Shaina Reads

I had big plans for today's post. I was going to spend hours putting together the 5th Annual End of Year Book Survey by the Perpetual Page-turner, mostly so I could rant about how much I disliked The Unbearable Lightness of Being (it's really too bad I started blogging after that disaster of a novel).

Once I sat down to fill out the survey, though, I drew a blank. I've only been blogging (and seriously reviewing) the books I read since early November, and my memory isn't sharp enough to consider every book I read in the year. I would rather save a whopper of a survey like this for next year, when I'll hopefully have been blogging since January 2015.

So, what to post today, on New Year's Eve? My favorite part of book blogging so far has been the awesome people I've already(!) managed to meet, just after a month and a half. I've loved reading widely, thinking critically about my books, and getting back into writing regularly, but this new hobby of mine wouldn't be the same without my blossoming community. Here's to a few folks who have really made things special:


It's been a blast reading your posts and chatting with you all these past few weeks. If you've ever commented (or even just visited), you're wonderful! I can't wait to get to know you even better in 2015.

Have a lovely holiday, and see you next year!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Once again, I come bearing no embarrassing story for you. Maybe my prediction about the purpose of Tuesdays was incorrect.

Either way, book memes!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
My teaser this week comes from The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, which I am LOVING (thanks, Karsyn!).

At the bottom of the cupboard, I kept an old tin cookie box, a treasure chest of sorts. There I stored a menagerie of useless bits of junk that I couldn't bring myself to throw away: watches and fountain pens damaged beyond repair, old coins, marbles, wartime bullet cases I'd found in Laberinto Park, and fading postcards of Barcelona from the turn of the century.

This book has a gorgeous level of detail to it. I might be enjoying the atmosphere even more than the plot!

We also have Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and Bookish. Today's topic: top ten goals/resolutions for 2015 (bookish or otherwise).

Ugh. I hate making resolutions—who ever sticks to them, really? It's like making a list of all the things you plan to fail at in the coming year. (Ahem. My inner Negative Nancy is showing.) On the flip side, it might be fun to write down a few things to aim for and see, come December 2015, how I did. No pressure. Yeah, let's go with that.

1. Not worry about meeting a "books read" goal for the year. I made one of these this year and found myself worrying more about hitting it than enjoying my books. I'm not touching the GR challenge in 2015, no matter how much I love obsessively checking my ticker.

2. Not worry about posting on this blog every day. I have enjoyed my daily posting in December, if for no other reasons than flexing my long-dormant writing muscles and establishing my blogging presence, but I anticipate this posting rate giving me grey hair. I hope to post 3ish times per week in 2015.

3. Read more new releases. One thing book blogging has shown me is how many wonderful books get published every year. Before now, I mostly focused my reading on older books, but I hope to include more recent stuff in the mix in 2015.

4. Don't read if I don't feel like it. I'm bad at this, especially since beginning to blog. It runs in the same vein as Resolutions/Things to Aim For #1 and #2. Books are fun and interesting, and I intend to keep them that way.

5. Make more time for me. I'm the type of person who likes to be there for those around me, even at the expense of myself. I don't want to swing to the opposite extreme, but I want to strike a healthy balance between being with (and there for) my loved ones and being with (and there for) myself.

6. Spend more time outside/take more walks. This is basically impossible until May, but I want to make an effort in the late spring and summer. Why coop myself up when I'm forced to do that for six months out of the year anyway?

7. Bake something new and challenging. Eclairs and/or Boston cream pie, I'm looking at you.

I sat and stared at #8 for a while until realizing that I don't want to write anything halfhearted. Seven resolutions/things to aim for it is! This should keep me plenty busy.

Do y'all have 2015 resolutions? Do you dislike resolutions as much as I do? Want to tease me with your Tuesday read? Link me to your memes! 

P.S. Vacation has made me rather slow on the comment response front. I promise I'm not ignoring you! Just out enjoying my last few days of freedom before the new year begins.

Since we last talked book stacks, mine multiplied. Expanded. Proliferated. Pick your own synonym!

Regardless, it means I removed one book (all done with Ivanhoe, yay!) and added five. I blame my grandparents' community's library almost entirely. Do I have any hope of reading all of them? Not a chance. Am I going to enjoy trying? Immensely! Kind of how TBR lists work in general, I suppose.

Here's what's new to my stack (all images from Goodreads):


The Gods of Gotham, by Lyndsay Faye—I picked up this one entirely based on its cover and blurb (okay, so I did see a testimonial from Maureen Corrigan on the front, and that didn't hurt, either). A murder mystery set in nineteenth-century New York? Sounds like vacation reading to me.

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini—This is one of those books that's been on my mental TBR since high school. My dad happens to be tearing through this one at the moment, and I would love to be able to talk to him about it.
Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro—I've seen this one on many bloggers' lists and know close to nothing about it, so I figured I'd check it out. Very much a 'why not?' grab.

Passage, by Connie Willis—I mentioned I picked this one up during my last bookstore romp based entirely on my prior (joyous) experiences with her work. This will almost definitely be a post-vacation read.

