Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe
by Carl Safina
Alfie & Philosophy (10/21/2023)
Alfie and Me is much more than a story about raising a screech owl and watching it become a successful wild bird. The author imbues everything about the owl with philosophy and history of human philosophical development. Hence the subtitle What Owls Know, What Humans Believe. During the first half of the book I found these comparisons interesting. By the middle of the book I found them tedious. The way the author set up his writing to be first some paragraphs about the owl and then some paragraphs about philosophy became too predictable for me. I found myself skimming over many sections which did not give the book its full experience. This book was just not for me.
The Gifts: A Novel
by Liz Hyder
The Gifts (3/8/2023)
Although I found the book page-turning and always wanted to know what was next, I thought it lacked a central, attached story. Three women grew wings during different time periods which I was interested in and also confused by. I wanted a more in depth story of perhaps one or two perspectives instead of five! This book "explores science, nature and religion, enlightenment, the role of women in society, and the dark danger of ambition." Too much!! Left me wanting more with less.
Scatterlings: A Novel
by Resoketswe Martha Manenzhe
Scatterlings (10/24/2022)
This book has a highly interesting piece of history to share! For a reason I can't quite put my finger on, I found it challenging to read. It kept occurring to me that perhaps the difficulty was in a translation? Or maybe just not for me at this time. I felt as though I was reading just to finish it. But it will stay on my bookshelf for perhaps a revisit at another time.
Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey
by Florence Williams
Heartbreak (12/11/2021)
In this book, Florence Williams gives the reader her personal story of heartbreak and the science behind what one might feel when heartbroken. I found the science in this book very interesting and the author made it very readable. Ms. Williams holds nothing back in sharing her personal story. She takes us on her journey of how and where it took her to understand the physical as well as the emotional feelings of heartbreak. Something many people can relate to!
The Sunset Route: Freight Trains, Forgiveness, and Freedom on the Rails in the American West
by Carrot Quinn
open your mind! (8/10/2021)
Carrot Quinn is a writer with a rare quality. She shares her life story in an honest and unflinching way. Through her choice of words and style of writing, I could experience what she saw and how she lived - the grit of it. A reader might find Quinn to be self-absorbed living against the norms of society. Some might find her words unsettling. I found her story compelling. Quinn gives the reader the gift of telling her life, without apology, as she lived it, like it or not. As for me I loved it.
A Girl is A Body of Water
by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
A Girl is a Body of Water (8/19/2020)
This is a wonderful book about a girl growing up in Uganda. It tells her story as she is raised in a small village by grandparents and others who teach her traditional ways. Her story continues as she begins to becomes school educated and is exposed to life outside a small village. This may be a simple and incomplete review, but if you can imagine the title, as more literal than figurative, you will understand the meaning of the story. It is quite brilliant!
I Want You to Know We're Still Here: A Post-Holocaust Memoir
by Esther Safran Foer
Hard to rate (11/17/2019)
This book relates a very important part of history and a personal one at that. I have trouble rating it for that reason. The story is important, therefore my rating of 3-average. However, I found the readability challenging, therefore my rating of 2-poor. The challenge of reading this book is that the author talks about too many people and their relationship to one another hard to keep track of. She often refers to her son Jonathan and his book without any background, assuming all readers know what she is talking about. It was about two-thirds into the book that she talks about what is most interesting and what a reader could understand. I think perhaps the author should have included some visual references, perhaps a family tree of sorts, maybe a rough map of her lost homeland. The story itself is important and compelling. The way it is written is where the difficulty, for me, makes my rating of it hard.
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