In the Book Bag
Need a good book recommendation? A great read aloud for your family, homeschool, or classroom? Take a look at what we’re reading right now.
First book of 2022! I have a bad habit of reading @foxedquarterly memoirs before I really read any of the writers’ ‘regular’ writing. This is another example, alas. Pritchett writes about coming of age at the beginning of the 20th century, and the book ends just after WWI as he leaves London for Paris. There are some historical asides, including a look at a progressive English classroom, a foray into Christian Science, descriptions of zeppelin attacks on London, and a comment or two about immigrant internment during the war. Overall, it’s a fascinating slice of life, depicting an Edwardian era Pritchett calls “mean and bitterly exacting for the struggling small man,” which certainly describes his family’s situation. Downton Abbey, this is not.
Look what came a little bit early! Since @jasminelholmes has shared so much of the meticulous research she did to write these stories, I’m beyond excited to dive in.
I’m very late to the Ann Patchett party, but I’m glad I finally got there. This is a literary novel that reads like a thriller, combining a lost scientist in the Amazon - plus some really wild interpersonal dynamics - with a crash course in botany and pharmacology. If Heart of Darkness still occupies part of your brain, try State of Wonder for a contemporary counterpoint. Definitely not an escapist read, but still enough of a mental break from the news cycle for me to feel a little more clarity when I finished. 🍄
Finding balance this week by taking in a lot less social media commentary and a lot more excellent writing, starting with @mitaliperkins ‘ latest! The first two pages of the introduction will make your life a little brighter. (I’m on the launch team for this book, so you’ll be hearing more about it.)
My love for Beverly Cleary runs deep, and I’ve managed to pass it down to the kiddos. We were thrilled to hear @vickiconrad talk about her picture book bio of Cleary yesterday with @readaloudrevival ! In addition to learning about all the research that went into the book, we also heard a bit about the illustrations. Nathan was especially taken by the story of Beverly Cleary sitting in an apple tree and eating one bite from each apple. He ran and found the illustration in Beezus and Ramona that shows Ramona doing the same thing. (Swipe to see those.) We love a good literary connection! This is a lovely biography, and we are grateful for the five (!) years of work that Ms. Conrad put into writing it. 📚
I finished reading Natsumi’s Song of Summer to Nathan (age 5) and had to share it immediately. Our library system’s website recommended this, so I reserved it, checked it out today, and read it! 🌞Natsumi lives in Japan, and we find out she is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her American cousin Jill for a summer visit. The two hit it off, and share in all sorts of Japanese traditions, but perhaps their most unifying discovery is their shared interest in cicadas and their songs. The story is told through tanka, a traditional form of Japanese poetry, but Robert Paul Weston’s text does this in a way that keeps the story accessible to young readers/listeners. Misa Saburi’s illustrations also nod to traditional Japanese woodcuts while being engaging for kiddos. This is an amazing author/illustrator match, and the resulting book is a gem. Perfect both as a read aloud and an inspiration for nature study, I recommend this one highly! 🇯🇵 🇺🇸 #summerreading
Just a little escapist summer reading. Fun fact: @loislowrywriter ‘s Anastasia Krupnik books are the reason I know about Mary Roberts Rinehart.
Wordless books aren’t always my thing, but this one is delightful. Nathan (5) picked it out at the library, and I was surprised to find out that I didn’t dread “reading” it with him. A young child and dad get up early in the morning, go for a long hike, and head home. Sounds dull, but is actually just the right mix of relatable (we go hiking, too!) and inspiring (can you REALLY climb a rock on a rope?). For our more cautious readers, Hike is great for talking through an adventure from the safety of the couch. 🏔 🌲 🥾 📕
Continued departure-from-the-norm reading, which is, after all, why I get @bookofthemonth . Luster is hard to read, to be blunt. Edie, the narrator, lives a hard life decimated by past trauma. (I’m just going to insert a blanket trigger warning here.) Her decision to enter into a relationship with a married man decades older than she is catapults her into an alternate suburban reality that seems unreal despite being completely mundane. The characters drive the plot, and the actual writing - from vocabulary to sentence structure to voice - just plain shines. As uncomfortable as the story made me, and trust that I was visibly cringing, it was well worth reading for the writing.
Took a little detour from the usual with my May @bookofthemonth choice. I picked this one partially for the author (Will Leitch created Deadspin, which I loved because I have an odd affinity for good sportswriting) and partially because it’s set in Athens, GA. How Lucky combines a deep dive into the main character’s inner and outer life with a thriller-ish kidnapping plot, and adds a bit of identity and immigration commentary, as well. Leitch is a talented writer, and I was sucked into this quickly and thoroughly, though I have to admit I couldn’t read it at night because I am an enormous scaredy-cat. 😸 I’m actually sending this on to my brother, because it’s rare that our tastes in novels match, and I think this might be a joint winner.
