Audiobook Review: Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han

Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han
Publisher: Recorded Books
Narrator: Ali Ahn
Release Date: January 14, 2020
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Lara Jean is having the best senior year a girl could ever hope for. She is head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Peter; her dad’s finally getting remarried to their next door neighbor, Ms. Rothschild; and Margot’s coming home for the summer just in time for the wedding. But change is looming on the horizon. 

And while Lara Jean is having fun and keeping busy helping plan her father’s wedding, she can’t ignore the big life decisions she has to make. Most pressingly, where she wants to go to college and what that means for her relationship with Peter. She watched her sister Margot go through these growing pains. 

Now Lara Jean’s the one who’ll be graduating high school and leaving for college and leaving her family – and possibly the boy she loves – behind. When your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

Always and Forever, Lara Jean is the final book in the Two All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy.

*****This review has spoilers for the first two books in the series.*****

In Always and Forever, Lara Jean, Lara Jean and Peter are now high school seniors. Their relationship is better than ever. But what will happen after graduation when they head off to college? Peter is going to the University of Virginia on a lacrosse scholarship. Will Lara Jean get accepted there so they can stay together? If she decides to go somewhere else for college, can they sustain a long-distance relationship?

The primary stress in Lara Jean’s life is waiting to find out whether or not she got into UVA. All of Peter and her plans hinge on the assumption that she will be going there with him. To deal with her anxiety, she throws herself into planning her father’s wedding to her neighbor Ms. Rothschild. I thought that it was a little odd that Lara Jean’s dad and Ms. Rothschild were okay with Lara Jean, a high school student, handling the brunt of their wedding planning. I mean Laura Jean’s hominess is part of her charm and it makes sense she would want to help – I’m just surprised they let her do so much of it. She also does a lot of stress baking.

I feel protective of Lara Jean after following her trials and tribulations for three books now and I was rooting for her and Peter the whole time I was listening to this book. They both get some curveballs thrown at them that surprised me. After finishing this final book in the series, I can definitely recommend the entire series. My twelve-year old daughter has also listened to and enjoyed all three books. Even though they are about high schoolers, I don’t think there was anything in them that was inappropriate for her as a seventh grader to read. Take care, Lara Jean!

My reviews of the first two books in the trilogy:
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
P.S. I Still Love You

Audiobook Review: Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American

Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American by Wajahat Ali
Publisher: Recorded Books
Release Date: January 25, 2022
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

“Go back to where you came from, you terrorist!” 

This is just one of the many warm, lovely, and helpful tips that Wajahat Ali and other children of immigrants receive on a daily basis. Go back where, exactly? Fremont, California, where he grew up but is now an unaffordable place to live? Or Pakistan, the country his parents left behind a half-century ago? 

Growing up living the suburban American dream, young Wajahat devoured comic books (devoid of Brown superheroes) and fielded well-intentioned advice from uncles and aunties. (“Become a doctor!”) He had turmeric stains under his fingernails, was accident-prone, suffered from OCD, and wore husky pants, but he was as American as his neighbors, with roots all over the world. Then, while Ali was studying at University of California, Berkeley, 9/11 happened. Muslims replaced communists as America’s enemy number one, and he became an accidental spokesman and ambassador of all ordinary, unthreatening things Muslim-y. 

Now a middle-aged dad, Ali has become one of the foremost and funniest public intellectuals in America. In Go Back to Where You Came From, he tackles the dangers of Islamophobia, white supremacy, and chocolate hummus, peppering personal stories with astute insights into national security, immigration, and pop culture. In this refreshingly bold, hopeful, and uproarious memoir, Ali offers indispensable lessons for cultivating a more compassionate, inclusive, and delicious America.

I actually didn’t know who Wajahat Ali was before I read his memoir. I’m not sure where I heard about it or who recommended it to me. Whoever it was, thank you!

Ali is the son of Muslim immigrants from Pakistan. He manages to put a humorous spin on the mircroaggressions he faced as a child and the downright aggression he and other Muslims have had to deal with after 9/11. His book will educate white readers about white privilege and they probably won’t even realize it. Or at least they might not get as defensive.

Then, the middle of the book takes an unexpected turn when writes about his parents going to prison for some kind of white-color crime that I didn’t really understand. He had to take over the family business while still in college and had to care for both of his grandmas who were living with his parents. The business did not do well and he and his grandmas were basically homeless at one point. He doesn’t go into detail about the crimes his parents were alleged to have committed because he says that’s their story to tell. I would love it if they wrote a book because I’m very curious to know more!

Ali narrates the audiobook himself, which I think made it funnier than if I had read it in print. Even though he’s not a comedian, his comedic timing is spot on. Recommended.

