Ending the year with poetry is one of my favorite ways to end the year. That this collection is filled with so many lines centered on reflection, moveEnding the year with poetry is one of my favorite ways to end the year. That this collection is filled with so many lines centered on reflection, movement, moons, truth, and water made it (a nice literary connection to the past year for me, yes! and) an apt pairing for reflections ahead of starting a new year and a new decade. I take no credit for choosing it; it chose me today. (Poetry magic strikes again!)
The sound of some of these poems! Such tangible music and memorable rhythm.
[Five stars for being exactly what I needed to read this New Year's Eve.] ...more
I bought this book for Matt for Christmas because the one Choose Your Own Adventure book I had as a kid was delightful and strange in all the right plI bought this book for Matt for Christmas because the one Choose Your Own Adventure book I had as a kid was delightful and strange in all the right places. But apparently (and I suppose as is to be expected), not all CYOA books are created equal.
This one is supposed to center on "mountain survival" and when it does, it's amusing and fun. But there's a central storyline about some kid tied up in an off-grid cabin by a grown man with a shotgun and a knife (say whaaaat?), and that isn't so much "mountain survival" as it is "Deliverance."
I'd be willing to forgive the creepy cabin pages IF one of them didn't end with [SPOILER IF YOU CARE] a kid being straigh-up bludgeoned to death with the butt of the Creepy Kidnapper's shotgun (Which: What the actual f*ck, everyone who had anything to do with this book?).
I'd honestly say this book is 100% not for kids, which is utterly ridiculous, seeing as how kids are supposed to be this book's target audience.
[Two stars for making people think about what they'd do if they miraculously survived a plane crash in the snowy mountains. Keep dreaming, kids!]...more
This is my very first introduction to Capote*, and I honestly think this might be one of the best introductions to any writer I likely should have reaThis is my very first introduction to Capote*, and I honestly think this might be one of the best introductions to any writer I likely should have read ages ago but just hadn't yet. (Thanks, Leah!)
The first short story in this trifecta of holiday-themed stories ("A Christmas Memory") is so beautiful it made me cry. It somehow reminded me of both of my grandmothers—who are two exceptionally different women—while also reminding me of all my favorite parts of the time I've spent in the South.
I'm going to be thinking about this line for a long time: "As for me, I could leave the world with today in my eyes."
*I of course knew Truman Capote existed, and was a well-known writer (I know the premise of In True Blood, vaguely), but...that's pretty much where my Capote knowledge began and ended before this book. I had no idea he was once besties with Harper Lee, wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's, and was apparently fired from The New Yorker for offending Robert Frost—a tidbit of random trivia that fills me with tangible delight.
[Five stars for a trifecta of pocket-sized stories I'm soon going to own, and that I'm looking forward to adding to my annual December (re-)reading list.] ...more
This book has some definite bright spots, but it was a slow burn for me, and had one of the most unsatisfying endings of any book (graphic or otherwisThis book has some definite bright spots, but it was a slow burn for me, and had one of the most unsatisfying endings of any book (graphic or otherwise) I've read in awhile. Which, hey, that's life.
I certainly don't need every book to have a delightfully happy ending; I was just surprised at the pacing, and that the decision was made editorially to include so much lead-in backstory for an ultimately swift and anticlimactic conclusion.
I saw another review that said it felt like the story cut-off mid-sentence, and that's it for me, exactly.
[Three stars for the honest, if still somewhat meandering, portrayal of conservative summer camp and how confusing (and yes, meandering ) it so often is becoming the person you're meant to be.]...more
Bananas, avocados, dates, figs, peaches, mangoes, cloves, cashews, carob, agave, the baobab tree (of life!): All reliant on bats for survival. And yetBananas, avocados, dates, figs, peaches, mangoes, cloves, cashews, carob, agave, the baobab tree (of life!): All reliant on bats for survival. And yet at the time this book was written (1988), bats were our most endangered land mammal.*
This little book filled to the brim with bat facts was written by one of the United States' foremost bat scientists, and was written expressly to combat people's (misplaced, unnecessary) fear of bats.