Searoad, by Ursula K. Le Guin—Le Guin has also been on my mental list of authors to check out, so when I saw this little novella hanging out in the community library, I couldn't stop myself from grabbing it. It's under 200 pages, so I might actually have hope of finishing this one!

What are you all reading? Share your holiday (or non) hauls!

Source: Wikipedia

We've made it to the second-to-last week of the Ivanhoe read-along, hosted by Rachelle of The Reading Wench. If you want to read about what we're up to, check out her sign-up post!

I actually finished the novel this week, but I'm going to stick with the Sunday updates since we've only got one to go.

• Mon. 24th Nov. – Sun. 30th Nov.: Chapters 1 – 7
• Mon. 1st Dec. – Sun. 7th Dec.: Chapters 8 – 16
• Mon. 8th Dec. – Sun. 14th Dec.: Chapters 17 – 25
• Mon. 15th Dec. – Sun. 21st Dec.: Chapters 26 – 31
• Mon. 22nd Dec. – Sun. 28th Dec.: Chapters 32 – 38
• Mon. 29th Dec. – Sun. 4th Jan.: Chapters 39 – 44

Synopsis for this week's section can be found under the red. We open up with Locksley and his bandits dividing their spoils from their ambush of Torquilstone. Before he departs, Locksley gives the Black Knight a horn which he can sound in times of distress and call upon the outlaws' assistance. The friar arrives with Isaac in tow, and Isaac discovers that his daughter Rebecca has been kidnapped by the Templar Bois-Guilbert. Isaac travels to the Preceptory of Templestowe to offer ransom for his daughter. The Grand Master of Templestowe is infamous for his hatred of Jews, and Isaac fears for Rebecca's life. In an attempt to cover for Bois-Guilbert's sinful passion for Rebecca, Albert Malvoisin (the Preceptor of Templestowe) suggests to the Grand Master that she may have cast a spell over Bois-Guilbert, citing her practice of medicine as proof of her sorcery. Rebecca is immediately placed on trial and is nearly sentenced to death, but, at the last moment, she requests a trial by combat (at Bois-Guilbert's suggestion). She is ordered to procure a champion to fight for her life in three days' time. Isaac learns of his daughter's fate and seeks out Wilfred of Ivanhoe to fight in her honor.

I read the bulk of this week's chapters on my plane ride to Florida and was more absorbed in the story than ever before during the read-along. The pace picked up significantly, particularly during the trial, and I even found myself stifling a giggle at times (there's particularly amusing scene between Isaac and the Prior of Anjou). Rebecca continues to be one of my favorite characters, though she runs the risk of being a bit one-dimensional.

I didn't want to stop reading after Chapter 38 ended, again on a cliffhanger. Rachelle claims that she didn't plan the read-along to have so many nail-biters, but I'm not sure I believe her. ;)

Tune in next week for my last update and wrap-up!

During the week, I persuaded my parents and boyfriend to help me find an independent bookstore in Sarasota, FL. Because, really, what would a vacation be without a bookish expedition (or four)? After a few queries to Google, we stumbled upon A. Parker's Books & Book Bazaar on Main Street.

The place was small but had loads of charm, including an outdoor patio at the front of the store (because Florida). While it had a decent selection of more contemporary work, the shop seems to deal more in older and rare collections.

I gleefully browsed through their collection of first-edition classics in all their leather-bound, gilt-edged glory before abandoning the $75 Alice in Wonderland for a $3.50 copy of Passage by Connie Willis. I'm not sure how Passage compares to the other work I've read (and adored) by her, but at a rate of a buck per 200-250 pages, I figured it was worth the risk.

Their staff members were very present and eager to chat—one of them directed me to a short story (literally printed and taped to a side of a shelf in the sci-fi section), bubbling over about how it managed to fit every theme and emotion you could want in under 1,000 words. People this excited about stories never fail to make me feel at home, and, I have to admit, it was pretty good.

If you ever find yourself in downtown Sarasota, give this place a shot!

Did you visit (or do you plan to visit) any bookstores over your holiday?

Source: Goodreads

When I asked you all for light, fluffy reads last week, Shannon of River City Reading recommended I check out Where'd You Go, Bernadette.

I wasn't able to get to the library again before leaving, but, as luck would have it, my grandparents have a small library in their condominium. (If I haven't mentioned before, my grandparents live in a 55+ community in Sarasota—if you know anything about Florida, you will find this entirely predictable.) Where'd You Go was lying on the top of one of the stacks, and I snapped it up immediately for a poolside read. I wolfed the entire thing down in just over 30 hours.

This is the story of a family—Elgie, Bernadette and their daughter, Bee, who is about to graduate from middle school with flying colors and wants to celebrate. The moment she requests a family trip to Antarctica, she sends her agoraphobic, socially-avoidant mother into a tailspin, one that (as the title suggests) results in her disappearance from their home in Seattle, Washington. Bee decides to hunt her mother down, piecing together the days before she left through faxes, emails and police reports, and learns much more than expected about her family and (cheesily) herself along the way.

