Every Time You Go Away by Beth Harbison
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: July 24, 2018
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Willa has never fully recovered from the sudden death of her husband, Ben. She became an absent mother to her young son, Jamie, unable to comfort him while reeling from her own grief.
Now, years after Ben’s death, Willa finally decides to return to the beach house where he passed. It’s time to move on and put the Ocean City, Maryland house on the market.
When Willa arrives, the house is in worse shape than she could have imagined, and the memories of her time with Ben are overwhelming. They met at this house and she sees him around every corner. Literally. Ben’s ghost keeps reappearing, trying to start conversations with Willa. And she can’t help talking back.
To protect her sanity, Willa enlists Jamie, her best friend Kristin, and Kristin’s daughter Kelsey to join her for one last summer at the beach. As they explore their old haunts, buried feelings come to the surface, Jamie and Kelsey rekindle their childhood friendship, and Willa searches for the chance to finally say goodbye to her husband and to reconnect with her son.
I chose this book because I liked Beth Harbison’s book When in Doubt, Add Butter. Interestingly, that book also has a character named Willa but I don’t think it’s the same Willa as in this book. If you’ve read both books, let me know what you think. I read When in Doubt, Add Butter several years ago so I don’t remember many details.
Anyhoo, on to the review. Willa’s husband Ben died unexpectedly of a heart attack at their beach house three years ago. Their son Jaimie was just fourteen years old. After avoiding the beach house since then, Willa decides it’s time to sell it and moves in for the summer to fix it up. Soon, Ben’s ghost appears to her. He’s not a white-sheet type of ghost – he’s just like Ben was when he was alive but Willa is the only one who can see him.
Willa and her son haven’t had the best relationship with each other since Ben died. Willa has been too obsessed with her own grief to recognize the extent to which Jaimie is hurting too. Jaimie has an annoying girlfriend who is a borderline stalker. After they break up, he decides to go help his mother with the beach house, much to her surprise. Once he’s there, they begin to reconnect, although it’s still a struggle.
Obviously, this isn’t a totally realistic book since one of the characters is a ghost. If you don’t think you can suspend your disbelief to accept that Willa’s dead husband visits her, then skip this book. I was able to do that and thought that it was a cute story. Even though the premise is sad, it never got heavy enough to be a depressing read. I would call it a “cozy” paranormal romance. Or something like that. It was definitely a cozy something. Since the setting is the beach and it’s a light read, it would be a good beach read. The temperature is still in the 80s where I am in the Midwest – it’s not too late to squeeze in another summer read!
(I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.)
October 1st, 2019 in
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The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Release Date: September 10, 2019
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results.
Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third voice: a woman who wields power through the ruthless accumulation and deployment of secrets.
As Atwood unfolds The Testaments, she opens up the innermost workings of Gilead as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes.
The Testaments takes place fifteen years after The Handmaid’s Tale but it’s not a continuation of June’s story. It’s told from the points of view of three different women. One has been raised in Gilead, one has been raised and in Canada and one is Aunt Lydia. Not surprisingly, each woman is vastly different. We get to know Aunt Lydia’s back story. She is more than just a cartoonish villain. She also has a wickedly dry sense of humor. You might even grow to like her a little bit!
You might be wondering where the TV series fits into all of this. If you haven’t watched the TV series but have read The Handmaid’s Tale then you are good to go. It won’t matter that you haven’t watched the TV series. If you haven’t read The Handmaid’s Tale but you have watched season one of The Handmaid’s Tale TV series, then you will be able to follow what happens in The Testaments without a problem. If you haven’t read the book or watched the first season of The Handmaid’s Tale, then you need to do one or the other before you read this book.
I loved this book. I thought it was a near perfect follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale. I loved that we got to experience multiple facets of life during the Gilead regime. I think it was the right choice given that the TV series has covered what happened to Offred after the end of the first book. If Atwood had continued her story in this book, there would have been too much focus on comparing and contrasting the book to the TV series. And in my opinion, the TV series has grown repetitive and a little tedious. The Testaments feels fresh.
Even though the book is over 400 pages, I wanted more just because I was enjoying it so much that I didn’t want it to end. Given the ending, another book could certainly be possible but Atwood has said she’s too old to write another one. Come on, you’re only 80 years old Margaret!
The Handmaid’s Tale is one of my all-time favorite books. If you haven’t read it, you need to. Then read The Testaments. It’s a satisfying follow-up that was worth the wait.
