September Reviews

Confession: I really don't feel like doing reviews this month. I know, I'm the worst book blogger ever. If we're really going to get honest, I actually never really enjoy doing my monthly post and it's incredibly quick, compared to a lot of my fellow bibliophiles with sites! I think maybe my format is the problem, so maybe I'll fiddle around with it in the upcoming months. For today, I'm just going to go for it.

I think the least impressive of the mix was China Rich Girlfriend, by Kevin Kwan. It wasn't horrible, by any means, but a little silly and not exactly the world's best writing. It was definitely entertaining, though, and some of the satire from the first novel, Crazy Rich Asians, was there. It's a good book for reading in between serious reads.

For work I reread Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, which is one of my favorite books to teach. There's just so much to do with the language, historical/cultural context, and the story itself. We talk about race, gender, marriage, and a whole range of symbols. The kids like it, too, which makes the whole process even better.

The third work of fiction I read was the novella The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector and I was totally blown away by her unique narrative structure. It's a quick story about a poor girl in South America who falls in love, in dumped, and then dies, but it's really so much more. I need to get my hands on more of her works soon.

I read two nonfiction books as well, the first being The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, just because I appreciate the occasional self-help book that makes me question things about myself. I am constantly trying to figure out how to be more efficient and make the most out of my life, so I thought this book would have some good insights, which it did. I really appreciated the scientific approach and have really thought a lot about it when I'm try to, say, cut back on snacking in the afternoon.

Finally, I just finished Educated by Tara Westover for book club this week and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you were a fan of The Glass Castle you will absolutely love this one, since it was an even better, in my opinion. I can't believe everything Westover and her family went through as she was growing up in Idaho and am so impressed with what she managed to accomplish with no support at home. It made me really think about the idea of writing our own histories (which is interesting, since that ended up being her area of study), as well as my own childhood with someone who was bipolar (my upbringing was really different, but I did seem some similarities between our fathers, in some regards) 

1,611 pages