A Little Book Report on Some Good Books

Oh man you guys, I have to apologize to anyone signed up for my newsletters because my sister let me know today that she’s received the same “good books list” one three times. Whoops! I messed that up trying to figure out the system my friend put together. Thankfully she’ll be back in town this week and will help me sort it out. ANYWAY, even though those on the mailing list may have received their own slews of my ideas for good books lately (!), I’ve read some new good ones recently. I don’t even know where I left off with my book reports here on the blog but I love to remember a good book along with my thoughts about it, you know? So here are my good book recommendations as of recently:

I’m going to talk about them in twos with the descriptions below them (no rhyme or reason as to why particular ones are paired up).

The Berry Pickers and When Breath Becomes Air

The Berry Pickers was one we read for book club. It made for an interesting discussion on where our choices can take us since it was about a girl taken as a toddler and raised by a woman who so desperately wanted to have her own children. It tells the journey of her family who lost her and the one who took her. So interesting to think about how human beings justify in so many ways, and also how one decision can ripple to affect so many life circumstances.

When Breath Becomes Air is one that has been on my list forever and when Elle and Carson were here between Florida and Palo Alto, Carson had just finished reading it. Which made me want to read it speedy quick because it’s based on a guy who also did his residency in Palo Alto. It’s a pretty fascinating story of his cancer diagnosis and how he faced the reality that his life would be cut short. Simultaneously he is working to save the lives of others. So much courage and so much to learn from this man.

The Thirteenth Tale and Lessons in Chemistry

The Thirteenth Tale is one I’ve talked about before and read for our book club years ago. Lucy is ALWAYS and forever looking for a good book so I suggested it to her. That girl does not take my book advice very much, but I think she was desperate so she dove in. She was loving it so much and then I started to get worried…I mean, maybe I washed out of my memory some questionable parts?? So I speed-listened it to try to catch Lu. I didn’t catch up (she is too quick!), but it was fun to discuss after we were both done. Kind of an eerie tale of twins and a fun mystery. I love a good mystery.

Lessons in Chemistry is just a fun one with lots of strong-women vibes. I just heard it was good and read it. I’m counting listening as reading;) I thought is was well-written and a fun one that also made me think.

Demon Copperhead

My book club read Demon Copperhead a long time ago and life must have twisted in a way that prevented me from reading it. But I figured it would be a good summer read and it was. It has over 110,000 five-star reviews on Amazon and man alive, Barbara Kingsolver is such an incredibly talented writer. Made me want to re-read her Poisonwood Bible that mesmerized me so many years ago.

The author has an amazing ability to really take you into the the mind and heart of her characters. This time it is a young teenage boy who is trying to figure out how to manage in his hard-knock life in the mountains of Appalachia. Oh it made me want to root for him and also all kids who are left orphaned and surrounded by shady characters as well as some redeeming ones. The opioid epidemic is twisted into the story as well and yow, so much to learn and wish could change!

Troubled

Troubled was a sort of similar book but a true memoir of Rob Henderson who also grew up in really tough circumstances. What a story of resilience! While I was reading it I just couldn’t stop talking about it (Dave will attest). This guy was taken from his drug-addicted mother, no father in the picture, and put into all kinds of different foster homes. And then somehow comes out with an undergraduate degree from Yale and a PhD from Cambridge. Kind of Hillbilly Elegy vibes. (That one was in my 2020 book list.) I think it’s so interesting that while Rob Henderson, the author of Troubled is so grateful for that education, he gives all kinds of stats and studies about how having a strong family is so much more powerful than any external accomplishments.

He goes into a lot of moral questions, like do affluent people just get lucky? He talks about the “virtuous victim effect” and his theories of how social class works in America. The “Luxury Beliefs” chapter is so interesting! Things like how “less than half of Americans without a college degree don’t want drugs legalized, but more than 60 percent of Americans with a bachelors degree or higher are in favor of drug legalization.” He knows from experience how ensnaring and hindering drugs can be.

Over again he talks about the importance of strong families and how they can change the trajectory of our social structure. I thought this thought was interesting:

I’ve also heard graduates of top universities say ‘Marriage is just a piece of paper, people shouldn’t have to prove their commitment to their spouse with a document.’ I have never heard them ridicule a college degree as just a piece of paper. Many affluent people belittle marriage but not college, because they view a degree as critical for their social positions.”

Oh man, this book deserves a whole blog post, but there’s just a snippet. I would so highly recommend this book! Beware, lots of not-so-great language, just like in Demon Copperhead. But it’s really real.

Killers of the Flower Moon and The Women

There is SO MUCH TO LEARN about our history! These two books took me into such unique chapters of history.

I swear I wrote about Killers of the Flower Moon but maybe not? I was determined to read it before watching the movie. If you want to like the movie, don’t read the book first because the movie is a disappointment. Loved the book though, took me into the 1920s and to learn all about the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. How they were the richest because of the oil on their land and how they were killed an forced out because of that. Seriously so eye-opening and hard to understand how humans can do those things to each other.

The Women also opened my eyes to so much about so many events around the Vietnam War and women who served there. I didn’t like it nearly as much as The Nightingale by the same author (SO GOOD!) but it was so interesting to get more educated on the warfront of that war as well as the aftermath back in America for these women. I think it’s just so important to know and learn from history. It also made me realize I that there have been significant times in history when America has had such low morale. But that we can learn from the past and pull ourselves together.

Greenlights and The Spectacular

Greenlights was just an interesting one Dave read so I read it too…lots of grit from Matthew McConaughey and a lot to learn. I loved the theory of greenlights. And I love to learn from other’s perspectives. Man we sure have a lot to learn from each other! Also, I didn’t realize he had such rough at-times growing-up years.

The Spectacular was a book club one that I never would have read on my own, not my favorite writing style but SO interesting to discuss. This woman chooses career over family and it turns into a mystery and all that jazz. But left us all with such interesting things to discuss. Because do you choose to better yourself and follow your dreams or do you choose to put some dreams on a shelf to have a family? Loved our discussion and my heart ached, personally, for this fictional character who ended up lonely in the long-run. Life is so interesting.

The Lost Book of Names and Homecoming

The Lost Book of Names was an interesting one, another one set in world war II but with some twists. I read it forever ago but it was interesting and fun to listen to while folding laundry and doing dishes.

I was surprised how much I liked Homecoming. Kate Morton has a gift for writing, and introduces so many interesting characters into the plot twists and turns. It wasn’t any big moral lesson or history capture, but it was a good mystery that sure kept me going!

Ok I took a break and here I am back because I ran out of time this morning. I decided to wait to post the “physical” good books (the ones with actual pages to turn over and keep the best parts marked) for another day because there’s a lot of food for thought here already!

Hope this gives you some good ideas for good books to read as we start into Fall. September is fall, right? Please say it’s so because I’m ready for the heat to be over and done with over here in the desert!

Happy Monday!