Friday, February 28, 2014

Review: Dept of Speculation

Dept. of Speculation
By Jenny Offill
Random House January 2014
177 pages
From the library 

Dept. of Speculation

The wife is looking back at her relationship with her husband. She records little thoughts - the times when they were happy, the moments when one or the other failed horribly, the gasps of joy when their daughter stole their hearts all over again, and the ache of loneliness in an uneven relationship. These tiny vignettes give the reader an intimate look into the most private and vulnerable moments of a marriage.

The best way to describe this book, perhaps, is the word fractured. There is not particularly a narrative here. The timeline is revealed to us through these tiny, distinct paragraphs as the wife and the husband wonder if loving their work is more important than putting bread on the table or marvel at the changes they face as they grow older. This approach has advantages and disadvantages. This kind of writing makes you feel far away from both the wife and her story, but the writing is so sparse that the really insightful, really beautiful lines hit you right in the gut. 

"My plan was to never get married. I was going to become an art monster instead. Women almost never become art monsters because art monsters only concern themselves with art, never mundane things. Nabakov didn't even fold his own umbrella. Vera licked his stamps for him."

"My love for her seemed doomed, hopelessly unrequited. There should be songs for this, I thought, but if there were I didn't know them."

"What did you do today, you'd say when you got home from work, and I'd try my best to craft an anecdote for you out of nothing."

"Hard to believe I used to think love was such a fragile business. Once when he was still young, I saw a bit of his scalp showing through his hair and I was afraid. But it was just a cowlick. Now sometimes it shows through for real, but I feel only tenderness."

"How has she become one of those people who wear yoga pants all day? She used to make fun of those people. With their happiness maps and their gratitude journals and their bags made out of recycled tire treads. But now it seems possible that the truth about getting older is that there are fewer and fewer things to make fun of until finally there is nothing you are sure you will never be." 

There are so many books written about relationships, marriage, and motherhood. Dept. of Speculation is very different from any of them. In a very short book, Offill is able to brilliantly plot a relationship - the joys of new love, the sorrow of a broken heart, and the resolution to stay true to the one you love for the long haul for, as our narrator so aptly puts it, "no one young knows the name of anything." 

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Review: Bread and Wine

Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table
By Shauna Niequist
Zondervan April 2013
285 pages
From my shelves

Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table, with Recipes

Shauna Niequist has always been a fan of food - the way that certain foods evoke memories, the way that food begs for a celebration to accompany it, and the way that eating a favorite dish can make you feel like you are home again. In this collection of essays, she looks at the connection between eating and gathering together. Shauna believes that whether you are eating a frozen pizza or a meticulously prepared steak, there is blessing in the act of being together and sharing our food and our stories.

"This is what I want you to do: I want you to tell someone you love them, and dinner's at six. I want you to throw open your front door and welcome the people you love into the inevitable mess with hugs and laughter. I want you to light a burner on the stove, to chop and stir and season with love and abandon...Gather the people you love around your table and feed them with love and honesty and creativity. Feed them with your hands and the flavors and smells that remind you of home and beauty and the best stories you've ever heard, the best stories you've ever lived." 

Bread and Wine came at a perfect time for me. I want to open my home more - to invite people from church over for lunch, to have my sisters over for sleepovers, to host a fancy dinner party. But I think there is a voice in all of us that says that our house will never be nice enough (goodness knows it is not particularly clean with a whirling dervish of a little boy and a baby girl who likes to throw her food). We worry that our food will not be good enough or the table will not look nice enough. But Shauna encourages us to just begin. You don't have to serve lobster the first time out or use your best china. By opening your house and inviting people to live among your sink full of dishes and crayon on the wall, you are inviting them to open their hearts and giving them a place to show their true selves. 

Shauna really opens up in this book. She writes about her struggle to get pregnant, her body issues, and sitting alone in a hospital room with her sick baby. The darkness is always balanced by light though, as she also shares happy memories of summers with family and big birthday bashes. Each essay is accompanied by a recipe, ranging from cheesy scrambled eggs to bacon-wrapped dates. In spite of this being her story, one of my favorite things was the way she put the focus on other people. She writes about cooking with her husband's gluten intolerance and getting over her "eat what is served" upbringing. She realized what a gift it is when she makes something that everyone could enjoy together because cooking for others is about loving them and their unique needs instead of demonstrating your culinary prowess.

