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)

November 2017 Reads Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)

North! Or Be Eaten - Andrew Peterson (2009)
"It is only when we have grown too old that we fail to see that the Maker’s world is swollen with magic - it hides in plain sight in music and water and even bumblebees."

I had read the first of the Wingfeather Saga (On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness) last month and was less than impressed - in fact, I was almost ready to write off the series entirely. However, North! Or Be Eaten changed my mind. Though it's still very much a children's fantasy book, it's darker in tone than the first book, more action-heavy and engaging, explores more character development, and is overall better written. Plus, many of the things that had annoyed me about the first book were absent or toned down in this book. If you weren't excited about the first book in the Wingfeather series, try this one out. I'm planning on finishing the series.

Related Reads
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Snicket)

Time Out for Happiness - Frank Gilbreth Jr (1970)
"'You can't run by me like that, ma'am, You know ladies aren't admitted.'
'I didn't know, Lillie stammered. Then she added, 'What shall I do? I'm the speaker.'
'At the University Club? he chortled. 'If you are, lady, I'm Fanny Brice. This club is for men only.'
And then he put her back out in the rain, where, New York fashion, there weren't any cabs."

Most people are probably aware, at least in name, of the book Cheaper by the Dozen.Written more like a biography, this book is something of a companion book to that classic, and the author (Frank Jr, the eldest boy of the family) takes on a more familiar tone as he relates some pieces of family history and delves into more background and details of the events related in Cheaper by the Dozen and its followup Belles on Their Toes. Most pointedly for me, the history related here really drove home how difficult it was at the turn of the 19th century for women to break into the "men's world" of STEM-related fields.

This book will make  more sense if you've already read the author's original novels (co-written with one of his sisters), but would probably still be an interesting read to those intrigued by American history and the inception of time-motion study.

Related Reads
Cheaper by the Dozen (Gilbreth)
Bells on their Toes (Gilbreth)
Papa Married a Mormon (Fitzgerald)

How to Be a Heroine - Samantha Ellis (2014)
"For a moment I have the alarming thought that maybe I want heroines so I can be their best friend and loyal sidekick without ever facing the challenge of becoming a heroine myself."

This book is part-autobiography, part-English paper. Ellis writes about how her book heroines - from childhood to present day - have shaped her, and goes back to some of her childhood heroines and studies them with a more critical eye. I related to, although didn't necessarily agree with, the author's strong relation to childhood book characters (I'm quite opposite in that I found a kinship with Jane Eyre, while Ellis always strongly related to Cathy Earnshaw). Though I didn't know all the books or authors mentioned, I was still able to follow along, and the book made me think more deeply about how book characters have really influenced me throughout my own life.

Related Reads
Cut Me Loose (Vincent)
The Shelf (Rose)
Reading Lolita in Tehran (Nafisi)

Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov [ed. by Robert Chandler] (2013)
"Deep, deep in the forest, between blue forget-me-nots, I'll catch you on my hook, hook you on my line. And soon, stranger, soon, you'll be dancing to my pipe, dancing to my tune."

This compilation includes a rather staggering amount of Russian fairy tales from a wide variety of authors/collectors of oral folktales. The book is divided into different sections, each of which includes detailed backgrounds of the featured authors. This setup, along with the book's inclusion of a strong introduction and helpful footnotes, makes this anthology a must if you're interested in fairy and folk tales and/or Russian Literature of any genre. I found myself recognizing many of the stories from other fairy tale compilations I've read from different parts of the world. The nature of folktales makes some sections of the book feel repetitious, but that's to be expected.

Related Reads
The Juniper Tree: And Other Tales from Grimm

We Never Talk About My Brother [Short Stories] - Peter S. Beagle (2009)
"But it is a curious thing, how certain horrors are so vastly horrible to think about that they simply do not take hold on your imagination at the time, but go almost unnoticed - sooner or later to wake you screaming, surely, but not now."

Given my previous reads by Peter S. Beagle (most notably The Last Unicorn), I was expecting this to be a more fantasy-heavy compilation, but the stories included here are quite mixed and show a wide range of types and genres. I liked all of the stories and really enjoyed a number of them. This is a very worthwhile collection for Peter S. Beagle fans and newcomers alike.

Related Reads:
The Line Between [Short Stories] (Beagle)

Lila - Marilynne Robinson (2014)
"She liked to hear people tell stories. The saddest ones were the best. She wondered if that meant anything at all."

This is the third and final novel of the Gilead trilogy. I found it not quite as good as the preceding novels, but still worth a read. Robinson has a talent for making her characters achingly relatable and strangely understandable.