When she told me about it, Shannon described the book as "vacation perfect." She couldn't have been more right—the story moves along at a brisk trot and is intensely funny, with the epistolary style adding to the laughs (you learn about certain events through others' reports, e.g., an emergency room bill, leaving the actual mayhem to the imagination). Bernadette and Bee are sharp and feisty, and you can't help but get sucked in to their us vs. Seattle mentality. (Bernadette really hates Seattle and manages to be hilariously cogent about it. I can't wait to recommend this to one of my friends, a born-and-bred Seattleite—I think she'll love it.)

Still, I hesitate to call this completely fluffy. The book tackles serious subjects like mental illness, miscarriage and neonatal health problems. It doesn't shy away from showing us a woman's slow but steady retreat into herself and what happens when this absorption wins out over her love for her family. This book is more like... sweet potato casserole. A layer of pure sugar-spun enjoyment, something more nourishing and substantial lurking underneath, and, overall, a sweet treat of a story. ("With a healthy serving of fiber," my boyfriend added, when I regaled him with this analogy.)

My quibbles with this book are minor. I would normally complain about the characters' cluelessness and my failure to relate to them (most, if not all, are exceedingly wealthy and think their money grants them invincibility), but it really worked here, and the story wouldn't have been the same without it. Some more fleshing out of certain characters would have been nice, but, again, this book worked just the way it was.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a day-long escape into the drama (both serious and not) of someone else's family. We can all use that over the holidays, right?

In anticipation of my two weeks of family time, rest and relaxation, I decided over the weekend to crack open my copy of The Complete Works and see what Montaigne has to say about idleness.

This is among the first of the essays in the collection, and he had roughly one page of thoughts on the subject. As I might have expected, Montaigne isn't a big fan. In fact, leisure time for him sounds an awful lot like anxiety:

"[I]t seemed to me that I could do my mind no greater favor than to let it entertain itself in full idleness and stay and settle in itself ... But I find that, on the contrary ... it gives itself a hundred time more trouble than it took for others, and gives birth to so many chimeras and fantastic monsters..." - p. 24

I can relate to this. I have a lot of trouble relaxing (if you can't already tell) and have been known to squander my free time mulling over every possible thing besides, you know, something fun and enjoyable. I have become a lot better about this over time, and I'm hoping to put the calming strategies I've learned to good use during my vacation.

Another line that stuck with me:

"The soul that has no fixed goal loses itself; for as they say, to be everywhere is to be nowhere..." - p. 24

Despite the fact that I wholeheartedly agree with him and know only too well the mental restlessness that comes with not having goals, this is pretty crummy advice for enjoying a long holiday. I like to think that, with a good meal and a glass or two of bourbon-laced egg nog, Montaigne would agree with me. (Related: I think I'll review "On drunkenness" next.)

Are you good at being idle? Do you think it has its merits?

Oh, and Merry Christmas Eve, to those who celebrate!

Amazingly, I don't have a sad/embarrassing story to share with you this Tuesday! I must have gotten better at this whole life thing in the past week.

That being said, I am writing this post in advance (on Sunday afternoon) due to my upcoming trip, so it's entirely possible that something cringe-worthy will happen to me in the next 48-ish hours. Considering my family will soon be involved, it's almost a given. I'll be sure to regale you with whatever comes to pass next week.

Now, book memes!

First up, we have First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday from Bibliophile by the Sea. This week I'm featuring The Shadow of the Wind, which I posted about yesterday:

I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time. It was the early summer of 1945, and we walked through the streets of a Barcelona trapped beneath ashen skies as dawn poured over Rambla de Santa Mónica in a wreath of liquid copper.

"Daniel, you mustn't tell anyone what you're about to see today," my father warned. "Not even your friend Tomás. No one."

"Not even Mommy?"

"Of course you can tell her," he answered, heavyhearted. "We keep no secrets from her. You can tell her everything."

The dust jacket blurb is particularly illuminating here. "Barcelona, 1945—Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes one day to find that he can no longer remember his mother's face." Sheesh, not even a few paragraphs in, and this novel is already doing its worst to tug at my heartstrings. What about you?

And then we have Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and Bookish. Today's topic: top ten books I wouldn't mind Santa bringing this year. I'm going to hearken back to my bookish holiday wish list for some help with this one.

1. The Complete Works, by Michel de Montaigne—Yes, I know this is cheating, because I already got it. Thanks, Santa!

2. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, by Deb Perelman—This one is actually cheating, too, as this was my Day 8 or 9 gift during "The Twelve Days of Christmas" gifting my boyfriend and I did before our vacation. Knowing my diehard love for SK, he took the gift one step further (and almost made me cry) with this personalized inscription:

I predict my couch will continue to feature prominently on this blog.

And, of course, I'm bringing a stack of books with me! As you can see, I managed to pick almost all big, clunky hardcovers. (I didn't need to bring clothes, right?) If I had my druthers, I'd be bringing more than four, but I'm trying my best to imagine that there will be moments I won't be reading.

