I first took notice of Lucy Worsley's Jane Austen at Home when it was nominated for Best History & Biography in the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards. I always credit Austen as being one of the primary authors that started my love of reading, and although I tend to shy away from biographies of authors, this one intrigued me. Instead of focusing on her life as a single woman who wrote, this book seemed to look more at Austen's day-to-day life, while also exploring how she managed to accomplish what she did at a time when women were so restricted.
Genre, Themes, History: As mentioned, this book is a biography, and it covers not only Austen's life, but also that of her entire family, and even some members of the extended family. It is the letters of Austen's nieces and nephews that many historians would come to rely on, in addition to the letters written by Austen herself. There were two nieces, Fanny and Anna, whom Austen was particularly fond of, and we are able to learn much from them regarding their aunt's views, humor, and habits. It is well-known that Austen never married, which seems ironic for a woman whose books always ended with the heroine finding a husband. But what Worsley manages to do is point out the differences among the six primary books that Austen published (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey), and how each one reflects what was going on in Austen's life at the time. On the surface, each one ends in a happily-ever-after, making it easy to miss the subtle hints about marriage that Worsley asserts Austen is attempting to make. Of course, Austen did not begin publishing until well into her adult life, which means the first half of the book is spent establishing what her home and family life was like. With ample discussion about her parents, brothers, sister, extended relations, and the homes she would live in and visit, this book is a well-rounded effort to explore a subject already familiar to so many.
My Verdict: It is clear that Worsley has done her research and has a love for the subject matter. The author leaves no stone unturned, almost causing the word "thorough" to be an inadequate descriptor, as she begins before Austen was born and goes through every detail of her albeit short life, right up to her death. Probably the most difficult thing about biographies, aside from accuracy, is making them engaging to the reader, but even here Worsley succeeds, even when describing something as seemingly mundane as one of the many stately homes that Austen would see in her lifetime. But it is Austen's own words from her letters that would be the most interesting, as well as the letters of those close to her. Her books prove her to be extremely clever and witty, and her letters are only further evidence of that fact. Worsley managed to compile her evidence into a volume that is comprehensive without being boring or too heavy.
Favorite Moment: When Austen is able to travel around England without a male escort as she has reached an age and status that allows her this independence.
Recommended Reading: My favorite Austen book will always be Pride and Prejudice, though it was Emma that gave me my first introduction into the author's work.
I know I know...this book would probably fit better under a poetry heading, but it would most likely end up being the only one of its kind on this blog. Poetry has never been my strong suit, so I don't make a habit of reading it, or writing about it. But Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds caught my attention, and given that its primary audience is young adults, and particularly young adults who do not feel seen, I figured I could manage my way through it.
The Situation: Will's older brother Shawn has been shot. The 15 year-old finds it hard to believe, but it's true, and he knows who did it. Where Will lives, The Rules are simple: no crying, no snitching, and get revenge. Since Will knows who killed his brother, the rules say that he is supposed to get them back for what they have done. He knows there is a gun in Shawn's dresser drawer. Does he know how to shoot it? It doesn't matter. He knows what he has to do, so he puts it in his waistband and makes his way out of his apartment building.
The Problem: Will's fairly straightforward goal of finding the guy who killed his brother and doing the same to him is immediately interrupted once he gets onto his apartment building's elevator. In a little over sixty seconds, the elevator will stop six times, with someone new getting on every time. Each person knows both Will and Shawn, or at least knows who they are. However, they are all also dead. Or they are supposed to be. Will remains determined to carry out his plan, though he does wonder if he is losing it. But with the appearance of each new ghost, Will's resolve, as well as his belief that he is doing the right thing, begins to come apart. Turns out he may not have the whole story, and The Rules may not be as important as he always believed.
Genre, Themes, History: This is a young adult novel written in verse. In other words, it is a collection of poems that, when put together, tell a story. This would appeal immensely to many young readers as it makes for easy reading. And these aren't the type of poems that take a whole lot of analysis in order to get the meaning; although, I imagine many of them could be poured over and tons of hidden meaning could potentially be revealed. Again, poetry is not my strong suit, so I gave up on poetry explication once I finished graduate school. But even for those like me, the themes of gang violence, revenge, generational sin, and what it means to be a man will easily come through. Will is also unfortunate enough to have the past haunt him, but not in a way that means he did something wrong, but perhaps because he is about to.
