Cheaper by the Dozen

I read this to my children many years ago, but it was on the Book Babes list, and they don't usually read older books like this. So, I reread it and found it delightful. (I guess when they met the majority did not find it as delightful as I did, but that happens with this group. I usually feel "out of sync" with the majority.) 

In many ways, my dad was an "efficiency expert" too, but he didn't push it upon me like this dad did! It is a true story written by two of his children. 

I think it is a great read especially as a read aloud to your kids.

Undaunted Courage

I have had this book for years (it was a giveaway at my library), but I had not read it. My book club put it on this year's list, and I realized I was going to need to read it by 7 pm today. 

I started early and read and read and finished it in a day. It is a great book. A page-turner!

Lewis is the main character. I did not know that Jefferson had such an influence on him even before the journey of discovery. It is a great book. I think Lewis was a perfectionist and had a mental illness though. So sorry for him.

What an adventure though! 

Charlotte Temple

Written in 1794, it was America's first best-selling novel in the earliest years of the Republic. So for that reason, it is an interesting historical document. It is a cautionary tale. It is no Madame Bovary, but it is a quick read so pretty painless to get through. It is a pretty over-the-top melodrama.

More about it here: https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/a...

 I read it for my Book Babes reading group, and I cannot imagine that they will like it. We will see. 

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

 This took me quite a while to get into! Mainly because I have loved reading all the books for the Order of the Mustard Seed Year of Preparation! I also could not find an audiobook, but I found the Kindle version, and that reads to me through my Alexa. So I could walk and listen to it. 

She made some life choices that frustrated me. I probably would never choose her as my counselor as a result of that, but I certainly loved the counselor that she went to! I would go to him in a heartbeat! I ended up liking the book in the end. I could relate as I am in a profession that has many of the same components, and I do refer many of my directees to therapists. It was educational for me to see it from a therapist's perspective.

67. The Splendid and The Vile

 I forgot this review in 2020

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The newest book by Erik Larson. This guy never misses. It is excellent. It is history and very personal. In 1940-41, 44,652 civilians died and 52,370 were injured in the Blitz! Of those dead, 5,626 were children. Much of it was Churchill's pleas for Roosevelt to get America involved. This would not happen until the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

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61. The Library Book

 

The Library Book by Susan Orlean
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an absolutely, positively, fascinating book. The story thread throughout the book is the arson fire in 1986 of the downtown Los Angeles Library (https://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-j... ) but is so much more. This author goes through the history of libraries in general and the LA one in particular. It also goes into issues the library faces today. I really, really loved this book. Highly recommended for anyone who loves the library!

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60. Under the Wide and Starry Sky

 

Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I knew nothing about Robert Louis Stevenson's life and love. It was fascinating. It is slow-moving at the beginning, but I stuck with it, and I am glad I did! It is a work of historical fiction from the perspective of Stevenson and his wife, Fanny. 

My heart and mind went immediately to the copy of A Child's Garden of Verses by Stevenson that my grandmother gave to my father on his 5th birthday in 1923. It is one of my treasured books, illustrated so beautifully. I went to a memory of me memorizing his poem "Block City" and acting it out at the end of my bed. So fun to have the context to his writing. I realized I have read three of his novels: Kidnapped, Treasure Island, and Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde.

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54. Compton Cowboys

 

The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in America's Urban Heartland by Walter Thompson-Hernandez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a great book! This community is 20 minutes away from where I grew up, but it is a world away. I never even knew about the Richland Farms.

Here is their website: https://www.comptoncowboys.com/team

Their website says they are, "A collective of lifelong friends on a mission to uplift their community through horseback and farming lifestyle, all the while highlighting the rich legacy of African-Americans in equine and western heritage."

It is a beautiful book with very personal stories. 

Video of a woman who rides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AqFB_LA94s&feature=emb_logo  (bring your tissue)

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51. The Buddha in the Attic

 

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a quick read, but it was a big overview of Japanese wives who came to the West Coast in the early 1900s up until World War II. There were no real characters. Just a long list of people in different situations throughout the years. No depth. The Buddha in the Attic reference did not come until 84% of the way through the book, and it was just one comment in another long list. It made me want to read another book about Japanese internment during World War II, but this would not be one I would recommend for that purpose.