I don't have any real goals for this stack. I'd like to finish my Ivanhoe read-along on time, but, as I mentioned over the weekend, I'm going to try to make these two weeks as low-stress as possible in terms of reading (and blogging). Whether it's a single page or all four books, whatever I accomplish is good enough for me.

So here's what's on tap:

Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler—I teased this one for you guys last Tuesday, but since then, I haven't touched it! I've been on a real spec-fic/sci-fi kick this year, particularly when it comes to women authors, and I hope to continue a great streak of reading with Butler.

Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott—If you've been following my blog for any length of time (read: even since yesterday), you'll know I'm participating in an Ivanhoe read-along with Rachelle of The Reading Wench. The laid-back reading schedule means I've been moving through this one slowly, which I have found to be both good (I only have to digest small chunks of the story at a time) and bad (it can be sloooow). The RAL ends on January 4, but I'm hoping to vanquish this tome before the new year.

The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón—This one comes highly recommended by Karsyn of KaKiKoJoKa (it's one of her favorites of the year!). From the dust jacket and Goodreads blurbs, this sounds like just the sprawling, fantastic adventure I need to counteract some of the heavier nonfiction reading I have been doing lately. I'm really looking forward to this one. (And, no, I have no idea why this one is in my library's teen section).

The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan, by Jenny Nordberg—Ah, speaking of heavy nonfiction reading... I wasn't originally interested in this one, after seeing it make its rounds during Nonfiction November. I must not have been reading anyone's synopses closely, because I thought this was a book about child prostitution (interesting in its own right, of course, but not really what I'm looking for at the moment). I forget whose review it was that finally made me realize that this book is about a whole lot of things I care about—oppression of women, problematic gender norms, and a big old "screw you" to both—and I immediately snapped it up from my library's new nonfiction shelf. I can't wait to dig in to these women's stories.

What are you guys reading over the holidays? Does anyone else take an unrealistic number of books with them on vacation?

Source: Wikipedia

Today marks the end of week 4 of the Ivanhoe read-along, hosted by Rachelle of The Reading Wench. Check out her kick-off post or mine for more information about the event. Our reading schedule is below, if you'd like to play catch up:

• Mon. 24th Nov. – Sun. 30th Nov.: Chapters 1 – 7
• Mon. 1st Dec. – Sun. 7th Dec.: Chapters 8 – 16
• Mon. 8th Dec. – Sun. 14th Dec.: Chapters 17 – 25
• Mon. 15th Dec. – Sun. 21st Dec.: Chapters 26 – 31
• Mon. 22nd Dec. – Sun. 28th Dec.: Chapters 32 – 38
• Mon. 29th Dec. – Sun. 4th Jan.: Chapters 39 – 44

I was halfway through writing a detailed, spoiler-ific synopsis when I realized that Rachelle did a much better, succinct job of it. Go check out her recap for the big picture of what happened this week.

After her awesomeness last week, I found myself rolling my eyes at Rebecca's near-instantaneous love fest for Wilfred of Ivanhoe. I kept thinking, "C'mon, gal, he might be cute, but he's racist as hell, and you deserve better." I suppose this is what happens when a 21st-century woman reads 19th-century literature about the Middle Ages. Thankfully, Urfried/Ulrica provided the perfect foil. Much like Rachelle, I couldn't get over how awesome she is, despite her very serious flaws. The scene in which she's standing on the burning turret, crying out her battle/revenge hymn, before she goes down in flames will stick with me for a while yet. Also, I am so, so glad that Front-de-Boeuf got his. Good riddance.

A short recap this week, I know, but I continue to drag my feet on this one! I'm finding myself glad to have read it, but the actual reading it part is taking a lot of effort. This week I blame a bit of a reading slump rather than having too many other books to focus on. I also have gotten much lazier about looking up unfamiliar words, so I'm almost assuredly not getting as much out of it as I could. I'm hoping I'll be better about this during the last two sections.

Have you read Ivanhoe? I'd love to talk to you about it!

I've read 46 books this year. Don't be fooled by my GR ticker—two of those 48 are short stories that I read this year and wanted to rate, but I don't actually count them toward my 52 book goal count. That means (as of this posting) I have 11 days to read six books. Originally, I was thinking I might trim down my goal number to 50, but that still leaves four. That's a book every three days while I'm on my vacation, and, honestly, I just don't see that happening.

If you've been reading since I first began blogging last month, you might have gleaned by now that I tend to be pretty hard on myself. I'm an equal opportunity self-deprecator—I'll guilt myself over mishaps at work, late reviews, failures in the kitchen, awkward social interactions and, now, unmet reading goals. I think my dedication to lifelong learning and improvement is both my best and worst quality—I'm ambitious and like to get a lot done, both personally and professionally, but I'm also slow to forgive myself when I don't immediately succeed.

