The Abbot's Tale by Conn Iggulden

The Abbot's Tale by Conn Iggulden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I would normally give a book like this a rating of 3 or 3.5. There were moments when I was just reading to read and not because I was enjoying it. I don't even remember these parts. Dunstan talked a lot about his work and that was a bore.

I found the language incredibly beautiful though. Dunstan is basically writing an autobiography. He writes with the dignity of a man late in his years looking back at his life. However, there are moments when this dignity is dropped and you can tell he is reliving the moment. Particularly when he is talking about his adolescent urges and the battle.



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Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Renni Eddo-Lodge

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

It was slightly more readable than I thought it would be. It started off as a blog post and it kept the blog post feel to it. I feel like I should have been taking notes for some chapters as I didn't absorb any of the information. I didn't learn anythig new from it but I can see some people benefiting from reading it.

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Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The only thing from this entire thing that I didn't believe was that a Mormon girl wouldn't know who the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was. Her father was a radical but she still attended a mainstream Mormon church. They never watched General Conference? A Mormon would have at least recognized MoTab from General Conference.

There were a few times she tried to make mormonism more palatable to the nevermos (people who have never been mormon) reading. For instance she called it a "christening" when its just a baby blessing. I don't know what a christening is but a baby blessing is when the father lays his hands on the baby and gives them a name and a blessing, usually in front of the congregation. Another time she used the word "congregation" wehn she should have used "ward. But I'm being nitpicky, I know how strange mormonism is to those who don't know anything about it.

She doesn't say it in the memoir, but I think it was her junior year at BYU she lost her faith in mormonism completely. She mentions tasting her first coffee and wine which is a huge fucking deal to those who were once "true believing mormons" (as is swearing [at least for me], which I'm still working on). That's probably not all that jarring to nevermos out there.

The author didn't do a good enough job of setting the scene because I had a hard time picturing everything.

This is the first memoir I've read where the author admits that their memory is faulty and has gotten several different versions from family members. That's actually how memory works and it was refreshing to see it.

Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best Memoir/Autobiography

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Circe by Madeline Miller

Circe by Madeline Miller
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm torn on this one.

On one hand I want to tell people to run away screaming from this book. On the other I found it an entertaining read.

It seemed like all the good stuff happened outside of the book and we only got to hear about them. Instead of reading about battles we got to read about Circe turning men into pigs. It kind of felt like I was sitting at the lame kid's table while staring longingly at the cool kid's table.

I didn't find Circe likable. I know she's a god but I still can't think of a good reason to do the things she did. She was a bitch.

I had some problems with the language. It was narrative style so a lot of stuff was described, and rather simply too.

It was an entertaining, it wasn't a chore to read but I wasn't excited about reading it either.

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The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kristin Hannah didn't have a blurb for this at first because it was hard to write a blurb for it and I can see why now. The blurb it has now doesn't do it justice, I don't like giving away more than what the blurb says so I'll leave it at that.

The book took me through so many different emotions, sadness, happiness, fear. I will say this book romanticizes the idea of living in Alaska, I could see some people pulling a Chris McCandless and walking Into the Wild, but I think it also does a good job of portraying the realities. I don't know if living there now would be anything like the book portrays.

Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best 2018 Release
Best Historical Fiction


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Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann

Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If I were still a romance novel addict this would have been the perfect book. One thing I like about Nicholas Sparks's books is he's heavy on the romance and light on the sex and because the main character is asexual this book is all romance. It's not just romance either. Alice is struggling with her identity and what she wants to do with her life.

I'd say this is one of my favorite books this year but it seems I've been liberal with my 5 star ratings recently. But it did remind of the feel of one of my all time favorites Finding Audrey, so I think its in the running.

Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best Book
Best 2018 Release
Best YA
Nicholas Sparks Award

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The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'll admit I was bored by the beginning. I was expecting a novel about the girl with wings. The first half was about her past, her grandmother and mother. While feeling a little bored by it I also found I couldn't put it down.

I love novels set here in Western Washington, I love reading names of places that I've been or recognize. This novel even mentions where I live.

Those born under Pacific Northwest skies are like daffodils: they can achieve beauty only after a long, cold sulk in the rain.

