Some Luck by Jane Smiley (Books & Banter book club)
I was pretty disappointed with this book and wouldn't have made it past the first few chapters if it wasn't for book club. I really liked A Thousand Acres and was excited that this was the first in a trilogy, but I definitely won't be reading the other books. Each chapter covers a year and the book runs from 1920 - 1953. I guess the book was supposed to explore all the history that happened between those years through the Langdon family, but really it seemed more like a lot was glossed over. There was a LOT of boring farmhouse minutiae that is certainly what life was really like then, but didn't make for a very interesting book. I was especially weirded out by the sections that were narrated by an infant - super weird. Overall, I would not recommend this one.
An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler
This book was recommended either in another book or something I read, but now I can't remember where I heard about it. The author's intent is to show that cooking doesn't have to be hard or super time-consuming to make good, home cooked food on a budget. While a lot of her tips are really good and she gives lots of ideas for variations of dishes based on one staple ingredient, overall the book is VERY over-written and pretentious. Her tone comes across very "I'm better than you." While there were some good tips and I don't disagree with most of what she says, I would not recommend this one. There is MUCH better food writing out there!
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (Evening Edition book club)
Madeline, Celeste, and Jane are all mothers of kindergartners at Pirriwee public school. Madeline and Celeste are already friends, but they take Jane under their wing since she's a single mother and new to the area. Madeline was also a single mother for awhile with her older daughter Abigail, so she feels protective of Jane. These three women are vastly different, but the common thread of their children is what draws them together at first. Soon, their lives will be intertwined together for a much different reason - at a school fund-raiser, someone is killed and these three women are at the heart of what happened. The whole book is leading up to that fateful night, so you don't know what REALLY happens until the end. Moriarty ties these three women's stories together along with helicopter parents, schoolyard bullying, domestic violence, and blended families for a pretty crazy story and an ending that I didn't see coming.
The second half of this book was pretty good, but the beginning was REALLY slow and it's VERY long. Even though you know from the beginning that someone dies, I really wasn't sure who it would be until it's revealed in the end. I did think the ending was good and I liked how it handled the issue of domestic violence, but it was SO long and literally could have been cut in half, so I wouldn't really recommend this one. I remember The Husband's Secret being the same way, so I guess it's just this author's style. I think it will make for a good book club discussion, but I didn't love it.
Bread Wine Chocolate: the slow loss of foods we love by Simran Sethi
This is yet another really hyped book that I've read recently that just did NOT live up to the hype. Sethi takes 5 common foods - wine, chocolate, coffee, beer, and bread - and explores how these food staples could be lost due to monoculture farming. Pretty much the entire book goes back to monoculture farming is evil, which it definitely is, but there really wasn't that much difference in each chapter other than the product she's talking about. I would have rather seen more emphasis on the farmers and people who ARE cultivating heirloom and wild varieties and are working to create a new market for these varieties, which she did, but the focus was much more doom and gloom and global warming. She also didn't seem to understand the basics of industrial agriculture - MORE, BIGGER, FASTER, CHEAPER, and damn the farmers or the consequences. She really seemed to think that if more people were aware of these issues something global would immediately change. If you are thinking or farming outside the industrial big ag box, you are in a VERY small crowd. Consumers want MORE, BIGGER, FASTER, CHEAPER for the most part and the ones like me who don't are opting out of industrial ag and growing our own food and connecting with local farmers who have opted out as well. Overall, this was a disappointing book and I would not recommend it. There are MUCH better food books out there - anything by Michael Pollan or Joel Salatin to start.
Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon
Simon Connelly has been a stay-at-home-dad for the past sixteen years. He has loved being home with Jake and Laney, even if it wasn't always easy being the only stay-at-home-dad in his neighborhood. Simon is more of an introvert who would rather stay home with kids than manage playdates. Jake takes after him, while Laney is the social butterfly like her mom. One day there is a shooting at Jake and Laney's high school. While frantically waiting at the rendezvous point, Simon questions every decision he made as a parent. After all the surviving children have been reunited with their parents Simon is still waiting - Jake is missing. Soon the police are searching the Connelly home - they think Jake is involved in the shooting and he was friends with the confirmed shooter. Simon thinks he knows his son enough to know he would never be involved, but does he really know Jake? The chapters alternate between the shooting and the days after and Simon's recollections of raising Jake and Laney. The author keeps you guessing about whether Jake was involved until the very end and the dramatic ending will explain what really happened the day of the school shooting. A very unique and timely book.
