Books I Read in August

Ah, now we're caught up! After this post, obviously, I'll try to keep these coming at the end of every month until the end of the year. That way, I don't have to feel too overwhelmed wondering about this space because it will be a recap of something I've already done on GoodReads. Again, if you're not on GoodReads and you are an avid reader, I highly suggest you join it! This isn't sponsored, I'm just genuinely that passionate about GoodReads. Lol.

It has become a space I love going to more than most other social media sites, a place where all the books I want to read and have read and am currently reading are organized into lovely shelves, and a place that I can reference any book-related trivia I may have. So, if you've thought about checking out GoodReads . . . just do it!

A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir by Donald Worster

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Memoir/Biography, Nature, Environmental

Review: I was always taught to believe that John Muir was a hero in American history, but with recent headlines and reading this book, it put a lot about him into perspective. I rated this book four stars because the writing was pretty good overall - painting a mostly unbiased picture of Muir, and the research was detailed and well-done. It wasn't always interesting to me, but the book itself is a very good piece of work.

The only notes I have on the actual writing are twofold: first, I felt the timeline was a little confusing. He mostly stayed with a linear timeline that worked well, but every once in a while, he backtracked and it was confusing. The second was that Worster had a tendency to use damaging phrases like, "Muir was the first person to see X flower or write down this thing..." While he may have been the first to write things down, saying he was the first person to see a certain flower or type of plant erases the Native Americans who lived in those areas before him and lived within those ecosystems. It reminded me of history textbooks that used definitive phrases and put European explorers as the "experts," which is an antiquated way of approaching history.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Memoir/Biography

Review: This is a controversial book, and after reading it, I can understand why. I think this book struggles because it doesn't pick a definitive lane: it's a memoir from a 31-year-old, but it's also supposed to be a commentary on Appalachian culture and its socio-economic issues. It's vague and specific in that the author uses his life and experiences as a basis for explaining the general whole of Appalachian struggles, which I feel doesn't even really apply because his immediate family lives/lived in Ohio. His commentary should have focused more on the Rust Belt maybe? About the factories, their workers, and the negative effects of big companies leaving? Because that was the experience of his family and his community.

The book just didn't feel authentic, or fully developed/researched. Unlike Educated, which was purely from Westover's life experiences (what I would consider more of a memoir) and didn't throw in statistics or generalities or opinions stated as facts, this book feels all over the place. The author tries to convince you that he's above his childhood ways of life and its traumas, but then uses them as a validation for why he loses his temper, wants to jump out of a car to beat the shit out of someone who cut him off, or doesn't trust the dean of his school because she's an outsider. We are led to believe that, at the end of the book, he's come full-circle because he had a dream where he's comforting his dog instead of beating it, but that seems absurd when a year earlier, he was still struggling with all of these basic emotional issues listed above.

Hillbilly Elegy just didn't add up for me. There were moments that I enjoyed, and laughed at, but overall, I was confused by the message. I will certainly be following this book up with Appalachian Reckoning, and Ramp Hollow as I feel they would more accurately represent the struggles Appalachians are faced with today.

Circe by Madeline Miller

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Modern Lit, Greek Mythology, Favorites

Review: Overall better than I expected and a book I really enjoyed reading. Circe is a strong female character, which is a refreshing take on Greek mythology. She isn't Athena or Hera, or any of the other bigger named gods. She's a goddess who disdains her immortality, but also realizes how powerful she is as her story unfolds.

My only critiques are a) the language made the characters feel a little bit flat, and b) it was a bit frustrating how parts the last half of the book felt copied because of how closely the author tied it with The Odyssey (not completely, not always, but I wanted it to focus more on Circe, not Odysseus as a secondary character or a name that's frequently mentioned).

In the end, I enjoyed this novel set within Greek mythology - reading about the characters in a modern retelling was fun, and getting to read from the perspective of a lesser known god was pretty cool too. Circe is a bad ass woman! Glad I purchased this book, as it's definitely one I see myself reading again!

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Richard Howard (Translator), Ivan Minatti (Translator), Nguyễn Thành Vũ (Illustrator)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Children's Lit

Review: A beautiful reminder in the loveliness of imagination, love, and creativity. I had never read (or been read) this book, and have wanted to read it for a while, which I think worked out for the best. This book, while maybe written for children, feels more geared toward adults with each character that the Little Prince meets along the way reminding the reader of what's truly important: relationships with others. The more I think about this book and the possible outcomes/endings, the more I like it. Glad I finally got around to reading it!

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Modern Lit, Science

Review: I wouldn't say my low rating has anything necessarily to do with the author. I think my brain just got overwhelmed very quickly as to how much science and detail is required to send anything up into space. I'm a solution-finding person, so reading about how every step of every process has to have at least a million different outcomes and solutions to those potential outcomes burned me out. Roach is the same humor-driven, quirky fact-writing author she is known to be, and at some points that broke up the sense of overwhelm while it annoyed me at other times.

I just wasn't able to get into this one as much as I liked, but I think anyone who really enjoys space would enjoy this book. It's full of obscure facts you can impress your friends with in conversation, and just generally feed your brain with. Sad I didn't enjoy it more, but . . . you can't win 'em all.