February 2018 Reads Part 2

(continued from Part 1)

The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick: Selected Literary and Philosophical Writings (1995)
(edited by Lawrence Sutin)
"But I have never had too high a regard for what is generally called "reality." Reality, to me, is not so much something that you perceive, but something you make. You create it more rapidly than it creates you. Man is the reality God created out of the dust; God is the reality man creates continually out of his own passions, his own determination."

This collection includes (along with a helpful introduction and brief context-notes for each section by the editor) a variety of pieces by Philip K. Dick: speeches, autobiographical writings, science fiction essays, plot ideas, and excerpts from Exegesis, his collection of writings about the inexplicable spiritual events he experienced throughout his adult life.

Perhaps surprisingly to those looking for a strictly SciFi collection, the collection of writings here is pretty philosophy-heavy as a whole. PKD references a number of philosophers (Spinoza, Kant, Xenophanes)  as he's parsing out his own thoughts on God and life in general throughout his essays, so it's helpful to have at least a brief background on general philosophy. He also references his own works throughout (probably most heavily The Man in the High Castle and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, though Ubik gets a good amount of space, too), so it's helpful to have read at least his key works.

So, on the whole: read this if you're interested in learning more about PKD's worldview (politically, spiritually, and otherwise) and background into his stories, or if you just want to broaden your understanding of SciFi writers of the 70's and 80's and stretch your mind a little bit by reading more about concepts of time and reality.

The Polygamist's Daughter - Anna LeBaron (2017)
"According to my father, lawbreaking and lawlessness were justified because the US government and culture were both corrupt. The disciples who followed him were God's chosen people, which meant that we could go outside the normal bounds of rules and regulations. The ends justified the means. Although at times I was worried about getting caught stealing, I kept my concerns to myself."

I've read a number of books by ex-FLDS women over the years, but this one stands out a little bit for a few reasons. Unlike most other published books that deal with the specific, larger sect of Warren Jeffs (the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints Church), The Polygamist's Daughter is about a different Fundamentalist Mormon offshoot sect started by the LeBaron family (the Church of the Firstborn of the Lamb of God).

Author Anna LeBaron's mother was one of the 13 wives of sect leader Ervil LeBaron. This book is an autobiography in the fullest sense, charting Anna's life and experiences from as early as she can remember to present day. Though Anna only saw her father a few times before he died in prison, his larger-than-life personality and psychological hold is a constant overshadowing presence throughout her life.

Though I found the writing style a little simplistic (though I'm not sure how much I can fault this, since much of the book is being told from a young child's perspective), the book is interesting and eye-opening in regards to cults as a whole. Anna details her long recovery from cult mentality with admirable frankness, crediting time, therapists, God, and close friends.

I'll add a footnote to say that Anna, through some of her other relatives, got involved with Fundamentalist Christian organizations (including Bill Gothard's IBLP teachings) after leaving the FLDS church. She doesn't note what particular denominations or organizations she's currently a part of, but she does make it clear that she considers her Christian faith an integral part of her life, escape, and recovery from the spiritual abuse and the plethora of other things she dealt with as part of her father's church.

Related Reads:
Under the Banner of Heaven (Krakauer)
Stolen Innocence (Wall)
Church of Lies (Jessop)
My Story (Smart)

A History of Food in 100 Recipes - William Sitwell (2012)
"Only now are we once again yearning to preserve fruit and pickle vegetables. Many today even dream of keeping a pig, yet where it once was for necessity, now it is for flavor and fun, in sharp contrast to the Victorian age in which presentation was everything and the showy trifle, however tasty, simply vulgar." p.185

I'll note up front that though this book starts off each chapter with a recipe, it's not a cookbook. Many of the recipes included (especially the early ones) aren't at all exact, and their purpose is more to illustrate certain things about the given time period and culture than to be an example of something you should make at home. And many of the recipes are chosen because they showcase certain contemporary inventions, like the gas oven, the self-serve grocery store, and TV cooking shows.

