Book Smorgasbord #1

As an avid reader and a wanna-be blogger, I feel an embarrassing amount of guilt at how much I hate writing book reviews. Anyone who knows me, however, knows that I love talking about the books I read. It doesn't make sense, I know. So I am going to try a new thing where instead of telling myself that I will write a full book review for each book I read (LOL), I am going to just write a few sentences about a few that stand out and smash them all together in a single blog post now and then. Hopefully this is more interesting for anyone reading my blog and more realistic for anyone writing my blog (uh, me). We'll see how it goes.



The Glass Castle 
This book was recommended to me by a variety of sources and kept getting pushed down my list. A few weeks ago a friend handed it to me, and since I feel self-conscious about taking too long to read borrowed books, I started it the next day. I am so glad I did. The Glass Castle is beautifully written, hilarious in the midst of tragedy, and explores a way of life completely foreign to me. I felt protective of the author like I would a friend, but those who caused the greatest challenges in her life were also endearing and relatable in their own right. It isn't a happy story, but I would say it is a hopeful one. Also, there is a movie based on the memoir that looks really great.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Jeannette Walls
I couldn't put this book down. The stories haunted me, and with each character I felt a burning desire to know more. I loved that I didn't like all of the characters but that I could understand each of them. I hated the clear thread of poverty and inequality that started at page one, wove it's way through generations, and continued into the unknown of the future. This book is relevant. I have always believed that stories are how we connect with people across boundaries of time, culture, and experience and this book is a testament to that.

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain 
Circling the Sun is the fictionalization of the life of Beryl Markham, a horse trainer and aviator born in England and raised in Kenya. In contrast to Homegoing, this book took me a while to read. Not because I didn't enjoy it, because I did. Perhaps it was the slower pace of this book, or the fact that I had a hard time connecting with the main character. I think that the truest answer is that I wanted more from this book. I admittedly only became aware of the true and depressing historical backdrop of the novel after reading it (colonial Kenya in the 1920s), but even without this knowledge I felt like I was missing something. However, I have to acknowledge that this is perhaps a method of highlighting the social conditions of the time, whether intentional or not. Overall, though, it was an interesting read that introduced me to a historical figure I had not yet met.

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
I reread this book in order to hit my Goodreads 2017 goal (don't judge me, I read some big books). My Dad used to read this to me as a kid and I found the well-worn copy in my parent's basement while visiting for the holidays. Expecting a quick read (which it was), I was surprised at the depth of meaning a short story about a man and a steam shovel could convey. Well-written, beautifully illustrated, and asks the ever-important questions of how we honor things, people, and even ideas once they have passed their prime.

A Bunch of Trashy Chick-Lit Novels
It was the holidays, okay? Go ahead and judge me. I can't write reviews for any of these because my dad reads this blog sometimes. If you want a list, check out my Goodreads account.