C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength This is the third book in the Out of the Silent Planet series and the Center for Lit did all three for their Pelican Society Book Club. First, a disclaimer – science fiction is not my thing. The first book was a re-read. The second book was new to me but I pretty much followed what was happening. This book I much preferred over the other two as it happens on planet earth, in London (or similar), in a time period I really love. However, I got completely lost in the second half. I loved the writing and the setting, but there is so much more I could get out of this book. Definite re-read at some point.
Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle Fun spooky book for October that is scary enough for me (which means not really very scary at all).
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein Third or fourth read for me. I assigned it to Ben last term and enjoyed reading it myself along with him.
Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court I assigned this to Joe last term as he is studying the Middle Ages. I had read this book once previously and thought Joe would enjoy the application of “modern” 19th century technology applied to the medieval world. What really struck me on this read was the American arrogance, which is such a reflection of the times. Great book for a lot of good laughs.
Anne Boyer, The Undying A book about cancer written by a single mom who was diagnosed in her early 40’s. She survived, but chronicles the difficulties faced by cancer patients, especially those who lack support (women, minorities, single moms) and the higher mortality rate for those groups. She is a poet, though, so the book sort of meanders. 3 stars.
E.L. Konigsburg, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler I read this aloud to the kids. What a fun book! I so want to visit the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art now.
Susan Choi, Trust Exercise It is National Book Award season and this is one of the Finalists. The writing was fine, but I’m still not sure exactly what the plot was. Rather disappointing.
Ken Ham, One Race One Blood This is on the booklist for Ambleside Year 10 so I had Ben read it and read along with him. I won’t be assigning this book again. Ham tries to blame racism on Darwin and survival of the fittest. I’m sorry but racism has been around for much longer than any of Darwin’s theories so to blame it all on Darwin just doesn’t hold water. The book is trite and geared toward the evangelical community a la Bob Jones University with pressing questions like interracial marriage. Ugh!
Francis A. Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live? Another book on the Ambleside list that I assigned and read along with my student (Ben, in this case). We read The God Who Is There a couple years ago (for the same reason), and I got frustrated with it because he would name these lines of thinking (aka humanism) and then refer to them as though you knew what they were. This book focused a lot more on the history of Western Thought and how all of those strains evolved and the challenges to Christianity with each one so it was much easier to follow. Next time around I will scrap the other book and just assign this one. Even then, I still wouldn’t give this book more than 4 stars.
C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism Yes, I just read this two months ago. But the Literary Life Podcast went through it so I listened to the podcast episodes and then went back and read the chapters they covered. I loved it the first time – it was even better the second time.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden I assigned this to Ben for school and read along with him. I’d love to do another read and savor just a paragraph or two a day. So much to absorb in this little book.
Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage I had not read this since high school but assigned it to Ben last term since he was studying the Civil War. It was interesting to see impressionism in Crane’s writing. I had a completely different opinion of it this time around. I can also see why I struggled with it in high school.
Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde I hadn’t read this one before, so this was a case of assigning the books you want to read so you finally get to read them. This one was very interesting especially read next to The Picture of Dorian Gray (last month). I’m getting a completely different picture of 19th century literature than I had previously.
Rob Buyea, Because of Mr. Terupt This was the Waverly Library youth book club selection for October. Caroline and Joe loved it. I thought it a bit on the daydream side but still fun. A similar feel to books by Gary Schmidt, though I much prefer his work.
Laurie Halse Anderson, SHOUT National Book Award Longlist for Young People’s Literature. This book was rather odd. Written as poetry, the first section sort of had a narrative about a teenager. The second section was mostly a series of rants focusing on different scenarios highlighted by the #metoo movement. The very short third section kind of brought back the narrative but not really. I’m glad this one didn’t get beyond the Longlist.
Homer, The Odyssey (Emily Wilson, tr.) Close Reads did a series on this translation of The Odyssey. I loved the audio version, especially the 3+ hour introduction by Emily Wilson. It is very approachable and easy to both listen to and read (which was not my experience the first time I attempted The Odyssey). The contributors on the show preferred other versions, but I think this version is very accessible while still being an actual translation rather than a retelling.
Adam Winkler, We the Corporations A Nonfiction National Book Award Finalist last year and thus on my [very long] TBR list, this got bumped to the top when PBS/Now Read This selected it for October. It is a very readable history of corporations and how they got their “rights,” culminating in the Citizens United Supreme Court case during Obama’s Presidency. I definitely understand how and why corporations got these rights, but as with anything, there are pitfalls such as the abuse of power. If corporations can be sued, they ought to have the “right” to defend themselves in court. At the same time, corporations have very deep pockets and can use that influence to trample on the little guy. As with everything, balance is needed.
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows Another Pelican Society Book Club selection, this is an old favorite and a cozy re-read.