Related Reads
Gilead (Robinson)
The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck)

November 2017 Reads Part 1

We're coming up on the last month of the year and I'm in the middle of a number of series that I still want to finish (or at least continue). This is unusual for me as I don't generally like to start more than one or two series at once... I need to pay better attention as to what books are the first-of-series before I dive into them!

Deep Secret - Diana Wynne Jones (1997)
"'It says,' he said, 'I Am A Hobbit.'" He bowed and walked away. 'In Elvish,' he added as he left."

Confession: this isn't a book that I would've picked out based on the cover or the brief description. But score one for friend recommendations - I'm really glad this was pointed out to me. I found Deep Secret a surprisingly different SciFi-tinged fantasy novel, very English in its wry humor. I often take issue with books that switch points of view between characters, particularly if they're all in first person, but I actually enjoyed the different voices here. And while I struggled to see at first how a book that mashed together centaurs, SciFi conventions, and royal politics could form something cohesive, I was pleasantly surprised.

The only other book I'd previously read by Diana Wynne Jones had been Howl's Moving Castle. I was a bit at a loss where to start with her other works, and now I feel like I've had a good jumping-off point.

Related Reads
Good Omens (Pratchett and Gaiman)
Dune (Herbert)
A Wrinkle in Time (L'Engle)

Home - Marilynne Robinson (2008)
"You must forgive in order to understand. Until you forgive, you defend yourself against the possibility of understanding."

This is a companion novel to Gilead, a favorite that I read earlier in the year. Since Home takes place concurrently, I found myself wishing I'd read it sooner after Gilead so I could make better connections between the books and the core characters. Though Home is written largely from the third-person point of view of Glory, one of Boughton's daughters, not in first-person stream-of-thought journal entries of John Ames as in Gilead, I still found it piercingly relateable, and as deeply calming and lyrical in style as its predecessor.

Related Reads
Gilead (Robinson)
The Little Friend (Tartt)

Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon (2015)
"Just because you can’t experience everything doesn’t mean you shouldn’t experience anything."

I came into this book with no background, although I'd been seeing a lot of hype around it for some time. It's Young Adult Fiction, which I somehow wasn't expecting, and the format is of journal entries interspersed with occasional lists, drawings, and chat records.

The style wasn't what bothered me, though; it was the romance portion of the plot that seemed too forced and like it was the only catalyst for change (the "girl falls in love and everything changes" trope). The "twist" near the end vaguely disappointed rather than surprised me. Overall, I didn't find the book a bad read - it was easy to get through without feeling overly light, for one, and it's definitely a strong first novel from the author - I just felt it could've gone further in terms of plot.

Related Reads
The Blue Castle (Montgomery)

The Sun is Also a Star - Nicola Yoon (2016)
"Do you think it's funny that both of our favorite memories are about the people we like the least now?" I ask.
"Maybe that's why we dislike them," she says. "The distance between who they were and who they are is so wide, we have no hope of getting them back."

I liked this book better than Yoon's first novel (Everything, Everything). The format here switches between viewpoints of not only the two main characters, but also other minor characters that they run into throughout the day. It feels like there's a lot that could be said about this book; in brief, it explores cultural differences, fate, small actions leading to potentially life-changing consequences, family, and love at first sight.

Related Reads
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Diaz)
Americanah (Adichie)

A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas (2015)
"You didn't tell me this would happen."
"You didn't ask. So how am I to blame?"

Okay, I have to say it... I wanted to like this more than I did. The first part of the book was very reminiscent of The Hunger Games, though that in itself wasn't necessarily what bothered me (in fact, Fayre's struggle of survival in the real world was one of the highlights for me). For one thing, the characters - especially the main one - seemed too perfect and one-note. But it was the romance portion that was my main sticking point. I found myself honestly confused as to why the main characters were suddenly in love with/attracted to each other. It seemed very forced to me, even with the later (fairy-tale inspired) "explanation" for it. And there was so many instances of sexual tension and situations that I was beginning to feel like I was reading a bodice ripper.

With all that said, I was still intrigued enough by the world and overall story to continue the series. As I read, I was feeling more and more like it would be a struggle to finish, but the book picked up for me in the second half. I'll try to reserve my overall judgement until I get through the entire series.

Related Reads
The Hunger Games (Collins)
Lords and Ladies (Pratchett)
Uprooted (Novik)
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (Clarke)

(Continued in Part 2)

October 2017 Reads Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)

On the Beach - Nevil Shute (1957)
"Maybe we've been too silly to deserve a world like this."

