Review: Carry On

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I purchased this book at Kew and Willow in Kew Gardens, using a gift card from my siblings-in-law. This was on the Grade 11-12 reading list for NYC Reads 365.

An interesting fantasy with shifting first-person perspectives throughout the book. The novel focuses mostly on Simon, and starts with many chapters from only Simon's perspective, so the first time the perspective shifted was a jarring. Even later, I would start reading some dialogue and realize halfway through that I had been imagining the wrong person speaking.

I don't really understand the title. I think it popped up halfway through the book, but I don't feel like it has any significance and seems not at all memorable. In a year or so, if someone asks if I've read Carry On, I probably won't remember what it's about without some prompting.

The fact that the vast majority of the book takes place in the UK is pretty interesting, since I don't think the author is British. Since I'm also not British, I have no idea how well she captures things.

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Review: The Great Passage

The Great Passage by Shion Miura
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a book I received through Amazon's World Book Day promotion in 2018.

This was probably my favorite of all of the World Book Day books. I loved diving into the world of dictionary-making, which is something I had never given any thought to. It was amazing to me to read about the passion that the characters have for their work in a field I never even thought about existing.

It also doesn't hurt that I am of Japanese descent and understand Japanese. I don't think I could read this book in the original Japanese by itself, but it might be something I can do if I have both the translation and the original side-by-side. I appreciated many of the words being left in Japanese so that I could appreciate the full subtleties, rather than try to guess at what the original might have meant from a translation into English.

Definitely good enough for me to want a paper copy.

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Review: Teranesia

Teranesia by Greg Egan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I borrowed this book from Jonathan's friend, Gavin. He described it as a "biology mystery."

This book started out so promising. I love the references to a lot of phenomena known in biology with runaway evolution seemingly happening in an isolated region of Indonesia. I thought the overall concepts were very intriguing and believable enough. It was really heading to a four-star review.

But oh man, the ending. I just couldn't take it seriously. Everything up until that point felt like interesting science fiction. Then humans got involved, and realism seemed to go out the window. It also felt super rushed towards the end as well.

All that said, I may be checking out more books by Greg Egan. The beginning (and really, most of the book) was so promising, that I am interested to see what else he has written. It's probably too much to hope for more "biology mysteries," but maybe there are others out there!

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Review: All American Boys

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I purchased this book at Chapter Two Books in Williamstown, MA. I believe I came across this book because it was one of the potential books my former school was thinking about as the middle school summer reading book.

This definitely would have been a good choice for the middle school, although I'm afraid that it would be considered a little preachy, especially when it is imposed on the kids. A book that tackles racism from the perspective of both a black and a white boy, written by two men. As someone whose high school days are over a decade in the past, it's hard for me to guess whether this will ring true for the students who are the intended audience of this book.

I guess this book is also very heavy-handedly male, so I had a hard time relating with the characters in that way as well. I don't know if that would diminish middle/high school girls' enjoyment of this book, though.

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Review: Spilled Milk

Spilled Milk by K.L. Randis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I 'purchased' this eBook using Amazon credits.

I went into this book knowing nothing about it, but it feels like a memoir from the very beginning. These are some awful things to happen to a human being, and I'm glad this author was able to find a fulfilling life after what she went through.

Books like this amaze me with the resilience of children and the human mind. I am glad some survivors of sexual abuse come out the other side able to produce something like this to tell their story and spread awareness.

I thought it was very interesting that Randis touches on male victims in Brooke's guest lecture towards the end of the book. That's definitely a more uncommonly told story that likely needs more light shed on it.

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Review: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I purchased this eBook using Amazon credits.

This was a book that reminded me a lot of Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone and others. It provided a lot of food for thought and potentially some advice that will be useful in everyday conversations. But it's pretty clear that I am not the target audience for this book. The examples that Voss uses just seem so far from my life. They are interesting examples that make for some nice stories, but not something I can relate to.

I guess I would have preferred if this was simply a long list of anecdotes of Voss's experience in the FBI. But since this is written more as a negotiation manual, I found it difficult to get a lot out of it. I think the earlier chapters are a lot more interesting. I found things to get pretty repetitive towards the end, and it felt like Voss was trying to make excuses for himself and other people using these techniques by saying "oh, this is about understanding what they want, not just getting what you want."

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Review: The Secret Chord

The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was recommended to me by my brother-in-law.

Whatever I ever knew about the story of David has long been forgotten, and I didn't even know this would be a biblical retelling. It becomes pretty clear pretty quickly, though. I don't know if my ignorance was a blessing or detriment in my appreciation for the book, but I prefer not to know anything about books before reading them, so my guess is that I liked the book more for it. It also "helped" that Brooks uses the Hebrew transliteration of names, which distanced the characters even more from the familiar.

This is not a book for the faint of heart. I grossed out my husband when reading this out loud, and he got upset that he had to hear it. There are tales of battles and graphic depictions of sexual assault.

I'm still not quite clear on what is secret about the secret chord. The ending reference to music seemed a little hokey.

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