I dig how no-nonsense it is, and how earnest. Tuttle wants everyone to understand how beneficial bats are, how essential to so many ecosystems (from the water to the tallest canopies), and how easily and peacefully humans and bats can coexist.
There's even a section on how to construct your own bat house to attract and safely house bats on your property, + a section at the end called "A Beginner's Key to American Bats," both of which greatly appealed to the bat nerd in me.
It's a hopeful little book, even as Tuttle has seen first-hand how devastating humans can be to creatures they irrationally fear. I'll never forget Tuttle's description of men throwing sticks of dynamite into caves where bats were roosting, sleeping peacefully during winter months, not a harm or a danger to anyone.
That we as humans have tried to valiantly to decimate so many wild species that this earth needs to survive continues to be testament to our inability to be good stewards of the land we often occupy as if it were ours and no one else's.
That's the story with bats, just as it is with so many creatures on this planet: They're in trouble because of us. Because we won't leave them well enough alone.
"Even more important, we need bats whether we like them or not; their loss poses serious, potentially irreversible consequences to the environment that we all must share." -pg. 51
*The most recent data I could find on bats via the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists 24 bat species as "Critically Endangered" (facing imminent risk of extinction), 53 others as "Endangered," and 104 bat species as "Vulnerable" to extinction.
[Five stars for the hope we won't ruin everything before it's too late, and for humans like Tuttle who spend their lives fighting for species that aren't always so easy to love.]**
**For the record, I love bats. They're beautiful, and amazing, and whenever I swim at night, they skim and swoop and swim the surface of the water alongside me. ...more
This book had so! much potential. SO much potential. [It's the closest story I've been able to find to one of the books I'm writing (Look at me sayingThis book had so! much potential. SO much potential. [It's the closest story I've been able to find to one of the books I'm writing (Look at me saying that aloud like it doesn't terrify me!), and even then this story is wildly different than mine.]
It starts interestingly enough, and seems to be headed in a distinct direction, but the more I read, the more wandering and unfinished (and disorganized) it felt, to the point where it was almost too distracting to finish. There were also strange typos and inconsistencies in the latter half of the book I didn't find in the first half.
To me it felt like the first half of the book was heavily outlined and organized and the second half of the book was hastily finished (ahead of some sort of publication deadline, maybe?). I don't know. Had I been a beta reader for this story, I would have said it wasn't done yet, still needed a handful more ingredients and definitely more baking time.
[Two-point-five stars for oceans of potential.]...more
Parts of this book are stunningly beautiful, even as parts of it are horrifying to read. Even though this is a fictionalized account, these stories arParts of this book are stunningly beautiful, even as parts of it are horrifying to read. Even though this is a fictionalized account, these stories are real. These people are real. This crisis is real.
Books like these remind me of how lucky I am. Of how much of my life centers on the good fortune of being born where and when I was, to a family who could afford to put food on the table, who weren't living in a war-torn country, who didn't have to flee for their lives, or move across oceans for a better life. Books like these are a reminder that (unless your lineage is Indigenous) every single one of us did come from somewhere else. All of our families immigrated and emigrated, sometimes with nothing but hope driving them forward.
This graphic novel isn't perfect, but it's important, and to me, that matters more than pretty much everything else.
[Three stars for three privileged Caucasian men using that privilege to draw attention to the fact that no human is illegal + one star for memorable illustrations of a harrowing journey no human should have to make = four stars.]...more
I get the slice of summer story, and this book is beautifully drawn from start to finish, but I just...didn't love it.
I'm really not into "white saviI get the slice of summer story, and this book is beautifully drawn from start to finish, but I just...didn't love it.