A History of Food is really quite interesting, although I felt that it had a bit of a slow start and that the author's writing style (casual British humor interspersed with some grammatical errors) was a little hard to get used to. Sitwell traces food  and food culture throughout history and tells a broader story of how we got to where we are. If you're into food and/or history, this book will become your new Kryptonite.

Related Reads:
Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome (Apicuis)
The Apprentice (Pepin)

Embroideries - Marjane Satrapi (2005)
"To speak behind other's backs is the ventilator of the heart."

This book is basically an offshoot of the Persepolis graphic novels, taking place around the time that Satrapi arrived back in Iran after living in Austria as a teenager. In this short graphic novel, Satrapi's female relatives and family friends gather around and share their (and other's) stories related to love, marriage, and sex. Though it's generally lighthearted in tone, the medium is used to discuss difficult things (i.e. child marriage, FGM, husbands cheating) in an unexpected way.

This book isn't by any means a necessary addition if you've read Persepolis, but it does help add an extra layer of understanding to Satrapi's overall culture and story.

The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas (2017)
"Funny how it works with white kids though. It’s dope to be black until it’s hard to be black."

This is a well-written and necessary book. It's realistic, it's uncomfortable, and Thomas uses her easy-to-read prose to dig into difficult-to-discuss issues.

I often have several qualms when reading YA books, but here the main issue I had was that some themes were spelled out a little too obviously in direct conversations/exposition.

Related Reads:
The Sun is Also a Star (Yoon)
Between the World and Me (Coates)

L. M. Montgomery Short Stories, 1897-1901
"When she came out they started off, and presently found themselves walking down a grassy, deep-rutted lane that ran through mown hay fields, green with their rich aftergrowth, and the sheets of pale ripening oats and golden-green wheat, until it lost itself in the rolling sand hills at the foot of the slope."

This is the earliest of  L. M. Montgomery's short story collections (and available, like the others, for free on Kindle). Compared to the few later collections that I've read, the stories here seem slightly more simplistic and less refined. Generally, the stories hold to the "soothing, harmless" descriptors that I used for my last Montgomery review. Everything is wrapped up tidily and happily in the end, and bursts of nature-descriptions and large-eyed, pale heroines abound.

However, this particular collection surprised me by having a couple of things to take pause at, namely, a rather nasty sentence containing a few racial pejoratives ("squaws" and "half-breed" women being contrasted unfavorably with apparently more-beautiful-by-default white women), and a story ending with a romantically-portrayed suicide.

February 2018 Reads Part 1

Though it was a short month and I've been working more hours, I packed in a good variety of books in February, including Marjane Satrapi's three graphic novels. I also picked up a couple of things by Ursula Le Guin that I hadn't read before, brought to the forefront of my list due to her death on January 22.

Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories - Agatha Christie
"Hercule Poirot sat on the white sand and looked out across the sparkling blue water. He was carefully dressed in a dandified fashion in white flannels and a large panama hat protected his head. He belonged to the old-fashioned generation which believed in covering itself carefully from the sun."

This collection includes over 50 short stories featuring that famous detective, M. Poirot. I've seen the entire TV series starring David Suchet (highly recommended), so I was already familiar with most of the stories here. But they were still quite enjoyable and occasionally surprising reads. With its easily-digestible stories (of varying lengths), this is an ideal collection for both fans and newbies of mystery stories to peruse on rainy afternoons.

Related Reads:
Agatha Christie's Miss Marple books
The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes (Doyle)

Unafraid: Moving Beyond Fear-Based Faith - Benjamin L. Corey (2017)
"So we have a choice: we can stay in these systems of false binaries and remain loyal to Christian labels, settle into groupthink, and submit to the pressures of tribalism. Or we can step out into a world that is far more difficult to define with word or categories."

On the whole, I felt that this book was a bit simplistic and repetitive, and I was a little disappointed that the author didn't seem to use many sources to back up his thoughts. This was kind of a shame, because I didn't necessarily disagree with what Corey was saying - it just felt like this was more of a series of opinion posts at times rather than a carefully researched book. I also think that the lack of sources and the emphasis on feelings would be a hard thing to get over for some of Corey's intended audience.

