Ta-Nahisi Coates

 Often what I love about discovering a new (to me) author is the idea of comfort - knowing what I'm in store for - if I want to read a thrilling detective story, I may return to Michael Connelly.  If I want a solid story about family, I may pick up Anne Tyler.  I love the familiarity of these types of authors.  But, what I also find amazing is authors who can write books that are significantly different from one another - novelists who write memoirs, essayists who write short stories.  I've found at times I don't like an author's work in one areas, but love them in another.  Ta-Nehisi Coates, of course, is one who seems to have the Midas touch - turning anything he publishes into gold.

Between the World and Me:  A letter from a parent to a child is always meant to impart wisdow - to warn of pitfalls that life may present, to challenge the reader to be stronger and more aware than the writer may have been in their younger years,  And yet, we know that children rarely listen to their parents.  And so a letter almost seems like a forewarning of inevitable tragedy, knowing what is to come, but also knowing that every generation must find their own way.  Between the World and Me is written as the author's letter to his own son, detailing the history of our country's exploitation of the bodies of black men and women.  Through historical narrative and memoir, Coates details his awakening to the reality of race in America, and the seeming industructible nature of the violence and inequities reinforced by White Supremacy.  

The Water Dancer: After reading the powerful, yet fairly straightforward Between the World and Me, I wasn't quite ready for Coates's fiction.  While beautifully written, I found the story a bit difficult to follow at first.  It took me about 100 pages to get into it, but I'm glad I stuck with it.  I recommend reading this one when you have a good chunk of time to set aside - to get fully immersed in the cadence of the writing and the lyrical story.  This book takes place during slavery - When Hiram Walker's mother is sold away, he loses all memory of her, but gains a mysterious power.  Years later, determined to escape bondage, he embarks on am arduous journey to save more than just himself.  Given the subject matter and the elements of magical realism, this book reminded me quite a bit of Toni Morrison's Beloved.  This book was a challenge for me - in terms of understanding and making my way through the writing.  I was happy to have read it as part of a book club - so that I could hear the variety of interpretations of he events in the novel - which parts were real, and which parts were imagined.  But, overall I was glad I picked this one up - the horrors of slavery should not be readily forgotten, and to have this narrative introduced by such a popular author, I hope, will bring many much needed discussions to the forefront.  

What We've Been Reading

Figuring out the best way to keep up with the books we're reading hasn't been an easy task - as my children get older, I find that I'm even more drawn to children's literature - wanting to read what they're reading, wanting to read to them, and wanting to read other middle reader books to find ones to recommend to them.  At the same time, I still have my huge stack of "adult" books to read - fiction and non-fiction, mysteries and romance - trying to keep up with what's going on in the world, but also trying to escape it.  For awhile I decided I didn't really need to "keep track" of my books in any way...but lately I've found that I kind of miss making my lists and looking back on the ones I've loved and the ones I can barely remember just a month later!  So, here's my latest attempt to stay on track, and keep up with the books we're reading (but not necessarily always finishing) this week!

Books I've Been Reading:  I'm usually reading five to six books at one time.  I try to have a non-fiction, several fiction, and a children's book going so that I can choose whatever I'm in the mood for.  This does mean that it can take me weeks or even months to finish some books because they keep falling to the bottom of the stack, but it's always been the way I like to read.  At times, I'll try to get myself to focus on just one at a time, but that never makes me happy, so I figure I'll just stick to this process!

I love a mystery, and I read an article about how because we've been sheltering in place, and  living "safer" lives that we might otherwise in normal times that many of us are seeking out our thrills in other ways.  I've found mind by reading a few psychological thrillers during this time, including:

• Ruth Ware's The Turn of the Key, about a nanny who finds herself on trial for the murder of one of the children in her care.
• Tana French's The Trespasser part of her Dublin Murder Squad series (which does not have to be read in order) featuring a female detection given a slam-dunk murder case that she can't quite seem to let anyone solve, and The Witch Elm, a stand-along novel about a man who suffers a debilitating injury and tries to return to his childhood stomping grounds, only to uncover a murder he seems to have been trying to forget, but can't quite seem to remember.

And after reading a slew of mysteries that I had to put away before it got dark out, I decided I needed to return to a familiar detective - one who lives firmly in the "cozy mystery" category and is best read with a cup of tea and a warm wool blanket: Jaqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series, including Birds of a Feather (#2) and Pardonable Lies (#3).

