A Monster Game of Catch Up

Hello again! I have missed our conversations, even though they're mostly one sided. It's okay, I know this blog is mostly me talking to myself, but in a socially appropriate way. I knew I was also missing the writing part of the blog when I started carefully crafting my facebook posts, considering my word choice and leads. Yikes.

Without you all to talk to, I've had some fairly spectacular runaway trains of thought about the books I've read. I end up just milling over the stories and characters until they seem a bit more real to me than the actual children playing in front of me. So let me just empty my head a little here.

Eleanor and Park
Young Adult Fiction by Rainbow Rowell

OMG, this book is amazing. The teenagers featured in it might mock me for using the term "OMG," because they are both very snide and pretty sophisticated for teenagers. But they might also be confused, because they are from the 1980's, before anyone said "OMG." I loved both of these things: snide teenagers and the 1980's cultural references. If you like neither, don't worry, this book could still be for you, because the kids are also heartbreakingly tender and awkward and messed up, and because the story proves that kids are kids no matter when or where, which really appealed to me as a teacher. There's also the Romeo and Juliet element that shines clearly through, a timeless story that makes the band names and clothing choices irrelevant. Love wins and love hurts, in Verona and in the mid-west.

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving
Novel by Jonathan Evison

I quit this book. You know my trigger: violence against children. I can't say this had violence because I didn't finish, but for sure some kids were going to die, so I just up and quit. All I learned was that it was about a guy in a second career, as a home caregiver to a teenager with a disability, and the guy was not happy. I wasn't finding many redeeming qualities there.

My mom said she liked, so maybe you did or will, too, but my reading hours are too precious to spend them tense and nervous.







Boys in the Boat

Non-fiction by Daniel James Brown

LOOOOOOOOVVVVVVE this book. Is this one a movie yet? I am even more behind on movies than I am on books, so I'm not sure. I know Unbroken, which seems similar and is on my nightstand stack of to-reads, is a movie now. Anyway, non-fiction is definitely not usually high on my list but this read more like a memoir. The author must have practically lived with the families of the boys who rowed in the 1930's UW and Olympic crew, in order to get as much detail as he did. It was riveting in its action and descriptive in its characterization and informative in its non-fictionalness. (Yes, I know that's not a word, but it seemed fitting.) I wanted to call my friends who rowed in college and say, "I get it now!" I really felt like I was IN the boat at times. So maybe I don't need to see the movie. Books are almost always better anyway.

The Dovekeepers
Historical Fiction by Alice Hoffman

Have you read Alice Hoffman? She has an impressively long list of works at the beginning of this one, but none of them seemed familiar. Either I read her and she wasn't memorable until now, or I need to check out some of her other books. This was outstanding. It's historical fiction that comes to life, so like Brown (above), she must have absolutely lived and breathed this book for years. The story of the Jewish fortress Masada holding out against the early AD Romans is apparently well known, but it wasn't to me before now. The culture and history was fascinating to me, but even better was the way Hoffman wove together the lives of five different women before, during, and after the event. The women are the heroes, both as warriors and peace makers, as they hate and love each other and ultimately make the decision about whether their own lives or the lives of those they love are more important. It's harsh and violent and lush and arid and beautiful and all the adjectives.


Leaving Time
Novel by Jodi Picoult

I am an early Jodi Picoult fan, but after a while her stories all seemed the same to me. Take a controversial issue (organ donation, school shooting, autism, pick your headline) and look at the story from the point of view of five or so characters, with super well written voices and an intricate plot, and then bam, add a twist ending. Despite the twist, it got a little predictable. So I took a break, but coming back to her with "Leaving Time" was kind of nice. Same type of story and characters, but actually with a bit of a throw back in topic. Remember when it was all about elephants for a while? "Water for Elephants" and "Hannah's Dream" and so on. They were all the rage and then it died down, but Picoult seems to be bringing them back. Throw in a troubled adolescent seeking her missing mother, a PI, and a psychic and that's this book, plus the twist ending. The charm (other than its comfortable familiarity to me) is the elephants. As my three year old likes to point out, elephants are my favorite animal and the elephant characters in this book made me love them more. In fact, my only complaint is that some baby elephants die (not a plot spoiler) and it was super close to violence against children for me. I couldn't read it at night for a while without having nightmares. I'm a softie.

The Freedom Writer's Diary

Memoir-ish kind of book

Compiled by Erin Gruell

This has been on my to-read list for years. I haven't seen the movie, either. So in a dearth of much else to read, I picked it up and gave it a try. It was interesting for a while to think about my own students and classes as I read about the struggles that these students, who wrote most of the journal entries in the diary, had in their lives. It made me contemplate how I can better understand and connect with my kids. But it was also frustrating because the teacher featured in it gives time and resources to her students that I don't have. So after gleaning several insights, I stopped about half way through in favor of something that gives me more of a break after grading papers on a Saturday night.

