Hi friends,
November was a great month for
reading books. We enjoyed Thanksgiving with my sister and learned that you have
to teach children to throw up in the toilet. This is not an inherent skill.
Luckily, the vomiting was brief, only a 24-hour bug, but still more than enough
for an of us.
As always, let me know if you
have any recommendations or have read any of these books.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tonya
Mambo in Chinatown by
Jean Kwok
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: Yes!
Review: I have now read all of Kwok’s
novels, and I liked them all! True to form, this book was about an American
Born Chinese (ABC) young women who transitions from washing dishes in a
Chinatown noodle restaurant to teaching professional ballroom dance. As you can
imagine, this is quite a leap, and Kwok once again explores themes of
immigration, class, and race while creating empathetic and endearing
characters. This was definitely the lightest of the three novels and I enjoyed
learning about ballroom dance and reading about the attractive young student
that the main character inevitably falls in love with.
Wolf Hall by
Hilary Mantel
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: Yes,
if you like dense historical fiction
Review: This book tells the
story of the enigmatic Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII’s advisors. Yes, the
Henry VIII with six wives who broke with the Catholic church in Rome in part so
he could marry the illustrious Anne Boleyn, only to have her beheaded a few
years later. This book tells the story of the break with the Catholic Church and the prominent role that Cromwell played in it. While it is fiction, the
events happened. Mantel just fills in all the conversations, relationships,
and drama, and let me tell you there is no shortage of drama. Cromwell came
from humble origins, the son of a blacksmith, who by his own resourcefulness
and usefulness is raised up to the second highest position in the land. Super unusual for autocratic, heriditary monarchy that Britain was! Mantel
tries to paint a picture of the man behind the great split with Rome and
illuminate his mysterious motives and loyalties. It was a fascinating read, but
to be honest, I thought it could have been a great deal shorter, but I will
give Mantel due credit for beautifully and engagingly showing the pivotal role
that Cromwell played during this historic and unprecedented time.
Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society by Nicholas A. Christakis
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: Yes
Review: With all of the doom,
gloom, and misery that is so evident in the world and in the news, it’s easy to
conclude that humanity is a lost cause, and it might be best to just reboot the
universe and start over. But reading books like this one help remind me that
humanity is nothing but a bundle of contradictions and for every negative
story, characteristic, and emotion, there’s a positive and uplifting one if you
only put in the effort to find it. Christakis demonstrates how humanity has
evolved a suite of social features that enable us to establish good societies.
He argues that even with all the political, racial, religious, and ethnic rifts
in the world, we cannot help but create good societies where we selflessly
sacrifice to help one another sometimes even to the detriment of our own
selves. One of my favorite analogies from the book describes different
societies as standing near to the peaks of several mountains and comparing how
different the tops of all the mountains they’re standing on are without realizing
that the vast majority of the mountains from the peak down that they’re standing
on are all the same. It’s easy to notice the differences while ignoring the
vast majority of social features -- love, family, altruism, neighborliness -- that
unite most human societies. Cheers to humanity!
Evvie Drake Starts Over
by Lind Holmes
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation:
Yes
Review: I thought that this
book would be a fairly flighty rom-com as it features a professional baseball
player as the love interest. I was pleasantly surprised though to discover some
real depth to the story. Evvie Drake is 5 minutes away from leaving her abusive
husband when he dies in a tragic car accident. This all happens in the first
five pages of the book. The love interest is a washed-up, Yankees player trying
to escape the ridicule that goes from being the best in the league to being
unable to hit the broadside of the barn as he develops a bad case of the “yips.”
They both learn that you’re the only person that can fix you, and that moving
on from a bad situation takes time and healing. There’s also some smooching. A
good, thought-provoking read.
Come As You Are by
Emily Nagoski
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: Yes!!
For all women and those who have sex with women
Review: That's right. There's a vagina -- actually, a vulva-- on the cover of this book. I’ve
been married for over 5 years and have two kids, and I’m beginning to realize
that my sex education had some major holes in it. I’m moving past the blame
stage of this realization and am trying to rectify the wrong and educate
myself. This book is a great way to do that. Nagoski is a professional sex
educator and draws on all the latest research to provide evidence-based
explanations how women can have more fulfilling sex lives. Turns out that women
and men are different, and as Nagoski explains women’s sexuality is not just
men’s sexuality “lite.” Turns out that context matters including a woman’s
emotional, physical, and mental state combined with the health of her
relationship. Nagoski provides tools to help you understand your own sexuality
and what context works best for you to improve your sex life. To be honest, the
jury’s still out on whether this will work for me since I’ve been busy working
fulltime, being married, and having two kids to try it yet, but spoiler alert –
it’s important to understand all that context and how it applies to your sex
life! I liked this book so much that I made my husband read it, and he
learned a lot too.
Mommy Corner
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| Chloe learned about rocks and minerals at school, including smashing open a geode. Of course, she promptly lost the crystal when we got home. |
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| Look Ma! No hands! Maya is getting better at standing independently. Way too close to walking! |
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| Chloe enjoyed playing in the leaves while Daddy worked. |
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| Peek-a-boo! |
