Looking Back: A Wrap up of 2020 in Reading

What an interesting year it's been. I had signed up for a number of challenges at the beginning of the year with the caveat that I was going to use them more as guides to my reading as I wasn't sure what was going to happen due to being pregnant and due in May. 

The year started out all right. I decided the best way to tackle the challenges were to essentially cycle through with a focus of two books from the first challenge, then one book of all the others. I also decided to read Anna Karenina over six months by basically reading it for 20 minutes a day. And I did all right. I finished most of my first cycle by March 10th along with a couple of parenting books thrown in. On March 15th, our state issued Shelter-in-Place orders for Covid-19. Luckily I had my next "cycle" of books checked out, but it took a while to make my way through two of them. I managed my way through a third while in a stage of early baby days where the baby would only sleep while on me.

And then I didn't pick up another book until August at which point I basically threw all my lists out the window and focused on parenting books and new releases. It felt appropriate with 2020 being the dumpster fire that it was. 

I managed a grand total of 23 books this year. Not a strong suit by any means, but honestly, with how I felt about reading over much of the year, I'm pretty pleased with that. It has given me much to think about in my future reading and which directions I wish to take this blog but that's a post for the New Year. 

I hope everyone else had a more productive reading year than I did even as we all struggled with the challenges thrown at us and I hope for a much better 2021 for everyone!

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Title: Plain Bad Heroines

Author: Emily M. Danforth

Pages:  617

Finished: December 26, 2020

First Sentence: It's a terrible story and one way to tell it is this: two girls in love and a fog of wasps cursed the place forever after.

Summary: In 1902, two students at Brookhants School, Flo and Clara die in a swarm of yellow jackets. Over the next year, three more people mysteriously die in strange, almost supernatural ways. Cut to the current day, Merritt Emmons publishes a book about these events. A book that is now being made into a movie starring celebrity actor Harper Harper and Audrey Wells in the roles of Flora and Clara. But strange, unnatural things keep cropping up on set to the movie. 

Thoughts: First and foremost, this is the latest in a long list of surreal novels I've read this year. The is a book where you have no idea where it's going until you get to the end. This is a book that should be enjoyed leisurely rather than read straight through. Unfortunately, it's written in a way that makes you want to read it straight through. 

The story jumps back and forth between the Happenings at Brookhants in 1902 vs the movie making business in 2020. And and forth, it definitely take advantage of the stylistic choice of cliff hangers. Just as you are about to learn something on 2020, it's back to 1902 and Libbe Brookhants. Finally you get somewhere with her and it's forward to 2020 learning about Audrey. Oh good. We finally have something there and now it's late 1800s learning how Alex and Libbe ended up together.

If you read the flyleaf of the book, you might think that Flo and Clara are going to be main characters in this novel. They're not. They're the catalyst to the story. Them and Mary MacLane.

One thing that was really cool, this book had more queer representation than I've seen in any mainstream novel I've ever read. All the main characters are either bi or gay. Many of the side characters as well. There's one transgender person whose pronouns are them which is the first time I've actually seen that in a fiction book. No asexual representation, but I suspect that's due to the subject matter of the story. 

The book surprised me. I had inklings of things that were coming, but the actual reveal in it all blindsided me. 

This is one of those novels where I don't think a single character is perfect. Everyone is flawed in some way. Everyone is their own unique person. But then this is what people have been saying in media all the time about diversity. So yes, it was really wonderful to see actual characters rather than diversity points. 

Also, it turns out Mary MacLane was a real person who did publish three books, the first of which took America by storm largely due to how open she was about herself and her feelings in a time when most people weren't. Particularly when those thoughts were the opposite of "good breeding."

This is definitely an experience though. I don't know that one can walk out saying they have a favorite part or a favorite character. At least I don't. I did, however, really enjoy the tone and atmosphere of the novel. I'm glad to have finished out my year with this novel. (I just started another, but there is no way I'll finish it between now and Thursday.)

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V. E. Schwab

Title: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Author: V. E. Schwab

Pages: 442

Finished: November 19, 2020

First Sentence: A girl is running for her life.

Summary: France, 1714. Adeline LaRue wants to see far of places, live many experiences. Addie LaRue does not want to get married and end up stuck in her small village for the rest of her life. So, desperate on the night of her wedding, Addie makes a deal with a god. A deal that grants her immortality at the price of everyone forgetting her the minute they lose sight of her. It turns out it's much harder to get by when no one remembers you. And that's how things are for Addie for 300 years until one day, someone does remember her.

Thoughts: So this is kind of the "it" book going around right now. As I was reading it, a coworker discussed it for our staff reviews, two friends posted about it on Facebook, and patrons brought it up. And to be honest, it's a pretty interesting book. Of course, any book regarding deals for souls and life or art invoke Faust, and of course this book couldn't escape mentioning that. But I still really enjoyed it.

I appreciate that the main character, Addie, isn't infallible nor is she unlikeable. It seems that often when people write Strong Women, they are good at every skill, strong as a man, accomplished in most things, and friends with everyone. Or they go the opposite direction and are unsociable in a way that makes them hard to identify with. Addie feels like a regular person.. which is all we want in our Strong Women characters. Take note authors!

I went back and forth on Henry. When we first met him, I was intrigued as to who this guy was. Like Addie, he felt desperate enough to make a deal. But even so, I didn't connect to him as well as I did to Addie. 

Our other main player is Luc the not-devil. The god after dark. I appreciated that he was more complex than just evil... but he still was the antagonist and I don't like antagonists, no matter how much back story we get into them.

One of my favorite aspects of the entire work was how Addie showed up in art. I liked the idea of the forgettable woman showing up in art all over the ages. It was such an interesting concept. 

Honestly, even with this being the "it" book of the season, I really enjoyed it. It was the right level of fantasy grounded in realism. The characters felt real even in their wild lives. I feel like I could take another pass at it and slow down in the last 100 pages or so rather than busting through them at midnight... but this is a problem I have with all books I read that I enjoy. Definitely a worthwhile read. 

Ormeshadow by Priya Sharma

*Note, I read this in October and never wrote a review. This review is based on impressions only.

Title: Ormeshadow

Author: Priya Sharma

Pages: 165

Finished: October 14, 2020

First Sentence: The argument started a good twenty miles from Ormeshadow.

Summary: After an event that causes some chilliness between Gideon's parents, he finds the whole family packed up and on their way to Ormeshadow Farm on the coast of Wales. There Gideon finds a family who doesn't welcome him, more mysteries, and stories of a dragon - his family's birthright. 

Thoughts: I'm going to start right off and say this wasn't my cup of tea. It was booktalked in a continuing education course I took for work and at the end, the speaker mentioned it's a readalike to Naomi Novik's Uprooted which I read at the beginning of this year and adored. So I was really excited for a fantasy horror novel. 

This was not that. It was more of a psychological horror novel. The reader spends their time guessing what the heck is going on and what is it that Gideon doesn't see. The reader also has to parse out is the dragon Gideon's father talks about actually real? And then we read through the abuse Gideon suffers. 

In general I found the characters unlikeable and I think I must have missed subtext because things seemed to come quickly and at weird times. The writing style was atmospheric but I just didn't enjoy the subject matter. It did not strike me as similar to Uprooted in the slightest which is the whole reason I picked it up! That being said, for a fairly gentle horror novella, it was quick to breeze through.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Title: A Deadly Education

Author: Naomi Novik

Pages: 313

Finished: October 18, 2020

First Sentence: I decided that Orion needed to die after the second time he saved my life.

