We started out the month on vacation in Sedona, Arizona, celebrating my parents upcoming 50th wedding anniversary. On the drive out, I introduced the kids (and Steve) to Harry Potter. We listened to the first three books on the way out (we took the scenic route) and finished the fourth one on the way home.
While there, I needed some light vacation reading so I turned to Louis L’Amour, a new-to-me author. I read Lonesome Gods, followed by Hondo and Flint in quick succession. I always struggle to find good vacation reads because it’s hard to focus when I’m constantly surrounded by people. L’Amour was perfect. Engaging. Easy to pick back up after random interruptions. Bonus: His characters also like to read good books.
Once we got home, I had a short month to plow through an abbreviated reading list.
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was the Modern Mrs. Darcy selection for April, with Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible as a flight pick. I read the latter (and loved it) back in the late 90’s and would have loved a re-read but just didn’t have time. Purple Hibiscus has similar themes—religion taken too far by an authoritarian figure—and did not disappoint.
I’ve been reading the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis in order of publication. This month was The Silver Chair. I’ve read all of them with my kids, but all but the first one seem new to me. I guess it’s been a while.
At the Waverly Library, we discussed A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer. I got bogged down in the middle of that one and almost didn’t finish. She goes on a Robinson Crusoe type adventure and there’s all this magical realism with her African ghosts speaking to her (magical realism always seems to confuse me). Then the author had her going upstream in a rickety boat to a lake that is created by a dam, but it was written in such a way that it could only have happened had she gone downstream. I did push through to finish, but it was not a favorite.
The PBS/Now Read This selection was Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys Club of Silicon Valley by Emily Chang. Just two things: I could only read so much of this at a time before I had to set it aside, and it was the subject of many a rant my husband had to listen to (poor guy!). Honestly, I wouldn’t want my daughter or my sons working in the Silicon Valley Chang describes.
I stumbled across Random Harvest by James Hilton early in the month. I was considering reading Good-bye Mr. Chips aloud to the kids and this one caught my eye (I ended up reading something else to the kids). Apparently after World War I there was an obsession with soldiers who had lost their memory (think Rebecca West’s Return of the Soldier which the Guardian book club read last summer). I can see why this one was so popular. Fairly easy to read with a surprise twist at the end (especially for a character-driven reader like myself—I totally did not see that coming).
A homeschooling mom book club discussed From Mom to Me Again by Melissa Shultz in April. I stumbled across the discussion on Facebook as it was wrapping up but decided to make a quick-read out of it. The topic sounds good, but it was one of those blogger-to-author books that so often seem to disappoint. This one was composed of a well-written blog post series published in the Huffington Post interposed with chalky filler written solely to boost word count.
Last summer David Kern interviewed Alan Noble about his book Disrupted Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age on the FORMA podcast. It’s been on my must-read list since then and did not disappoint. It pairs well with Cal Newports latest book Digital Minimalism which I consumed in two days immediately after it was published in February.
Another book I have longed to read that did not disappoint: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indianby Sherman Alexie. I read his collection of short stories The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven in March as part of reading up on the West in preparation for our trip. His stories are as great as his titles.
The Bookening recently discussed Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger which I read (and loved) previously only to read it and love it once again. I was glad to hear Brandon stand up to Jake and Nathan and argue that it’s a good book, not just a bunch of garbage unfit for Christian consumption as the other two tried to argue. In recent podcasts they’ve also scoffed at The Great Gatsby and Jane Eyre for similar reasons, albeit with a united front. I really like their theme music, though, so I’ll keep listening to the show for now.