Month: September 2019

Book Review – Wild Game

Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me is Adrienne Brodeur’s true story of the night her mother woke her up to tell her that a man – one who wasn’t her husband – had kissed her and the events that unfold thereafter. Adrienne was 14 when her mom did this, but it set the trajectory for an unusual mother/daughter relationship for the rest of their lives.

If you read my reviews, you know I love memoirs. My September Book of the Month choice was a no-brainer. One, it’s a memoir. And two, it sounded so intriguing. I had to read it.

Book 39:
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
by Adrienne Brodeur

Genre:
Memoir, Autobiography, Nonfiction

Published:
October 2019

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me is Adrienne Brodeur’s true story of the night her mother woke her up to tell her that a man – one who wasn’t her husband – had kissed her and the events that unfold thereafter. Adrienne was 14 when her mom did this, but it set the trajectory for an unusual mother/daughter relationship for the rest of their lives.

Favorite Quote(s):

“You have no idea how much you can learn about yourself by plunging into someone else’s life.”

– Adrienne Brodeur, Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me

Awards (based upon my brief research):
None yet.

Pages:
256

My Overall Rating:
5 – Let me begin with a disclaimer – I read this book the week I had a baby. Emotions were high. However, I absolutely loved the transparency of Brodeur and the way she shared her story. I laughed, I cried, I related and I loved it.

For a memoir, the story largely flowed in chronological order, touching on each major event or milestone. That made it very easy to want to read more and more. And then there is the topic. Mother/daughter relationships are so hard. There were elements of the relationship explored in this memoir that I could definitely relate to and many I could not even believe, but it was beautiful to read this story and think, “I’m not alone,” or, “There is always someone who has it better/worse.”

I cannot even imagine going through what Brodeur went through, but I am so grateful she chose to share her story. As the mother of a daughter, I constantly wonder if/when I will cross the line and how that will affect our relationship going forward. It was so interesting to read about the events that unfolded after that moment in Adrienne’s life.

I think this is a must read for moms – especially moms of daughters!

Book Review – Color Me In

Color Me In is the multi-racial story of Nevaeh Levitz in some of the most formative times of her life. Nevaeh is half black, half Jewish and white-presenting. Not only does she struggle to identify a culture that is true to who she is, she struggles to understand who she is in general. And then her parents split, taking their respective cultures and separating them once again, causing Nevaeh to discover, grapple with, and lean into the cultures that make her uniquely Nevaeh Levitz.

I have seriously been craving a solid Young Adult read, and I had high hopes for this one. I skipped the August Book of the Month options and nabbed this “add-on” as a stand-alone instead, hoping it would satisfy my craving. I think I got half way there…

Book 38:
Color Me In
by Natasha Diaz

Genre:
Young Adult, Contemporary, Debut

Published:
August 2019

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, Color Me In is the multi-racial story of Nevaeh Levitz in some of the most formative times of her life. Nevaeh is half black, half Jewish and white-presenting. Not only does she struggle to identify a culture that is true to who she is, she struggles to understand who she is in general. And then her parents split, taking their respective cultures and separating them once again, causing Nevaeh to discover, grapple with, and lean into the cultures that make her uniquely Nevaeh Levitz.

Favorite Quote(s):

“If there is one thing I’ve learned, it is that you only receive what you are open to, and you are only open to what you believe you deserve.”

– Natasha Diaz, Color Me In

Awards (based upon my brief research):
None noted.

Pages:
384

My Overall Rating:
3.5 – Quick and easy, this book was definitely Young Adult. However, in ways it was almost too comparable to The Hate U Give, which took away from the overall excitement I had about this book going into it. The main character faces clashing cultures. White-presenting, she’s privileged, but she’s technically black, a people group who are not often considered to be privileged. The culture clash is intriguing – it’s something I cannot relate to, and I really appreciate Diaz diving into this story to give some perspective.

However, I would have liked for the overall story to have a greater plot. There didn’t seem to be any one event that was the height of all the action. And then my biggest pet peeve, Nevaeh reads her mom’s journal, and apparently her mom wrote in her journal as if she were writing a novel. I don’t think people actually do that…

All that being said, I am always a fan of reading books to gain perspective on the situations of others unlike me, so I can’t say this was a waste of time in any way. I was just hoping for more from it.

Book Review – Miracle Creek

Miracle Creek is about a group of people who find themselves tangled up in what appears to be a murder mystery. United by their common usage of the Miracle Submarine, a hyperbaric chamber of a treatment facility, this particular treatment group is forever tied when tragedy ensues. An explosion happens mid-treatment, killing two people and injuring others. The fire appears to have been intentional, but who could have done it? Who had the motive? Who had the supplies and knowledge to make it happen? It’s a story that keeps both the reader and the characters guessing as more and more information is revealed.

The September book club pick was one I had trouble getting my hands on and needed to make a quick turnaround on it. I eventually got an audio copy as well as a hard copy and worked my way through this one using a mix of both – I would not advise this approach.

Book 37:
Miracle Creek
by Angie Kim

Genre:
Mystery, Fiction, Contemporary, Thriller

Published:
April 2019

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, Miracle Creek is about a group of people who find themselves tangled up in what appears to be a murder mystery. United by their common usage of the Miracle Submarine, a hyperbaric chamber of a treatment facility, this particular treatment group is forever tied when tragedy ensues. An explosion happens mid-treatment, killing two people and injuring others. The fire appears to have been intentional, but who could have done it? Who had the motive? Who had the supplies and knowledge to make it happen? It’s a story that keeps both the reader and the characters guessing as more and more information is revealed.

