October:
108. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy - I had not planned to read this memoir because the title put me off, but it was my book group's October selection. I wasn't able to attend the discussion, although a couple of us just answered the questions by WhatsApp so at least we got to chat about it a bit. Jennette McCurdy started acting at 6 and she was one of those children whose mother wanted to act but never was able to, so she pushed two of her children into acting to fulfill her own ambition. McCurdy was successful but never really happy as an actor, although it's worth reading to find out why and how being forced into acting amounted to abuse. What a surprising read. I don't want to spoil anything but I will say that the author had some major challenges to deal with, especially after the death of her abusive mother. I admire her for her dedication to getting her life under control and finding a new path. It was eye-opening to see how trauma and abuse linger long after the abused person is safe. A well-written, honest, and courageous memoir, highly recommended.
109. Cat + Gamer, Volume 2 by Wataru Nadatani - (ebook/Hoopla) The second in the Cat + Gamer series has kitty Musubi growing and becoming an inveterate climber. Unsure of what to do about her climbing cat, Riko goes to ask the local shopkeeper for help and ends up buying a very elaborate cat tree. Then, she goes to the shopkeeper's house (who humorously keeps saying, "Please don't call me 'shopkeeper'") where Riko meets her new friend's 3 cats and 1 dog, sees that even her huge cat tree can look small by comparison to a dedicated cat lover's setup, and gets further ideas. Meanwhile, she's still gaming and Musubi is still getting in the way, but every time it seems she's about to get upset, Musubi does something so cute that Riko has no choice but to pull out the camera. Adorable. I love this series.
110. The Elson Reader, Book Two by William Harris Elson and Lura Runkel - Published in 1920, this little reader is packed with stories, fables, poetry, and even contains a couple short plays. My friend and next-door neighbor (who got me into volunteering with the Friends of the Library) found it while we were working the library sale and asked if she should throw it out because it was so "old and dirty" (add physical shiver for effect). I flipped through it and said I'd take it off her hands. I figured even if the pages were falling out, it would be useful for collaging but I didn't look too hard. The pages were, in fact, intact, although badly stained so I started reading it and this reader is seriously like a time capsule. There's a wake-up story in which animals tell Baby Ray to wake up but he keeps sleeping while Mama goes to pump water for his bath and find wood to warm the water, milks the cow for milk to go with Baby Ray's breakfast, etc. Then, there's a story about two children after the Great War. Their town in France is rubble, Joan is living in a cellar but has a nice new coat and hat and is being well fed. Pierre is cold and hungry. Joan shows him where to get food and clothing, in one of the few buildings standing, where the American Junior Red Cross has sent supplies to help out. Wonderful little book. I'd love to find more like it.
111. The Mountain of Adventure (Adventure #5) by Enid Blyton - In this 5th book in the Adventure series, the children (Philip, Jack, Dinah, and Lucy-Ann) go to Wales with Mrs. Mannering and their good friend Bill. Once they arrive, they get to know their hosts on the farm at which they're staying, the Evanses, and then they make plans to ride donkeys for a camping trip up into the mountains to see the Valley of Butterflies. But, when Mrs. Mannering is injured and Bill stays behind to help, the children are left with a Welsh guide to take them and it turns out he's not so reliable. Plus, he can't read maps well. When the guide is frightened and he runs off with the mules, the children are left to fend for themselves. They end up exploring a nearby mountain, where they get tangled up in yet another adventure in which there are bad guys and a mad King of the Mountain who is making people test one of his inventions. Incredible plotting, as always. But, The Mountain of Adventure was my least favorite of the series, so far, I think because I don't like the idea of being trapped in a dark mountain with twisty passages. I'm still impressed.
112. Afterland: Poems by Mai Der Vang - There's no way to sugarcoat Afterland. It's rough. Mai Der Vang is the child of Hmong immigrants who fled to America during the Vietnam War. I got the sense that she was working through the horrors her parents witnessed through her poetry. Some of the bloody violent images are very, very difficult to read. But, it's not all war and people getting blown up. There are a few other poems lacking the violence but which tackled other subject matter that's difficult. One was a poem about living in a noisy, trashy area with no view and the final line is, "My parents fled for this." My absolute favorite line is from, "This heft upon your leaving":
"Now what century
fell down at your door?
