Piccadilly Jim, PG Wodehouse

This book was chosen for my book clubs meeting in Sept. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised! It was published in 1917 and I was preparing myself for a certain style of writing. However, what I found was a quite modern approach with TONS of dialog and it made me laugh SO much. The descriptions are delightful, the predicament in which all the characters find themselves in simultaneously are riotous. I kept thinking "I can't believe this is happening!" "I can't believe noone has figured this out yet!"And I laughed a LOT.

I'd never read anything by PG Wodehouse before, but I will probably look at some of his other works now. This was available for free on Kindle, but one of my friends purchased his entire works for something like $1.99 on Kindle.

I looks like there were a couple film adaptations, one in 1936 and one in 2005. I think I might try to get my hands on the 1936 version.

I haven't decided on a star rating for this...I'm leaning towards 4.5 stars, but for Goodreads sake, I think I'm going to tip up to 5 because I thoroughly enjoyed it-even though it was a little slow at first-and the ending was just so classic!

Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple

This one fit into the 2016 Reading Challenge as a "satire". It's a modern satire of a privileged life.

I listened to this on audio and it was narrated by the actress who plays Luke's sister Liz in Gilmore Girls, so I totally pictured her face the whole time. I thought she did a fabulous job!

This book had a little more swearing than I am normally comfortable with. I don't think I would have noticed it as much if I had read it instead of listened.

Anyhow, many entries are from different points of view. Some chapters are emails from one character to another, some are phone calls, letters, etc. I loved having all these different perspectives of the story. There were a LOT of laugh out loud moments. Such as when Audrey is hosting a brunch for perspective "Mercedes" parents to enroll their soon to be kindergarteners in their particular private K-8 prep school, there is so much rain-because this takes place in Seattle- (and other events that I won't spoil for you) that cause a landslide to crash through her house, breaking windows and everything right in the middle of the current kindergarten class playing a recital on Orff instruments and they are all freaking out. One of the moms who had volunteered to be there for some reason, who also happened to be a psychiatrist, describes the mayhem in an email to the parents of the student body to describe the events and offer assistance if any child shows signs of PTSD, says "If there's one thing kindergarteners know how to do very well, it's to line up!" So many instances like that where I could totally say the next few words exactly as written without even knowing for sure they were written. It's SO true! My youngest is a kinder this year, and boy to those kids know how to do lines! :-) The other thing that I thought was true to form was how much parents were willing to ignore in their children's behavior and blame everyone else and fail to see that their child is the only one responsible for their own poor choices. Or even acknowledge poor choices are being made in the first place. I don't think this kind of attitudes are limited to the affluent, either. I think it's quite rampant on a whole.

Anyhow, Bernadette is a curious person and very misunderstood. She's dealing with a lot, and I don't want to give any away. You do get to have a lot of backstory on her. I loved all the information that explains how she ended up making the choices she did. Her only daughter, Bee, is so like I was- a flute player who was also academic and didn't really care too much about the crowd. She was quite level headed.

This book deals with depression, anxiety, keeping up with the Jones's, workplace relationships, there is some infidelity, adolescent drug use, and lots of things that made me shake my head at, like "That's what people who have a ton of money do with their money? Wow."

One character shows a drastic transformation towards the end, and while it's a very nice thought and absolutely essential to the success of the plot line, seemed abrupt enough that I didn't quite buy it.

Overall, I give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Sarah's Key, Tatiana De Rosnay

I listened to this as an audio book because it happened to be available on overdrive when I needed something new to listen to. It sort of counts as reading about a culture I'm unfamiliar with in the 2016 Reading Challenge because I really have no background on French culture or how they view the world or history. I found it very interesting how the attitudes towards this event were scene by the Parisian characters.

This was a fabulous book! Solid 4 stars. In audio format it was a little hard to figure out when it bounced back and forth between times (modern and 1942), but I got used to it after awhile. This is a heart wrenching story about a side of the Holocaust I had never heard before. This happened in Paris, July 16, 1942. A horrible, horrific event known now as the "Vel' d'Hiv Roundup". I get choked up just typing this. Over 13,000 Jews were arrested and taken to this indoor cycling arena next to the Eiffle Tower in what the Nazi's code named "Operation Spring Breeze". However, it was not the Germans who carried out this plan. It was the French Police (acting on German orders). It appears that many Jews came without a fight because it was their own police force asking them to come and not the Nazi's they had come to fear. From the Vel' d'Hiv, they were taken in cattle trains to Auschwitz. Men were separated from their families first. Then the women were separated from their children. They say the screams could be heard for miles. The extremely tragic thing  is that the German's only asked for people within a certain age; they did not ask for the children. But the French were being overzealous in trying to appease their enemies for. From https://cathannabel.wordpress.com/tag/vel-dhiv-roundup/ :  "Thursday 16 July 1942, Paris.  The Vel’ d’Hiv round up, named after the sports stadium used to house the Jews who were dragged from their homes that morning and in the hours that followed.   Drancy camp, next stop en route to Auschwitz.   13,152 were arrested, of whom 5802 were women, and 4051 children.  Some of the adults – less than 3% – made it home after the Liberation, to search fruitlessly for news of their children at the Hotel Lutétia. None of the children came home." 

