May Reading Challenge Update!
The reading continues! I find myself binge-reading/speed-reading during the last week/days of the month to try to fit in more books for each month but alas... Here is what I read in May!
Read a Book with Nonhuman Characters: 5-2-15 - Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson. This book definitely fit this category. What is a Moomintroll anyway? Only the cutest, sweetest, most curious creatures EVAR. What a fun, sweet read. After reading several books in a row with very strong female characters or about a real life female with lots of intense memories to share (Amy Poehler), it was nice to take a break and disappear into the fantasy of Moominland. (p.s. also, the three books I read before this all had a character named AMY in the book. Weird.)
Let me explain how I even stumbled upon a book such as this. When I was in grade school and just starting to get interested in chapter books, I selected for myself a very fun, fantastical, book series with characters that resemble the Moomintrolls. I had to have been around 3rd grade because it was past my days of reading Ramona (my very first chapter books series I fell in love with -- "Ramona the Pest" was my first chapter book read cover to cover independently, FYI). Anyway, as an adult, I wanted to reread these books I had read in grade school. I remembered characters that look like big hippos but they weren't hippos and I remember there being a comet involved. The closest I came in my search was "Comet in Moominland", which I realized after reading this one, is actually the first in the series. I should have read that one first - oh well. All this to say, the Moomintrolls are as close as I got to remembering what that fun, fantastical book series was that I checked out from the Flora Vista Elementary School library.... I'm still not 100% sure it's even the same series. But it is fun to read nontheless!
Fun sidenote: Tove Jansson is Finnish and her Moomintrolls are very much loved in Finland and other European countries. You can read more about her and her fantasy world here.
Read a Book Published This Year: 5-24-15 - After Birth by Elisa Albert. I looked to the world wide web to help me narrow down my choices for books published this year. This one came from a list I found through Huffington Post. I've tagged this post because a few others sounded interesting, including a new Nick Hornby novel and one by Toni Morrison. (I later found a Toni Morrison novel at a Little Free Library in L.A. that fit one of the types of books I need to read and so I read it... but in June.)
Anyway, this book was another novel with a strong female character and lots of feminist themes throughout. It is basically about a woman's life after giving birth for the first time. I related to her because her "birth story" was nothing like she hoped it would be. She actually had a C-section and referred to that experience as being cut open like a piece of meat and how unnatural it was. Audrey's birth was similar - confined to a hospital bed, put on drugs to speed everything up, took the epidural, slept most of the time... Aside from that, I felt empathy for the character (Ari is her name) as she felt very alone and isolated while she was trying to figure out how to be a mother. Her mother was awful and died when she was in junior high. She has dreams and daydreams that her mother is constantly taunting her and judging her parenting. I'm so thankful I at least had my mom around when I first became a mom and I'm thankful my mom knew when to give advice and when to respect my decisions as a parent. Similarly, I am thankful I had a network of friends who had gone down this road before and could give me all kinds of advice. I never felt alone like Ari did. Clueless, yes, but never alone. All in all, it's a good read, especially for those of us who have been through it all before.
Well, that's it for May... I am still reading through a book called "The Sticky Faith Guide for Your Family" by Dr. Kara Powell. I'm reading it two chapters at a time along with the rest of the Children's Ministry group at my church. I'll probably finish it by July. I also started "Good to Great" by Jim Collins as part of my Cal Poly class. This book will be my Read a Book at the Bottom of Your To-Read List because I am reading it not by choice but by obligation - my professor assigned it. But it's actually very interesting. Very Malcolm Gladwell-ish but without as many interesting stories. I just got bored of it because it is kind of a dull read... I also finished the book by Toni Morrison on June 1st and am almost done reading "The Color Purple". In fact, I'm going to watch the movie adaptation tonight.
So even though May was a little slow, I have been keeping my nose in books! As for my Reading Challenge, I am almost half way to my goal! And considering this year is almost half way done, I'm pretty proud of my accomplishment thus far! READING IS FUN!
