Book Brief: Happiness for Beginners

Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

cute story, somewhat. Not my usual fare, but it was okay. Completely predicable, but that didn't matter so much in the end.

Review 30: The Ash Family

The Ash Family by Molly Dektar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

How much would you sacrifice for what you believed in?

Berie knew college wasn't for her, but her mother and ex-boyfriend thought she needed to go. At the airport, after Berie's mother drops her off, she walks away, spends her last dollar taking a bus leaving. Berie doesn't know what she wants or where to go, only that she wants to help heal the dying environment. It is fate that Bay chose her to go with him, to live with the Ash Family. To live for the new earth that will come. When Berie gets into Bay's car she goes with nothing, her clothes and suitcases left on the bus, and no one knows where in the Appalachian woods they end up.

I wanted to like this book, well, I did, somewhat, but I didn't love it. Berie is told, like all newcomers, you can stay for three days or the rest of your life. Berie is renamed Harmony. Everyone in the Ash Family leaves their fake-world names behind.

The Ash Family is like a cult, but instead of religion you have fervent belief in the dying earth and desire to save it for humans; to become something else, a hive, interconnected. The leader Dice says he doesn't make the rules, and you don't have to do anything you don't want to, but people do what he says. They even believe Dice, the father, leader, can make miracles such as changing the weather. Like all cults there are strict rules, and usually they don't apply to Dice, such as not using fake-world soap and infrequent washings.

Dice picks little bits about the world that doesn't work, that is so out of whack with nature, that it is easy to believe him. The family is learning a new way to live with the earth, and it looks very similar to how we lived in the past, with farming and planting on small scales, to sustain the 20-odd people.

Harmony easily lets the three days go by, so she assumes that she will stay the rest of her life. But throughout the book she questions staying, or leaving, and alternates towards being certain this is the place for her. It is confusing. Berie/Harmony is a confusing character. We know she cares about the environment, was a vegetarian upon arrival, yet eats a slice of meat the first time it is offered to her without even saying anything. She is not in harmony, she is uncertain about everything. And there is part of the problem with the book. We want to like the narrator but I didn't. I couldn't understand her motives, why she would stay or want to go. And the ending was unresolved, not a strong ending at all.

Overall the book is okay, but ultimately disappointing to me. Did Berie learn, grow, become her own person? I'm not sure.


Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 29: The Parade

The Parade by Dave Eggers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I like Dave Eggers books. Each one I've read has stuck with me and I expect this short book will as well. It's perhaps a parable. I didn't know the premise of the story, I just knew it was Eggers and read the book.

It starts with two men meeting for the first time in a foreign country, no passports and no names, for safety concerns. It sounded to me like a set-up for CIA or co-ops type of operation, but it turns out they are about to pave a road on a war-torn country that just ended decades of civil war. This new road is bridging the North and South to a new prosperity, to the new century.

The two men are numbers, Four is the experienced and regimented man, wanting to get the job done quickly and get out. Nine is the adventurous, his first time doing this type of job. He has his hair cut in a "ridiculous" way in which it is always falling into his face and having to be brushed aside. They could not be more different.

The place is unnamed and no one has a real name. But the story has a purpose. At times it can be laughable at these two and their differences and then it gets serious.

I read this in a day. It is short, but it still surprised me. And happily Eggers hasn't disappointed me yet. I will definitely read more of his works, and there are several I have not yet read.


Previously read Dave Eggers books:
What is the What (fiction) - August.2008
Zeitoun (non-fiction) - January.2017

Review 28: The Devoted

The Devoted by Blair Hurley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While overall I enjoyed this book, there were some problems with it as well. A major one being that I constantly felt like I didn't know the main character. Perhaps that was the point, as Nicole did not know herself, or at least her essence and what was driving her.

Nicole grew up in Boston in a very Catholic household, and at first desired to be a nun. As she grew older she read and studied Buddhism and at 17 ran away on a quest to Colorado to seek out the second leader under the Dalai Lama. Nicole didn't run away alone, she went with her boyfriend Jules and another friend. They left with barely a word to the family.

Part of this book is discovering what happened during the time Nicole was gone, away from the family. Another part of the book is about Nicole trying to leave her life with her Zen Master. Nicole had become too attached, or was he, as the master kept demanding the student-teacher relationship was not to be broken. And can Nicole define her life other than being a teenage runaway?

Nicole's family meanwhile hardly accepts her conversion to Buddhism and despite her running away and over a decade or more of practicing Buddhism, they are still trying to reign her into the Catholic church. And one wonders if Nicole may since she takes up with a guy, also a Catholic from Boston.

As this summary is stating, religion plays a very important part of this book. The fall from disgrace with the scandals in the Catholic faith is covered, as well as digressions with Buddhism, and women's roles, acceptance. Yet these aspects fall short, and if they dove deeper it would have lent for a more powerful book.

Book rating: 3.75 stars

Review 27: The Sun Is a Compass

The Sun Is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds by Caroline Van Hemert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a well written book. The imagery is vital in an adventure book like this. Caroline and her husband Pat decide to traverse across mountains, rivers, oceans and glaciers using their own muscles. They hike, row or paddle into the arctic and back.