Bread and Wine is the sort of book that you live with. In the introduction, Niequest writes that she hopes you read it first on your couch or in the bathtub and then you take it into your kitchen, where it will become happily covered with flour and balsamic vinegar. This book has so much to read and re-read - recipes, little insights into living an open and inviting life, and really well written stories. I'm not sure if this book will end up sitting in my kitchen or on my bookshelf, but I know that it will be a book that is well-read and well-loved for years to come.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

7/52

Eek! I got a bit behind with these pictures, so this week you get two for one. Or rather, four for two...

A picture of each of the kids, once a week, every week in 2014.






Becca Grace #1 - Good morning! She sleeps like I do, with the blankets up to her chin.
#2 - Her hair is starting to curl a little in the back.

David #1 - I won't complain about having a helper who loves to shovel! 
#2 - Watching The Octonauts at Grammy and Buni's house

Wednesdays with David: Tonight on the Titanic

The Magic Tree House #17
Tonight on the Titanic
By Mary Pope Osborne
Random House 1999
71 pages
From our shelves

Tonight on the Titanic (Magic Tree House, #17)

The story: Jack and Annie set off on a mission to save a puppy who is under a spell. In order to set him free, they must bring back a gift from a lost ship - The Titanic! Can Jack and Annie save their new friends? Can they save themselves?

Mama opines: I was a bit wary about David reading this one because it's obviously a very sad story. I didn't want him to freak out if we decide to go on a cruise someday or the next time his grandparents invite him to come on their boat. I have to applaud Mary Pope Osborne for handling this tragedy in a way that is good for kids. He knows the story now, but Osborne does it in a way that isn't terrifying for her readers. 

Thoughts from David: Well, you could say to your friends that it is Magic Tree House. Y'all know that it does have Jack and Annie, two characters who always save the world. You do know that it's called Magic Tree House because it's a magic tree house! Their friend is Morgan le Fay. Sometimes I say to my friends, "Have you ever read Magic Tree House books?" I've got to say that Magic Tree House is a little magical. Sometimes I feel magic feelings stirring in my head. Sometimes when I read a Magic Tree House book, they are so confusing that my brain spins around in my head! Well, that's all for now! Bye!

Signed,

David

Happy Reading! 

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Review: Coincidence

Coincidence
By J.W. Ironmonger
Harper Perennial February 2014
304 pages
Provided for review by TLC Book Tours and the publisher


Coincidence

Azalea has always been just one short step away from disaster. As a child, her mother is abducted and murdered on Midsummer's Day. Azalea is left alone at the fairground with no family and no answers. Exactly one decade later, her adoptive parents are killed in another country, halfway around the world. Azalea is narrowly rescued.

Azalea is now an adult who loves teaching literature and living in London. But she is terrified. Midsummer's Day is just around the corner and it has been 10 years since the death of her parents. She fears that this time, she will be the one to die. Can she shape her own future or have her life and death already been determined?

In Coincidence, our protagonist is a woman who has been left without answers. She doesn't know who her father is, she doesn't know for a long time what happened to her mother, and she doesn't understand why she was rescued from the horrible uprising that took her adoptive parents from her. As Azalea's panic mounts, she sets out to find answers from a fellow professor. Thomas Post is a professor of philosophy who specializes in debunking the idea of coincidence. While he initially sees her fears as a failure to consider the statistics, he begins to spend time with her. As Thomas and Azalea grow closer, he begins to worry that her prediction will come true one way or another.

These characters grapple with the same questions that we all do. Is there such a thing as free will? Or have our choices already been made for us and we are just following some preordained path? Mr. Ironmonger succeeds in making us ponder these questions without losing the drive of the story or the heart of his characters. It seems inevitable that Thomas and Azalea will fall in love. They meet by physically colliding, in classic romantic style. But there is no guarantee here of a movie-perfect ending. The scars of Azalea's past and the uncertainty of her future cast a very dark and realistic shadow over their relationship.