Summary: El (Galadriel) is a junior at the Scholomance, a terrifying magic school where it's easy to end up dead if you aren't careful and don't have people watching your back. And El... well, she has a hard time making friends because the school is determined that she is a malificare, a magic user who uses people's life force for destructive means. Except she refuses. And oh, by the way, the star pupil of the school has taken notice of her.

Thoughts: OH MY GOD. It's like the adult's Harry Potter! OK, so El's a little hard to fall in with at first. She has an understandable chip on her shoulder... a similar chip to the one I had on my shoulder at her age. But more than a decade past it, I just want to shake her and tell her to get over it. Maybe I should reexamine these feelings before my own child becomes a teenager... Perhaps the other issue is of the three Novik books I've read, the main character has a similar attitude. Outsider with a chip on their shoulder. Perhaps it's because it's just a really common feeling to have. 

The school sounds interesting and terrifying at the same time. Unlike Hogwarts, I have no desire to go there. But Novik does an admirable job building the world. Characters feel realistic. It's a quick read. 

And yes, it feels like a mature Harry Potter in some ways. So it was not all that surprising when the author thanked someone in her acknowledgements for reminding her who this book is for and how she can't believe they're in their 30s.

It was a quick read and I'm really glad I found it. Definitely looking forward to the next one.

Sanditon and Other Stories by Jane Austen - Volume 1

Volume 1

I've decided to read Austen's unfinished works and juvenilia as I've not done so before. As this is a long book, I will be breaking it up into it's three volumes. 

Sanditon - The first unfinished piece in my collection. Fans of Austen's work know that she was working on this novel when she died. What we get is the story of Charlotte Heywood visiting the seaside resort of Sanditon with a family whom her father helped. She seems to be a girl of intelligence and good sense who see people for who they are. Unfortunately, the story only gets up to the point of introducing the primary cast of characters including the man destined to be the hero before it abruptly stops.

My version is unedited and the one thing that struck me when I started reading it was the sheer number of dashes throughout. At first I thought this was just an author's mark to add more here as some of the thoughts seemed less polished than I'm used to. However, further research led me to the fact that Austen used many dashes in her manuscripts that were subsequently purged by her editors. Many people seem to prefer the dashes, though I will admit, I found them distracting. 

Like any Austen novel, the characterization is key. We have Mr. Parker who's clearly a bit of a fool. Mrs. Parker who has much more sense but is also a deferential wife. Lady Denham who is selfish. The Parker siblings who are clearly hypochondriacs. Charlotte Heywood, intelligent and sensible it seems. We were also just introduced to Sydney Parker who I assume is Charlotte's love interest, a family from the west Indies with a young woman who was like to come into play, and a ward of Lady Denham who has a bit of a clandestine love life. 

I am curious how this story would have played out and do very much wish Austen had been able to finish it. As of yet I've not looked at any continuations nor have I watched the series that came out a while ago. At this point I don't plan to. 

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The Watsons - After her uncle dies and her aunt remarries, 19-year-old Emma Watson is sent home to a family she hardly knows. Almost immediately, she's sent to a ball where she catches the attention of one Lord Osborne as well as his former tutor, Mr. Howard.

Reading this brought to mind Mansfield Park. Similar to Fanny, Emma was taken in by her aunt and brought up in a much more refined manner than her family at home. She seemed very certain of her convictions and a quick study on the people around her. That being said, she's a little more forward than Fanny ever was. 

The story clips along at a good rate. We're introduced to almost all the major cast in only 81 pages and already have an idea of a love triangle between a a few different couples. We also already know who Emma's preferred suitor is. While a part of me is interested in what would happen next, I feel like she used many of the ideas here in future novels, which is probably why she never completed this one. 

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Lady Susan - Austen's Novella with the villainous Lady Susan Vernon. Perhaps because it's a novella or perhaps because the main character is so thoroughly unlikeable, people tend to not mention this when they talk about Austen's completed works. Maybe part of it is due to the fact this work tends to be published with unfinished works, juvenilia, or at the end of another book. The point of those very poorly put together sentences is to say that I have only read this novella once. 

Unlike any of Austen's published novels, Lady Susan is written as an epistolary work. The widowed Lady Susan writes to her brother-in-law to announce her coming to stay after a misunderstanding at a friend's house. The Lady Vernon is unenthused as she's heard Lady Susan is a massive flirt. Her brother agrees and comes to visit... only to be completely taken in by Lady Susan to the horror of Lady Vernon...

And on and on and such. This is a very quick read but also particularly obnoxious. Lady Susan is spiteful and annoying. She has the charisma to bend men to her will in ways that feel very frustrating. I found myself angry at Reginald for knowing what she was and then completely falling for her stunts. Lady Vernon gets it but she doesn't seem able to do much other than complain to her mother up until the end. Frederica might be worthwhile though we hear little of her own voice other than the fearful letter she wrote to Reginald. 

Not my favorite. 

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

Title: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

Author: Garth Nix

Pages: 393

Finished: October 3, 2020

First Sentence: It was 5:42 A.M. on May Day, 1983, in the west of England, and a sliver of the sun had edged above the ridge.

Summary: While searching for clues as to her father's identity, Susan Bauer walks in on the dashing young Merlin killing her "Uncle" Frank with what looks to be a silver hatpin. Suddenly, the room starts filling with a black fog and Susan follows Merlin into the world of Booksellers, both left and right handed who help keep the Old World from spilling too much into the New World. The Old World that seems particularly interested in Susan...

Thoughts: Wow, this is a fast paced novel. I think the entire thing takes place in the course of a couple days maybe? This has a bit of a Neil Gaiman or Charles Delint feel to it with the whole Old World encroaching on the New World bit. Characters felt mostly realistic. It says it's a young adult book, but I'd say it's more geared towards the 18 - 25 year old crowd. Susan is 19 I believe, but feels older in many ways. The world was fun, particularly anytime they slipped into the Old World or the Bookshops. And really, anything about bookshops or booksellers is fun. 

The plot itself is fairly simplistic though. The antagonists are broadcast pretty early on, but the characters frustratingly don't clue in until super late in the novel. Susan's origins are fairly obvious from the start as well... which again takes a long time for the characters to figure out. Still, it was really nice to have a quick, engaging read. 

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Title: The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Author: Alex E. Harrow

Pages: 371

Finished: September 24, 2020

First Sentence: When I was seven, I found a door.

Summary: January Scaller, Ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke struggles to feel at place in his house of curiosities. In fact, she feels closer to a specimen rather than a human being. And though she struggles to be a good girl, she can't quite shake the memory of stepping through a door into another world when she was seven. And then she discovers a book. A book about doors, other worlds, and the people you find there.

Thoughts: While writing up my review of Piranesi, this book arrived at the library for me. This and Piranesi could be cousins. The plot is similar, the conceit of other worlds is similar though this one involves doors and many worlds and centers around a coming of age story as well as a love story. 

Harrow uses a double narrative. A book within a book. I found both stories so compelling that I just kept reading until it was suddenly midnight, the book was over, and I was crying as I came down from the reading high.