There were some children who managed to escape, however, and survive.

Anyhow, in this book, the modern protagonist, Julia, an American born journalist living in Paris with her Parisian husband and 11 year old daughter Zoe was given an assignment from her magazine to write an article about the 60th commemoration of the Vel' d'Div Round Up. The 1942 Protagonist is Sarah, known to you as only "the girl" until about halfway through (but you assume it's the Sarah from the title because of the key she has) and the story toggles with you living the horrific scenes from Sarah's perspective and then Julia's discoveries of the situations and statistics in her research. It's extremely interesting to see those worlds collide. But then, the rest of the story is from Julia's perspective. And I missed Sarah. It's like she disappeared from the reader's view much the same way she tried to disappear from the other character's in the book.

There were parts I didn't really care for, the parts in Julia's personal life that I wasn't sure why they were there, but I guess I can see that the lesson is we are living NOW and we have problems NOW, but they don't stop us from learning about and from the past. There was also the issue of dealing with pain in a way that made your life fall apart instead of knitting people who loved each other closer. There is a time when Julia reveals this information to someone who had not previously known about it, and it relates to them personally. And it nearly destroys them. To not have known and then have the knowledge forced upon them suddenly. It makes you wonder if you would rather want to know your heritage-the bad and the ugly along with the good-or remain blissfully ignorant.

I am sad I never knew this part of history. From what I could gather in the story, it is not in the nature of the French to bring up the unpleasant past. They are not trying to deny that it happened, or disrespect those who had to go through it, they just don't see the point in dwelling on it. There were memorial plaques no one ever read, people working in buildings that housed Jews on their way to their deaths that had been converted to a daycare facility and they didn't even know, didn't even seem to be bothered that they didn't know. There seemed to be collective embarrassment about it. But I'm glad the story is being told now.

One thing that was a little disappointing-and Julia's boss brings it up-there's nothing in there from the perspective of the police officers who were being told to do this horrible thing. There is a police officer that Sarah recognizes as her school crossing officer, and there is a little bit with him, but nothing from a modern perspective looking back. I wonder if the boss calls her out as a way to explain why it's not in the book, or if there really isn't much to go on. I haven't researched this myself. But it would be interesting to see what they thought of it all, how they were able to live their lives after the fact. I would definitely recommend this to a friend! 

*There was also a movie made from this book and I do plan on checking that one out from the library to watch, even though I know I'm just going to be a hot mess the whole time.

Mindfullness for Beginners, Jon Kaba-Zinn

I listened to the audio of this for the 2016 Reading Challenge "A Self Help Book"

I've always had a mild curiosity about the practice of meditation-since it seems to be recommended by philosophers as well as religious leaders.

Listening to this felt like he wasn't reading the text, but giving it in a way he would if I were attending a conference session about meditation. I feel like I understand the concepts better.

I am not good at meditating. There were some meditation exercises and I couldn't help but do something to keep my hands a little busy while listening to the exercise on some of them. I have a hard time setting aside time to do "nothing" even though it is "something".

One thing that HAS helped me a little is that I always have trouble falling asleep at night. Partly because I have a hard time clearing my mind. So I've been trying to use meditation to help me fall asleep faster and so far it's worked more often than not.

There was also enough humor to keep things going. Like the time when the section on focusing on breathing came up, he said that he was going to be "making the wild assumption that if you are listening to this exercise you are already breathing". I really laughed at that :-)

Definitely informative, insightful, and well put together. Narrated extremely well.

The War That Saved My Life, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Sometimes you feel like if you've read one WWII English Evacuee story you've read them all. But this one did not feel like that! Add Ada to this mix. A very special girl born with a clubbed foot tha was never addressed in her infancy. She can only crawl around. Her single mother (her father is dead) never allows her outside. Only her younger brother Jamie (I listened to this as an audio, so I'm not sure if it was spelled traditionally or not) is allowed outside or to go to school. Ada is kept in isolation. She was not supposed to be a refuge, but she loves her brother so much that when he is to be sent away, she decides to go with him.

Some parts of this book were really, really difficult to read. Ada's mother is so incredibly abusive. Both physically and emotionally. She has convinced Ada that she isn't worth anything. That she couldn't be loved. Yet, Ada still has enough self determination to make certain things happen for herself; like what she needed to do in order to evacuate with her brother.