My Verdict: Even though poetry is my kryptonite, I enjoyed this book a great deal. Even for those who have never been in a situation anywhere close to what Will is going through, his character will be extremely relatable, whether it is the fear, or the insecurity, or the despair, or even the blind resolve despite mounting evidence to the contrary, many of us have felt like Will at some point in our lives. It is that feeling that something needs to be done, and we believe we are the only ones who can do it. Reynolds portrays that feeling of desperation so incredibly well that it is near impossible to judge Will, but only root for him, and hope for him. There is a reason this book was a finalist for the National Book Award. It is a different approach to young adult literature, but a welcome departure to what we are used to seeing.
Favorite Moment: Any time Will does not manage to come off as cool and confident as he would like, especially with a gun stuck in his waistband.
Favorite Character: Buck is the man who took it upon himself to look after Shawn and Will when their father died. Now he continues to do so even though he is dead, as he is the first to visit Will in the elevator.
Recommended Reading: Dear Martin by Nic Stone would be a great follow-up, as would the nonfiction Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward.
So, this happened. I took it into my head that I needed to read The Sagas of Icelanders. Why? Well, I actually went to Iceland last summer and enjoyed it immensely. Sure, the sun would set after midnight and then rise again at three in the morning, and the temperature never reached above 55 degrees...in June...but it was truly an incredible place. They also have a tradition of giving each other books on Christmas Eve, and then people spend the rest of the evening reading. Isn't that lovely? It was while I was browsing in one of the Reykjavik Eymundsson bookstores that I first saw a copy of The Sagas of Icelanders. Noting its size and length, I knew that eventually it would be one of my door stops.
Genre, Themes, History: The Sagas of Icelanders is actually a collection of ten sagas and six tales, all telling stories about the Vikings and heroes from long ago who migrated to Iceland and did many famous deeds. A saga is usually a story about ancient Nordic history that tells of early Viking voyages, battles, and feuds between families. Each story is different, usually focusing on one particular person or family, and telling not only their history, but the history of the people immediately surrounding them. For instance, the first saga in the collection, Egil's Saga, naturally focuses on Egil, but the story begins with Egil's grandfather and continues to move down the family line, eventually coming to Egil himself before moving onto his sons as the protagonist ages. It is the longest saga in the collection, but it serves as a great introduction into how the sagas are structured and how the Vikings operated. Throughout the reading of the sagas, it becomes clear that the Vikings were big on honor and reputation, as well as justice, trade, and quite naturally, storytelling. Often the main conflict will come from someone spreading lies and slander, and their target will kill in retaliation, as in The Saga of Ref the Sly. From there, families will seek compensation for the death, which is rarely given, and the conflict continues from there. Other times the hero will be driven to killing someone after having been treated unfairly, but justice will be sought against them, leading them to flee or seek help in an effort to defend themselves. Full of drama, some romance, and even comedy, the sagas show a world that may be far removed from our own, but the themes are still familiar.
My Verdict: It may have taken me awhile to get used to the structure and language, but once I got to the middle of The Saga of the People of Laxardal, which actually focuses on the most famous female protagonist of all sagas, Gudurn Osvifsdottir, I was able to find my own rhythm for reading the stories and was able to enjoy what they had to offer. Just like with any other collection of stories, I had my favorites, and there were characters I cheered for, and others that only caused me to shake my head in disappointment. If there was anything that frustrated me it was the injustices of the justice system the vikings used, or rather the way some managed to exploit and manipulate it to work in their favor. It seemed difficult to receive real justice for a wrong committed, which may have accounted for all of the times the victims sought justice in their own way. Either way, I found myself enjoying the stories by the end and looking forward to each new tale the collection had to offer.
Favorite Saga: The Saga of Ref the Sly is easily my favorite, with Ref the Sly also being my favorite character. Ref is a quiet boy who is initially thought to be useless, but proves to be very skilled in working crafts. Others assume they can easily best him in combat, only to be proven this is not the case once he thoroughly defeats them in battle.