Favorite Quote(s):

“That was the thing about lies: they demanded commitment. Once you lied, you had to stick to your story.”

– Angie Kim, Miracle Creek

Awards (based upon my brief research):
None noted.

Pages:
355

My Overall Rating:
3 – I will admit, this particular genre does not typically appeal to me. I went in assuming I would not love it. I read it quickly due to my book club meeting date, which helped me like it better, but my 3 is a reflection of what I think I would have given it if I’d taken a full week to read it like usual. Still, I do think it can hold its own. The story was unique. The characters were diverse. The writing was mostly great.

However, there were aspects of the plot that seemed too easy for the reader to figure out. As soon as a major element of a typical mystery was revealed, I had the conclusion nailed down to three possibilities, yet the author continue to spell out five or more possibilities at times, which seemed to be a waste of pages to me.

All-in-all, if this is your genre, you probably can’t go wrong with reading this.

Book Review – A Prayer for Owen Meany

A Prayer for Owen Meany is about the friendship between Owen Meany and John Wheelwright after Owen Meany murders John’s mom via an accidental, Little League foul ball at the age of 11. Naturally, their lives are forever changed – John is parentless and Owen believes he is God’s instrument. Together, they navigate some of their most formative years in the wake of this tragedy, maintaining the deepest of friendships.

Someone convinced me to pick up this modern classic because it’s “so highly reviewed”. I started reading it way back during my library’s Book BINGO because it crossed off the “read a book published in the year you were born” square. Weeks and weeks later, here we are.

Book 36:
A Prayer for Owen Meany
by John Irving

Genre:
Fiction, Modern Classic, Contemporary Literature

Published:
March 1989

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, A Prayer for Owen Meany is about the friendship between Owen Meany and John Wheelwright after Owen Meany murders John’s mom via an accidental, Little League foul ball at the age of 11. Naturally, their lives are forever changed – John is parentless and Owen believes he is God’s instrument. Together, they navigate some of their most formative years in the wake of this tragedy, maintaining the deepest of friendships.

Favorite Quote(s):

“Your memory is a monster; you forget—it doesn’t. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you—and summons them to your recall with will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you!”

– John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany

Awards (based upon my brief research):
None noted.

Pages:
552

My Overall Rating:
2 – It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like I was reading a book that was “required reading” for a class. Required reading for work? Sure, I’ve had that, but this one put me right back in high school. It averages 4.23 stars on GoodReads with over 270,000 ratings. How could I dislike it as much as I did?

Here’s my problem: The first 50 pages and the last 50 pages were solid. Everything in between felt slice-of-life-like, and that is just not a style I can get into. To make matters worse, this is a BIG book. This particular edition is 550 pages, but the pages are large and the text is small. I started in mid-July, and had to set it down and read other books while making my way through this one in order to keep myself interested in reading.

I see why it’s a modern classic, I really do. It has definite classic vibes – it hits on religious topics, it takes place in a majorly cultural transformative time (the Vietnam era) and it gives deep, deep insight into the main characters and their stories. Published in the late 1980s, it’s obviously modern. But if I had to read this for school, gag me with a spoon. Even not reading it for school was challenging, but… woof… I made it.

Book Review – The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers

The Simple Faith of Mr. Rogers: Spiritual Insights from the World’s Most Beloved Neighbor is a look into the life and faith of Fred Rogers. A deeply spiritual man, Mister Rogers preached the gospel, while very infrequently using words to do so. Author, Amy Hollingsworth, had the opportunity to interview Mister Rogers in regards to his unique and gentle approach to evangelism through media. She built a relationship with him that continued on until his death and gleaned, like thousands of people across the nation, spiritual insights that have changed her life which she shares in this book.

Another Amazon Prime Reading freebie, I picked this book because I needed something to share for devotions at work and thought maybe this could work. It did. And I actually really liked the book!

Book 35:
The Simple Faith of Mr. Rogers: Spiritual Insights from the World’s Most Beloved Neighbor
by Amy Hollingsworth

Genre:
Nonfiction, Biography, Christian

Published:
September 2007

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, The Simple Faith of Mr. Rogers: Spiritual Insights from the World’s Most Beloved Neighbor is a look into the life and faith of Fred Rogers. A deeply spiritual man, Mister Rogers preached the gospel, while very infrequently using words to do so. Author, Amy Hollingsworth, had the opportunity to interview Mister Rogers in regards to his unique and gentle approach to evangelism through media. She built a relationship with him that continued on until his death and gleaned, like thousands of people across the nation, spiritual insights that have changed her life which she shares in this book.

Favorite Quote(s):

“Fred’s intention was never to impose his beliefs on his viewers. Instead, he wanted to create an atmosphere, one that would allow viewers to feel safe and accepted.”

– Amy Hollingsworth, The Simple Faith of Mr. Rogers: Spiritual Insights from the World’s Most Beloved Neighbor

Awards (based upon my brief research):
None noted.

Pages:
183

My Overall Rating:
4 – I think this book should be required reading for anyone raising young children. The world needs more people like Mister Rogers. As a child watching his show, I never noticed the spiritual undertones. Returning to his work at this age, I just want so badly for my children to grow into the kind of people Mister Rogers was trying to help create. Hollingsworth uncovered the motivation behind his method, and it is just beautiful. How can one man live his life so completely dedicated to doing the Lord’s work literally every waking hour? And where are those people today? And is it ok if my child only watches TV shows from the 80s and 90s?