Number9Dream by David Mitchell

Title: Number9Dream

Author: David Mitchell

Pages: 400

Finished: February 28, 2018

First Sentence: "We are both busy people, so let's cut the small talk."

Summary: Eiji Miyake travels from his rural Japanese village to Tokoyo ostensibly to find his father. What follows is an intense, and sometimes very disturbing journey that one can't always tell if it's real or not.

Thoughts: Guys, I was really looking forward to reading these because I enjoyed Cloud Atlas and Slade House so much. So far, I'm not feeling so great about these first two books. I'm going to give it two more books before I make a decision though.

Ultimately, the constant switching back and forth from dreams to reality was just tough for me. It made the actual reality hard to decipher, which was probably the point. But then, the Yakuza chapters? Seriously, don't read this book while eating. Just... don't. The whole book was very surreal. I suppose a book with the word dream in the title would be surreal. But woah.

Mr. Subhataar, a seriously repulsive character from Ghostwritten shows up in this novel. And Mitchell name checks his next book Cloud Atlas in one of the latter chapters.

Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Title: Glinda of Oz

Author: L. Frank Baum

Pages: 283

Finished: February 19, 2018

First Sentence: Glinda, the good Sorceress of Oz, sat in the grand court of her palace, surrounded by her maids of honor—a hundred of the most beautiful girls of the Fairyland of Oz.

Summary: Upon finding out that the Flatheads and the Skeezers are on teh brink of war, Ozma and Dorothy travel to the northern border of their country to stop it. However, neither the Su-Dic or Queen Coo-ee-oh are interested in stopping the war. Sadly, Ozma and Dorothy are imprisoned in the Skeezer dome when the war goes poorly, and it's up to Glinda to rescue them.

Thoughts: So many thoughts on this book. As a kid, I was unaware of the order Baum wrote these books, and so I read this one after reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I remember it so well: Queen Coo-ee-oh, the Flatheads, the Three Adepts. Because of that, I felt way more nostalgic than I did for many of the ones in the middle.

At the beginning of his 13 previous books, Baum wrote a letter to his readers. Sadly, he died before this book was published, and the letter was written by the publishers. It's a sweet, though sad letter. I teared up while reading it. In the letter, the publishers promise two other books because they found the notes to them. That being said, this book felt like a fitting culmination of the series. Every single character that has shown up in the series made an appearance in this book to help in the end.

The three Adepts and the idea of the Krumbic witch show up in the Wicked series by Gregory Macguire.

Notes on the series as a whole: Reading level is probably precocious 3rd grade to 6th grade. That being said, I don't know how many 3rd to 6th graders would appreciate this series. It's a bit sweet. Completely different from how children's books are written now. Also, the conflicts are resolved very quickly, and in ways that aren't entirely believable to older kids. However, I really think that Kindergarten to 2nd graders would enjoy listening to these. Particularly because a parent can explain how continuity in series wasn't really a thing when Baum was writing these books. I think these books do play a role in our literature still. Dorothy and Ozma (and Trot and Betsy Bobbin) are strong female characters, which is impressive for books in the 1900s. As annoying as I found many of the books in this series, I will be reading them to my child when she gets older.

This is the last book in the Wizard of Oz challenge.

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma

Title: The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared

Author: Alice Ozma

Pages: 279

Finished: February 15, 2018

First Sentence: It started on a train.

Summary: This memoir tells about Alice's life with her father around the framework of their promise that he'll read to her every night.

Thoughts: This book has been in my sights since around 2012. I was a shelver then, and this book caught my eye while I was putting away non-fiction books. The flyleaf looked interesting, and I filed the title away. This year, while browsing the 000s for a book to add to my non-fiction challenge, I rediscovered this book. I very excitedly checked it out and brought it home.

I was disappointed.

I expected to learn more about the books and the whole reading nightly thing. My dad read to us nightly up until I was in around middle school. We stopped primarily because there just wasn't time to do it anymore between dance practice, piano lessons, flute lessons, tons of homework... I was really looking forward to learning about their tradition. Perhaps the issue is that one can't really delve into too much detail about this because it'll get boring fast.

