Hi friends,
We just finished our 12th
week at home. The kids’ school closed on March 13, and we’ve pretty much been
together at home since then. While our state and county are beginning to lift
restrictions, the virus is still very present in our community, so we’re being
cautious. The girls still seem to be doing well. They’re young enough that
they’re happy to spend all day every day with us, although Chloe has expressed
that she misses her friends at school. Both my and my husband’s work have given
us flexibility to watch our kids while also trying to do our jobs.
I did get some good reading in
during May including some recommendations from my sister and old friends.
As always, let me know what
you think of any of these books and if you have suggestions for future reading.
Thanks!
Tonya
Age of Emypre by
Michael J. Sullivan
Rating: 4 of
5 stars
Recommendation:
yes, if you read all the other books
Review: This is the last of a six-book series, and based on the previous five
books, I had some high expectations, which were mostly fulfilled. Sullivan
definitely delivered a page-turning conclusion that kept me glued to my
e-reader. He managed to wrap up almost all of the plotlines and character
arcs that I was invested in, and I wasn’t disappointed with the action scenes
and plot twists. I was disappointed because Sullivan failed to resolve one
major character arc, and if you’ve read it, you know which one I’m talking
about. I know that I’m supposed to assume that it was resolved, but I really
wanted a final scene to wrap up the story of two of the main characters.
Grunge (Monster Hunter Memoirs #1) by Larry Correia, John Ringo
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Recommendation: If
you like guns, you should read this book
Review: If you like guns, you should read this book. This is a spin-off series
from the Monster Hunter series, which I haven’t read. The premise of the world
is that monsters – i.e. werewolves, vampires, fairies, trolls, zombies, etc – exist
and that the government contracts with private, monster-hunting companies to
remove any monster threats that crop up. The narrator, a Marine vet named Chad,
is literally the personification of perfect male, and the book is a collection
of stories describing his entry into and first few years in the monster hunting
world. He is very intelligent, able to learn languages in hours; extremely
attractive and charming but unwilling to commit to any real relationship,
sleeping his way through dozens of girls in this book alone; a gun and weapons
expert; a violin virtuoso; and very good at hunting monsters. About a third of
the book talks about weapons and guns including all the modifications and specs
of his arsenal; another third talks about the beautiful women he sleeps with,
and the final third actually moves the plot forward. With the exception of a
come-to-Jesus moment at the beginning, Chad doesn’t undergo any interesting
character development. There are some well-written and exciting fight scenes,
which kept me reading, so it had that going for it.
Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden
Order of Life by Lulu Miller
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: maybe
Review: This book was recommended to me as a good one to read
during the pandemic when it feels like the world is ending and we’re trying to
figure out why we should go on and keep trying. It’s a combination of biography
about David Jordan Starr, who was the first president of Stanford and an eminent
taxonimist who discovered hundreds of species of fish, and a memoir of the journalist
author, Miller. Miller becomes obsessed with Starr after reading about how his
entire life’s work was destroyed twice: once in a fire and again following the
San Francisco earthquake in 1906. Both events destroyed the hundreds of fish
specimens that he had laboriously collected, labeled, and classified over decades
of work. Somehow, after both events, he finds the strength to repair what he
can and continue his work, and Miller wants to know how and why he reacted that
way. The book took an interesting turn as Miller’s hero-obsession with Starr revealed
some darker insights into his life including his immediate and stalwart support
of the eugenics movement that tried to scientifically justify racism and
resulted in the forced sterilization of thousands of “unfit” women. In the end,
Miller concludes that even though chaos may reign supreme in the universe, we
humans can and do find meaning in our relationships with each other.
Weather by Jenny Offill
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: Maybe
Review: I read Offil’s earlier book Dept. of Speculation, which
told the often uncomfortable story of a woman discovering her husband’s affair.
This book has a similar writing style that reads almost as stream-of-consciousness
in short paragraphs that jump from topic to topic within the grater structure
of the chapter. It was hard to understand at first, but I got used to it and
liked it more as the novel progressed. The protagonist is an under-qualified
university librarian who decides to help out a professor-mentor by responding
to emails from her popular Hell and High Water podcast where she’s daily
entrenched with questions about climate change and the end of civilization. She
also acts as a therapist for her drug-addict brother as he gets sober, gets married,
has a kid, and then breaks his sobriety. While it was an interesting and
enlightening read, I got to the end and felt that nothing was resolved. I understand
that that’s also the case with real life, so it was more genuine than most
novels. It just kind of left me wondering, “what’s the point?”
Growth: From Microorganisms to
Megacities by Vaclav Smil
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendations: yes
Review: I’ve read several books by Smil about energy, and just
like in those books, Smil discusses the immense problem facing all humanity:
that the biosphere cannot indefinitely support the continued growth of humanity’s
consumption and then fails to offer any solutions. He begins the book with
discussing growth across all organisms starting from microorganisms and
progressing through animals, humans, cities, economies, and civilizations. It’s
a huge endeavor, which he executes very well. I found reading about all of the
growth curves and trajectories strangely relaxing as the numbers rolled past my
eyes, and I learned about exponential, sigmoidal, and logarithmic growth across many of the earth's systems.
Definitely a good, enlightening read. Just wish there was a discussion of
solutions.
Mommy Corner
 |
| We had fun at the duck pond. If you look close, you can see a water fowl behind us in the water. |
 |
| We had fun playing in the river. |
 |
| Maya liked it a lot. |
 |
| Sisters! All dressed up for home church. Chloe's wearing her Elsa dress under her Sunday dress. |
 |
| We bought a little splash pad. The girls like it! |
 |
| We've been going on a lot of flower-picking walks. Maya enjoys them too. |
