Friday, March 29, 2019

What I've Heard- Educated by Tara Westover




Educated by Tara Westover has been on my to-read list for a very, very long time. I first heard about this book while listening to NPR. When I tried to borrow it from the library, it became obvious that lots and lots of other people had also heard about it and so I would have to wait a really long time to borrow the book from the library. As a second option, I put my name on the list for the audio version. It also had a long wait list, but it actually arrived pretty quickly. I proceeded to copy the CD onto my player and returned it to the library. Then something very strange happened- the book didn't make any sense. It jumped around, it cut out and eventually it just ended. Upon further research, I discovered that the audio didn't download completely and in fact I was listening to a random puzzle of a story. Irritated to have to wait even longer (longer than this story if you can believe that!) I put myself back on the list. Finally it arrived and I was ready to listen.

I cannot emphasize enough how worth the wait this was!

Tara Westover grew up on the side of a mountain peak in rural Idaho, the youngest in a large family and raised by a parents who didn't believe in the public education system. Or doctors. Or handwashing. Tara spent her days working in the family's scrap yard and helping her mother in the kitchen. She was taught to read and basic math, but beyond that there was no need for education; the public schools were just places of government indoctrination. They spent their time preparing for the End of Days, certain they would be the only survivors. At age seventeen, Tara yearned for more knowledge and a way out of the home where she was terrorized by an older brother. Never having been in an actual classroom, Tara began by studying for the ACT on her own. On her second attempt she earned a score high enough to secure a scholarship to BYU. After receiving her Bachelor's degree, she went on to earn a Master's and Doctorate from Cambridge and a fellowship from Harvard.

That alone is beyond impressive and inspirational, but it gets even more remarkable when we read about how trying her childhood and early young adult years were made by her family. Westover is clear that not all of her early life was bad and that she loves her family very much, but that there were obstacles she had to overcome. When talking about her father, Westover often uses these phrases:

He began a lecture...
He talked all the way home...
He yelled and screamed the entire car ride...

Westover's father ruled his family with an iron fist. There was only his way of seeing the world.

My father had taught me that there are not two reasonable opinions to be had on any subject.
There is truth and there are lies.

She also has a very abusive older brother and a mother who consistently looks the other way. It is a hard life and made harder by the people who are supposed to take care of her. One brother does offer her a way out:

"There is a whole world out there and it will look a lot different once Dad is no longer whispering his view of it into your ear."

This brother, Tyler, helps her find all the information she needs to save herself. This book is a memoir, but it reads like some of the most thrilling fiction I've read. Chapter after chapter I found myself on the edge of my seat; it is exciting, sad, and at the same time, inspirational. I hope you won't have to wait as long as I did to read or listen to this book, but if you do, know that it is worth the wait!

Friday, March 22, 2019

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams


I have heard only good things about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams so when it came up as an option for book club this month, I was all for it. After all, it's been a part of pop culture (and nerd culture) for so long, it was about time I'd read it for myself.

Arthur lives in a country village in a modest home and is startled awake one morning by the sound of bulldozers preparing to demolish that home to make way for a bypass. As you can imagine, he is unhappy about this. Just as he is prostrating himself in front of the machines in protest, a friend comes to inform him that his greater home, the Earth, is also set to be demolished for an intergalactic bypass. This friend, Ford, turns out to be an alien in the process of updating The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a very useful book for those familiar with the rest of the universe. Hijinks ensue, there are capers and antics, THE Question must be answered and Arthur is along for the ride.

I'll be honest with you: I could not get into this book. Actually, I was having so hard a time with it that I had to pause halfway through and watch the movie just to try to make heads or tails of it. It helped...a little. I can see that some people would really love this book and all the fun, nerdy, sci-fi aspects of it, but me- not so much. There was humor and parts of it could have been interesting, but this book just wasn't for me. The only reason I muscled through it was because it was for book club. Otherwise, I doubt I would have made it through the first three chapters.

I will leave you with one quote that I really appreciated:

It might not even have made much difference to them if they'd known exactly how much power the President of the Galaxy actually wielded: none at all. Only six people in the Galaxy knew that the job of the Galactic President was not to wield power but to attract attention away from it.

Well, that's certainly something to think about, isn't it?