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 The Chicago Tribune says, "Read the book in a single sitting, and this chorus of narrators speaks in a poetry that is both spare and passionate, sure to haunt even the most coldhearted among us."^[6]

The Washington Independent Review of Books says "Though Knopf, publisher of The Buddha in the Attic, classifies the book as a novel, it is more like a beautifully rendered emakimono, hand-painted horizontal scrolls that depict a series of scenes, telling a story in frozen moments."^[7]

50. A Full Life by Jimmy Carter

 

A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety by Jimmy Carter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was absolutely delightful! It is a bird's eye view of his life. He doesn't go into much detail about all the eras of his life, but I liked that.

I was in high school when he came to be president. So when he got to his platform in his election, my memory went to my political science class where we had a "mock election," and I was a presidential candidate with "Win with Wardrop" as my campaign slogan (and Sue Brock as my campaign manager). I had to study all the policies of the two candidates (Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter), and debate my policies. (I won in a landslide, by the way.) I remember the gas lines during the energy crisis and the hostages in Iran. I really liked to hear his thoughts about the B-1 bomber since my dad was working on that project and lost his job when Carter came to be president. I liked hearing about his convictions about God, abortion, peace in the Middle East, etc. It was a super informative book. Loved it from beginning to end! He is a great man.

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19. Silence by Endo

This is an important book to read. It is beautifully written. It is a fictional portrayal of real-life Jesuit priests who brought the gospel to Japan in the 1500s. Religious persecution was terrible at that point in history. 

It is a hard but great story. 

Here are a couple of articles that are helpful as you read this great book: 

https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2017/01/18/fr-james-martin-answers-5-common-questions-about-silence (This is by Father James Martin who consulted on the film version.) 

file:///C:/Users/gcwea/Downloads/fulltext_stamped%20(2).pdf

132. Under and Alone

This is a gripping, first-hand account of an undercover agent who infiltrated the Mongols motorcycle gang of Southern California in the 90s. It is salty with bad language and sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It is a side of life I don't like to look at, but it is part of life. 

I could never be an undercover agent, and this guy did this for two years at a great cost to him and his relationship with his two sons. That broke my heart. The relationships within the Mongols really broke my heart too. I am glad that I am done with this read!

131. Slay by Brittney Morris

This is a Book Babes selection, suggested to us because she is a graduate of our local Christian high school. 

The author is obviously borrowing from her own life as she was one of only a handful of people of color at this local high school. The main character is at a private high school in Bellevue, Washington, and she has created a video game called Slay which is just for black people. No one in her "real-life" knows she created and plays this game. 

It is a good first novel, but it did go on a bit too long on the video game aspects of her life. The book will generate a discussion about our obsession with virtual life that takes us away from real life. Interesting that I would read Fahrenheit 451 in the same week as I recall the wife of the main character and her obsession with the "screens." It will also generate discussion about race in America. 

I would put this in the Young Adult novel genre. Usually, I like these kinds of books, but this one left me a bit flat. I am fairly certain young adults would like this book, especially if they play video games. They would not be as lost (and sometimes bored) as I was when she went on and on about the game she created. 

130. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

There are no words.

What an amazing book. I could not put it down! It gripped me from the get-go. It is an appalling story of greed, power, and prejudice with twists and turns you will not believe. 

I came away so sad that there could be such abuse. I came away so mad that there could be such abuse. 

This is a five-star book. I highly recommend it. What I particularly loved about the audiobook is the three different voices. The first is a woman voicing a third-person narrative,  I assume it is to reflect the voice of the Osage Indian, Molly Burkhart. Her story will absolutely break your heart. The second voice is to emulate the voice of a detective with the pre-FBI. The hero here is Tom White. The last voice, I assume, is the voice of the author in a first-person narrative of what he uncovered many years later. The plot thickens. It is meticulously researched. 

Here is the blog of the author:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/osage-murders-photos-killers-of-flower-moon 

This is an amazing story that needs to be told for our generation. 

124. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

 

I was a little hesitant to read this book because I didn't really care for her hugely popular book, The Secret Life of Bees. So I have always been hesitant to read this author again.  But this book was a lovely surprise. I loved it!  

