Top 5 Books of the Month (August 2016)

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor – Sudhir Venkatesh 4/5 Stars

Before reading this book, I believed I knew a bit about the underground economy. I only knew the basics of it, I had no idea how intricite it was. This was an extremely informative book and my favorite part was the stories he included from the people living in this neighborhood. At times the book is a bit wordy and I skimmed, but overall a great read.

Cocaine Blues – Kerry Greenwood 4/5 Stars

I actually found Miss Fisher’s Murderous Mysteries on Netflix first and after watching a few episodes loved it and found out it was a book series. While, the book is slightly different from the show (like always!) it was equally as good and the characters all had the same spirit.

Epidemiology and the People’s Health: Theory and Context – Nancy Krieger 4/5 Stars

As a public health student, I found this book very informative. The beginning started off a bit dry, but once I got more into the book I started to enjoy it more considering it’s a theory text. It was well researched and the visuals throughout made it easier to follow along.

Social Injustice and Public Health – Barry S. Levy, Victor W. Sidel (Editors) 4/5 Stars

Another textbook-like book, but the way the book is broken up into different groups makes it easy to read and not daunting. It contains lots of important facts about the health disparities our nation currently faces.

The Girls – Emma Cline 3/5 Stars

I picked up this book because everyone was raving about it. I didn’t quite love it as much as everyone else, but I still enjoyed it. I liked the varying perspectives between current day and teenage Evie, it’s interesting to see a character at different points in their life. While, the story moved along and I read the entire book quickly, it was a tad slow at times and I didn’t every really connect with Evie.

Library Haul

Since I have the week off I want to get a lot of reading in. I’m proud of myself because I only got 5 books and they were all on my list! Lately, I’ve been into mystery novels with female main characters. I’m quite excited to start reading!

Bookstores

I love going to used bookstores. I’m always impressed that there’s so many books that all have so much history (and I feel at home because I have stacks of books all over at home). I could browse for hours, discovering new books I’ve never heard of and reading ones that I have. Thankful for days off and a boyfriend who will spent a day off going to multiple bookstores with me.

Bookshelf

This is my bookshelf of books I’ve acquired in the past 2 years that I haven’t read yet. Instead of just reading the books I have, I continue to go to book sales (got some great new books today), the library, and get books for my kindle and listen to audiobooks. I have too many books. But it’s a good problem to have. 

Top 5 Books of the Month (July 2016)

1. Five Days at Memorial – Sherri Fink Rating: 4/5 Stars

Since I was younger Katrina happened I didn’t know many of the details. Since I am now in the healthcare field it was extremely interesting to read about the conditions of the hospital, the plans (or lack of), and the rescue efforts (again or lack of). The second half of the book focused on after Katrina and while it was interesting, the beginning of the book was more of a page turner for me.

2.  H is for Hawk – Helen Macdonald Rating: 3/5 Stars

This book is part memoir and nature writing. After her father’s death, Helen trains a goshawk and it helps her out of her grief. This was the kind of book that I could only read a few pages at a time of. For the most part that was not a bad thing because I was focusing on the writing. However, there were some parts of the books, mostly the parts about T.H. White’s book, that I just didn’t find myself interested in. This book made me more interested in hawks that I originally was, but not enough.

3. Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng Rating: 3/5 Stars

Not only was this story about a family dealing with the death of a daughter/sister, but it dealt with racism, not fitting in, and family issues. I really enjoyed getting to read from different family members points of view. I love being able to see different points of the same story. Unfortunately I disliked many of the characters and they felt a bit cliche.

4. Fates and Furries – Lauren Groff Rating: 3/5 Stars

This is a story about a marriage told from the point of view of both the husband and wife. I enjoyed getting to read about periods of time from both of their views. Unfortunately I didn’t really like Lotto or Mathilde and didn’t really agree with what either of them did or their reasons why.

5. The Mystical Backpacker – Hannah Papp Rating: 2/5 Stars

This book is advertised as part memoir and part guidebook. I was more interested in the memoir piece and  unfortunately that was a smaller portion of the book. Read my full review here.

