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Category Archives: Adult

Readers advisory from March ’22

31 Mar

To try to keep up with reading everything you want to read is the same analogy as trying to find information on the internet which is that it’s like trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant- more will keep coming at you. So the task is always to enjoy it. Yes there are times when I have to read certain things like for a committee or a book review for a magazine that has a deadline, but this year I’ve found I have a lot more flexibility and I’m enjoying myself.

The Only Good Indians I already posted about here. That was a highlight from this month that warranted its own post. And a few others for various reasons which I’ll share now, going backwards from audience since The Only Good Indians‘ target audience is adult.

Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz was a perfect Gothic tale to a YA audience. As I’ve shared in the conversations I’ve had since reading it is that while I knew that the subtitle was “a love story”, I think Schwartz could have kept it solely about Hazel’s pursuit of being a physician and it been solidly fabulous. I know why Schwartz included the romance and the ending relied, in part, on it’s existence, but Hazel’s strength of character was memorable all by itself.

I have a good friend who is a high school art teacher. As soon as I closed the book, I sent her a few texts asking if she knew much about Savage. Then I told her she needed to read Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor’s Life by Marilyn Nelson pronto and that I was just as taken with Nelson’s choice to write in verse but that there was historical context in addition to the biographical content and that I loved a quote that was included by Savage: “I have created nothing really beautiful, really lasting, but if I can inspire one of these youngsters to develop the talent I know they possess, then my monument will be in their work.” Immensely powerful.

And last, a picture book by Phung Nguyen Quang and illustrated by Huynh Kim Lien called My First Day. I will end up owning this book soon because the captivating artwork unlocks a reader’s imagination as much as it connects to every experience we’ve had with a “first”. Yes, the boy is on his way to his first day of school through a maze of obstacles, but perseveres. The writing matches the tone of the design and creates an all-encompassing experience. A feast for the eyes.

 
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Posted by on March 31, 2022 in Adult, Authors, Book of the Month, Childrens, Cover Love, Fiction, Nonfiction, Verse, Young Adult

 

Someone to talk to

23 Mar

Many years ago I had a habit of eschewing the popular book titles for the singular reason that I didn’t want to read what everyone else was reading. And at the time, I was exclusively reading for my target YA audience and not reading as widely as I do now. But I realized the downside was that when I eventually read those titles, I didn’t have as many people to talk to about them because those people were on to the next best read and vaguely remembered the book enough for any meaningful discussion.

Yet, I arrive here at 7:30pm on a Wednesday night, asking who out there has read The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones because I need someone to talk to.

The skillful writing, the paranormal happenings, the past merging with the present and future, the horror, traditions, the mood… I could go on. I know it’s been a year and a half. You’d think I’d learn my lesson. But I haven’t.

Who can I talk to about it?

 
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Posted by on March 23, 2022 in Adult, Audiobooks, Fiction

 

Six for Saturday

19 Mar

… and in six words each.

  1. Magical Boy by The Kao

Brightly colored with action and heart

2. Poisoning the Pecks of Grand Rapids: The Scandalous 1916 Murder Plot by Tobin T. Buhk

True crime meets awkward family drama

3. Broken Wish (The Mirror series) by Julie C. Dao

Magical series each with separate authors

4. Dionysos: The New God (Olympians series) by George O’Connor

Is it really the end, George?

5. Manu! by Kelly Fernandez

Dark and funny for middle grade

6. Let’s Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World by Danielle Friedman

Curiosity meets research about exercising women

 
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Posted by on March 19, 2022 in Adult, Audiobooks, Fiction, Graphic novels, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Young Adult

 

Readers advisory for February ’22

28 Feb

The end of month brings a brief pause to reflect on what I’ve read over the past month. I’ve usually always worked toward identifying that one book that made me pause. I also read a lot so one book each month is difficult and why I generally break the one book rule I’ve self-imposed, hence why I changed the title of the month’s-end post to readers advisory.

This month I decided to pull my favorite children’s book, young adult, and adult title. In order, a nonfiction, a graphic novel, and the audiobook.

Born Hungry: Julia Child Becomes ‘the French chef’ written by Alex Prud’homme and illustrated by Sarah Green was an easy choice for a book everyone should read because children’s biographies are superbly informative in addition to capturing (when done right) the essence of the topic at hand. In this case, the nephew of Child, writes a celebratory story of how Child didn’t become ‘the French chef’ until very late in life, proving that you can do anything you set your mind to and have a passion for. Using Green’s bright and vivid illustrations to compliment the story, it is a feel-good story that’s food-centered.