I'd still say that the book comes across as a heartfelt, personal journey that I (and probably lot of people who also come from Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christian backgrounds) could relate to and reflect on. The author's honesty about his struggles (particularly a point where his therapist had him do an exercise where he addressed God as if addressing someone who he'd had a toxic relationship with) was refreshing.

Related Reads:
In the Grip of Grace (Lucado)
Jesus Feminist (Bessey)

Persepolis and Persepolis 2 - Marjane Satrapi (2003 & 2004)
''That night I stayed a very long time in the bath. I wanted to know what it felt like to be in a cell filled with water.
My hands were wrinkled when I came out, like Grandpa's."

Persopolis is a graphic novel about the author's childhood in Iran. I was going to note that it's not for young kids, but it simultaneously hit me that the author lived through the events portrayed (including her exposures to war, relatives being tortured, and extremist ideologies) as a young child.

The followup novel picks up immediately where the first left off and details Satrapi's teen years in Austria as well as her return to Iran and the difficult adjustments that she experiences. Like the first book, the tone is generally that of discussing her life and opinions with a friend.

Both novels end fairly abruptly, but I can't really fault that as that'ss true-to-life, too. The first book is more history-heavy, but both books are compelling and poignant and really worth the read - they won't take long to finish, but will sit in your mind for a while.

Related Reads:
Reading Lolita in Tehran (Nafisi)
Day of Honey (Ciezadlo)

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin (1969) 
(my version: 1976 with author introduction)
"The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next."

This is a slow-building, political, introspective story. The Left Hand of Darkness is perhaps best known for its ahead-of-its time take on gender; the alien people on the planet Winter are ambisexual, and the human main character struggles to see them as such (falling back on the pronoun "he" and becoming confused or even disgusted at signs of "femininity"). Much of the book is a slow build towards his - the Envoy's - growing understanding of the people and world around him.

Le Guin is known for really fleshing out worlds and societies in her novels, and this book is no exception. The focus here is much more on descriptors, world-building, and defining terms; there are even interspersing chapters that contain Winter's oral traditions and history. Thus, to me the book had the feeling of a fantasy novel at times, though as a whole it's fairly firmly in the science fiction category. 

Quiet, powerful, reflective, and slow-paced, this book won't be for everyone, but it's rewarding for those who appreciate the genre and tone. Once in a while, I check out a book from the library that I wish I'd purchased so I could spend more time in introspection with it. This is one of those books.

Related Reads:

Ancillary Justice Trilogy (Lecke)

The Sparrow (Russell)

The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Le Guin (1971)

"A machine is more blameless, more sinless even than any animal. It has no intentions whatsoever but our own."

This is a contemporary novel that deals primarily with the concept of time. It felt very similar to the Philip K. Dick novels that I've read, particularly in its way of pushing the boundaries on certain concepts and in the way the imperfect characters are portrayed. At the same time, it's not a difficult read.

I recommend reading this if you're a fan of Philip K. Dick novels (or reading PKD novels if you like this book). As a side note, I found it particularly interesting parsing out the similarities and differences between the authors as to how they dealt with certain subjects, as Le Guin was an avowed atheist and Dick (who had deeply personal spiritual experiences throughout his life - more on this in Part 2) considered himself a theist.

Related Reads:

Martian Time-slip (Dick)

The Man in the High Castle (Dick)

(Continued in Part 2)

January 2018 reads part 2

(Continued from Part 1)

Writers Gone Wild: The Feuds, Frolics, and Follies of Literature's Great Adventurers, Drunkards, Lovers, Iconoclasts, and Misanthropes - Bill Perschel (2010)
"When Richard Burbidge was playing the lead in Shakespeare's Richard III, he arranged an assignation with a lady for after the performance. Shakespeare heard about it, got there first, and seduced her. When Burbidge arrived and sent word up that her Richard III had arrived, Shakespeare sent a message back that William the Conqueror came first."

