Monthly Archives: January 2021

In Defense of Coffee Table Books

Posted on 01/29/2021 | 5 comments

Earlier this week, Christine posed the following question:

Who really reads coffee table books? Are there a whole group of people who primarily read them? I love the idea of them, but I have probably only read less than five cover-to-cover in my life. When do they come into fashion? Is it a lucrative business (they sure are expensive)? 

I do indeed have several dozen coffee table books (CTBs). Some were inherited, but most were of my choosing. Didn’t Barnes & Nobel have a big rack of CTBs heavily discounted? The ones I have acquired relate to subjects I’m genuinely interested in and serve as supplements to nonfiction topics I read widely. Example the first: The Romanovs. I have several that contain beautiful photos of the palaces they lived in, the numerous photographs they took, and their myriad family members.

Another example: I have read a LOT of Tudor books in my day, so I have some that relate to Medieval architecture and the monarchs of England (top left pic). I have plenty of art books because they contain gorgeous reproductions of paintings and whatnot (left center). I have a bunch of Beatles CTBs, books about obscure things like Brian Froud’s art that inspired Jim Henson films, CTBs about music inherited from my dad, and other odd topics (bottom left).

And then there are the books about books (right). One can never have too many of those and one never tires of flipping through those illustrations or lists.

So there it is. I am a confessed CTB reader and appreciator. I like them because they add visual interest and tend to be pretty fascinating compilations on a particular topic accompanied by quality illustrations. I hope Christine uses this as a prompt to at least explore the possibilities. (Hint: start at used book stores or remainder shops.)

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Throwback Thursday

Posted on 01/28/2021 | Leave a comment

I’m hitting my stride for my reading goal, but falling behind on blog content, so here’s some nostalgia to fill a day…

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The Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Posted on 01/25/2021 | 3 comments

romanovsSubtitle: 1613-1918

Rating: **** (4/5)

Published: Vintage 2016

Format: Paperback

Genre: Nonfiction

Source: Personal Collection

Rather than review the contents of this hefty book, I am going to discuss my experience reading it.  I was making steady progress when I started it in February 2020, but then COVID lockdown hit and I just didn’t have the attention span to focus on this particular subject.  I’ve read biographies on Peter and Catherine the Greats and plenty of books on the last tsar and his tragic family, but nothing as comprehensive as this history of the whole dynasty.  Throughout the course of the next 11 months, I would pick it up and read a few odd pages here and there, but never enough to make much headway.  I lost track of the successions and relations and therefore didn’t feel like I was grasping “the big picture” of the Romanov dynasty.  Sure, there was plenty of intrigue, betrayal, and colorful characters.  I just couldn’t get into it. 

I finally decided in the new year that I would buckle down and tackle the latter half.  Some days I would read a dozen pages.  Other days I could get through 50 plus.  Eventually, almost a year after starting, I breezed through the final chapters about Nicholas II and the family’s downfall.  It was a huge relief to be done. Though I personally didn’t retain a whole lot about individual Romanovs, it’s undoubtedly thorough.  I give the author credit for tackling a subject spanning 300 years with the myriad characters.  I know plenty of other people who loved loved loved this book, but I didn’t read it at a time when I could fully appreciate it. 

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Watching You by Lisa Jewell

Posted on 01/20/2021 | 7 comments

Rating: ***** (5/5)

Published: Atria Books, 2018

Format: Trade Paperback

Genre: Mystery

Source: Personal Collection

There’s something about Tom Fitzwilliam…  The charismatic school head is much sought after to turn things around at bad schools.  Every few years, he moves around the country with his wife and son, Freddy, rescuing institutions.  His warmth and charm naturally attract women and even students.  Most recently, he’s living “…in the iconic painted houses of Melville Heights.” while saving a school in Bristol.

Two doors down, Joey and her new husband Alfie have moved in with her brother Jack and his wife Rebecca.  After a chaotic youth, Joey decides to try adulthood after the death of her and Jack’s mother.  It isn’t long before she, too notices the captivating Tom a few houses over.  From their vantage point, the residence of the painted houses have a view of the village below.  And, it seems, everyone’s watching something.

While Joey is a flighty scatterbrain, she’s grounded by her brain-surgeon brother.  Her husband is solid, and handsome, if a little flaky himself.  Down in the village, a teenager named Jenna is struggling to keep her mentally unstable mother reigned in.  But she’s convinced she’s being gang stalked and Tom is the ringleader.  From his top floor bedroom, Freddie seems to know the comings and goings of everyone in the village.  He’s not at all sinister, though.  In fact, I found him to be my favorite character because he was not a typical teenager whatsoever. 

