Reviewed: My April Reading (What I loved...and other things.)

 

It finally feels like spring to me! I'm so grateful for the sunshine and the return of green things! I can't get over how quickly the trees have gone from bud to big leaves! 

Thinking back on April, the things that come to the forefront are the roadtrips I took to Oregon and Las Vegas, transplanting cold-hardy things into my garden, coffee and fellowship with a friend, and the great books I read! 

Here's the list of books that I got to this month. There are two more that I started in April but won't finish until May, so I'm putting them on the May list. 

Here's how I rate books:

DNF = Did not finish

1/5 = I really did not like this book

2/5 = I did not like this book

3/5 = I liked this book

4/5 = I really liked this book

5/5 = I loved this book

This is our book club's choice for April. 

I loved this story. I listened to it rather than reading a print copy because I knew it was a longer book and wasn't sure I had enough time to sit down and physically read. I'm glad I went that route!

The narration for the audiobook was phenomenal. Actress Kate Burton managed to create the most gentle differences in the Brooklyn-accented voices of each character. Instead of putting on exaggerated characters, she applied subtle differences to distinguish between each one. Like she knew them all personally and was repeating what she overheard them saying. 

As for the story, it was captivating. It's the story of Francis "Frankie" Nolan and her family, living in Brooklyn during the early 1900's. They are very poor but Frankie's mother is determined to give her children every opportunity she is able. The trouble is, due to their circumstances she isn't always able to provide even the most basic things. Author Betty Smith does a breathtaking job of bringing the reader into the story, so much that I was crushed when listening to portions of the story. This is a coming of age story with a very strong sense of place. After reading it, I felt like I myself visited Brooklyn near the turn of the century. 

Because of the quiet and contemplative nature of the story--including a lot of internal dialogue and descriptions--I think that it might be a difficult story to physically read. I could see it being a bit boring or slow for someone who likes to keep moving.

Content warnings: This is a young adult classic that in my opinion is not appropriate for younger audiences. My kids listened to it in their teens, and I think that's as young as I would go. In addition to there being a lot of troubling and sad stuff, there is also content that would likely be disturbing for younger audiences. 

My rating: 5/5

With a book like this, I appreciated the opportunity to hear a take on a topic that is usually only discussed from one perspective. The premise for this book is that there are many stories that we tell ourselves (and that others have told us), which affect how we behave and feel. Some of those stories are true, some are partly true, and some are not true at all. The author says that by listing and looking at those stories, we can steer away from the unwelcome side-effects that they cause. 

I enjoyed this book but think it was a "right book, wrong time" situation. I liked how much he spoke about our personal responsibilities, which are independent of cause, blame, or fairness. That was a good thing for me to be reminded of. But it was more self-helpy than I was expecting after listening to an interview with the author. I tend to not enjoy self-help books, with only a few exceptions. 

I jotted down one excerpt that I thought was very interesting:

"Our grandparents and their parents before them and so on back through history, became 'soul mates' after 30 or 40 or 50 years in the trenches together. They fell deeply in love through shared experience and common goals. Love was the byproduct of stability. My generation and younger is trying to find their soulmate first and then reverse-engineer a meaningful life around our feelings. We start with 'You complete me,' and work backwards. We are trying to run the relational algorithm in reverse and it’s failing."

My rating: 3/5

Set in Europe during the 1920's, this is the story of four ladies who respond to an ad in the paper, to rent an Italian castle for the month of April. The women, who weren't acquainted before this event, all have different reasons for wanting the getaway. Revelations unfold along the way to give the reader more insight into each woman’s story.

I enjoyed this book so much! It was light and charming--exactly what I needed! As is the case with most books published over a century ago, there are some delightful and new-to-me turns of phrase. There is a sweetness about the prose, even when the subject matter is unhappy. For some reason it reminded me of "The Complete Works of Dorothy Parker." 

As I read, I like to copy down remarkable quotes from the books I read. Sometimes it’s an impactful insight or maybe I just I love the language. I might find some clever usage of a word that tickles me, and sometimes it’s simply a section that makes me laugh. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from “The Enchanted April”:

"No doubt a trip to Italy would be extraordinarily delightful, but there were many delightful things one would like to do, and what was strength given to one for except to help one not to do them?"

"Kind ladies smiled, reason or no. They smiled not because they were happy, but because they wished to make happy."

"It was a shell pink garment, and clung to the adorable Scrap as though it, too, loved her." 

My rating: 4/5

I didn't note who recommended this book to me, but whoever it was has a very unique taste in books! Ha. I enjoyed this one! Here's the gist: Charlie's life isn't panning out the way he'd hoped and this book opens as a few more dominos fall. 

Then Charlie's long-lost uncle dies and we learn that Uncle Jake is not who people thought he was. Charlie is suddenly thrown into a life as one of the planet's twelve most notorious villains, and we go along as he tries to navigate the surprises that await him. Some are quite bizarre.

This is a light sci-fi action mystery-ish comedy. Yes, all of those things. I laughed out loud several times but don't recommend it to anyone easily offended by foul language. (There are some talking dolphins who are preferential to a certain f-word, though they are only provoked in one scene.) 

This book isn't going to become a classic, but it's not trying to be. It's a light and humorous story with a sci-fi take that I haven't read before. It was refreshing to read with amusement, not having to be terribly invested but still enjoying the ride. 

Content warning: Language.

My rating: 3/5

This was exactly what I was expecting and I am so glad for it! I saw that Reese Witherspoon chose it for her book club, so had an idea of what it would be because of that. It's like a Reese Witherspoon movie PLUS murder mystery PLUS time travel. Hard to imagine? Well, give it a read and you'll see what I mean!

