March 2017

Mudbound

By Hillary Jordan

I have to preface this review with the statement that this is totally my own opinion.  I realize that Mudbound is a popular and well-liked book.  That being said, I would give it one star because I was able to read the book to the end.  I didn’t hate it, but I also did not like it.  I was going to give it a second star for the fact that this was Hillary Jordan’s first book.  That, however, is not a good reason to raise the rating of any book. From my perspective, it was a giant cliché. There was no depth to the story.  Characters and situations were stereotypical.  I particularly did not like the epilogue.  It appeared that the author wasn’t able to or didn’t want to resolve the storyline.   It just stopped and everything was explained, somewhat, in the epilogue.    

There are much more profound and moving books on the topic of racism.  I found a Huffington Post article, 16 Books About Race that Every White Person Should Read.  Some of the books on the list may evoke uncomfortable feelings, which is something that happens when we step outside of the box and challenge our own preconceived notions, misconceptions and/or biases. Those books, along with a few others, have been added to my reading list. 

The Nest

By Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

I listened to the Audible version of The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney.  The story revolved around four upper class siblings squabbling over an inheritance.  There were several well-used, middle-aged adult themes: drug use, relationship problems, biological clock, and money.  It was mildly entertaining.  I didn’t hate it.  It was the second book that I’ve read this month ending with an epilogue.  In both cases, it seemed like the author couldn’t or didn’t want to resolve the storyline.  The story just stopped and everything was tied up neatly in the epilogue.  That’s an OK solution, but not my favorite. The narration by Mia Barron was good.  For me, The Nest was a mildly engaging audiobook.

Truly Madly Guilty

By Liane Moriarty

Truly Madly Guilty is a new book written by my favorite ‘guilty pleasure’ author, Liane Moriarty.  All of Moriarty’s books present flawed characters from dysfunctional families and/or relationships.  Frequently, the evolving and/or dissolving relationships are between sisters.  In Truly Madly Guilty, the major conflict is between two life-long best friends.  Mother/daughter and husband/wife issues also come into play throughout the story.  While all of the characters were well developed, I particularly related to Erica.  Both she and her husband had significant personal struggles.  I liked the growth that they experienced individually and as a couple.  While not a ‘happily ever after’ ending, I liked the way their issues were resolved by the end of the book.  I think I would have enjoyed having Erica as a friend, despite her issues.  I was sorry that others did not appreciate her friendship, and that she did not always appreciate herself.   I loved the book and would definitely recommend Truly Madly Guilty.

The Sense of an Ending

By Julian Barnes

I picked up The Sense of an Ending because I heard that it was coming out soon as a movie.  I always like to read the book first, even before hearing other people’s comments about a movie adaptation.  The small, 163-page book was riveting.  I could not put it down.  One of my favorite passages was about forgetting things:

‘… You can sit there and try to force your memory into giving up the name of that acquaintance, flower, train station, astronaut… Or you can admit failure and take practical steps with reference books and the Internet.  Or you can just let it go--forget about remembering--and then sometimes you find that the mislaid fact surfaces an hour or a day later, often in those long waking nights that age imposes…’ (page 122)

The book is a novella about forgetting, remembering and, sometimes, just not understanding.  I loved it.  It’s a great read!

McGraw Hill Easy Spanish Step-By-Step

Barbara Bregstein

The McGraw Hill East Spanish Step-By-Step truly was easy and one of the best books for easy grammar that I’ve found so far.  The book was divided into three sections:  Section I: Elements of a Sentence (9 chapters); Section II: Objects, Reflexive Verbs and Present Subjunctive (4 chapters); Section III: Preterit Tense, Imperfect Tense and Double Object Pronouns (2 chapters).  I appreciated the detailed explanations and examples.  The majority of the book was easy to understand and very helpful.  I got a bit lost in the third section, possibly because my English grammar knowledge is not the best.  I was able to complete all of it and am sure that it will all make sense with time and further study.

Here are my general impressions:

·      It is very easy to understand.

·      There are answers to most of the exercises in the back of the book, so you can check to see if your answers are correct.

·      The explanations are clear and have good examples.

·      A lot of vocabulary was introduced and used in practice exercises.

·      There are plenty of practice exercises.

·      Each chapter ends with a short story and related comprehension questions.  (I wish that answers for these questions were included in the answer key.  They are not.)

·      At the end of each of the major sections, there was a long list of infinitives to be translated.  These did not all relate to the exercises that had been completed.  I did each list, but am not sure about the value of lists of words with no context.

Overall, this was a one of the best books I’ve found for self-study.  I would recommend using it in conjunction with an online app, such as Duolingo or Rosetta Stone.  I’ve found that they all support and reinforce one another.