What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit (formerly known as Twitterature) to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern: Part mystery, part redemption story, part feel-good tale, this is the story of Kitty Logan, disgraced journalist trying to redeem herself by figuring out what her late mentor's last story idea was — all she left was a list of 100 names. A little cheesy at times, but very sweet. I liked it.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore: Funny at times, but mostly just stupid. I didn't find offensive for the religious elements but for the reductive depictions of women and minorities. Most people seem to love it, but no one in my book club had anything good to say about it.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Adichie is a very talented writer, and this is a frighteningly realistic depiction of life with an abusive parent who self-justifies with religion. Unfortunately not much happens in terms of character growth for most of the book, so it's just a really long and depressing depiction of abuse followed by a quick rush of events at the very end.

God's Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembène: The many characters and multiple settings made this difficult to get into, but ultimately I found this historical novel about the 1947-48 West African railroad strike interesting and informative.

Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High by Melba Pattillo Beals: This day-by-day memoir of school integration by one of the Little Rock Nine was valuable not only because I knew so little about how school integration actually worked but also because of her tips about surviving bullying, which for her was probably worse than what any student nowadays could possibly endure. (I mean, 90% of the school staff was in on it too!)

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty: Another fantastic book from Moriarty. This covers difficult topics from school politics to childhood bullying to domestic violence and sexual assault, but does so in an eminently readable fashion. It's like a murder mystery, except you don't find out who gets murdered until after everyone's dirty laundry has come out. Really enjoyed this one.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler: Highly recommended as an audiobook narrated by Poehler and friends. I had a little trouble keeping the chronology of her early years straight, but other than that found the book enjoyable, funny, smart, and valuable.

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson: I can see why people like this book and why it would be good to discuss in school (minus some racist language), given its firsthand exploration of what being a "foster kid" is like. However, I found the character growth unconvincing and the fat-shaming got old quickly.

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer: I read this because it was on my classics list, but it was a bear to get through. I can definitely see how it would be rich for literary study and interpretation, but as a straight-up read I found many of the stories terribly boring despite a few funny or interesting ones.

What have you been reading this month? Share over at Modern Mrs. Darcy!

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Thanks for supporting A Cocoon of Books!

What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit (formerly known as Twitterature) to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

And the Mountains Echoed by Khalid Hosseini: A reread that was just as good the second time around. Much less dark than his other books, while still providing unflinching portrayals of real life.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown: Meticulously, sickeningly detailed account of how the United States lied to and betrayed American Indians over and over and over again. The repetition of tactics wore on me after a while and almost made me desensitized, but I still think it's worth a read, particularly for white Americans.

Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold: One of the better sci-fi/fantasy books I've read, though still not my preferred genre. The characters were well written, and I liked having a badass female character as the protagonist. I didn't like it enough to want to read the rest of the series, but it reminded me that I do like some books in this genre.

The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King: A quick, if not particularly easy, read with a conversational style. Whereas Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee was a historical account, King primarily tackles North Americans' present-day relationships to native peoples. Informative, funny, and brutally honest. Highly recommended.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty: I'd heard mixed reviews of this, but I ended up absolutely loving it. Moriarty refuses to provide easy answers about how our lives end up the way they do, but she still gave me a push to re-examine my own life goals and priorities. Really well done.

The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman: Good story, not great writing. Provided some interesting historical background about Chinese immigration to America, but suffered from plot holes and a weak writing style, plus some weird xenophobic aspects. Not bad, not great.

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork: A solid, enjoyable story of two teenagers grappling with questions of death, life, race, revenge, and family. Reminded me a bit of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, minus the LGBTQ themes.

Walking the Bridgeless Canyon: Repairing the Breach Between the Church and the LGBT Community by Kathy Baldock: One of the better books I've read that tackles the intersection between Christianity and the LGBTQ community. She chooses breadth over depth, so it's not going to answer every question, but it would be a fantastic read for someone who's just never thought about this much before and wants an overview. Includes many different angles, ranging from historical terminology to psychological research to Scriptural interpretation to personal testimonies.

We Are Water by Wally Lamb: My book club hated this. I didn't hate it, but it wasn't one of the better books I've read this year. The writing itself, on a sentence level, was excellent and kept me hooked, but I had some issues with many of the choices Lamb made both in plot and in character development.

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See: A fairly brutal depiction of communist China under Chairman Mao, as seen through American eyes. What kept me engaged were the characters and their development over time, but some of the descriptions of starvation and brutality were hard to take. Recommended if you like historical fiction and can take its less-than-pleasant aspects.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith: It was slow getting into this, but I ended up really enjoying it. Smith does a nice job capturing the small moments that make up the experience of growing up, while set against a backdrop of life in poverty. She doesn't shy away from nor romanticize the realities of poverty, and the story is better for that.

Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies by Laura Esquivel: Not my kind of book. Did not like the over-the-top magical realism, the one-dimensional characters, the tired love triangle, or the implication that it's OK for someone to rape you if you really love them. I also had a hard time following the jumps in time, and I didn't care about any of the recipes.

What have you been reading this month? Share over at Modern Mrs. Darcy!

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Thanks for supporting A Cocoon of Books!

What I've Been Reading Lately (Twitterature)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Twitterature to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

This past month was much busier than the month before and I'm also in the middle of some lengthier books, so I only have half as many mini-reviews to share this month as last month. Enjoy!

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde: Lots of excellent observations on culture and systemic oppression. At times I found her train of thought hard to follow, but there were enough valuable nuggets to make this worth the read.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech: Good fodder for middle-grade discussions of identity and loss, with a well-done plot twist near the end. The American Indian references were oddly shoehorned in, but the story is good regardless.

Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay: A collection of essays that started off strong and then turned into a series of disconnected book reviews (and movie reviews and current events commentaries). Good thoughts, but wish it had been put together differently.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: Way better as an audiobook. Still suffers from the drawn-out descriptions common to early 19th century literature, but it's clear why it's survived and been retold in so many ways since its first publication. Lots to ponder and discuss.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby: The main character was annoying, and I didn't get most of (musical, British, or 90s) references. Too narrowly focused and self-indulgent for my taste.

Spiritual Misfit: A Memoir of Uneasy Faith by Michelle DeRusha: An enjoyable and relatable story of what it's like to be a rational-minded, skeptical faith seeker. No bland platitudes here; this is an honest look at what belief means in real life.

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat: Good story, poor execution. Danticat tried to shove too much trauma in one book without delving deeply into any of it.

Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint by Nadia Bolz-Weber: Fantastic, brutally honest memoir of being a Christian who doesn't fit the mold but loves Jesus too much to give it all up. Funny, relatable, piercing, highly recommended.

What have you been reading this month? Share over at Modern Mrs. Darcy!

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Thanks for supporting A Cocoon of Books!

What I've Been Reading Lately (Twitterature)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Twitterature to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork: Reread of a favorite. Marcelo, who has an Asperger's-like condition, must navigate office politics and ethical questions in his first "real" job. My book club found the ending too neat but the book charming.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker: I should have hated it — plot holes and unanswered questions galore — but the writing was too beautiful and the story too sweet not to steal my heart.

Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by Melissa V. Harris-Perry: Insightful and chock-full of research about how black American women are perceived and how they perceive themselves, both historically and today.

More Than Serving Tea: Asian American Women on Expectations, Relationships, Leadership and Faith by Kathy Khang, Christie Heller de Leon, Asifa Dean, and Tracey Gee: Interesting personal stories bogged down in too many platitudes and too much Christianese. Glossed over too many things and provided little solid research.

32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter: Fun chick lit ruined for me by the main heartthrob's lack of respect for the protagonist's "no."

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler: Wild, wonderful, funny novel that weaves in topics of family, psychology, animal rights, parenting, and memory. Highly recommended and would be great to discuss.

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois: Written around the start of the 20th century, it's valuable for its historical insights, though the patronizing generalizations got to me after a while.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy: A book I can appreciate even if I didn't like it that much (but then I don't like much post-apocalyptic literature). Pretty damn depressing, but asks some important questions about morality and parenting.

Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry: A great examination of how we are our best and worst selves with our family members. Sad, funny, and insightful, except the ending is weird and totally out of line with the rest of the book.

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai: Malala and her family have a fascinating and worthwhile story, but I wish it had been written as a biography rather than a memoir because most of it is not Malala's own personal experience. Still worth the read.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson: This absurd satirical comedy will not be everyone's cup of tea, but I found it hilarious and wonderful. It's like a mix of Terry Pratchett, Forrest Gump, and Ocean's Eleven.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor: Why didn't I ever read this in school? Like To Kill a Mockingbird, it deals with racism in the American South in the 1930s, but in contrast, it's written by a black woman, narrated by a black girl, and her black father is the hero. Deals well with both the reality of racism and the reality of how black families prepare their children for a racist world.

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult: As a Picoult fan and gay rights advocate, I was sorely disappointed in this book. It tried to cram too many arguments in and contributed to bisexual erasure and transphobia. Thumbs down.

Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh: Absolutely fascinating firsthand look at poverty, corruption, and gang activity from Venkatesh's field research. A heartbreaking but important read for anyone who wants to discuss these issues.

Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan: Koly's story is inspiring, but the book read too much like the American author was trying to squeeze in as much vocabulary and Indian culture as possible. Would be great for a middle-grade unit teaching kids about India, but wasn't a favorite as far as stories go.

What have you been reading this month? Share over at Modern Mrs. Darcy!

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Thanks for supporting A Cocoon of Books!