I listened to this one while I did chores. The narrator is English and did a nice job. I thought the author balanced the elements of the story well. Not gory like some murder mysteries, not ridiculous like some sci-fi stories. And the characters had enough believable substance to them that I remained engaged. I probably would not have read a physical copy of this one, but it was great as a "listen while you work" story. I didn't see the twist coming until just before it was made clear, which is always a nice thing. 

Content warnings: Language, some mild sensual references, and a little violence (it is a murder mystery, after all).

My rating: 3/5

This is my first Beth Moore book, and I knew next to nothing about her going into it. First, let me start with the narration: it was great! The author narrates the story herself, and did something a little different with it. She chose to use the Arkansas accent of her childhood during that part of the story, then switched to the Texas accent of her adulthood during that part. Both are southern but not the same. Distinguishing those was a cool touch.

Second, I have to admit that listening to her writing discouraged me a bit because she's really good, y'all. I was like, "With women writing stories this well, there's absolutely no need for me to jump in the pool." But of course, that's not true. We all have unique voices and stories. But I very much enjoyed her wonderfully descriptive storytelling in the first half of the book. I'm still thinking about the imagery she used. Very well done!

Last, the bummer and reason that I do not like reading Christian literature. I can't get on-board with all of her Biblical assertions, but don't mind hearing them. Just wanted to state that it's not all sound in my opinion. 

The second half of the story was about her ministry, and I think she unwittingly shows that her focus on it may have caused some collateral damage along the way. I felt myself cringing as she described the events surrounding this time in her life. But I mean, whatever. I don't have to agree with everyone's choices in order to listen to their stories. 

Content warnings: Incest, child sexual abuse.

The first half of the book was a 5/5, the second half was 1/5. So a 3 makes sense, I guess. My rating: 3/5

And lastly,

Too Many words about a book that stayed with me:

This is a hard book. I get why some people can't get through it. Since finishing "The Color Purple" I've been mulling this over. More than thinking about the story itself, I've been thinking through the problems of stories that are so difficult to tolerate.

In my experience, walking through a story this hard and bearing the burdens of the people in it, you can learn a lot about humanity (yourself included). About how we ended up this way and what will fix it. You're confronted with perspectives that you have never once considered, and then have the opportunity to think them through. Very often when this happens, I walk away unswayed from my own perspective but with greater compassion for the other. 

Of course, I have my own personal sensitivities--ones that have prompted me to quit books and movies many times. I think about all the war movies I have walked out on or "Revenant" nightmares I've had, knowing that so many others loved those movies, and it seems strange to me. It's not as easy as placing a label on someone that says, "sensitive person."  And as incredible as "Demon Copperhead" was, I reached a point where I had to quit it for sake of conscience. But I made it all the way through "The Color Purple." I think I understand the line of reason for this. One book crossed the line and the other book didn't. But the whole thing is more complicated than just one line. 

I remember a Ted Talk called, "The Danger of a Single Story," in which author Chimamanda Ngozi talks about how our limiting assumptions give us wrong ideas. We don't understand the things that we wall ourselves off to, but we have to reconcile them in our brains somehow, so we come up with an explanation (which is usually wrong, or at least a pin-hole view) and then operate according to that wrong explanation. Then we can go through life misunderstanding and unreachable in some sense. 

But then, I don't think we should all run out and expose ourselves to every horrific thing in an attempt to understand people better, either. It's a complex thing. I guess it's just like everything else: we each have to walk in the Spirit and trust that God is going to guide us according to His will, according to what He's trying to accomplish in us for the work He has for us. Because we're all different! He's not doing the same thing in all of us. So it makes sense that He would give us different perspectives, and different sensitivities, too. 

For me the line might have something to do with the question: "Is this glorifying sin? Or is it showing reality in order to teach something?" Another way to ask that is, "To what end?" 

But anyway, back to the book. The writing is masterful. Not because it's perfect, but because it rings so true. The audio narration by the author is also amazingly believable. I was transported. As for the content, the truth is that I won't ever read this story again. I'm still glad I did, though. I think I say that too much, but it's true.

Content warnings: Almost everything you can imagine. Incest, abuse in several forms, language, fornication, adultery, racism, female mutilation. There's also a lot of crude speech that was common for the time and place. The characters say them because that's what they call it--not because they are trying to curse. But I would never recommend this book, and I don't think I would have finished it myself if I hadn't been listening while I worked. 

My rating: I can't say that I "liked" this book, but 

5/5 storytelling, writing, and narration

1/5 for content that felt gratuitous (there were a few spots)

3/5 overall

Bible reading: 

I don't remember where I started at the beginning of the month but made it through to 2 Samuel by the end. This time through, I spent some time thinking about Samuel's mom, Hannah. I've been considering what her life looked like before he was born, how that brought her to a place of deepest sorrow, and what it would have been like to be Hannah's mom through all of it. There's more, but that's for my personal journal. I have a special fondness for the Samuel books -- always have, but not sure why. 

May is looking pretty busy! Lots of garden and house projects, lots of fun planned with the fam. Hopefully lots of good books, too! I'll be leaning heavily on audiobooks from here on out, until the garden is put to bed in the fall. I tend to enjoy lighter books with more action during these months, so I think my TBR's will reflect that. As is normally the case, I have 10 titles on hold with the library. When I get them, I usually throw my plan out the window and jump at the opportunity to read whichever book came through. So we'll see which ones happen next month!