Book Review: Yoga Pant Nation by Laurie Gelman

Yoga Pant Nation by Laurie Gelman
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: July 13, 2021)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Jen Dixon of Overland Park, Kansas―fearless mother of a fifth-grade boy and two thirty-something daughters―is used to juggling a lot, from her mission to become a spin instructor, to stepping in as the most acerbic class mom ever (again), to taking care of her two-year-old granddaughter. But when the PTA president throws her a mandate to raise $10,000 for the fifth-grade class, even unflappable Jen is going to need more than her regular spin class to get her through this final year at William Taft Elementary School.

In the midst of new complications―organizing the class overnight to Topeka, an unexpected spin class fan in the form of her husband’s crazy ex-wife, and trying to navigate her parents’ sudden descent into apparent delusions―Jen hardly has the patience to listen to yet another half-baked idea (come on, ladies, another wrapping paper sale?) from WeFUKCT (We Fundraise Until Kingdom Come Team), her fundraising committee. But if anyone can get elementary parents to pull off the impossible, it’s Jen Dixon.

With her always irreverent and laugh-out-loud humor―boldly holding forth on those things you’re thinking, but would never dare say out loud―Laurie Gelman’s Yoga Pant Nation shines a light on the indignities and hilarities of modern parenting.

Yoga Pant Nation jumps to Jen Dixon’s son Max’s fifth-grade year. Not only is she class mom but she’s been roped into heading up the school-wide fundraiser – a daunting task that’s nearly broken moms in previous years. In addition to that, she’s trying to balance teaching spinning classes, caring for her aging parents, who seem to be getting dementia all of a sudden and helping her daughter navigate a pretty big issue.

I’m still loving this series! I like how the author is able to keep the plot fresh – it could very easily become formulaic and repetitive. I also love that Jen’s job for the school always involves her having to send emails. Those are the best part! This book even had a couple of little twists. The fourth book in the series, Smells Like Tween Spirit, just came out a couple of weeks ago. The hold list at my library for it is long (I guess I might be the last to know about this series!) but a friend loaned me her copy so I’ll be devouring it straight away.

My reviews for other books in the series:
Class Mom (Class Mom #1)
You’ve Been Volunteered (Class Mom#2)

Book Review: You’ve Been Volunteered by Laurie Gelman

You’ve Been Volunteered by Laurie Gelman
Publisher: ‎ Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: July 23, 2019
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

If you’ve ever been a room parent or school volunteer, Jen Dixon is your hero. She says what every class mom is really thinking, whether in her notoriously frank emails or standup-worthy interactions with the micromanaging PTA President and the gamut of difficult parents. Luckily, she has the charm and wit to get away with it―most of the time. Jen is sassier than ever but dealing with a whole new set of challenges, in the world of parental politics and at home.

She’s been roped into room-parenting yet again, for her son Max’s third grade class, but as her husband buries himself in work, her older daughters navigate adulthood, and Jen’s own aging parents start to need some parenting themselves, Jen gets pulled in more directions than any one mom, or superhero, can handle.

Refreshingly down-to-earth and brimming with warmth, Dixon’s next chapter will keep you turning the pages to find out what’s really going on under the veneer of polite parent interactions, and have you laughing along with her the whole way.

The second book in the Class Mom series, You’ve Been Volunteered skips ahead from Jen’s son Max’s kindergarten year, where the first book left off, to his third-grade year. Jen has not only been roped into being class mom again but is also now in charge of the safety patrol. As if that weren’t stressful enough, her husband Ron is trying to expand is gym business and is working long hours.

I thought You’ve Been Volunteered was just as funny as Class Mom. (Read my review of Class Mom here.)  Jen is still writing the same irreverent, sarcastic emails to the parents. There are even more of them since she has to email the safety patrol parents as well. Adding the safety patrol to her responsibilities was a good way to ensure that the humor was fresh and that this book wasn’t just a repeat of Class Mom.

You’ve Been Volunteered can stand alone but it will be even funnier if you’ve read Class Mom first. And you might as well because they are both quick reads. Now I’m off to read Yoga Pant Nation, the third book in the series!

Book Review: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
Publisher: Avery
Publication Date: September 11, 2012
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of pioneering research, Brené Brown PhD, MSW, dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.

Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She writes: “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”

Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable. It’s even a little dangerous at times. And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there’s a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena—whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen.

I think you’re either a person that reads self-help books and gets something out of them or you’re not. I usually do not. I fully admit that I’m not a very introspective person and I’m sure that’s why. It’s definitely not because I think I’m perfect or anything. I remember feeling left out in college when my friends were “finding themselves” and having deep conversations about the meaning of life. I told my mom about it and she said, “Well, not everyone can sit around analyzing themselves all day or nothing would ever get done.” Hmm…wonder where I get it from?

