March 2023 Reading

 Hi friends,

March and April have been busy months, which is why this post is up so late. I read a few good fantasy and nonfiction books. We spent spring break in Utah the last week of the month and had a good time playing in all the snow.

Let me know what you think of these reads and if you have suggestions for future reading. 

Cheers,

Tonya 

Royal Assassin (The Farseer Trilogy #2) by Robin Hobb

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, for fans of the first

Review: Man, you just feel so bad for Fitz in this book. Hobb really puts him through the ringer. I mean, he’s never had it easy, but his life is just turbulence and trauma in this one. Hobb continues to write very character-driven fantasy, and seeing from Ftiz’s point-of-view lets you really get to know him more than almost any other character I can remember. I loved his animal companion as well. He was probably my favorite part of the story. This installment has a fair amount of political intrigue as well, which I always enjoy. The ending is a cliffhanger and made me glad that the series is complete. As with the first, there were parts that felt a bit slow, but I generally enjoyed the time to get to know Fitz and his friends and enemies. 

Assassin’s Quest (The Farseer Trilogy #3) by Robin Hobb

Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Recommendation: if you’ve come this far, you should probably finish

Review: For a fantasy novel, this book took me a surprisingly long time to read. Probably because it was about 300 pages longer than it needed to be. One of the things that I liked about the first two books in this series was that we got to stay in one spot and get to know a whole cast of characters really well. In this book, we get our journeying installment, and I didn’t really enjoy it. Fitz is again put through the emotional and physical ringer, and Hobb definitely takes the time to allow him to be very traumatized. Despite being almost 900 pages long, the story feels like it ends suddenly, and the resolution to the plot of three books feels very unsatisfying. I remember being like 20 pages from the end and thinking, “there’s no way she’s going to wrap this all up at the rate she’s going.” She does wrap it up, but not very well. Usually the second book in a trilogy is the weakest, but I think this one was. 

Romaine Wasn’t Built in a Day: The Delightful History of Food Language by Judith Tschann

Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Recommendation: only if you’re very into etymology and food

Review: This book was exactly what it promised to be, no more and no less. What it promised to be was the history of a lot of food words strung together, and that’s exactly what it did. It says in the introduction that it can be used more as a reference book to look up cool facts to impress at parties or to sate a particular curiosity. I was kind of disappointed that there wasn’t more of a narrative to tie together the whole book, but the individual entries were interesting, although to be honest, I don’t remember any of them now, so I guess they weren’t particularly memorable either. 

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldeer

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, for those who want some “cozy” fantasy

Review: This book came highly recommended on social media as a great example of the niche fantasy genre of cozy fantasy. It says right on the cover that it’s high fantasy, low stakes, which I think is a perfect tagline. In this one, Vivian, the no-longer-battle hungry orc, wants to retire and fulfill her dream of opening a coffee shop. She doesn’t expect to have to deal with the mob, an old frenemy, and scariest of all, her own feelings. I really enjoyed this fun romp in a D&D-esque fantasy world that focused on the mundanities of small business and relationships. I enjoyed reading about how they gradually discover croissants and cinnamon rolls and loved how Baldeer executes the found family trope. Even though the universe wasn’t in peril, I found myself still deeply invested in the story because I cared about the characters and what happened to them. A great, quick read for anyone who wants some fantasy without the stress and trauma of epic journeys and universe-ending stakes. 

Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, for those curious about how our brains are able to read

Review: Wolf is a researcher who studies the neuroscience of reading and specializes in dyslexia. This book was particularly interesting to me as someone who likes to read and as someone who has small children who are learning how to read. She first explains how reading is not a “natural” phenomenon. No one will naturally learn how to read. Humans have hijacked older image processing and pattern recognition parts of the brain and rewired them to form new connections so we can read. Her explanation of brain parts and wiring was maybe a little too technical for me, but I got the general idea. It’s fascinating that reading changes our brains. She explains that the brain of an illiterate and literate person are very different. She also talks about dyslexia and explains new research and approaches that show that there’s no one cause or reason for dyslexia, but that every case could stem from issues in one or more of the many centers that our brains use to read. I learned that it can be counterproductive to teach kids younger than five how to read as their brains aren’t usually developed enough in the appropriate areas to learn until they’re at least five or maybe older. This took some of the load off of me as I was somewhat operating under the expectation that my kids needed to be well on the way to reading before they started kindergarten. Highly recommend for anyone who likes to read and is interested in how our brains work.

Mommy Corner

Chloe got to bring Toot and Puddle, two pigs from her kindergarten class, to Utah with us on spring break. The kids take pictures doing fun things with Toot and Puddle and then bring them in to show the class. We got to take them to the children's museum in Utah. Here they are getting ready to assist Chloe in her new job as president.

Here they are helping Chloe to beat Daddy at the giant chess game.

Here they are enjoying some In-N-out.

Here's Lincoln being a cutie while doing tummy time. He's starting to enjoy it more.

Here's Toot and Puddle flying high on Grandma's tramp with Chloe.

Maya at the children's museum.

It snowed literally 4 feet while we were in Utah. Grandma helped Chloe and Maya build this awesome snowman. There was even more snow when we left!