I'm really not into "white savior" narratives, and even if that wasn't meant to be the crux of the story, that it's there at all felt so disappointing and unnecessary. I'm also really not into narratives centered around white women excelling at making everything about them. (Because this world has enough of that, and also: Yikes.)
I also didn't dig the nonchalant racist comments thrown out in this book about the local Indigenous population. It's one thing to include racism and racist comments if you're also going to point out that they (and the people who use them) are bullshit. But just using them to add "spice" to your story feels equal parts lazy and harmful.
I'm into stories about friendship and how tricky it is being a young girl navigating newfound truths. But that's where my appreciation of this book ends.
[Two stars for the art, especially the water parts.]...more
This is definitely one of the most interesting premises for a graphic novel I've yet seen, and while reading it I was simultaneously captivated + thinThis is definitely one of the most interesting premises for a graphic novel I've yet seen, and while reading it I was simultaneously captivated + thinking about all the different ways I would have drawn and written it, thinking about all the different stories various other authors would and could have told.
I think that's this book's weakness: It could have told a better, more tangible story. But I also don't think this book wanted to tell one story, tangible or otherwise. I also find it pretty telling (and disappointing) that the characters the author drew over and over again in and around the house, aside from a handful of Indigenous people, were (pretty clearly upper middle-class) White. Which: Blergh. See also: I'd really like the see the premise of this graphic novel in someone else's (non-Caucasian) hands.
Additional thoughts: The artwork is stunning in places, and quite clever. My favorite pages were the ones covered in ink and color and no humans whatsoever. I also enjoyed the idea of future humans examining watches, keys, and wallets as ancient artifacts of our time.
Thinking in layers is a gift, and a beautiful way to think, even when it feels altogether exhausting. I love standing in a patch of my favorite woods, or swimming a sliver of my favorite lake, and thinking about who (and what) else might have been standing there minutes, hours, or years prior to me occupying the space. I love thinking about what places looked like twenty, fifty, five-hundred years ago, but I can't say I've ever stopped to do it with a particular corner of a house. Though it's tangible and true to feel the history of certain buildings in certain places, and to consider them as having some sort of spirit or noticeable pulse of their own (I'm thinking of New Orleans, specifically, but there have certainly been other cities I've visited with buildings that have felt similarly alive).
All of that to say: I'll definitely be thinking about this book the the next time I step into an old building, and I'm grateful for that.
[Three stars for encouraging humans to think in vast, interconnected layers instead of linearly, and for the reminder that every inch of this world is more than the here and now.]...more
I'm just going to say flat out that this book isn't a mystery; it's a tragedy. And sure plenty of mysteries have elements of tragedy in them (isn't thI'm just going to say flat out that this book isn't a mystery; it's a tragedy. And sure plenty of mysteries have elements of tragedy in them (isn't that a large part of why we're so drawn to them?), but this is the first book I've maybe ever read from the "mystery/thriller" designation that, more than a puzzle to solve, read like a descent into the absurd(ly sad).
There was really only one twist in the story I didn't see coming, and yes, I knew [REDACTED] was a psycho the first time they walked into the narrative. But to me, the present-tense "Who dunnit?" aspect of this book was such a sliver of the true heart of this story.
There are parts of this book I didn't dig*—it's way too long, for one, and the story takes much too long unearthing itself from the muddled mess of introductions, suspect interviews, and related tangents. In that way this book would make a perfect premise for a season-long show. (Which is probably one of myriad reasons why it now is a TV series. Touché.)
There are also full pages of this book, alongside plenty of paragraphs and pieces of dialogue, that are utterly perfect. The last page of the introduction is one such example, and these two passages (from the last handful of pages of the book) are two of my favorites, mostly because (they're beautiful, yes! and also) growing up I was lucky enough to know summers like these; I was lucky enough to have my own patch of woods (we called ours "The Little Woods") to know like the back of my own sun-soaked hands:
"The summer came to life. It burst from gray to fierce blue and gold in the blink of an eye; the air pealed with grasshoppers and lawnmowers, swirled with branches and bees and dandelion seeds, it was soft and sweet as whipped cream, and over the wall the wood was calling us in the loudest of silent voices, it was shaking out all its best treasures to welcome us home. Summer tossed out a fountain of ivy tendrils, caught us straight under the breastbones and tugged; summer, redeemed and unfurling in front of us, a million years long."
