Hi friends,
November was a rough month for our family. I did get a few good books in though. We’re looking forward to Christmas, and hopefully, I’ll get a few good books to read over the holidays. As always, let me know what you think of these books and if you have suggestions for future reading.
Tonya
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Recommendation: not really
Review: I really liked A Gentleman in Moscow, so I was excited when I heard about this new book by the same author. However, I was disappointed. First, I was promised a road trip book following a couple of teenagers across the U.S in the 1950s. That’s not what this book was. Second, the ending was awful. I guess if I read more literary books, it probably would have made more sense, but it just made me mad at all my favorite characters and didn’t adequately resolve several of the main plot points. So, that was annoying. Maybe he was setting it up for a sequel? I can see that a lot of people really like this book, so maybe I’m missing something, or it was over my head. I will admit that it was beautifully written. Towles is known for his amazing prose, like this statement, “The Good Lord does not call you to your feet with hymns from the cherubim and Gabriel blowing his horn. He calls you to your feet by making you feel alone and forgotten. For only when you have seen that you are truly forsaken will you embrace the fact that what happens next rests in your hands, and your hands alone.” Each of the characters and points-of-view felt very well realized and fleshed out. Towles made the unusual choice to have one character speak in first-person point-of-view but none of the others. In the hands of a less talented author, this might have been jarring, but I think he pulled it off, and it really served to illustrate that character's psyche and arc. The ending just kind of ruined all of the good things that I liked about it.
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: if you like reading celebrity memoirs
Review: I've read a few celebrity memoirs and have generally enjoyed them. I picked up this one because I figured that Will Smith has probably lived a very interesting life and thought I'd like to hear that story. I was glad I did. This book was extremely well-written. Smith does have a ghost author, so it's hard to tell if that's because of his skill as an author or his skill at choosing a co-author. In either case, Smith has lived a very interesting life, and this book is well-written, which I think makes it a good memoir. It got a bit weird at the end, but maybe that's just a reflection of the change in attitude and life of its subject. In any case, I learned a lot about hip-hop in the 1980s, which I had known nothing about before, and a lot about show business, which I also hadn't known anything about, but made me grateful for my consistent, steady government job. Recommend for anyone looking for a good memoir.
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: It was good to see Jordan’s return to form in this 11th installment of the Wheel of Time. Books 9-10 were a bit of a slog, but I’m glad I endured because he finally wrapped up most of the annoying plotlines from the previous books. All of our main cast were on point. Perrin finally returned to being awesome. Mat was amazing, and although Egwene and Nynaeve didn’t get as much page time, they really did impress when we got to focus on them. I’m trying to remember what Rand did in this book, and I’m drawing a blank, so it must not have been that impressive. Oh yeah, there was a big trolloc fight scene and some scary developments with the whole Rand vs. Lews Therin mental situation. Hopefully, that gets resolved soon. I’m excited to get into the Sanderson part of the series. To be honest, I read 11 Robert Jordan books, so I could read 3 by Brandon Sanderson. Hoping that it will be worth it.
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, if you like YA fantasy and cool magic systems
Review: This book came highly recommended from some book tubers that I follow. It’s the first in a series of epic YA fantasy and contained multiple magic systems, some great world building, and several points of view, some that I enjoyed more than others. However, the highlight of the book was easily the animal companion, which is one of the main reasons that I want to read the sequel. Mephi and his person, Jovis, were far and away the best point of view and plotline in this book. There was some great action throughout, and I’m excited to learn more about the secrets that were teased but not revealed in this book.
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, but need to read other Skyward books first
Review: This novella -- and despite being written by Brandon Sanderson this is actually a novella -- is set in the Skyward Cytoverse. It’s an older story of Sanderson’s that he published when Cytonic came out despite writing it about a decade ago. It precedes the events of the Skyward books by several hundred years and isn’t necessary to read to enjoy the events of any of those books. However, it does reveal some interesting lore and world building that is built off of in the third installment, Cytonic. Despite being short, I felt like I got a good sense for the two point-of-view characters and the world. The mystery was intriguing and it even wrapped up nicely at the end. Mostly though I enjoyed learning more about the cytonic powers and humanity’s first steps into the universe. Recommend reading in between Starsight and Cytonic.
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: Yes! Great series that keeps getting better
Review: This book is going to hold a special spot in my reading heart. Our family was in Utah for Thanksgiving and realized that Sanderson was holding his own mini-con for the release of this book. Since I’ve wanted to go to a Sanderson event for a long time, we took advantage of the timing and got tickets. It was so much fun! Highly recommend for any fellow Sanderson nerds out there. In any case, I was probably predisposed to like this book, and I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve really liked how each installment in this series introduces us to a new world and crew for Spensa that we get to explore with her. In this case, space pirates were involved, and they were just as cool as they sound. There were a few great twists at the end, and I love Spensa’s new set of friends. She is a very fun character to follow, and with the transformation that she undergoes in this book, I’m looking forward to the fourth one -- due out in 2023 -- even more.
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| We stopped by the BYU bookstore while we were in Utah and were impressed by the knock-off lego set showing the Salt Lake temple. They even had a little lego Book of Mormon and missionaries. |
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| Chloe loves it when it's her turn to present the calendar in class. She gets to talk about what day it is and the weather. |
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| Maya learned about veterinarians at school this month. This patched-up bear became their favorite toy for a while after his treatment. |
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| We had fun visiting grandma and grandpa for Thanksgiving. At least until both girls came down with a stomach bug. Luckily, no one else got it, but it did put a definite damper on our holiday. |
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| Some amazing seamstress made a person-size doomslug cosplay at the mini-con. My biggest photographic regret is not taking my mask off for this picture. |
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| Dan remembered to take his mask off. |
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