Yasmeen written by Saif A. Ahmed and illustrated by Fabiana Moscolo is a graphic novel with a hard truth to face. That many girls were kidnapped, raped, tortured, and maimed as part of the unrest in the Middle East. Yasmeen is an Iraqi girl whose family settled in Texas after leaving their war torn home but without her because she had been captured and used as a pawn. The graphic novel does not sugarcoat her trauma and the fight she gave to break free. But what levels this graphic novel up is the intricate use of time in the panels and on the pages which takes an astute reader of the format because of the level of understanding of the story, characters, and setting. A passive reader will not understand the story completely. And it’s powerful. You do not want to miss anything.

I listened to the audiobook read by Michelle Zauner, the author and subject of Crying in H Mart: A Memoir. While I did not know who she was and had only downloaded the audiobook because of it’s popularity and subject matter (you’ll often find that I read and share about food memoirs or food stories). I recognize that there is wide general appeal, but it went deeper for me as I’m sure that others who feel like they do about the book can attest; it’s Zauner’s relationship and caretaking of her cancer-stricken mother and simultaneously about the food of her life through the lens of her now suffering mother. Food is balm. Food is love. Food is history. Food is memory. I don’t often reread books, but because I had listened to the audiobook, I’ve considered rereading it in print because I remember several times stopping in my tracks while listening to a poignant phrase or sentence or scene.

What did you read this past month that you loved?

 
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Posted by on February 28, 2022 in Adult, Audiobooks, Book of the Month, Childrens, Fiction, Graphic novels, Nonfiction, Young Adult

 

Down the rabbit hole

26 Feb

Several years ago I read Higginbotham’s Midnight at Chernobyl and recognized the depth of research that went in to writing a book of that heft, literally and figuratively. I had also read Blankman’s historical fiction called The Blackbird Girls that deals with Chernobyl and religion for a tween audience. Then with the attack on Ukraine by Russia this past week, I decided to put Marino’s Escape from Chernobyl at the top of my TBR where it was sitting somewhere in the middle and it brought me back to the tragedy, drama, and cover up that was the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, especially with the ticking clock to start each chapter.

And it didn’t end there; in a rare move, my husband ordered the HBO miniseries Chernobyl that had aired several years ago that so many had talked about but we had never watched because I had mentioned it.

He is glued to the TV watching the news coverage on multiple channels plus the radio. So between my reading and the current state of affairs, we mixed some drinks and sat down to binge the series on a Friday night. What a powerful mix of dramatic storytelling and truth. I can learn quite a bit from books, but there’s something about the visual elements of the series that aided in a deeper understanding of the politics and science that dominated the narrative of this disaster.

And what did I spend some time doing this morning? Researching other books to read and putting a few on hold at my library and downloading another via Hoopla. I’m already down the rabbit hole. I figured I would keep going.

What topics have wrapped you up in a multimedia quest to learn as much as you could about them?

 
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Posted by on February 26, 2022 in Adult, Fiction, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Research, Shows, Young Adult

 

Alone versus together

05 Feb

Marc-Andre Leclerc is the focus of a documentary on Netflix called The Alpinist. As a teenager and into his twenties he was an adventurous, nature-loving outdoorsman who became an alpinist. It was his skill and focus that drew attention to him, but also his boyish charm and why documentarians wanted to capture his story. As they followed him to document his ascents, there was a particularly daring one that he hadn’t told the filmmakers about and when they asked him after the fact, why with such an amazing feat, he didn’t let them know he was doing it, he gregariously responds that it wouldn’t be pure unless he was doing it alone: no cameras, no accompaniment. At this juncture in history, everything is documented, often to the detriment of the experience.

That’s in marked contrast to my recent read of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air that documents his climb to the top of Mount Everest with several groups which led to tragedy on the mountain. Krakauer not only made it to the top but he survived. The origins of the trip were to document the ever-growing commercialization of climbing Mount Everest for a writing gig, but then became so much more with the tragedy and why Krakauer ended up writing a book about the experience. The commercialization is a fascinating element. If you made it to the summit, wouldn’t you want some evidence of the feat? Would you be content to look around or would you be grasping for a camera? In the book, one thing struck me and that was that there was never a chance to be alone for these climbers. From every camp they made it to as they trudged up the mountain, there were sherpas, guides, and partnerships to keep everyone safe and secure though Krakauer mentioned one man whose goal was to make it to the top alone after biking to Nepal. There are those that solo and those that don’t. Is one more dangerous than the other?

The documentary and book are riveting. Krakauer’s book had been on my list to read and after watching The Alpinist, it was time. Both were curious looks into a world I don’t have any direct experience with but showcase daring and adventure- though I have occasionally dappled in adventure, nothing to this extent for sure. It’s a phenomenal pairing, this documentary and the book, both of which I recommend especially for those of us in the Northeast in the depths of winter.