This story jumps all over the timeline, but we spend enough time with each character to genuinely care about them. We travel into the past of Azalea's mother, follow her adopted father in his wild twenties, and even get some added background on the priest who baptized her. One of the most striking aspects of this story for me is the time spent in Africa. Azalea's adopted parents work at a mission in Uganda. Their passion for doing good is under the dark shadow of Joseph Kony and the LRA. I was a bit dubious about Kony and his terrible army as characters in this book because using real life figures, especially those that are so recent and so reviled, is a tricky business. Ironmonger manages to pull it off and creates such perfect tension that you may find yourself holding your breath.

It's not every writer who can make you ponder the big questions of life as you desperately flip pages to find out what will happen. I have a feeling that J.W. Ironmonger's days as an author who is unknown to US readers are over.


J.W. Ironmonger

J. W. Ironmonger was born and raised in East Africa. This is his first novel published in the United States. He lives in rural Shropshire, England, with his wife Sue. Connect with John on Twitter here.


Looking for some other opinions about this book? Check out some of the other fantastic bloggers on the tour! 



Tuesday, February 18: Missris 
Wednesday, February 19: Luxury Reading
Monday, February 24: A Musing Reviews 
Tuesday, February 25: Literary Lindsey
Wednesday, February 26: Shall Write 
Thursday, February 27: The House of the Seven Tails 
Wednesday, March 5: Olduvai Reads
Thursday, March 6: Love At First Book
Monday, March 10: The Book Wheel
Tuesday, March 11: Doing Dewey
Wednesday, March 12: BoundbyWords 
Thursday, March 13: A Dream Within A Dream 
Monday, March 17: Anita Loves Books 
Tuesday, March 18: Patricia's Wisdom 
Wednesday, March 19: The Written Word 
Thursday, March 20: Priscilla and Her Books 

Monday, February 24, 2014

It's Monday and time is flying!


Geez, February is almost over. I don't know how this happened. I've been looking through my schedule and I feel like we are about to embark on a crazy roller coaster ride to summer. How are we going to fit all of these things into our schedule and still have time to read?!?


Read This Week:
Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes
Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table
By Shauna Niequist

Dept. of Speculation
Dept. of Speculation
By Jenny Offill


Posts from this Past Week:
It's Monday
Wednesdays with David: Bink and Gollie
Reviews of Want Not, The Arabian Nights, and Andrew's Brain


Reading Now:
City of God: Faith in the Streets
City of God: Faith in the Streets
By Sara Miles

Up Next:
I Shall be Near to You
I Shall Be Near To You
By Erin Lindsay McCabe


What are you reading this week?

Friday, February 21, 2014

Review: Andrew's Brain

Andrew's Brain
By E. L. Doctorow
Random House January 2014
200 pages
From the library

Andrew's Brain

This slim novel is, as the title might suggest, the story of Andrew. He narrates his history to an unknown listener (at least for the first part of the book). While some parts of his life have been very normal, such as college, falling in love, and becoming a father; Andrew is unable to escape the possibility that he is responsible for the tragedies that seem to follow him wherever he goes. 

Doctorow is considered one of our great living writers, for very good reasons. His sweeping epics such as Ragtime and March show us both the grand panoramas of history and the intimate lives of some fascinating historical figures. In his newest book, he has moved to a much smaller view, as we reside inside the brain of one man. This book goes this way and that as Andrew is insistent on telling his story in his own way, much to the chagrin of the person listening who insists on peppering his account with questions.

Andrew's Brain reminded me of two other books I recently finished - The Rosie Project and Coincidence.  The first deals with a man who realizes that he is not quite like everyone else. In this story, Andrew has a similar sense of being apart from people. The second book was about the possibility of controlling our destiny. Andrew seems to be at the center of tragedy. Over the years, he has lost two wives, two children, and a promising career in cognitive science. His suspicion that his very love for these people and things is what leads to their downfall is crushing to him, and to us as readers.

