September was a love-hate month for reading. I read some books I loved and I read some books I hated (finished only because I had high expectations going in and I kept hoping they’d redeem themselves somehow). Without further ado, here’s the list:
David McCullough, Mornings on Horseback Theodore Roosevelt is one of my favorite Presidents and David McCullough one of my favorite authors. This did not disappoint. Need I say more?
William Shakespeare, Othello The Play Is the Thing [podcast] is doing a series on this play that is excellent. I’m really getting into Shakespeare…
Bess Streeter Aldrich, A Lantern in Her Hand This book is set in Nebraska and came highly recommended several years ago when we did a Nebraska History Club with fellow homeschoolers. But I never read it until now. Wow, just wow! This will be my go-to book to gift to moms.
Avi, Crispin: The Cross of Lead I read this aloud to the kids along with A Lantern in Her Hand. This book was never a favorite for my kids, but I enjoyed it. For historical fiction, I thought it rather well done.
Judy Blume, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret This book was not in my grade school library or I would have read it as a kid. I read it aloud to Caroline, and I must give five stars to Judy Blume.
Toni Morrison, Beloved I had never ready any works by Morrison but decided to read this one upon her death. I have mixed feelings. Too much like Faulkner where the prose just flows but there is not clear story line, yet very powerful images of slavery and its effects on those who suffered under it.
Deanna Rayburn, A Curious Beginning This was the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club selection for September. Read as fantasy, it was okay. Very plot driven, though, which isn’t my thing. Only three stars.
Winifred Watson, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day The Guardian book club selection for September, but not the first time I had heard of it and been urged to read it. Great story – a fun palette cleanser between more serious books.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray Somehow I had never read this classic. I would read this before I would read Faust if I were assigning books. Much better story, and oh, so powerful. [Probably helps that it isn’t a translation or a play.]
Frances Mayes, Women in Sunlight If you are infatuated with Italy as Mayes is and want to read a story of women who are older but still have a lot of life left in them, this is a fun story. Four stars.
Lauren Baratz-Logstead, I Love You, Michael Collins I read the last half of this book during the Ohio State – Nebraska football game in which Nebraska lost 48-7 and I’m not sure which was worse—the game or this book. Fail in terms of plausibility and fail in terms of abusing literary devices. I should have watched the game…
Eyal Nir, Indestractable Gretchen Rubin featured this book on her blog, and I was totally in love with the idea of it. Nir begins the book talking about our inner distractions, which is my struggle. But alas! the book is a condescending, trite lecture on how to deal with outer distractions by such innovative things as wearing a tiara on your head while you are working and do not want to be disturbed. Each chapter ends with three bullet points that tell you what you were supposed to learn from the chapter (vs ideas for further thought) – ugh! Huge disappointment. One star.
Andy Crouch, The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place If you’re concerned about technology and like listening to sermons, this book is for you. Crouch cites statistics about how people use technology (e.g. what you do right before you go to sleep) and then tells how his family handles technology (instead of watching DVDs on the 5 minute trip home from the grocery store, they look for letters of the alphabet on highway signs and license plates). I would have much preferred Laura Vanderkam’s approach where she interviews hundreds of people and gleans examples of different approaches to a central problem. This book was full of unchallenged assumptions about technology. Not thought provoking in the slightest. Another great disappointment.
Marisha Pessl, Special Topics in Calamity Physics This was a MMD Book Club flight selection last fall paired with Dorothy Sayers Gaudy Night (great book!). It’s said to be a reminiscent of Daphne Maurier’s Rebecca and Donna Hartt’s The Secret History, both of which I loved. This book lives up to neither of them. The first-person narrator is constantly referencing other books – e.g. when describing a character’s appearance, stating they are like this charater in this book; maybe I know of the book and possibly may have read it, but I couldn’t tell you what that character looked like and so the reference is lost and the narrator seems pompous. And the plot, in which I do see similarities to The Secret History, falls far short. Yet another disappointment.
Lyndsay Faye, Jane Steele This book was interesting in that it sort of followed the storyline of Jane Eyre but was by no means a retelling. The Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club flight selection for September (paired with A Curious Beginning discussed above), it was a fast-paced mystery. Definitely not on the level of Jane Eyre which I love. Three stars, or maybe just two. Again, plot driven books are not my thing.
Stratford Caldecott, Beauty for Truth’s Sake: On the Re-Enchantment of Education Another book oft referenced in circles I frequent in the homeschooling community. This book was a more difficult read than its predecessor which I read last month. In all likelihood, I am more familiar with the material of the first book as this book focuses on the quadrivium rather than the trivium, which gets less emphasis in classical circles these days. Well worth revisiting at some point.
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath I read this own as a teenager and then returned to it last month when the Guardian book club selected it as a book about immigration. It’s easy to follow, as all Steinbeck books are, but read in that context, what a powerful book!
Sally Rooney, Conversations with Friends Sally Rooney comes highly recommended and this did not disappoint. The storyline in this book isn’t what I typically read, but the writing…the writing was just. so. good! After so many fails this month with books I was looking forward to reading, this book proved that I have not lost my love for good books.
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden I started reading this aloud to Caroline this summer while the boys were working but we got sidetracked and didn’t finish it until this month. A wonderful book and totally deserving of its fame.