2nd Quarter 2024 Reading Recap

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

This book was enjoyable and required a lot of concentration. The character studies made me think and challenged the default perspective. I’ll leave you with this quote that is a great example of how the entire book is written.

“Absorbing, mysterious, of infinite richness, this life. And in the large square where the cabs shot and swerved so quick, there were loitering couples, dallying, embracing, shrunk up under the shower of a tree; that was moving; so silent, so absorbed, that one passed, discreetly, timidly, as if in the presence of some sacred ceremony to interrupt which would have been impious. That was interesting. And so on into the flare and glare.”

The Montessori Baby by Davies and Uzodike

I highlighted so many ideas from this book! My main takeaway was the value of slowing down with every interaction with my baby. The book pointed out that we often rush from one task to the next instead of giving both our baby and ourselves time to reflect, look around, and just be. Since reading this I’ve found it has majorly helped me in my interactions with my baby. Another big takeaway in the same vein is the value in stopping and observing before swooping in to “help.” We have to give our children the opportunity to work through problems themselves and observe first to understand exactly how we can be useful.

I recommend this book as a good resource to flip through for parents who want to understand the practical application of Montessori methods. While I certainly won’t be using everything that is suggested, the few takeaways I mentioned are enough to have made it a worthwhile read.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This book is written as a letter from a father to his son about the experience of being black in America (this is such a wide statement that it doesn’t do the actual subject matter of the book justice). The writing is strong and it definitely got me thinking about how actions can have ripple effects across generations. One of my favorite anecdotes was how the author’s grandmother would instruct him to write about why he did things, like misbehaved in school, for the purpose of making him think rather than for punishment. It helped the author hone his curiosity and understanding of why people do the things they do.

My rating reflects the fact that a key theme (the danger to black bodies in many environments) was repeated over and over when there was opportunity to comment on changes that would help. I understand that this book was not meant to a guide to fixing a problem, but there could have been some direction or recommendation for further reading.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

I wanted to love this book because it has all of the makings of a one I would enjoy; a child narrator, everything going wrong, slightly different dialects. However, it just did not do it for me. It is a retelling of “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens in the American south. The narrator develops from a young boy to an 18 year old and has to face continual hardships like his parents dying, abusive foster care placements, and addiction to opioids. There are many characters who teach lessons to the narrator along the way and he maintains a sense of identity that ultimately puts him on the path to recovery.

I recommend “I Know This Much is True” by Wally Lamb and “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck as powerful commentaries on American society instead of “Demon Copperhead”.

Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress

I was excited to read this book that explores the world of art as a business. It follows art students and a teacher as they discover the next stages of their careers in an environment of political correctness and reckoning with privilege.

While there are some relationships and themes that stick out in my mind (like the teacher/prodigy relationship, the dynamic of a couple where one artist is praised and the other is overlooked), the book was just ok overall.

Competing in the Age of AI by Iansiti and Lakhani

I read this book to better understand how businesses have been and likely will be impacted by AI. It achieved exactly that for me, but like many nonfiction business books I found that what was conveyed over hundreds of pages could be done in far less.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

I typically love Ann Patchett novels, but this one just did not do it for me. I found that the storyline was not engaging and that I didn’t get to know the characters in any real depth. The novel jumps back and forward in time and tells the story of a woman who had the potential to be an actress, but circumstances kept her from pursuing it long term. I didn’t understand the obsession that one of her daughters ended up having with her old costar and there were quite a few emotions and storylines that just didn’t feel believable for me.

One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The concept of this book is intriguing – a young woman’s husband vanishes in a helicopter accident. She moves on with her life and gets engaged to someone else, only for her husband to be discovered as the sole survivor.

The novel unfolds in an exploration of who the protagonist is now and what she needs, and what happens when people grow apart instead of together.

My main gripe is that the author seemed to write this book to be quotable. So much of the dialogue felt contrived and unrealistic in the pursuit of providing quotes for a book club.