Book Reviews

I've read fifteen books so far this year which is pretty good, but much lower than I had planned.  I identified 37 books that I wanted to read at the beginning of the year and I am not going to make it.

One of my goals for the year was to read more.  I am sure that I have read more than previous years by a couple of books, but I can't be sure since I have never kept track like this before.  I read at least one book a month for book club.  Honestly, I usually skip at least one book club selection (and WISH I had skipped The Pilot's Life.  Gah.).  I usually read a couple of books during my week of summer vacation, but this year was different (Chicago alone with 4 kids didn't give me many reading opportunities).  I will get some reading in during the next couple of weekends as I help with debate tournaments (judges have a lot of down time).

It is hard to sense book size when you read on a Kindle.  The last book I read I read in just a day, but I think this was because I enjoyed the book and had the time to read.  The book I started last night is great, but I think it's pretty big (I could check page length, I suppose).  I would like to finish five books by the end of the year.  I think I will go through my remaining list and pick the ones that I want most to read.

This Beautiful Life

This novel is about a family in New York City.  They recently relocated to NYC and thanks to the dad's job at a university, they are enjoying (?) the benefit of public schools and moving in a higher economic class of people than they have ever before.  The 15 year old boy receives an unsolicited, x-rated video from a 13 year old girl and the entire family is in turmoil in various ways.

There is so much that the author got right - the exhaustion of being a parent, the speed at which everything can derail, the sense of wanting to save your child and do anything for them, and the sense of losing yourself as a person when you parent.

The style was loose and the language was casual, but grammatically correct and sophisticated.  It is one of the best written novels I have read in this way.  It was almost Catcher in the Rye-like in that way.

Giving Thanks

We're not Norman Rockwell.

It was a strange but wonderful Thanksgiving - just me and the three kids.  The cool thing about making kids is that you have made people with half of your DNA and then raise them with your influence.  So that when I say, "Hey let's pose like Norman Rockwell," they do it and they think it's funny.  It was easier to get this picture than a serious picture of me with my three kids.

I started this blog with the tagline "Not the Brady Bunch."  Yeah, we're not that either.  We're our own family.  I was reminded of that in many ways this holiday.

The Forgiveness of Others

This novel is about a family in the year following the death of an infant.  The story is told from the point of view of the mother, father, brother and sister.  I appreciated the authenticity of the family.  Their home and their interactions were normal and then there was this horrible event that happened to them and they all reacted differently.  I particularly liked the way the kids were separate from their parents.  I think that the children were well written and realistically affected by their parents.  As parents we often forget or underestimate children.

Valet Parking

Frank won't put his bike away.  He rides home from school around 3:30 and parks his bike at the end of the driveway in front of the garage door.  I come home at 5:30 and can't pull all the way in because the bike is there, and really, I should be grateful that the bike is there and not stolen, because it could easily be stolen.  I ask and ask and ask.  The bike is there every night.

I used to drop my bike in the front yard when I got done with my paper route.  My dad got tired of asking me to put my bike away, so one day he "stole" it.  He hid it from me and I had to walk everywhere for a week or so until the neighbor living behind us asked me why my bike was parked behind the garage.

I thought about stealing my own son's bike.

I've been thinking on this for a few weeks.  Last night I suggested another plan.

"Do you know what valet parking is?" I asked him when I walked in yesterday.

"Sure.  That's where you have guys in tuxedos park your car and put the keys on a little board so that when you come back they can run out and get your car for you."

"Do you know how much that costs?"

"No."

"It's expensive.  It costs more to use valet parking than to park your own car because you have someone else doing the work.  Does that make sense?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if I have to put your bike away every day I am going to start charging you.  It's going to cost you 50 cents for me to valet park your bike."

He studied my face to see if I was serious.  And then he went and put his bike away.

Water Sign

I started my "stroke refinement class" a/k/a "grown up swim lessons" last night.  I was really nervous about it.  I worried that I would be the slowest swimmer and have a panic attack in the pool and get pulled out by the instructor.  When I showed up I was one of 2 women.  There were six men.  I was definitely the fattest.  They're all athletes, but not avid swimmers.  We all want to do triathalons.  One of the students is just interested in adding swimming as a cross-training break from his running.

We got in the pool for some drills, and to my surprise, not only could I do them, I did them well.  I was relatively fast.  On my back I beat everyone else in the class by half a length.  On my front I was still the first one to the other side of the pool.  Apparently I have good positioning in the water.  My weaknesses are my breathing and my stroke, which is why I signed up for the class.  I am absolutely over the moon about all of this.  I am proud of myself for signing up and going despite my anxiety.  I am looking forward to the coming classes.  I can really see how the drills that we're doing will develop my stroke and help my breathing.  "We'll have you flying across the pool by the end of the session," my instructor commented while I waited at the end of the pool for everyone else to finish their lap.

I believe him.