My reviews of other books by Margaret Atwood:
The Handmaid’s Tale
Alias Grace
The Heart Goes Last
September 26th, 2019 in
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Baby Jude.
Hey guys! Long time no see. Looks like I unexpectedly took the summer off. I have a great excuse though. I had a baby! Jude was due July 15th but surprised everyone by coming on June 6th – two days after the last day of school.
That was not his first surprise. His first was being here at all! I’m forty-five years old. My other kids are fifteen, thirteen and nine. My first child was conceived with the help of fertility treatments. After my second child was born, my husband and I tried for a few years for a third child. Nothing happened and we ended up adopting our daughter. I never went on birth control because what would be the point, right? Well, after twelve years – surprise! When we told the kids, Cash, the oldest, said, “How’d that happen??” I said, “Cash, you know how it happens.” To which he replied, “Yeah, but I didn’t think you guys were still doing it!” Geez, we’re not THAT old!
Proud siblings!
I had a C-section to deliver Jude and when the doctor cut me open (sorry, graphic) she said, “Did you know you have really bad endometriosis? I’m surprised you could get pregnant at all!” Our little Jude was definitely meant to be here. Even though he was six weeks early, he only spent two weeks in the NICU before he came home. He is the light of everyone’s eye. His older brothers and sister love him so much and truly are a big help to me. I don’t know if I could do the newborn thing at my age without them!
Now that Jude is a little better at taking naps in his bed instead of in my arms, I should be able to start blogging again, although posts will still be sporadic for a while. I have been doing quite a bit of reading – that and watching TV are what I do when I’m nursing the baby and he eats pretty often. Hopefully, I can remember what all the books I’ve read are actually about and start cranking out the reviews.
How was your summer?
September 24th, 2019 in
Family |
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Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Release Date: April 6, 2010
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two strangers cross paths. Two teens with the same name, running in two very different circles, suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, culminating in heroic turns-of-heart and the most epic musical ever to grace the high school stage.
Will Grayson is a teenager who follows two simple rules: 1. Don’t care too much. 2. Shut up. He’s straight but his best friend Tiny Cooper is gay. Very gay. And very big. Lately, Will has started to feel like their relationship has become one-sided. Tiny has always been self-absorbed but he becomes even more so after the school gives him permission to produce and perform his play, Hold Me Closer, which is basically his life story.
A few hours away lives a depressed, closeted teenage boy also named Will Grayson. The only bright spot in his life is his online boyfriend Isaac, who he hopes to one day meet in person. In the meantime, his only friend is a gloomy girl named Maura who is so needy that sometimes he can barely stand her.
This book alternates between the two Wills every other chapter. John Green wrote straight Will’s chapters. He wrote his Will in the traditional style of proper capitalization and sentence structure. David Levithan wrote gay Will’s chapters with all lowercase letters with the dialogue written similar to texts. This method served his Will’s personality well.
In the authors’ interview in the back of the book, David said that he wanted to make his Will a character who is in the middle of things in his life. He’s gay and he’s fine with it. He’s closeted but only because he doesn’t like talking to people or drawing attention to himself. He has depression but he’s on medication and is okay. This is not a story about a teen struggling with depression or being gay. As David says this is a book about what happens next, when you have to live the rest of your life.
As usual, John Green does a great job of inhabiting the mind of a teenager. David Levithan is new to me and I was impressed with him as well. I’d like to read more of his books. My favorite line from his Will is, “when i look at the guys and girls at the other tables, i wonder what they could possibly have to say to each other. they’re all so boring and they’re all trying to make up for it by talking louder.” I substitute teach in high schools and I can say that I totally get what he means. They talk so loud!
Will Grayson, Will Grayson is a unique collaboration that worked really well. I think teen readers will find both Wills relatable in some way and will be comforted. I recommend this book to both teen boys and girls, LBGT or straight.
Other John Green books I’ve reviewed:
Looking for Alaska
An Abundance of Katherines
The Fault in Our Stars
Turtles All the Way Down
June 10th, 2019 in
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Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong – and What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster
Publisher: Penguin Books
Release Date: June 24, 2014
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
What to Expect When You’re Expecting meets Freakonomics: an award-winning economist disproves standard recommendations about pregnancy to empower women while they’re expecting. From the author of Cribsheet, a data-driven decision making guide to the early years of parenting
Pregnancy—unquestionably one of the most profound, meaningful experiences of adulthood—can reduce otherwise intelligent women to, well, babies. Pregnant women are told to avoid cold cuts, sushi, alcohol, and coffee without ever being told why these are forbidden. Rules for prenatal testing are similarly unexplained. Moms-to-be desperately want a resource that empowers them to make their own right choices.
