Kristin

Just a quick thought about book reviews

I’ve learned in the short life of this blog that I have this weird procrastination thing going on about book reviews. Part of the reason I started this blog was to share my thoughts about the books I’m reading. I also said I’d post book reviews. Well, I realized that I was thinking about these as completely separate things, which is really counterproductive for me. I have found that if I think of a book review as a THING — “A Book Review”– that I push it off, thinking it needs to sound all formal and polished. However, if I think about “sharing my thoughts about what I’m reading,” it seems easy and fun.

So, I’m going to try to make an effort to combine the two in my mind a bit and maybe post a little more often and a little more thoughtfully about what I’m reading. The one exception to this, I think, will be for books I’ve received in exchange for writing a review; for those, I’ll go the slightly more formal route.

These are my thoughts for now, at least. So, should we chat about the traveling circus in the ’30s? commercial swordfish fishing? demons vying for our souls? So much to think about!

Ciao for now!

Munchkin Monday: Book Review – My House is Falling Apart!

My House Is Falling Apart is a debut picture book by author Rachel Schade, illustrations by Barbara Laney. It’s a fun, rhyming book from the perspective of a little kid whose house has all kinds of things out of sorts. My kids took to it quickly, despite my initial hesitance. My first, hyper-critical adult impression was that the events of the story don’t match the title – I guess I expected everything to be “falling apart” in a literal sense, but that’s not what happens. Instead, all sorts of odd things are going on, sort of like a Dr. Seuss Wacky Wednesday idea. We learn all the things wrong with the house – from “holes in the floor” to “laughing hyenas in my trees!”

HOWEVER, my kids really enjoyed it–my daughter laughed to me as she brushed her teeth about “those laughing hyenas just being so silly up there in the trees,” so I lightened up and saw the book for what it is: a silly, fun picture book for little kids, with engaging illustrations.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads and 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon, which = “I liked it.” Despite my initial tepid response, it is so much better than so many nonsense picture books out there, and I’d love to have a paperback copy of the book to add to our collection!

**Many thanks to Rachel Schade for providing me a free copy of the book in exchange for this review. It was a pleasure!

Book thoughts from my climbing trip to Vegas

Last week Adam and I took a trip to go climbing at Red Rock Canyon, outside of Las Vegas. Red Rock Canyon just might be the most beautiful and amazing place I have EVER been. That says a lot, coming from a beach girl like me! The trip was awesome, adventurous, terrifying, and exhausting all mixed up together, and I could go on and on about it BUT since this is a blog about reading I will keep my commentary book-themed (ish). Here are some observations, thoughts, and lessons-learned from the various reading materials encountered on my trip:

Reading on a Kindle is weird. On the flight out to Vegas I borrowed Adam’s Kindle and read an entire book, The Private War of Corporal Henson (review forthcoming – I KNOW, I keep saying that. I really do mean it, I just have a back-log of sorts…). I just can’t figure out whether that’s impressive or not…I don’t know what “4 hours and 20 minutes” equates to in pages. I kept trying to swipe it, and I couldn’t figure out how to highlight or make notes without help. I missed my paper pages and sticky-note flags. It was oddly convenient, though, and I think I could be encouraged to join this century and give it another go.
Do not trust guidebooks. Ever. Ok, that’s a little dramatic. HOWEVER. Thanks to Fun Climbs Red Rocks: Topropes and Moderates I will never again read, “scramble down” the same way. It was treacherous! and scary! and, in Adam-speak, “just a little sketchy” getting down from our climb on Tuesday. (Thank you, Adam, for getting me down and out safely with only one tiny whine!).
“Rare Bookstore” is NOT the same as “Used Bookstore.” We visited Bauman Rare Books at the Venetian, which was really cool. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but my first thought when I saw the sign advertising the store was that I’d get to browse a really cool store full of used books. It WAS a really cool store, but it was more like a museum and no touching was allowed – a $13,000 first edition of the Cat in the Hat was on display, safely behind glass! I haven’t had a chance to really look at the website, but I plan to.
Pope Francis is awesome. I mean, I already knew that, but every time I read more of Laudato Si — On Care for Our Common Home I can’t keep from exclaiming about how much I just love him. Just after Adam and I were commenting on how much more amazing God’s mountains are than the man-made “wonder” of the strip, I read this:

But a sober look at our world shows that the degree of human intervention…is actually making our earth less rich and beautiful, even more limited and gray, even as technological advances and consumer goods continue to abound limitlessly. We seem to think that we can substitute an irreplaceable and irretrievable beauty with something which we have created ourselves (27) (emphasis added).

Now – some non-book thoughts: I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY dislike the Strip and I will NOT bring my kids there until they’ve had a chance to REALLY learn right from wrong; Il Fornaio Italian restaurant at New York New York is fantastic; and I thoroughly enjoyed M and M World 🙂

Ciao for now!