 
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Posted by on February 5, 2022 in Adult, Authors, Nonfiction, Shows

 

Saga continues

27 Jan

I left work and went directly to my local comic book shop that is about a half mile from my high school library. Then, I went home to settle in in my reading chair with a blanket, a drink, and issue #55.

Preparing last weekend, I read the first fifty-four issues spread across nine volumes to fall back into the world that is so eloquently illustrated and created by the brains and hands of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. This was my third re-reading. My second reading was in direct response to the pandemic shutdown. On March 13th, I decided I would read a volume a day. The creators also took a step back which Vaughan discusses in his note at the back of issue #55. Their hiatus included necessary recharging, but also plotting the trajectory of the series in addition to growing families (congratulations Fiona!)

Revisiting this world– a world that is dark but has a fighting spirit, a world that is is full of sex and violence, a world of varied creatures, planets, and cultures all surviving– is as much about escape as it is a celebration of an epic space opera from the brains of actual human beings that create art. I do not cosplay per se, but I’ve been known to throw a Ms. Marvel handmade costume on when the occasion calls or make my own witch cap like Coco’s from Witch Hat Atelier, but those that do create intricate costumes inspired by Saga is awe-inspiring. I actually think I might have to have something for the next time “character from a book or movie” shows up during a school spirit week. Either way, readers of Saga have a visceral connection to the content and the art.

Therefore, spending an hour gushing over the next steps in where Vaughan and Staples will take it on release day was magical. I won’t spoil anything because #54 left us with so much to discuss, so I’m eager to hear from other Saga fans out there!

 
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Posted by on January 27, 2022 in Adult, Authors, Book Birthday, Comics, Cover Love

 

Obituaries

09 Jan

Obituaries got me thinking.

I worked for about a decade in my formative teenage years as a small town diner. The experience shaped me in ways I’m still discovering in my thirties and that was in part due to the myriad of people that come and go as employees but also as patrons. Several days ago a gentleman named Bucky, who was a regular in the diner as both a patron and part-time employee peeling and cutting potatoes most specifically for the breakfast crowd needing their home fries, died. And his obituary published today. It was the kind of obituary I want some day; one that captures who I was at my core. This post was written so that many can know about him, but also it’s part of a larger conversation about obituaries, one of the last things left behind.

There was a recent article in the local paper about the wife of a well-known local TV anchor. She recently passed away about a year after her husband. She did not want an obituary. But her children decided to write one because they felt that she didn’t think she was worthy of one, but she was a formidable woman who needed recognition. And they felt they embodied her personality especially when they ended the short obituary with a joke about death, a rabbi, and speaking at a funeral.

Obituaries are treasure troves. I skim them every day and read one that stands out. Several weeks ago it was a dual obituary for a husband and wife. The wife died and the next day her husband died of a “broken heart”. There are the obituaries that you can read between the lines and identify as suicides. There are goofy ones and others that list every accomplishment from birth to death. There are lives cut short and those that lived good, long ones. There are children. There are surprises, inside jokes, and nuggets of truth buried in them.

Just like books do.

I thought about the books that deal with death in a range of ways. Epically Earnest is due out in June 2022 and included the title character creating living obituaries that were interspersed in the story which then reminded me of Miles from Looking for Alaska who was obsessed with collecting the last words of individuals. And of course, Jack’s old neighbor in Dead End in Norvelt who writes the obituaries for the townsfolk for which he must now help. Michelle McNamara didn’t get the last word in her book because she died before she could finish it as she lost herself in research to identify the Golden State Killer in I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Search for the Golden State Killer. Love, Zac: Small-Town Football and the Life and Death of an American Boy couldn’t have been written as detailed as it was if Zac had not kept a diary of his battle with traumatic brain injury due to football before he committed suicide. And the ultimate connection: the well-researched with a side of humor and endearing love– Mo Rocca’s Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving (of which I recommend the audiobook where he narrates).

The topic should not be shied away from nor should the topic of obituaries go undiscussed. Remember the scene in My Girl where Veda’s dad sits at the typewriter to honor the lives of those that come through their doors?

Do others read obituaries? As my grandfather would say, he read them to make sure he wasn’t dead yet. What’s your reason if you do? Curiosity, the artform, respecting the dead? Do you think about what yours will say? Are you actively penning thoughts for your own?

