November:
130. Hurricane Girl by Marcy Dermansky - A totally unexpected story, Hurricane Girl places you in the mind of Allison. Having escaped an abusive relationship in Los Angeles, Allison has bought herself a house with a beach view in North Carolina. She loves the water, loves swimming, but is not expecting anything that's about to happen. And, that's all I can say, apart from the fact that (as the title reflects) there is a hurricane, at some point. I think to say anything else would be to ruin the storyline but it's at times terrifying and often funny. At a mere 230 pages, Hurricane Girl could easily be read in a single sitting if you don't start it too late at night, as I did. I had a terrible time putting it down to close my eyes. Simply written but deceptive, the plainspoken writing style is clearly a stylistic element to show how Allison thinks and it works. I will definitely read more by Marcy Dermansky!
131. Ghost Town by Richard W. Jennings - Spencer Adams Honesty is the 13-year-old narrator of Ghost Town, the story of how Spencer and his mother become the last residents of Paisley, Kansas — unless you count Spencer's imaginary friend, Chief Leopard Frog. Spencer's mother decides he will be homeschooled to avoid the hour-long bus ride back and forth to school. But, then she watches TV after she's done for the day at the Paisley post office. With nothing to do and no library or school nearby, Chief Leopard Frog suggests a hobby and Spence digs up his father's old film SLR. But, there's something strange about the photos he's getting back from the developer. Each roll of film has a photo of someone who is no longer present. Spence decides he needs to take photos everywhere to see if he can capture all of the former residents with his unique camera, but he needs money for film and developing. From this point, the book becomes increasingly absurd. This book has some issues, chiefly that Spence often sounds like an older person — the phrasing is off — and no time period is ever mentioned, which made me mentally switch from one decade to another. However, as it becomes more absurd, it can be pretty funny and I even laughed a couple times, so I gave it an average rating.
132. I Love You, Michael Collins by Lauren Baratz-Logsted - I used to be in a book group with Lauren and we're friends on Facebook. So, one day I thought, "I really ought to read one of her books" and I chose I Love You, Michael Collins, a middle grade book. It sat unread for about a year and I'm happy to have finally gotten around to reading the story. It's 1969 and Apollo 11 is due to launch soon with the first astronauts to walk on the moon. Mamie's class is given an assignment to write to an astronaut and since nobody else has chosen Michael Collins and she's a little off-beat, she writes to him. Then, she just keeps on writing about her daily life, her parents' discussions, her best friend Buster, and Collins himself. I had trouble getting into this book, at first. I wasn't sure this particular story was best told through a series of letters. Maybe a diary or a mixture of letters, dialogue, and diary entries? Well, whatever. I got over it and enjoyed the story and especially the setting. It took me back to 1969. I was younger than Mamie but I have a vivid memory of Tang (revolting orange drink) and the day man walked on the moon, which my family watched during supper on a tiny black and white TV. I particularly loved the friendship between Mamie and Buster and I would definitely read more by Lauren Baratz-Logsted.
133. Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds is a set of interconnected short stories, each with the title of a street. Most of the kids in Look Both Ways attend the same school; one attends a private school. As you get to know these people, you learn about their friendships, their struggles, how they greet each other (one set of boys has a handshake so complex their teacher tells them he doesn't have time to stand around while they say hello via their lengthy handshake), their interactions with teachers and the school crossing lady. And, throughout the book there's mention of a bus falling from the sky. That mystery is cleared up in the final chapter. An interesting book that touches on a lot of interesting day-to-day concerns and shows what it means to be a real friend.
134. Repairing the Heartbreak of Pet Loss Grief by C. Jeffrey - I've had a particularly difficult time with Isabel's death because she was one of two "cats of my heart". I like a smart, talkative, affectionate cat and while Izzy was never a lap cat, she was extremely affectionate and very responsive. And, so, so smart. Repairing the Heartbreak of Pet Loss Grief had high ratings at both Amazon and Goodreads so I ordered a copy and I agree with those ratings. It walks you through the grief of losing a pet (the steps of grief, which aren't always the same from one person to another), whether your pet dies of natural causes, is euthanized, dies from an accident, or simply disappears and never returns. She talks about guilt, regret, anger, depression. The author acknowledges that pet loss is unique and assures the reader that it's not a lesser thing than the loss of a friend or family member. She gives readers suggestions for things to do that will help you memorialize your pet when you're ready, decide when the time is right to get another pet, etc. It's a quick read but a good one and I'm glad I read it. While it also reinforced the fact that only time will heal this wound and the scar will persist, it was a helpful and soothing read that I highly recommend.
