for the kid. He does meet a librarian who connects with him over some Audubon pictures on display at the library. He also gets a job delivering groceries on Saturday. I’ve suggested it to the Waverly Library to use as a selection for their book club or I would have already read it aloud to the kids. The author interview on the Read Aloud Revival was excellent. Gary D. Schmidt has earned a place on my list of favorite authors.

July is the Tour de Fleece when hand spinners spin along with the Tour de France – you set a big challenge for yourself and then spin on days when they ride and rest on days when they rest. My audiobook for that project was The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. I love noir, and Chandler is the father of noir. Every time Steve came into the room while I was listening and spinning, he knew exactly what book I was listening to. It was one of those books that made me figure out ways to arrange my schedule so I could listen. Sadly, once I finished this book, I didn’t find another that was quite so compelling and my spinning for the Tour de Fleece this year was quite dismal.

I so loved listening to Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West in June that I immediately began reading the Kindle version the same day I finished the audio. A good book is one that you can read twice and enjoy even more the second time. There were so many more things I picked up the second time around, making this re-read totally worth it.

By this point in the month, Ben was detasseling and took a break for band camp. Caroline was not quite old enough to go to the pool alone and Joey isn’t old enough to be her chaperone, so I ended up going to the pool several times. My “beach read” was Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively, the Guardian selection for July. What a wonderful book! It’s a romance set in Egypt during the war between a British war correspondent working independently as no one will officially hire her and a soldier out on the front. The fascinating thing about this book was how the author would tell a part of the story and then immediately retell it from a different narrative point of view; I don’t think I’ve ever come across anything like that before, but it was very effective. This book won the Booker Prize for good reason.

Laura Vanderkam has talked about taking classes from John McPhee but I’ve never read any of his work until I read The Control of Nature. What I wouldn’t give to take a writing class from McPhee – his is some of the best narrative nonfiction I’ve ever read. This book examines three scenarios where man tries to change the course of nature – the mouth of the Mississippi River which has wanted to reroute over 100 miles to the west since the 19th century, volcanoes in Iceland where they sprayed water on the flowing lava to stop its advance and save the city, and debris flows in southern California. This is not the last book I will read by John McPhee.

The next book I finished was Sheila Turnage’s Three Times Lucky, the Waverly Library kids book club selection for July. Set in the South during modern times but in a remote town where cell phones don’t do you much good, Tunrage weaves the tale of a murder mystery where the kids actually help solve the crime. Joey listened to the audio and liked it well enough to listen to the two sequels; Caroline didn’t like it enough to finish it. I thought it was okay, but it didn’t really have a chance after just reading Gary Schmidt’s Okay for Now.

I’ve wanted to read Pachinko for quite some time so I was excited when Now Read This selected it for July. The hype is not without merit. A multi-generational saga spanning the lifetime of the matron of the family, the story looks at Koreans living in 20th century Japan where they faced racism. As with all sagas, there was some plot, but it was more just the story of the characters lives. I hope Min Jin Lee writes another book soon.

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey was the Modern Mrs. Darcy book club selection for July. I did read it, but I didn’t like it well enough to bother to watch the author event. It was historical fiction, which rubs me wrong because I hate it when writers impose today’s sensibilities on yesterday’s society. In this case, not only was the heroine was studying to be the first lawyer in India, the case she was solving involved women being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous guardian after their husband dies (one guy, multiple wives). Had the writing been great, I might have forgiven the bad story, but the dialogue was dreadful. I could barely stand to read it. I did finish it, but I did a lot of skimming and was very glad when it was over.

Steve read Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington several years ago and talked about it a lot, but I didn’t get to it until it was on the reading list for Ambleside Online Year 10. Washington was freed as a child during the Civil War and gives a riveting first-hand account of what it was like for the slaves in those early years after they were freed. He went on to establish the Tuskegee Institute which I’ve read about in biographies of George Washington Carver. Booker T. Washington hardly mentions Carver, but it was interesting to hear the story from another point of view.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Won’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain is another book that has long waited on my to-be-read list. This book described me so well in so many ways. What I found most interesting was her chapter on introverts as leaders. I knew that my leadership style was different than so many leaders I’ve known, but I was quite surprised when Cain described my leadership style almost exactly. I’m having Ben read it for school since he is my most introverted child, and he is also enjoying it thus far.

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande is another book I’ve long intended to read, and my impending trip to the west coast to visit a grade school friend with stage four breast cancer gave me the imperative I needed to finally read it. The first half of the book is devoted to the elderly, the second to patients with terminal illness, namely cancer. On one hand he focuses larger issues in the healthcare industry such as how assisted living evolved in response to patient’s needs. On the other hand, he talks about how he as a physician discusses options with patients facing terminal illness, walking the fine line between recommending aggressive treatment and focusing on palliative measures, the latter sometimes being more effective at improving not only quality of life but also longevity. A thoughtful, worthwhile read.

I started The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs by Tristan Gooley in June and while I enjoyed it, somehow I didn’t make a point to finish it until the end of July. The book begins by examining various techniques for telling direction, from looking at the night sky to observing how trees grow (toward the sun, unless there are other factors). It’s written in a narrative style that flows well, yet I gleaned so many tips for how to look at things and what to notice when I’m outside. He writes mainly of Britain, but so much of what he talks about is true anywhere. He helps you see nature as dynamic rather than static, to observe what is happening rather than just seeing the state of things at a given moment.

I read Abel’s Island by William Steig aloud to Joey and Caroline while Ben was detasseling. This is one of those little gems that is written for children but oh, so fun for adults as well. Abel is a mouse who gets washed away in a flood and stranded on an island for over a year before he finally manages to return home. Not unlike Robin Crusoe, he has to figure out how to survive and pass the lonely days. A charming little book that belongs in every child’s library.

I read Michael Faraday: Father of Electronics by Charles Ludwig aloud to Joey for school as a science biography. Faraday hated reading but worked hard and eventually found a place where he could work on experiments in the areas of science Joey so loves. I don’t know if Joey was as impressed with the book as I was, but as a mother, I loved seeing Michael face such familiar struggles and become successful in spite of those challenges. This is a great book for kids who don’t necessarily take to traditional school like a duck takes to water – they so need role models like this.

Finally, I read The Art of Fiction by John Gardner. This book is mentioned early in Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway which was the text for one of my college classes. Gardner’s work was a little above my head, but I found it impressive just the same. It’s another one of those books that I’m sure I could read over and over again and glean much from it every time.