March (2019) Mini-Reviews

Here's an attempt to catch up on posting and actually, you know, write on this blog. What a concept.

I'm taking advantage of some time to write as COVID-19 has got us social distancing. Which seems counterintuitive (not the social distancing, that makes sense) since you'd think if we're all trapped in the house I'd have less time to write cos the lil monster requires attention. Except now we're BOTH home so entertainment detail can be split.

So why not catch up on some more mini-reviews? See if I can't stay ahead of the game (I cannot). Heads up, as I look at the list of books I read in March of 2019 I gotta tell you...not a lot is coming to me. This may be brief.

How to Be Good by Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby. I like the guy. I mean I think. I like High Fidelity anyway (both book and movie, thankyouverymuch). And he wrote an album with Ben Folds that includes a song about Levi Johnston (Sarah Palin's almost son-in-law?) that's catchy. I was at the Strand and saw a copy of How to Be Good and figured I'd give it a try. Basically this guy who is sort of a jackass has a spiritual awakening where he decides he has to turn his life around and be a good person. And while it's hard to fault someone for doing this, it is driving his wife and kids nuts. It's a strange book and I don't really remember much in the way of a resolution but that could just be my bad memory. I remember it being mostly just...eh. Not terrible but not great.
Gif rating:

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
I listened to this as an audiobook and I think that was a mistake. Because I generally lurve Fforde's stuff. But I have noted, to myself and even out loud to others, that I can't imagine how stuff like the Thursday Next series would work in any format other than a book. There's so much that plays with language and footnotes and typography that you need to see it. And yet I thought "Oh, here's a new book from him, I should definitely listen to this as an audiobook. Even though in general I find I have more trouble paying attention to fiction audiobooks than nonfiction ones, I'm sure it will be fine this time." Like most of Fforde's stuff, the plot is hard to describe. Basically it's a dystopian where in the winter everyone has to hibernate and there are these strange dreams killing people and there are weird creatures roaming about. And there is Charlie a winter consul, who is dealing with the bureaucracy that comes with this (because there is hilarity and satire within dystopias). I remember it being weird, as his stuff often is, but I had trouble getting my bearings in the story and I don't know if that was intentional (i.e., he's trying to make you doubt your own sanity) or if I just missed out on stuff cos I was listening instead of reading. I should probably give this a try but as a book-book and then come back with new thoughts.
Gif Rating:

Sakina's Restaurant by Aasif Mandvi
This was a short story, one of the Audible Originals that's free each month with a subscription. It's sort of a one man show about a man coming to America from India and working at a restaurant and the strangeness of the new life and what he loves about his new home and what he misses and what the family he works for is like. It was funny at times but overall I can't remember much of it. Apparently it was originally an actual one-man play so perhaps it works a bit better that way.
Gif rating:

A Mind of Her Own by Paula McLain
Another free Audible Original. This one a fictional account of the life of a young Marie Curie (nee Sklodowska). She's far from home, studying in Paris and meets a certain Pierre Curie. I thought it'd be interesting to hear a bit about this woman of whom I know only a bit here and there. Mostly the radioactive stuff. And there's a bit about her but I can't say I retained much. Even at the time of listening, judging by the rating I gave it, I wasn't too into it then. It focuses more on the love story with Pierre and less about her work. Which could be fine but wasn't my thing.
Gif rating:

So when I look at my mini-reviews for Feb 2019 and now these things were...not great, reading wise. Which explains why, following these reads, I listened to The Graveyard Book which is def one of my fav books (to listen to, to read-read) because I needed something that was going to be great. Spoilers, it WAS great, even if it gives me ALL OF THE EMOTIONS. But now is not a time to review that book. Now is the time to see what nonsense is going on while I keep myself hidden away.

February Reading Wrap Up

Damn, only one post in February. To wrap up what I read in January. That is...not a great start to a new blogging year. I could have sworn I wrote more. Or you know, something. But apparently I was just thinking of the posts in January (which were mostly wrap up posts and therefore only somewhat count) and had duped myself. Sigh. Anyway, let's talk about what February held.

I took advantage of the leap day to sneak in one additional book this month, so thank you Julius Caesar* for that. Otherwise, as always, the month went by heckin' fast. Lots of work, which is busy. Lots of stuff for the goblin, which is also busy. There was even a book club meeting this month AND a (mini-) road trip to visit friends (and gift them with many baby hand-me-downs, of which we no longer need and they will soon have a use for), which was busy but also much fun.

Now, how 'bout them stats?

Number of books read
5
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting from Birth to Preschool by Emily Oster
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

Total pages read
1,844

Fiction
60%

POC authors
20%

Female authors
80%

US authors
60%

Book formats
audiobook: 80%
hardback: 20%

Where'd I get the book
Indie bookstore: 20%
Kindle/Audible: 40%
Library: 40%

Rereads
40%

Translation
20%

Bookclub pick
20%

Decade published
2000s: 40%
2010s: 60%

Resolution books
60%

Lethal White is by a UK author (Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling)
My Sister, The Serial Killer is by a POC, Nigerian author (Oyinkan Braithwaite)
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is by a Polish author (Olga Tokarczuk) and is a translation

OK so I'm gonna try to set a goal for myself. I gotta write 2 more posts in March. Can I do it? We shall see.