135. No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering by Thich Nhat Hanh - No Mud, No Lotus is a book I started reading simply because I like to read Thich Nhat Hanh regularly to keep the principles of mindfulness and interbeing, etc. fresh. Ironically, when I started reading this book about suffering, I wasn't suffering in any way. Then, when my cat started to go downhill, I couldn't bear to read it. It took me weeks to get back to it. When I did, I found it calming and uplifting. There were a couple of sentences that jumped out at me as particularly worth printing out and pasting around the house. One was a mantra I want to see to remind me to think it at the right time: "This is a happy moment." I love that.
136. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans - Every day, Sybil sits down to write letters by hand. She's been doing it for decades and can't imagine stopping. She has a stack of pages written without salutation and never sent, also. Through the letters in this epistolary novel, you get to know Sybil as she is now, a slightly prickly divorcée in her 70s, while she and her correspondents slowly reveal her life story. You also find out how she responds to someone who is writing threatening letters. I gave this book 5 stars, although I think I should probably go back and change it to 4. I loved it but I didn't LOVE it. I did, however, think that it had the perfect ending for the story and I was moved to tears. Definitely worth reading and sharing with a friend.
137. After Kenyon: Poetry by Jeanne Griggs - I read Postcard Poems by Jeanne, earlier this year, and loved it. Jeanne was happy with my review and asked me if I'd like a copy of After Kenyon and I was thrilled. I love her poetry; it's very accessible. In After Kenyon, she tells the story of her time as a literature professor and Director of the Writing Center at Kenyon College in Ohio. It's a bit like reading a memoir through poetry as you get to know the places she walked and worked, the buildings and their hidden passages or rooms and how they've changed over the years, the beauty and frustration of the seasons, and the people she interacted with. Some of the poems are written "after" another poem and I didn't know what that meant exactly — whether they were written to be stylistically or thematically similar or something else. Fortunately, while I'd looked up the meaning of a poem written "after" another midway through the book, she actually dedicates a couple of pages at the end to explaining this concept. Very cool. I chose to just read the poetry and not go in search of the poems she referenced, the first time through (except for a couple, to try to get a grip on the "after" concept), but I do plan to reread specifically to go back and compare both poem and reference, where there is an "after". A lovely read, recommended to poetry and memoir readers.
138. On Hitler's Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood by Irmgard A. Hunt - Published in 2005, On Hitler's Mountain is about what it was like literally living on the same mountain where Hitler built his Nazi compound and Eagle's Nest retreat. Irmgard was born in May of 1934 to parents who were true believers in Hitler. Having lived through the economic misery of WWI's aftermath, they had faith that Hitler would solve their economic woes and everyone would soon have a job. Irmgard actually was fully indoctrinated by the age of 3 and even once sat on Hitler's lap. After years of war, hiding from British planes, and realizing that one of her teachers was an informant looking for Irmgard to say something to inform on her grandfather, cracks in her belief system grew.
Later, as an American immigrant, Hunt became an environmental activist and outspoken about totalitarianism. If she were alive and able today, I have no doubt she would be speaking out against our current administration. This book is a fascinating look at what it means to be such a firm believer in a person that nobody can sway you. It's also a good look at what kind of changes are made by fascists (the parallels to our current administration are a punch in the gut) and how propaganda and reduction of rights keep people in line. A book worth reading for the look into how people who literally lived near an evil man went on with their lives and continued to support him through hardship, thinking he was going to fix everything.
139. The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani - This middle grade story is written as letters by Nisha to her deceased mother before and after the Partition of India in 1947. Nisha, her twin Amil, her grandmother, and her father are all Hindu, although her mother was Muslim. When the end of British rule leads to the division of India into two countries, Muslim Pakistan and Hindu (and other religions) India and violence breaks out, Nisha's family must find a way to the Hindu part of the country as they are now in Pakistan. Hearing that violent attacks have been made on train passengers, they start their journey by walking and carrying only what they absolutely must have, including gallons of water. Admittedly, I wanted more from this book. It has a Newbery badge, which means it's been feted for literary excellence and I think it was very well written and a good story. What I didn't get out of it was an understanding of why so many people died during the transition. Why the violence on both sides? I might need to read a nonfiction account of the Partition. If anyone has suggestions for a good one, please drop your advice in the comments.