Books My Kids are Reading this Week

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer

The Candymakers

  

Goddess Girls Series 

        

Books I'm Reading to My Kids:

Mr. Lemoncello Series by Chris Grabenstein: I started reading this series to my nine-year-old son at the beginning of his third grade school year.  I generally love books about books, and this one has the added benefit of also including a variety of fun word games and puzzles.  Mr. Lemoncello is a wacky Willy Wonka-like self-made millionaire who is famous for his board games.  Kyle Keely is one of his biggest fans.  When Mr. Lemoncello builds a fancy new library in town, he invites twelve lucky students to spend the night trying to break-out of it by solving various puzzles and riddles about books and famous authors.  We loved all the personalities in this book - as well as trying to figure out some of the puzzles along with the kids in the book.  It was filled with fun jokes, creative twists and turns, and general good times.  It was a wonderful book to share together and we eagerly read the next few in the series: Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics, Mr. Lemoncello's Great Library Race, & Mr. Lemoncello's All-Star Breakout Game.  Looking forward to Mr. Lemoncello and the Titanium Ticket coming out in late August!

And now, back to more reading!!  Recommendations always welcome!

Fiction Pairs: Lauren Weisberger

Lauren Weisberger: When Life Gives You Lululemons & Revenge Wears Prada

When a friend loaned me When Life Gives You Lululemons, I'd never read a book by Lauren Weisberger and the title gave me pause.  I assumed it would be mindless fluff.  And, while this would be a good poolside read, it was much better written, and had a much more interesting plot than I'd originally anticipated - which just goes to show that I shouldn't always judge a book by its cover (or title).  I never read The Devil Wears Prada or watched the movie, but I did a little background reading and learned that the main character in this one, Emily, was one of the assistants to Miranda Priestly (the Glenn Close character in the movie, and most feared in the fashion industry).  Emily is now an image consultant, but she's not getting any younger, and as she starts to find herself losing clients to the younger more social media-savvy crowd, she knows she has to make some changes.  And of course, that's when a major supermodel, and wife of prominent politician, is in desperate need of some spin.  The only problem is, she's not in Emily's New York or Los Angeles, but in Greenwich, Connecticut.  Can she handle the pressure AND the suburbs??? 

I decided to keep going with another Weisberger novel - I didn't feel like going back to read the original, so just went for the next in the series, Revenge Wears Prada.  In this one, Emily joins forces with another former Priestly assistant, Andy, to start a high-end bridal magazine.  Andy finally finds herself doing what she has always wanted to do, and on her own terms, but it seems everyone around her is intent on turning this business into another Miranda nightmare.  As her wealthy husband joins forces with an ambitious Emily, Andy is forced to figure out what she really wants and what kind of businesswoman she wants to be.  I found the character of Andy a little annoying in terms of her wishy-washiness.  Even though she seemed to know all along what she wanted, and to communicate it subtly to those around her, she never seemed to actually take a stand - and she continued to let others walk all over her, even though they didn't really seem to be in a position to do so.  While I found myself becoming more invested in the characters as they appeared in multiple books, I still rushed through the end of this one - wanting to know what happened plot-wise, but finding it took a little too long to get there.

January: Children's Literature

As always, I have trouble sometimes distinguishing between YA and Children's Literature, but I these books fit more into the Middle Reader category than in YA...so they get their own post!

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor:  This book was listed on one of those "Top 100 Children's Books of All Time" lists.  I'd never heard of it, so I thought I'd give it a try - interesting since right now my 7-year-old daughter Clara is on a kick reading books about kids and their dogs.  The young boy in this book, Marty, happens to find a lost beagle while playing one day.  The dog appears to have been mistreated, and Marty suspects it has run away from a mean man who lives nearby.  Marty decides to hide the dog, who he names Shiloh, and to nurse him back to health.  When Marty is found out, he has to make some tough decisions about telling the truth, or protecting an innocent animal.  This book was pretty rough - I know there are a lot of children's books out there about mistreated animals, but the mean man character was so stark -  I felt like although this book could be read by 7-9 year olds in terms of difficulty, that really in terms of the sadness of the subject matter, it is better intended for 12-14 year olds.  But I may just be oversensitive with respect to animal cruelty. Marty's character was very relatable, and I'm sure many young readers would find themselves rooting for Marty, and easily putting themselves in his shoes.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry: When I was young, I read a lot of Lois Lowry books.  I was a particular fan of the Anastasia Krupnik series - which I thought of as a pretty standard everyday book about a kid growing up - nothing too series or intense.  So, I wasn't quite prepared for Number the Stars, which is about a Jewish family in Copenhagen during World War II.  When ten-year-old Ellen's family is "relocated," she goes to live with her best friend Annemarie - in an attempt to hide from the Nazis.  This was an interesting book about the realization of young children of the severity of the consequences of being Jewish - of noting difference, of what families gave up in this hope of survival, and what others did to risk their own lives.  While a difficult read, I think this is an important book for young children as an introduction to the Holocaust, and for opening up discussions about how we stand up for what we believe in.