This book was fairly depressing and a little hard to get through at times, mostly due to the slow build, but also due to the fatalistic overtones. Perhaps most depressingly, it deals with the subjects of acceptance of death and suicide/euthanasia. All that noted, On The Beach is still a classic of post-apocolyptic literature - unique in that it's set in Australia - and a legitimately realistic, bleak exploration at a potential reality of the aftermath of nuclear war and the end of the human race.

Related Reads:
A Canticle for Leibowitz (Miller)
Earth Abides (Stewart)
The Postman (Brin)

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! - Amy Schlitz (2007)
"The miller steals the flour, and the baker steals the bread/We're hypocrites and liars - and we all get fed."

This Newbery Award winning book is a collection of 20+ monologues (some of them poetry) written with the intent of having students read and perform them. I found the collection clever and surprisingly moving at times. It includes several asides throughout about medieval life, and it seems like a good introduction to medieval history, society, and social structure for anyone.

Related Reads
The Midwife's Apprentice (Cushman)
The Whipping Boy (Fleischman)
The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)
(see Bibliography)

Trickster's Choice - Tamora Pierce (2004)
"I don’t trust anyone who feels you should like them because they love themselves so much."

I've previously read two quartet-series by Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness and Protector of the Small) and enjoyed them, so I was interested in continuing the storyline with Trickster's Choice. However, I was somewhat disappointed with this book. The protagonist Aly is older than the heroines of previous novels (mid/late teens), and as a reader, I never really felt connected with her or felt like she was in any real danger throughout her adventures. I also found long portions of the book somewhat dragging and a little too neatly-fitting.

That said, I probably will read the sequel since this is a two-part rather than four-part. And there were portions of the book that I found interesting and even clever - for instance, the character Nawat and Aly's lessons from the flock of crows.

Related Reads:
Song of the Lioness Quartet (Pierce)

Riddley Walker -  Russell Hoban (1980)
"Day time it wer then nor not raining but the rain wer in it and the dark is all ways there. The shape of the nite what beartht the day when Canterbury dyd. Hart of the Wud in the hart of the stoan. I cud feal that thing inside us how its afeart of being beartht. I cud feal how every thing is every thing."

The setting and tone of this novel is a strange mishmash of post-apocalyptic and English medieval society. It's written in a curious mix of old/future English from the point of view of the 12-year-old protagonist, who comes of age in the first chapter. The writing style and content makes Riddley Walker a difficult, crude, fascinating, and ultimately rewarding read.

The edition I checked out from the library was not an expanded edition and included no footnotes. I'd really recommend getting the expanded edition and/or using an online guide such as this one to refer to like I did.

Related Reads:
A Clockwork Orange (Burgess)
The Road (McCarthy)
Lord of the Flies (Golding)
The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness - Andrew Peterson (2008)
"Even if hope is just a low ember at night, in the morning you can still start a fire." 

This book is the first of a fantasy-adventure series aimed at children. Even with that in mind, when reading I couldn't shake the feeling that it seems like it's trying a bit too hard with its witty descriptions and names such as, "That evil was a nameless evil, an evil whose name was Gnag the Nameless." At times the tone reminded me of a less-clever version of Terry Pratchett novels. I was also a little bothered by what seemed to be a prevalence of gross-out humor and descriptions.

Still, the overall story manages to be interesting enough, and I'm invested in how the characters and story will progress throughout the rest of the series. While the overall tone is humorous, there are still enough serious and even darker moments and themes to give the book substance. My feeling is that this book would shine best as a read-aloud to younger kids.

Related Reads:
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Snickett)

October 2017 Reads Part 1

Quick note before I get into reviews: in October, I finally started to make use of my GoodReads account. In the past, I'd misunderstood the purpose of GoodReads - I thought that I would have to somehow log every book I've ever read on it, and that I'd constantly have to be updating my progress for every book I read, which isn't practical with the amount I'm reading. But! After actually exploring a bit more, I realized that users don't actually have to "update progress" for books they're reading. I spent some time entering in the books I've read since 2014 (the year I started keeping track in list form), which took a bit of time, but was easier than I'd thought. So far, GoodReads has been really useful for sorting and organizing my books and seeing them in visual groups. And I haven't found it tedious to mark what I'm "Currently Reading" when I start a new book, even though I sometimes finish a book in less than a day.

