Hi friends,
December was a busy month for us, but I finished a few books that I’d been reading for a while and got in a few short reads as well.
We had a good Christmas with family and managed to get sick the week before Christmas, which meant we were felling good for the actual festivities.
As always, let me know what you think about these books and if you have suggestions for further reading.
Best,
Tonya
Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream by David Leonhardt
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: Leonhardt is a New York Times reporter and the editor of their Morning newsletter, which is where I generally get my national and international news. In the newsletter, I saw that he had written this book and decided to check it out. It’s an interesting examination of what Leonhardt characterizes as the “end of the American dream.” He defines the American dream as the expectation that the rising generation will be have higher incomes than their parents. This reality dominated the mid-twentieth century America where children born in 1940 were 95% more likely to have higher incomes than their parents. By the time the millennials of my generation have come of age, that statistic has slid to about 50%. I found this revealing since my husband and I have discussed before the chances that our combined incomes will be higher than our single-income earner parents. Leonhardt tries to explain what happened to cause this change through economics. He points to several causes including the decline of labor unions in the latter part of the 20th century; the increase of economic inequality as the top 1% of income earners captured nearly all the economic growth in the US since the 1980s; a lack of government investment in research and development and education; and the lack of a political movement focused on improving the lives of working class citizens. The evidence he presented had me convinced on most points, but I do think that towards the end of the book he drifted a little too preachy for me. Overall, I recommend this book for anyone who’s wondering what the chances are that they’ll have higher incomes than their parents.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: This was a great fantasy read. The book is written in diary form as our protagonist, erudite and socially-awkward Emily Wilde, sets out on a career-defining expedition to chronicle the Folk who live in a magical world equivalent of Iceland. Fawcett’s world closely mirrors late 19th century Europe with the exciting addition of the reality of fairies and magic. Emily is an Cambridge professor specializing in the study of the folk, and she sets out on a solo expedition to study the never-before-documented folk living in the high north. Her charming but extremely posh and annoying colleague, Bamblebee, unexpectedly shows up. It’s a wonderfully charming story that follows Emily as she figures out the mystery surrounding both Bamblebee and the folk of the far north and actually learns how to make friends along the way. This was an extremely cozy winter fantasy read, and I highly recommend for anyone looking for a great story about found family, fairies, with a little flirtatious romance flung in there.
The Color of Magic (Discworld #1) by Terry Pratchett
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: I’ve read quite a lot of Discworld, but it’s been several years, so I decided to start the whole series from scratch when I was feeling at a loss for what to read next. I was confident that anything by Pratchett would be well worth my time. I ended up remembering a lot more of the story than I thought I would , but this was probably because I recently watched the film adaptation, which was fairly true to the book. The writing was immediately and comfortably recognizable as Pratchett's, and it was just delightful to be back in his world, but I found myself getting kind of bored with the story…. I’m not sure why. Rincewind isn’t my favorite Discworld character, and the bumbling and reluctant hero trope just didn’t really make me laugh like some of Pratchett’s other work has. That being said, this is the very first Discworld book, and it does a magnificent job of setting the tone of this farcical world, and I can’t wait to read more.
To Infinity and Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lyndsey Nix Walker
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: I’ve read most of deGrasse Tyson’s books, and I always enjoy his clear and understandable explanations of scientific concepts. In this one, he starts with a brief examination of Earth including our atmosphere and the relative distances of different human exploration endeavors. Then we follow along as he talks about the inner and outer solar system and eventually interstellar space and other galaxies explaining the different missions and scientific discoveries that have illuminated each destination. I always find this type of popular science book relaxing to read for some reason, even though I don’t generally retain many details of the things discussed. I would recommend for anyone who likes deGrasse Tyson’s other work or is generally interested in space.
Bookshops and Bonedust (Legends and Lattes #0) by Travis Baldree
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: I read Legends and Lattes earlier this year and really enjoyed the cozy fantasy setting and emphasis on everyday problems portrayed in a fantasy world. This story follows the same main character from Legends and Lattes, everyone’s favorite orc, Viv. In this one, she’s just starting her mercenary career when she’s forced to take medical leave to heal an injured leg while the rest of her mercenary band hunts a necromancer. I love how Baldree lingers on the quiet moments and takes just the right amount of time to develop the characters and their relationships with each other without the story dragging. It’s a good read, and you don’t need to read the first one to enjoy this one, but I would say that the first was generally better. Prequels are just tricky to write when the audience already knows where the character’s arc is going. And the author has to stay true to the original story while also balancing character growth in the current one. Baldree does it pretty well overall, and I’ll read anything else he writes in this fantasy world or probably any other.
Long Chills and Case Dough by Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: This was a surprise secret project that was included in the last of the Year of Sanderson kickstarter packages. It’s a short story from before Sanderson was published, which Dragonsteel is branding as Sanderson curiosities. Surprisingly considering Sanderson’s reputation for high word counts, this was actually quite short. In fact, it felt a little like a prologue to a longer story that we never get. It introduces us to a 22nd century private investigator who maintains the identity of a 1920s-era noir detective, for some reasons that I either missed or weren’t entirely explained… Short stories aren’t really Sanderson’s forte, and while he did a good job of building an interesting world and introducing interesting characters, the story ends before any development has happened, and it just feels a little silly. I’d read it if you’re a massive Sanderson fan like me, but it doesn’t hold a light to any of the other secret projects that came out this year.
The Holy Bible
Rating:4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: I’ve been reading the Bible since January 2022 when we started studying the Old Testament in Sunday school at church. We finally reached the end this week. I have mixed feelings about the Bible. I accept it as scripture and think that it does contain some valuable lessons and inspiration for our day, but it’s also very… problematic… I guess? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that the Bible is the word of God but that errors in translation have been introduced over time. After reading the entirety of the Old Testament, this was readily apparent. This part of the Bible is a combination of national history, and in some cases, propaganda, which reads very differently compared to other books of scripture that I’m familiar with like The Book of Mormon. That being said, the New Testament accounts of Christ’s life and ministry and his apostles’ works are much easier to read and apply. It’s hard to write a paragraph-long review of one of the most impactful texts in human history, but I’m glad that I took the time to read it all the way through, and I do believe that most of it is inspired by God. I felt that reading it did help strengthen my faith and spiritual relationships with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. That being said, I’m never more grateful that I live today and not in any other period of human history than when I’m reading the Old Testament.
Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: I can’t really binge read books because I have three small children and a full time job, so the best I can usually do is 3-4 days if I’m really into a book and temporarily shirk some responsibilities, which is what I did with this book. The story follows three main point-of-view characters, and utilizes some fairly common fantasy tropes including a secret society, unknown powers, figuring out how the magic works, and the harm that family secrets can bring. I liked the magic system and thought it was well-paced with a slow-enough start that we got to linger with each character a bit and really get to know them, and then a much faster second half. That being said, I called every major reveal before it happened. Maybe that just means that I read too much fantasy? It didn’t bother me. In fact, spoilers don’t generally bother me, as I enjoy the actual experience of reading and seeing how the characters figure things out more than the actual plot moments in general. I recommend for anyone who likes books about books, sisterly relationships, and magic mirrors. |
| Merry Christmas! This play fort was a hit with all my kids. They're still playing with it while I type this. |
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| Lincoln enjoyed opening his Christmas presents. |
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| We took a trip to the aquarium with my parents after Christmas. Chloe ran around with my phone and took over 100 pictures. Here's a sampling of her budding photography skills. |
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| Eels are weird. |
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| Surprise! |
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| Sister love |
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| Lincoln looked so smart in his new outfit. |
