I enjoy trippy, alternate-universe texts, and I was looking forward to my library book club discussing Dark Matter for our February meeting. I had heard good things about this novel, and I wanted to see how it would play out. Jason Dessen is a professor at a community college living in Chicago. He goes out to celebrate his friend’s winning a prestigious award—one he had wanted to win in the years before he met his wife, got her pregnant, and then raised their child—and is […]
9: Braving the Wilderness
I’ve read two of Brené Brown’s books, and I was intrigued by the premise of this book. She hinted previously at writing more explicitly about spirituality, and I wanted to hear her thoughts specifically on faith and community. This book surprised me and challenged me in ways I did not expect, and it’s going to sit with me throughout the next few years of this challenging and exhausting presidency. Brown starts, as she often does, with a pivotal moment in her life that challenged her […]
8: Turtles All the Way Down
It’s well-documented that I am neither a Rainbow Roweller nor a John Greener. I typically don’t find the earnest-hipster-loner-pop culture throwback to be all that appealing of a trope, which explains where some of my dislike originates. I had no intention of checking out Turtles All the Way Down, until I heard a Fresh Air interview that Terry Gross conducted with Green. And it was compelling. I had no idea he had OCD, and hearing him discuss the writing process and applying it to Aza […]
7: The Kalahari Typing School for Men
I’ve so been enjoying my foray into the Mma Ramotswe books, especially since I have never done a re-read with the series, or even finished reading the series. This is going to be a great reading year, I can tell. As always, there is a specific formula to the series, but Alexander McCall Smith knows how to balance the familiar and surprising all at once. And that’s perfectly fine by me. With The Kalahari Typing School for Men, we find out more about Mma Makutsi. […]
6: Morality for Beautiful Girls
Alexander McCall Smith addresses pertinent issues that face people around the world, and he does so in a way that is both funny and tender, so that you don’t feel too raw at once. This time, he looks at depression. And while his solution may not ultimately be practical—after all, we can’t all just pack up our loved ones to an orphanage for a few weeks for treatment!—he does examine the mindset that many of us have when it comes to mental illness. This book […]
5: Tears of the Giraffe
Two books into the Mma Ramotswe books, and I’m just as much in love. Not all of the books follow the exact same pattern (large overarching mystery and several smaller mysteries), but that’s part of what makes them so enjoyable. Smith knows a winning formula when he sees one, but he also knows how to provide a little variation when necessary. And that brings me to Tears of the Giraffe, which I have not re-read ever. Mma Ramotswe is trying to build a sturdy client […]
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