This book is basically what the subtitle says: short blurbs about the various deeds and misdeeds of authors, arranged loosely by type in chapters. I thought it would be a fun read - and at times, it was - but a number of the incidents veer towards the serious or depressing rather than fun. All in all, while a little funny or interesting at times, the collection felt somewhat voyeuristic and thus sort of uncomfortable to read. It might be an interesting coffee-table or road-trip read, but I'd recommend just checking out full-on biographies on authors of interest if you're looking for interesting facts on certain figures.

Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself - Melody Beattie (1992[2nd ed.])
"Overinvolvement of any sort can keep us in a state of chaos; it can keep the people around us in a state of chaos. If we're focusing all our energies on people and problems, we have little left for the business of living our own lives." 

This is an easy-to-read, widely-applicable self-help book. There are activities and exercises throughout that help the reader really think through and absorb what's being said, and I appreciated that the author encourages community through going to supportive meetings and/or therapy.

The author is obviously a fan of 12-step programs, and her advice, though widely applicable, is written in the frame of having an alcoholic/addict in your life. Thus, if your situation is different or if you're not a fan of 12-step programs like AA, you'll have to do a little mental work to separate that out. Overall, though I'd recommend this book to just about anyone, especially those who have a "difficult person" in their lives.

Related Reads:
Boundaries (Cloud & Townsend)

Kiss Every Step: A Survivor's Memoir from the Nazi Holocaust - Doris Martin (2009)
"I got a chilling reminder of how my life hung by a thread when, one morning, Mrs. Unucka informed me that in the middle of the night she had overheard me talking in my sleep. She couldn't understand what I was saying, but it sounded like some language other than Polish. Oh, my God! I had never expected this... All of my self-training to speak only Polish had not converted into my unconscious mind, which still operated in Yiddish, and I was in grave danger of discovery even in my sleep."

I actually briefly met the author of Kiss Every Step a year or two back at a Barnes and Noble book signing where I picked up my copy. This book was surprisingly better than I thought it would be - I didn't have terribly high expectations as it's a self-published book. Though there are some scattered typos throughout, it's well-written and well-organized as a whole.

All in all, this is a good example of a compiled family history, and its unflinching and detailed accounts from Martin and some of her family members make it worthy of being more well-known and widely-read.

Related Reads:
The Hiding Place (ten Boom)

The Sentinel [Short Stories] - Arthur C. Clarke (1983)
"But Captain Saunders, like all spacemen, was fundamentally a romantic. Even on a milk run like this he would sometimes dream of the ringed glory of Saturn or the somber Neptunian wastes, lit by the distant fires of the shrunken sun."

I'd started this book a few times in the past, but had never got past the first few stories. The stories included here (10 of them, if you include Clarke's introduction/biography) span Clarke's career, from the 40's to the 70's, and all include brief blurbs by author that I found helpful.

I haven't read any of Clarke's novels yet, so it'd be interesting to compare the short stories I've read so far with his other works. While I didn't love all the stories included in this volume (and I probably would've preferred to read his stories in a larger anthology with a greater mix of authors and types), I still found it interesting to read through the collection. I'd call this a good choice for anyone who's a fan of Clarke's, and/or anyone who's interested in how Science Fiction morphed through the 40's to the 80's.

Related Reads:
The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories

January 2018 Reads part 1

New year, new books! I'm still using Goodreads, but I'm planning on posting my thoughts here as well for the time being. And I have a large stack of to-be-read books that has built up over time at home that I'm going to try to be working through throughout the next few months, so some of this month's choices will reflect that.

A Darker Shade of Magic - Schwab (2015)
"That was the thing about magic. It was everywhere. In everything. In everyone. And while it coursed like a low and steady pulse, through the air and the earth, it beat louder in the bodies of living things. And if Kell tried - if he reached - he could feel it. It was a sense, not as strong as sight or sound or smell, but there all the same, its presence now drifting toward him from the shadows across the street."