This novel is somehow too long and not long enough. Towards the end, Andrew embarks on a new career path which seems more like Doctorow's attempt to get a few good zingers in regarding one of our recent presidents than a coherent part of the story. But, on the other hand, I found myself caring for Andrew. I wanted both for him to share more of his past and to find some closure in the present. There is no doubt that Mr. Doctorow is a deeply talented author. He can create a beautiful, precise phrase with the best of modern writers. Andrew's Brain will not be my favorite of his novels, but I am interested to see if this is the beginning of a new kind of story from an incredible writer.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Review: The Arabian Nights

The Arabian Nights
Barnes and Noble September 2009
735 pages
From my shelves


The Arabian Nights

In one of the most ancient and well-known tales, King Shahryar discovers that his wife has been unfaithful. His brother makes a similar discovery and the two rulers summarily have their wives executed. In his anger, King Shahryar decrees that he will marry one woman every evening and then have her killed the next morning. Scheherazade, the lovely and brilliant daughter of the Grand Vizier, is exempted but she offers herself up as the king's wife. That night, she begins to tell a tale so fascinating that the king must hear how it ends. One story leads to another and Scheherazade manages to stay alive for 1001 nights.

I have been fascinated with Scheherazade since I was a young girl and read a novel from the point of view of her sister Dunyzade, who comes to the palace with her. It is really interesting to see how much of our popular understanding of this book stems from the movie Aladdin. As it turns out, the Disney movie pulls from several different stories. The Aladdin of The Arabian Nights is no hero - he is a total nudge who forces his mother to work to provide for him while he lounges about. Jafar is a villain in a completely different story and the magic carpet is in a different tale as well. 

When reading this book, it's impossible to ignore the way that women and people of color are treated. There are many tales of a virtuous husband discovering that he has been cuckolded by his wife and a slave. The husband then kills them both and lives happily ever after. Some of this may be indicative of the time period and culture in which it is written but it is also possible that the frequency of this type of story has to do with Scheherazade's cunning. Because the king is enraged over exactly this event in his own life, it makes perfect sense to tell a version of this story where the avenging husband is both right in his vengeance and rewarded for his actions. 

While this book may be terribly misogynistic, there are also some bright spots from the women in these tales. First, we have our brilliant protagonist herself. Scheherazade volunteers herself to save the other women of her kingdom and her wits not only save them all, but cause the king to fall in love and trust in women again. In the tale of Ali Babba and the Forty Thieves, Ali Babba is pretty clueless and is saved time and time again by his slave girl Morgiana. In the story The Two Sisters Who Were Jealous of Their Younger Sister, the Princess Perizadah is able to finish the quest that her bothers failed to complete.

The Arabian Nights is a beautiful collection of tales and deserves its place as a cornerstone of literature. While it is a long read, it will remind you of the incredible power of a good story. 

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Wednesdays with David: Bink and Gollie

Bink and Gollie
By Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
Illustrated by Tony Fucile
Candlewick Press 2010
From the library 

Bink & Gollie

The story: Bink and Gollie are very different. Bink is short and Gollie is tall. Bink likes peanut butter sandwiches while Gollie is fond of making pancakes. Bink loves bright socks and goldfish but Gollie would rather pretend to explore the world. Their love for roller skating and each other is sure to bring them through any challenge.

Mama opines: This book is wonderful. The characters are quirky and the stories are delightful looks at childhood friendship. There are three stories in this collection and they are perfect for young readers who are looking for some longer books.

Thoughts from David: Bink and Gollie is a very good book. I don't think there is a better book. Y'all might know that sometimes stories can be a little too creative. That doesn't happen very often, though. If you have read the book before, you'd know that it is three stories in one. But if you haven't, that's just a telling. Well, as you might know, sometimes I guess it just curves off. Well, that's all for now! Bye!

Signed,

David

Happy Reading! 

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Review: Want Not

Want Not
By Jonathan Miles
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt November 2013
389 pages
From the library

Want Not

A couple squats in a deserted building and lives off of the food they find in garbage cans. A woman is still furious with her husband whose death in the 9/11 attacks revealed his infidelity. She finds herself unable to get rid of his things or truly commit to her new marriage. An overweight linguist is asked to create some sort of warning that will keep the people of the future away from a toxic dump site. As the novel opens on Thanksgiving Day, these people are very different and very separate. But as the story progresses, they become connected in surprising and irrevocable ways.