January - YA Reads

Brave Face by Shaun David Hutchinson: Given the cover of this book, I thought this was going to be a graphic novel - but alas, don't just a book by it's cover. This is the memoir of a young man, coping with his identity and trying to belong. The author is up front from the beginning that parts of the book could be triggering for many people - and that he intends to be as honest as he can be about his depression, self-harm, and process of coming out - to himself and to his friends and family. I found this to be an interesting approach - this recognition that in reading a book to learn about the life of another person, the reader themselves could be harmed by seeing too much of themselves in the character, or perhaps in learning that so much pain an struggle exists in this world. This book is written for YA, and accordingly I found it to be an easy relatively quick read - I myself just taking breaks when it did become too intense or sad for me. As a parent of young children, what I find so hard is knowing that children all struggle with different things, but also that they hide so much - and that part of that is the nature of growing up and learning to understand and cope with life. But, also wondering what more I can be doing as a parent, not to prevent my children from experiencing failure and pain, but from feeling like they are failures or that they will not be accepted or supported by me. I felt the saddest in this book when reading about how the author's step-father (who he kept saying he considered a father, but I wasn't sure if the step-father actually viewed him as a son) made comments or otherwise contributed to shaming the author's sexuality. When places that are supposed to be safe for children are not, I think that's the hardest to bear. What is also tough about this book is that while I think it would be comforting for many other young people to read and perhaps say "It's nice to know I'm not alone," there is no magic solution for how to survive it all in a better way.

Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina:  I just loved this book.  Merci Suarez is a pretty typical sixth grader, navigating issues with friendships and family and the changes that come with growing up.  But she's also learning that sometimes things are a bit complicated when you're living in that middle space - old enough to take responsibility, but not always old enough to understand or even to be privy to all the information.  At home, her grandfather seems to be going to the doctor more often and forgetting things a little more easily, but no one seems to want to acknowledge it.  At her private school, she is one of the few students on scholarship, and she finds herself wanting to fit in, but also feeling pride in the things that set her apart.  I loved Merci's strong independent spirit - her love of her grandfather and friends - and her desire to do the right thing, even if she doesn't always know what that might be.   

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater: This YA non-fiction book is an account of an incident that happened on the 57 bus line in Oakland in 2013.  Sasha, a white agender teenager from a middle-class neighborhood was riding the bus home from their private school.  Alongside her was Richard, an African American teen from a less affluent area of Oakland coming home from his public school.  During the ride, Richard set fire to Sasha's skirt leaving them severely burned.  As a result, Richard was charged with a hate crime and faced life imprisonment.  The 57 Bus explores the backgrounds of both of these teenagers.  This book takes the time to paint a fuller picture of Richard, his background, and how he came to commit this crime in a way that calls for empathy and an understanding no crime, and no person, is a complete reflection of the worst thing they've ever done.  I applaud the book on this level - and yet, I question whether Richard would have been afforded this had the victim not been someone undervalued by society.  Is it because Sasha appeared to dress different than their gender should have allowed them to dress - is it because we want to find a way to blame Sasha for themselves for the crime, that we are interested in learning more about Sasha?  Had Richard set fire to a beautiful young white cisgender female cheerleader, might the outcome of this incident been just a little different?  I wonder these things, and because of that, I found this book in a way distasteful.  But, at the same time, I admit that because I have so much to learn about gender issues - about language and differences and everything that comes with recognizing what it means to be agender or transgender, I appreciated the education that this book provided.  While I don't necessarily want to re-read this book, I do think that it would be a good one to choose for a book club.

A brief foray into Stephen King

Stephen King's book about the craft of writing had been sitting on my shelf for years.  I can't remember who gave it to me or where I first picked it up, but I decided to finally read it.  I've read a little King here and there, and always been impressed with what I've read - I think he gets so little credit for being a true literary genius, and this book provided incredible insight into all he has done to develop and hone his craft.  Part-memoir, and part-how-to, I wouldn't say this book inspired me to do any writing of my own (King works WAY too hard, I don't think I'd have it in me - not to mention that whole talent part), but it did get me very interested in reading more of his fiction.  And so I did. 