*And I only know that fact cos of the recent John Mulaney monologue on SNL. So thanks to Mulaney for that bit of trivia and also for creating The Sack Lunch Bunch. I realize that is unrelated to what this aside was originally about, but man, what a great special.

January Reading Wrap Up

January was roughly 10 years long, right? Because I'm looking at my reading wrap up from December and I could have sworn I read those books so long ago. 

Despite January lasting an eternity, I don't feel like I got a huge amount of reading done. Whatchya gonna do? Or at least, not as much reading as I'd expect. Really, I expected to be done with this Cormoron Strike book that I'm still making my way through and I'm pretty sure my other library hold is going to be returned before I get a chance to start it. Dang library holds and me not planning properly. 

But hey, look at this cutie

And with that segue, here are the stats

Number of books read

5

Endless Night by Agatha Christie

Mrs. McGinty's Murder by Agatha Christie

White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America by Margaret A Hagerman

The Body: An Occupant's Guide by Bill Bryson

Tanica Jones by Matt Boren

Total pages read

1,359

Fiction

60%

POC authors

0%

Female authors

60%

US authors

60%

Book formats

audiobook: 100%

Where'd I get the book

Kindle/Audible: 40%

Library: 60%

Decade published

1950s: 20%

1960s: 20%

2010s: 40%

2020s: 20%

Resolution book

40%

Both Christie books are, well, by Christie an author from the UK (aka, not the US) and they were published before 2000.

One More Stats Post: Reading 2013-2019

One last stats post, at least until I write up my end of January reading wrap up. Anyway, I wanted to see how my reading looks since I started tracking this stuff regularly, back in 2013.

Reading Through the Years: 2013 - 2019

Total books read
369

Year with most/fewest books
2019 (58 books) / 2016 & 2018 (48 books each)

Total pages read
123,420

Year with most/fewest pages
2013 (21,681) / 2018 (13,525)

Fiction
61%

POC author
17%
Black: 8%
Asian: 8%
Latinx: 1%

Female authors
55%

Top authors countries
US: 70%
UK: 17%
Canada: 2%
Australia: 2%
Japan: 2%

Translations
3%

Rereads
19%

Book format
ebook: 42%
paperback: 34%
audiobook: 19%
hardback: 5%

Where'd I get the book
Kindle/Audible: 43%
Indie: 22%
Gift: 11%
Netgalley: 7%
Library: 6%
Chain bookstore: 4%
Just the Right Book: 3%
Review book (not Netgalley): 2%
Borrow (not library): 2%

Top Decades published
2010s: 66%
2000s: 18%
1990s: 8%
Everything else: 8%

Top genres
Lit Fic: 11%
Horror: 11%
Memoir: 8%
Humor: 7%
Mystery: 5%
Essays: 5%
Fantasy: 5%

Resolution books
46%

So there are some areas for improvement, sure but overall I'm pretty happy. Let's see what 2020 has in store.

Cribsheet: If you're happy with your choices, that's the path to happier and more relaxed parenting

Look and actual, for realsies review. I told you I'd manage to get one of these done at some point. I was about to start another round of mini-reviews but realized I wasn't in the mood and decided to scan through the books I read last year to see if there was any I wanted to write about. And I realized I'm in the middle of re-reading Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool by Emily Oster and never wrote about it the first time so why not tackle it now. It's more top of mind so maybe I can actually write about this better than "Uhh I think I liked this but IDK why".

Emily Oster's book Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong - and What You Really Need to Know is the only pregnancy book I read. This is hardly because I am an expert in pregnancy but I really was not looking for a preachy book. I was happy enough to not read any pregnancy books (and lucky enough to have my mom who is an OBGYN nurse around to answer questions) when the book Expecting Better was recommended to me by a trusted source. And it was great because it is not about telling you any dos or don'ts of pregnancy. Oster, an economist, is all about data and using the data to make informed choices, stressing that what is important for you as an individual or you as a family is a big part of the decision making process and that two people can have the same data but come to different conclusions and that's OK. That's no shaming, no finger wagging, no guilting. After I finished this book I searched for one from her on parenting but, alas, it was not to be.

At least not then. Fast forward a year and some, Matthew is here and we're up in Boston visiting some friends who recently had their own lil newborn. We're sitting around talking, the topic of books comes up (as it does) and my friend shows me this book Cribsheet by none other than Emily Oster. She has nothing but good things to say about it (of course) and even though it's brand new and thus only out in hardback, I pick up my own copy the next day at one of my fav indie bookstores (Brookline Booksmith, check them out, they're swell).