The title is indicative of so many things. This book cleverly examines the many ways in which we waste things - food, possessions, relationships. It strikes the delicate balance of being thought-provoking without being preachy because the theme serves the story instead of the other way around. It would have been simple to focus on Talmadge and Micah, the freegan couple trying to make it in NYC. Micah vehemently believes that they are protesting the broken system of commerce and waste by not playing a part in it. It would be easy to make the couple the mouthpiece of a viewpoint instead of fully realized characters. Instead, we feel Talmadge's love for his girlfriend and learn of Micah's broken and tragic past. Nothing is as simple as it seems. 

Want Not is one of those wonderful books that you marvel over as you read it. Miles follows the title's philosophy and not a line of story is wasted. We get the perfect amount of time with each character to make us really invested. This is a great accomplishment for two reasons. This is impressive because some of the characters are not particularly likable. Dave, for example, is an overbearing, pompous jerk of a guy who made his fortune by convincing people to pay off debts that would have been forgiven. He veers the closest to being a caricature, but Miles manages to give him just enough humanity to keep him believable. The character work in this book is that much more impressive when we realize that there really isn't a protagonist - there are eight. The storyline jumps from character to character, but each move makes sense and every character is intriguing enough to follow.

This is a stunner of a book. Want Not has it all - nuanced writing, wonderfully developed characters, and a story that will make you ask question what you keep and what you leave behind. 



One of my first book reviews (!) - Jonathan Miles' debut novel Dear American Airlines 

Sunday, February 16, 2014

It's Monday - let's talk books!


Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a snow day miracle: I finished The Arabian Nights! It only took me 39 days, so it's not a big deal or anything...

I also read two other books this week so, at the risk of jinxing everything, I am going to say that I have my reading mojo back. Hooray!


Read This Week:
Coincidence
Coincidence
By J.W. Ironmonger

The Arabian Nights
The Arabian Nights

Andrew's Brain
Andrew's Brain
By E. L. Doctorow


Posts from this Past Week:
It's Monday
Reviews of The Rosie Project, Some Nerve, and Golden State


Reading Now:
Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes
Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table
By Shauna Niequist


Up Next:
Dept. of Speculation
Dept. Of Speculation
By Jenny Offill


What are you reading this week?

Friday, February 14, 2014

Review: Golden State

Golden State
By Michelle Richmond
Bantam February 2014
304 pages
Read via Netgalley

Golden State: A Novel

Julie Walker is a woman on the verge of big changes. Her beloved state of California is voting today on seceding from the United States. Her split with her husband Tom could be finalized today. Heather, her pregnant and estranged sister, has come back into her life after causing a terrible tragedy for Julie. A man from her past unexpectedly shows up and threatens Julie's future and the lives of everyone she holds dear. 

The characters are a great strength in this story. Julie is a captivating protagonist as she guides us through her past, her present, and the chaotic streets of San Francisco. Although we spend just a little time with Heather and only meet Tom through Julie's memories, they both seem vividly real and we want to learn more about them. It's a wonderful experience as a reader when you feel like you could follow these characters through several books.

But Golden State suffers from tackling too many things at once. We have the overarching chaos and uncertainty of a state looking to separate from its country and all of the ways it will affect its citizens. Julie is on the verge of a divorce and is thinking back through the joys and sorrows of her marriage, wondering if she could have saved it. Since Julie works as a doctor in a VA hospital, the reader is privy to the horrors of war and the effects of PTSD. This story also focuses on parenthood - Heather is about to become a mother and Julie's marriage is healed and then broken by the possibility of children. And have I mentioned that Julie's old friend Dennis is holding her hospital staff hostage? While these are all very interesting threads, this all happens during 24 hours and it can be overwhelming to keep track of it all.

Golden State is a book that will keep you turning pages. There is immediate danger, both from Dennis and from the hazards of a state filled with protests and riots. But there is also a sense of reflection in these pages, as Julie looks back at the way her relationships worked and why they failed. This is a wonderful choice for the reader who can balance a lot of storylines at once and loves stories with both tension and reflection. 

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Review: Some Nerve

Some Nerve: Lessons Learned While Becoming Brave
By Patty Chang Anker
Riverhead Books October 2013
352 pages
From the library

Some Nerve: Lessons Learned While Becoming Brave

As Patty Chang Anker approached her fortieth birthday, she realized that she was afraid. There were so many things that she was scared to do - go surfing, ride a bike, or tackle a high ropes course. She wanted to set a good example for her daughters and show them that fears are something that can be conquered. So Patty started a blog and set out to discover why we fear and how we can overcome our phobias.

