Kate's Point of View

My Weeks in Books

I’ve been reading some heavy stuff lately. First there was lynching, then wartime naval attacks and finally family feuds resulting in murders, suicides and rapes.

And yet… the books were pretty good.

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

I am acutely aware that a lot of people in the United States have giant hole in their knowledge of our country. I hear it when they talk aghast of atrocities happening in other countries but seem confused when you relate foreign events or more local current events to our own recent past. The history of race relations in the U.S. is an important story to tell and one often told badly.

In Stella by Starlight, Sharon M. Draper does a good job of presenting the segregated South in a way children can understand. Targeting kids ages 9 to 13 (and adults in their mid-30s…), she talks about the challenges black communities faced in general and the very real dangers they faced because of racism and the Ku Klux Klan. What’s amazing about Stella by Starlight is that Draper tells a story that gives so much, without going into any gory details. She gives the main character, Stella, a great voice by showing her both as the narrator but also as an author of some sections, helping to bring forth important parts of our history.

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

I’m not typically drawn to non-fiction books. I read a handful a year and am usually happy that I have, but my preferences always lean to fiction. Erik Larson, who also wrote Devil in the White City, which I loved, has a special talent of making something I think is pretty darn boring fascinating. At book club I was trying to describe Dead Wake and kept saying, “I mean, nothing is really happening. But it’s so good.” And it was. I was reading it at the gym, where normally an exciting plot pushes me through a workout, and I was enthralled by the minutia Larson compiled about the Lusitania. I’ve found myself referencing the book in conversation.

This book is good. Read it.

Juliet by Anne Fortier

I’m not actually done with Juliet by Anne Fortier just yet, but I will be by the end of today. The book is a sort of retelling of Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet. Or, rather, many retellings of that classic story. Jumping back and forth between a present-day Romeo and Guiletta and the original classics, Fortier explains the history of the love story and how the rivalry between families (the Montagues and Capuletsin Shakespear’s version and the Tolomeis and the Salembenis in this book).

The first two thirds of the book had enough mystery and intrigue that I was really hooked. The latter part of the book appears to be turning into a straight-up romance novel and I’m losing steam. (Right as it gets steamy!) But I do enjoy hearing how classic stories have different versions told throughout history.

It only took about ten seconds to pick this month’s book club selection. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is being hailed as the new Gone Girl. That attribution comes with some downsides.

Although I fully admit to being potentially the only person around who didn’t like Gone Girl, I understand why other people enjoyed it. I was distracted by the ending. I felt cheated of my time investment into the characters and the plot. I like to identify with a character and be rooting for them. When everyone is equal parts  despicable and redeemable, it’s harder for me to cope. But ultimately, it’s the end of that book that gets to me. I do my best not to share spoilers, but suffice it to say the book has a plot twist.

See: The Girl on the Train. When I’m told “It’s the new Gone Girl,” I’m reading the book waiting. I’m waiting to find out that each character I start to like is horrible. I’m waiting to find myself forgiving the characters I identify initially as horrible. But most importantly, I’m waiting for the plot twist that must be coming. None of this is bad, but I’m not sure it does Paula Hawkins and the authors sure to follow in this genre any favors.

When I watch the television shows featuring the “person who knows everything” (see: Gregory House, MD, on House;  Detective Zack Nichols on Law & Order: Criminal Intent; Sherlock Holmes on Sherlock), I’m watching the show trying to figure out the mystery before the character does. That is, until I’ve watched enough episodes to catch on to the fact that I won’t figure it out. Then I just assume the position I think I am supposed to fill: person who watches in awe as the “person who knows everything” solves the case. (Exception being the episodes of Sherlock based on books I’ve already read.) Up until that point when I just give up and start watching, the show is exciting. Once I understand that I needn’t bother, the show is still entertaining but it’s not as fun.

It reminds me of when I was younger and watching television shows on Nick at Nite and my dad could predict how every episode of The Donna Reed Show, Mr. Ed, The Patty Duke Show and My Three Sons would end. I was amazed. How could he do it? If I catch an episode of any of those shows now, it seems predictable. I know how the story arc is supposed to go.

Books are similar. I have many authors I hook onto because I enjoy their writing and it makes book selection so much easier. But once they start to follow a pattern in each story, and if I identify that pattern, my interest wanes.

I enjoyed The Girl on the Train so much more than Gone Girl. Maybe this is explicitly because of the Gone Girl comparison. I read it wary. But once you know the plot twist is coming… Once you know to be on guard… It changes the experience and I’m not sure it’s for the better. Instead of surprise (and frustration and anger), my reaction is, “Ah, there it is! I knew it!” It’s still entertaining, but somehow not as clever.