What's next? I'm currently reading "Paper Towns" by John Green (of "The Fault in our Stars" fame) and I also have "All the Light We Cannot See" and "Unbroken" and something else I can't remember). Cheers!

A Jumpstart to your Shopping List

Ladies and gentlemen, Christmas is 66 days away. For some of you, that's 65 days to put off shopping, but I get the feeling that others may be making your lists now. Let me help you out!

Me Before You

Novel by Jojo Moyes

Did you read The Fault in Our Stars yet? If you're buying for a mature teenager, check that one out. This is the adult version. The premise is a little dreadful--a young British woman goes to work as a daytime helper for a wealthy quadriplegic. Her employer was once an important business man and world traveler, but now wants to die because his life is so limited. You know it could end so badly but you just fall in love with all the characters, as unlikely as that is, and end up crossing your toes under the blankets that it will turn out ok. Reading it is a bit like watching an old favorite tear jerker movie, like the scenes in "Sleepless in Seattle" when all the women are crying over "An Affair to Remember." A modern classic, really.

The right to die issue is getting some new press right now with the woman in Oregon who wants to end her life due to the pain of her brain tumor. This book brings another interesting perspective on it, and keeps you wondering who the "me" in the title really is. I also think of the arguments surrounding Robin Williams's death and those who called it him brave to face his depression versus those who called him selfish to kill himself. I wonder if any of us can really say what we would do, since we are not in the same circumstances, can never be in exactly the same circumstances as someone else. The two main characters in MBY have this argument again and again, with more information about each person spiraling out until you agree with them both, and love them to the core.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Novel by Maria Semple

For the snarky person on your Christmas list! The writer of this novel used to write for sitcoms like "Mad About You" and her sharp wit transfers super well to this type fiction. She totally skewers Seattle society--the uptight parents and private schools but supposedly casual culture, the Microsoft drive for success and the bureaucracy it creates, the focus on arts in a bit of an artistic vacuum. The stabs are delivered subtly because the story is told by an eighth grade girl via her mother's and others' emails and testimonies. It's not confusing at all, though. It's actually completely clever, just like the humor.

The main story is that the title character is a SAHM (stay at home mom, for those not up on their suburban lingo) who has a supposed break with reality, in conjunction with several minor crises, and disappears. She leaves behind her daughter (the 8th grader) and her husband (the Microsoft exec) and a falling apart mansion (the crumbling artistic endeavors) and angry PTA members (the uptight parents and private schools) struggling to both find her and understand who she really is. Part of the cleverness is that you, the reader, are also figuring out who Bernadette is, not in a Sherlocky way but in a "Is she crazy or isn't she" way. I loved the characterization and psychology as much as the humor and Seattle culture.

Side note: My three year old is super interested in what things say right now since he's learning that letters make sounds and words. He asked the title of the book I was reading and then walked around repeating "Where'd ya go, Bernadette" in a creepy monotone every time he laid eyes on the book. Fun times.

The Sweetness of Forgetting

Novel by Kristin Harmel

Today I told my students that I have written a novel. They were duly impressed. I told them about the nights I've spent writing, revising, and sending the dang thing to 80 some agents (none of whom were as impressed as my dear seventh graders). I told them this as a way of inspiring them to revise their own writing and to show them I'm in it with them. I told them this because they'd rather listen to me tell them something personal and real than read to them out of a text book about why revising is important.

But I didn't tell them the truth, that deep down I am terrified I will never get published and also that not so deep down I am extremely jealous of those who have.

So when I read a book like this one, with a sweet story and a few good twists, I have a hard time enjoying it. Because the whole time I'm thinking I COULD HAVE WRITTEN THIS. I'M AS GOOD A WRITER AS THIS KRISTIN PERSON. WHY DID SHE GET PUBLISHED AND NOT ME? WHEN'S IT MY TURN? WHY DID KRISTIN HARMEL WIN THE PUBLISHING LOTTERY? WHY GOD WHY?

It's not pretty, I know, and also not why you read this blog, so I'll just step past the green eyed monster here and try to share a little about this book. But now you know, if I sound just this side of nice, it's because part of me wants to kick Kristen Harmel in the shin, and then ask for the name of her agent.

