Book Review: Between Earth and Sky by Amanda Skenandore

I haven’t written a book review in a long time. I wonder if I remember how. I guess I’ll give it a go.

This was Kelly’s pick for my regular book club. She’s new to the group and we told her, at her first discussion meeting that she was next in line. She jumped in and picked Between Earth and Sky by Amanda Skenandore. It’s a historical fiction told in two interlocking stories. The first is in the 1880’s, when Alma is a girl and her family moves to no-wheres-ville Wisconson so that her father can start an “experiment” called Stovers School for Indians. Here, Indians learn the ways of the white man. Alma believes, as all the other white people believe, that the Stovers school will be the salvation that allows Indians to discard their savage ways and advance in a world that is righteous and white.

October Book Club Reads

October isn’t over, yet but my Book Club reads are close enough to get this post done and done.

Pints and Prose (Greece Public Library)  

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon.  I finished this one in September so it was in my last wrap up post. It started off pretty strong with a lot of wonderful feelings of creepiness and dread. But then it ended up meh, in general. I really liked the writing. There was just a lot going on in it, like the author was hoping it could cross all the genre lines. The general census in the book discussion was also meh, because some people loved the hell out of it and two people put it down without finishing. I’m not planning on reading the November book but I haven’t decided to abandon this gathering, yet. The group is a little too large to be really invested though, so it’s the book club I’m most likely to drop if I have to. I love the cidery, though.

What I've Been Reading: September Reads

I don’t think I’m too late to talk about my September Reads, am I? Haha! I don’t care what you think! I’m gonna do it!!

One of the things that I notice about my reading is that when I am busy, I tend to read more audiobooks with fewer print books completed. And September includes 11 days of Rochester Fringe Festival! Which is AWESOME!! Here’s some pics!! At the end of September, I had 3 books that were just hanging out on my “currently reading” shelf.  None of them were bad, they just weren’t calling me back to them after I got distracted. I’ve moved them all off the shelf and returned them to the library. Maybe they will find me again when I’m a person who can appreciate them.

Let’s see… The good, the bad, and the I only read this because book club made me:

June Book Club Reads

I joined two new book clubs recently, through two separate local libraries. They both meet monthly.So, June was a lot of reading about White women who were mostly boring. Not that I didn’t enjoy the books, mind you. I love boring white women.

Pints and Prose is through Greece Library. We meet at Blue Barn Cidery, which is a great space for hanging out and eating buffalo chicken dip but isn't the best for book discussion. I plan to go a few more times to see if it gets better.

Read Women is through Gates Library and focused on, yes, reading women authors. It's a group of about 7 people right now. 

Read Harder (Rochester)

Each year, Book Riot releases a book challenge list consisting of 24 categories. The Mission, if you choose to accept it, is to read one book for each category through the year. Books can count for multiple categories.

In Rochester, SarahSaysRead and I facilitate an unofficial group of readers who get together once a month to talk about the books we are reading for the challenge. We split the categories up into pairs so that we all have some idea about where we are and where we are headed. This (2018) is our second year of meeting. We've got about 4 or 5 folks who are regulars and then a few who come sometimes.

We typically meet on a Sunday but the location varies, as we’ve decided this is a good way to also try different foodie spots. If you are interested in joining us, please email me (Kenya) at kacophani at gmail dot com. Put Read Harder Roc in the subject line or risk that circular file. 

Read Harder 2018
January	First book in a new to you YA or middle grade series	Essay anthology
February	Book published posthumously	Romance by or about a POC
March	Book of Social Science	One sitting book
April	About Nature	Cover you hate
May	Comic written and illustrated by the same person	A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa).
June	Sci-fi with a female protag by a female author	An assigned book you hated
July	Children’s classic published before 1980	Genre fiction in translation
August	Book of Colonial or postcolonial lit	Comin that isn’t Marvel, DC, or Image
September	Western	Oprah Book Club selection
October	Book of true crime	Comic written or illustrated by a person of color
November	Celebrity Memoir	Mystery by a POC or LGBTQ+ author
December	Classic of genre fiction	Female protag over the age of 60

  

Meredith's Book Club - 2017 Wrap up post

Meredith’s book club is my “regular” book club. It’s what most people think about when they think of books clubs. A group of people who know each other in various ways get together. Pairs of us are friends in different settings, outside of book club and we all basically like each other so we might talk about doing non-book related things together too, sometimes. Sometimes we actually do it. Each person hosts at their house and picks the book for that time. Sometimes, everyone reads the book, most of the time at least two people don’t read it.

