Book Review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built / Becky Chambers

 

This book should come with a warning - you cannot read it without a cup of tea in hand.

Sibling Dex lives on a moon of a planet that is not Earth. Their live is good: they are loved and comfortable and have what they need, but they are not satisfied with their life. So they become a tea monk - providing a listening ear and a cup of tea for those in need. They ride around in a home pulled by a bike touching the lives of many until they again are not satisfied with their existence. Then they diverge from their own path into the wilds where they come across a robot, Mosscap. 

It has been years since the robots gained sentience and moved to create their own communities no longer mixing with people. Dex and Mosscap are quite different, but they slowly start talking and learning from each other.

This book is simple and a quick read. The characters are three dimensional and delightful and kind. The moon is coming back from the brink of disaster through sustainable practices. A Psalm for the Wild-Built quietly asks the big questions about existence. Read this book, maybe even read this book twice. 

Book Review: Himawari House / Harmoney Becker

It is a snow day so it is time to read a book. My 2023 Book Challenge contains themes of the month, and one of the themes in February was International Friendship - yes there is a day for that. And yes, this book exemplifies that. 

First things first, why would I add monthly themes to my 2023 Book Challenge? I am always looking for ways to push myself - to learn and experience new things. This book challenge offers me some topics to encourage me to read books about topics that I might not pick up otherwise. I am really enjoying this aspect of my challenge this year. 

Now on to Himawari House. This book is a graphic novel about a girl, Nao, who returns to Japan (during a gap year before college) after moving to the United States when she is a small child. In the US, she never feels like she really fits in. Her lunches are different from those around her, she looks different, and no one pronounces her name correctly. She believes that she will fit in perfectly in Japan. But is that the case after adopting so many American habits and practices? Has she lost too much Japanese, her first language?

This book really gave me some insight into how it feels to live between two cultures, between two languages. 

If you are someone who is interested in a gap year, or living abroad, or even Japanese culture and language - try this graphic novel. If you are interested in reading about friendship or love interests, read this book. What a great read on a snow day (or any day.) Happy reading!

 

Reading Life: Books are Magic

Outside the snow is coming down. My feet are wet from shoveling and my fingers tingle from the cold. A hot chocolate sits by my side, a blanket lies on my lap, and I am encased in a warm, wool sweater. 

I read this paragraph and suddenly I am on a city block in the hot air, friends surround me, sipping cold drinks, and dancing. Children play. Old people compete at chess. I can hear the music, I can feel the humidity, I smell the cigar smoke in the air. I have been transported with just a few words.

Books are magic, they take you places. 

(From Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet by Laekan Zea Kemp)

Book Review: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

 

Imagine living in an unsafe world - where if feels like even the walls have ears, where friends have turned against friends, and family members share sensitive information? Imagine living in a world without trust - without knowing WHO you can trust. And on top of that, living in a world where resources are incredibly limited. Imagine standing in food lines for hours just for a few potatoes and securing only a single onion the size of a grape. Imagine not having enough food to keep you healthy, enough heat to keep you warm. Imagine living in a world void of the opportunity to try a banana.

This is the situation that people were living in during the late 1980s in Romania. Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife gathered the wealth of their country for personal gain while leaving the citizens with little and with little hope for outside help as communication was cut off to the larger world. 

This is a novel about Cristian Florescu, a 17-year-old boy with dreams of becoming a writer in a time when the slots in college were few and jobs as educated people were fewer. This is about dreams of love in a time without trust. This is about holding on to hope for a better life in a time when that hope is often dashed. This is a time when Cokes and Twinkies are forbidden treats that can get you arrested.

Read this book. 1989 wasn't that long ago. Walk in the shoes of Cristian. Spend some time experiencing his life. And finally, reach for the hope at the end. And maybe you should even keep a Twinkie or a banana or a can of Coke beside your reading chair in order to celebrate with these characters.

Book Review: The Wild Book / Juan Villoro

This is certainly a wildly imaginative book about books and reading. Does that sound boring? It isn't, but it does start slow. (Also note that this is a translation and the wording is a little awkward at times.)

Juan is excited about starting on summer vacation until he learns that he is being sent away to his Uncle's house for the summer. At first he doesn't believe it, his sister is being sent to her best friend's house - why does Juan have to live with his elderly uncle.

But soon after arriving at Uncle Tito's house the magic begins.The house is not only huge but a labyrinth of books as well. There are so many twists and turns that Uncle Tito requires Juan to carry a bell with him in case he gets lost. And then the books begin to move of their own volition. 

If you are both a lover of books and a lover of magical realism, you will love this book - no matter what your age.

"Every book is like a mirror: it reflects what you think. It is not the same if it is read by a hero than if it is read by a villan. The great readers add something to books, they make them better." (Page 69)

 

Reading Life: Themes

 

Sometimes, actually many times, life throws you themes.

This week I read two books - very different subjects but... Hunger. Hunger is the theme of the week.

As a reader, I often find that I am not reading a book in isolation. One book connects to another which connects to life which connects to the news which connects to what a friend or a colleague shared which connects to a podcast - well you get my drift.

These two books!
The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep: Voices from the Donner Party - this is all about the Donner Party striving to get to California in the mid 1800s and all the barriers that got in their way. It is about overcoming. This book is narrated by Hunger. But not just hunger for the meals that didn't come, but the hunger for love, for power,  for family, for a new kind of future, for possibilities...

And then there is Shop Class as Soulcraft, written by philosopher Matthew B Crawford, about motorcycle mechanics, but really about hunger. The hunger for a fulfilling life, the hunger for challenge and the happiness that comes when you are so absorbed in a task that the world disappears. It is about steering our youth toward careers in which they can become so absorbed in a process that they might just lose themselves in their work. (Not in a bad way, not in an external demands way, but in a chasing curiosity way.)

Hunger, Yearning, Chasing one's dreams. Those are my themes for this week.

Book Review: The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep: Voices from the Donner Party by Allan Wolf

The Donner Party left a bloody footnote in United States history and this book is a novelization about their journey and hardships.

Can you imagine walking across the United States? Can you imagine what it was like to be a part of the Great Western Expansion when hundreds of people walked, rode horses, traveled by wagon across the United States? Did you know that these wagon trains traveled on average at about 3 miles per hour? We drive across this country now and pick up a bite to eat or visit a bathroom at a rest stop. It still feels like a gargantuan endeavor, but early settlers faced difficult challenges - bad weather, illness, few resources… BUT the Donner Party faced unfathomable difficulties and even harder choices when they chose to travel a relatively new path AND the weather turned bad much earlier than expected. I mean really bad. Seriously folks, 15-20 FEET OF SNOW. That makes even the worst of our New Hampshire winters seem tame.

Read this historical fiction pieced together by author Allan Wolf from documents and stories shared by both survivors and those who perished (through letters and journals.) And yes, there is cannibalism involved - so if you are squeamish - don’t pick up this book. But if you are brave enough to crack open these pages - put yourself in their shoes and think about how you might survive. Think about how each person carries within themselves the possibility of heroic and villainous acts - often times both.

Finally, note that there are extensive notes at the end of this novel. Please check them out before you start reading - you will find a list of characters (put a bookmark on this page because it is hard to keep everyone straight), a timeline, short biographies of the characters in this story, some glossaries and more. Some you might want to read before you get started, and some you might want to leave until the end. But know they are there.