Books read in January & Currently

Linking up with Jennifer for Currently. The topics are 

 currently loving, feeling, posting, receiving, and seeing

Loving- hot cups of tea on cold winter mornings. Bonus enjoyment if I've just come in from an early run and am chilled to the bone, sitting right in front of the fireplace as I am literally right now as I type this:

Feeling- tired- emphasis on early morning run! I've been waking up early, per usual, and if I'm not subbing, I like to run first thing in the morning. Running leaves me feeling tired in a good way (my muscles feel tired from use but it's a good thing, really!) but waking up early makes me feel sleep deprived tired which is not good. 

Posting- I'm including a January book review along with this post. I don't think I did one for November or December. I'm including it with this post because a) it's already written and b) this post would be really short without it.

Receiving- Texts and face timing requests from the kids in college. It's always good to hear from them, see them if only through a device and read their texts. Abby has been back in school for just over a week. She was with us for so long during winter break; it was a huge adjustment when we she went back to not see her every day. Grateful for technology that makes keeping in touch with loved ones easy.

Seeing- students when I sub, nature when I run and Valentine Day decor when I walk through the rooms that have decor (just a few and not that much decor, lol).

Books read in January- I wrote these reviews in the order that I read them. I got all of the books through the library on my Kindle except for one hardcopy book that I got from the library when I went to pick up a book for Alyssa. The only nonfiction book that I finished, I purchased a physical copy of it. I don't like to read nonfiction books on my Kindle because I generally underline/ highlight in them so I like to own a physical copy of them.

We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker- I wish I had stopped reading this about 1/3 of the way through. I didn't care for it at all but hoped it would get better.  It didn't. Nonetheless, since I made my way through it, I figured I'd write about it. It's a coming of age/ mystery/ family drama book that garnered many rave reviews. I just... didn't like it. The plot is too far fetched for reasonable imaginations as are all the twists and turns the book takes. It's about a man being released from prison after 30 years for a crime he committed at a young age for which his best friend turned him in to authorities. The best friend is now the sheriff of the town where all this takes place- a coastal town in California. The writing seemed too try hard with metaphors and similes dotting the prose like dandelions dot pastures that have not been tended.  I will pass on this author in the future.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham- this book won the Pultizer Prize for literature in 1999. I read three books of his in late 2022 and I liked them all quite a bit.  I was on a waitlist at the library for this one and it became available in January. I LOVED this book. Beautifully written with exquisite, tight prose, the book's plot is brilliant- so few writers could have pulled this off. It's hard to succinctly describe; I found this review that sums it up nicely and it shares my enthusiasm for the book: 

"Genius. Sheer genius. Based on Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway," this book by Michael Cunningham takes the barest outline of that British classic and twists it. And twists it again. And again. It follows a day in the life of Clarissa as she prepares to host a party for her dear friend, Richard, who is dying of AIDS and will receive a literary award for his poetry that evening. But it also follows an imaginary day in the life of Virginia Woolf as she writes "Mrs. Dalloway," as well as a day in the life of an American housewife, Mrs. Brown, in the late 1940s. The stories of Clarissa and Mrs. Brown are tragically joined at the end of the book. I highly advise you to either read Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" first or concurrently (as I did) to fully appreciate the many ways the two books intersect."

City of Likes by Jenny Mollen- Not the first influencer lit book and likely not the last; it follows the prescribed, "what you see on social media is not real" trope that is familiar to the genre. It describes the events in NYC when Megan, a mom of two young boys befriends a mominfluencer who has a legion of followers on IG and the money/ freebies that inure from it. Megan gains a large number of followers herself as a result of being tagged in her new friend's posts. I enjoyed reading this book a lot- so much of her writing/ observations are spot on accurate, witty and wry. I found myself actually lol'ing in parts of it. 