Both children are so ragged that none of the volunteer families chose Ada and Jamie. So the lady in charge takes them to the home of a single lady, Susan, who is still grieving the loss of her best friend and roommate, Becky. She protests saying she's not good with children, that she didn't want children. But everyone must "do their part" so she tries her best. She discovers that these children don't know the simplest things-they've never seen a tablecloth, they've never had bed sheets or dressing gowns. They've never even tried many of the vegetables she has to offer them. She says she's not a nice person, but she IS kind. And Ada finds herself so confused by words she's never heard and doesn't know the meaning of. She wonders that Susan says she's not nice, but they never go to bed hungry and Susan doesn't hit them. In a time and age when child abuse and emotional trauma are not understood, Susan seems to intuit what Ada needs (and doesn't need), when to push and when to pull back, in order for Ada to be able to act like a child and even learn. The thing she tells Ada that takes Ada a while to fully believe is "Your brain is a long way from your foot". Ada has been told that she's stupid and shameful and not able to learn because of her clubbed foot. Susan breaks this notion insisting that her clubbed foot has nothing to do with her capacity to learn and develop academically.

This was a beautiful story of "who saved who"? Did Susan save Ada? Yes. Did Ada save Susan (from her grief and solitude and withdrawn ways)? Yes. We can save ourselves when we reach out to help one another.

Princess Academy, Shannon Hale

I listened to this on audio book because it was available on overdrive and it was on a list of books I had written down for my older daughter to read. I really enjoyed it-it was a Full Cast Audio, which means that every character (including the narrator) had their own voice over. There were also singing parts to it which were interesting.

Like "The Rent Collector" it is amazing to surmise what a bit of intelligence and education can do to improve the life of an entire community. Mt. Escol (I'm only guessing on spellings here) is a hard, mountain life. Most people work in the quarry and have developed a sort of non-verbal communication through contact with the Linder Rock. Miri is really small for her age and has never been allowed to work in the quarry. She feels this makes her useless, though she doesn't learn the true reason her father forbids it until late through the story. She lives with her father and sister. Her mother died shortly after her birth.

One day, a man comes to Mt. Escol and announces that the country's priests have divined that the future bride of the prince resides there. Because they are so far removed from the main territory of Danlund, they have sent a tutor (Olana) to train the girls in proper everything and it's called the Princess Academy and every elegible girl goes. Ages 11 or 12 up to younger than the prince, since he's not allowed to marry anyone older than he-even if it's only a few months.

At first things are horrible, and of course, Miri is a natural leader when it has nothing to do with quarry work, eventually she is able to use the things Olana is teaching in order to broker better conditions. When she learns about commerce and just how much Linder is worth-and compares that to her knowledge of what the traders have been SAYING it's worth, they are able to then improve their trade conditions, which in return improve conditions in the community all around.

The ending was.......interesting......there is a major plot twist (although I had suspected some things along the way). And the possible plot hole was filled in, but it still left me feeling a little off. I guess it's a series so we'll see how things go if I read more.

I would definitely recommend this to my daughter, it teaches diplomacy, quick thinking, how to get along, how to give people a chance, the value of studying hard, the pay offs of hard work, and all sorts of other good traits. It was very enjoyable and I think it is great for middle readers. Solid 4 stars.

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck

This didn't fit into the 2016 Reading Challenge, but it DID fit in the Rory Gilmore reading challenge and it was short and on the bookshelf at the library when I happened to be there looking for something. So I grabbed it. All I could remember was that my friend Carolyn read it in high school for an honor's English book report. And she didn't like the ending.

It's interesting, all these books that are high school reads, but my high school self did not have enough life experience to fully understand, comprehend, or even begin to appreciate these things. In freshman honor's English, we had to read The Pearl by John Steinbeck. I hated the ending SO much I have never picked up another one of his books since then until now. NOW I can appreciate what he was trying to portray and have an ability to attempt to see a different point of view. I know I was limited in that capacity as a youth, even though I know I truly tried.

Anyhow, this book is interesting because it's told from the objective third person, which isn't common for a novel. It reads almost like a play, and I guess it was turned into a movie, though I haven't watched it. But because of this perspective, you never know what's going on inside of anyone's head. That's one reason it adapts so well to screen; because there are no thoughts to try to figure out how to show or things being left out because they are only thoughts. But it's also hard to draw conclusions because you can't tell for sure what's going on inside minds unless they're verbalized.

So the main characters, Lennie and George are together. Lennie is a really big guy and is mentally slow. George looks after him. You don't find out why they are always together for awhile, which was a bit curiosity for me. And it's interesting, because it was George realizing the depth of Lennie's capacity to understand and his own cruelty towards him before this epiphany that causes him to decide he will take care of Lennie and make sure he's all right. But then something happens and George can no longer do that. In that time (Great Depression era), mental illness was handled in a much different way and many times people who were institutionalized were not treated well. And also, the man who wanted revenge on Lennie was really bent on torture. Something Lennie would have no understanding of. He knew he had done something bad, but he had no comprehension REALLY about what had happened and he wouldn't have connected his actions with cruel punishment. So in that sense I can understand George's ultimate choice. But I still wish there had been a better way.

I tried to find more explanation for this book online, and didn't come up with a whole lot. The purpose was just to show the hard times and the injustice of some people's lives. There wasn't anything about Steinbeck protesting the treatment of mentally ill people, but it could certainly be perceived as that as well.

I gave it 3 stars, but truthfully, I give it a solid 3.5. I just didn't enjoy it enough to bump it up to 4.