 

We’ve got six members now, having lost one person this year to whatever else she would prefer to be doing. It happens. She was one of the women who almost always read the book, though. But she also came out of her face with some annoying ass shit, so pros and cons. Bye.

For 2016, I did two posts: one for books I read and one for books I didn’t read [linked]. This time I’m just going to put them all in this one post. Because lazy. 

Meredith's Book Club 2016 - Stuff I Didn't Read

I posted yesterday about the three book club books that I actually read this year. It's pretty ridiculous... but I've read a total of 142 book this year, so it's not like I'm not reading! I've just been reading the wrong stuff. 

These are the three I didn’t read:

Her by Christa Parravani: I had no intention of reading that book based on the description, and then I couldn’t make it to the meeting, anyway, so WHEW!

Bookof Joe by Jonathan Tropper: I really enjoyed Tropper’s This is Where I Leave You even though I have no memory of what it was about. Book of Joe sounds like all those 80s/90s movies where someone leaves home as a big shot and then has to come home with their tail between their legs (think Hope Floats) and discovers what home and family are really about that I loved at one time. It’s still on my TBR list. 

A Tyranny of Petticoats: I have really high hopes for this book, which is why I picked it. Unfortunately, I don’t have the attention span for short stories. Or stories about seals, which was the second story in the book. I like many of the authors who have contributed to this anthology and I hope to ready the stories over time.

Related Posts:

Meredith's Book Club 2016 - The Books I Actually Read

This has been a terrible year for book club reads for me. This is the book club I am most committed to and I still only read about 3.25 of the 6 books we picked this year. The point 25 of them was for the book that I actually picked.

This has been a terrible year for book club reads for me. Of the 5 books that we picked this year, I only read three point 25 of them. The point 25 of them was for the book that I actually picked. 

It’s been a pretty busy year, theatre- wise, as I have become more active with being in shows, helping out with shows that am not in, as well as with taking dance and singing classes. But you are here for the Book Club scoop. This is a post about the 3 books I actually did read. I'll do a separate post for the books I didn't read because this is NABLOPOMO and I need all the posts I can get! It's not cheating!

Book Review: A Paris Wife by Paula McLain

This was a book club pick. Though I owned this book I likely would never have read it had it not been picked to read for book club. In fact, I didn't read my copy but listened to it on audiobook. [Click here for the Goodreads page.]

Paula McLain tells the story of Elizabeth "Hadley" Richardson, Ernest Hemingway's first wife and, some would say, the love of his life. Ernest was a dynamic, moody writer who was young and on his way to being one of the most famous American writers in history. He was war- torn, young, impulsive, and a bit of a lady's man. Hadley was older and in some ways wiser, but also dreadfully sheltered and horribly naive; she's never had a real boyfriend and she's reaching old maid status at a ripe 29 years old. They each had strained and damaging relationships with their parents and families with suicide histories. When they meet, it is instant sparks. They get to know each other initially through their correspondence, which the author reviewed before writing this text.

Hadley is Ernest's FIRST wife, so we know right away that the marriage is not going to endure. We're given hints, too, that another woman will come between them. But it is not Pauline who is the downfall of Hadley's marriage. It is Hadley's realization that she deserves more from love than Ernest can give her. Her story is one of growth and strength. Luckily for Ernest, it was not one of experience with a fire arm because he was trying to get jacked up... but I digress...

Book Review: The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson

I read this book because of the title. Yes, yes. I'm a cover-judger and a sucker for a good book book. Anyway.

Here's the modified Goodreads Summary (I edited it and changed the formatting): 

"The Bookseller follows a woman in the 1960s who must reconcile her reality with the tantalizing alternate world of her dreams. Nothing is as permanent as it appears . . . 

