Review 130: The Book That Matters Most

The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Going into this book I actually didn’t expect much, and didn’t know what the book might be about either. In the end, I enjoyed it.

There are two story lines, one of a mom mourning a recently ruined marriage, her husband left for a past girlfriend. The other is of the daughter, off in Paris ruining herself with drugs and illicit love affairs. She allows herself to be literally a kept woman in an upstairs apartment, much like the attic. The older man gives her everything and what keeps her is really the drugs. She thinks she’s in love, but gets bored or something, then after striking up other relations with boys her age she gets repulsed by the man. Eventually she leaves, but nearly overdoses and luckily the boy had called authorities. She detoxes in the hospital then actually does quit the drugs once clean, ends up at a bookshop.

The main thrust for the mother is the new book club she joined. Her best friend, a librarian, runs the group and finally she has time and wants to meet other people, be involved. And she has her own affair, but this time with a young man, he started it. The book club chose the books that mattered most to them for each month read, rotating people, which had been chosen on the December meeting.

There is loss, of mother, of the marriage, of her daughter a little, but that becomes resolved. Yet it isn’t too sad. The ending wraps up neatly, too neatly actually.

I received a free copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own.

March 18, 2020 – Started Reading

March 18, 2020 – Shelved as: own-read

March 18, 2020 –

page 28

 7.82%

March 19, 2020 –

page 100

 27.93%

March 20, 2020 –

page 194

 54.19%

March 21, 2020 –

page 242

 67.6%

March 21, 2020 – Finished Reading

Review 129: The Adventurer's Son

The Adventurer's Son by Roman Dial
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a book that you want to keep reading to find out what happens. The first half of the book describes the author's life, what he was like as a teenager, then meeting his wife. Roman Dial is an extreme adventure seeker and a biologist. Their first child is a boy, Cody Roman Dial, who is taken along crazy wild adventure trips with his Dad at a very young age. He grows up with the adventure and biology, so when he becomes a young adult he is well versed in wilderness adventures.

On an extended solo trip through South America Cody, who started going by Roman to take after his Dad as a young child, he ends up in Costa Rico. At this point Cody Roman didn't have a cell phone, never took to social media like facebook and didn't have a GPS unit. However he did keep in touch with his family with frequent emails. So when two weeks go by without hearing from Cody they know something is wrong.

The second half of the book is about trying to find Cody and what happened.
A good read.

March 12, 2020 – Started Reading

March 13, 2020 –

page 38

 10.33% "starting out well, the author is a thrill seeker climbing mountains, glaciers, and other wild outdoor adventures."

March 16, 2020 –

page 125

 33.97%

March 18, 2020 –

page 226

 61.41%

March 19, 2020 –

page 261

 70.92% "surprisingly working from home means less listening time. going slower on this book than I'd like, which is a captivating read."

March 20, 2020 –

page 271

 73.64%

March 21, 2020 –

page 319

 86.68%

March 23, 2020 – Finished Reading

Review 128: The Wildlands

The Wildlands by Abby Geni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The book opens with six-year-old Cora awakened to their family hurriedly gathering belongings and rushing to the basement shelter. A tornado is about to hit. This tornado changes their lives entirely. Already Motherless, the storm took their father, the house, the farm and all their animals, everything. All that was left is the four siblings. Months later the only boy, Tucker leaves. Three years later the eldest, Darlene is trying to keep the family housed, fed, clothes and going to school, and for herself, just trying to get by. The book is about what happens when Tucker returns.

The story is told mainly from Cora’s point of view, but also switches to Darlene. There is a lot of simplicity as we are given mostly a nine-year-old’s view of the world. Cora missed her brother more than anyone imagined so when he teaches her his point of view, Cora accepts it easily.

I was pulled into the story very easily. The writing is decent. The story line is somewhat sad, and highly traumatic for the characters! I worried for Cora, for when she would be older, or when things were returned to normal for her. What would happen to Tucker? Could he return to the family to be a good role model?