Read a Book with Nonhuman Characters: 5-2-15 - Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson. This book definitely fit this category. What is a Moomintroll anyway? Only the cutest, sweetest, most curious creatures EVAR. What a fun, sweet read. After reading several books in a row with very strong female characters or about a real life female with lots of intense memories to share (Amy Poehler), it was nice to take a break and disappear into the fantasy of Moominland. (p.s. also, the three books I read before this all had a character named AMY in the book. Weird.)
Let me explain how I even stumbled upon a book such as this. When I was in grade school and just starting to get interested in chapter books, I selected for myself a very fun, fantastical, book series with characters that resemble the Moomintrolls. I had to have been around 3rd grade because it was past my days of reading Ramona (my very first chapter books series I fell in love with -- "Ramona the Pest" was my first chapter book read cover to cover independently, FYI). Anyway, as an adult, I wanted to reread these books I had read in grade school. I remembered characters that look like big hippos but they weren't hippos and I remember there being a comet involved. The closest I came in my search was "Comet in Moominland", which I realized after reading this one, is actually the first in the series. I should have read that one first - oh well. All this to say, the Moomintrolls are as close as I got to remembering what that fun, fantastical book series was that I checked out from the Flora Vista Elementary School library.... I'm still not 100% sure it's even the same series. But it is fun to read nontheless!
Fun sidenote: Tove Jansson is Finnish and her Moomintrolls are very much loved in Finland and other European countries. You can read more about her and her fantasy world here.
Read a Book Published This Year: 5-24-15 - After Birth by Elisa Albert. I looked to the world wide web to help me narrow down my choices for books published this year. This one came from a list I found through Huffington Post. I've tagged this post because a few others sounded interesting, including a new Nick Hornby novel and one by Toni Morrison. (I later found a Toni Morrison novel at a Little Free Library in L.A. that fit one of the types of books I need to read and so I read it... but in June.)
Anyway, this book was another novel with a strong female character and lots of feminist themes throughout. It is basically about a woman's life after giving birth for the first time. I related to her because her "birth story" was nothing like she hoped it would be. She actually had a C-section and referred to that experience as being cut open like a piece of meat and how unnatural it was. Audrey's birth was similar - confined to a hospital bed, put on drugs to speed everything up, took the epidural, slept most of the time... Aside from that, I felt empathy for the character (Ari is her name) as she felt very alone and isolated while she was trying to figure out how to be a mother. Her mother was awful and died when she was in junior high. She has dreams and daydreams that her mother is constantly taunting her and judging her parenting. I'm so thankful I at least had my mom around when I first became a mom and I'm thankful my mom knew when to give advice and when to respect my decisions as a parent. Similarly, I am thankful I had a network of friends who had gone down this road before and could give me all kinds of advice. I never felt alone like Ari did. Clueless, yes, but never alone. All in all, it's a good read, especially for those of us who have been through it all before.
Well, that's it for May... I am still reading through a book called "The Sticky Faith Guide for Your Family" by Dr. Kara Powell. I'm reading it two chapters at a time along with the rest of the Children's Ministry group at my church. I'll probably finish it by July. I also started "Good to Great" by Jim Collins as part of my Cal Poly class. This book will be my Read a Book at the Bottom of Your To-Read List because I am reading it not by choice but by obligation - my professor assigned it. But it's actually very interesting. Very Malcolm Gladwell-ish but without as many interesting stories. I just got bored of it because it is kind of a dull read... I also finished the book by Toni Morrison on June 1st and am almost done reading "The Color Purple". In fact, I'm going to watch the movie adaptation tonight.
So even though May was a little slow, I have been keeping my nose in books! As for my Reading Challenge, I am almost half way to my goal! And considering this year is almost half way done, I'm pretty proud of my accomplishment thus far! READING IS FUN!