I didn't get through a huge number of books in February, but everything I did read was from either my to-read list or my at home to-read stack, so I'm fairly pleased with my progress. Along with the list below, I've also been slowly working my way through the nearly 1,000 page The Time Traveler's Almanac short story collection.
A Hat Full of Sky - Terry Pratchett (2004)
"Knowing things is magical, if other people don't know them."
This book is the second in the Discworld Tiffany Aching story line. Like its predecessor, it deals with serious themes like death and loss blended skillfully with Pratchett's signature wry humor. I've really liked the Tiffany Aching books so far, although I'm planning on putting reading more on hold until I get through some of the Guards story line.
Note that while the Tiffany Aching books are YA, this particular book seemed a little on the heavy/scary side for that genre.
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists &
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab - Gideon Defoe (2003 & 2004)
"Life at sea was tough and unforgiving, and tensions could run quite high on board a pirate boat, especially when crockery was limited and people didn't always do their washing-up, but generally the pirates all got along fine."
I started reading this two-in-one paperback right after re-watching Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance and re-riding Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride, so I was in the perfect frame of mind for these silly adventures. The Pirates! books are pirating spoofs with some history and footnote-facts thrown in. Overall, they're fun, not-to-be-taken-seriously reads.
Related Reads:
My Lady's Choosing (Curran & Zageris)
Reading People - Anne Bogel (2017)
"The point isn't to try to trap you in those boxes; it's to organize your behavior in a way that makes sense and helps you understand how the pieces work together, how to find them when you need them, and how to put them to work in pursuit of your best self."
The chapters of this book contain overviews of nine different personality frameworks, including (but not limited to) Keirsey's Temperament Test, The Five Love Languages, and StrengthsFinder. Although I was familiar with most of these, Bogel's overview helped me understand some aspects of the tests themselves better, figure out why I struggled with getting accurate results on some of them, and narrow down some things about myself that I had struggled with putting into words before. And even though there was a lot of reinforcing of old information rather than presenting a lot of new stuff for me, reading things like the overview of a Highly Sensitive Person (which I've known I definitely am) and how that might affect daily life was validating and a good resource to show others.
I would recommend Reading People to anyone who's interested in learning more about personality-type tests and exploring how they can use the gained knowledge to their advantage in daily life. The book is both a good beginning for someone who's never taken any test and a helpful overview even for those who have some familiarity.
Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings - Shirley Jackson (2015)
"I am tired of writing dainty little biographical things that pretend that i am a trim little housewife in a Mother Hubbard stirring up appetizing messes over a wood stove.
I live in a dank old place with a ghost that stomps around in the attic room we've never gone into (I think it's walled up), and the first thing I did when we moved in was to make charms in black crayon on all the door sills and window ledges to keep out demons, and was successful in the main."
This collection of previously-unpublished pieces by late author Shirley Jackson (The Lottery, We Have Always Lived in the Castle) is both a decent introduction to Jackson for the uninitiated, and essential reading for the Jackson fan. Due to their unpublished nature, many of the short stories in particular have an unfinished or incomplete feel, but they nevertheless make for good reading. The reader will come away from this collection with a sense of knowing Shirley Jackson as a person as well as an author.
A Hat Full of Sky - Terry Pratchett (2004)
"Knowing things is magical, if other people don't know them."
This book is the second in the Discworld Tiffany Aching story line. Like its predecessor, it deals with serious themes like death and loss blended skillfully with Pratchett's signature wry humor. I've really liked the Tiffany Aching books so far, although I'm planning on putting reading more on hold until I get through some of the Guards story line.
Note that while the Tiffany Aching books are YA, this particular book seemed a little on the heavy/scary side for that genre.
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists &
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab - Gideon Defoe (2003 & 2004)
"Life at sea was tough and unforgiving, and tensions could run quite high on board a pirate boat, especially when crockery was limited and people didn't always do their washing-up, but generally the pirates all got along fine."
I started reading this two-in-one paperback right after re-watching Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance and re-riding Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride, so I was in the perfect frame of mind for these silly adventures. The Pirates! books are pirating spoofs with some history and footnote-facts thrown in. Overall, they're fun, not-to-be-taken-seriously reads.
Related Reads:
My Lady's Choosing (Curran & Zageris)
Reading People - Anne Bogel (2017)
"The point isn't to try to trap you in those boxes; it's to organize your behavior in a way that makes sense and helps you understand how the pieces work together, how to find them when you need them, and how to put them to work in pursuit of your best self."
The chapters of this book contain overviews of nine different personality frameworks, including (but not limited to) Keirsey's Temperament Test, The Five Love Languages, and StrengthsFinder. Although I was familiar with most of these, Bogel's overview helped me understand some aspects of the tests themselves better, figure out why I struggled with getting accurate results on some of them, and narrow down some things about myself that I had struggled with putting into words before. And even though there was a lot of reinforcing of old information rather than presenting a lot of new stuff for me, reading things like the overview of a Highly Sensitive Person (which I've known I definitely am) and how that might affect daily life was validating and a good resource to show others.
I would recommend Reading People to anyone who's interested in learning more about personality-type tests and exploring how they can use the gained knowledge to their advantage in daily life. The book is both a good beginning for someone who's never taken any test and a helpful overview even for those who have some familiarity.
Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings - Shirley Jackson (2015)
"I am tired of writing dainty little biographical things that pretend that i am a trim little housewife in a Mother Hubbard stirring up appetizing messes over a wood stove.
I live in a dank old place with a ghost that stomps around in the attic room we've never gone into (I think it's walled up), and the first thing I did when we moved in was to make charms in black crayon on all the door sills and window ledges to keep out demons, and was successful in the main."
This collection of previously-unpublished pieces by late author Shirley Jackson (The Lottery, We Have Always Lived in the Castle) is both a decent introduction to Jackson for the uninitiated, and essential reading for the Jackson fan. Due to their unpublished nature, many of the short stories in particular have an unfinished or incomplete feel, but they nevertheless make for good reading. The reader will come away from this collection with a sense of knowing Shirley Jackson as a person as well as an author.
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