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon


I don't really know anything about the Romanov family, but I was intrigued when I came across I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon. Grand Duchess Anastasia was the youngest daughter of the Romanov family and was supposedly killed along with her siblings and parents during the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1918. This book tells her story and that of a woman claiming to be Anastasia and that she survived the murders. Is she telling the truth? The evidence certainly is compelling.
You will have to decide for yourself.

Written in alternating timelines, that of Anastasia from the beginning of her family's incarceration and that of Anna, fighting to be recognized as Anastasia, this book keeps you on your toes. These timelines are unusually constructed in that they converge from opposite directions: Anastasia's timeline is told chronologically from 1917 onward, ending with the execution. Anna's timeline begins at the end and works backward from 1968. At first I found this very confusing and a little irritating, but I just held on and kept reading and it was totally worth it.

This book is brilliant!

Maybe not knowing much about the Romanovs made this book more exciting and mysterious, but I could not put it down. I couldn't wait to figure out what was happening and who was whom. The characters are very well written and I cared what happened to them. If you are a fan of Historical Fiction, you will really love this one. And even if you aren't, I still think you will like it.

Now, what can Wikipedia tell me about the Russian dynasty...

What I've Heard- The Alice Network


I really enjoyed reading The Alice Network by Kate Quinn last year and it was very exciting seeing Kate Quinn at this year's Tucson Festival of Books so I was very happy to add listening to the audio version to my list. This book is so very good. The storyline does bounce around a little bit, but the narrator makes it very clear who is speaking. These strong, independent women will make you want to stand up and fight for what is right! Evie is fierce and powerful and Charlie is determined and relentless. I love these characters and the way Quinn makes history come alive for the listener/reader. I will definitely be listening to this audio again. 

Monday, March 11, 2019

Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor


My favorite thing about book festivals is discovering new authors. Last year at the Tucson Festival of Books, my sister bought Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor after we heard her speak. And like the nice sister she is, she let me borrow it. Oh, man was it good!

Jess Winters is seventeen-years-old in 1991 and out for a walk in the small northern Arizona town of Sycamore. She never comes home.
Eighteen years later, Laura Drennan, new to that same small town, is out for a walk and discovers human bones in the hard packed dried mud of an empty wash.
Everyone in this small town has a story and Chancellor gives us most of them. Told from the point of view of thirteen different characters, the truth of what happened all those years ago is slowly and methodically brought to light. This is the tale of a small town living with an unsolved mystery and everyone owns their own little piece of it.

This was a book I couldn't put down. In the beginning it was a little tricky to keep track of the characters and whose point of view we were hearing at the time, but if you just hold on and keep reading it all comes together. There are so many good characters in this book and I loved hearing all their different voices. I really liked this book and I think you will, too.

Friday, March 8, 2019

2019 Tucson Festival of Books


Last weekend I got to spend two days running from author event to author event, adding dozens of books to my TBR list, and basking in the glow of thousands of fellow book nerds. The Tucson Festival of Books is one of the Top 5 book festivals in the U.S. and it is easy to see why. The festival organizers were expecting 140,000 people to visit the University of Arizona campus and take part in the event. There were science tents, children's tents, cooking demonstrations, and more books to buy than you can imagine. There were Children's authors, Young Adult authors, and authors from every fiction and non-fiction genre you can name.

I was especially excited to see Elizabeth Berg, author of The Story of Arthur Truluv and Night of Miracles. I was even selected to ask her a question! ("Are we going to get a book of Lucille's recipes?" She gave me a strong "maybe." I'll take it.) I also got to see Kate Quinn, author of The Alice Network and hear about newly released book The Huntress. Other than those two, I mostly chose sessions to attend that sounded like the topics might be interesting and then of course, I discovered authors I wanted to read. Here is a list of all the books I am adding to my TBR list:

The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley
She Would Be King by Wayetu Moore
Gross Anatomy by Mara Altman
Okay Fine Whatever by Courtenay Hameister
Sustainability: A Love Story by Nicole Walker
Lost Connections by Johann Hari
Kitchen Yarns by Ann Hood
The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes
Sum by David Eagleman
The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson
Read or Die by Daphne Russell
Virgil Wander by Lief Enger
The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg

Whoa! That's a lot to read! I'm really excited about these books and a book festival is a great place to freshen up your reading. Off to read! See you soon!




International Women's Day 2019



In honor of International Women's Day, I thought I'd share a brief list of book recommendations featuring strong female characters. This list is by no means complete, even among the books I have read, but it's a good starting point. I hope you enjoy!