January is a little frustrating at times. At times seemingly helpless and overly whiny, though one understands as the story continues and discovers just how much she was gaslit in her upbringing. The book takes a bit of time to get going. We get a lot of backstory as January catches us up to the current moment. But once she finds The Ten Thousand Doors, things pick up. 

One of the things I'm discovering about myself is that I like books where things come out all right in the end. Even as the tale gets more heated and things look as though they'll never come through, if I know things will be OK, I'm pretty willing to keep going. All that to say, it's easy to infer everything will be all right as the story is written as though January were writing a history of events. 

This is a compelling though somewhat complex tale with a lush writing style.

Read-alikes - Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, 

This covers a couple of challenges, though I'm not really following or entering anything into the forms anymore.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Title: Piranesi

Author: Susanna Clarke

Pages: 245

Finished: September 19, 2020

First Sentence: When the Moon rose in the Third Northern Hall I went to the Ninth Vestibule to witness the joining of three Tides.

Summary: Piranesi's World is a vast house of infinite rooms housing statues, oceans, clouds, and birds. He shares this world with The Other who visits with him twice a week to discuss their findings on the Great and Secret Knowledge. But one day, Piranesi finds evidence that someone else is in this world.

Thoughts: This was not the book I expected it to be, but that's okay because it was amazing!

Some background. Five years ago from the writing of this review, I read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I was hooked. I immediately started looking up read-alikes and stumbled upon Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I loved it just as much as I loved The Night Circus. So to have works by both these authors come out this year has been quite the treat.

That being said, Piranesi is a completely different book from her previous work. I struggle to write my thoughts without spoiling anything. So we'll start with The House.

The House reminds me a lot of the Library from The Starless Sea what with it's statues, oceans, and even a mention of bees. For a moment, due to the cover of the book, and the mention of minotaurs, I thought this was a retelling of Theseus and the Minotaur. It wasn't. But the House is stunning and now I want to visit. 

The story is told through Piranesi's journal entries. It starts with just his daily life in The House. But the careful reader starts to spot holes or other unsettling things. We pick up what's happening well before Piranesi himself does... and then once he becomes aware, it's a race to the end to see what happens. 

After reading it, I looked up the name Piranesi and discovered there was an 18th century, Italian artist by the name of Giovanni Battista Piranesi who made engravings of elaborate, labyrinthine rooms. After looking them up, they definitely serve as some inspiration for the setting. 

All in all, this was an incredible book that I happened to devour in a weekend. It's been so long since a book has captivated me quite that way, and I really enjoyed reading this one. It hits all the right appeal terms and a decent frame for me, but I'm still struggling to figure out what those appeal terms are because in general, I'm very eclectic. (Also, I'm going to start flexing some new review muscles as we just had a huge Staff Training on readers advisory.)

My appeal terms for this book:

engrossing character driven story with a magical setting almost dreamy feel to the writing.

Read-alikes: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Twelfth Night by Shakespeare

Title: Twelfth Night 

Author: William Shakespeare

Pages: 200?

Finished: September 12, 2020

First Sentence: If music be the food of love, play on.

Summary: Viola, saved from a shipwreck, disguises herself as a man to serve Count Orsino. As a man, she becomes Orsino's messenger to the fair Olivia, who in turn falls for Viola/Cesario. Viola, of course, has fallen in love with Orsino. 

Thoughts: My only experience with this play was actually through an Amanda Bynes movie called She's the Man from when I was a teenager. So how did reading the play live up?

Do you ever read classics and think, "Huh... English teachers held these to some really high standards, but this is really a bawdy joke that I'd get in trouble if I made it in class in modern terms?" That's how I feel when I read Shakespeare. It's held high as this lofty thing, but it was meant for the masses. That's not to say it's bad, just not the high-brow literature we're led to believe.

Once you get through the Elizabethan language, the plot itself is fairly simplistic. I specifically picked teh Folger Shakespeare edition for the notes I know they add in, but found myself skipping over them once I got into the rhythm of the language. 

In terms of the storyline... meh. It takes a long time to set up, and then the end could have been resolved at least one act earlier if people had communicated rather than talked. I suppose that's part of the comedy though. 

Having not seen numerous movie version of this (the way I have with Much Ado About Nothing), I felt I didn't appreciate it as much as I could. As this is a play, it's meant to be a visual medium. Without that, I do feel like I'm missing quite a bit. I think, in general, I appreciate Shakespeare better when I've seen either a production or a movie version to go along with it. 

That being said, glad I read it and I'm happy to cross another book off my Classic Club list. I believe this counts for a ton of challenges, but at this point, I've basically decided I'm not even attempting to finish them with how my reading tastes have just completely diverged from what I was reading at the beginning of the year.

Time to Parent by Julie Morgenstern

Title: Time to Parent: Organizing Your Life to Bring Out the Best in Your Child and You

Author: Julie Morgenstern

Pages: 330

Finished: September 7, 2020

Summary: Professional organizer Julie Morgenstern sets out to define the parenting job description. Using catchy acronyms that help the reader remember, she divides parenting into two halves. Doing you P.A.R.T and taking care of you S.E.L.F. Each half is divided into further quadrants where she then gives tips on how to help. To avoid summarizing the book, I'll just name the quadrants. P.A.R.T stands for Providing, Arranging, Relating, and Teaching. S.E.L.F stands for Sleep, Exercise, Love, and Fun.

Thoughts: Thanks to Covid19, a new baby, and the rest of 2020, I've been feeling really stretched thin. This book popped out on our parenting display at work and I grabbed it. Was it earth shattering? Meh. The organization tools were neat, but the information was stuff  I knew. What I found helpful mostly was the definition of the P.A.R.T. and how it all fits in with your child. Essentially it's easy to fall into a Providing and Arranging role when the most important thing to your child is Relating with them. With that in mind, I did set some goals for myself this month based off the information in the book. But I have to admit, I didn't feel like I learned how to make things better.

The most useful parts to me were the definitions of the "job description" and the time management skills. There's also a self assessment which was interesting. I came out pretty balanced in all four parts but with super low scores. I didn't feel like there was anything in the book to help me raise those scores... but then there's a chapter at the end about what to do when you're in a time of crisis... and I feel like raising kids during a pandemic while my country hurdles headfirst into fascism may count as a crisis. Or perhaps that's the anxiety talking! Who knows?!?

Anyway, back to the book. Fine information but definitely more of reference book than a sit down and read book.

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds

Title: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

Author: Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi

Pages: 248

Finished: August 15, 2020

First Sentence: Before we begin, let's get something straight.

Summary: Middle Grade author Jason Reynolds takes Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning and rewrites it for the middle school audience. This not-a-history book follows the history of racism against Black people from the 1400s in Europe to when it hopped over the Atlantic to the English Colonies all the way through 2015 ish.

Thoughts: I have not read the original book for adults, so I don't know how this compares. 

Regarding subject matter - this book is important to read. The saying "history is written by the victors" really shines when we see the other side to the story. Historical figures we've been brought up admiring as paragons of humanity don't come off in such a great light in this book. As a white person living in America who tries to be antiracist but understands that I have a lot to learn and continue learning, this history was illuminating. It also illustrates that people have flaws. People have flawed thinking. And people's ideas can change.