It's true. While I love the few months we have sun here, there's nothing quite like the gray skies and soft rain, it feels like home.

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The Book of Separation: A Memoir by Tova Mirvis

The Book of Separation: A Memoir by Tova Mirvis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While not being a complete look into the world of Orthodox Judaism, it does give you an idea of what its like. I will admit to knowing almost nothing about it, I don't even know all the branches of Judaism or what separates them.

There's not a lot of action; the memoir is about leaving Orthodoxy behind and most of that is a mental battle.

There were a few false endings. She was using the dreamy epilogue style prose and wrapping it up. But then after all those false starts it just ended. Maybe a rework of the final chapters are in order?

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We are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We're not words, Henry, we're people. Words are how others define us, but we can define ourselves any way we choose.

It's not very often a book can make you laugh and cry and want to punch someone in the face, but this book did. It was a great combination of humor, nerdom, and serious. It explored serious subjects like bullying, suicide, and (view spoiler)[pregnancy loss (hide spoiler)] while telling a great story.

Only an idiot could prefer Matt Smith to David Tennant.

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Shannon's Choice Awards 2017

Best Book:



Best 2017 Release:



Best YA:



Best Historical Fiction:



Best Nonfiction:



Nicholas Sparks award:



The movie award:



LOL award:



Snooze Award:



Read before you die award:



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The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Princess Bride by William Goldman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the 4th or 5th time I have read this. (I haven't been keeping track. I know there was the time I was a teenager and the time Goodreads has listed but was there 1 or 2 more times between there? I'm not sure.) I always skip the first part and most of the italics, but since I was reading for book club this time I read it (to be honest I skipped most of the parentheses if they were too long though) and I remembered why I always skip it. I have also never read Buttercup's Baby, I don't know why I have just never wanted to, let's hope it doesn't come up at book club.

It was only a couple of years ago that I learned this book is satire. (I don't know why I didn't know it, Goldman says it many times that it is satire, though I do tend to skip those parts.) And now I can fully appreciate the satirical nature of it. The parentheses portion (the short ones) have always been one of my favorite parts about this book. How can something be before Europe but after America? Now I realize its all part of the satire.

During this read through I realized this is the only book thus far that I have been able to pay attention to the action scenes. I'm not sure why, it might have something to do with the fact that its more technical based than just he landed a punch and then he jumped. The fencing part was all fencing jargon and I learned awhile ago that some are real fencing terms. (They could all be fencing terms, I don't know. I have actually heard some of those terms.)

This is all one of the few movies that is actually better than the book. Like I said I skip some of the parts and the movie leaves out all of those parts. It also cuts out Inigo's and Fezzik's back stories which I found a bore when I was younger ( though not so much anymore).

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Burned by Ellen Hopkins

Burned by Ellen Hopkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Don't let the thick spine fool you, it's a quick, easy read. I devoured it in about 3 sittings. Despite the verse format it flows nicely, there were times i forgot about the wonky format and read it like a novel.

I'm not sure I like the portrayal of mormons. It's just the life on one family. I'm not saying there aren't people like this sitting in sacrament meeting, just that they're the exception. I don't know if the author was ever mormon, my guess is not, but the portrayal of mormons was fairly accurate, if from a different perspective than a completely faithful one.

Winner of Shannon's Choice Award 2017:
Best YA


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One Half from the east by Nadia Hashimi

One Half from the East by Nadia Hashimi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a great companion novel to The Pearl That Broke Its Shell. This might be a spoiler, I wasn't reading too carefully, but this is told from the point-of-view of Rahim/a's best friend when she was a bacha posh, Obayd/a. But it's just that, a companion story, it doesn't add very much just goes into more detail about what its like actually being a bacha posh.

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The Martian by Andy Weir

The Martian by Andy Weir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars

This was an excellent book. Andy Weir really knows how to write a book. Mark Watney was a very likeable character, he knew just how to add suspense, this thing was a masterpiece. However, I was bored by the science-y parts, there comes a point where you're just reading words on a page and don't understand anything, that was the science-y parts for me.

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I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've read books by British authors before, but I've never read something so british. The narrator lives in London so she uses all the phrases and words a british person would use; not to mention the constant talk of turning on kettles and drinking tea.