What I’d like to know is why do environmentalists or animal lovers become portrayed as off their rocker in most books? Why can’t they be heroes instead of crazy extremists? Maybe I’m just not reading the right books.


I received a free copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own.

Review 127: The Quarry Wood

The Quarry Wood by Nan Shepherd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a Scottish book, written by a Scotswoman nearly 100 years ago. The story was at times difficult in reading due to the Scottish Brogue in the dialogue. The rest of the passages were plain enough English to read, but the conversations were tricky. There was a glossary provided at the back of the book, but not all of the words were listed. Many words were contractions, so as to get the feel of the speakers, yet it was at times nearly indecipherable. Generally though it did not pose too big of a problem, as it can be figured out what was being said, more or less.

The story line isn’t all that unique. Here we have a young woman from a poor family that is smart and goes on in her education. Of course she has difficulty with that, as it wasn’t done very much during this time.

Our heroine, Martha struggles. First she feels as an outsider due to her poverty. At home she is chided for being above the rest of her family. Martha manages to continue, having a good friend, who happens to be married. They help her navigate the intellectual world. About the time Martha gets her teaching degree she realizes she’s in love with her best friend’s husband, Luke. Then the misery starts. Fortunately life has a way of bringing her more work than one should be able to manage. For Martha caring for her ill aunt, teaching the wee ones, and taking care of her mother’s house left her little time to ruminate about Luke.

One aspect makes me wonder, Martha’s mother liked to take in young babies, barins. I didn’t understand in the beginning, but near the end it made clear that these barins that were took in were from unwed mothers.

I was interested in a Scottish story, particularly from a while back. Here is a well written book that fits that, if you can manage with the accented words. This book is the first in a series. Don’t think I’ll read all four, but I may try the last, The Living Mountain.



Oh, and final note: I heard that the story was based on the author's own story, of course fictionalized.

Review 126: Hidden Valley Road

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book held interest for me in that there is some mental illness in my family. I’ve always understood that genetics played the biggest part of this, with some aspects of nurture, or environment. With this book, there is two aspects, one being a family of twelve children, where half develop mental illness, schizophrenia. The other aspect of the book is the history of how the medical field has approached this illness, with treatments and research in combating the illness.

The weaving of these two facets together into the story was well done, a good strategy. Overall the book is linear, but not entirely. We’d go through some years, then backtrack, then go forward, and backtrack again. For example, several times a drug for treatment was named, Thorazine, then in a later chapter we find out how this drug was developed. This overall jumping around of the timeline, particularly in the first parts of the book made it somewhat confusing at times. If it could have remained strictly linear I believe the book would have flowed better.

The book is highly readable; the language doesn’t dip into medical jargon or language that is incomprehensible. It is hard not to feel empathy for this family, with not only dealing with way too many children, but to have so many become mentally ill. And the experiences the younger children went through became that much more traumatic as less parental time would be devoted to them. There were so many different problems, issues, traumas for the younger children growing up, that in itself may cause mental illness.

Perhaps one of the most promising outcomes, particularly in research is in how treatment has improved in recent years. There is a focus on prevention and early intervention in ways that was not possible when this family was growing. One research in particular is promising is the discovery of choline during pregnancy may likely have an effect on a developing fetus; where lack of choline makes for a higher incidence of developing schizophrenia. A long term study is underway, with results likely to be in the forthcoming years. The best cure is one that stops the illness before it starts.


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

Review 125: Recollections of My Nonexistence: A Memoir

Recollections of My Nonexistence: A Memoir by Rebecca Solnit
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Placing on partial read status for now. Haven't touched this book since: March 16, 2020 at page 90 (35.16%).

The writing is spectacular. I will return to this title once the world calms down a little. I just couldn't continue as for me some of the subject matter was difficult, and with the world also causing a lot of stress, I couldn't do both. I can't turn off the pandemic, but I could pause on this book for a while.

I do recommend this book.