May is over, but who cares?!? We can still celebrate #aapiheritagemonth here. I don’t think I’ve read a picture book that celebrates a character’s Pakistani heritage before, and this one does it SO well. Leila loves going to her grandmother’s house, where she gets to eat all her favorite foods, admire her grandmother’s treasures, read books in Arabic, and try on her grandmother’s scarves. The saffron scarf stands out, and Leila and her grandmother share a touching moment admiring how Leila looks in it. As a bonus, the book also includes a small glossary of Arabic words used by Leila and her family. My five year old ate this one up, and we were sad to send it back to the library.
Another great read for #aapiheritagemonth - a picture book bio of Gyo Fujikawa, whose illustrations of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and poetry are legendary. It turns out that Fujikawa’s experiences with racism directly led to her desire to create inclusive illustrations, even when her publisher initially vetoed the idea. The tone of the book is perfect for discussing this facet of the Asian-American experience, while also celebrating Fujikawa’s long and varied career.
I’m not sure where I first heard about Watercress - it might have been from @hereweeread . A great book for #aapiheritagemonth , but don’t let that stop you from reading it the other eleven months of the year. The text tells the story of a young girl who does not share her parents’ enthusiasm for picking watercress in a muddy ditch, taking it home, and sautéing it into part of a family meal. Her fit at the dinner table inspires her mother to share some difficult family history, which in turn makes the watercress taste a bit more appetizing. The illustrations are stunning; swipe to see one page that tells a story all on its own. If you’re used to reading Ellis Island sorts of immigration stories, Watercress provides a much-needed additional viewpoint.
@kadirnelson , one of America’s greatest artists, never misses on a New Yorker cover.
Up next from April’s @bookofthemonth box - Arsenic and Adobo, by @mpmthewriter . This is (apparently) a ‘cozy’ mystery, in that there is death and grief, but no graphic violence or sleep-ruining suspense. The story revolves around the main character’s family’s restaurant and neighboring businesses, which is a pleasant change from the butlers and gardeners of my normal mystery reading. If you like Philippine food, you won’t be disappointed, since all of the restaurants meals are gloriously described, and there are recipes at the end. If you enjoy an infusion of contemporary issues into your lighter reading, you also won’t be disappointed, as Manansala does not shy away from addressing her characters’ feelings about their identities as Americans, as immigrants, and as independent women. I felt like this gave me a bit of a window into a world very different from my own, as my awareness of the Philippine-American experience is basically nil. This is definitely a situation where you don’t want to judge the book by its genre - there is a lot more packed in than meets the eye! Arsenic and Adobo is the first in a series, and I look forward to the next!
This is going to have to be a long blog post at some point, but for now - I cannot recommend The Hare with the Amber Eyes strongly enough. @edmunddewaal weaves his family’s story with the events of the 20th century AND a whole lot of art history in a way that left me breathless. Ostensibly about understanding the journey that an inherited collection of netsuke underwent, this book is really about identity and belonging, and I think it would resonate with anyone.
Big thanks to @crystal_bowden for posting about the Storywalks at @arabiamountain_nha . We had a great time reading them this morning, and even learned a few things about the life cycle of a bullfrog. Thanks to @dekalblibrary for putting these together!
Catching up on my April @bookofthemonth reads before my May box arrives! First up - Good Company, by @cynthiadsweeney . Bluntly: I really enjoyed it. The novel tells the story of a deeply-held secret and its sudden emergence that upends the life of a family. Interwoven with the ordinary details of life, the way that the characters handle this revelation struck me as completely realistic, yet still interesting enough to read. And once I’d enjoyed Good Company, I discovered I was one of five people on the planet who had missed The Nest, by the same author. Here, the “secret” is out in the open, in that the characters stand to inherit life-changing sums of money, but the complexities of family life intervene. Both novels left me a little introspective, since the fully-rounded characters decidedly have feet of clay, and I like to think of myself more simplistically than that. 😉 Sweeney’s writing is well-paced for those of us who have to pick up books and set them down frequently, but I’d imagine you could binge either of these in a day, if you happen to be so fortunate.
Thanks to the wonderful @foxedquarterly podcast, I’ve spent some time remembering what it was like to read a long Soviet memoir, with Hope Against Hope, by Nadezhda Mandelstam. I’ll readily admit this isn’t for everyone, but my love for Russian history runs deep. Mandelstam wrote prior to perestroika and glasnost, and her deep love for her literary country transcends her well-justified hatred of its political regime. Because writers of her time had to hide everything they did, her memory for detail is astounding. She committed her husband’s canon to memory, and in so doing, preserved his work almost entirely. (The husband in question is poet Osip Mandelstam.) Equally impressive is her ability to relate the minutiae of Soviet existence, especially that of the persecuted intelligentsia. I told someone today that if you’re looking for puppies and rainbows, you won’t find them here. You will find true introspection and reflection, though, and that’s probably better. The second photo shows everything I marked to record in my commonplace. 😳
Happy Monday! I haven’t been posting, but I have been reading. First update is a very overdue share of Subversive, by Crystal Downing. The lovely people at @erbooks let me write a review of this fascinating look at Dorothy Sayers. You might know Sayers a mystery writer, or as a Christian apologist, or as the woman who wrote a radio play of the life of Christ that created a national uproar in the UK. I’ve linked the review in my bio if you want to know more.