February Reviews

This was quite the month! Not bad, just busy, though. I still managed to squeeze in four books, though, which I'm always happy about during the school year. The damage:

Us by David Nicholls

416 pages

I wrote about this novel here, but just to quickly sum it up, it's about a couple, whose marriage is hanging on by a thread, that decides to embark on a tour of Europe with their young adult son before he heads to college.

Verdict: I really enjoyed this book and appreciated all that it made me ponder about being a wife, mother, and individual.

The Absolutely True Diary of Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

229 pages

Arnold Spirit is a young Native American that is brilliant, but also faces some physical challenges due to complications at birth. He decides that he wants to attend school off reservation for a better education, which produces more obstacles that he already has. Spirit has to deal with quite a lot during the span of this book; death, friendship difficulties, an alcoholic father, and navigating a girlfriend... just to scratch the surface.

Verdict: I don't read YA, but I am a fan of Alexie's The Indian Killer, so I gave this one a chance. It was a quick, fun, emotional read. 

The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

178 pages

We've all read it, yes? Or have at least seen Easy A? Puritan woman branded as an adulteress after producing a love child with *gasp* the minister. 

Verdict: I've read this book four times and liked it the most this time around. Sure, there are parts that are a bit of a slog to get through, but as a whole, I think it's so rich thematically, symbolically, and psychology. 

The Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik

200 pages 

The whole Notorious RBG thing started as a Tumblr and blew up from there. People love Ruth! And it's no doubt why- she has stood up for women's rights in the workforce, reproductively, and in government. She has been there for minorities, homosexuals, and those that are simply not being treated fairly. She does push-ups, still wears scrunchies, and dissents like no other. 

Verdict: Obviously, I loved this book. A few of the dissenting briefs bored be a little bit, but the annotation was helpful. It's simply a well-done book; it's the perfect balance between visuals, her past, her personal life, and the judicial aspects. 

1,023 pages