What cold bowl of oats
did you repurpose into blessings?"
113. Antarctica by Claire Keegan - I've read 5 books by Claire Keegan, now. Small Things Like These and Foster were my favorites. The two that were my favorites just blew me away. The others . . . not so much. Her writing never varies from being spectacular. She has a fine skill for creating 3-dimensional characters and settings. But, her stories are often bleak or harrowing. The first story in Antarctica (the title story) was so upsetting that I didn't sleep the night I read it. 3 of the stories in the collection were surprisingly set in the American Deep South. Since I live in the Deep South, you can imagine that I read them with a critical eye. All I can say is, "Write what you know." I often feel a little discombobulated by her Irish settings because there are no dates, but they certainly feel authentic, regardless.
114. Go, Sled! Go! by James Yang - If you've been hanging out at my blog on occasion, you probably know that I attended high school journalism with author and artist James Yang. Every now and then, I buy one of his children's books for fun. Go, Sled! Go! is my latest purchase by James and it is a delight. The story is about an unnamed little boy who is going down a mountain on a sled but creatures keep getting in his way and then ending up on the sled with him (or in the case of a waddle of penguins, getting toppled). They eventually sail over a village and then tip off a cliff and end up head-down in the snow, where they emerge to spot a sign pointing out that there's cocoa nearby. While they're drinking cocoa, the boy asks if anyone wants to go for a second ride and everyone declines but he goes on alone. I particularly loved the part where a single snowflake tips the sled over the cliff and they go on a wild ride, complete with lengthy scream. James has a great sense of humor and kept me laughing in high school. He's still making me laugh. Go, James! Go!
115. Scritch Scratch by Lindsay Currie - I heard this middle grade book was nice and scary, a couple years ago, and onto my wish list it went. Claire wants to be a scientist and thinks like one. So, she's really not impressed with her father's published book about ghosts and she has no interest in his ghost tours around Chicago. Then, one night he needs her to take the place of a regular employee and a ghost follows her home, the ghost of a little boy wearing a white knickerbocker suit who then proceeds to cause chaos in her home and school. Claire quickly tires of sleeping in the closet to stay away from the ghost and isn't willing to tell her parents about the ghost boy for fear her father will simply turn it into fodder for his next book. But, she needs to find out what the ghost wants so he can rest in peace and eventually she gets some much-needed help. There are a few scenes I would avoid reading right before you turn out the light because they're genuinely unnerving but otherwise I found that Scritch Scratch was about perfect for a girl who is prone to nightmares. I may hang onto this one for a future fall reread and will be looking to see if my library has more books by Lindsay Currie.
116. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham - When Tina of Book Chatter decided to have a read-along of this classic, I jumped in because I remembered enjoying it, many years ago. My copy is an abridged version printed in 1965 with a nice note from the author about why his original book was not so sacred (nor is any other, in his opinion) that it shouldn't be abridged. Philip's story begins with a dying mother. He's taken in by his aunt and uncle, who have no children, and eventually sent away to school, where he excels until he grows weary of school and decides not to finish or go on to Oxford. Instead, he tries one profession and then another. He gets tangled up with a manipulative woman who keeps coming back into his life and runs him out of money. Will he ever break free of Mildred and settle on a profession? Will Philip ever be satisfied with his life? Well, I don't want to ruin it but I felt like Of Human Bondage ended on a perfect, uplifting note. No wonder I loved it the first time.
117. Whale Day: Poems by Billy Collins - I've been a Billy Collins fan for some time so I tossed a couple of his books into the cart when I was in a low mood and soothed it with a Book Outlet purchase. Whale Day is much the same as the rest of his poetry but this particular collection was published in 2020 and I have to wonder if that explains the sheer quantity of poems in which he talks about friends who have died and muses about his own mortality. As always, I enjoyed the collection, but I confess that nothing really jumped out at me. I had no particular favorites that I was eager to mark. I did learn a few things. I'd never heard of a frigidarium, for example, a pool with cool water pumped in from outside using aqueducts, which Romans bathed in before moving to the heated pool (or vice versa). And, I looked up a couple of artists who were unknown to me. At any rate, while not my favorite, I enjoyed the book and I particularly liked the way Collins talked about his wife and cat. There's clearly a gentle love going in the Collins household.
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