Furiously Happy

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book will not change your life. I sort of wish she would expand on her theory of living furiously happy when not hampered by depression/anxiety but the theory of the spoons--that not everyone has the same amount of spoons given to them every day and you just do your best to fill your spoons, not someone elses--was beautiful. Most of this is just delightful chit chat. It's fun and quirky and makes you chuckle (not really laugh) but also helps you know your weird little obsessions and stupid fights with your spouse are not as rare as you think. This really is a fluff book but I enjoyed it so much it got an extra star.

View all my reviews

How to Read a Book

How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is why it is good to read some books as part of a book club. I really didn't like this book when I first read it and still think that it promises more than it delivers in the kindle title: How to Read a Book: A Heartfelt Novel of Redemption and Unlikely Friendships in a Small Town Bookstore . Which is why I wish they wouldn't add that jibberish to the end of the title--it's reductive and sets the book up to fail. With that kind of intro I was surprised by the amount, type, and frequency of the cursing as well as the kinky-ness of the sex scenes (all of which were unneeded, imo). I also didn't find much redemption--I didn't see a big change in any of the characters in terms of changing their overall character. I also expected books to play a bigger and life-changing part of the plot.
But talking about it in bookclub made me reflect on it more than I would have and I do think it has an interesting theme about invisibility--most of the characters in this book are invisible--prisoners, older retired people, etc. The book deals with how this invisibility affects them, who they are drawn to, what assumptions are made about them, their actions because of it, etc. Thinking of it in these terms, it really is quite insightful--even the birds Violet works with have some parrots who are "superstars" and ones that struggle to learn, and the professor learns he needs his experiments to be "seen" on line if he is to gain funding. Looking at it from this angle--how we are seen, or not seen, and how that affects us and how looking to see the person and not their labels, made this book better for me. So, publishers, let us look at books for ourselves instead of planting ideas in our heads with superfluous title details please.

View all my reviews

Our Woman in Moscow

Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Touted as a spy book, this has less to do with actual spying shenanigans and more to do with how someone would become a spy and then how leading a double life affected their personal life. The story is mostly told from the points of view of two sisters--one married to a spy and another recruited to help execute a plan to help her sister defect. Loosely based on the life of real spies, this book does a good job of showing the effects of the strain of spying--the paranoia, drinking, rationalization, etc. that don't show up in most popular spy novels. However, I do wish Williams would dig in a bit more. She does a good job of showing how the wife fell in love, but how did she keep rationalizing after they were married and it was apparent what was happening? Her motivations seem to be purely out of love--first for her husband and then for her lover--I was wishing for a woman who acted on her own thoughts and beliefs. A few more pages of her grappling with knowing what her husband does, or more details on how she carried out her own spying and how she kept it from her husband, and how that made her feel, would have made this book even more compelling. Her sister seems slightly more developed, even if it makes her an ambitious, sexual, hot-headed sister. A good spy novel if you like glitz and romance over psychological exploration.

View all my reviews

Oh, William!

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This reminded me a bit of looking at a photo album with someone who has all the time in the world to digress into small stories about things the photos trigger. This is the story of Lucy and her ex husband as they discover William's half-sibling and go to find her. There are countless tangential asides about their marriage, their kids, Lucy's childhood, etc. etc. Lucy's realization of the humanity of all people, their good and bad parts, was perhaps better made in the two previous Amgash books. Not an unpleasant read, but not as heartwarming as other Strout novels I've read.

View all my reviews

The House of Mirth

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A very readable classic, with a sympathetic protagonist and fast-moving plot. Lily must marry for money --she is beautiful, charming, and runs in all the right circles. But one poor choice leads to another, and she quietly self-implodes. Through procrastination, evading uncomfortable situations, and a certain naïveté, she follows the path of least resistance until she has few choices left. She may be seen as a tragic character, but her final choice, a choice she does make at great sacrifice, shows her to have an inner strength that is truly admirable. Wharton hides a feminist platform in this ostensible romance novel, arguing that without financial freedom even true love cannot survive.

View all my reviews