As the days dwindled away and it dawned on me that I wouldn't complete my challenge, my first instinct was to be angry at myself—for not dedicating enough time to reading, for planning poorly, for... well, you name it, and I probably berated myself about it. But I've been trying to remember something that Stefani of Caught Read Handed mentioned in her BookBlogWriMo  post... that whole "not stressing" thing (ha!). If I'm going to tear myself to shreds over not reading a certain number of books a year, does that mean I'm actually enjoying myself? Shouldn't I be worried about actually enjoying the content of the books I read, rather than ticking off numbers? (Note: I don't think these things are necessarily mutually exclusive, but you can definitely forsake quality for quantity.)

And the truth is, I have been reading. A lot. Possibly to the detriment of other things I enjoy—my cat, my boyfriend, my friends, other hobbies, even my mental health. I've been so focused on kicking off my blog successfully by getting new content up every day, and making sure I'm reading at a steady pace, that a lot of other things have fallen by the wayside.

Don't get me wrong—I really love blogging, and I love the community of book bloggers that I'm only just beginning to get to know. I just have to remember that I love other things, too, and that my love for this won't last if I'm tearing my hair out over being four (or six) books short.

Karsyn of KaKiKoJoKa summed it up really nicely for me, in a comment on my Bout of Books 12 sign-up post:

My advice for a newbie ~ there is no fail!! Having fun is what matters most, and you're lucky to have a life that's full that you can't read every second of every day. So if you don't beat your goals, that's ok, as long as you have fun.

In addition to BoB, this seems like great advice for reading and blogging in general. It was also a wonderful reminder for me that I really do have a full life, and it's important to enjoy it.

So! I'll continue to try to get content up every day, but if not, that's OK, too. I'll keep on reading, but if I don't touch my stack for a day (or two, gasp!), I'll try not to worry. Instead, I'll do my best and try (try, try) to remember that that's all I really have to do.

Does anyone ever feel like this about reading and/or blogging? Also, does anyone have any recommendations for LIGHTER reads I can take on vacation with me? I definitely want to keep reading when I go away, but I'm overdue for some fluffy, fun stuff! :)

Source: Wikipedia

On Wednesday night, a friend of ours asked me and my boyfriend if we'd like to go with him to see The Babadook, a psychological horror film from director Jennifer Kent (also, amazingly, responsible for Babe: Pig in the City). It's received wide critical praise, including a "98% Fresh" score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a positive reception at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. If you've yet to see the trailer, check it out—but maybe use the bathroom and turn on all the lights first. And, of course, if you're really, really not into horror, don't watch it. Maybe skip this post entirely.

Broadly, the film is about widowed mother Amelia (Essie Davis) struggling to raise her son Sam (Noah Wiseman), who is becoming increasingly sleepless, aggressive and convinced that "monsters" will soon attack him and his mother. When Mister Babadook shows up on her son's picture book shelf, the two are hurled into a nightmare that blurs the lines between the supernatural and the reality of the exhaustion of motherhood and the unresolved grief of Amelia's husband's death. If you want more of a synopsis and analysis, there are plenty of reviews out there. It's a fantastic film, and the raw emotion and terrifying imagery will leave you reeling for hours after watching it.

What I'm most interested in talking about is the pop-up book itself—now, apparently, being made into a real book. All I can say is, "Whyyyyyyyy?" Since watching the film, I've been trying to parse out the symbolism of the book. Evil arriving and being unleashed in the form of a book certainly isn't a new plot device—even J.K. Rowling did it—and maybe (as my boyfriend suggested) it's just a simple, visually compelling way to get the conflict established and moving, without any further meaning lurking beneath.

Source: The New York Times

Bibliophile that I am, I'm not satisfied by that explanation. The power of narrative and myth is well-established—it can comfort us, shock us, make us believe the impossible and the improbable. Putting our feelings into words is a form of catharsis, allowing us to lay down our burdens regardless of whether anyone else ever reads what we have to say. It's undeniable that this is what Mister Babadook is—a physical embodiment of Amelia's grief and anger and what it can (and will) become if she allows it to take over. But why the physical book itself? Why do we (as humans) think that books hold so much power over us?

As you can see in the trailer, Amelia literally destroys the book—she tears it apart, and, when that doesn't work, burns it in her barbecue grill. In The Chamber of Secrets, Ginny attempts to flush the diary away, and Harry literally stabs it, watching it leak its ink in a not-so-subtle nod to bleeding a person out. This suggests something beyond the story's ability to grip us—something about its physical embodiment troubles us, deeply, and we want to destroy it. Why?

Source: Goodreads

Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
 
Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice. (Goodreads)

You know how I predicted that this book would swallow me whole once I finally settled down to read it? I was absolutely right. I cracked Just Mercy open at page 20 on Sunday and devoured the 300+ pages in the space of about two and a half days. I was a few pages from the end on Tuesday evening when I remarked to my boyfriend, "I'm going to be really glad when this is over, because it's making me depressed."