Patty writes a bit in Some Nerve about the transition from blog to book. Her initial efforts to face her fears were documented at her blog Facing Forty Upside Down. Maybe this is just my feeling about the publishing culture as a whole, but I find myself very wary of the whole "I had to start a blog and get so many followers so I could get a book deal" model. It seems gimmicky and while Anker, like other authors of this kind, is very relatable, I still feel like she was checking off prerequisites to be published instead of working from a burning desire to share a story.

The fears that Patty confronts are ones that can be faced head on - she takes a friend to relearn how to drive after an accident, she sits in on a public speaking class, and cleans out her office because things don't equal memories. While her insights can help with any fear, I had hoped that this book might tackle some of the more nebulous fears - fear of confrontation or fear of failure, for example. Those are harder to write about perhaps, but I think those are the fears that really need to be acknowledged and discussed.

At its heart, this book is about people coming together. Patty spends a lot of time with people who are afraid. She and the reader realize that everyone is afraid of something but our stories of triumph can help each other to overcome our fears. This book plays the role that Patty did for her daughters and her friends - an encouraging cheerleader, a reminder that fear does not have to dictate your choices and you are brave enough to face any challenge. 

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Review: The Rosie Project

The Rosie Project
By Graeme Simsion
Simon and Schuster October 2013
295 pages
From the library 

The Rosie Project

Don Tillman is a man of science. He teaches genetics and organizes his whole life around routine, order, and scientific evidence. So when he decides he would like to get married, he creates a questionnaire that will be the basis for The Wife Project. Potential wives will answer the questions and he will be able to save time by weeding out the smokers, the ones who will always be late, and the ones who don't believe that fruit flavored ice creams all taste the same. But his scientific methods don't take Rosie into account - Rosie fails every question, but Don can't stop thinking about her. Is there something about compatibility that can't be quantified?

The Rosie Project is consistently described as quirky. It's a love story that is different from the ones we usually read with strange but utterly endearing characters. Don narrates his own story and we get a front row seat into his very particular worldview. He has a prearranged meal schedule, so that his groceries are the same each week. He calculates your BMI as you talk to him and listens to Bach to figure out the patterns in his music. Rosie loud and brash and works as a "barmaid," a profession that Don finds inferior to his world of academia. 

While Rosie and Don are very unique characters, this book examines how all people approach relationships. Don realizes that he is not like everyone else. There are moments when he wishes he were more like other people, but there are also times when he realizes the advantages of his way of life. Do we change to make others happy? Can we hold onto the essence of who we are or does the very act of becoming a couple mean that we must evolve?

Books like this one become literary forces of nature. Everyone is reading and raving about this book. It's great to read a story that is indeed as quirky and fun as everyone says, but it somehow leaves the reader wanting more. This story began as a screenplay and it feels very much like a romantic comedy. But because it seems like a movie, it doesn't feel like there are high stakes. In fact, there never seems to be any doubt that these two unique characters will get together. I wish we had felt more of the difficulty and uncertainty of a new relationship alongside the joy and the fun. 

The Rosie Project is a quick, delightful read and a book that will make you believe again that happy endings are out there for everyone. 

Sunday, February 9, 2014

It's Monday and it is so nice to be home


Oh my goodness, this has been quite a week. Spending last weekend in the hospital with Becca Grace was no fun but somehow trying to get back to normal life seems more exhausting! For the first time in a very long time, I only read one book in a week (and by read I mean that I have about 40 pages to finish tonight...). Hopefully this week will help us all get back into some semblance of routine.


Read This Week:
Want Not
Want Not
By Jonathan Miles


Posts from this Past Week:
It's Monday
January Wrap-Up
Reviews of The Smartest Kids in the World and Perfect


Reading Now:
Coincidence
Coincidence
By J.W. Ironmonger


Up Next:
Andrew's Brain
Andrew's Brain
By E.L. Doctorow


What are you reading this week?

Saturday, February 8, 2014

5/52

A picture of each of the kids, once a week, every week in 2014.





Becca Grace - I would feel even happier if you would unhook me from all of these machines...
David - A boy has to check that he has all of those important things for kindergarten!

