Light in August - William Faulkner

Light in August

Title: Light in August

Author: William Faulkner

Publication Date: 3/12/1931

Pages: 507

Genre: Classic / Historical / Fiction

How I Found It: 100 Best Novels

Date Completed: 12/28/15

Summary: A small town is rocked by scandal when a pregnant woman appears looking for her baby's father. Meanwhile, racial tensions and identities complicate lives. 

What I Thought: When I started this challenge, I thought Faulkner would be one of those authors I would come to treasure and appreciate. I had never read any of his work before. Now, having completed the third of his three books on the list, I find myself woefully ambivalent. I absolutely appreciate the beauty of and thought behind his work (particularly the innovation of The Sound and the Fury); yet, I find myself disconnected from his plots. I struggled to engage with them.

I'm unfortunately finding this a recurring theme for the works set in this era of American history. As horrible as it sounds to admit, I cannot connect with the poor farmers and small town folks of the first half of the twentieth century. In some ways, this kills me, as I know my own grandparents and great-grandparents were among these very types of folks. Conversely, though, I recognize my socio-economic separation from these characters and find myself both grateful to be standing on the hard work of my parents and grandparents and also more understanding of my own lack of understanding. Of course I don't connect to these characters. Almost nothing about their lives translates to my own.

Tobacco Road - Erskine Caldwell

Tobacco Road

Title: Tobacco Road

Author: Erskine Caldwell

Publication Date: 1932

Pages: 192

Genre: Classic / Historical / Fiction

How I Found It: 100 Best Novels

Date Completed: 12/26/15

Summary: A look at the lives of the poor, largely uneducated Lester family as they attempt to survive the Depression in rural Georgia.

What I Thought: From the beginning, this novel was what I had expected The Grapes of Wrath to be: a heart-felt reflection on a tough era in American history with characters who were likable despite their ignorance and ill luck and a plot that offered both drama and comic relief. 

I had never heard of Erskine Caldwell before starting the 100 Best Novels challenge, but, as with Wallace Stegner, I am glad to have done so now. Caldwell's perspective on Depression-era sharecroppers felt fresh and even funny to me at times. His characters, for all their lunacy and eccentricity, were enjoyable ones with which to spend a story. To me, they were the real difference between this work and Steinbeck's. I liked the Lester family, for all their faults. 

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy - Karen Abbott

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy

Title: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War

Author: Karen Abbott

Publication Date: 7/1/14

Pages: 513

Genre: Historical / Nonfiction

How I Found It: I heard about it from several places this past year.

Date Completed: 12/24/15

Summary: We don't often think of the women who played roles in the Civil War. They have been largely ignored by history. No longer. Abbott explores the lives and work of four women, each passionately immersed in the divide between North and South.

What I Thought: Typically, I steer away from American history. To me, it has often seemed one long progression of wars. I absolutely value the importance of knowing our own history and I received a great education therein during my school years. My aversion to the subject does not preclude me from an ability to pass the citizenship test, should I have ever been required to take such a thing. I'm no U.S. History scholar, but I can hold my own. Which, may also be part of why I prefer reading about the history of other countries and cultures. We are so young and naive on the global spectrum. The history of our country pales in comparison to the centuries of rich content others can boast. Plus, we have no royalty. That fact alone makes me immediately less interested. 

Landline - Rainbow Rowell

Landline

Title: Landline

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publication Date: 7/8/14

Pages: 310

Genre: Fantasy / Romance / Fiction

How I Found It: I'm a recent Rainbow Rowell convert.

Date Completed: 12/24/15

Summary: When an old landline phone connects Georgie to her past, she also finds a way to reconnect to her family and adjust her work-life balance.

What I Thought: Others in the book blogging community have been raving about Rainbow Rowell for years, but I did not pick up one of her books until this past year. I now am left to wonder what took me so long.

In general, I have tried to go into Rowell's books with minimal knowledge of the plots. I know I have talked about this lately, but I'm increasingly feeling that I enjoy books more sometimes when I go in mostly blind. It gives me a chance to get to know the characters and their predicaments without making predictions regarding their fates. In this case, all I really knew going in was that there was a landline phone that did something special. 

Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton

Jurassic Park

Title: Jurassic Park

Author: Michael Crichton

Publication Date: November 1990

Pages: 399

Genre: Science Fiction / Thriller / Fiction

How I Found It: I love the movies. Like, too much to be proud of.

Date Completed: 12/17/15

Summary: I'm guessing you already know how this one goes...eccentric billionaire builds dinosaur theme park and things go, uh, poorly. 

What I Thought: The fact that I enjoy the Jurassic Park movies so much has always seemed odd to me. I never went through a dinosaur phase as a kid; I am not especially fascinated by science, biology, or paleontology; they do not fall into any preconceived category of things in which I am interested. And yet, I like them a lot. I suppose I am as susceptible to box office magic as the next person.

This summer, Jurassic World, the revamped addition to the series starring Chris Pratt (who turns out to be a better actor than I gave him credit for in his Parks and Recreation days), got me thinking about the classic films again. I have watched them more times than I would care to admit and Kevin does not like rewatching movies. Still, I felt a pull to revisit Isla Nublar. I read The Great Zoo of China last summer and, at that point, realized I had never actually read Michael Crichton's original novel which inspired this whole business. It seemed time for that to change.

2016 Blog Goals

As I emphasized to my Critical Thinking students this past semester, goals that aren't written down are just dreams. Writing down your goals drastically increases the odds that you will complete them. In that spirit, and because I love this kind of thing, I want to continue my tradition of making some blog goals for the upcoming year.

Before I get to goals for 2016, I want to take a minute and reflect on the goals I set forth for 2015 and see how those played out. 

2015 Chapter

Happy New Year! I hope you were able to ring in 2016 with someone you love last night, be it family, friends, or a significant other. We actually celebrated with other people for the first time in a few years and it was a nice change. Far less sleep...far more fun.

As with every new year, this one brings with it a celebration of my "blog-iversary." I've been writing here for four years now. In that time, I have read and reviewed over 300 books. My favorite part of blogging has definitely proven to be the relationships I have built around books throughout the years. Thank you for being a part of this journey!

On Monday, I plan to talk about some goals I have for blogging in the new year. Today, however, I am taking a comprehensive look back at 2015.

To start, here are a few highlights from this year:

• I read 109 books! 
• I had right about the same number of page views as last year (~26,000). I would have loved to see this number grow some, but I also have done a better job this year not being concerned about numbers and focusing instead on quality connections and (hopefully) content.
• As of now, I have completed 47% of the 100 Best Novels challenge. I only read 12 this year, which is about half the amount I would have liked to. I need to seriously work on this if I want to finish before I turn 30 in 2017.
• I continued to grow the Read.Write.Repeat. Facebook presence (we just surpassed 200 likes!) and have had a lot of fun on Twitter. Like or follow if you haven't already! 
• I continued the monthly "chapter" posts and some off and on Movie Mondays.  
• I continued working with TLC Book Tours and even hosted a "TLC Week" at the start of November with a new book reviewed each day.. These are so fun and expose me to books I would likely never read otherwise. Thanks to Trish and Lisa for continually sending books my way!