Oh, did I mention someone was murdered in Tom Fitzwilliam’s kitchen?  The events that precede the investigation eventually lead to the night in question, and everyone is pointing fingers at everyone else.  It’s a riot.  The characters are great, the mystery is solid, the connections are perfect, and I adored every page.

Also by Lisa Jewell: The Family Upstairs, Invisible Girl, and Then She Was Gone

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Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts

Posted on 01/18/2021 | 5 comments

Yay, it’s a bank holiday! Even though I no longer work for a bank, I still get them off.

I am very much looking forward to getting my hair cut this afternoon. Haven’t had a trim since June.

Christine gave me a few options for our next buddy read, and I chose Bastard Out of Carolina because it sounded ever so Conroy-esque and had the highest GoodReads ratings out of the 4 she picked. The book wasn’t even on my radar, so I picked up a copy at HPB.

Whilst at HPB, I had to spend $25 to use my $5 off coupon (horrible dilemma, I know) so I also bought Buzz Aldrin’s memoir, Magnificent Desolation and Barrow’s Boys: The Original Extreme Adventurers: A Stirring Story of Daring Fortitude and Outright Lunacy.

I am determined to finish The Romanovs before I start another nonfiction book. I started it last February, then quarantine hit, and my attention span went to shit. I’ve been reading it off and on for a year and I. Just. Want. To. Be. Done. Only 3 czars left.

My next journal is a beautiful leather hand-crafted Vine pick, so I started my year-long page tracker using stencils and fineliners. Nerd bliss.

After a few technical hiccups, I survived my first two weeks at my new job. Thankfully, the girl who is training me is awesome and that alone is making things so much more delightful that they otherwise would have been. I mean, we even had tattoo show and tell. I like my team and I think I’m a good fit with this company. I do feel like I’m missing out on the new-hire experience of meeting everyone in person, but I am doing several meet and greets over video, so that’s nice.

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The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

Posted on 01/15/2021 | 3 comments

Rating: **** (4/5)

Published: Scribner, 2018

Format: Trade Paperback

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Personal Collection

Life is hard for the Akha people in the remote mountains of Yunnan province.  Li-Yan and her family live off the land and harvest tea for a meager existence. Spirits and superstitions govern their way of life and their elaborate rituals dictate everything they do.  Li-Yan is given a rare opportunity to be the first of her people to be formally educated.  But when an outsider comes to their village, their world turns up-side-down.

Circumstances and bad decisions leave Li-Yan pregnant and she is forced to give her daughter up for adoption.  There are little anecdotes within Li-Yan’s narrative about how her daughter is brough up in Los Angeles and the difficulties she faces as a Chinese child being raised by white parents.  As Li-Yan’s story builds, she has setbacks, but also great successes and I enjoyed how she flourished as an adult away from the superstitions of her family.

I learned more about tea (harvesting, production, value, etc) than I ever thought possible.  I had no idea there was a tea boom that made the Yunnan minorities wealthy or that there are specific types of tea that are incredibly valuable.  I also enjoyed reading about the Akha people and their way of life. There are some disturbing depictions of infanticide and troubling discussions about euthanasia.  But it is a colorful culture, even though their overburdened with rituals to placate spirits and avoid bad luck.  Li-Yan’s story is occasionally depressing, but also dramatic and inspiring.

Also by Lisa See:

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The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult

Posted on 01/11/2021 | 3 comments

Rating: **** (4/5)

Published: Ballantine, September 2020

Format: Hardcover

Genre: Fiction

Source: Personal Collection

Dawn was studying for her doctorate in Egyptology when her mother told her she only had weeks left to live.  Rushing home to Boston, Dawn left the Egyptian dig site and her lover, Wyatt.  15 years later, we learn she never finished her degree and is now a death doula, the wife of a physicist, and the mother of a teenage daughter.

You’re initially led to believe that the whole premise is Sliding Doors-esque with two alternate timelines paralleled, but there’s more to it than that.  It ties in with Dawn’s husband’s work on theoretical multiverses as well as Dawn’s dissertation topic on the titular Book of Two Ways.  There are several clever themes and wordplays going on.