Ugh, yes, I said "depressed" when I should have said "sad." Minus one for Shaina. But it was true—I'd been struggling with anxiety and the blues since coming home from Thanksgiving, and I realized that this book, important as it was, was not doing me any favors in that department. I know, woe is me for being down while reading the devastating stories of dozens of individuals failed by the justice system, in situations I will almost certainly never have to worry about finding myself in simply due to the color of my skin. But, well, it is sad. It's demoralizing. It's wrong, and Stevenson really, really wants us to walk away from his book understanding how awful it gets.

Stevenson talks race; he talks class; he talks mental illness and disability. He tells us about children who were incarcerated for life in their teens (and some even younger), despite the fact that research shows that adolescents' brains are merely works in progress. A unifying thread in all these stories is the prosecution's complete unwillingness to admit fault, even in the face of undisclosed evidence, bribed witnesses and illegally-selected juries. This is not just a problem among legal counsel—the public has similar trouble changing its mind about people condemned to life imprisonment or death, even in the face of undeniable innocence. Stevenson becomes especially emotional about this when recalling the night of the execution Jimmy Dill, an intellectually disabled man with childhood trauma who was wrongly accused of capital murder:

"We're supposed to sentence people fairly after fully considering their life circumstances, but instead we exploit the inability of the poor to get the legal assistance we need—all so we can kill them with less resistance."

Despite this, Stevenson thinks there's reason to be hopeful. He and his team at the Equal Justice Initiative have won landmark rulings, including bans of life imprisonment without parole for children convicted of both homicide and non-homicide crimes. He doesn't offer us a solution to the prejudice and discrimination that pervade the justice system, but he's determined to keep fighting it regardless.

I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a closer, more intimate look at our prison system and the people who inhabit it. As often happens with books like this, the most likely people to pick it up are those who are already interested in social ills and justice, and so the contents may be less shocking and more additional, disheartening examples of a system the reader is already well aware is broken. Still, whether you know nothing about the subject or are fairly well-versed, Just Mercy is absolutely worth your time.

My first read-a-thon was Dewey's 24-Hour RAT in October of this year. My boyfriend happened to be out of the country on business at the time, and I was on the lookout for something to do that weekend. Browsing one of my bookish subreddits, I saw someone posted about the event and a link for anyone interested in taking part. I signed up, and the rest, as they (I wonder who was the first...) say, is history—I was completely hooked.

Not content to have Dewey's be my only RAT of the year, I asked some of my fellow RATers what other challenges they took part in. Someone mentioned Bout of Books, and I marked on my calendar to check back for the BoB 12 sign-up post. (This, of course, came before the advent of my own blog and my handy Feedly.) And guess what, guys? IT'S FINALLY HERE!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 5th and runs through Sunday, January 11th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 12 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I haven't quite figured out my goals for the event yet, as I'll just be coming off a long vacation during which, I hope, I'll have read a whole bunch. Here are some preliminary ones:

1. Read three books during the week. I failed to do this during Karsyn's Beat Your Best RAT last month, and I refuse to admit defeat!

2. Read at least one book from my 2015 TBR Pile Challenge list.

And that's it for now! We'll have to see what happens when the new year comes. Regardless of the goals I meet (or don't), I can't wait to take part. :)

Anyone else taking part in BoB 12? What are your goals for the event? Any tips for a RAT newbie on getting the most out of the event?

So I kind of think Tuesdays are for unfortunate stories about my life and book memes.

Last week, I had to drive to a school for work. It's located an hour away from my lab, and I had to prepare a bunch of paperwork (we plan to work with kids in the school, so we have to send consent forms home to parents in advance to see how many children will be able to participate) and get the principal to sign an agreement form. I get this all prepared (340 packets!) and drive on over, buzz in, and say I'm there to see Principal A. I get inside, confidently introduce myself, and one of the office staff members says, "Oh. You're looking for Principal A? That's at School A. We're School B, and this is our principal, Principal B."

Cue me standing there, flustered and confused, possibly with coffee all over my coat (I'd spilled it on the drive over and had forgotten to clean up), and trying to work out how I'd made this mistake. I quickly apologized for wasting their time and fled the office. Pretty sure I heard one of the office staff say, "Oh my god," as I left. Yeah, same, lady.

How did this happen? Well, both School A and School B are located in the same town, and I happened to be in talks with both of them about scheduling visits. School B had yet to get back to me, but School A was eager to participate. Somehow, I got it in my head that School B was the one that had gotten back to me. So there I was, only ten minutes down the street from School A, but with completely wrong paperwork. 340 packets' worth.

So I drove the hour back to work and proceeded to spend the rest of the workday dismantling and rebuilding packets with the correct information. All 340 of them. (Did I mention how many packets there were?)

Oh well. I hadn't driven in a while, so at least I got some practice in, right? And now I know exactly how to get to School A! Silver linings.

OK, enough ranting from me. Have some book memes!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
My teaser this week is from Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler:

"That's what it's like outside. If you got a gun, you're somebody. If you don't, you're shit. And a lot of people out there don't have guns."

Eek. Sounds like things are pretty out of control in 2025, the year this book takes place. I hope Butler wasn't accurate in her premonitions of what's to come.

