Eumenides by Aeschylus

Eumenides by Aeschylus
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Orestes's trial is a total scam. Orestes was either equally or *more* wrong in killing his mother Clytaemnestra than she was in killing her husband Agamemnon, Orestes's father.

Also, total sexist nonsense that the child doesn't share the mother's blood, and ridiculous set up having Athena- who didn't have a mother- judge the trial. The jury is obviously all male. And Agamemnon was such a bad father that he killed his own daughter.

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The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus

The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This one is really intense, even compared to the first one, "Agamemnon."

[2500-Year Old] Spoiler Alert:
Orestes kills his mother after she begs him not to. His motives are a bit dubious. Does he not know his father killed his sister Iphigenia? Is he actually just mad his mother sent him to live outside of the castle? Is he just a super religious opportunist who has to follow the Oracle or risk life-failure? Maybe all of these things.

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Agamemnon by Aeschylus

Agamemnon by Aeschylus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have a lot of sympathy for Clytaemnestra. Reading a more generalized Greek mythology in high school I loved the character of Cassandra, but Aeschylus doesn't really have a lot of patience for her, and that's fine.

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On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Starts off well, as the family moves into what is essentially a hobbit house, but unbelievably they don't like this and spend a bunch of money they don't have to buy wood for a new house on credit. Terrible plan, Pa!

Leeches, grasshoppers, and little children bullies galore. Not my favorite one.

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Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The topic is interesting and the writing is great, and if someone had cut this book in half it would have been 5 stars. As it is, it is nearly unreadable. The first time I tried I quit 50% of the way, but I own a copy so I tried again. The only way I made it through is by powering through the audiobook, meaning that when I zoned out I just rewound a bit a kept going. Every sentence definitely didn't get in my brain.

On the other hand, if you love monetary policy, this is the book for you.

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Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is crazy to read as an adult. It's largely about the white settlers breaking treaties with the Native Americans and expanding Westward into their territory. Of course, I missed the importance of all this when I read it as a kid obviously. It's definitely worth an adult-reread. The father moves the family from Wisconsin to future Kansas over treacherous terrain and then builds a new house from scratch, including all the furniture. Unfortunately, he builds the house basically on top of a Native American trail so they proceed to have a lot of interesting interactions with numerous different tribes.

I'd give it 5 stars now, but I'm sticking with my childhood rating of 4. (I kept a reading journal as a kid. Are you surprised?)

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Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis

Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The literary equivalent of chocolate bonbons for your brain. This book is no stress. Just a happy little romance. There's also some heartwarming sister-reunion stuff.

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The Wrath of Mulgarath by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

The Wrath of Mulgarath by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great end to the series. Especially love the family aspect of this one. And dragons! Made reading all 5 worth it.

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The Ironwood Tree by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

The Ironwood Tree by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Guess it's getting a little repetitive now without delightful twists or turns to make it more entertaining for an adult. Aspects of Snow White in this one, but not a lot of fairy fun.

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Lucinda's Secret by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

Lucinda's Secret by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This filled in a little background information about the childrens' aunt Lucinda and her father who made the Field Guide. While it progressed the narrative, nothing was really resolved in this one and the ending left a little still in the air. Definitely not a stand-alone book.

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The Seeing Stone by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

The Seeing Stone by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This one is more exciting than the first one. Lots of action and adventure, and many magical creatures! More than a cat goes missing!

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The Field Guide by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

The Field Guide by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I like that the characters are not the typical children's book characters. I like that the older sister Mallory is a tough girl without being the one that gets in trouble. It would be nice if she had interests besides fencing, but at least fencing is interesting. I like that the typically "nerdy" sibling Simon isn't actually nerdy but a vaguely obsessive animal-lover. Interested to see how Jared develops. Sounds like he might be interested in art.

The story itself is pretty cute though still maybe a little scary for little ones. This one is a little unresolved- it's more of an introduction to the characters and their situation in a house filled with magic.

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Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice by Shunryu Suzuki
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I took a Buddhism class in college and this was part of our required reading. At the time, it made no sense to me. This is because this book did not explain how to meditate. Since then, I've read books about how to meditate, I've attempted meditation (hundreds of times at this point), and I've read about consciousness. So now it makes sense. Even so, it was a horrible choice for an introductory Buddhism course with no discussion of meditation. It's also a poor book if you haven't already learned about meditation and attempted it, especially because he doesn't give any explicit directions about meditation beyond sitting in the correct posture. Meditation itself is barely implied. You only know that what he's talking about if you already have a background in it.

There's no explanation of how Zen is a school of (East Asian) Mahayana Buddhism, or that there are even branches of Buddhism with different beliefs. Is zazen just another word for meditation or is there something unique about it? Meditation with no purpose? I can't really figure it out from the text. You will acquire something from this practice but you can't practice it in order to acquire something or it is not zazan? Ah, koans even where we don't expect them. "Intellectually my talk makes no sense." Well, I agree with that.

Despite the name, this is an intermediate or advanced meditation book, with an emphasis on zen practice specifically which like I said is just one kind. There are some interesting thoughts here worth considering. Some of it reminds me a lot of Christianity.

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Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As for the first half of the essay: If you are an excellent person and follow the advice in this essay, then it's probably going to work out well. If you're a horrible person, or if you think you're an excellent person but you're really kind of a low-grade specimen, and follow this essay, it's a recipe to be a huge jerk.

I like the second half of the essay better. I appreciate it's anti-consumerist bent. Even it's anti-technology section has some good points.

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Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Takes place in the semi-wilderness of 1870s in Wisconsin, US. Takes us through a year in the life of a middle sister age 4 (celebrates her 5th birthday during the book). There are at least 4 stories just about bears in this book.

I think I like this book even better as an adult. It's like a survival guide for the zombie apocalypse or a pandemic.

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Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I remember liking this a lot as a kid but it doesn't really survive well into adulthood. Beatrice (Beezuz) is the older sister, 9 years old, and Ramona is about 4. Ramona drives Beezus and everyone else crazy. At the time of my reread, I know kids that are 4, so I can relate to a lot of the bad behavior and frustrations, but Ramona is really a next level awful toddler.

Another thing that stands out so many years later is how much freedom the two girls have to wander the town. Beezus is in 5th grade and Ramona is a completely untrustworthy preschooler. They go to the library and playground on their own. Even when the police have to find Ramona (not a spoiler, it happens as a flashback from before the book), the police don't mind or arrest the parents. What a fun time to be a parent. Now we're required to hover constantly, buried under Common Core, and then judgmentally accused of being helicopter parents.

A few random notes about the book: The chapters aren't really that related but function more like short stories. I also learned that the Ramona Quimby series is originally a Henry Huggins spin-off though I've never actually heard of that series before. Henry makes a very brief appearance in this book, and he didn't make as much of an impression as his dog did.

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A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love the first chapter, and I probably would have been happy to read a novel about just the first character. Still, I liked how the novel moved around a group of friends and acquaintances and their different perspectives on each other, music, and life as time passed. And since the first character was my favorite, I was glad to see how she'd changed with age in a subsequent chapter. Her transformation was totally believable.

As many other people have commented, this is pretty much a short story collection with overlapping characters and themes, but I love short story collections, so that definitely wasn't a problem for me.

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