Solnit's autobiography (so far) is exploring the man-woman dynamics back while she was growing up into an adult. It starts as she is on her own in her teens, living in San Francisco. The way men assume so much, especially sexually, definitely not right. It brought up so many emotions and memories of things that happened to me, that happened to my friends, somewhat like her stories.

Review 124: Winnie-the-Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A re-read. A comfort read. (This lastest read was from and audio book, that I got free from Audible.) I love these stories. These stories are part of my first memories as a very young person. ❤️❤️

Perhaps I will write more about these books soon.

Note: I lost my original books, the set of three from when I was a wee one. It broke my heart! I sometimes think about buying another copy, just like the ones I had before....

Review 123: The Fortress of Solitude

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I picked this book up due to the title…seemed appropriate for the times we are living through right now with social distancing, some people are holed up in solitude in their homes. I’m lucky to have another human with me.

The title of this book comes from the comic books, Superman and his Fortress. Comics are one of the underlying themes, as a young boy our main character Dylan Ebdus connects with other young neighbor boys with comics. When Dylan is slightly older he comes across a real life super-hero, who also is homeless and a drunk. He gives Dylan the ring that allowed him to fly as Aeroman.

Music is another theme throughout the book, with Dylan’s best friend Mingus Rude whose dad was a singer, Barrett Rude Junior. Music haunts Dylan when the song by Wild Cherry came out Play that funky music (white boy) came out. The backdrop is Dean Street, in Brooklyn that Ebdus is one of very few white families in the neighborhood. Being thrown into public school he was one of two or three white kids in each school he attended. Yes race is an important theme here too, how could it not. Later when Dylan is an adult he is a music critic.

There were a few quirks to the book, like the characters names were nearly always written out in full, each time. The separation from reality is where I always have difficulty with books. Without going into deep analysis of the book, why it was necessary, I’d like to say instead that it was not, that the book would be better without. Yet it did give the story momentum, occasional purpose, and the book title does call out to the superhero genre.

The book is long, yes overly long for me. I was relieved to finish reading it. There are good parts within, enough that it keep me going. Most of the book is taken with Dylan growing up, and when he became an adult it felt like the book was slipping, not quite as interesting. The final portion does help wrap up the story, closes a few loops. In the end, I'm just happy it's done and over.

READING PROGRESS

March 22, 2020 – Started Reading

March 23, 2020 – 

page 8

 

 1.57% "barely started. this book has been sitting around my bookshelves since 2004 and picked it up, finally, since the title seemed appropriate for the current situation right now. no idea what I'm getting into, other than it's a long book."

March 25, 2020 – 

page 54

 

 10.57%

March 27, 2020 – 

page 76

 

 14.87%

March 28, 2020 – 

page 96

 

 18.79%

March 30, 2020 – 

page 183

 

 35.81%

March 31, 2020 – 

page 197

 

 38.55%

April 1, 2020 – 

page 233

 

 45.6%

April 2, 2020 – 

page 275

 

 53.82%

April 3, 2020 – 

page 300

 

 58.71%

April 5, 2020 – 

page 321

 

 62.82%

April 6, 2020 – 

page 349

 

 68.3%

April 7, 2020 – 

page 366

 

 71.62% "now our main character is an adult, and my enjoyment of the book is lessening."

April 8, 2020 – 

page 393

 

 76.91%

April 9, 2020 – 

page 406

 

 79.45%

April 12, 2020 – 

page 426

 

 83.37%

April 13, 2020 – Finished Reading

Review 122: The Death of the Banker

The Death of the Banker: The Decline and Fall of the Great Financial Dynasties and the Triumph of the Small Investor by Ron Chernow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Listened to this book and my mind was wavering in and out. It was difficult to concentrate on this material. Perhaps not a great pick for the current situation going on in the world right now. To be more fair to the book I should revisit this at another time.

The part I particularly enjoyed was about Aby Warbug, who was allowed funds to purchase any book he was interested in, as long as he kept out of the family business. Well, he took that and ran with it purchasing around 60,000 books and many rare items. Clearly he wasn't interested in the family business of finance and banking.