August 2020 books

City of Thieves by David Benioff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The last book I read before this one, I wasn't able to finish because I said I needed more angst, conflict, and nuance. And here in City of Thieves, I got just what I asked for! There is plenty of angst, conflict, and nuance in this book. Terrible people do good things. Good people do terrible things. People make small choices with big consequences and vice versa. But it's all done with an aura of humor and light-heartedness that make the darker moments easier to process.

(Content note: there's quite a bit of rudeness in this book, but it's...jovial rudeness? Still probably not appropriate for younger teens. Although, as far as books set in besieged Leningrad go, this is probably one of the tamer stories out there!)

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Peace Like a River by Leif Enger


Please please please don't hate me, but I finally had to put this book out of its misery and DNF it at 55 (!) percent. There is a time and a place for loving this book, but August 2020 in the midst of an election season and pandemic is not it! I needed more angst, more conflict, more nuance.

I can see myself picking this back up when Coronavirus Times are over and being able to sink into it and love it.

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The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. My daughter and I agree that if this had been the first book in the series, we might have liked it better. But look, President Snow is arguably the Hunger Games character whose backstory I am LEAST interested in! I don't need to know why he's a bad guy! Or maybe I would, if it were interesting! But it's not! We KNOW how this story ends - and the journey this book took to get there was not fulfilling or surprising or thought-provoking or anything else that would have redeemed it. Instead, we get stuff like "his mom, who died in the war, smelled like roses GET IT? WINK WINK" and a whole book of that got tiresome, real quick.

And can we talk about the relationship between Snow and Lucy Gray? (view spoiler)[ It was so gross. Snow is presented here as being emotionally immature, but also cunning and a bit of a social chameleon? But also completely devoid of empathy? It was no fun being inside his head for a whole book, particularly when his brain was thinking about Lucy Gray. It struck me as being extremely red pill-y, which is just a gross look for this day and age. And Lucy Gray completely falls for it, therefore never subverting the narrative that Snow DESERVES her. I thought we were going to get an interesting look at how unbalanced power dynamics or stressful situations can make a relationship seem like a good idea when it isn't, but instead Snow just...got everything he wanted, at her expense. EWW. (hide spoiler)]

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The Yellow Bird Sings by Jennifer Rosner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The blurb for this book makes it seem more complex than it actually is. The imaginary bird and kingdom could have been entirely removed from the story and it wouldn't have made a difference. Despite the dramatic setting of this book, not much really happens! I know! And the mother-daughter relationship fell flat for me - I was more moved by the end of Mamma Mia 2. I think I would have liked a book about Shira and Sister Agnieszka in the convent, or a book about Shira and her violin teacher better.

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The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think the word for the plot of this book is "rich." It is so FULL of things: names, traditions, religions, places, FOODS, contracts, engagements, customs, rituals, and, yes, MURDERS. It was a lot to keep up with, and I found myself mired in the plot at around the 25% mark, not sure if I wanted to continue.

But I did, and ended up finishing the remaining 75% almost in one sitting. So it's good, it just takes some getting into. If you like mysteries and are looking for something a little different, this is just the book for you!

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The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You should know before starting this book that it is based on a true story, rooted in an unpublished memoir and filled in with details from interviews with the actual people. I didn't know this before I started reading and after a few chapters I thought, "this HAS to be true, the events are too terrible and strange and heartbreaking and heartwarming to be fiction." And sure enough, it was!

Since it is a true story, the plot doesn't always go in the direction you think (or hope), and the pacing is, well, realistic. But this is absolutely in the same thematic category as either of the WW2 books from Ruta Sepetys, so if you or your kids have finished those, come read this amazing story, too!

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How to Be a Family: The Year I Dragged My Kids Around the World to Find a New Way to Be Together by Dan Kois
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This might be the most uneven book I've read this year. Sometimes I really liked hanging out with this guy and his family on their adventure; other times I cringed or rolled my eyes (I think the author would actually agree with me on this). There were political overtones - overtones that I AGREE with! - that felt unnecessary, and times where even though he acknowledged a particular bias or privilege, it was still irritating, somehow. And yet, there were still OTHER parts that absolutely moved me to laughter and/or tears. So this book was a journey.

And I don't know that I'm the target audience, necessarily. This book did help me see my own life choices a little bit from the outside, though - we made some of the same decisions the author did, except for the long-term rather than just a year. And so that was interesting and validating.

By the way, as soon as I saw that there were family additions to the book I had flashbacks to the horror that was Animal, Vegetable, Miracle but don't worry, they're fine.

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