First, the good: At its best, A Darker Shade of Magic is a stripped-down fantasy that warrants comparison to some Neal Gaiman novels (high praise indeed!). It drew me in immediately, and I felt the world-building and explanations made sense without overburdening the reader with lots of explanation and exposition. I loved the concept of the different Londons, the magical items described, and the colorful scenes and characters dotted throughout.

However, I had some issues with the book. There was something of a YA feel to it that kept cropping up in tone and in the way the characters were portrayed (a little too heavy on the descriptors for character appearance, for one). There was a dark feeling to the blood-linked magic in the book, which I didn't necessarily dislike, but I didn't care for the (sometimes seemingly purposeless) cruelty of the various antagonists in the book. And I liked the tie-ins with the real world (the mad King George III, for instance) but felt a little cheated out of reading more of that. In the end, I was left with the feeling of wanting to like this book a little more than I did.

Overall, the book is clever rather than surprising or brilliant, and it's a generally solid pick for those who like darker-toned, realism-tinged fantasy, and I'm planning on reading at least the next book in the trilogy.

Related Reads:
Neverwhere (Gaiman)
A Court of Thorns and Roses (Maas)
Howl's Moving Castle (Jones)

More Soviet Science Fiction - forward by Isaac Asimov (1952)
"But we could put it this way, too: man's conquest of space, his knowledge of the Universe, clashed with the primitive thinking of the individualistic property-owner. The future and the very life of humanity hung in the balance for years before progress triumphed and mankind joined into one family in a classless society. Before that happened people in the capitalistic half of the world refused for a long time to see any new paths into the future and regarded their mode of life as eternal and unchanging, with war and self-destruction as man's inevitable lot."

I picked up this random little book from my late cousin's large SciFi collection over a year ago. There are five rather long short stories included here, as well as an enlightening forward by Isaac Asimov. I found the included stories a little on the dull side generally, but still intriguing as a whole due to the specific Soviet worldview and school of thought displayed throughout.

For me, the thought of what else was going on in the USSR during the time that these stories were written (the Gulag labor camps, for instance) was particularly striking and sobering. Read this to round out your knowledge of both earlier Science Fiction and 20th century Russian history and political thought.

Related Reads:
The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Solzhenitsyn)

Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance - Ruth Emmie Lang (2017)
"Two weeks later, I wore a coat for the first time that year. Fall had made its presence known in the form of wet, earthy smells and shivering tree limbs shedding leaves in various shades of exotic cat. I walked to school that morning, listening to the crisp sounds that punctuated each one of my footfalls and the honks of geese flying overhead. I found it strange that there could be so much beauty in the death of all these living things. Maybe it was only beautiful because we knew they would be resurrected next spring."

I didn't actually care too much for this book, which was somewhat of a surprise and disappointment to me. I can't say I really disliked it, nor do my lukewarm feelings stem from the format of the different voices throughout the chapters (I actually thought the format was fitting and found that I related especially to one or two of the particular storytellers). I think I just was expecting something a bit different than what the story ended up actually being - maybe I was looking a little too hard for mystery and magic and missing general overall themes (misfits, choices, family, fate). But I wasn't in love with the writing style or tone, either. I'm left with feeling like this is a more average book than I was expecting, but a bit of a loss explaining exactly why. Maybe that's as good of an overview-thought as any.

Related Reads:
Maniac Magee (Spinelli)

(Continued in Part 2)

2017 Overview and Favorites

(List of all books read in 2017 here; personal Goodreads 2017 overview here)

In October of 2017, I started using Goodreads and cross-posting my reviews there. While I've liked using Goodreads overall so far (I love having the visual representation of what I've read, and it's a great way to keep track of books I want to read), I've struggled a little bit with the 5 star rating system.

In terms of what I read in 2017, I was a little surprised to look back and find that I'd read a lot more male than female authors this year (about 3/4 male, 1/4 female). I think this was largely because I finally started getting into Terry Pratchett's Discworld books and reading L. A. Meyer's entire Bloody Jack series. However, it was also interesting to me that my 2017 favorites list is split about 50/50 male/female. I'll note also that it was particularly hard for me to narrow down a list of top picks for this past year, partially because the subject matters and genres of what I read over the year was pretty varied.