Reynolds breaks people into three groups: Segregationalists - people who are racist and want to be separate from those who are different from them, Assimilationists - people who say they're okay with people who are different from them as long as those people try to be the same as them, and Antiracists - people who believe that everyone is cool as they are. What I found interesting was how many Black leaders he identified as Assimilationists but who then, as they continued trying to fight for equality moved towards Antiracist thoughts. And how, as dangerous as they were when they were assimilationists, when they started talking antiracism, that's when they were assassinated. Lots of things to consider.

Regarding writing style - This book is written with middle schoolers in mind. It's very conversational in tone. There's a lot of sarcasm. I thought it worked really well for the age range it's meant for. I also really liked how he mentioned that yes, some of these words are uncomfortable and that's okay. Sit in the discomfort. While I found I wanted more information on things, I think this is a good start to an overview. The writing is quick and snappy. There's enough information there as a primer. There's a list of further reading for any interested plus extensive notes. And of course, there's Kendi's original book to read if I want more. I suspect it's written a bit less snappy. Occasionally, Reynolds throws down a label that feels really antagonistic, but I think that's more my privilege talking than the reality. 

For people interested in starting out their work on antiracism, this is a good starting point. But it is written to a middle school level. Adults may find it immature in a way. For them, I'd suggest seeking out Kendi's original work. I would definitely recommend this to 7th grade and up as well as parents looking to start or continue racism and antiracism discussions with their teens. 

How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen

Title: How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen

Author: Joanna Faber and Julie King

Pages: 385

Finished: August 8, 2015

Summary: Dinner's over and you ask your kid to put their dish in the dishwasher. They say no. You push back. Next thing you know, kid is upstairs screaming in their room during a time out and you're taking deep breaths to calm yourself all over a stupid plate. Why couldn't your kid just put the plate in the dishwasher. It would have taken less energy than that test of wills. 

Joanna Faber and Julie King daddress how we can talk to our kids in ways that will acknowledge their feelings and encourage them to cooperate rather than frustrate.

Thoughts: While we ran a parenting book discussion with this book a few years ago, I did not partake either as a staff member or a patron. But boy do I wish I had. Pandemic and new baby has made things hard for Kid 1. Suddenly we were noticing behavior problems up the wazoo. Battles of wills over plates or washing her hands or putting her shoes by the door. Some of it absolutely was an anxiety response, and we reached out to a family counselor for help there. But some of it was just good, old-fashioned boundary pushing. So I picked up this book. 

Within minutes of reading the first chapter, I started putting Faber's and King's ideas into practice. And our fights decreased by about 50%. Each successive chapter, I added in the new techniques and we acheived a mostly peaceful household. 

That's not to say we still don't have boundary pushing. And there's still a lot of anxiety, but we can deal with that. And without the help of the counselor. Unfortunately, she was not a good fit for our child and I get to make the phone call Monday to stop seeing her all together.

But what was it about the book that worked so well? Honestly? I liked how the authors kept remidning us how would we feel if adults talked to us the way we talk to our kids. We'd hate it. We may do as we're told because we're adults, but we'd be resentful, angry, and likely looking for new jobs. 

The first chapter is all about acknowledging feelings. One of those things that makes so much sense when we hear it, but that most people don't put into practice. Kid falls on the sidewalk. Parent: Oh... you're okay. It's not that bad. See? You're not even bleeding. Of course the kid's going to feel even more hurt. Since doing this, we've been able to get her down from most of her temper tantrums.

The authors go on to discuss ways to encourage cooperation. For example, changing the order into a reminder. So instead of, "Put your plate in the dishwasher," we can just go, "Dishes!" It works! Every. Single. Time. Or describe what we see. "Oh... I see a plate sitting on the table." Or be playful. "Kid! You plate's begging for a bath. Do you hear?" *make plate voice* "Please Kid. Please let me have a bath. I need to be clean for tomorrow."

Each chapter has the tools, sotires from a parent group the women worked with, cartoons to show the steps, and then an outline of hte tools. 

The book can be repetitive. Many reviewers mention that it could be an article instead, but I feel people don't read and retain articles the way they do books. I liked the cartoons not for me, but for people who may be more visual learners. The stories were fantastic because we could see real world examples. 

Many reviewers complained that the author doesn't believe in punishment. I can't speak to that as I agree with the authors on this one. When we send our kid to her room, the situation is made 10,000 times worse and the behavior continues the next day. Upping the ante just gets worse. Even before reading the book, I was trying to come up with different things to punishments because I was questioning the why behind what we were doing and whether it was actually useful. The solutions presented here were really helpful. 

Also, the authors do believe in limits and boundaries. Just the way they handle the breaking of the boundary is less draconian. 

I can't find the exact quote, so I'll paraphrase. The bit that stuck out to me the most was when one of the parents in the group complained about how exhausting all of this was and either Joanna or Julie replied with something like, "Sure, but I'm going to be exhausted at the end of the day either way. At least this way I'm exhausted and happy." 

And that's ultimately it. I'd been going to bed at night resolving to figure out a better way tomorrow because I was feeling like a horrible mother. Crabby and yelling all the time. Stretched thin. Stressed. Exhausted from all these battles of will. Since reading these techniques, I'm still tired, but I don't feel so worn out. Everyone is happier and the anxiety levels in the house have dropped. Amazing how that works. 

Classic Club Spin 24

EDITED! Spin number is 18: Twelfth Night for me! I've never read this one before, nor have I seen any adaptation other than She's the Man. Just put my preferred edition on hold at the library and hope to pick it up in a week's time!

1. Winter's Tale 
2. East of Eden 
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Study in Scarlet 
5. Martin Chuzzlewit
6. Persuasion
7. Endless Night 
8. Sanditon and Other Tales
9. Peter Pan
10. Persuasion
11. Study in Scarlet 
12. Sanditon and Other Tales
13. Peter Pan 
14. Winter's Tale 
15. Twelfth Night 
16. Endless Night 
17. Anna Karenina 
18. Twelfth Night 
19. Handmaid's Tale 
20. Pride and Prejudice

Hoo boy! Last Spin crashed and burned hard, but that's understandable as I was in my third trimester / just had a baby. 

Now, it's been no secret that my reading has stalled mightily as previous blog posts state. Classics definitely haven't been much in my wheelhouse at the moment. Perhaps the spin will give me that push! 

This time around, I curated my list with the remaining books on my club list plus a couple classics from other challenges I wanted to sign up for this year. That resulted in 15 books. I doubled the list, sent it through a randomizer, and then curated from there. While we do have 8 weeks, I took some of the longest books either off my spin list entirely, or just made sure they only appeared once. 

Most looking forward to? One of the Austen novels. 
Hoping it's not? Anything over 400 pages. Also, not really in the mood for a dystopia.

Revisiting Children's Literature Week 1

Book 1: Excuse Me! 

This book came to us through a box of hand me down clothes from the neighbors across the street. A short rhyming book about using the words excuse me. Cute enough pictures. Back matter "quizzes" the child about when to say the words excuse me. Nothing earth shattering, but worth keeping for revisiting manners with Kid 1 and introducing them to Kid 2 when she's old enough.

Book 2: Mouse Match by Ed Young

This book was acquired from the library after it was withdrawn. Ed Young is a Chinese-born American author and illustrator. Mouse Match is a Chinese folk tale. The pictures are a striking collage. The story itself is your standard folk tale affair. The book itself is really cool. It's set as an accordion style. So if you had the space, you could open the whole thing up and it follows like a giant tapestry. Flip the accordion over and you can see the tale written in Chinese characters. (I'm unsure if there are different characters for Mandarin or Cantonese.) Kid 1 is definitely old enough for this tale so we'll keep it on the shelves in her room for rotation.