When award-winning economist Emily Oster was a mom-to-be herself, she evaluated the data behind the accepted rules of pregnancy, and discovered that most are often misguided and some are just flat-out wrong. Debunking myths and explaining everything from the real effects of caffeine to the surprising dangers of gardening, Expecting Better is the book for every pregnant woman who wants to enjoy a healthy and relaxed pregnancy—and the occasional glass of wine.
When economist Emily Oster became pregnant with her first child, she soon found herself frustrated with the lack of and quality of data behind the pregnancy rules her obstetrician gave her to follow. For example, who decided pregnant women shouldn’t eat deli meat and why? Emily set out to find the answers.
Oster explains in layman’s terms how to interpret study results without talking down to the reader. She addresses things like sample size and correlation versus causality.
I liked that she framed her conclusions in terms of risks verses benefits and recognized that what is an acceptable level of risk for her may not be an acceptable level of risk for the reader and vice versa, for a variety of reasons. It was surprising how many pregnancy don’ts are based on either outdated research or studies with very small sample sizes.
I appreciated Oster’s logical approach to issues that come up in pregnancy and that she didn’t present her conclusions as black and white. She has a new book out called Cribsheet about the early years of parenting that I am very much looking forward to reading as I am due to have my fourth child in a few weeks. My youngest is almost nine so the early years of raising a baby are a distant blur in my memory! I highly recommend Expecting Better for anyone who is pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant in the future.
Prodigy by Marie Lu
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Release Date: January 29, 2013
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.
It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.
But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?
Prodigy is the second book in Marie Lu’s Legend trilogy. The Legend series is a dystopian, young adult trilogy in the same vein as Hunger Games and Divergent in that an authoritative government has taken over the United States and it is up to teenagers to try and conquer them. You need to start with the first book, Legend, to be able to understand Prodigy.
In my review of Legend, I noted that there wasn’t any back story of how the Republic came into power and that I hoped it would be explained in the subsequent books. And indeed it was in Prodigy thankfully. There’s not much more I can say without spoiling Legend and probably this book as well. I will say that although I liked it, I didn’t find it to be as riveting as Legend. However, I definitely want to stick with it and read the final book, Champion, to find out how the story ends and I think you will too.
May 23rd, 2019 in
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The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Release Date: December 5, 2017
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
From stand-up comedian, actress, and breakout star of Girls Trip, Tiffany Haddish, comes The Last Black Unicorn, a sidesplitting, hysterical, edgy, and unflinching collection of (extremely) personal essays, as fearless as the author herself.
Growing up in one of the poorest neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles, Tiffany learned to survive by making people laugh. If she could do that, then her classmates would let her copy their homework, the other foster kids she lived with wouldn’t beat her up, and she might even get a boyfriend. Or at least she could make enough money—as the paid school mascot and in-demand Bar Mitzvah hype woman—to get her hair and nails done, so then she might get a boyfriend.
None of that worked (and she’s still single), but it allowed Tiffany to imagine a place for herself where she could do something she loved for a living: comedy.
Tiffany can’t avoid being funny—it’s just who she is, whether she’s plotting shocking, jaw-dropping revenge on an ex-boyfriend or learning how to handle her newfound fame despite still having a broke person’s mind-set. Finally poised to become a household name, she recounts with heart and humor how she came from nothing and nowhere to achieve her dreams by owning, sharing, and using her pain to heal others.
By turns hilarious, filthy, and brutally honest, The Last Black Unicorn shows the world who Tiffany Haddish really is—humble, grateful, down-to-earth, and funny as hell. And now, she’s ready to inspire others through the power of laughter.
The Last Black Unicorn is Tiffany Haddish’s memoir. I wanted to read it because I saw Tiffany on a talk show telling the host about how she was a former foster child. As a former foster parent myself, I was curious to learn more about her journey from foster care to successful stand-up comedian and actress.
Tiffany had a hard life. Not only did she survive a rough childhood, she endured an abusive marriage. She recounts her life with brutal honesty, even when it makes her look bad. She does temper her stories with humor but even so, I found parts hard to read, or rather listen to. She reads the audiobook herself. I found the part about her relationship with a physically and mentally disabled man uncomfortable to listen to. Not because she dated him but because when she read his dialogue, she used the “accent” f,or lack of a better word, that some mentally challenged people have when they talk. Perhaps I’m oversensitive, but I didn’t care for it.