The Sweetness of Forgetting starts with a sob story; Hope's husband left her, her teenage daughter hates her, her mother recently died, her grandma is getting lost in Alzheimers, and her family owned bakery is failing. So sad. When Hope's grandma Rose has a moment of clarity, she reveals a secret about her background that sends Hope on an ill-timed trip to Paris to discover family she didn't know she had. There's a lot of baking, World War II connections, and some interesting religious talking points. It ends happily and neatly. Sounds like my kind of story, huh? Yep. Exact for that bitter pill being hard to swallow.

Rant over.

September, the Black Hole of Reading

When you write a blog about the books you read, everyone assumes you want to talk about it. In public. In church.


Let me explain.

My dad is the associate pastor of our church and he opened one of his messages recently by asking people the title of the best book they'd read recently. And then looked straight at me and said, "You blog about books, Kelsey. What have you read?"

I blanked. Maybe it's because it was September and I was reading pre-tests on theme and narrative, along with books on how to communicate better with adolescents, and basically falling into bed at night instead of actually reading. Or maybe it was the on-the-spot thing. But the only thing I could think of was the last book I'd read, not the BEST book I'd read. And it happened to be a book on changes in modern theology called A New Kind of Christianity by Brian McClaren, RECOMMENDED BY MY DAD. I'm sure I sounded like a total suck up. And worse, I haven't even finished it. See the sentence about it being September. And all my previous statements about me and non-fiction.

So, yeah, don't ask me to cite my favorite books on the spot or before parent-teacher conferences. You might get an open-mouthed stare in return.

The upside is that I was publically shamed into reading again and just finished a GREAT book as a result. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is a sweet story made all the better because it was an accidental find in the book club section of the library (I can't say enough good things about that shelf! It's not stealing from the book clubs; it's random selections of the ones available to book clubs, so it's like a pre-sorted shelf of great choices). So maybe you all know about this book already, but it was a surprise gift to me.

Harold Fry is an ordinary retired Englishman with an unhappy wife who cleans too much. One day he receives a letter from a long lost friend, telling him goodbye as she is dying of cancer. He sets out to mail a response to her and decides suddenly to walk the hundreds of miles to visit her, believing she will live as long as he walks. Amazing premise. And it gets better, as the author uses Harold's ordinary heroism to celebrate the ordinary uniqueness of everyone he meets. Harold has ups and downs in his journey (similar to Cheryl Strayed in Wild and, strangely, to Forrest Gump's run across the country) that are quite expected and yet luminous at the same time. It's a book of contradictions and seamlessness. It's the kind of book I long to write.

I won't tell you if he finishes his walk, or if his friend lives, just as I won't tell you the outcome of his relationship with his son, or if he patches things up with his wife. I will tell you, though, that you'll want to walk across England yourself, or visit some of the historic spots he stumbles upon, or maybe just try to see the people you stumble upon with a bit of the grace that Harold does.

And how I wish I'd read this book earlier and could have shared it with my church that day, because in the humanity and the pain and the grace, there is love.

I'm going to keep the two non-fiction books on my nightstand and read them in bits, but I'm also ready and needing to go back to my beloved novels. And I have a stack! What should I enjoy first? I've got The Sweetness of Forgetting (thanks, Aunt Pat), Where'd You Go, Bernadette (who recommended this?), and Me Before You (thanks, Kelsey and Taunya).

Fail blog

In an unprecedented move, I have quit three books this month, almost right in a row. Fail. Total fail. I come from a long line of non-book quitters. That isn't to say we aren't sometimes quitters in general. I have quit sports, diets, New Year's Resolutions..pretty much things that require physical discipline. But books? Usually I see the bad ones through to the end, just in case they redeem themselves.

Not this time. I don't know if it's me or the books. Actually, it's probably my kids. Let's blame them for my divided attention and lack of grace. It's hard to spend precious alone-time reading a book I don't like, and hard to have patience with unrelatable characters when I practive patience with actual live small people all day long.

So here's the list: three fails and one goody. Judge for yourself whether they are worth your precious time.

The Antiquarian

Novel by Gustavo Faveron Patriau

I think this is some kind of intellectual murder mystery. The beginning was so much character development, though, that I lost interest. Also I think the author is from South America and in my experience those books usually have an intense emotional quality that I can't understand or appreciate, like The Alchemist. With the exception of Isabel Allende, I think I'm just not smart enough for these books. So I only got a couple of pages into this one and decided it was not for me.