The theme of Daring Greatly is that we should dare to be vulnerable and that there is a difference between shame and guilt. Shame is bad and guilt is not. Also, there is a difference between being vulnerable and just vomiting up your problems to anyone who will listen. Your vulnerability has to have appropriate boundaries.

I don’t disagree with anything Brown is saying, I’m just not sure how to put it to use in my real life. To me, being vulnerable is being open about your insecurities. But how do you express that without sounding like a whiner? I need concrete examples. I looked up my review of Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, another self-helpish book I’ve read and that’s the same thing I said about that book!

Daring Greatly did lead to a really good discussion in my book club – one of the best we’ve had. I think that’s because we are all pretty close friends and we were able to be vulnerable with each other while discussing this book. I’m not sure it would as good of a discussion if the book club members were just acquaintances.

I know there are tons of people who worship Brené Brown, a lot of my friends included. I can see why but at the same time, I don’t see myself reading any more of her books.

Audiobook Review: P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
Publisher: Recorded Books
Audible Release Date: January 14, 2020
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*****This review may have tiny spoilers for To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, the first book in this series.*****

Publisher’s Description:

Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter. She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever. When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once? 

P.S. I Still Love You is the second book in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy. It picks up right where the first book left off. Laura Jean and Peter are dating for real and things are going great. Except that he still keeps in touch with Genevieve, his ex-girlfriend. He says it’s because she’s going through a hard time but won’t give Lara Jean any details. Is he telling the truth or is he cheating on her?

To complicate things, one of the other boys she wrote a letter to, John Ambrose McClaren, is back in her life. Does she still have feelings for him? Does he have feelings for her? Will she have to choose between him and Peter?

I liked P.S. I Still Love You just as much as I liked To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (read my review here). I especially liked how teenage sex is handled. The characters have honest conversations about whether or not to do it and why. It’s clear that the author is advocating for kids to make responsible choices but it doesn’t come off as preachy. It’s authentic and sounds like real thoughts and discussions teenagers would have about it. I mean, teenagers are doing it whether we like it or not. I think it’s weird when characters who have been going out for a really long time haven’t had sex yet or even talked about it.

I’m definitely listening to the third and final book, Always and Forever, Lara Jean, as soon as possible. Then I’ll watch all the movies!

Book Review: Class Mom by Laurie Gelman

Class Mom by Laurie Gelman
Publisher: ‎ St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: July 24, 2018
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Jen Dixon is not your typical Kansas City kindergarten class mom―or mom in general. Jen already has two college-age daughters by two different (probably) musicians, and it’s her second time around the class mom block with five-year-old Max―this time with a husband and father by her side. Though her best friend and PTA President sees her as the “wisest” candidate for the job (or oldest), not all of the other parents agree.

From recording parents’ response times to her emails about helping in the classroom, to requesting contributions of “special” brownies for curriculum night, not all of Jen’s methods win approval from the other moms. Throw in an old flame from Jen’s past, a hyper-sensitive “allergy mom,” a surprisingly sexy kindergarten teacher, and an impossible-to-please Real Housewife-wannabe, causing problems at every turn, and the job really becomes much more than she signed up for.

Jen Dixon has somehow found herself in the position of class mom (what some call room mother) of her son Max’s kindergarten class. This isn’t her first rodeo – she has two young-adult daughters fathered by two different men in her wilder days traveling the world as a groupie. Her irreverent emails and management style don’t sit well with the younger, more traditional kindergarten moms.

I could totally relate to Jen. She’s the oldest mom out of all the kindergarten moms. I’ll be 50 when my youngest starts kindergarten! She has two grown children as well – my other kids will be 19, 17 and 13 when my baby is in kindergarten. (All four have the same dad though – I’m not quite as wild as Jen in that respect!) If I’m my baby’s room mom when he starts school, I can totally see myself being just as cynical as Jen. I’m pretty sure I already am. That’s probably why I found her emails to the parents so funny. She writes what I would want to write if I was in her position.

There isn’t a huge conflict driving the plot – it’s more a bunch of little things, just like real life. There are the annoying moms she has to deal with and the big race she’s training for. Also, her high school crush’s son is in her son’s class, which could get complicated if she lets it. I found all of it entertaining.

A bonus for me is that this book is set in my hometown of Kansas City. There aren’t many novels set there – in fact, I don’t know of any others off the top of my head. Although she doesn’t get everything right about my city, it was still fun when she mentioned real-life restaurants and other things. I guess it must have bothered other Kansas Citian’s that she didn’t get everything perfect because there’s an author’s note in the second book in the series, You’ve Been Volunteered, where she says she had to take some artistic license with the setting to advance the plot and please “no more hate mail”. Geez, Kansas City – lighten up!

