Sister Citizen - Melissa V. Harris-Perry

Sister Citizen

Title: Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America

Author: Melissa V. Harris-Perry

Publication Date: 9/20/2011

Pages: 378

Genre: Historical / Political / Nonfiction

How I Found It: I can't remember.

Date Completed: 3/8/18

Summary: A thoughtful, thorough examination of the place of black women in America.

What I Thought: I am so glad I read this book. I can't remember what list of political book recommendations I read it on, but I'm awfully glad I did. It was incredibly eye-opening for me. 

One of my goals this year is to read books by a more diverse authorship. I believe strongly that reading about other people's experiences and beliefs is the second best option we have to expand our own understanding of the world (the best option is to build a real-life relationship with people who are different from you). This book demonstrates that perfectly. 

Salt to the Sea - Ruta Sepetys

Salt to the Sea

Title: Salt to the Sea

Author: Ruta Sepetys

Publication Date: 2/2/2016

Pages: 393

Genre: Historical / Young Adult / Fiction

How I Found It: I've read Sepetys's other novel, Between Shades of Gray

Date Completed: 3/6/18

Summary: As WWII comes to a close and Germany is on the brink of collapse, Sepetys follows several characters on their journey to board the ill-fated Wilhelm Gustloff. 

What I Thought: When I read Sepetys's other novel, Between Shades of Grey, I was captivated by her ability to bring to life a part of history about which I knew so little. She has done it again here. Sepetys has a special skill for finding an obscured moment in time and making her readers wonder why such a captivating story ever fell off the pages of our commonly known history. 

In this instance, Sepetys tells the story of four people: three refugees of varying backgrounds and one Nazi soldier. They each are complex and interesting on their own, but their intersection is well written also. I found it particularly unique that Sepetys chose to give one of her main voices to a dedicated Nazi soldier. It is so rare in literature to see a character like that without remorse and yet still written in a vaguely sympathetic way. I didn't like that character, but his devotion to his cause, however evil, added an interesting element to the story that I don't think we could have gotten with a singular focus on those trying to escape the German and Russian armies. 

Out of the Silent Planet - C. S. Lewis

Out of the Silent Planet

Title: Out of the Silent Planet

Author: C. S. Lewis

Publication Date: 1938

Pages: 241

Genre: Science Fiction / Fiction

How I Found It: A dear high school friend recommended this series back when I started the blog.

Date Completed: 2/28/18

Summary: An English professor finds himself kidnapped and taken to Mars to serve as a sacrifice for the native inhabitants. Instead, he finds himself learning a lot about both Mars and Earth in the process. 

What I Thought: Sometime shortly after I created the Read.Write.Repeat. Facebook page, a dear friend from high school commented and recommended this series to me. That was literally years ago. I can't believe it has taken me this long to take him up on the recommendation. Let this serve as proof of just how desperately I needed this 2018 TBR Challenge. It's making me finally go back and either cull or read long-ago suggested books. 

Of course, after reading this first one, now I know I want to read the other two as well. Sigh. Is this project helping or hurting me? I'm getting to read great books, so we're going to stick with helping! After all, the whole point of this is reading, not checking off things on a to-do list, right? 

L'Appart - David Lebovitz

L'Appart

Title: L'Appart: The Delights and Disasters of Making My Paris Home

Author: David Lebovitz

Publication Date: 11/7/2017

Pages: 368

Genre: Food / Memoir / Nonfiction

How I Found It: I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Date Completed: 2/24/18

Summary: After years of renting in Paris, Lebovitz decided it was time to own his own place. L'Appart recounts the harried process of buying and renovating his new home. 

What I Thought: Most books I read about life in France have me half-packed by the last page. I'm enamored of French culture and, while I would still move overseas in a heartbeat, this particular memoir pulls back the veil from the harsh reality of what international life can be. Lebovitz really went through the ringer. Of course, upon conclusion, I'd argue that many of his issues could have happened in any country in the world. French culture just aggravated the intensity of it all. 

An Altar in the World - Barbara Brown Taylor

An Altar in the World

Title: An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

Author: Barbara Brown Taylor

Publication Date: 2/10/2009

Pages: 216

Genre: Faith / Memoir / Nonfiction

How I Found It: I can't remember.

Date Completed: 2/24/2018

Summary: Taylor looks at some of our most quotidian acts and how they can be spiritual experiences which point us to God. 