Aside from jumping onto the GoodReads learning curve, I read a really varied mix of books in October. Out of the nine books I read and the one that I started at the end of the month, five (half of them) were the first books of series. I generally avoid starting more than one or two series at a time, but somehow it worked out that a number of the books that I reserved to check out from the library were part of series. I actually didn't mind as much as I thought.

Sleeping Giants - Sylvain Neuvel (2016)
"If you left a weapon with someone so they could defend themselves, and you found out they were killing each other with it, you'd probably want to take it back or get rid of it."

The format here is different and interesting - the author tells the story through interviews, journal entries, and transcribed audio logs from a handful of characters. Though I didn't love all the different voices, I liked the unique style and will probably read the other books in the series. And while the book is definitely SciFi, I felt it would be quite accessible for non-SciFi readers. Sleeping Giants is largely an exploration of cost vs benefits (the needs of many outweighing needs of the few) in the context of war, and I assume that line will continue in the next book in the series.

Related Reads
The Martian (Weir)
Three-Body Problem (Liu)

My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell (1956)
"Gradually the magic of the island settled over us as gently and clingingly as pollen. Each day had a tranquility, a timelessness, about it, so that you wished it would never end. But then the dark skin of the night would peel off and there would be a fresh day waiting for us, glossy and colorful as a child's transfer and with the same tinge of unreality."

This book was absolutely a joy to read. It's a recounting of the author's childhood spent in Corfu, and the writing is chock-full of lavish descriptions and childlike wonder. I loved exploring the outdoors and observing bugs and animals as a child, so I really related to the author's experiences. Some might understandably find the constant descriptions all a bit too much and the portrayal of the author's family members and family friends a little jarring. For me, though, the aura of the book is truly magical, and I'm eager to read more by Durrell.

Related Reads:
Belles on their Toes (Gilbreth)
Rascal (North)
Boy (Dahl)
Surprise Island (Warner)

It Didn't Start With You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle - Mark Wolynn (2016)
"Our core language insists on being heard. When we follow where it leads and hear its story, it has the power to defuse our deepest fears."

In order to really get the best understanding of this book as possible, I took copious notes while reading and completed the included exercises. I found the book generally well-written. However (and it's a big however) - I just couldn't buy into the author's overall thesis that family trauma is clearly passed down generationally to the extent that he postulates. Certain elements I could accept - such as the fact that a child born after their mother had traumatic experiences while pregnant may have higher instances of PTSD, and that a child who observed his parents live through trauma may experience similar feelings of trauma later in life - but other examples used just felt like too much of a stretch, and I didn't find his reasoning for these well-explained. I also was bothered by the author's strong and constant advice to forgive and accept one's parents; while what he says about reconciliation is true in many cases, he doesn't allow for cases of genuinely toxic or dangerous family members.

The bottom line for me: the book is helpful in the general sense of giving some advice that's good overall (forgive family members, release bad memories, explore your family's history for deeper understanding of trends), and some of the family explorations, connections, and exercises are interesting to think about, but I remain unconvinced of his overall methods. For instance, in some of his exercises, he has you trace an issue in your life (panic attacks and claustrophobia coupled with a fear of dying alone, for instance) to a possible family member who had a related experience (say, you find that your grandfather died trapped in an elevator, where he would have had feelings of panic, claustrophobia, and he died alone). He then has you go through mindfulness exercises where you basically confront your fear, visualize talking to your deceased relative, and release the fear "back to where it originated from." Perhaps my main issue with this form of therapy is largely me not buying into it, though; I wouldn't go so far as to say that it couldn't be useful for those who are able to relate to it.

Related Reads:
The Body Keeps the Score (Van der Kolk)
(See Bibliography)

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach (2003)
"I like the term 'decedent.' It's as though the man weren't dead, but merely involved in some sort of protracted legal dispute. For evident reasons, mortuary science is awash with euphemisms.... Decomposed brain that filters down through a damaged skull and bubbles out the nose is 'frothy purge.'"

If you're into history, interested in crime investigation, or are a doctor, you'll find this book especially interesting. I'm not a terribly squeamish person, but I had a little trouble getting through the book; I was doing all right until nearer to the end where there's a chapter on cannibalism. The author maintains a sense of humor that's necessary in her unflinching exploration of what happens to bodies after death (especially those donated to science), but sometimes it felt a bit jarring. I did appreciate that Roach talks about her own experiences regarding the death of her mother. The book is overall pretty fascinating and obviously highly researched, but I wouldn't recommend it to the faint of stomach.

Related Reads:
(See Bibliography)

(to be continued in Part 2)