All that said, here are some of the stand-out reads for me in 2017 (in no particular order). Links are to the post with the original review.

Gilead - Marilynne Robinson
Beautiful, immersive, lyrical. This was both a relaxing read with some surprisingly heavy interwoven discussion of religion. It ticks my history-buff box, too.

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
This was my "bridge" book between Gaiman (I'd previously read almost all of his books) and Pratchett (this being first thing of his I'd read).  I really enjoy the humor of both authors.With my background of being raised in strict Christian Fundamentalism, I've found it's taken me quite a long time to get comfortable reading books that discuss magic, witches, and/or religion. This book happens to contain a mix of all of the above. But it's brilliantly done, with just the right balance of humor and irreverence. This was one of the books that my husband read this year as well.

Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett
This was the first Discworld novel I picked up, and (though there have been some close contenders) it's remained my overall favorite of the dozen or so that I've read so far. I really appreciated the female-heavy character cast of the Witches storyline. We'll see if my opinion of this as the favorite holds as I read more Discworld books in 2018.

It's Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool, Too) - Nora Purmort
There Is No Good Card for This - Kelsey Crowe & Emily McDowell
Both of these are essential reads for people who are going through a difficult life event (or who know someone that is). Not only do the two of these books come across as accessible and down-to-earth, they also offer practical advice.

The Little Friend - Donna Tartt
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
So, first off: these were both very long and admittedly imperfect books. I wouldn't label either of them as satisfying, and there were actually portions of each that I didn't enjoy that much (for varying reasons). But despite this, I found both books very worthwhile journeys with pieces of truly stunning prose. The focus in both of these works is on the journey, not the destination. Though I'd have to recommend both these books with caveats, I'd be remiss in leaving them off my favorites list.

My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell
Durrell's book is an exercise in lovely writing and stuffed full of the wonder and beauty of nature as seen through the eyes of a child. I wanted this memoir to go on and on.

Narconomics - Tom Wainwright
A thorough, eye-opening analysis of the drug trade. Though it doesn't feel entirely even, I was pleasantly surprised by the author's writing style, and I feel like it's an almost necessary read in today's political climate.


Bonus: Runner-ups (these may not have quite as wide-spread appeal as the above books, but they still stood out to me personally)

The Mint - T. E. Lawrence
T.E. Lawrence is one of my favorite historical figures, and I was excited just to get my hands on this book. An excellent, deeply personal read to round out your knowledge of Lawrence, the RAF, and WWI.

The History of Hell - Alice K. Turner
A thought-provoking, in-depth look at the history of the underworld as we perceive it today.

Deep Secret - Diana Wynne Jones
A little strange, a little quirky, and more than a little British. Unexpectedly good.

December 2017 Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)

Birds, Beasts, and Relatives - Gerald Durrell (1969)
"One day we had one of those freak storms when the sky turned blue-black and the lightning fretted a silver filigree across it. And then came the rain - great, fat, heavy drops, as warm as blood. When the storm had passed, the sky had been washed to the clear blue of a hedge-sparrow's egg and the damp earth sent out wonderfully rich, almost gastronomic smells as of fruit-cake or plum pudding; and the olive trunks steamed as the rain was dried off them by the sun, each trunk looking as though it were on fire."

This is another lovely book from Durrell, taking place concurrently with his first (My Family and Other Animals). Like its predecessor, its writing style is lyrical and beautifully descriptive, it's generally humorous and light, and it captures a sense of childlike joy and wonder as the author describes his childhood years of exploring the Greek island that he called home.

I do feel that this offering is little less kid-friendly than the previous book due to a few situations; namely, the main character inadvertently stumbling upon and witnessing a neighbor give birth, a (humorously portrayed) seance, a lengthy scene involving drunken house guests, and some scattered cursing. There are also a few of-the-time-period pejoratives (a few things in nature likened to an "oriental face," and a visiting gay friend of Durrell's adult brother described by the brother as "homo" and "queer").