The Financial Lives of Poets
Novel by Jess Walter

What a disappointment I am. This author is amazing. Beautiful Ruins? Absolutely loved it. One of the best books I read last year. We Live In Water  was great for a collection of short stories (which is just not my favorite genre). The thing about this book, though, is that it opened like one of his short stories. Too much reality. I read to escape worries about money and jobs and every day life in general. I imagine that this book gets better and that I'm majorly missing out by not reading it, and maybe I'll come back to it (not likely) but for now, pass.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Novel by Khaled Hosseini

Don't freak out on me-- I didn't quit this one. Almost...but it grabbed me. I read Hosseini's The Kite Runner at the recommendation of my cousin who was stationed in Afghanistan and while both of these books are just so devastating, they are worth it. The complicated history of Afghanistan is made comprehensible to me for the first time, but it's far from just a history lesson. The harsh reality of the country is wrapped up in a lovely, heartbreaking, bold story of two women and their unlikely relationship. There is disgusting, horrifying hatred that is tempered and eventually destroyed by deep love. I was reading this as the news was coming out about the violence in Iraq and it made both events more real to me in my safe little home. The world is so horrible at times but those that help others in the worst of times are what make those events bearable. I would love to talk in more detail to someone who has read this book and compare reactions.

The Girls
Novel by Lori Lansens

Another quitter. Sorry, Grandma, but I just can't stomach the weirdness of the conjoined twins. It's such an interesting premise and I think at another time I may have enjoyed the book. But readers know that I have a lot of anxiety about my kids that comes and goes in waves and right now it's peaking a little. While conjoinment is clearly not something I need to worry about now that my kids are born, it still makes me anxious about all the things that can go wrong in their delicate little bodies. Plus, you just know that there can't be a happy ending to this story. So again, not right now.

And with that list of failures, I don't actually have anything to look forward to reading. I am currently reading a book by Brian McClaren about changes in the church (A New Kind of Christianity), and I have the other true story of Downton Abby book, plus I think I'm going to request Where'd You Go, Bernadette from the library because I've heard such good things about it. I'm interested in The Boys in the Boat for the same reason. But I'm also looking for some light hearted reads while school is starting up. My ego can't take too many more failures.

The Vacation List

Ten days, a lake, snacks galore, grandparents...the recipe for a good reading vacation. I ransacked the library and my personal wait-list for the very best vacation reads and was not disappointed.

Cinder and Scarlet: Books 1 and 2 of the Lunar Chronicles

Teen Fiction by Marissa Meyer

Another my-students-made-me-read-it, but this time with good reason. I was hesitant because the covers, and even the author's name, remind me of Twilight and I have had it up.to.here with Twilight-esque fiction. That's just the marketing here, thank goodness. These books are a great departure from the norm, for the most part, of what I'm seeing in young adult/teen fiction. The author takes fairy tales (Cinderella and Red Riding Hood, and apparently I can look forward to Rapunzel in the third book) and plops them into a futuristic version of Earth, with powerful personalities and interesting forms (Cinderella is a cyborg--what? I had to look that up). I admit it wasn't love at first sight because of some clunky writing but after about a third of the first book I was hooked. Highly recommend for teens (boys and girls) and those who like archetypes turned on their heads. The only surprise that is becoming less surprising is some hot and heavy kissing in the second book. I think I'm going to have to talk to my daughter about this stuff way too soon based on the books she'll be reading. Does anyone else see this as a growing trend in YA books, or am I just more sensitive to it now that I have a tweenager?

The Kitchen House
Fiction by Kathleen Grissom

Has everyone read this book except me? It came out a few years ago, but suddenly I just started seeing the title everywhere. It's a first novel by this author and is stunningly written. However, I almost quit because it just seemed too hard. Not difficult to understand, but difficult to sleep at night after reading. A young Irish girl loses her parents to illness while crossing to America in the early 1800's and is taken on as an indentured servant by the southern, slave-owning captain. She grows up with the black slaves but is suddenly treated as a white woman when events take a turn. Everyone, and I mean everyone, suffers in this book. It is heart wrenching from start to finish. I loved the people, though, really loved them not as characters but as my sisters and grandmothers, so I kept reading. Just guard your heart as you read.

The Sea House
Fiction by Elisabeth Gifford

It just struck me that this title also ends in "house" and is also a debut novel. It's funny how titles comes in waves, like all of the "so and so's wife" books that I read last year (check it out here). I think if I had to pick a favorite vacation read, this would be it. I handed it off to my grandma (take that back to the library when you're done, please, GG) because she was out of books and I really enjoyed it. There's a parallel story of two occupants of the same house on a Scottish island; the lives of a minister in the 1800's and a young couple in the 1990's intertwine in surprising, mysterious, yet sweet ways. I love the idea of telling stories about the same house, which has been done in multiple books by Anita Shreve, one of which is The Pilot's Wife (oh, the trends). I also love stories about England, as you know. This book just kind of did it for me. I hope my grandma liked it, too.