Book 3: Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

A childhood book that ended up at my house. It's an easy-going story about a little girl who wants to travel to far away places, live by the sea, and make the world more beautiful. She manages all those things. The pictures are gorgeous and I love that this is a girl in the late 19th, early 20th century who travels. That being said, the portions to deal with far away lands feel very white Imperialistic. I'm not sure the names used for the people's who live there are PC anymore. I know we have other books that serve the same purpose that don't have those issues, so this one will make it's way to a donate pile. 

Book 4: The Fool and the Phoenix: A Tale of Old Japan by Deborah Nourse Lattimore

A withdrawn library book. A quasi-folktale that tells of a mute bird catcher who finds a phoenix and fights a bandit. The story is interesting and the pictures are gorgeous. However, I later found out the author took inspiration of the phoenix legends and wrote her own tale. She's a scholar but she's not Japanese. Keeping the book for the pictures at the moment, but if I find I need more space for new stuff, this one will likely go.

Book 5: The Hidden Folk by Lise Lunge-Larsen

Withdrawn library book. This is a collection of Faery stories from Northern Europe. There's stories about water horses, fairies, sprites, dwarves, and selkies. The introduction talks about them as though they are real. Each creature is introduced and then we get a story or two. The author mentions at the end that the stories were basically told to her in passing as fact when she was a kid, so she had to take her time to make stories from them. Kid 1 is definitely the right age for this book at this time, so we'll be keeping it.

Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier

Title: Heart's Blood

Author: Juliet Marillier

Pages: 402

Finished: June 3, 2020

First Sentence: At the place where two tracks met, the carter brought his horse to a sudden halt.

Summary: After her father's death, Caitrin flees from an abusive homelife. She finds herself a position as a scribe at Whilstling Tor. A place full of mystery, Caitrin is set to transcribe the writings of the Lord Anulan's ancestors. Amidst her work, she finds out information about the strange ghosts who seem to haunt the Tor, the curse that surrounds the place, and how it all came into being even as Norman invaders threaten to take control of the area.

Thoughts: A vague retelling of Beauty and the Beast. This was a great book to start reading again. It was fairly quick to read with a subject matter I find fairly interesting. I've liked Marillier's other retellings that I've read. 

In general, I enjoyed this, though I found the writing somewhat weaker from some of her other novels I've read. I discovered the adversary early on in the book. I don't know if it was supposed to be obvious as it was. Some of the characters felt a little too much like they were filling a specific part. And I'll admit, the climax was... anticlimactic. But for an easy read that kept me interested, I definitely recommend it. 

My Personal Canon

This is an interesting topic to noodle on. Many years ago - maybe around high school - I wrote a top ten list of my favorite books. I can't find it now but I remember it had the following books on it:

• The Once and Future King by T. H. White
• The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

About five years ago, we did a display at work called Librarian's Favorites. Each of us had to pick five children's books for said display. Mine were:

• The Wizard of Oz
• Peter Pan
• A Wrinkle in Time
• The Golden Compass
• Anne of Green Gables

My gut reaction is that books on my personal canon are books I own. I have a very slim book collection at home for a great many reasons. For a book to earn a spot on my shelves, it has to be one I read over and over. So when I started thinking of my canon, I was going to make that part of the criteria for consideration. But there are books that fall on my canon that I don't own. Yet. I have plans to buy them once I find the right edition. And there are authors who fall on my canon whose books I don't own. But I work at a library and can (usually) get them. So ultimately, owning the book is not part of the criteria. Here's what I've come up with. You'll find many similarities to the above lists.

Authors:

    These are authors who I will read essentially anything they've ever written. While I don't universally love all their stuff, nor have I read everything they've written, I do tend to enjoy their style of writing, their handling of language, and their storytelling ability. 

• Jane Austen
• Pride and Prejudice
• Persuasion
• Mansfield Park
• Northanger Abbey
• Charles Dickens
• A Tale of Two Cities
• Nicholas Nickleby
• A Christmas Carol
• Charles De Lint
• Jack the Giant Killer
• Dreams Underfoot
• Erin Morgenstern
• The Night Circus
• The Starless Sea

Trilogies/Series

• His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman 
• The Golden Compass
• The Subtle Knife
• The Amber Spyglass
• Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (specifically the first three books)
• Anne of Green Gables
• Anne of Avonlea
• Anne of the Island
• Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
• Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix 
• Sabriel
• Lirael
• Abhorsen

Standalones

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - first classic I ever read
• The Once and Future King by T. H. White
• Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
• Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel by Susannah Clarke
• Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Movies Based on Books

    So, there are a few movies that have been part of my identity forever. The book versions don't do much for me. I'm grateful they exist for the movie to happen, but the movies are the more important part for me

• Mary Poppins
• Mary Poppins Returns
• The Wizard of Oz

A Room With a View by E. M. Forster

Title: A Room With a View

Author: E. M. Forster

Pages: 196

Finished: April 14, 2020

First Sentence: "The Signora had no business to do it," said Miss Bartlett, "no business at all."

Summary: Lucy and her cousin Charlotte visit Italy where they meet all manner of characters. Namely a rector named Mr. Beebe who they both know previously and who will be taking up the position at Lucy's hometown, a novelist named Miss Lavish who apparently writes terrible novels, and the Emersons, a father and son who society doesn't entirely find appropriate. Oh boy was that a run-on sentence. Anyway, while on an excursion, Lucy and George kiss and Lucy must hastily leave Florence to avoid scandal.

The second half of the book takes place back in her place at Windy Corner where she has just accepted the hand of Cecil Vyse in marriage. However, through all sorts of machinations, the Emersons end up there as well and Lucy finds herself torn between doing what is socially acceptable and following her heart.

Thoughts: For such a slim volume, this book took quite a bit of time to sort through. The main issue I had with it was, while I felt I understood the surface plot just fine, I felt I was constantly missing subtext clues. Not reading closely enough. It felt like the book was trying to say much more than I was picking up. Some of the social commentary I did understand quite nicely, but there was plenty more that just felt like, I knew Forster was making a point, but I didn't know what that point was.

Now, to be fair, this is my first ever Forster, and I'm fairly unfamiliar with Edwardian times. Also, I'm reading this in a really weird time in the life of our planet much less my own. I'm sure I could go look up notes and the like, but at 38 weeks pregnant in the middle of a pandemic... I have to admit I'm disinterested in doing that much work.

It's also important to note that my first experience with this story was watching the 1985 movie with Helena Bonham Carter as Lucy. And I seem to remember feeling much the same way, that the plot was fairly simplistic but there was much more going on that I was aware of.

Read for basically all my challenges. Let's see where it fits in...
- Beat the Backlist
- Virtual Mount To Be Read
- Classics Club List
- Reading Classic Books New To Me Author
- Back To the Classics - 20th Century Novel

Classic Club Spin #23

EDITED TO ANNOUNCE! Spin #23 is going to be Book number 6. In this case, that's Anna Karenina. Wish me luck! How'd your spin turn out?

