Book Review - The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I thought I was going to love it (especially because I loved the gifts of imperfect parenting) but I just... Didn't. I made a lot of highlights in the first half (before the guideposts), but I feel like they were things which were not really the point of the book.

Now this is probably going to sound ... I don't know, uppity or something, but I felt like she wasn't really telling me anything I didn't already know or hadn't already figured out and begun to practice. I guess it was good acknowledgement that the way I've been striving to love is a good one, based on her research. I would definitely recommend the book to some people (and have done already), but for me, it just wasn't this all-insightful, life-altering, motivating experience I had expected it to be. It didn't really give me many new insights or tools for how to go about living this life. But again, I've done a ton of self-work in the past 3-4 years, so for someone just starting on the path to authenticity and wholeheartedness, this book may well be a good starting point.



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Book Review - The Orchard, A Memoir by Theresa Weir

The Orchard: A Memoir by Theresa Weir

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I requested this book for review with a number of YA books, and so when it came to me, I began reading it expecting that genre. It's not.


The Orchard is (as the title suggests) a memoir, telling the story of a country girl with a rough past building an unlikely life. It reads like a novel, which is in its favor, though I wondered sometimes how fictionalized a variety of scenes may have been. I guess that's probably true of any memoir. You have to flesh out the skeleton of memory to make it more interesting.



I found The Orchard to be mildly interesting, but not particularly compelling. It starts slow, but does build steam and eventually come to the point where you want to know what is going to happen, whether the protagonists will break away from the prison of sorts that has been fashioned for them.

The thing about this book is that I feel like I should have enjoyed it more than I did. I really relate to the protagonist in many ways, and yet I felt detached from her (I don't think she ever mentions her own name in this book, not even in dialogue). Her decisions often made little sense to me, and I found myself often rolling my eyes or saying, "I told you so."

I don't feel as though I wasted the hours of my life I spent reading this book, but it wasn't anything particularly special, either.

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Book Review - Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card

Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"[No single] explanation will ever contain the final answer for all time, for all hearers. There is always, ALWAYS more to learn."

And I find that true of reading a book again and again as well. Sometimes I like this one more, sometimes less. It's never going to be my favorite of the series (Speaker will hold that honor), but each time I read it, I get something different out of it. As you'll see below (in an older review), sometimes I get dogma and preaching that make me roll my eyes. This time, I got the love and intention that bind us together as human beings. I can live with that.

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I've never liked the end of the Ender Saga as much as the beginning. Speaker for the Dead is a hard act to follow. The first couple of times listened to the series, I severely disliked Xenocide and CotM was a consolation, a resolution to the conflict of SftD, if nothing else. I resolved not to read the end of the series again once I'd done it once and found out the story.

But even now, on my third time through, I still couldn't just stop with Speaker. I had to finish out the series, and I'll say that I appreciated Xenocide more this third time around, and Children of the Mind was actually the story I rolled my eyes through. I guess you do get something different out of a book every time you read it (or listen, as it were). While Xenocide was formerly the book I sighed through, rolling my eyes at what I perceived to be OSC's personal dogma coming through his story, this time it was CotM.

I wish I'd written the review as I was listening instead of waiting a couple of weeks and a couple more books before sitting down, because I can't remember what exactly it was that rubbed me wrong about this book this time around. But I remember being surprised that I disliked it so much, as before it was my consolation after wading through Xenocide. Let's just say either way, I was happy to jump back to Ender's Shadow.

I've gotten something different out of this book every time I read it, anyway, and I will probably continue to work my way through the entire series once every year or two, as I've done since first picking it up.


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Book Review - Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book was definitely my least favorite of the series so far. I read Sookie because it's fluff - entertaining, enjoyable, quick, light. This book was not particularly light or enjoyable, though I did go through it quickly. I admit to being disappointed in the lack of sexual tension (and, well, sex) I enjoyed through the other books. This installment was, overall, just very bland.



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Book Review - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Ok, so I'd probably actually give this a 3.5 but I though I'd be generous. Part I of the book is AGONY; pure, unbridled agony. If you are a financier or something, you might not be totally bored by it, but for me, it was awful.