 

The Mystical Backpacker – Hannah Papp

Rating: 2/5 Stars

Hannah Papp’s book is marketed as “part memoir and part guidebook”. When first picking up this book I was more interested in the memoir part. As someone who enjoys traveling I was looking forward to a book that highlighted someone’s experiences traveling. I knew that it was also considered a “guidebook” and while that wasn’t a huge appeal for me I figured it might be interesting.

What I found as I kept reading was that the memoir part of the book was short, it was mostly a guidebook. So while I enjoyed reading about Papp’s travels and her journal entries I wasn’t thrilled with how much of the book was self help. It wouldn’t have been a bad thing except it felt like most of the information was very generic and uninspiring. Some of her advice was solid and I’m sure helpful to some, but I found myself skimming every time I reached the exercise pages.

I received a free copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Top 5 Books of the Month (June 2016)

Top 5 books of June. Reviews will be linked as written.

1. The Door – Magda Szabo  Rating: 5/5 Stars

2. Rescue Road – Peter Zheutlin Rating: 5/5 Stars

3. The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life – Amy Tan Rating: 5/5 Stars

4. Lord of the Flies – William Golding Rating: 4/5 Stars

5. After the War is Over – Jennifer Robinson Rating: 3/5 Stars

 

 

Rescue Road – Peter Zheutlin

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Peter Zheutlin goes along with Greg Mahle on his journey from the South to the North bringing rescue dogs to their forever homes. Throughout the book he also visits with other volunteers along the way who run shelters, foster dogs, bring food and medicine to dogs, etc. This was an incredible story about all of the volunteers who do everything they can to rescue dogs from being euthanized and make their lives better. It is amazing to read about these volunteers who put so much time, money, and love into making sure as many dogs as they can help have a better life.

Before reading this book I knew a little bit about dog rescue, in particular dogs coming up from the South because one of my dogs was originally from Tennessee. While, I knew these dogs were transported in trucks and were being rescued from kill shelters that was about the extent of my knowledge. I never knew how much actually went into saving all of these dogs. In addition, I didn’t know the extent of the overpopulation problem in the South. It was informative and heart-breaking to hear about how dogs are viewed and treated in the South. It made me so grateful for all the volunteers working so hard to provide a better live for these dogs, even if it is as simple as giving them food or medicine.

Zheutlin did an excellent job sharing the work of all of these volunteers by showing just how much they do. He also really highlighted just how big of a problem the over-breeding of animals and the lack of spaying and neutering. So in addition to this book showing the day to day tasks of rescue organizations, it also is educational on the problems that still need to be taken care of. I found myself crying at many parts, whether they were sad or happy tears.  While parts of this book are hard to read and heart-breaking, it is inspiring to read about the volunteers trying to fix this problem one dog at a time and the people who adopt rescue dogs.

I received a free copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Top 5 Books of the Month (May 2016)

1.  All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr 

5/5 Stars

2. A Quiet Storm – Rachel Howzell Hall

4/5 Stars

3. New Year – Pearl S. Buck

4/5 Stars

4. Small Island – Andrea Levy

4/5 Stars

5. In Cold Blood – Truman Capote

3/5 Stars

The Queue – Vladimir Sorokin

Rating: 5/5 Stars

The whole book takes place in a line, waiting for unknown goods, in Moscow. The book is written entirely comprised of one-liners between the Soviet people waiting in line. Reading this is exactly like listening in on someone else’s conversation. As I read this I felt as though I was in line waiting to and listening to the conversation all around me.

The Queue manages to give readers a view of the time and place. We are able to see a society interact and understand people’s emotions just by reading one-liners. Whether the conversation is between mother and son, neighbors, friends, strangers, or lovers I felt as though I learned a lot about these people through simple conversation. The reader never learns what they are standing in line for and it appears the people in the book don’t know either. It doesn’t seem to matter though, if there is a line people will stand in it.

In Vladimir Sorokin’s afterward he says, “An era can be judged by street conversations.” and after reading his book I completely agree. Even though I didn’t know any of the character’s names or stories I felt I was able to understand Soviet Russia better.