1. Anna Karenina - dread
2. Peter Pan - neutral
3. Sanditon and Other Tales - neutral
4. Persuasion
5. Pride and Prejudice
6. Anna Karenina - dread
7. Peter Pan - neutral
8. Sanditon and Other Tales - neutral
9. Persuasion
10. Pride and Prejudice
11. Anna Karenina - dread
12. Peter Pan - neutral
13. Sanditon and Other Tales - neutral
14. Persuasion
15. Pride and Prejudice
16. Anna Karenina - dread
17. Peter Pan - neutral
18. Sanditon and Other Tales - neutral
19. Persuasion
20. Pride and Prejudice

Classic Club Spin two weeks out from my due date? Classics Club Spin when I have no access to my library other than ebooks which I hate reading? What could possibly go wrong?

So I cheated. I only kept the three books that I physically own at home and added two more classics from my shelf that I'm hoping to read this year. Then put it on repeat. And I'm going to be super forgiving of myself because new baby and preschooler at home and all the other stuff... yeah. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and read ebooks at some point, but I'm really hoping I can get through this quarantine without going that route yet.

Quarter 1 Goal Check in

Total Books Read: 9
Beat the Backlist: 6
Virtual Mount To Be Read: 6
Classics Club: 1
Austen Challenge: 1
Newford Challenge: 1
Reading Classic Books: 1
Library Love Challenge: 8
Back to the Classics: 1


Top Three for the Quarter:

1. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
2. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Thoughts:

I averaged out three books a month. Of course, I would have loved to be able to read more, but with how this year has gone so far, I feel like three a month is about right. And for the most part, I've enjoyed what I've read. In fact, it was really difficult choosing my top three for the quarter. I finally decided to go with books I'd never read before, but Austen was definitely hanging out as a top contender as well.

As for next quarter, I'm not entirely sure how things are going to go. Because of the Covid19 Pandemic, I'm working from home which means reading for work is happening from home as well. So I need to balance that out with my regular reading. I'm also going to have a baby within the next four weeks which will affect my reading a ton. Not sure how, just know that it will. And we had to put our cat down which I was not exactly expecting. I have a bunch of books I've been looking forward to, but I'm considering ignoring them all and rereading Harry Potter. I don't know. I'm just done with this whole year.

Currently I have Anna Karenina and Room With a View going at the same time. I'm also working my way through the campaign guide to Storm King's Thunder for D&D, and I have a number of ARCs on Netgalley to read for work which I'm looking forward to.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Title: The Starless Sea

Author: Erin Morgenstern

Pages: 491

Finished: March 29, 2020

First Sentence: There is a pirate in the basement.

Summary: Zachary Ezra Rawlins finds a lost book in his University Library. It's an interesting enough read, so he takes it home, only to find himself in existential crisis when one of the stories ends up being about him. How can that be? He begins to research the book and finds himself on a journey to the Starless Sea weaving in and out of stories, myths, and Time.

Thoughts: I recall reading The Night Circus while pumping in the supply closet at work 4 years ago. It had been a surreal time. The birth had been traumatic due to some serious complications. Maternity Leave was three months of unpaid time at home in the middle of summer. And then I was back at work hoping to pump out enough milk to feed my baby when I was at work. The Night Circus really fit in with the surreal feelings through all of this.

It seems fitting that I read The Starless Sea a month before my second child is born while sheltered at home during a worldwide pandemic. It's another incredibly surreal experience that I don't know how to explain. And the book was just the type of book to fit with it.

This is a book where you really have to just let it take you and trust you'll get where you're going. You think you know what's happening... but you're wrong.

This is a book about stories. About books, and libraries. About fantastical worlds and beginnings and endings. Of myths and tropes. Of language.

This book stole my breath away. It's rare for me to get in a post-book hangover, but this was one of those times. I spent my entire afternoon in a bit of a funk after finishing it.

I wish I could write more coherently about it. Perhaps I'll be able to later. But mostly, this is a book that I know will have to be read again (as will the Night Circus) and digested.

Counts for challenges Beat the Backlist, Virtual Mount to be Read, and Library Love

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Title: Northanger Abbey

Author: Jane Austen

Pages: 241

Finished: March 9, 2020

First Sentence: No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine.

Summary: Young Catherine Morland gets a chance to travel to Bath with her neighbors the Allens. There she meets all sorts of people including the greedy, false Thorpes as well as the good, gentile Tilneys. Due to a misunderstanding, General Tilney invites Catherine to visit them in Northanger Abbey where Catherine mistakes everything for one of her beloved Gothic Novels.

Thoughts: I really enjoy this novel. I know it's considered one of Austen's weakest, likely due to it being her first full written novel, but that doesn't make me like it any less. The tone of the story is incredibly light and sarcastic which is really fun.

Of course, her characters are all a little heavy handed, yet somehow they still feel quite real. I feel like every woman knows a man like John Thorpe who refuses to listen to what a lady says as he practices his designs on her, inflates her worth, and generally makes her life miserable. Still too, many women know the Isabella Thorpes who say one thing as they mean another.

I also appreciate that Catherine is one of the few heroines who really acts her age. She's 17/18 in the novel and absolutely reads as an impetuous 18 year old. She's very naive and completely taken in by those who show her early friendliness. She finds things in novels that she conflates in real life - things I KNOW I did as a child and teen. And her immediate crush on Mr. Tilney is super believable.

Mr. Tilney himself is an interesting hero. I'll admit, I feel the reason I like him so much is due to J. J. Field's portrayal of him in the 2007 film adaptation. Still, he's kid and attentive. I like the aspect of him being more flattered of her attentions which then turn into a real regard.

Definitely a fan and this still ranks high in my esteem.

Northanger Abbey Counts for the following challenges: Beat the Backlist, Virtual Mount To Be Read, Austen Challenge, and Back to the Classics (Classic with a Place in the Title.)

Cribsheet by Emily Oster

Title: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool

Author: Emily Oster

Pages: 291

Finished: February 29, 2020

First Sentence: Regardless of whether you had the childbirth you always imagined or, in the words of a colleague, "got a little panicked at the end," you will find yourself in a recovery room a few hours later.

Summary: Economist Emily Oster takes a look at data for common questions about raising infants and toddlers. She explains what makes a good study, and shows how the data supports some basic conclusions, even when those conclusions go against common practices.

Thoughts: My spouse and I are fairly relaxed parents. That being said, with baby 2 only nine weeks out, my brain is starting to work in overdrive and I just needed some reassurance on decisions we are making.

I really liked this book. With our first child, I fell hard into the attachment parenting, no cry ever sleep methods etc. Here's the thing, I like most of how we raised our first kid, but I won't deny there was a level of stress. I think we calmed down somewhat over the first year, but now I find myself thinking, "Am I going to harm my second child if I put her down for five minutes to spend some time by herself at 4 months old?"

Oster looked at as many studies, surveys, and other information gathering resources for various things like benefits of breastfeeding, sleep training, day-care vs stay-at-home mom, etc. And the data overwhelmingly shows for just about everything you likely won't harm your child provided you're making the best choice for your family.

Take breastfeeding - one of the biggest mommy war fights. There's a huge campaign for breast is best. Woman are shamed for formula feeding. Yet the data shows there's really only a short term benefit for kids and not nearly as huge as the breastfeeding community claims. I breastfed my first and I plan on breasfeeding my second because, for me, it was ultimately more convenient. But it was really nice to see that if I do need to formula feed my child, I'm not going to cause harm.

The only exception to this whatever you choose likely won't harm your child was the chapter on vaccines. The evidence is overwhelming that vaccines work, vaccines are safe, and you should vaccinate your child.