This book is a poignant work of historical fiction about slavery in Charleston, South Carolina. What I did not realize while reading this novel was that two of the main characters were based on two real-life abolitionist sisters, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, and Sarah's slave maid, Hetty "Handful" (although most of the story about Handful was fictionalized because not much is known about her). 

I particularly liked the two narrators who took turns narrating for Sarah and Handful in this audiobook. It is a great read. 

123. Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

Love This Cover!

This is a sweeping, multi-generational novel of a Palestinian family that is uprooted through war and conflict, and seeking a better life traveling from their homeland of Palestine to Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, France, and the United States. It is a piece of historical fiction that is very well-written. 

Each chapter is told through the eyes of the different members of the family across the generations. I had a little bit of difficulty understanding what was happening so I read a book summary that helped me understand that it jumps back and forth in time. That doesn't bother me too much, but it has bothered people in my Book Babes Book Club in the past. So we will see how they handle this non-linear story! 

This gives the Palestinian view of the conflict in the Middle East that is poignant and insightful. One of my favorite non-fiction books from a Palestinian perspective is Blood Brothers (received an 8.9/10 with the Book Babes in 2007).

Another book I thought about that helps give a great overall perspective of this conflict is The Arabs by David Lamb. I found myself thinking back to what I learned from this book many times during the reading of this novel. It also gives a balanced perspective of the problems in this region. 

121. Becoming by Michelle Obama

I LOVED most of this book. Her upbringing and family life were so wonderful. I admire her for her fortitude and discipline. She is a very intelligent, beautiful woman. She spoke at one of the Oregon State University graduations, and it was the best graduation speech I had ever heard. (She spoke because her brother was the OSU basketball coach.) . The book elaborated on many of the things that she talked about in that graduation speech. I admire her marriage, parenting, etc. She seems like a stellar individual. 

I cried hearing her views of the Inauguration. That day, I cried with my friend as we texted back and forth during it. America had come so far!  

I also loved hearing about life in the White House, and how she strove to keep their family grounded with their new "normal." I loved her White House Garden. I loved how she let the staff wear more casual clothes on days no one would be visiting. I loved that they spent their own money when redecorating the White House even though there was 100,000 dollar allocated for it.

All that said, I laughed out loud when she said toward the end of her book, "I am not political." Are you kidding me? She had just spent the last several pages slamming the other party. Own it, Michelle, you are political and believe you are the morally "right" one when it comes to your husband's policies. That is OK. You ARE political, and I am glad you are on the same page as your husband but OWN IT that you are political. I think it is her blind spot. 

That is where the end of the book really made me sad, she did such a good job for most it not being political. There was also the subtle implication that if you opposed her husband's policy, you were racist. People just believe differently than you. Michelle. That is all. Just a different way of looking at how to achieve a better America. 

119. Dear Bob and Sue

 

I really love the concept of them going to all the parks. I looked on their website, and they have pictures from every adventure. What a great idea to do as a couple.

They are incredibly clever and funny people.  I would love for my husband and me to do this (actually our kids too). I think if my husband and I did it, it would be more about the parks rather than our snippy interactions with other people and each other. The sarcasm between the two of them got a little old after a while. Some people try to be funny by putting each other down. It was funny, but then it got sad. I know they are hugely popular, but I think they could use some really good counseling because I think there are some underlying issues in their relationship. Just my opinion. I know many couples relate in this way, but it just makes me sad that they do. 

They are also pretty impatient with other people and very critical of them. I guess I am in the mode of seeing people in God's image rather than jumping to conclusions about them and being mean in thought and in word. 

But I would say that this is such a fascinating look at our great country. So I would say read it. 

59. News of the World

This was a very sweet little novel. I can see why it is so popular. It is about a man who travels the road going to small towns to read the news to people. 

53. The Great Alone

I liked this book much more at the beginning, but it sort of dragged on and got extremely melodramatic about 2/3rds of the way through the book. So, I lost a bit of interest. But there is closure by the end.  So, it wasn't so bad. I like her writing style though. Sorry I didn't like it as much as everyone has raved about it though. I did love learning more about Alaska, and it definitely made me want to go there!