Friday, February 7, 2014

Review: Perfect

Perfect
By Rachel Joyce
Random House January 2014
400 pages
Read via Netgalley

Perfect

My review of Rachel Joyce's new book Perfect is up at the Atlantic Highlands Herald. You can read it here!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Review: The Smartest Kids in the World

The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way
By Amanda Ripley
Simon and Schuster August 2013
290 pages
From the library 

The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way

Amanda Ripley was astonished when she learned that the internationally given PISA exam revealed that American students were not doing well. Not only were they failing to excel on the exam, but their scores fell under countries that were not considered great places to get an education. Ripley followed three foreign exchange students as they traveled from the United States to Finland, South Korea, and Poland. Their experiences attending school in vastly different systems form the basis for this book, as Ripley asks what we are doing right in educating our children and what needs to change.

This book received a lot of acclaim and a lot of criticism. In the introduction, the author herself explains that, until a few years ago, she did not want to write about education. But now, with the advent of her first book about education, she is being heralded as an authority. That give some readers pause. There is also the issue of the sources Ripley uses. The exam that is the basis for the book takes only a very small sample of students. And although Ripley interviewed many students and educators around the world, it focuses on just three children who attend just three schools in just three nations. Perhaps there is folly in believing that this tiny group of children and teens are indicative of education as a whole. But until we decide that worldwide standards are called for, what can we do other than take a sampling? 

As a parent, reading this book made me think quite a bit about how we learn and how education is run in this country. Learning that students in Korea spend 12-18 hours per day in school made me grateful (for just a moment) for half-day kindergarten. But I understand that Korea's focus on learning over sports or music creates students who are fully committed to their education One of the most important points that Ripley makes is that we get what we put into our education system. When we make education an easy major in college and a low-risk career path, we can't be surprised when some of our teachers are less than excellent. Countries such as Finland make becoming a teacher incredibly difficult and only the top students can apply for their certification. This ensures that teachers are passionate about both teaching and their specific concentrations, instead of making teachers who really wanted to be high school coaches or who saw education as a way to take easy classes in college.

There are moments while reading this book when solving these problems seem simple. This has a lot to do with Ripley's straightforward, easy style. But she knows as well as we do that this is not a problem that can be solved with a quick fix. This is a giant issue - as parents, as educators, as American people, we have to create an education system where our children can excel in careers, both locally and internationally. The Smartest Kids in the World is a good place for us to start asking the right questions. 

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

January Wrap-Up

Holy cow! How have we finished a whole month in 2014 already?!? I think January flew by for me with a blur of runny noses, snow days, and visits to the doctor/hospital. Here's hoping for a healthier February!


Time to look at the books...

Books reviewed in January: 11
Pages Read: 3,551
Fiction/Non-fiction: 10/1
Female authors/male authors: 6/5
My books/library books: 6/5
Most-read review: Pinkerton's Great Detective by Beau Riffenburgh 

The best books of January
Favorite novel: Hild by Nicola Griffith
Favorite poetry: Hands To Hold for People Trying Not to Cry in Public Places by SaraGrace Stefan
Favorite series: Flavia de Luce by Alan Bradley



What was the best book you read in January??

Sunday, February 2, 2014

It's Monday - hello from the hospital!



So my view looks a bit like this right now:















We took Becca Grace from the pediatrician to the ER on Saturday morning and we have been hanging out on the pediatrics floor of our local hospital since then. She has an infection in her lungs and pneumonia. While she has definitely made some progress (thanks to IV fluid, breathing treatments, and antibiotics), we are still waiting for her white blood cell count to get back to normal. David has been spending time with his Grammy, so he is not sitting around all of these hospital germs.

Prayers and good thoughts will happily be accepted.


Read This Week:
Some Nerve: Lessons Learned While Becoming Brave
Some Nerve: Lessons Learned While Becoming Brave
By Patty Chang Anker

Golden State: A Novel
Golden State
By Michelle Richmond


Posts from this Past Week:
It's Monday
Reviews of Flavia de Luce (x3) and The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches


Reading Now:
Want Not
Want Not
By Jonathan Miles


Up Next:
Coincidence
Coincidence
By J.W. Ironmonger


What are you reading this week?