I was gonna do Top Ten Tuesday as well, but I'd basically be reiterating my list from last week (which you should check out!), just focusing on the books rather than the authors. So let's try out First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday from Bibliophile by the Sea. Because I've already got it handy, let's use Parable of the Sower.

All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth Is Change. God Is Change. —Earthseed: The Books of the Living

Saturday, July 20, 2024

I had my recurring dream last night. I guess I should have expected it. It comes to me when I struggle—when I twist on my own personal hook and try to pretend that nothing unusual is happening. It comes to meet when I try to be my father's daughter.

Today is our birthday—my fifteenth and my father's fifty-fifth. Tomorrow, I'll try to please him—him and the community and God. So last night, I dreamed a reminder that it's all a lie. I think I need to write about the dream because this particular lie bothers me so much.

OK, between the teaser and this opener, how can you not check this one out?

Happy Tuesday to everyone! I'll try to make sure next Tuesday is heavier on the books, lighter on the personal tragedy. :)

Link up any memes you take part in in the comments!

Lazing with Montaigne on the couch (aka livin' the dream).

I mentioned in my bookish holiday gift guide post that I wanted (and would be receiving) a complete collection of Michel de Montaigne's essays for the holidays. I also spent a bunch of time gushing about all my Montaigne-related feelings, in case you missed it. Welp, Santa Boyfriend and his Amazon Prime elves came through yesterday! We're doing "12 Days of Christmas"-style gifting, and this was my Day 4 gift. (Wonky numbering, I know—travel plans got in the way, so Christmas came early!)

If anyone is even remotely interested in this collection and, for whatever reason, wants a nearly three-pound hardcover copy, I'd recommend this Everyman's Library edition. It's really, really pretty, much more than my cell phone photo makes it look. Also, it comes with one of those little built-in, bookmark string things! What more could you want? (If you'd prefer the weightless e-book copy, I won't judge. But, seriously, look at how attractive this book is.)

If you read my previous post or know anything about Montaigne, you know he's written about a ton of different subjects. I decided to get a taste for his writing with his essay about books, aptly titled "On books." After all, could he have chosen a more appropriate subject? You can read it for free on Project Gutenberg, though the translation from the French is rougher.

Off the bat, I noticed that Montaigne would have made an awesome blogger.

"I have no doubt that I often happen to speak of things that are better treated by the masters of the craft, and more truthfully. ... whoever shall catch me in ignorance will do nothing against me, for I should hardly be answerable for my ideas to others, I who am not answerable for them to myself, or satisfied with them. Whoever is in search of knowledge, let him fish for it where it dwells; there is nothing I profess less. These are my fancies, by which I try to give knowledge not of things, but of myself." - p. 359

He doesn't claim to know anything (basically the point of all his written work, ever) but is rather writing to try to make sense of himself through the lens of his experience, however imperfectly. That's a pretty good definition of blogging, at least to me.

Within the essay, he discusses many ancient writers I haven't read (Cicero, Horace, Plutarch), but this did not stop me from relating to his broader observations about reading. For instance, why he reads:

"I seek in books only to give myself pleasure but honest amusement; or if I study, I seek only the learning that treats of the knowledge of myself and instructs me in how to die well and live well..." - p. 360 

"... I have a singular curiosity, as I have said elsewhere, to know the soul and the natural judgments of my authors." - p. 366

 And how he reads:

"If I encounter difficulties in reading, I do not gnaw my nails over them; I leave them there, after making one or two attacks on them. If I planted myself in them, I would lose both myself and time; for I have an impulsive mind." - p. 361 

"If this book wearies me, I take up another; and I apply myself to it only at the moments when the boredom of doing nothing begins to grip me." - p. 361 

Really, I ought to take his advice. I stick with some confusing passages, as well as some duds of books, for way too long.

I particularly agree with his view of historians (easily applied to other authors) that interpret the meaning of events without giving us the chance to form our own opinions:

"Let them boldly display their eloquence and their reasonings, let them judge all they like; but let them also leave us the wherewithal to judge after them, and not alter or arrange by their abridgments and selection anything of the substance of the matter, but pass it on to us pure and entire in all its dimensions." - p. 369

One place Montaigne and I diverge in thought (oh, the horror!) is his preference for beautiful prose above subject matter.

"... the perfections and beauties of his style of expression make us lose our appetite for his subject. [Horace's] distinction and elegance hold us throughout; he is everywhere so delightful, and so fills our soul with his charms, that we forget those of his plot." - p. 363

 While I do appreciate eloquent writing, I need some substance behind it. Otherwise, I get lost and lose track of why I'm reading it in the first place.

Finally, at the end of the piece, he reveals that he writes in his books. I see this as yet another reason for me to get over my irrational aversion to doing it myself.

In all, this was a great way to introduce myself to Montaigne's work. I definitely see why people find him so accessible, even roughly half a millennium after he wrote his essays.

Have any of you read any Montaigne? What did you think?

Source: Wikimedia

We've made it to the halfway point in the Ivanhoe read-along, hosted by Rachelle of The Reading Wench! See her post (or my previous posts) for a description of the event and the reading schedule. Be sure to check out her Week 3 recap, too!