My favorite part of the entire book, however, was the passage on illnesses. Perhaps it's because we just went through the cold from hell that took out the entire family. But I will quote the entire passage here because it's just too god to not share. I read it out loud to my partner, and we laughed so hard, our cold ridden bodies had long coughing fits.

As the parent of a young child, you will spend the period from October to April drowning in a lake of snot. To many of us, it may seem that our child has a cold, or possibly some other illness, literally all the time. If you have two children or, god forbid, more than two, the winter months are a haze of repeated illnesses: you, kid 1, kid 2, your partner, back to kid 2, now kid 1 again. Usually there's a dose of stomach flu somewhere in the middle (you all get that, obviously). 

This can naturally leave you wondering, Is this normal? Is everyone else spending their life savings on tissues with lotion, too?

Basically, yes.

Kids younger than school age get an average of six to eight colds a year, most of them between September and April. This works out to about one a month. These colds last on average fourteen days. A month is thirty days. So in the winter, on average, your kid will have a cold 50 percent of the time. On top of this, most kids end their cold with a cough that can last additional weeks. It adds up.

Part of me wants to say this book is a must read, if for no other reason than it will hopefully help end the mommy wars. Seriously moms! Can we stop being so freaking judgmental of each other? It's also really helpful in relieving some anxiety. For example, we were an absolute no cry sleep family for my first, and it was exhausting. From what I'm reading here, sleep training does not actually harm your child, and it does help prevent things like depression, or other sleep deprived mood issues which make things better for everyone. The author is funny. the book is a quick read.

That being said, a lot of it is common sense. By the time you have your second kid, you've likely figured a lot of this out for yourself. It's worth noting, she has another book called Expecting Better for during pregnancy. I've not read it, nor do I plan to ever be pregnant again, but it sounds like it could be worth checking out.

Counts for the Library Love challenge.

The Guernsey Literary and potato Peel Pie Society

Title: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Author: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Pages: 274

Finished: February 22, 2020

First Sentence: Dear Sidney, Susan Scott is a wonder.

Summary: While on tour for her Izzy Bickerstaff essays, Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a man named Dawsey Adams. Dawsy, a resident of the Channel Island of Guernsey, mentions how reading saved him and many of his friends during the Nazi Occupation during World War II. This spawns a rampant curiosity in Juliet who finds herself not only corresponding with the residents of Guernsey, but also traveling there to write a book.

Thoughts: Full confession, this book has been on my radar since it came out, but my first actual experience with the story was through the adaptation on Netflix. I remember the title and the cover catching my eye when I was a shelver, but for some reason, the story never caught my attention enough to convince me to check it out. So I have seen the movie now three or four times and felt it time to read the book. Thus, many of my reactions to the novel are in relation to how I compare it to the movie.

I was surprised to find it's an epistolary novel. The epistolary nature of the novel made it a fairly quick read. The only reason it took me so long to get through it is due to the general plague that has entered our household. 2020 starting out with a bang.

In general, I really appreciated this book. It was simple enough that I didn't feel I was analyzing. Having seen the movie already, it was a familiar story, though with the many understandable differences that come with a book vs. movie adaptation. Even though there was discussion about the WWII atrocities, most of the book was about the recovery which made it less horrific to read. And there was the general reverence for reading that was just lovely.

Though the movie version changed some of the characters around a bit and obviously took quite a few of them out, I found myself unbothered by the differences. A book is a book, and a movie is a movie. Movies tend to need more conflict than books do.

Really I just liked Guernsey. I loved that Juliet never felt the need to leave it in the book. I also liked how quickly she kicked Mark to the curb in the book too, though to be fair, his character was fairly different in the book vs. the movie.

I think the authors really touched on the humanity of war. That just because two countries are at war with each other doesn't mean that all humans on "the other side" are necessarily evil. That there's a lot of grey area. And that people are much more resilient than we like to give ourselves credit for.

In general, I really appreciated that Juliet got to know many of the Club members through letters before she met them. I felt that was fairly impetuous of her in the movie and am glad it didn't come across that way in the book. I appreciated all the stories about Elizabeth. What a remarkable character who we never meet in person! I absolutely will be adding Charles Lamb to my list of authors to read. This was a fun, diverting story through the last two weeks.

Counts for Beat the Backlist, Library Love, and Virtual Mount to be Read challenges.

Trader by Charles de Lint

Title: Trader

Author: Charles DeLint

Pages: 352

Finished: February 8, 2020

First Sentence: If dreams can be portents of what is to come, then I had my fair share of forewarning before my life was stolen away.

Summary: Max Trader, a luthier drifting through life, wakes one morning to find himself in the body of Johnny Devlin, a toxic, selfish man whose life is ruined. Suddenly, Max, in Jonny's body, finds himself having to deal with homelessness, people who hate him, and a whole host of other problems while trying to get his body back.

Thoughts: This one is really interesting. First, the story is told in many different points of view. Max's, then all the other people who surround his life. However, Max is the only one whose narration is in first person. Everyone else is in third person. It changes the way one sees the characters. Also, we never get Devlin's point of view.

Familiar characters come in and out. Jilly plays a side role. I feel like we've either met Bones or his partner Cassie before. Sophie's mentioned, though we don't see her. Geordie is of course busking. I even recognize Fitzhenry Park. I'd say this has been my favorite part of this project so far. I enjoy revisiting Newford. I enjoy seeing how it ages from the 80s to the mid 90s. I love the people who keep popping up.

As for this book, it was a very compelling story. I like how de Lint doesn't shy away from things not coming out perfect. The fantasy feels significantly more real. More possible. but even so, I still enjoy reading it. It's not as frustrating to read as realistic fiction is. The characters felt believable even if they frustrated me at times due to how realistic they are. All in all, happy to read this in my de Lint line up.

This book counts for the following challenges: Beat the Backlist, Virtual Mount To Be Read, Personal Newford Challenge, and Library Love. 

Prime Time Parenting by Heather Miller

Title: Prime Time Parenting

Author: Heather Miller

Pages: 216

Finished: February 1, 2020

Summary: Heather Miller, the Director of LePage-Miller, Inc, and education firm based out of New York City, has come up with a two hour schedule that she says will fix all your school-night issues. The book walks through the schedule in great detail. The first half hour, the kids get started on homework while you cook dinner. The second half hour is dinner. Third half hour, kids finish homework while you supervise. For the last half hour, it's bathtime and bedtime with a decent routine. Then, once the kids are in bed at a reasonable hour, it's time for parent only time.

Thoughts: The book is a quick read. Nothing scholarly.

That being said, it's really a lot of common sense with a dash of prioritization. I didn't find any of her ideas earth-shattering or new. I was bothered by the fact that there were no notes or citations within the body of text. In fact, there is a list of citations in the back of the book, but there's no notion of it. And not all of her sources seem particularly credible. I was not all that impressed with her list of resources either.

In the end, like with most parenting books I read, there are some ideas I'll take, and others I'll throw by the wayside. With my firstborn going to school next year, I am aware we'll need to change up our current routine. Add a baby in the mix, and it's nice to have an outline that I can play with rather than having to create something from complete scratch.

That being said, I didn't feel like this book was as groundbreaking as it made itself out to be. But that may be more due to my parenting style than anything else.

This impulse read counts as a Library Love title as I acquired it from the parenting display at work. 