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The Patron Saint of Liars
Fiction by Ann Patchett

Oh, but Ann Patchett is amazing. This is her first and I didn't know it existed. What a find. A young, pregnant, but married woman goes to a home for unwed mothers in Kentucky in 1969 and never leaves. The characters are rich, the story telling is simple but woven well, and the idea is just so interesting. I'm going to give this one directly to my mom, so I suppose I'd have to say it's my second favorite of the month. The only disappointment was the abrupt ending. You just KNOW there's more to the story. Does the daughter find out a secret she almost guesses? Does the mom...I can't say. Aarg. Read it! Comment!

I still have a few library books waiting to be read, plus some research books for my next manuscript (a history of adoption in Washington State, and a book on the Society of Friends Church aka Quakers). I'm working on my query letter to send my first manuscript out to agents AGAIN. There's always so much to read and write, and never enough time!

Two things you should always...never...whatever

Have you noticed that headlines are kind of ridiculous these days? Yeah, I may have tricked you a little with my own headline there. Sorry. I've heard it called "clickbait," the use of words like "You won't believe what happens" or "This will change your life" or "The ten things you should never... " I have to admit I was suckered for a while but now I'm on to them. Occasionally I'll find a site with really interesting pictures, but for the most part I hate the let-down of whatever follows the outrageous claims made by the headline. That's one thing I like about books. For the most part, they are what the appear to be. I don't believe in the cliche "Never judge a book by its cover." Not literally, anyway. If you read the cover carefully and let the images give you a sense of it, it's mostly what you expect. Occasionally, it's better, but rarely is it worse. The books below are an example of one that was better and one that was exactly what I expected (but I read it anyway). So read! It will change your life! You'll never believe...oh never mind, you're already on this site.

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle

History by The Countess of Carnarvon 

I LOVE the tv show "Downton Abbey," as does almost everyone I know who has seen it. If you haven't seen it, don't judge, just watch. So my in-laws, who I got addicted to the show, bought me this, but I've put off reading it because...history. The book is the historical account of the real countess of the real castle that Downtown is based upon. But wait, I only read novels, remember? However, I picked it up a few weeks ago when I didn't have anything else to read (dire situation, I know) and I'm happy to say I was wrong. Even though it's written by a celebrity, the current countess of the real castle, which didn't bode well, and even though it's TRUE, this is a great story. Lady Almina is a crazy but caring woman who was a bit of an unintentional feminist and you can't help but love her. Also, the events the family was involved in are mind blowing! Maybe it's normal for the extremely rich to have their fingers in major world events, just because they're rich enough to be involved, but still...King Tut's tomb? At one point, the Duke's brother is asked to become king of an Eastern European country. ASKED TO BECOME KING. But his older brother said no, what a bummer. Those are the events, and people like Almina herself are the characters, that make this book so readable. I do wonder, however, how much of these portraits are painted in a more flattering light than real life. After all, it's written by the current countess, who is a little invested in protecting the family name. Even so, it's a good story. There's a second one as well about Lady Almina's daughter in law, the next countess, which I'll read eventually. I don't want to read TOO much history on my vacation. Oh, and if you feel the same but want to read something Downton-ish, try this one.

Tiger's Curse

Young Adult fiction by Colleen Houck

You know I like YA books, and in fact I'm very excited to read the Lunar Chronicles, whose author visited my school this spring. This one, though, I could tell by name and cover was not going to be my favorite one. It was STRONGLY recommended by one of my students, who had recommended The Night Circus, which I loved, so I was willing to go with her on it. Suffice it to say, this is the first of a series of four and I will not be reading the others. Sorry, Lily. I tried. The upsides to this book are that it's set mostly in India and deals with a lot of mythology, so I learned about another culture and enjoyed that aspect of it. It's also fast paced since it's YA. Downsides? It's a Twilight wannabe. A very ordinary girl meets and falls for a not quite human creature--an extremely handsome and rich young man who never ages, falls in love with her despite their differences, is possessive, obsessive, and refrains from killing her though he easily could. It may be appealing to young women but it is not, in my opinion, a very healthy example of a loving relationship. I wouldn't suggest this to anyone without a firm grasp on reality, which is to say, not to a thirteen year old girl. There's also the problem that the writing sucks. Some might think that YA books are bound to be a little lower in their readability, but I haven't found that be true. There's just good writing and bad, and this is the second. 

Whew. Criticizing is hard. I don't actually like doing it. And as I said, I really shouldn't, because I knew what I was getting into.