Denver, 1962: Kitty Miller has come to terms with her unconventional single life. She loves the bookshop she runs with her best friend, Frieda, and enjoys complete control over her day-to-day existence. She can come and go as she pleases, answering to no one. There was a man once, a doctor named Kevin, but it didn’t quite work out the way Kitty had hoped. Then the dreams begin.

Denver, 1963: Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life. They have beautiful children, an elegant home, and good friends. It's everything Kitty Miller once believed she wanted—but it only exists when she sleeps.

As the lines between her worlds begin to blur, Kitty must figure out what is real and what is imagined. And how do we know where that boundary lies in our own lives?"

What Say I:

My Must Reads 2015 - Adult Edition

Basically, I've given up on trying to pick my favorite 10 books. It seems like an overwhelming task. I think it would be easier for me to pick my favorite 10 people. So, I decided to go a bit of a different way with it. I have a Must Reads shelf on Goodreads. I shelve books as Must reads when I love them, obviously, but if it was just that, it would be a complete overlap with my 5-star books, right? Must reads are also books that I think are good books for recommending to people, avid readers and light readers alike. Of course, there may still be some "specialty" interests to consider or avoid when making recommendations, but whatever. These are the Adult books I added to my Must Read shelf in 2015 (including the last week of December in 2014).

I'd like to go on record to say that I am often annoyed by the YA/ Non-YA split even when I agree it's completely appropriate, and I have split up my posts just to make things easier on myself. There are a couple of books below that might be considered YA based on the main character being young and the action or whatever. However, something about the book makes me think it's better for older audiences. Queen of the Tearling is an example.

I'd say A Tale for the Time Being, A Replacement Life, Stiff, The Art of Racing in the Rain, Kindred, and We are All Completely Beside Ourselves are the books that have stayed with me the most and I've continued to talk about and recommend them in different situations and with lots of different people. 

I mentioned some of these books mentioned in mini-review and/or Outbox posts, rather than in reviews of their own, which I've only really been doing for the last two months. But here are links to the ones that I did review posts for:

• The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
• The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley  
• The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman  
• Mr. Penumbra's 24- Hour Book Store 

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Related Posts

    

More Me! Getting to Know You Questions- Goodreads Challenge Post (#NaBloPoMo)

Lucky you! Another getting to know you #NaBloPoMo post! 
This one also comes curtesty of my Goodreads Novel Books and Reading Challenges group: Team Bastet. (This challenge is intense, y'all!)

Getting to Know You Questions - 2

1.Do the TV shows you watch resemble the books you read? (Example ; watchingLaw&Order SVU and Criminal Minds, and reading Mystery and psychological thrillers.)

I don't watch a lot of TV. Usually, I have just a couple of shows that I keep up with as they are running, right now that's The Librarians and The Walking Dead. And I have a couple of shows that I binge when the season is complete: Supernatural and Once Upon a Time. I take the same approach to comic, I only follow a few in single issues but I follow more in trade paperbacks.

To actually answer the question, I guess it would have to be yes. The kinds of stories that I like cross media. I enjoy books about books and bookish people (The Librarians);  zombies, dystopian communities, and apocalypses (The Walking Dead); fairy tales (OUAT), and the supernatural (Supernatural).

2.If you could have any character from a book as a best friend, who would you choose, from what book, and why?

This one is kind of hard. I don't really think I have one. If I had to pick, though, my #BookBestie is probably Hermione from HP, if I'm going to be like everyone else in the world!

3.What book has been on your TBR shelf the longest?
According to Goodreads, It's running with Scissors. It was, apparently, the first book I added when I joined in 2009. I'm sure there are books that I have wanted to read for longer than that.

4.If you had to pick one author to take out on a date, who would you choose and why?
It would probably be Neil Gaiman, Neal Shusterman, Maggie Steifvater, or Daniel Jose Older. Someone whose work I enjoy but also those authors I follow online mostly because of their people-ness, opinions, and personality. And Mr. Older's arms. Obviously. (His wife probably likes them, too.)

What I do When I'm Not Reading (or blogging!) #NaBloPoMo

#NaBloPoMo happens every month. Can you imagine challenging yourself to participating every month and blogging every single day? Well, some of you might do that anyway but there’s no way I could for many many many reasons. As I was thinking about all the things that get in the way of me posting as much as I would like to: EUREKA! Post idea!