Just like with her pregnancy book, Oster's goal is to help answer the many questions that come up after the baby is here (daycare vs nanny vs staying at home, swaddling, breastfeeding) using data and stressing the importance of what is right for you and your family. Everyone should be informed about the benefits, the dangers, the drawbacks and determine, using the data, what the right choice is, knowing that people's choices can be different. She wants to step away from telling anyone what to do and repeatedly mentions how we need to not judge people who are making informed decisions (informed is the key, and it has to be real, reliable, credible information) that are best for them. As she says

This idea - that what parents need or want will play a role in choices - can be hard to admit. In a sense, I think this is at the core of a lot of the "Mommy War" conflicts.
We all want to be good parents. We want our choices to be the right ones. So after we make the choices, there is a temptation to decide they are the perfect ones. Psychology has a name for this: avoiding cognitive dissonance...This is a deeply human temptation, but it is also really counterproductive. Your choices can be right for you but also not necessarily the best choices for other people. Why? You are not other people. Your circumstances differ. Your preferences differ. In the language of economics, your constraints differ.

As an economist, who reads and interprets studies for a living, she reads through studies about all of the topics she tackles, identifies which she feels are the best/most complete while explaining why she has come to this conclusion, she shares factors that could influence an individual, she shares what she did with her two children as well as what other women she knows have done that differs. The goal is not to tell you what the best choice is, but to make sure you're informed to make the right choice for you.

And I get this may not be the parenting book for everyone (cos hey, those individual choices and preferences and whatnot). It's great for me but like her, I also kept a detailed spreadsheet of every time Matthew ate and slept, at least until he went to daycare and I went back to work, because I love me some data. The book gives me good ways to think about how to make the choices (and OMG there are so many) that come up, big and small.

Gif rating:

Oster, Emily. Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting from Birth to Preschool. Penguin Press, 2019.

Christie's Endless Night indeed felt endless

For those few who are still reading this blog (hello! you're all wonderful people and I cherish you), you know I haven't really written any real reviews in a while. This isn't going to be a real review either, not really, but it's closer to that. Basically I just finished listening to Agatha Christie's Endless Night and I want to bitch about it. Which really, is what blogging is all about.

This is going to be very spoiler-y. But also the book is...not good so should be fine to read spoilers. Basically I'm saving you.

Before I get into that, I want to write out my defense for why I picked this up in the first place. It was the end of the year. I didn't think I was going to be doing any more book reading as I had mostly traded my audiobook listening for Christmas music. But the Christmas music ended and there were still a few days left in the year so without anything particular in mind I started browsing audiobooks from the library and I came across a Hercule Poirot Christmas story and that was fun. But then I finished it pretty quickly. I figured Christie stuff is pretty fun, the handful I've read. There's also a ton of it and tends to be readily available from the library so rather than think to hard about what to read next, I just browsed the Christie stuff. And I saw this one called Endless Night. I skimmed the summary but was like "yeah yeah, marriage to rich person, land that may be cursed, sounds good" and also mostly picked it cos I liked the cover. Also it was only about 6 hours long so not too bad.

OK now to my complaints

Firstly, this is super boring. It's very slow and it's mostly just blue collar guy and rich girl falling in love and getting married and buying land with a g***y curse (it comes up a lot and it's part of the name of the house/land) and I want you to know that while it may sound interesting it is not. Not mostly. I mean, it's competently written (of course) but just...who cares.

Building on the boringness, no one dies until hour 4.5. Out of a 6 hour book. That's like 75% of the way through the book. And I'm not out for violence but one goes into a Christie book expecting certain things and one of those things is that someone is going to die under mysterious circumstances. And sure it happens here but it takes basically forever to get there. And also, did I mention the stuff that comes before it is not interesting?

Also, and I acknowledge that this is on me, but this isn't really a mystery. I mean, I guess it kind of is (who killed Ellie? - this is a spoiler area though you can prob guess pretty early on she's donezo) but mostly it's suspense. Or supposed to be. But I think you have to be more invested for it to be suspenseful.

But here is my, by far, biggest complaint. The book is told in the first person from the blue collar guy Michael Rogers. There's no framing device where he's telling this story to a particular audience. Instead a straight forward first person narration so we learn about how he fell in love with Ellie and all their work trying to get this house built. We learn Michael's thoughts about Ellie's relationship with her governess/chaperone/companion-you-pay Greta (he is suspicious - they seem very close and does Greta have some sort of control over Ellie?). We learn about Michael's insecurities about dealing with Ellie's family. We learn about Michael's grief in finding Ellie dead. All of this from Michael's first person point of view. And THEN (and another spoiler warning here) we learn that Michael and Greta actually orchestrated not only Ellie's murder but the whole marriage and everything and Michael is actually a sociopath who just married Ellie cos he wanted her money and that he's killed before.

Except, if this whole story is from his point of view, wtf wouldn't any of this have come up before? Who was he pretending for when we're in his thoughts? He talks about the times he and Greta pretended to hate each other but would meet up in secret except NOPE that didn't happen cos this was first person and shouldn't we, the audience, have seen that? How's a first-person narrator going to hide his thoughts from the audience when the whole thing is that we're seeing his thoughts?

I will say, in skimming through the Goodreads reviews of this book, most people don't seem bothered by this fact so perhaps it's just me.

Anyway, that's my sort-of-but-not-really review of Endless Night. Maybe next time I'll write a real review that isn't just me complaining.