As an aside, Abby was an IG influencer for a short while so much of what she said resonated with me as I watched on the sidelines and online as Abby's popularity on the platform grew. She was a fitness influencer and had close to 40k followers on IG by the time she entered college. Once in college, Abby's priorities shifted and she stepped away from influencing. Donnie and I are proud of her for putting the work in to grow a large social media account but even more proud that she walked away from it after realizing that the negatives were worse than the positives were good. And the positives were good- she made friends, she received many compliments and of course garnered "likes" galore. She was also gifted products hand over foot in exchange for mentioning them in a story (sometimes she did posts about the products but most of the time she just had to mention them). She entered into a contract with a company (business lawyer dad requested many changes be made to the contact the company offered her which the company consented to... they really wanted to work with Abby) to endorse an expensive fitness product (that she truly loved) and earned generous commissions when people ordered through her referral link. Assuming her account kept growing, she probably could have made a career out of influencing. But... the negatives were negative and I'm glad that she recognized and acted on her belief that ultimately being an influencer was not something that was going to lead to a fulfilling life for her. 

You might be a fitness influencer if your high school senior portrait session included a pose like this...

Of course that pose was the exception and not the rule, lol

Her dance photos from her senior year solo dances revealed her fit frame

I will always associate her senior year in high school as one where she was an influencer and the last year that she did competition dance. 

Back to books...

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain- I read two of Twain's more popular books within the past two years- Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. While he's a great storyteller, I don't find his stories to captivate my attention. The subject matter maybe? Not being able to get past crazy impossibilities? In this story, set in the 1400's, a young prince of a vast empire trades places with a destitute  boy who looks (and apparently acts) enough like the prince for them to effectively trade places with each other. I could not get past the absurdity of the plot for the life of me! Fiction often entails details and plots that are not likely to occur; I can accept that as part and parcel of fiction. But this was too much for me!

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner- This was an engaging thriller- well written and is full of little twists in the same vein that any good thriller worth its mettle is. It takes place in London where mom to be Helen befriends "unusual" single mom to be Rachel in a prenatal class. The relationship will change the lives everyone close to Helen as secrets are revealed. I will definitely read more from this author!

The Glass- Blowers by Daphne Du Maurier-Du Maurier, a writer of suspense novels in the 1920's and 1930's, deviated from her typical genre with the The Glass Blowers which is historical fiction. It's based loosely on Du Maurier's ancestors in France during the time period preceding and during the French Revolution. I liked the book but I like Du Maurier's suspense novels better. This book was long and while informative, well researched, and well written, it didn't draw me in like her other books have. I've not read all of Du Maurier's book's but I've read several and plan to read them all.  

Coming Up For Air by Sarah Leipciger- This is written in three different time frames for three different characters in three completely different settings (Canada, France and the US (I think?)) that are all united by a theme of water. That was literally the only theme that tied the characters together (at least that I could discern). It's almost like they were three short stories? I kept waiting for a great tie in like how The Hours tied its three plots over different time periods together by the end. That did not happen here. While the writing was beautiful in parts, none of the story lines really drew me in and they were depressing to boot. I'm undecided on whether I will read more by this author. I'm learning towards yes but we'll see...

Unoffendable by Brant Hanson- The premise of this Christian non fiction book is that Christians should lower their standards of... everyone, since everyone sins and chose to forgive as we've been forgiven. It's a great premise and I love Brant Hanson's writing style so for the most part, I enjoyed this book. However, there was a lot of repetition and I thought the message to not be offended is great on a personal level. Like if someone cuts you off in traffic, chose to not let your blood boil and a finger to be raised and forgive others in more serious matters as well. I mean, we know that already but I love Brant's writing style (how many times will I say that, lol) and I underlined many passages in the book. I wish he would have written more on cultural issues and the role/ responsibilities Christians have when they see evil being tolerated/ endorsed but I guess that was outside the scope of the book. I am a BH fangirl (did I mention I like his writing style?) so I will read all of his books. I think that I've read all of them so far. Hopefully he writes more ;).