I started with Carrie - and I should preface all of this by saying even though I know the basic story lines of many of King's novels, I have not seen any of the movies they have been turned into (except for Pet Sematary, which I loved and scared the daylights out of me).  Carrie is a teenage girl raised by a hyper-religious single mother who isolates and abuses her daughter, and has left her wholly unprepared to deal with the realities of the world she lives in.  As a result, she is ostracized and teased mercilessly by her high school classmates.  But, of course, Carrie is no ordinary teenager - and between her special powers, and her deep-seated desire for revenge, it's about to be a (pig's) bloodbath. 

From Carrie, I moved on to Salem's Lot.  I had no idea what to expect, but this one was so creepy, I had to keep all my lights on at night after reading it!  The main character, Ben, is a writer who returns to his hometown after 25 years to write a book about an allegedly haunted house in town.  His arrival coincides with the disappearance of a young boy - and the discovery that the boy's brother has turned into a vampire!  The town's residents are quickly being transformed while Ben reunites with old friends to combat the infestation.  The plot is so hokey that you'd think it'd just be campy and fun, but King's writing and storytelling is so intense, that I found myself legitimately frightened!  I knew nothing about the plot of this book before I picked it up, and find it so amazing that he wrote this in 1975, clearly inspired by Dracula, but well before the relatively recent craze of vampire novels - and yet, I have never heard King credited with being any influence on or godfather of the current literature, which I think is just another example of King not receiving the credit he deserves for being such a profound influence on our culture.

Finally, for this time with King, I turned to The Shining, another one that I kind of knew the basic story about from popular culture, but had never actually read or seen the movie.  Writer Jack Torrance takes a job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel.  Located in the snowy mountains, the hotel is closed to visitors during the winter months, which Jack assumes means he will have lots of time to devote to the writing of his new book.  He brings along his wife and young son to stay with him.  While the hotel at first seems like a quiet but idyllic location, Jack's son Danny seems to sense an ominous presence.  As the weeks pass by, the family becomes more and more isolated, until madness (or perhaps something more supernatural) takes over.  This book is so creepy, that after reading it, I decided that I've had enough of Stephen King for awhile.  He is a brilliant writer - and a master storyteller.  But, my tolerance for horror and psychological thrillers is not very high.  I want to keep reading, but I know it's better for my own mental health to stick to happier endings.

Pairs of Mysteries All Around

I love a good mystery- and some bad ones too.

The Drop & The Black Box (Harry Bosch #15 & #16) - Michael Connelly: The best thing about Michael Connelly is not that he writes a good detective novel, but that he does it with such speed that no matter when I decide to return to him, he has a new book out there for me!   In The Drop, Bosch finds himself embroiled in a political nightmare when the son of his nemesis, Councilman Irvin Irving's son is found dead and Irving demands Bosch investigate the death.  In The Black Box, Bosch matches the bullet from a current murder to a death nearly 20 years earlier.  In typical Connelly fashion, both books are page-turners with multiple crimes solved (including very cold cases) and internal corruption revealed.

The Girl in the Spider's Web & The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye (Milennium #4 & #5) - David Lagercranz: Following the death of Stieg Larsson, Lagercranz continues The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series.  I read the first novels in the series long enough ago that I can't make a great comparison between the authors, but seemed to me that Lagercranz did a fine job sticking to the basic formula - making the story suspenseful and having the reader pulling for Salander the whole way through.  Like all the others, these involve a little hacking, a little journalism, and a lot of espionage and double crossing. Thoroughly entertaining.

The Girl on the Train & Into the Water: Paula Hawkins: After Gone Girl, I admit I'm a sucker for any book that people tell me is basically like Gone Girl.  And so I picked up The Girl on the Train about Rachel (the girl on the train) who obsesses over the lives of a couple she is able to view from the seat of her commuter train each day.  One day, she believes she sees a crime committed and becomes unhinged in her attempts to prove what she believes she saw.  Rachel turns out to be an unreliable narrator, which I think is not a wholly new phenomenon in literature, but is one that has become more frequently used, and I think can often make a story more fun.  While Rachel becomes more frustrating and unlikeable as the story unfolds, I really enjoyed the twists and turns of this mystery and found it ultimately worth my while (but it's no Gone Girl).  Given my general enjoyment of The Girl on the Train, I was eager to pick up Hawkins's next novel, Into the Water which follows a town following the discovery of a dead woman at the bottom of a river.  I had a very difficult time getting into this book - it may have been that I had too much going on when I read it, but it felt to me that the book itself had too much going on - too many characters, too many narratives, and too much to live up to.  I may try it again in the future, but for now, this one was not for me.