The Egyptian Book of Two Ways is a design painted on coffins to help guide a soul to the afterlife.  Whelp, it turns out Dawn might also need some guidance to fix the mess that her life has become.  She flees her troubled marriage and pursues her former life and lover in Egypt. Her relationships are a hot mess and she is so unsure of what she wants, it’s infuriating.  Her dissatisfaction clouds her judgement, she hurts a lot of people trying to figure out what she’s accomplishing, and sometimes I pictured her as a selfish, pouting teenager, not a 40-something mother and wife with a career. 

Despite not having a lot of sympathy for Dawn, I liked the story overall.  There were several interesting subjects like Egyptology, archeology, and end-of-life care (notice physics didn’t make my list).  The one thing I took away from Dawn’s misadventures in reinventing herself was: love can be messy.

Also by Jodi Picoult:

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Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Posted on 01/08/2021 | 6 comments

Rating: ***** (5/5)

Published: Atria Books, 2017

Format: Trade Paperback

Genre: Mystery

Source: Personal Collection

Laurel’s ray-of-sunshine fifteen-year-old daughter went missing a decade ago, and she has had a hard time letting Ellie go without any closure.  Then she meets Floyd and Laurel is pleasantly surprised to plunge into a whirlwind romance. When she meets Floyd’s nine-year-old daughter, she is shocked by her resemblance to Ellie.  How is this even a possibility?  Only Lisa Jewel could brilliantly offer an explanation with such bizarre outcomes.

This cements Jewell as one of my favorite mystery authors and I was floored by all the twists and turns. I love how she offers clues, and you think you have things figured out, but then there are more salacious aspects that present themselves. Though Laurel wasn’t an entirely likeable character, she was sympathetic, and I appreciated how her suspicions played out. Without giving too much away, I’ll just leave it that this was a wildly fun read with some crazy surprises.

Also by Lisa Jewell: The Family Upstairs & Invisible Girl

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The End of October by Lawrence Wright

Posted on 01/06/2021 | Leave a comment

Rating: *** (3/5)

Published: Knopf, April 2020

Format: ARC

Genre: Thriller

Source: Amazon Vine

This was written prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but came out during the initial months of lockdown.  Though this is a more extreme version of what we’ve actually experienced in 2020, there are some crazy weird, relatable things, too. The worldwide outbreak portrayed here is a version of the flu that appears to have been manufactured by the Russians to create international mayhem.  Regardless of how it originated, it does create global pandemonium, and it’s up to Dr. Henry Parsons to unlock the virus’s secrets.

Henry’s expertise as a virologist sends him around the world, from Indonesia to Mecca, beneath the Atlantic Ocean to the Arctic.  Meanwhile, the family he left behind in Atlanta are dealing with their own domestic crises.  Oh, and there is a full-blown war in the Middle East while tens of millions of people are dying from the virus.  There’s a lot going on here and it doesn’t all coalesce. I liked Henry’s character a lot, especially his intelligence and introspectiveness.  But there were some behaviors and ambiguities that I found questionable.  The story was decent and prescient, though I thought the worst-case-scenario extremes went a bit too far.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via the Amazon Vine program.

 

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Peace Out 2020! Hello 2021…

Posted on 01/04/2021 | 2 comments

Let’s not talk about 2020 except to reflect on the book stats.

  • Total Books Read: 80
  • Fiction: 51 (64%)
  • Nonfiction: 29 (36%)
  • Publisher Provided: 28 (35%)
  • Personal Collection: 52 (65%)
  • Pages Read According to My Count: 29,130
  • Pages Read According to GoodReads: 29,584
  • Best Month: September – 3,203 pages
  • Worst Month: March – 1,936 pages (no surprise)
  • 5 star – 33 (41%)
  • 4 star – 32 (40%)
  • 3 star – 12 (15%)
  • 2 star – 3 (4%)

Since I already talked about my favorite nonfiction during #NonficNov, I wanted to shout out my favorite fiction for the year (these don’t include rereads or annual installments in my favorite series like Daniel Silva, Linda Castillo, and Robert Galbraith).

Looking forward to 2021, I’m setting my annual reading goal a little lower because I have no idea how much reading my new job schedule is going to allow. If I ever do end up commuting again, it’s going to be a 45 minute each way drive (which I haven’t done in forever). But I think I will use that time to splurge on audio books that are already on my TBR shelf. I’m talking chunkers like Margaret George, Focault’s Pendulum, A Fine Balance, American Gods, Ayn Rand, etc.

Otherwise I’m going to start the year reading some Christmas acquisitions that include favorite authors like Lisa Jewel, Jodi Picoult, and Lisa See. Then I’ll shift gears back to my TBR jar.

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