This is the perfect book if you just want to read a story and not have to think too hard, its all about the story. I could see it being the premise for a movie.



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Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wasn't very impressed with this at first. I struggled to find a plot as it just seemed like we were following Samantha through a year of high school. She was complaining that her group of friends seemed very shallow while being one of the most popular people at school. Then she starts writing poetry and has a crush on a guy she and her friends used to bully. We didn't even get that much of a glimpse of what OCD was like, just that she liked the number 3 and would sometimes spend hours on the computer researching a subject.

Then the thing happened. I'm not sure how I feel about the thing, on one hand I'm a bit angry this happened, on the other hand it adds a layer of depth to the story that was sorely missing.

I'm giving it 3 stars because I don't know how I feel about it.

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The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea by Bandi

The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea by Bandi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fifty years in this northern land
Living as a machine that speaks
Living as a human under a yoke
Without talent
With a pure indignation
Written not with pen and ink
But with bones drenched with blood and tears
Is this writing of mine

Though they be dry as a desert
And rough as a grassland
Shabby as an invalid
And primitive as stone tools
Reader!
I beg you to read my words
-Bandi

About 2 years ago I read Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West for the first time. It opened my eyes about the horrors going on inside North Korea; a country I previously hadn't known anything about. I became hungry for more information and watched a bunch of documentaries.

So, when I heard about this book I knew I just had to get it. I was not disappointed. Though the stories get boring at time, they provide a realistic view as to what life is like in North Korea. There is no distance, it hasn't been fed through the propaganda machine, its just one man's look at life in North Korea.

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Mademoiselle Chanel by C.W. Gortner

Mademoiselle Chanel by C.W. Gortner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars

I haven't looked too much into historical accuracy, but a skimming of her Wikipedia article makes it sound pretty accurate.

I love reading novels like this instead of biographies because the person is so much more alive. You might not get entirely factual information, but you should know the general picture.

The author did such a good job writing her character, Mademoiselle Chanel came back to life in these pages. I was immersed in the story til the last page.

I know Coco Chanel was a famous designer (who's not familiar with her logo?) I had never really thought about what the meant until now. Up until the '60s or even the '70s women were expected to marry and have babies anything else was a scandal. Coco fought against these ideals to work at her shop. She was the first woman who designed clothes for women, which actually explains corsets quite well which she fights against in the book. She was truly something of a feminist even if she didn't see that of herself.

You don't need to enjoy fashion to understand this book, but what the characters are wearing are more important in this book than any other. And Coco is always describing her new line.

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American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard

American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While reading this I struck up a conversation with someone who has lived in different parts of the country and she agreed with the premise of the book. I have only lived in what he calls "The Left Coast" but even I can see the theory he's putting forth.

He's not trying to generalize people, he's generalizing locations. Each nation has its own "feel", for lack of a better term. Somebody growing up in Yankeedom may feel more at home in Tidewater.

When I'm watching a documentary on Netflix I will turn it off if its not interesting enough. With nonfiction books however, I took the time to pick out the book or even bought it so I'm not going to put it down so easy. If this was a documentary I would have stopped watching somewhere around the 10-20 minute mark, but I'm glad I pushed through it.

All in all its a great read about why our country can't seem to get it together and agree on something.

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The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

...

I had so many thoughts while reading but now that I'm trying to put them into words I can't seem to recall them.

One problem I had, and this just might be because I'm mormon, was the breaking up of marriages because one had been divorced before. Marriage is sacred and should be treated as such. If you had to enact such a law why not grandfather it in so current marriages aren't affected?

The whole point of Gilead seemed to be to force their idea of religion onto everybody. But, as we see through Offred's point of view living a religion and wanting to live a religion are 2 different things. You can't force someone to believe in something. That's not what Jesus wanted, he wanted people to choose to follow Him. They weren't saving anybody. Actually they took away Heavenly Father's most precious gift to us, agency. These people were not choosing to live the gospel.

This is actually the manuscript of a box of cassette tapes that were found (read historical note) and it reads a such. There's not a lot of dialogue, she narrates a lot of it.

I'm super excited for the Hulu series!





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