• Mon. 24th Nov. – Sun. 30th Nov.: Chapters 1 – 7
• Mon. 1st Dec. – Sun. 7th Dec.: Chapters 8 – 16
• Mon. 8th Dec. – Sun. 14th Dec.: Chapters 17 – 25
• Mon. 15th Dec. – Sun. 21st Dec.: Chapters 26 – 31
• Mon. 22nd Dec. – Sun. 28th Dec.: Chapters 32 – 38
• Mon. 29th Dec. – Sun. 4th Jan.: Chapters 39 – 44

It went down this week. Find a quick summary under the red, if you're so inclined. De Bracy and Bois-Guilbert (the Knight Templar) carry out their plan to waylay Cedric, Lady Rowena, Isaac, Rebecca and their attendants as they make the trip back home from the tournament. We also learn that the wounded Wilfred of Ivanhoe is traveling with them in secret. The group is detained at Front-de-Boeuf (whose name never fails to make me giggle)'s castle for various reasons: Isaac for his money, Rowena for De Bracy's bride, and Rebecca for Bois-Guilbert's, in addition to the general Norman hostility toward Cedric the Saxon. The captors' plans are interrupted by a message from Wamba the Jester (who, along with Gurth, managed to escape before the attack). He reports that he, Gurth and Locksley have assembled 200 who will fight for the release of Cedric and his retinue, if their peaceful release is denied. Front-de-Boeuf and his co-conspirators respond that they plan to execute the group and request a priest to deliver the last rites. Our week's reading ends with Wamba donning the friar's outfit to go and meet them.

I have to say, I left most of my reading for today because things were moving so slowly that other books kept capturing my interest (see my three other reviews this week), but the story is finally getting exciting again! Without referencing any spoilers, I can't wait to see what comes of the last section of Chapter 25.

The feminist in me couldn't help but cheer on Rowena and Rebecca as they faced their respective suitors/kidnappers. We learned this week that Rowena is "disposed both to resist and to resent any attempt to control her affections, or dispose her of her hand contrary to her inclinations ...," and she shows this during her meeting with Bois-Guilbert. Though she might read to some as spoiled and privileged (and almost certainly is), I can't help but enjoy her pluck. Similarly, Rebecca preferring to "trust her soul with God, than her honour to the Templar" and threatening to jump from the window of her cell was just plain awesome. I can't say I'd have had the courage to do the same, and I appreciate her character all the more for it. I can't wait to see what the rest of our tale has in store for these two women.

Also, does anyone else have the edition with the 11-page footnote about torture? I didn't quite follow all of it, but suffice it to say that that particular brand of violence is going to stick with me for a while.

If anyone else is reading along with us, let me know! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Source: Goodreads

So, funny story: I thought I'd completely missed Cozy Mystery Week this year and hadn't even planned on participating. However, someone in the blogosphere was talking about Agatha Christie's newest novel, and their conclusion was to start with something else, if you're new to her work. The title I saw thrown around the most was And Then There Were None. I noticed my public library had it and figured, hey, it's under 200 pages. Why not?


OK, that really wasn't a funny story. But I'm unexpectedly taking part in Cozy Mystery Week, just in the nick of time! On to the review.

ATTWN is the first real "whodunit" or "cozy mystery" I've ever read. I have never been especially drawn to the genre, despite the fact that I like similar things in my television (bodies, intrigue, a limited cast of suspects in finite quarters). When I picked this one up from the library, I knew I was dealing with one of the heavyweights of the genre. Indeed, this story had all the makings of a great one: ten strangers drawn together on a remote island, as they're slowly picked off one by one (to the tune of a nursery rhyme, no less) for the crimes they committed in the past.

The most fascinating part of the story to me was each character's way of dealing with the skeletons in his or her respective closet. Without giving too much away, these are all people that "the law couldn't touch," who'd committed acts ambiguous enough to not get them convicted. Most of the characters embodied this belief, initially denying that they'd done anything wrong, and some never acknowledged the weight of their actions before meeting their demise. Christie captured the human ability to avoid facing our mistakes brilliantly, and I really enjoyed watching the characters who survived longest grapple with their guilt.

As for the big reveal.... eh, I don't know. (I know this puts me in the minority, so get your shoes and tomatoes at the ready!) It was very well-constructed, no doubt, but I just wasn't blown away. Maybe it's because I'd had Christie's twists hyped for me before going in to the story, but I was waiting for something awe-inspiring and completely out of left field. I don't think I got it.

In researching Christie and her work, I came upon some... pretty unsavory things. Like ATTWN's original title. And her anti-Semitism. Of course, we can chalk these things up to Christie's background and it being "a sign of the times" she lived in. Still, as a careful and thoughtful reader, it's important to be aware of them. I would be curious to hear from people who have read her later work: did these stereotypes endure, or did her style change over time?

All in all, I'm glad to have read this one, and I'd recommend it for anyone who wants to curl up for a one-sitting read that will keep you guessing.