Recommended Reading: If you're looking for a more modern story that tells the long and complicated history of a family attempting to settle in a new land, I suggest East of Eden by John Steinbeck.
Just as I had Jesmyn Ward close out 2017, I am having her work open 2018 with the National Book Award winning Sing, Unburied, Sing. It is one of those books I worry I will not be able to do justice in my little review, but I will give it my best.
The Situation: Thirteen year-old Jojo and his toddler sister Kayla live with their mother's parents, Pop and Mam, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Jojo, just on the cusp of becoming a man, learns all he can from the steadfast and reliable Pop, while also looking after his little sister in the absence of his drug-addicted mother, Leonie, and his incarcerated father, Michael. Mam spends all of her time lying down in her room as she slowly and painfully dies of cancer. When Leonie receives a call from the Mississippi State Penitentiary with the news that Michael is getting out, she decides to take the kids with her to retrieve him. It's a road trip Jojo does not want to take, and Pop feels the same way, but Leonie is determined to take her kids with her to get their father.
The Problem: Unfortunately for both Jojo and Kayla, Leonie has zero maternal instinct, and Mam says it best when she describes her daughter as letting the love she has for herself get in the way of any love she is supposed to feel for her children. Leonie simultaneously resents the way Kayla reaches for her older brother instead of her, and also looks for opportunities to run off and live a life without them, a life where it would only be her and Michael. The road trip in and of itself is hard enough. The ultimate goal may be to retrieve Michael from prison, but the family must also deal with Mam's impending death, Pop's unintelligible stories about his past, the racism of Michael's parents, and the ghost of Leonie's brother that only visits her when she is high. And just because the road trip ends, it does not mean that the adventure is over.
Genre, Themes, History: This is a fiction novel set in the modern day Gulf Coast of Mississippi. The point of view changes from chapter to chapter, mostly alternating between Jojo and Leonie, but occasionally allowing Richie, a boy Pop knew from his past, to have a say once in awhile. Switching between Jojo and Leonie allows for two almost completely opposing points of view for the exact same situations. Jojo is always looking out for Kayla, and wants to desperately show that he can take care of the both of them without any interference from Leonie, especially when he has done so well with such limited involvement from her or Michael. Leonie is always looking out for herself and Michael, and has little interest in anyone else, including her own children. For her, everything is about being with Michael and where she will find her next high. The reader does not get to see much from Pop's point of view, but he does tell Jojo stories from his own time in Parchman farm, which is what the Mississippi State Penitentiary is known as. And of course, Kayla is too young to tell her own story, but she clearly prefers Jojo's company over everyone else, something that bothers both Leonie and Michael. To say that the relationships in this family are complicated would be an understatement. Plus there is the deep south racism to deal with, both in the present day, and in Pop's past.
My Verdict: I think what I appreciate most about this book is that there is so much here in less that 300 pages. Often when a book is that short, it feels like something is left out, or everything was rushed. I do not get either feeling with this book. Instead, all themes and plot lines feel fully explored with nothing being abandoned or forgotten by the end of the novel. And while switching between points of view can be confusing in some books, or cause some chapters to be less interesting than others, neither of these things occurs here. Jojo's viewpoint is frustrating in the sense that he is only 13 and can only do so much without the intervention of an adult, and Leonie's viewpoint is frustrating because she is so unapologetically selfish. The road trip is most of the novel, but still somehow only one small part of it, which is both surprising and delightful. Like I said, there is a lot here.
Favorite Moment: When Kayla manages to throw up all over a cop.
Favorite Character: Pop is one of the most trustworthy and steadfast characters in all of literature. He has is own past to fight and problems to deal with, but he does not let that get in the way of him doing what he needs to do when it comes to his family.
Recommended Reading: Salvage the Bones also won the National Book Award back in 2011. Though I did not enjoy it as much, I will still recommend it as a companion for this book.
I first took notice of Lucy Worsley's Jane Austen at Home when it was nominated for Best History & Biography in the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards. I always credit Austen as being one of the primary authors that started my love of reading, and although I tend to shy away from biographies of authors, this one intrigued me. Instead of focusing on her life as a single woman who wrote, this book seemed to look more at Austen's day-to-day life, while also exploring how she managed to accomplish what she did at a time when women were so restricted.
