Little Faith

Little Faith by Nickolas Butler
2019
Weight: 0 lbs
No Disposal: E Book

Sometimes you just have to read something new and more modern. I don’t usually write about books that I cannot weigh and get rid of, but this year I plan to write just a little bit about any I read. I want a small record of them and what they meant to me.

This one had great character development, especially with the main character and his best friend. You just couldn’t help but like them and sympathize with them. There were moments where I wanted to shake a few characters and say, “It’s wrong to have that kid trying to heal people because it’s too much pressure to put on a little boy when it does not work!” That ends up being the least of his worries, I suppose, but I was waiting for someone to say it through most of the book.

This book is not one with a neat ending, tied up with a bow, and will frustrate some readers.  I, personally, did not think this book was life changing, but I did live in the moment all the way through it, like I was there, slowly making my way through the old man’s life.  

Red at the Bone

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
2019
Weight: 13 oz
Method of Disposal: Returned to Owner

This book was lent to me by a volunteer who told me that, even though it would read fast, to remember to take it slow and enjoy it.  That was really good advice.  This was a great book.  I cherished each word of it and got excited when my night would start winding down, and I knew I would finally have time to spend with it.  It is challenging to find a book like that.  Each word making an impression, dancing off the page, tickling my mind.  It is a beautiful thing. 

I loved the characters and how their hopes and dreams unraveled and became new hopes and dreams.  Life is full of surprises and twists, and the only thing to do is to adjust and adapt.  A teenage mom, her parents, a teenage dad, his mom, the (grand)daughter.  One family of individuals.  The story could have been told in the same way it has been a hundred times before, but it was not.  The teenage dad was so in love with his daughter and her mama, and the mama was so disconnected from them both and fixated on her self, but she was not a monster.  She was a real person who you could be frustrated with at times and empathize with at others.  You could definitely understand why she did the things she did.  The same with her daughter. 

If you are looking for something to read, try this.  It is not just a book but an experience.

Love Warrior

Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle
2017
Weight: 9.6 oz
Method of Disposal: Left in a hotel in London

I went to a Leadercast Women Conference where there were a multitude of excellent speakers, but Glennon Doyle had the entire auditorium laughing. She was incredible. She brought honesty, feminism, love, motherhood, lesbianism to the stage and it seemed like almost everyone could relate in some way. I had to buy her book. So, I did. I was hoping to buy the book that I now realize is the ,yet to be released, Untamed.  

I am not going to lie. I was waiting for her to fall in love with her wife, Rapinoe, the whole time, since I knew that would happen from the talk she gave. So, I was disappointed when that didn’t happen! I have still another one of her books to catch up on before Untamed. Love Warrior was not hilarious in the way her talk was, but it was good. I was glad to read it, but it was also a little surreal hearing her trying to figure out her life and knowing how some things would pan out down the way, though in the book she did not.

I leave this by saying that if you ever get the chance to see Glennon Doyle do it. Don’t miss out. She’s so much fun.

Rocks and Rain, Reason and Romance

Rocks and Rain, Reason and Romance By David Howe
2019
Weight: 8 oz
Method of disposal: Lending Library

I purchased this book the last time Harriet and I went to England.  Not only do I find the place where Harriet grew up in beautiful,  but there is also a sort of magic in thinking about us both growing up on either side of the ocean, living such different lives. Learning about the Lakes and Northern England just feels like one more way to help me understand my wife and, if that’s not true, then maybe it will give me a snippet of information to impress her mom with on some random day! So, win win, really.

The author tries to pack a lot in a small book, but I appreciate it. He seems to ultimately be primarily interested in the literature from and about the Lake District, but he also discusses science, geology, conservation, etc. Here are some things I have learned:

-It has some of the highest rainfall of all the UK.

-A mere is, indeed, a lake.

-There are assorted, ancient, stone circles dotted throughout England, including Castlerigg Stone Circle.

-There are 16 recognized lakes in the Lake District and some decent sized tarns (pools).

Ok, I realize that I’m impressing no one right about now. Let me try again.

-The lakes get as deep as 250 feet (Wastwater).

-I have a need to go see Blea Water in the High Street Fells.

-More than I know how to relay here on the authors; Wordsworth, Radcliffe, Ruskin, Coleridge, Potter, Ransome, and Martineau.

-It was only 7,500 years ago that Britons really began to inhabit the coast and lower valleys of the Lake District. 

-The Lake District was particularly important in the Stone Age and beyond for the production of axes due to tbd unique stone found there.  From greenstone to bronze to Iron.

-“many...major invasions of Britain have left very little genetic trace.  We see little genetic evidence of the Roman conquest, nor of the Danish Viking control of large parts of England from the 9th Century...Nor of the Norman Conquest.  These invasions have had a major impact on our history and culture, but not on our gene pool. The inference is clear. In each case there must have been control by a ruling elite, backed by superior military power, but not large-scale settlement...” Professor Peter Donnelly 

-Water flows from the Lakes all the way to Manchester via gravity (no pumps!). It takes a day and a half for water to get from Thirlmere go Manchester around 80 miles away.

-There are two villages now underwater. One of them being Mardale, which is currently emerging. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2766498/Lake-District-s-Atlantis-revealed-A-village-drowned-1930s-reappears-driest-September-half-century.html

Okay, I will stop boring you to death but, the point is, there is a lot of history, art, philosophy, geography I need to catch up on and this was a great starter. Now, it is much to late, and Harriet has been asleep for hours. I guess that it is time for me to go lay beside her and just enjoy the closeness until tomorrow when I bore her, like I have you, with details of her homeland.

Poisonwood Bible

Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
1998
Weight: 3.3 lbs
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

I finally got back around to the Poisonwood Bible.  I always swore I would, but I always picked up something else.  Reading The Bean Trees is what did me in.  I got a little addicted to that book, and I wanted to feel that way again.  Not to mention, you always hear about The Poisonwood Bible.  People love it, and it is likely Kingsolver's best known book. 

It did not give me the same feeling as The Bean Trees!  I am sure that is sacrilegious and says nothing good about me.  I know the other is the first in a series, and I have not yet read the others.  It is not as well rated.  I had never heard anyone talk about it.  I know. I know.  I just loved the characters. 

I was less in love with the character development in this one, but it was not because it was bad.  I loved how it developed, but it was slower and matured as the characters grew up.  Poisonwood spanned a longer period of time.  It allowed you to see the characters as a silhouette of themselves or a stereotype and then you grew to know them deeper over time without you even really noticing it at first.  You hated them, but then you understood them.  You maybe pitied them or grew to worry about them.  At some point, some of them even became likable.  With The Bean Trees, the character development almost whacks you in the face.  Here is your lead girl!  Isn't she strong?Isn't she rough and tumble?  What is she going to do?  No, really, what is she going to do??  Not to mention, now is the time to talk about immigration.  Just like it was all those years ago when Kingsolver wrote the book.

I suppose that now is also the time to talk about Evangelists--that scourge on humanity.  Oh, the world is a devolving and darkening place.  Sometimes it seems like we are all evolving and getting better together and sometimes it seems like we will never stop repeating our mistakes until we force ourselves into a position where we do not get the chance to try again.  That irrevocable line we cannot cross but are always getting closer to, according to The Scientists.  And when I say THE scientists, I mean the vast majority that see Global Warming happening all around us but are at a loss as to how to stop it.  That line.  There is a line in The Poisonwood Bible too--a different line.  You know from the start it is coming and there are times when you think it has arrived and you are wrong.  The tension builds and builds. 

If you have not read it, give it a shot.  I would love to know what you think.