By the time part II came along, though, the setup was FINALLY done and the actual story had started to move. While the first 150 pages took me WEEKS to wade through (I had to keep putting it down and read something more interested so my will to live wasn't completely sucked away), I cranked through the last 200 pages in one day.

It is worth reading, if you can take some time and work your way through the beginning. I don't recommend reading it without an actually interesting book in tow to read when you just can't take it anymore. Unfortunately, part I is enormously critical to understanding what happens in Part II, so you really do have to read it and pay attention.

Anyway, if you have the strength of will to get through part I, the book really ends up pretty interesting, and I'll probably read the sequels.

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Book Review - The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Well, it's no Hunger Games. The premise is interesting, and the story had a lot of promise. Unfortunately, a lot of it was left unfulfilled. I identified pretty heavily with the main character, BUT there was a real lack of depth to 99% of the other characters, which is disappointing. I was left with many unanswered questions that I hope are resolved in the sequel, which I do intend to read.

These people are living in a world where the only thing separating them from a forest of Zombies is a chain-link fence. And yet, while you read about their terror and desperation at times, you never FEEL it. Maybe I'm spoiled by the emotional roller coaster that was the Hunger Games series, but I like to be inside of my stories. While this one carried me through, I felt more like I was riding along a path in an electric jeep rather than being chased through the jungle by the dinosaurs.

The only thing I really felt in my bones was Mary's desire for MORE of life, and the sense of loss from those whose loved ones were taken by the Unconsecrated. And while her scenes of desire with her beloved were moving, the genre was painfully obvious to me as it usually isn't in good YA - I could tell the author was holding back because of the intended age of the audience, and the work was the worse for it.

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Book Review - Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I still maintain that Speaker for the Dead is the best of the Ender series and that the books get progressively "worse" after that book. That said, I enjoyed Xenocide much more this read-through (listen-through?) than I had previously, mostly because I understood and took interest in the science more than I ever had before.

Knowing what I do about Orson Scott Card and his religious and political beliefs (or at least professions) took a little of the joy out of this book, and more so than the others. I found myself frequently wondering <i>what he was trying to say</i>. Before I had been able to suspend those thoughts and get lost in the story, but they came to the forefront this time.

When I started listening to this books again (I do it about once a year), I didn't intend to read through the whole series, knowing that I could feasibly stop with Speaker and be done, and that I didn't like the other books as much. But as usual, the story drew me in, and even though I KNOW what happens in the long run, I wanted to hear it all again.

If you've never listened to the Ender books, I highly recommend it. The voice acting is phenomenal and really brings the story to life.

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My third time through, and I still couldn't just stop with Speaker. I had to finish out the series, and I'll say that I appreciated Xenocide more this third time around, and Children of the Mind was actually the story I rolled my eyes through. I guess you do get something different out of a book every time you read it (or listen, as it were). I once again applied what I know about OSC and his beliefs to the telling of this story, and while I was still irritated at times, I also found myself analyzing and questioning and being generally curious about how much of the story does align with mormonism or OSC's personal dogma.

I'll still call this a three-star book, but I am glad that I have read it again (and again), if only to see how I as the audience have changed.

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I almost didn't continue the series this year, but went ahead anyway since I didn't have any more audiobooks lined up and I like to have one going at all times. Also, I couldn't seem to leave Ender, though he features far less prominently in this book that the first two. Once again (though mostly later in the book), I found myself beset by OSC's sneaky dogmatic ideals working their way into the inner personal monologues of his characters. *sigh* Someday, I'll learn that two books is really enough, that I know the rest of the story and don't actually have to keep "reading." There are so many good things out there waiting to be listened to.


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Book Review - What is God? by Etan Boritzer

What Is God? by Etan Boritzer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book describes one of the Big Questions (What is God?) as a question asked by everyone everywhere and answered in many ways. It is a little demeaning toward Christianity (describing their god as an invisible old man with a long white beard who lives in the clouds), and I don't like the way it TELLS at the end what god "is" (everyone and everything, and you) rather than making a suggestion and leaving it up to the child to decide what sounds or feels right.

Still, it was a nice response to my son's questioning after hearing about God from some Christian acquaintances, and a stepping stone for perspective. We're combining it with other kids' world religion-type books and various mythologies to attempt to give a balanced overview.


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