WWW Wednesday

What are you currently reading?

Still plugging away at Anna Karenina. It's not quite 20 minutes a day anymore thanks to a really rough week that threw everything out of whack. I'm enjoying this book far more than I could have ever imagined.

I'm also working on a de Lint novel called Trader about body switching. It's a bit slower of a read than I typically find de Lint to be. Enjoyable, just slow.

I started a parenting book a couple nights ago as well called Prime Time Parenting. It's a little preachy, but I think we could incorporate some of those ideas to make things run more smoothly in our house.

What did you recently finish reading?

I finished The Picture of Dorian Gray last week. It did not sit well at all. Review is here.

Also finished a graphic novel for work called The Queen of the Sea. Not my favorite. Review is here.

What do you think you’ll read next?

I have a second parenting book from the library sitting on my bedside table that I'm looking forward to. Northanger Abbey is also staring at me. The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society is sitting in the hold room at work. I have a week to pick it up, so I'm going to try and get through two other library books before I do so to prevent my pile from getting to unwieldy. Also! Our library just started automatically renewing things! It's as awesome as it sounds. I love it.

Queen of the Sea by Dylan Meconis

Title: Queen of the Sea

Author: Dylan Meconis

Pages: 394

Finished: January 27, 2020

First Sentence: A queen.... does not abandon her people.

Summary: Margaret has spent all her life in the Convent of Elysia on the Island. They're visited twice a year by a ship to get supplies, but otherwise, life is just a quiet day of routine in a convent. But then the ship brings new arrivals - a boy named William, and then years later, a woman named Eleanor. And with these new arrivals comes politics, intrigue, and the threat of prison.

Thoughts: I am working to read more children's literature to be more effective at my job. As a department, we're working to read more diversely and out of our comfort zones. This book is definitely not a book I would typically pick.

First and foremost, it's a graphic novel (or a illustrated hybrid depending on who you talk to). Graphic novels are not my forte. I forget to look at the pictures and then miss half the story. I'm sure if I practiced at it, I'd be better, but I'd rather save my reading brain for classics.

Secondly, the book is historical fiction. I like history. I don't particularly enjoy historical fiction. Particularly kids historical fiction for whatever reason.

But I read it. The story is inspired by the early years after King Henry VIII's son Edward's death and the turmoil of succession that followed. We follow Margaret, a ward of the nuns of Saint Elysia who live on the Island. Margaret is fairly ignorant of what life is like in Albion, but when she gains and then loses a friend, she finds out the Island is really a prison for those the King declares his enemy.

It was... boring. I'm sure there's a middle school who would be all over this, but it was just rough. Firstly, it feels like the book goes through two complete story arcs one after another. First with William, then with Eleanor. I was ready for the book to be over when William left. The intrigue wasn't strong enough for me to really want to keep going.

We don't get to know the nuns that well, but they seem innocuous enough. Margaret is a kid moving into preteen who feels believable to me. But the two main women who we meet are fairly unlikeable. And the nun/guard is evil to the levels of Kai Wynn. I don't mind unlikeable women in novels. Scarlet O'Hara is an example of an unlikeable woman who I actually didn't mind reading about. But this one was hard to really enjoy any of them.

I wonder how much of it was due to the graphic novel nature of the book.

Anyway. Read for work. Would recommend to middle schoolers interested in Tudor England. Could potentially be a read-alike for Redwall depending on what it is someone likes about Redwall. No talking mice, but plenty about convent life.

This book also counts as a LibraryLove Book as I did, in fact, check it out from work.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Author: Oscar Wilde

Pages: 239

Finished: January 22, 2020

First Sentence: The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.

Summary: Basil Haliward paints a beautiful portrait of his new friend Dorian Gray. He also, reluctantly, introduces Dorian Gray to his friend Lord Henry. Upon conversing with Lord Henry, Dorian finds himself not exactly thrilled with the idea of growing up and wishes his soul into the picture. Oddly enough, it happens. Dorian stays young and looks pure forever while his portrait takes on all his sins and aging.

Thoughts: This was not what I thought it was. Not that I can even define what I thought the book was about, but this wasn't quite it. I think I've perhaps been influenced by how he exists in various pop culture.

Also, I'm realizing that if things in my life aren't going well, it bleeds over into what I'm reading. Two days after I started this book, my dog unexpectedly died and the book became the biggest slogfest. Perhaps I should have put it down, but I wanted to finish it for my spin.

So what is it that I objected to?

I think it was the slowness of the book. I knew it had something to do about a painting and that Dorian Gray didn't age but his painting did. I knew there were supposedly some homosexual overtones in it. I knew there was a painter named Basil who was fairly innocent, and who died (primarily because someone played him in an RPG I was in. I played Martha Jones from Doctor Who. She and Basil were good friends and used to drink tea together.) And that's all I knew. I had some vague inkling that he cheated death and kept his painting hidden.

But the amount of time it took for him to discover that the painting held his soul was tedious. Only to be followed by an even more tedious chapter going into great detail of how he spent eighteen years of his life in debauchery. I felt sorry for him in the beginning dealing with Lord Henry and his snake tongue. But the long decent was just... long.

I also had a really difficult time reading pages and pages of misogyny from Lord Henry. What an odious man!

I think my biggest issue with the book is that I don't tend to enjoy books about people's descent into evil. And I didn't have any idea that that was what this book was about. So I was expecting a vaguely fantasy/scifi book where Dorian Gray's soul is in this painting, and instead I watched a man thoroughly corrupt someone else. It wasn't what I signed up for, and it certainly wasn't what I shoudl have been reading just after losing my dog.

I suspect I'll be returning to this book in ten years or so. I feel like it deserves another chance. It's a book I was so excited to read. I was honestly shocked at how incredibly disappointed I was in it.

Book counts for lots of challenges:

Beat the Backlist
Virtual Mount To Be Read
Library Love
Reading Classic Books LGBT+ category (Oscar Wilde may have been gay? Half the research I find says yes, the other half says no. He did have male lovers.)
Back to the Classics: Person's Name in Title (Dorian Gray)
Classics Club AND Current Spin

What We're Reading Wednesday - January 8 edition

I found a book meme that I think I'll try to participate in as part of my motivation for my own reading. It's called What We're Reading Wednesday hosted here. Don't know that I'll participate every week, but it seems fun. All you have to do is answer the following three easy questions.  

What are you currently reading?

I'm currently working my way through Anna Karenina at 20 minutes a day + one sentence summary per chapter. This book has been on my Classic Club list since I started it, but I've been terrified to start it due to it's doorstop nature and the fact that it's Russian. For some reason, I feel like giant, Russian literature is always on those, "Books you should read but no one does" lists. I have to say, at 20 minutes a day, it's been quite enjoyable. The book itself is fairly easy. I have no issue summarizing what I read, nor do I feel like I'm spacing out as I read it. Of course, little has happened as of yet. In fact, I have yet to meet the title character. But I'm excited to continue!

What did you recently finish reading?
Uprooted by Naomi Novik. This was right in my wheelhouse. Review is here. It was nice to start the year off with a book that enjoyable.


What do you think you’ll read next?
I'm starting Picture of Dorian Gray tonight. I also have a de Lint novel and an Austen novel stacked on my nightstand and The Geurnsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society coming to me via ILL, so I've plenty of material in the upcoming weeks.