A Mother's Reckoning: living in the aftermath of tragedy by Sue Kelbold
While this book was hard to read, it was amazing. I cannot applaud Sue Klebold enough for her efforts to come to terms with her son's role in the Columbine school shooting in 1999. It's amazing to me that she even gets up every day when so many people blame her for what her son did. Sue walks the reader through both her life raising Dylan and you can easily see how she would have had NO idea what he was planning and her life in the aftermath of Columbine. As probably the most recognized school shooting, there was enormous backlash toward both sets of parents. Sue learned who their real friends were during this horrific time. She not only had to deal with the horrible loss of her son, but also what he had done to so many others as well. She has unbelievable courage to work through everything like she has and to reach out to the victims and through this book. Sue shares many stories of parents who were able to reach their child in time simply because of what she went through with Dylan and how well he hid his pain and suicidal thoughts from his parents and family. Hopefully this book will be able to reach even more families and help prevent both another loss from suicide and further losses in mass shootings.
"'One cigarette won't give you lung cancer, and some people smoke their whole lives without getting lung cancer. That doesn't mean there's no correlation. Entertainment violence may not be sufficient cause for a rampage, but it is a toxic factor. A small number of of the most vulnerable people will get lung cancer after smoking when other factors and predispositions come into play. The same thing can be said about violent entertainment and acts of violence: the most vulnerable are at special risk.'" (quote from Dewey Cornell a forensic clinical psychologist p. 265)
Pax by Sara Pennypacker
I wish I could give this book 10 stars - it was AMAZING! I read a review and thought the story sounded good, but honestly it was the cover that made me put this book on hold.
Peter rescued Pax when he was just a few days old after his mother was killed. Pax loves his boy and is always thinking of him first. When war breaks out Peter's father decides to enlist and sends Peter to live with his grandfather - but Pax can't come. Peter and his father leave Pax in a wooded area near their home, but that first night away from Pax Peter knows he made a huge mistake. He runs away determined to travel the 200+ miles alone to get back to Pax. Pax meanwhile is adjusting to life in the wild. Told alternately from Peter and Pax's point of view they each come into their own during this daring adventure.
Pax said "My boy is not careless. The old fox seemed relieved by this news. But only for a moment. When war comes, they will be careless. What is war? [Pax asked] Gray paused. There is a disease that strikes foxes sometimes. It causes them to abandon their ways, to attack strangers. War is a human sickness like this. Pax jumped to his feet. The war-sick - they will attack my boy?[Gray replied] War came to the land where I lived with humans. Everything was ruined. There was fire everywhere. Many deaths, and not only of the war-sick, the adult males. Children, mothers, elders of their own kind. All the animals. The men who were sick with the disease spilled their chaos over everything in their path.[Pax responded] This same thing is coming? Gray raised his head in a howl that turned the air itself to sadness...Pax leaped to the path. He would find his boy. Before this war came." (p. 65-66)
Orchard House: how a neglected garden taught one family to grow by Tara Austen Weaver
Tara Weaver grew up with her younger brother in a single-parent household. She never felt much like a child because she was too aware of how much her mother worked and how hard things were. But, when she and her brother were young their mother made a point to find a house where they could plant a large garden and grow their own food. Now in her 70's Weaver's mother decides to buy a run-down house in the Seattle area mainly because of the yard and fruit trees - she sees the potential for a huge garden and orchard. Weaver also realizes that her mother wants her grandchildren to have the experience of growing up around a garden like she and her brother did. While their family isn't particularly close and they often struggle to communicate and relate to each other, the garden is what pulls everyone together over time. A really unique memoir/gardening book - if you don't have a vegetable garden already you'll want one after reading this book!
"Growing fruit trees is like being an aunt or uncle - you need to show up for important events and give love, but you're not the parent; you don't have to be there every day." (p. 253)
Daughter by Jane Shemilt
Fifteen-year-old Naomi is the youngest of three children and she disappears one night after a school play performance. Her parents are both doctors and they are stunned and devastated, but as the investigation goes on they begin to realize there were countless signs they missed and their daughter may have left on her own. The book alternates between a year after the disappearance and the days leading up to and immediately after the disappearance.
This book started out pretty good, but the two parents were just very one dimensional and none of the characters were very appealing - even Naomi. The story line kind of veered off at the end and the ending is also very ambiguous and disappointing. It was really a let down and not at all what I would describe as a "thriller." Don't waste your time on this one.
