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Book Report
Jul. 1st, 2016 07:31 pmIt's Friday evening, so I'm of course reading instead of partying. (Hey, technically I did party two Fridays ago when I went to Alaska's show in Columbus!)
My rating system:
10 – life-changing, an all-time favorite
5 - average for what I read
1 – terrible, why did I finish it?
The books:
Teenage Rebels by Dawson Barrett – A collection of vignettes about times that teenagers spoke up and took action to support progressive causes. It’s organized chronologically, from “factory girls” (who were indeed teenagers, some as young as 10) in the 1830s demanding better wages to teenagers in Colorado in 2014 protesting their conservative school board’s re-writing the history that is taught in their schools. A great idea but just a bit blah in terms of execution. Like I should’ve felt invigorated by all these examples but I didn’t. Maybe each piece was just too short for me to get into? Yeah, like just not enough depth to this book. Grade: 4
i’m just a person by Tig Notaro – The comedian Tig Notaro wrote this memoir describing a period of her life where she falls ill with a mysterious illness, her mother dies suddenly, her relationship ends, and then she’s diagnosed with breast cancer. I thought it was pretty compelling, watching Notaro’s struggle with all of this. The writing is crisp and fast-paced. I have two nitpicky complaints – first, there are too many pictures. Idk, it’s a short memoir. You don’t need 30 pictures of your mother. Maybe just pick the 3 or 4 best ones. Also, for a comedian, Notaro isn’t making me laugh that much in this book. There was one segment that was hilarious and I almost LOL-ed, but that was it. On the other hand, the subject matter isn’t exactly cause for giggling. Grade: 8
The Keep by Jennifer Egan – I listened to this novel on audio, and I guess the bottom line is that it held my interest but was nothing special. Taking place in modern times, it describes the story of two cousins who travel to an unnamed European country to visit a castle that one of them as bought, where a reenactment of a childhood tragedy involving the cousins seems to be unfolding. It’s narrated by a man in prison whose connection to the tale is at first unclear. Grade: 5
Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta – This novel takes place in Nigeria in the 1970’s and describes the life of a woman who is struggling with her attraction to other women, and with the condemnation placed on her by a very homophobic and sexist society. That should really be a compelling topic and yet the book was not. Especially as it went on, it got boring and predictable. I think this would’ve fared better as a memoir. As a novel, it struggled with problems like the fact that it skipped around constantly in time – we learn something happened and then we go back and get the details. It just didn’t have a dramatic or flowing story arc that you’d expect from a good story. Comparing it to the novel above, this one had better characters who were more well-defined but it really suffered in the plot department. Grade: 4
Torch by Cheryl Strayed – I picked up this book and wasn’t sure if I’d finish it, but I wanted to check it out. Cheryl Strayed wrote the best-selling (and awesome) memoir “Wild”, in which she deals with her mother’s death. “Torch” is a novelization of the events before, during, and after her mother’s passing. I loved “Wild” but when I picked up this book, I was like ‘I already read about this in non-fiction format, now I gotta read the fictional version too?’ But “Wild” was so good, as was Strayed’s other book (“Tiny Beautiful Things”). I ended up liking “Torch” too. Strayed can definitely write. She’s really good at picking up the little things that make us tick, providing the small details that make a scene and its characters pop. The subject matter was brutal – reading about the wrenching loss of a loved one wasn’t easy; but the novel is really good. Grade: 7
My rating system:
10 – life-changing, an all-time favorite
5 - average for what I read
1 – terrible, why did I finish it?
The books:
Teenage Rebels by Dawson Barrett – A collection of vignettes about times that teenagers spoke up and took action to support progressive causes. It’s organized chronologically, from “factory girls” (who were indeed teenagers, some as young as 10) in the 1830s demanding better wages to teenagers in Colorado in 2014 protesting their conservative school board’s re-writing the history that is taught in their schools. A great idea but just a bit blah in terms of execution. Like I should’ve felt invigorated by all these examples but I didn’t. Maybe each piece was just too short for me to get into? Yeah, like just not enough depth to this book. Grade: 4
i’m just a person by Tig Notaro – The comedian Tig Notaro wrote this memoir describing a period of her life where she falls ill with a mysterious illness, her mother dies suddenly, her relationship ends, and then she’s diagnosed with breast cancer. I thought it was pretty compelling, watching Notaro’s struggle with all of this. The writing is crisp and fast-paced. I have two nitpicky complaints – first, there are too many pictures. Idk, it’s a short memoir. You don’t need 30 pictures of your mother. Maybe just pick the 3 or 4 best ones. Also, for a comedian, Notaro isn’t making me laugh that much in this book. There was one segment that was hilarious and I almost LOL-ed, but that was it. On the other hand, the subject matter isn’t exactly cause for giggling. Grade: 8
The Keep by Jennifer Egan – I listened to this novel on audio, and I guess the bottom line is that it held my interest but was nothing special. Taking place in modern times, it describes the story of two cousins who travel to an unnamed European country to visit a castle that one of them as bought, where a reenactment of a childhood tragedy involving the cousins seems to be unfolding. It’s narrated by a man in prison whose connection to the tale is at first unclear. Grade: 5
Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta – This novel takes place in Nigeria in the 1970’s and describes the life of a woman who is struggling with her attraction to other women, and with the condemnation placed on her by a very homophobic and sexist society. That should really be a compelling topic and yet the book was not. Especially as it went on, it got boring and predictable. I think this would’ve fared better as a memoir. As a novel, it struggled with problems like the fact that it skipped around constantly in time – we learn something happened and then we go back and get the details. It just didn’t have a dramatic or flowing story arc that you’d expect from a good story. Comparing it to the novel above, this one had better characters who were more well-defined but it really suffered in the plot department. Grade: 4
Torch by Cheryl Strayed – I picked up this book and wasn’t sure if I’d finish it, but I wanted to check it out. Cheryl Strayed wrote the best-selling (and awesome) memoir “Wild”, in which she deals with her mother’s death. “Torch” is a novelization of the events before, during, and after her mother’s passing. I loved “Wild” but when I picked up this book, I was like ‘I already read about this in non-fiction format, now I gotta read the fictional version too?’ But “Wild” was so good, as was Strayed’s other book (“Tiny Beautiful Things”). I ended up liking “Torch” too. Strayed can definitely write. She’s really good at picking up the little things that make us tick, providing the small details that make a scene and its characters pop. The subject matter was brutal – reading about the wrenching loss of a loved one wasn’t easy; but the novel is really good. Grade: 7
