I'm happy to say that I didn't read any duds in May!
Hits:
- Know My Name by Chanel Miller - This is my book club's July read. It is a very heavy read as it's written by the victim of sexual assault by a swimmer on Stanford's campus. She remained anonymous until the trial was over and then went public with her experience in the trial. It's very awful to read about how we treat victims - you can see why women are hesitant to report sexual assaults. In this case, 2 men on bikes came upon the crime and chase her assailant away and yet there was still a question of whether an assault had occurred. It was sickening to read about, but an important read.Her assailant ended up spending 3 months in jail for this crime - the judge felt that Brock Turner was young and had such promise so he gave him an incredibly light sentence. So infuriating.
- This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger - This will probably go in my top reads of 2020. It's set in Minnesota and follows 4 orphans who leave a school where they are being mistreated and float down a series of rivers to get to family in St. Louis. It's so beautifully written. I plan to read more by this author.
Paul's Reads:
I haven't been good at taking pictures of Paul lately but here a couple of our little reader. In these pictures, he's reading an Alpha Block Book and 10 Little Lady Bugs. He's really into Llama Llama books right now so I need to pick up more from that series. He still loves board books but is able to pay attention for longer, more involved stories which is fun for us as I'm kind of tired of his board books! I ordered some new Usbourne books last month and have been slowly taking out a book occasionally when I need something new to entertain him. We've been really happy with the Usbourne books we've ordered. We must have 15 of them by now!
Did you read anything good in May?
It'a exciting that he is interested in bigger books now, and soon he'll love all kinds of story books! Reading board books is tiring, I agree, but they sure learn from them.
ReplyDeleteThe book, Tender Lamb, sure sounds interesting! I keep telling myself to stop getting anymore books until I've read the ones I have, but hate to pass a good suggestion.
Reading is a much better option that watching TV these days, as it's morbid.
We miss seeing Paul so much!
I loved The President's Hat, Almost Everything and Death at La Fenice. I didn't read that much either.
ReplyDeleteI loved Usbourne books as a kid! This month I read The Yellow House, a memoir written by a woman from New Orleans. It's her Katrina story, but also the story of her family, and I've enjoyed it. I think it's more written for a non-New Orleanian, though. A lot of her this-will-surprise-you material is not surprising to locals (ie, how poor the infrastructure is in New Orleans East).
ReplyDeleteI am next in line for This Tender Land on Libby! I'm so looking forward to reading it because I've heard nothing but rave reviews.
ReplyDeleteFavorites books of May are We're Going to Need More Wine, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and The Dearly Beloved. May was very good to me on the reading front and it's hard to pick a favorite!
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anisa Gray! I really liked it.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading quite a bit lately, and one that I loved recently was "You're Not Listening: What You're Missing, and Why it Matters." I feel like people's attention spans are getting shorter and shorter year after year, and deep, long discussions with people are harder to come by. That is part of the reason Christopher and I enjoy each other's company so much because we can discuss things at-length, and take the time to listen to one another. This book made me aware of how I can be a better listener to friends and family, and students, and how I can ask better questions to get to know people better. It also made me even more aware of how much I am not listened to by some people in my life, and really made me question those connections.
ReplyDeleteDuring quarantine, I put together some care packages for the nieces and nephews, and it was fun to pick out books for them. I love children's books! It was harder to pick for the older two, but I got them each two novels that sounded like something they'd like.
The only book I have read is Know My Name, and I also really enjoyed it though once we discussed it at our book club I did agree with some other comments that it was on the longer side than it needed to be. I read Ordinary Grace by Krueger a few years ago and really liked it so I should add This Tender Land to my to read list!
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