My Weeks in Books

March is National Reading Month, which means it’s basically the Month of Kate. I’m taking the theme as a reminder to kick it into gear with reading, but also to share out some of the books I’ve been reading recently.

Son by Lois Lowry

I finally finished Lois Lowery’s series that begins with The Giver. I’ve had Son sitting in my To Read pile for months but something just made me stall. I can’t quite explain it. But, I’m so happy I did delay! The main character undergoes what I think is a hysterectomy, though that’s not verified, and reading about that while recovering from a hysterectomy… Well, that would have just been too much. With a little time having passed since surgery, I was able to immerse myself in this book, which was a lovely ending to a great series.

The Magician King by Lev Grossman

The second in a trilogy about magic, The Magician King was about a quest, adventure and what is necessary to be a hero. While I wasn’t quite as fond of this as I was the first book, The Magicians, I still adore Grossman for making such blatant references to all of the important fiction novels that precede his about magic, wizards, other worlds, quests and heroes. It made me recall what it was like reading The Narnia Chronicles for the first time, and that memory alone made the book a worthwhile read.

The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham

I feel like I should be gushing about The Snow Queen. And yet. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mental space for this book. it felt so heavy and contemplative and ending each day by reading was sort of like ensuring my day ended poorly. What is the good in that?!

The Haven by Carol Lynch Williams

I learned about this book on some online list of Best YA Books of 2014. I can’t find the exact link, but here’s one to prove I’m not making it up. I wish I were! This is one of very few book that I gave only one star to in Goodreads. One star! If this is the best stuff out there for YA (and I know it’s not), then young adults are in a sorry state.

My Weeks in Books

I set out in 2015 with the goal of reading more diverse books. I found a #DiversityReadingChallenge to keep me on track, but it’s only six weeks into the year and I feel a little thrown off of the structured challenge. Mainly, in month two I am supposed to read a book with a person of color on the cover, but it turns out I read very few books with people on the cover! I haven’t given up just yet, though, and have been reading a wider range of stories.

• This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett is a book of essay by Patchett. I love her fiction but it turns out I like her essay writing only so-so.
• Frog Music by Emma Donoghue is about French immigrant circus performers in the United States and the relationship one woman forms with a woman who prefers wearing mens clothing and, sometimes, the romantic companionship of women. There’s way more to the book than that, but to be honest, I really, really struggled with Frog Music. About four-fifths of the way through I started to enjoy it, but that’s just not enough.
• I was such a fan of The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion so I was very excited for his follow-up, The Rosie Effect. Where the first book really stuck with me and is one I’ve referred to repeatedly for a compassionate representation of a person with Autism, I found the second book very entertaining but forgettable.
• What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman was recommended to me by a friend and I loved it. In fact, I set aside all other activities and finished the book in only one day! Told through a lovely story, Wiseman explores asylums in the United States in the early to mid-1900s. Going to school in Athens, Ohio, I am very familiar with the lore surrounding The Ridges asylum there. The mere idea that people could be institutionalized at a whim is astounding. Although not exactly upbeat, I think stories like this one are important to educate people about the history of mental health treatment and the changing definition of mental illness in our country.
• Taking advantage of some of the alone time I bragged so much about, I listened to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson on audio while taking a nice, long walk. I think it’s good I listened to this book because the language was a little hard to follow and I suspect I would have given up were I reading it. That said, so many of our present day plot lines in television, movies and book are based on the basic storyline of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that I’m happy to be familiar with it.
• The first “assignment” in the #DiversityReadingChallenge was to read a book by an author of color. I chose The Bridegroom: Stories by Ha Jin, which is a book of short stories taking place in China just after the death of Chairman Mao Tse-tung. I’ve never really been keen on visiting China, but sheesh! Jin paints a very unappealing picture. The Bridegroom: Stories did give me a better understanding of what people experienced in China during that time period (late 1970s – early 1980s) and the writing was beautiful but I am content just reading about the place.
• My attraction to A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer duBois was the beautiful title, but I also learned a lot about life in the Soviet Union and Russia. (I’ll be visiting there right after I check out China!) What I like about novels that take place in other countries is that I learn about the world without having to do much research. duBois taught me more about Putin and the experiences of people during different political regimes in the Soviet Union and Russia. I haven’t quite decided if I’ll be passing the book on to others or not (my sign of a book worth reading), but I’m pleased to have read it myself.