"Jaime screamed, 'I'm gonna stay here forever!' and danced on the wall like a thing made of air, 'Forever and ever and ever!' And I just yelled, wild wordless whoops, and the wood caught our voices and tossed them outwards in great expanding ripples, wove them into the whirpool of leaves and the jink and bubble of the river and the rustling calling web of rabbits and beetles and robins and all the other denizens of our domain, into one long high paean."
I also understand why some readers would be upset about this book. There's a mystery within a mystery here, and the initial mystery is so captivating there's definitely a part of me that feels let down in not getting to be privy to the way French would have unravelled that story. (I'm herein trying to decide if that's lazy storytelling or brilliant storytelling. Fine lines, fine lines. I think French is an extremely talented writer; I just think there's something missing here, and I would have liked to see the way she would have revealed the truth inherent in that first mystery.)
Because to me, that first mystery is the real story: The loss of innocence, the loss of a tangible, forested refuge, the loss that comes from not knowing yourself well enough to see danger inside and around you, the loss of hope in a world perpetually broken by greed, malice, and "progress."
Ultimately, this book had me crying by the end of it, so homesick it made me feel for our Little Woods and for the many places of my childhood that won't—can't—ever again exist.
[Four stars for reminding me of where I came from and where I'm never going, and for the shimmer of sunlight through the trees that is the reminder of how much I can still reach in my memories, and for Cassie. A million stars, really, for Cassie.]
*Mostly unintentional pun, except not really. Unreliable narrators are so unreliable. ...more
I feel like most kids I know want stories with a bit more narrative and content, but this book is still probably delightful when read aloud to (littleI feel like most kids I know want stories with a bit more narrative and content, but this book is still probably delightful when read aloud to (little) kids.
[Three stars for the image of narwhals and jellyfish day-dreaming about waffles. Mmm, waffles.] ...more
One-sentence review: I wanted this book to be more than it is.
Parts of this book are filled with cleverly drawn insights. (Pun intended.) But parts ofOne-sentence review: I wanted this book to be more than it is.
Parts of this book are filled with cleverly drawn insights. (Pun intended.) But parts of this book struck the wrong chord with me, too.
The story itself felt unfinished, and I think more than anything I wish it had been edited and organized differently. As it stands, the commute-style organization was more distracting to me than compelling, and by the end of the book I felt like Williams' story was really just beginning.
[Three stars for difficult stories honestly told, and (endless stars) for the female friendships that have saved so many of us.]...more
This book is a supremely fictional account of a true story of a father and daughter found living (happily and safely) in Forest Park (the massive and This book is a supremely fictional account of a true story of a father and daughter found living (happily and safely) in Forest Park (the massive and beautiful city park I lived blocks away from in Portland, and where Matt and I had our first date: a seven-hour hike until we lost the light) back in 2003.
The truth of the story centers around the fact that they were living in the woods with the tiniest of ecological footprints; so tiny, in fact, they went undetected there for years. Once found, they were removed from the park and told they had to assimilate into modern society in a more "acceptable" manner. They did that for a handful of days before disappearing again. No one has seen or heard from either one of them since.
The movie (Leave No Trace) is worth watching for myriad reasons, not the least of which being it was written and directed by two women, is stunning cinematically, and better than the book in a 1,000 ways, not the least of which being it's far less judgmental and malcontent than the book is, and doesn't assume ill-will the way the (male) author of the this fictionalized story does.
The film is also so much proof that Thomasin McKenzie (who plays the daughter) is one of the best acting talents of her generation.