What I do when I’m not reading.

FAMILY: 
Spending time with my family! I've got two teenagers and their dad. My oldest offspring just went to stay with her grandparents for a while. She turned 18 and NEEDED TO GET OUT!! But before that, we were into zoos, and road trips and sitting around doing nothing. And me taking books to sports events. 

Hubbo isn't into having his picture taken! (Red Wings game)

FRIENDS:
Technically, I hang out with most of my friends as part of Book Club, so it's reading related! But last month we also went on a wine tour!! 

The THE-AH-TAH:

I'm into theatre and try to attend shows that come through when I can. I have gotten into community theatre recently and would love to be able to be more involved on the stage, but my schedule doesn't always allow me to. Last month I did a children's show called The Trial of the Big Bad Wolf, which pretty much sent me completely behind in all other areas of my life (including my reading time!). But it was totally fun and I loved working with the people in the cast. When I can't commit to doing a show, I bug the hell out of the theatre people I know so that I can be part of the crew or help out with the show in other ways. 

 

Trial of the Big Bad Wolf

Mary Poppins craziness!

Selling merchandise for James and the Giant Peach

Waiting in the wings for our cue to move set pieces! 

WORK:

I'm putting this at the end but really, the bulk of my time is spent as a psychologist. I work mostly with children, teens, and families who are struggling with some sort of behavioral or emotional concern. I provide psyc services in an outpatient clinic and in a doctor’s office. I also spend a lot of time with trainees as a supervisor helping clinicians- in- training become the best clinicians they can be! I’m also involved in a few extra projects at work that let me work in Head Start centers and doing more research – kinds of activities.  I love my job(s) but it’s long hours, sometimes, and much much much more paperwork than I would prefer to have to do. I also have a private practice and try to have a pretty active professional Facebook profile page. I also have a professional blog with is woefully neglected. Maybe I will pick a month to #NaBloPoMo for that one! I'm a child, family, and mental health advocate and most of my non-reading extra- curricular activities stem from my work.

For example:

I run the facebook page for the clinic where I work and am the media maven for the Genesee Valley Psychological Association. I’m also the immediate past- President. I’m on the Board of the New York Chapter of the Association for Family and Conciliation Courts, a group of people focused on making court systems work better for the children and families that come through them. I volunteer as the facilitator of The ACT program, a workshop for parents who are getting divorced that teaches them about the legal process but also how to help their children manage their divorce.  I’ve just been asked to join the Mental Health and Wellness Board for a new girl’s Charter School. I also live tweet when I attend community mental health presentations @KMalcolmPhD.

And of course, there's this:

 

Meredith's Book Club 2015 (#NaBloPoMo)

I'm posting twice today to make-up for my missed NaBloPoMo post on Saturday.

I've already posted about how I have a few book clubs that I am variably involved with. The one that I have with a group of friends is my PRIMARY book club. We are at the end of our second year! Whoot! We have gotten way better at actually talking about the books. I think we have also gotten better and picking books that more than one person might like... well, some of us have gotten better at that. Anyway, here're some high and low lights... from one member's perspective: Mine. Duh.

Big Magic was the most recent book club pick and the only one that I didn't read. I don't really enjoy non-fiction, inspirational stuff, or self help kinds of books, in general. Luckily. I was also out of town the week that this was scheduled, so that gave me an excuse to not read the book. I bought it for my Kindle, though. So, you never know. Maybe hell will freeze over.  Just kidding, Merrill. I had planned to read it and might still. 

I picked Purple Hibiscus in October. I probably would have only given it 3 stars if not for the really good discussion the group had about it. That made it worth an extra star because it was at least provocative enough to get us talking about the different perspectives, cultures, and beliefs of the characters in the book. 

Landline was a favorite of mine. I don't think it's considered YA, exactly. Is it? Maybe. Either way, it's about a woman who gains a better understanding of her life after getting a glimpse of her past from a different angle. That might not be what it's about at all, but that's how I remember it. 

And TOP pick of the year of this group... drum roll... What Alice Forgot. I can't remember who picked it, maybe Stacey, but it was a really interesting idea to think about looking at your life now from the eyes of yourself, 10 years ago. 

Boom! I'm NaBloPoMo current!!