Related Reads:
(See review for My Family and Other Animals)

Her Privates We - Frederic Manning (1929)
"Death, of course, like chastity, admits no degree; a man is dead or not dead, and a man is just as dead by one means as by another; but it is infinitely more horrible and revolting to see a man shattered and eviscerated, than to see him shot."

Her Privates We is based on the author's experiences fighting in WWI. Written in surprisingly refined prose, the book is an illustration of both the physical and psychological aspects of war - the dehumanization, the impossibility of coping with sudden losses, the confusion of battle, the drudgery of camp life, even the capacity to find beauty in the midst of despair. It's a devastating read.

Related Reads:
All Quiet on the Western Front (Remarque)
The Mint (T.E. Lawrence)
The Things They Carried (O'Brien)

Short Stories 1907-1908 - L. M. Montgomery 
"There's not much comfort, or help either, praying one way and believing another."

I would go so far as to describe this collection as "soothing." There are few real surprises in these stories, no content issues, and nearly all the endings are happy; the differing main characters of the stories serve to give a good overall snapshot of the era. This is a nice collection to peruse if you're a fan of any of Montgomery's novels.

Bonus: you can currently find L. M. Montgomery's various short story collections for free on Kindle.

Related Reads:
The Story Girl and other short-story collections (Montgomery)
Eight Cousins (Alcott)
Life's Little Ironies (Hardy)

Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood (1996)
"When you are in the middle of a story it isn't a story at all, but only a confusion; a dark roaring, a blindness, a wreckage of shattered glass and splintered wood; like a house in a whirlwind, or else a boat crushed by the icebergs or swept over the rapids, and all aboard powerless to stop it. It's only afterwards that it becomes anything like a story at all. When you are telling it, to yourself or to someone else."

I finished this book before I realized (from the author's afterword) that it's a fictionalized account of a real historical event. I'm not sure if my failure to realize this added or detracted from the reading experience at all (I'm generally intrigued by historical accounts and guesswork).

Alias Grace has similar themes and not a dissimilar feel to Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale; the role of women in a patriarchal society is an obvious motif. Though the story has something of a mystery feel, there weren't necessarily big surprises, reveals, or tidy explanations - it's more about the exploration of themes (the reliability of memory, mental illness, gender roles, hierarchical society) than conclusions. Atwood's prose draws you in and pulls you under before you realize what's happening.

As of this writing, I haven't yet watched the Netflix series, but I plan on doing so soon.

Related Reads
The Handmaid's Tale (Atwood)
The Little Friend (Tartt)

The Princess Diarist - Carrie Fisher (2016)
"I wish I could go away somewhere, but the only problem with that is that I’d have to go, too."

If you're looking for a complete and detailed tell-all book, you'll probably be disappointed here. Fisher largely writes about her brief relationship/affair with Harrison Ford during the filming of Star Wars:A New Hope - though this is discussed somewhat obliquely and through a sampling of her diary entries during that time. She also spends a large section of the book writing about the strange phenomenon of celebrities being paid for autographs. While the book might come off as somewhat uneven, it was interesting for me to see the difference between her diary writings as a 19 year old and the writing style of her books today. And as was a theme throughout her life, Carrie Fisher gives an unflinching look into what it's like to struggle with mental health.

This book will probably make more sense if you've read her other books in order to get more of an overall background for her life and get used to her writing style. I'd have to say that I liked Fisher's previous autobiographical books better than this one, although The Princess Diarist is a little milder in tone than those.

Related Reads
Shockaholic (Fisher)
Wishful Drinking (Fisher)
Little Girl Lost (Barrymore)

December 2017 Part 1

With the publishing of this two-part post, I've officially completed my goal of writing reviews for every book I read in 2017! I'm still a little unsure of how I'll proceed in the coming year now that I'm using Goodreads (and cross-posting my reviews there), but I do know that I want to continue recording my thoughts on what I read in some form or another.

That said, on to my quick thoughts on December's batch of books:

Waking Gods - Sylvain Neuvel (2017)
"How many people get a second chance? I got one. Look what I did with it."