140. Despised and Rejected by Rose Allatini - Woot! I finished a Persephone book, this month! Despised and Rejected is a very surprising title as it's about a gay man and a lesbian who decide maybe they can settle for each other. But, Dennis is actually in love with Alan and when Alan comes back into the picture, Antoinette's only chance at living with a man she loves may be thwarted for good. The story is also about conscientious objection to war as WWI begins and Dennis is a pacifist who refuses to join up. This is where the words "despised and rejected" come in. He hangs out with other conscientious objectors but at home and in public, he is constantly faced with people who think he's a coward. As each conscientious objector pleads his case, we find out how the British government treated them. I think the fact that Dennis is terrified of telling anyone he's gay because he would be despised and rejected gives the title a double meaning. Antoinette, however, is unfazed by her own desires and the implication is that lesbians were simply overlooked rather than despised. While Despised and Rejected wasn't a favorite Persephone, I think it would make a good discussion book because there's a lot to talk about, including why the book was banned and not printed again until the 1980s.
141. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk & Robot #1) - I've heard so many gushy reviews of this book that I've wanted to read it for years and finally managed to tuck a copy into one of my stress purchases. Dex is a monk on a moon known as Panga, where 200 years have passed since they made the decision to stop being a world built on oil and instead take things in a natural direction. Because of that, their world is run on solar energy. Even in the city, there are gardens on rooftops. Everything is beautiful. But, Dex isn't happy so they become a tea merchant. And, then they tire of that, as well, and decide to seek out a monastery from the time before things changed. On their first day driving their tea cart toward the woods, a robot emerges and the book becomes very philosophical in a tender and heart-warming way. I could not put it any better than Jack Edwards (apparently an author) wrote at Goodreads:
"what was i made for" by billie eilish in book form.
this book felt like a little kiss on the forehead from someone telling you everything is going to be okay.
142. The Copper Treasure by Melvin Burgess (ebook/Hoopla) - I was paging through Hoopla, one day, and decided to see if there were any more books by author Melvin Burgess, whose children's book Count I read, earlier this year. There were several but the only one that appealed to me was The Copper Treasure, the story of three boys who mudlark along the Thames for things to sell — coal, rope, anything of value. It's the Victorian age and two of them are orphans living in a half-sunken barge; the other has a large family that needs his help feeding all of the many children. When a large roll of copper falls into the river, one of the boys comes up with a way to retrieve it so they can get enough money to buy their way onto a ship in the hopes of eventually becoming sailors and earning their keep. TW for a child death in this story. A good adventure that really places you on the scene beautifully. I like Melvin Burgess's writing.
Well. Not a bad month. I read only 3 books that I've owned for more than a year, but I'm happy that one of them met a goal: to read one Persephone title per month. There were no books that I actively disliked and some that I found very surprising. I think if I had to choose one title that really stood out as a favorite, it would be Hurricane Girl by Marcy Dermansky. It had the kind of consistency of voice that you either love or hate because it's easy to get tired of a person who is acting in a way you dislike or find unnerving but I liked both the consistency of that characterization (of the main character/narrator), the creepiness (parts were terrifying), and the uniqueness of voice. I really want to read more by Dermansky.
The Thich Nhat Hanh and Jeanne Griggs' poetry were well-timed reads but not deliberately. Thich Nhat Hanh is always helpful, calming, soothing. Poetry of any kind (if it's accessible) is also a balm. And, I enjoyed peeking into a lifestyle that — if it were possible to go back in time — I might have chosen. I particularly liked descriptions of the old buildings with secret passages and rooms. Fun.
Ghost Town and Look Both Ways were my least favorites and yet I was never tempted to abandon either so I wouldn't call them bad books. I just couldn't relate to Look Both Ways (sometimes not a problem but the distance from my own experience felt vast, in this case) and Ghost Town had an interesting touch of magical realism but the fact that I had no idea when it took place was annoying.
Everything else was great. While I didn't make any attempt to join in on Nonfiction November because I generally have at least one nonfiction title with a bookmark in it (usually, not always), I did manage to read 3 nonfiction titles: No Mud, No Lotus, Repairing the Heartbreak of Pet Loss Grief, and On Hitler's Mountain. All were excellent and I highly recommend them.
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