Instead, the book really is a memoir about growing up with her father. Her father was a school librarian. It sounds like he was a very good librarian. He definitely knew the importance of reading aloud to kids (and adults). How important it was. And he was a feminist, which I think was really awesome. He read a ton of books with strong female characters which is so important.

But something didn't work. I think part of it is that it's hard to bring other people into your life without them judging it against theirs. Obviously her family worked for her, but it felt wrong to me. I found myself aghast at some things. How could she be talking about this like it was normal and okay? Perhaps that's a failing on my part, but I didn't particularly like the father, and I didn't feel the connection with the narrator that I expected to feel.

The two best things I can say about this book is it's quick to read, and they provide a list of the books they read in the back. Other than that, it's very skippable.

Read for my Nonfiction challenge.

The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

Title: The Song of the Lark

Author: Willa Cather

Pages: 417

Finished: February 13, 2018

First Sentence: Dr. Howard Archie had just come up from a game of pool with the Jewish clothier and two traveling men who happened to be staying overnight in Moonstone.

Summary: Thea, an accomplished musician, grows up in the small town of Moonstone. When a childhood friend dies and leaves her some money, she goes to Chicago to study piano. There she discovers her voice and decides to pursue the career of an opera singer.

Thoughts: Guys, I really thought I was going to like this one. I was so excited for it! I've been playing piano for 25 years. I sing (thought not operatically). I studied music in school. And it was... lackluster. I guess I thought I'd really relate to Thea. I didn't. I really liked her in the beginning when she realized she was good and she was trying to get there. I also really liked how she spent time with those who were different from her, though it wasn't really out of goodheartedness. But as she got older, I just found her more and more obnoxious.

I did think it was interesting how all her friends were men. There's a bit of Scarlet O'Hara in her. And I will admit, I was really pleased for her at the end when she ended up being very successful! Go Thea.

I wish her name had been something else. I can't tell you the number of times my brain either dropped the 'a' in her name or changed it to "there." So many confusing sentences that I had to reread. I'm sure that's primarily because it's a name we just don't see anymore.

I wish I had more to say about this book, but I'm fairly apathetic about the whole thing. Read for Back to the Classics Challenge. 

The House that Jane Built by Tanya Lee Stone

Lovely little non-fiction picture book about Jane Addams and her work founding Hull House in Chicago.

I did a report on Jane Addams in middle school, but I honestly don't remember much of anything from it. She was a remarkable lady. Nice bit of Chicago history.

Stick Dog by Tom Watson

Title: Stick Dog

Author: Tom Watson

Pages: 189

Finished: February 3, 2018

First Sentence: This is Stick Dog.

Summary: Stick Dog loves food. Stick Dog is also very smart. His friends also love food, but they are not so smart. This is the story about how they all get hamburgers.

Thoughts: Silly book. Quick read. Lots of pictures. Definitely a great recommendation for reluctant readers who see lots of words on a page and freak out. 

February Reads

Moonwalking with Einstein by Josua Foer (Work Challenge)

Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Wizard of Oz Challenge)

The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (Back to the Classics Challenge)

number9dream by David Mitchell (Personal Challenge)

The Knot Bridesmaid Handbook (for a wedding I'm in)  NO REVIEW

Dash by Kirby Larson (Bluestem Challenge)

A Blind Guide to Stinkville by Beth Vrabel (Bluestem Challenge)

Stick Dog by Tom Watson (Bluestem Challenge)

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma (Non-fiction Challenge)

Guys! I totally finished last month's ginormous stack of books! This month doesn't look all that much smaller to be honest. However, the vast majority of these are children's books that promise to be quick reads. Also, this month will finish my Wizard of Oz challenge. I hope to not look at these books again until I start reading them aloud to my child some day.

I will not be doing a Bluestem or a Caudill challenge again. We made a decision at our last staff meeting that everyone would only be assigned two or three books instead. I may still listen to a number of them, but otherwise, I'm thrilled to not have to take up so much time on what's essentially assigned reading.