Review: The Butterfly Season: What 64 Butterflies Taught Me About Nature's Great Mysteries and the Meaning of Life

The Butterfly Season: What 64 Butterflies Taught Me About Nature's Great Mysteries and the Meaning of Life by Lea Korsgaard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This narrative non-fiction book is about the author, Lea Korsgaard who undertakes an ambitious project to see all the butterfly species in her country of Denmark in one season. She gets help from scientists and a few others who know where you can find which specific butterfly and when. She maps it all out and goes out and seeks to find them, only counting it done when she can take a photograph. There's a website she uses to confirm her find.

Along the way we get information about her life, her kids, but I wouldn't say that the subtitle accurately describes the book. There is a little philosophizing and meandering, particularly with related butterfly subjects. Quite a bit of lingering with Vladamir Nabokov, who was a lepidopterist, or butterfly enthusiast. He even found a couple of new species of butterfly and has one named after himself. But “the meaning of life” and “nature’s great mysteries” is a bit of a stretch.

Unfortunately, I wasn't as interested in the book as I expected, but I did appreciate the line drawings of the butterflies at the end of chapters.


Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. However, I primarily read the book by listening to a published audiobook copy of the book.

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Review: The Butterfly Season: What 64 Butterflies Taught Me About Nature's Great Mysteries and the Meaning of Life

The Butterfly Season: What 64 Butterflies Taught Me About Nature's Great Mysteries and the Meaning of Life by Lea Korsgaard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This narrative non-fiction book is about the author, Lea Korsgaard who undertakes an ambitious project to see all the butterfly species in her country of Denmark in one season. She gets help from scientists and a few others who know where you can find which specific butterfly and when. She maps it all out and goes out and seeks to find them, only counting it done when she can take a photograph. There's a website she uses to confirm her find.

Along the way we get information about her life, her kids, but I wouldn't say that the subtitle accurately describes the book. There is a little philosophizing and meandering, particularly with related butterfly subjects. Quite a bit of lingering with Vladamir Nabokov, who was a lepidopterist, or butterfly enthusiast. He even found a couple of new species of butterfly and has one named after himself. But “the meaning of life” and “nature’s great mysteries” is a bit of a stretch.

Unfortunately, I wasn't as interested in the book as I expected, but I did appreciate the line drawings of the butterflies at the end of chapters.


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Review: The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World

The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World by Nathaniel Philbrick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book explained the history of the gold rush in California and the subsequent aftermath in an understandable way. It stated in Sutter’s Mill located in the Sierra Nevada mountains, finding gold that lead to a vein called the Mother Lode. Later another vein of silver was found in Nevada, the next state over and called the Comstock Lode. These two veins of minerals helped fund the United States, helped with the Civil War and spurred the building of the railroad to the west coast. And much more.

Each chapter introduced a specific part of the history, such as building the railroad, or the Chinese immigrants who came to help build the railroad, or how the native people living in California were decimated by this influx of people. This focus within the chapter helped to ground this history throughout the book without feeling scattered or disorganized.

Among the various facts learned, I did appreciate hearing about the various mining techniques used, especially the massive water cannons used that destroyed the mountains. I first heard about this at a rest stop along Interstate 80 there are information plaques and photos about this. One sign reads “there were 45 separate hydraulic mines operating within just a 1.5-mile radius of where this highway rest stop sits”. This type of mining was so destructive, it is astonishing the lengths they went to get that gold.

I listened to this book which was wonderfully narrated by Scott Brick.

Book rating: 4.5 stars

Thanks to Viking Penguin and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. Also thanks to Penguin Random House Publishers for an advance audiobook copy of the book.


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Review: Identity

Identity by Milan Kundera
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kundera is from the Czech Republic but he wrote this book in French, and I read an English translation. The main character, an aging woman, Chantal is starting menopause, getting hot flashes and realizes that "men don't turn to look at me anymore." Chantal asks herself is she still a sex object to men? She wants to be desired and seems to not be able to accept aging and not being desired by someone she doesn’t know. She likes the “male gaze”.

Jean-Marc wonders, well what about him, he looks at her? But he is someone she knows, they live together. The book is mostly about Jean-Marc trying to get Chantal to notice how he still looks at her, loves her, and doesn't that mean something?

Unsigned letters appear for Chantal that she finds strange, someone says he is watching her. She tries to figure out who. The POV switches between Chantal and Jean-Marc, with a bit of Chantal’s past mentioned, such as her ex-husband and their child who died. But the past is not lingered upon, only mentioned briefly. The book is not very long, and there is a bit of oddness to the book overall, felt a little surreal.

Book rating: 3.25 stars


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Review: Black and Blue

Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’ve been going through my shelves reading some of those sitting there for a long time. This is another one that I got likely shortly after it was released. I loved Quindlen's writing style in this book. I was drawn in despite the topic of domestic violence.

Francine is a nurse married young to an Italian who is a NY cop, a detective. He was sexy and dangerous, and violent to her. Beat her up until one day she finally had enough and left, with the help of a woman who runs an organization for battered women to escape.

Fran takes her beloved boy Robert who is only ten and seemed to have accepted the lies of everything is okay, despite all the injuries to his mother. They are relocated to Florida and start a new life on edge. Fran, now Beth, can’t tell anyone her truth.
I was drawn in by the writing style, mostly conversational. But it’s also one of those books that don’t challenge too much. Despite the topic I’m glad I finally read this one.

Book rating: 3.5 stars


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