 
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Posted by on January 9, 2022 in Adult, Articles, Fiction, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Reflections, Upcoming Releases, Young Adult

 

The 31 Days of December: The year reviewed

31 Dec

It shouldn’t shock you to know that I have planned my last book of 2021 and my first book of 2022. Last year I finished the year with Fathoms: The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs and started it with In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner. While I was disappointed because Fathoms wasn’t what I expected, Zentner is always a good choice and proved a worthy first book of the year.

I will end the year knowing that the final book will be spectacular because I’ve made sure to pace myself to finish it before midnight. It is John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed. Once I realized I was firmly on the side of loving everything about it with its chapters written as essays using the theme of reviewing items of the Anthropocene through Green’s eyes, I stopped and counted the days until the 31st and read up to the point where I could then read one chapter per day to finish on the 31st. Not only will it be the last book of year, but it will certainly also be the outstanding book of the month and help me usher in the year reviewed in a brief listicle:

  • Pilates
    • I thought Pilates was a thin person’s fitness regime, so I didn’t have the courage to begin Pilates until I had lost some weight many years ago. However, I realize now after a handful of years attending weekly Pilates classes that it’s about strength and flexibility regardless of age or body type and kick myself for not beginning sooner. Either way, the weekly connection to my body at the studio I attend reminds me of the power of our bodies and how maintenance of them is important. Pilates whether at home or at a studio with equipment, I give 4 stars.
  • High school
    • My memories of high school are probably skewed. I was a grumpy teen who had a few good friends, worked rather than played sports, and never attended my prom. I don’t regret those choices actually and in retrospect should have been happier than I was. Fast forward and now I work in a high school. I’m sure that probably also changes my memories too. And working at a high school during a pandemic in a district that chose to be virtual because of budgetary concerns was a sad proposition to bear not only because I lost my coworker to budget cuts (and had her return in the spring of 2021 when things became more stable) but that students were left to connect with school through the computer. Staff did their best, but morale was low. It’s a changeable time. Some teens are self-aware and confident in who they are and where they want to go while others still have a lot of maturing to do and whether that happens before they graduate or not is anyone’s guess. I was not self-aware and confident, but can appreciate where I am and who I am now. High school is 3 stars.
  • Minnesota
    • This summer despite having a flight cancelled and needing to rent a car one-way to drive eighteen hours to get to a family reunion and spend some time with my in-laws, we were able to travel within an hour or so to see a beautiful gorge, walk through the largest candy store in the state, see some buffalo, and meet friends who live lakeside. Yes, there’s a lot of corn and bean fields, but that’s also where family was. I give Minnesota 3.5 stars.
  • Cemeteries
    • In addition to the mysterious stories etched (and now invisible) on the stones, there are messages in the choices of other features of graves that are endlessly fascinated. It’s both the architecture and atmosphere that get me every time. Cemeteries are 4 stars.
  • Berry picking
    • Depending on the season, you could be baking in the heat or bundled up in the cold. Your feet might get wet or your fingers stained. Yes it might be easier to go to the store and buy them, but the farm-to-table connection is lost. Both of my parents grew up on farms and I grew up next to my aunt and uncle’s. so I know the dedication it takes to farm. I also know that there’s a different between a strawberry picked from a vine by your own hands and grabbing a plastic container in the store. You can bide the seasons by the fruit and veggies available. Seasonal eating is the best kind of eating. So yes, it might be a bit more expensive (what with driving out to the farm and usually paying a little more) but then you’ve got the fresh stuff to eat and freeze as you please. The memories past and present make berry picking 4 stars.

Thank you, John Green for inspiring this post as well as future thinking on reviewing life in the Anthropocene. Hats off to a year that was spent with family and books, celebrating where and when we could as I raise my glass to 2022 where I want to do much of the same.

Stay tuned for my first book of 2022 (I know what it is of course, do you?)

 
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Posted by on December 31, 2021 in Adult, Authors, Blogging, Book of the Month, Miscellaneous, Nonfiction, Reflections

 

The 31 Days of December: Top 10 of 2021 graphic novels & manga edition

30 Dec

There is just one more day left in December that will be an homage to the reading and blogging in 2021, but for today I am finishing up the top tens– today graphic novels and manga.

What’s not to love about graphic novels and manga? Whether it’s a standalone or series, the varied abilities and styles of the illustrators and artists are equally matched by the writing of the authors (unless they’re one and the same to which hats-off for talent and skill. All of these titles bring sometimes special to readers from middle schoolers with Huda F Are You? to adults with In Love and Pajamas. There were superheroes and super sleuths, mysteries, and adventures. Plus one adaptation of a wildly successful historical fiction novel with Between Shades of Gray.

 
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Posted by on December 30, 2021 in Adult, Authors, Blogging, Cover Love, Fiction, Graphic novels, Manga, Middle grade, Young Adult

 
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