For me this is what arm chair travel is about. While I would love to be out in the wild, not that far north. It's way too cold and or rainy, very wet. Their time on the river with mosquitoes so thick you can't even eat, ummm, no thank you.

Caroline Van Hemert grew up in Alaska so it's not odd for her to take this long wilderness adventure in her own backyard. She is a biologist, or more accurately an ornithologist. One aspect I loved in this book is her descriptions of the birds they see and hear. It even made me more aware of the birds that are around me in my daily life.

It's crazy what humans will put themselves through. For these two it was worth the physical sacrifice and danger, and certainly won't be their last trip into the wild. This was an amazing adventure, and I enjoyed reading about it.


Thanks to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 26: The Bill McKibben Reader: Pieces from an Active Life

The Bill McKibben Reader: Pieces from an Active Life by Bill McKibben
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I first picked up this book the thought was to read a few of the essays here and there, but not to read the entire book. Yet as I got immersed in the essays I realized that I would indeed read the entirety.

Like most books that collect pieces through the years some are better than others. On the whole these are interesting and good pieces. All were magazine articles previously published roughly during the 1990's and early 2000's, with the book being published in 2008. There is a good introduction piece an the essays are grouped together thematically. Add to this an index and it is the way a good book of essays should be published.

As an environmental writer you'd expect the work to be focused there, but this isn't entirely the case. At times McKibben writes about his spiritual side, his work with the church. Other times about himself personally. The last section and pieces are more personal, dealing with his father dying and his own year of intense physical training. Often there is an insert of a line or two about climate change, but again, not always. And while the essays are at times aged, they still hold up to a current reading. And a few are startling for the differences the years have brought in change.


Read: Feb.07-April.09 2019


Previously Read Bill McKibben books:

• The End of Nature  (NonFiction)
•  (5 stars)   Jan-Feb.2019 
• Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance (Fiction) 
• (4 stars)  January.2019

Bill McKibben books read later:

• Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? (NonFiction)
•  (3 stars)   May.2019 

Review 25: The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books

The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to Build the World's Greatest Library by Edward Wilson-Lee
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

The book was frustrating at times. It meandered and wasn't focused enough. In the places where the focus was retained, such as on Hernando Colón and his some of his projects, the book was fascinating. But it wandered, and at times seemingly for no reason, although occasionally it did add useful context to the biography.
Hernando Colón was the infamous Christopher Columbus's younger son. He also wrote a biography of his father which has been the vital book that created the legacy of Columbus. Yet Hernando's life and projects were quite intriguing: developed a classification system for his huge collection of books and images, his map making, and the collecting of detailed statistics about the towns and cities found throughout Spain. Hernando traveled quite extensively, beginning with being with his father on one of the voyages to the New World.

When he was older everywhere he went he bought books. Once he got going he went on such a book buying spree that he purchased 700 books in month, then 200 in 3 days, then over the next month bought around 1,000. Oh the joy of buying books!

Hernando would have loved Goodreads. He would have loved the modern library classification systems. He would have loved the internet. One of his goals seemed to be the accumulation of all knowledge and to have it organized in a searchable manner.

The problem with the book was it was too broad. I also felt that if I was more seeped in the history of the late 1400's, early 1500's I would have a better time with the book, particularly in the beginning chapters. Despite this, I'm happy to have read this book.

Book rating: 3.5 stars


Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 24: The Lost Letters of William Woolf

The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was mixed for me. One aspect it felt cozy and cute, and I wondered how that could be when it's about a couple who is unsure their marriage should continue. We mostly get his view point, William Woolf, and he isn't sure what he truly wants. Not only does he reminisce about the beginning of his relationship with his wife Claire, but also there's this mysterious woman.

William works at the Dead Letters Depot and solving postal mysteries is his job. Yet he also attributes mystical or otherworldly aspects to some, including a series of letters he reads from a woman naming herself Winter.

Winter is the mystery and perhaps they are destined to be together. But what about his solid love for Claire. Should he try to resolve what he has already?

We also get a little from Claire and her view, and hints that her childhood wasn't ideal and has held her back in many ways, including wanting a child. Claire seems unsure about continuing her marriage with William as well.

We have this back and forth through nearly the entire book. And at times I found it frustrating, was this the entire book? That isn't cozy and sweet! Yet the book had that appeal, and perhaps can attribute it to the Britishness (if that's a word) of the book. The weather, tea and the pub. It is England! There's the brief holiday to Ireland as well.

This is a love story, but one on the rocks. Do they save their marriage? Does William find Winter? These are the questions you can only find out in reading the book, No Spoilers! And those are the questions that kept me reading.


Thanks to Harlequin-Graydon House and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 23: Gateway to Paradise: Stories

Gateway to Paradise: Stories by Matthew Vollmer
My rating: not rated

This collection of stories was not for me. I read half of them and couldn't continue knowing the others were not going to be something I could get into.

How to categorize the stories? I put them into my weird area. They aren't all the same type, as may be true for other short story collections. The first one set the stage for me, a dentist who keeps seeing his dead wife, but takes it further than that, way further. Too odd.

The next story was better for me, and if they were along those same lines perhaps I could have stuck with it. But when the back of the book write up said something that about one story that likely is bestiality with a woman and dog, nope. no. I'm done.

I guess these are considered dark? If so, then I don't like dark.