This book is the second in the Themis Files series, the first being Sleeping Giants. Much of what I said for that review would be applicable here. The story is an interesting concept, but I didn't care all that much for the way it was told. And I still don't think the author did a great job with the different voices throughout the book. I'll probably read the next book in the series when it comes out, but I'm not on pins and needles for it.

Related Reads:
Insistence of Vision ["Mars Opposition"] (Brin)
Three-body Problem (Liu)
The Martian (Weir)

The History of Hell - Alice Turner (1993)
"Christianity would have had a much easier time without Revelation, though it would be a less colorful religion."

First, I'll note that the author is not religious and does not write from a Christian perspective (I think some might go into the book expecting a Biblical analysis of Hell). I actually appreciated this, as I felt it removed the bias I had been expecting. This book is set up and reads something like a textbook, though not in a detrimental way. For me, it got more interesting as it went on. The book also includes a good number of illustrations and reproductions of art pieces.

Overall, I thought this book was a good compilation of the various and changing viewpoints and concepts of Hell throughout the ages. Though there's surely enough material out there to write a book on each of the chapters here, I felt the author was able to synthesize and encapsulate a lot of information well. One of my slight quibbles was that I do wish the author had cited sources more throughout. The book left me with the feeling that I would be interested to discuss more deeply with a person who's studied specific time periods more.

Related Reads:
(See bibliography)

A Long Way Home - Saroo Brierley (2013)
"Despite having so many memories that I wish I could forget, there are some that I wish I could remember."

This book is an exploration of the author's journey of trying to remember and process his pre-adoption past. It's engaging, though I found the first portion of the book a little more interesting and well-written than the last. Brierley seems (and portrays himself as) well-adjusted and happy with his life and adoptive family, though he stresses that this isn't the case for everyone, and he gently brings up some common issues that vulnerable children in similar situations may have faced (abuse, trauma, hunger, potentially having families despite being assumed to be orphans). It's a worthy read for anyone, but perhaps especially for those interested in the subject of international adoption.

Related Reads:
Shantaram (Roberts)
A Long Way Gone (Beah)

A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J. Maas (2016)
"Love can be a poison."

After getting through this book, I don't think that I'll be able finish the series. I found A Court of Mist and Fury to be less tolerable than the preceding book (A Court of Thrones and Roses). There were at least five fairly explicit sex scenes - one almost right away, which threw me off since it's a YA book (is this what the kids are reading these days?). Many of the same problems I had with the first book also apply here; the main character is too perfect; the various characters aren't really well defined, and despite the peril aspects, there aren't really many surprises. There were interesting pieces of the story, but not enough to keep me fully engaged. The best I can say about it was that this book was a fairly quick and escapist read.

Related Reads:
Twilight (Meyer)

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (1988)
"A 'great' butler can only be, surely, one who can point to his years of service and say that he has applied his talents to serving a great gentleman - and through the latter, to serving humanity."

After reading this, I find that it's hard to come up with a worthy description of this book. It's surprisingly humorous, unexpectedly sad, and sometimes exasperating. A beautifully poignant read, and a pointed exploration into political and personal issues surrounding pre- and post-WWII Great Britain.

Related Reads:
The Road to Wigan Pier (Orwell)

Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook - Christina Henry (2017)
"I didn't know how to explain to him that for all that I still looked young, I had been feeling old. The years had passed, so many of them, and they were starting to wear on me. After a while it wasn't fun to always feel like you had to have fun."

When I picked up this book, I was worried that it would be straight horror and I wouldn't be able to finish. However, while there are some violent/gruesome aspects, it wasn't as bad as I might have expected. It's well-written, and an interesting and different retelling of the classic story; here, Peter Pan is unquestioningly evil. In the end, though, the reader already knows what's going to happen - giving a "so why did I put myself through this sad retelling" feeling once the book is finished.

Related Reads:
Lord of the Flies (Golding)
Everland (Spinale)

(Continued in Part 2)