My Weeks in Books: I Need a Vacation

In a few days I leave for a conference followed by a couple days off work. I am so looking forward to the break! I think my book choices illustrate my need for a vacation. They have me in Spain, doing time travel, Nepal, Montana and England. It’s been a lovely series of trips, though!For my book club we read The Vacationers by Emma Strobe. I struggle to really assess this book because it wasn’t exactly pleasant. Rather, I would say it was real in such a way that I found parts of it a little painful. The Posts go on a family vacation in Mallorca, Spain, along with two friends. All of the politics of normal family and friend gatherings are there. Unspoken jealousies, dislikes that sit just below the surface and the tension that comes with a lot of family who no longer live together all in one house. The Posts experience a few more dramatic dramas, but, honestly, they didn’t seem that far-fetched. I definitely enjoyed The Vacationers and will be passing it on to family and friends, but I definitely didn’t walk away from it feeling lighter or happier.

Landline by Rainbow Rowell was much anticipated after the success of Eleanor and Park, which I loved. I was not let down! Rowell has a gift for making her female characters seem … normal. Normal in such a way that you can easily imagine meeting them or being friends with them. They aren’t perfect in action or looks. In an interview with NPR, Rowell said, “In my mind, every single female character I’ve written is plus-size. I enjoy stories about thin women — I read them frequently. I enjoy them, I root for those characters, but I always feel like there are enough of them out there and there are enough of them in the spotlight.” Something about this approach is just refreshing.

In Landline, Georgie McCool (really) and her husband Neal work through the demands on their time that come with a busy job and family. Things aren’t looking good, but then Georgie discovers a magic phone that offers opportunities to fix past mistakes.

This was a great, easy-to-read book. For the beach, for the plane, for the pool. Read it.

Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan chronicles Grennan’s time volunteering in Nepal. In a not-so-subtle attempt to avoid doing real research for an upcoming trip to Nepal, I’ve been seeking out novels about the country. My first attempt wasn’t too positive, but I did so much better this time! Grennan doesn’t make the country seem glamorous – anything but, really – but he is so clearly in love with the place. When he paints the picture, it’s done with tenderness and respect so that you (me!) just want to see it for yourself.

Grennan went to Nepal with the intention of volunteering for three months and ended up being tied to the place for much longer. He started work at a children’s home, assuming that the kids were all orphans. In fact, during the recent civil war, they had been taken from their families and abandoned far away in Kathmandu.  He decided to try and reunite the children with their families. Grennan described getting to villages with directions like “Walk for five days in that direction. There is no path.”

The journeys, both the actual journeys through the country and that of Grennan from tourist to active citizen, make for a wonderful read.

I won Montana in A Minor by Elaine Russell from Goodreads in their First Reads program. I enjoyed the book, but it doesn’t really fall into the genre of teen lit that I get into, so it’s hard for me to go into much detail. For young teen girls looking for a romance novel, or for parents seeking an innocent romance novel for their daughters, this is a good one.

I also won Cocoa at Midnight: The true story of my life as a housekeeper (Lives of Servants) by Tom Quinn from Goodreads. Similar to the drama between the classes that happens in Downton Abbey, Cocoa at Midnight details the life of Kathleen Clifford, born in England in 1909. She is employed in the service industry up into the 1970s, in a way I wasn’t aware still existed so recently. Clifford works her way up from the kitchen to head housekeeper and shares the adventures she experiences along the way. For people who like Downton Abbey, this is a very easy read that will feel familiar and comfortable.

 

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.