Class Mom was a quick, fun and relatable read. It’s the first book in a series of four – so far. I’m definitely going to read the other books in this series!

Page to Screen: Paper Towns

The main idea of the Paper Towns movie is the same as the John Green book that it’s based on. (See my review of the book Paper Towns here.) High school senior Quentin is in love with Margo Roth Spiegelman, an enigmatic girl in his class that lives next door to him. After she convinces him to go with her on a night of epic adventure, she disappears. Quentin is determined to find her and enlists his other friends to help him. Like the book, they go on a road trip to track Margo down. The movie’s timeline has been switched up quite a bit from the book and there are five people on the road trip, not four like in the book.

For once, I actually liked the changes. The road trip was less zany than in the book and felt more realistic to me.  Instead of Q and his friends missing a significant school event to go on the road trip, they are trying to get back before prom. It made more sense to me and was less of a madcap adventure. I generally do not care for madcap. The worst thing that the movie and the book have in common is that it’s hard to understand Margo’s appeal because we don’t get to know her very well. It was a little easier to understand in the movie because supermodel Cara Delevingne plays Margo and she’s freaking gorgeous. And maybe that’s the point – people love Margo because she’s beautiful, not because they know her.

Overall, I thought Paper Towns was a great adaptation of the book, and even teens who haven’t read the book will enjoy it.

Book Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns by John Green
Publisher: ‎ Dutton Books
Release Date: October 16, 2008
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificent Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life—summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. When their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Margo has disappeared. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Embarking on an exhilarating adventure to find her, the closer Q gets, the less he sees the girl he thought he knew.

Quentin has been friends with Margo Roth Spiegelman since childhood. By high school, they had grown apart – she was the most popular girl in school, while he hung out with the band nerds. However, he never stopped having a crush on her. One night, she climbs through his bedroom window and convinces him to take her on a wild ride, playing pranks on her cheating boyfriend and other friends who have wronged her. The next day she’s gone. Quentin won’t stop looking for her – did she run away or did something bad happen to her?

Margo Roth Spiegelman is a damaged, enigmatic girl that reminded me of Alaska from Green’s Looking for Alaska. However, Margo wasn’t nearly as developed as Alaska. When she shows up at Quentin’s window, we know almost nothing about her, and I didn’t feel like we learned much about her later. Quentin is in love with her but I never understood why since I didn’t get to know her that well. A few flashbacks to her at school or something might have helped. I felt like Quentin and his friends were developed more than her, which is good.

The road trip that Quentin and his friends embark on to find Margo is ridiculous but in a good way. I think teens will find it funny and also wish that they could go on a trip like it. It exhausted me just reading about it! Margo leaves behind her copy of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman and Quentin refers to it often. I think Whitman lovers will appreciate that. I thought of my mom while I was reading Paper Towns – she loved Whitman.

Even though this wasn’t my favorite John Green novel, it’s written by John Green so it was still pretty darn good. Recommended.

Other John Green books I’ve reviewed:

Looking for Alaska
An Abundance of Katherines
The Fault in Our Stars
Turtles All the Way Down
Will Grayson, Will Grayson (co-authored by David Levithan)

Book Review: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Release Date: June 2, 2020
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, Southern Black community and running away at age 16, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her Black daughter in the same Southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for White, and her White husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?

Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person’s decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. 

Stella and Desiree are light-skinned Black identical twin sisters growing up in a small Black community fraught with colorism. One day, Stella disappears. She’s moved to the big city where she passes as a white woman, marries a white man and has a white daughter. Desiree has a daughter with her dark-skinned husband and has very dark skin herself. She stands out in their small town and not in a good way.

I expected this book to be wholly about Stella and Desiree and the contrast of their lives, one living as a white person and one living as a Black person. It is about that, but just as much of the book is about their daughters. There is also an LGBT plotline that is fairly important. It’s strange I hadn’t heard anything about that before I read the book – there was a lot of buzz when this book first came out and I never saw it mentioned. I liked it though and thought it was well-done, I was just surprised.

The author did a great job of weaving the characters’ stories together in an unexpected but authentic way. All of the characters had depth and I was able to empathize with even when they were very frustrating. Stella’s journey was especially intriguing to me. I don’t think I’ve read a book about someone passing before. Passing by Nella Larsen was recommended to me as another good novel on the subject and I plan to read it soon.

This book has a lot of four and five-star reviews and very much deserves them. Most of the negative reviews mention that this book isn’t about what the reviewer thought it would be about. I agree – it wasn’t what I thought it would be about either but that’s not a negative for me. I enjoyed reading it. Recommended.