What I Thought: When I first started this book, I was skeptical. Taylor's idea of seeking the spiritual in the mundane felt...too simple? too touchy-feely? Too something. My gut reaction was to push back a bit. My upbringing and education relied strongly on doctrine and data, not how we feel about God or our faith. 

As I started reading, though, I was struck by how little I practice what Taylor is promoting. I so rarely set aside the academic approach to faith and allow myself to experience God in the small ways around me. Taylor's focus on bodily practices of faith was refreshing once I opened myself up to it. 

Each chapter is devoted to a different discipline which we can use to reconnect with God. Taylor spends time relaying the spiritual benefits of walking, getting lost, saying no, feeling pain, and prayer, among others. Some spoke to me more than others, of course. 

Emma in the Night - Wendy Walker

Emma in the Night

Title: Emma in the Night

Author: Wendy Walker

Publication Date: 8/8/2017

Pages: 320

Genre: Thriller / Fiction

How I Found It: I saw it on someone else's blog last year as a recommended thriller. I'd give credit for the recommendation, but I can't remember where I saw it!

Date Completed: 2/19/2018

Summary: Teenage sisters, Emma and Cass Tanner disappeared three years ago. The highly publicized case explodes back into the public consciousness when Cass returns alone with an incredible story. 

What I Thought: I put this on my TBR list back in the fall when I was looking for a good Halloween-time thriller. After reading it, I wouldn't categorize it as quite what I was looking for, but it's a pretty good psychological thriller. 

The narration alternates between returned victim Cass and a psychologist working the case, Dr. Abby Winter. At first, the dual narration concerned me as I thought it would be harder to sustain suspense that way. However, Cass reveals her story in small pieces, both to Dr. Winter and to us. She holds her cards close to her chest through the whole book. At times, that suspense feels manufactured (I mean, this is a fiction book, so of course it's manufactured, but Walker's machinations felt a bit clunky at points). Overall, however, I stayed engaged and interested in guessing the outcome.

February 2018 Chapter

Welcome to the Read.Write.Repeat. monthly wrap-up.  Every month, I give a quick overview of what books I read, the progress made on my reading goals, a few book-related links, and general blog news.  

February News 

I have always loved February. Kevin cites it as his least favorite month, but I have a special affinity for the briefest of months. When I was young, I think it was because of Valentine's Day and my half birthday (yeah, that was a thing I tried to get people to celebrate for longer than I'd like to admit). Neither of those events registers much on my radar now. In fact, for a few years there, when Kevin and I were first together and living in Ohio, he nearly pulled me over to his disdain of February. But now we live in the South. And spring comes in February. February marks the end of winter. Sure, we may get one random cold streak yet - even a brief snow is possible, but not probable. Now, February brings pink buds on trees and sleeping with the windows open and putting our coats away after their whole six weeks of work. Spring in the South is beautiful and February ushers it in.


So, did this February live up to expectations?

Well, I finally got my feet underneath me after a rough first month of the semester. I felt so underwater there for a while; it is nice to feel more stable again. We're still intensely busy; we always are. February at our house has mostly been an interesting dichotomy. On one hand, we're once again engaged in some active measures to sort out Kevin's health issues. It's been five years since he was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease and we have yet to find a solution. It's a thing we live with daily, but we go through periods where the search for answers is more active. This is one of those periods. It's exhausting and hopeful and disheartening all at once. In contrast to that emotional soup, though, is the sheer thrill of having finally booked our tickets to Italy! We have been planning this trip for about two years. It got pushed back several times because of things both within and outside of our control. I had honestly gotten to place where I no longer believed it would happen, but it is happening! We're spending 9 days there at the start of the summer. Rome, Cinque Terre, Florence, and Tuscany...here we come!!

With work and doctor's visits and hours spent on Airbnb finding Italian lodging, I haven't done a ton of reading. Two months in and I can already tell 2018 is going to be my least prolific reading year in quite a while. However, I'm actually very pleased so far about the intentionality in my reading. I know I don't have as much time or energy for it and so I'm only picking things I really want to read. The TBR Challenge (see below) is helping me feel less guilty about culling my to-read list. I'm trying to be more realistic about what I really will read or enjoy. After doing the 100 Best Novels challenge, I don't feel much obligation to read things just because they are supposed to be good or classics. That mentality applies to older books and newer ones. I just don't want to spend time reading things other people loved and I won't. In this phase of my life, I need enjoyment. Depth, but depth with pleasure. No more slogging through things I'm not appreciating. At least not this year.