The Last Black Unicorn is a good memoir – although I think she relies on the word “whatever” as a descriptor far too much. Tiffany has had a pretty crazy life and has worked extremely hard to get to where she is today. However, I wouldn’t say this book is laugh out loud hilarious. It has funny parts but Tiffany’s stand-up and talk show appearances are definitely funnier. Even though I had a few problems with it, I think fans of Tiffany Haddish will enjoy this book.
The movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird is the rare case of a successful adaptation of a book into a movie. You can find my review of the book here. The movie focuses almost exclusively on the trial of Tom Robinson, which I think was a smart choice. The languid pace of the novel would not work for a movie. It would make the movie way too long and would seem repetitive since the kids do much of the same things every summer.
Gregory Peck won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Atticus Finch. I found him to be outstanding in the role. If Boo Radley looks familiar that’s because he is played by the very young Robert Duvall!
I recommend that you read the book first and then watch the movie. As my fourteen year old son said, “It’s so good that after watching if for a while, I forgot it was in black and white!”
March 28th, 2019 in
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Published In 1960
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My son recently read To Kill a Mockingbird for school so I decided to reread it. This time around, I listened to the audiobook, which is read by Sissy Spacek. The book is narrated in the first-person from Scout’s point of view and Spacek’s soft, natural Southern voice is perfect for it.
I always struggle writing an actual review for a classic novel because it’s usually been reviewed and analyzed to death. I’m going to tell you my thoughts anyway! Like I said, To Kill a Mockingbird is written from the first-person point of view of Scout Finch, who is around six years old when the story begins. She lives in Maycomb, Alabama with her father Atticus and her brother Jem. Atticus is a lawyer and is the most respected man in town. When Tom Robinson, a black man, is falsely accused of raping a white woman, the town’s judge appoints Atticus to defend him. The chances that Tom will be acquitted are slimmer than slim but as Atticus says, real courage is, “when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” That’s why the judge appointed him. He knew that Atticus was the only lawyer who would give his all to defending Tom even though it was a lost cause. Meanwhile, Scout, Jem and their friend Dill are obsessed with the Finch’s mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. They delight in daring each other to get close to the Radley house.
To Kill a Mockingbird is full of life lessons. Atticus is pretty much the perfect human and the wisdom he imparts to Scout and Jem is profound. I liked how Harper Lee took her time building up to the actual trial. She shows us years of life in Maycomb so that the reader can truly understand the South in the 1930s. There is a rich cast of supporting characters, all vividly drawn. It’s tragic to realize that not all that much has changed in how our country treats black people since the time of this book. Black people are still treated unfairly by the criminal justice system quite often, resulting in America’s huge mass incarceration problem.
I’m so glad I reread To Kill a Mockingbird. I had forgotten just how much I loved it. There is so much about it that is timeless and Atticus’s lessons still resonate today. If by chance you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend that you do.
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March 26th, 2019 in
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Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Release Date: March 7, 2017
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet—sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors—doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through. . . .
Exit West follows these remarkable characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.
Exit West is about Nadia and Saeed, who live in a nameless war torn Muslim country, most likely in the Middle East. Saeed is a devout Muslim, while Nadia is an independent non-believer who is single, yet lives alone in her own apartment, which is almost unheard of. They meet at a night class and soon begin a relationship. They decide to leave their country in search of a better life. They find a magical door and walk through it. On the other side is the Greek island of Mykonos. After living there for a while, they go through another door and end up somewhere else, and so on. Their relationship evolves and eventually devolves throughout their journey. Hamid’s depiction of the disintegration of a relationship was so authentic, I thought it was amazing.
I thought using the doors as a device to get Nadia and Saeed from place to place was inventive and creative. This allowed Hamid to focus on their lives as immigrants in the places they traveled to without getting bogged down in all of the red tape that immigrating in real life involves. There’s no way they could have lived in so many places otherwise.
My book club read Exit West a few months ago – it was a great selection. It brings up so many issues related to immigration and refugees to talk about. Nadia is an interesting person to discuss as well. Though she is not religious, she wears traditional Muslim dress, even when she and Saeed move to other countries. We talked about why she does this as well as about Nadia and Saeed’s relationship. Recommended.
