Review 646: 89 Words

89 Words followed by Prague, A Disappearing Poem by Milan Kundera
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

This is an audiobook that should be listened to twice through. It is somewhat dense for audio listening, and may do better reading the words. However, that was the copy that I had and did not have the opportunity to listen through twice. The work is short enough that it can be read entirely in one day.

The introduction gives a very brief biography of Milan Kundera. The second section is the essay 89 Words. These are the words Kundera found important or significant, and often appear in his novels.
The last section is the essay/poem called: Prague, A Disappearing Poem. It does start out like poetry but ends up more similar to an essay. It discusses Prague and some of its history.

It was said this is a good introduction to Kundera’s works. I have read three of his books, although it was quite some time ago, they are not fresh in my memory. However, I believe one would do better having familiarity with Kundera’s novels. Often he refers to characters and situations located in his books and it would help to be acquainted with those.

Kundera speaks often about the words in his translations. Sometimes the translator gives a different word or phrase than what Kundera was trying to get across in his writings. Also, how some translations were done from another translation, and meaning there got distorted at times. Certainly this can be a problem with all translations.



Thanks to HarperAudio Adult, William Morrow and NetGalley for an advanced audio copy of this book.

Review 645: Pick a Color

Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was interested in reading this book as my sister-in-law is Vietnamese and her parents had owned a nail salon. So the book has a personal experience that ties into my sister-in-law, her family, and my visits to a salon with her.

This book was about a nail salon told from the point of view of the owner. The book really grabbed me in the beginning. But as the story went on, there were important aspects to her personally that were never revealed. I find it annoyed me, I wanted the backstory but was given only pieces. I don’t like all the ambiguity.

This lack of fully explaining the situation reminds me of a couple other short books I read this year. I’m one who likes more definitiveness. There were other aspects in the book that it wasn’t a total miss for me.

I will say, that hopefully people reading this book don’t feel like it confirms their suspicions about that the nail salon women are talking about you in their language. At least in my experience, that is not what is going on. It did add some humor to this fictional book, however.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book which was very well narrated. My enjoyment of this book was increased because I listened to the audio.


Thanks to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. However, I listened to a published audiobook copy of the book.

Review 644: The Midwife's Revolt

The Midwife's Revolt by Jodi Daynard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This historical fiction book takes place during the American Revolution. The midwife is a newly widowed woman, yet still quite young, lost her very young husband in one of the first battles of the revolution. She now has taken over their farm trying to manage and is a midwife as well.

Lizzie soon has help by Martha and has a dear friend of Abigail Adams. As the war continues, the women are mostly on their own, but not entirely. Lizzie finds herself trying to find out secrets and who is the spy in their community that has claimed two lives already. She dresses as a young man, but the brother of Martha spots her right away. Lizzie already suspected him as being a spy, or at least sympathetic to the British and not the American cause. Tension mounts, and also become romantic.

This is where the book falters a bit for me. Martha already has too much to do with keeping the farm and birthing the multitudes of babies. Funny how many there are with all the men away fighting a war. But adding the spy stuff and a budding romance does add to the plot.

The book takes place over several years and also mentions other of the important early men in American history such as John Quincy Adams, although it is the women that mostly take center stage in this book.

I had bought this and the sequel on a sale many years ago, so may as well continue. There is a third, which I do not own and will have to see how book two goes. If it gets too deep into romance I many have to ditch it.

The author's note is worthwhile to read as it explains what was invented and not. The main character here is the author's creation, but many other aspects of the book is not.

Review 643: The Sea Captain's Wife

The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World by Tilar J. Mazzeo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In 1857 Mary Ann Patten and her husband Captain Joshua Patten set sail from New York harbor on a trip to deliver goods around the world. The first destination port was San Francisco, and in a race with several other clipper ships in hopes of making it within 100 days. This was the second journey that Mary Ann joined her husband, impressing the crew on the first journey in her skills, healing injured or sick men as well as charting and using a sextant.

By the time they reached the most dangerous part of the journey to San Francisco, rounding the Cape Horn, the first mate was held in the brig. Captain Patten fell unconscious from lack of sleep and an illness that finally overtook him. And this was during a violent storm, one of the worst tempests in years. Despite being a woman, Mary Ann took over as captain to get them through this danger ensure they stayed on course. This was an unheard of action. Mary Ann was just 19, pregnant and petite, which endeared her further in newspapers.

This was a non-fiction book that reads like fiction. There were moments when I wondered if the author went too far in attempting to do this readability like a fictional book. Yet I did quite enjoy the book.

It is sewn together by the true accounts of what happened. By genealogy, newspaper reports, diaries, ship logs and other documents. It is very well researched. Bonus was learning about clipper ships and the mid 1800s trade.

Review 642: The Armchair Birder

The Armchair Birder: Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar Birds by John Yow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Just a few thoughts for now...This book was okay, but maybe I'm not the target audience. I'm not a birder, nor have the desire to become one. But I am interested in learning about birds, their lives, especially those common ones around us. This book does reveal some of that, but there are so many birds discussed the book seemed more like an encyclopedia or a compendium of birds. Each bird was not given much description and some was about how the author saw the bird, or what it did around his place.