What I love most about this story (either in book or movie form) is how much it made me (re-)think about what we as a society have deemed "acceptable" vs. "unacceptable" and how much subjective, capitalist nonsense that really is in so many places.
Two of my favorite passages from early pages of the book (the entire book is told from the POV of the daughter):
"If a paragraph is a thought, a complete thought, then a sentence is one piece of a thought. Like in addition where one number plus another number equals a bigger number. If you wrote down subtraction you would start with a thought and take enough away that is was no longer complete. You might write backward, or nothing at all. You wouldn't even think or breathe. A comma, that is a place you breathe, or think, which is how breathing and thinking are the same. They collect, or are places to collect."
"I do not collect things since collections draw attention. It is possible to collect things in your mind or to gather them and one way to do this is to write them."
[Two-point-five stars for the book, rounded up to three because I would give the movie five(hundred) stars.]...more
This book is such a tangible piece of my childhood. It was published the January after I was born, and was the first (and I think only) Choose Your OwThis book is such a tangible piece of my childhood. It was published the January after I was born, and was the first (and I think only) Choose Your Own Adventure book I ever owned. I must have read this book 100 times in elementary school. At least.
This book, like seemingly all CYOA books, is also a total acid trip in places, which didn't bother me as a kid when I first read it and only made me laugh harder re-reading it as an adult.
CYOA books are legion (and legend in some book nerderrific circles, yes?), but in my utterly biased opinion this one is the best one. It's also one of the oldest.
I adored the illustrations as a child, and I still adore them now because they're wonderful. They're also super strange, because I think it's a rule that all CYOA books have to be bizarre, not only in the choices you get to make, but in the creatures you meet and adventures you take along the way.
Want to talk to giant rats, endlessly lose (and find) your dog every other page, befriend a ghost, and also maybe float away on a sunbeam? This book has you covered.
[Five stars for nostalgia, for indecisive whimsy, and for the original and best haunted house of my childhood.]...more
I really wanted to love this book, but from the start it didn't read as adult fantasy so much as it read like YA/MG fantasy. (For the record, I love YI really wanted to love this book, but from the start it didn't read as adult fantasy so much as it read like YA/MG fantasy. (For the record, I love YA/MG fantasy.) The biggest problem (for me) was that this book didn't grab me the way I expected it would. I kept waiting, and it kept not happening. The story felt rushed in all the wrong places and too explanatory in all the wrong places, to a supremely distracting extent.
Ultimately, I wanted a much richer, deeper story, especially considering this wasn't supposed to be shelved as YA/MG. C'est la vie and all that.
[Two stars for a beautifully Art Deco-inspired cover + the Mayan myth retelling of it all.] ...more
THIS SERIES HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL AND IT SQUANDERED IT AND I'M JUST BUMMED. Mehhhhhhhhhhhh.
This book (the last in this series, thank the grave ghosts)THIS SERIES HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL AND IT SQUANDERED IT AND I'M JUST BUMMED. Mehhhhhhhhhhhh.
This book (the last in this series, thank the grave ghosts) wasn't nearly as terrible as the third book of the series, but it still...wasn't good.
Harper as a protagonist and narrator could have been brilliant. But instead of focusing more on her amusing and marketable supernatural gifts, and the myriad ways those gifts could be used, Harris got caught up in the brother-not-brother romance + strange-family-history of things, which was maybe what she entirely intended from the beginning. These are her stories, after all.
I don't begrudge any author their fictional meanderings, but these particular meanderings felt so boring and unnecessary to me, especially considering how interesting and entertaining I found book one of this series.
Anyway! This series is over, and we finished it, and now we'll never have to read these books again. #LibraryDonationsAhoy*
[Two stars for Harper and Tolliver and their bizarre happily ever after.]
*Don't worry; we also donate books we love to the library. ...more
Kerri Anne
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Books:
2019
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