The Disappearance of Childhood by Neil Postman

The Disappearance of Childhood by Neil Postman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was interested in this book mainly because of the title. I thought it would be a sociological exploration of the concept of childhood and how it's changed. The first half of this short book was mostly that but then it was mostly about television dumbing down the world. In part, due to its short length, it wasn't enough of an exploration of anything. It was an okay read though.

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Wayside School Is Falling Down by Louis Sachar

Wayside School Is Falling Down (Wayside #2) by Louis Sachar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I didn’t expect the sequel to be as good as the original. I wish I’d read it as a kid.

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Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really did not like the beginning but the two woven narratives grew on me. Interesting but not great.

This is my 9th Murakami book and I think my favorite is still Norwegian Wood (honorable mentions to Wind-up Bird and After Dark).

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The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Color Purple by Alice Walker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was shocked by how wonderful this book is because I'd actually read it before as a teenager and I didn't remember it being this phenomenal. I think as a teen, I was so mired down in the horror and sadness of the beginning that that's what stood out for me the most. Plus, having no life or significant literary reading experience, I failed to get most of the brilliance of the book. But what a beautiful perfect book. Amazing characters, amazing sentences, amazing everything. Favorite favorite.

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In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My 3rd grader was assigned this book in school so I read it too. The author made some strange choices for a book for young children. I was surprised it was published in the 1980s, because it reads like it was published in the 1940s, the period of time it covers. This all somewhat complicated by the fact that the book is semi-autobiographical but for a children's book the out-of-date quality makes it seem like it should no longer be the go-to book for reading assignments.

1) The conversation regarding "negro" students was uncomfortable without providing enlightenment to young readers.

2) Shirley and her friend take a blood oath. While children have done that sort of thing forever- it's not great to have young readers pick up on this idea without adults explaining how dangerous this practice is.

3) Shirley and her friend look at a book of naked pictures and while Shirley's view is comical, I'm left wondering how my prepubescent 3rd grader will understand this scene.

There are many more examples of things that read poorly in 2019.

From the title you would assume this book would cover some important race or immigrant issues, but it sort of just drops in the issues without really resolving anything in a way that would be meaningful to children or even adults. A swing and a miss, to borrow the language of baseball.

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What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really only liked the first story, "Why Don't You Dance?"

I didn't even like the title story that much, though I did like this one quote in it: "Well, the husband was very depressed for the longest while. Even after he found out that his wife was going to pull through, he was still very depressed. Not about the accident, though. I mean, the accident was one thing, but it wasn't everything. I'd get up to his mouth-hole, you know, and he'd say no, it wasn't the accident exactly but it was because he couldn't see her through his eye-holes. He said that was what was making him feel bad. Can you imagine? I'm telling you, the man's heart was breaking because he couldn't turn his goddamn head and see his goddamn wife.'"

Took me much longer to read this collection than I expected given how short it is.

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The Dance of Intimacy by Harriet Lerner

The Dance of Intimacy: A Woman's Guide to Courageous Acts of Change in Key Relationships by Harriet Lerner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this because I read Dance of Anger which was good. I thought this one would be on a slightly different topic of intimate connections with romantic relationships but it wasn’t. It was the same as Dance of Anger about tensions with family members in general. It was good, but I think Dance of Anger was better.

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White Noise by Don DeLillo

White Noise by Don DeLillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an actually funny satire, that's also interesting and true. I'm very hard to please on the humor front, and I still didn't laugh out loud, but I found myself smirking and smiling a lot as I read along. I really enjoyed the exploration of how people do or don't conceptualize death.

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The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner

The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this on Ingrid Nilsen’s recommendation and it was definitely good, though I feel like it would have been helpful in my 20s more than now. But it’s still valuable to remember I have full control over my own life choices.

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Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Murakami books are all over the place. It's not a consistent standard, and you can't predict if you'll like one based on the others you've read. But I enjoy how very readable his books are. I find myself flying through his books, even the ones I think are terrible. This was my favorite one I've read so far, but I still didn't love it-- the ending was especially bothersome to me, but I did love parts of it. At first you think, oh I hope this doesn't turn into a laundry list of who this vaguely boring male character sleeps with, and then for a second you think- oh it's so wonderful, it's about life, and loneliness, and death-- and then bam he hits you with his laundry list. But for the middle of the book, I give it 4 stars.

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2061 by Arthur C. Clarke

2061: Odyssey Three by Arthur C. Clarke
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was so bored. I considered quitting or crying. Nothing ever made me care about any of the characters. It was grueling.

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The Puzzle Palace by James Bamford

The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization by James Bamford
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is sometimes surprising, often boring, and extremely quaint. The entire idea is how secretive the NSA is, and how few people even know that there is an NSA or what it has done. Oh, remember before Russia hacked our election in multiple different ways and NSA officials and ex-officials testified before Congress on television several times? Those were the good old days!

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VALIS by Philip K. Dick

VALIS by Philip K. Dick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The main characters in this book are Philip K. Dick in the first person and his alter-ego Horselover Far in the third person. At first, the play with this split perspective was the thing that interested me most. Then I was interested in his messy but informed religious banter. Then the narrative became more engrossed in Horselover Fat's mental illness... and finally... out of nowhere, the whole book became a science fiction book. Deeply weird.

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Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lorde’s unique way of thinking and communicating is on display in these essays about race and feminism. This is especially true in the lengthy interview in the middle of the book. I might have done better to start with her poetry though.

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The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher

The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was considering giving up on this book for the first 150 pages or so (out of 600) but then I finally got into it and ended up loving it. At first I thought it would focus on Penelope’s children who were unlikeable to different degrees, but finally, the story settled on Penelope- her present and her past during World War II. I loved the book. It was enjoyable and romantic without being silly or saccharine.

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A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I actually liked the character of Ignacious. He's pompous and super weird and very likely mentally ill but he's so ... himself. I also liked his sweet patient mother. Nonetheless, reading this book was a huge chore. I gave it an extra star because I interpreted the ending as a happy ending.

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Angels by Denis Johnson

Angels by Denis Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I get that this book is beautifully written, but this book made me suffer. It made me suffer a great deal, on almost every page. The worst part was in Chicago, but things never 100% rebounded after that. I might be a sensitive flower but I really couldn't handle it.

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This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff

This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent memoir but had to withhold a star for the pitiless discussion of 15-year-old Miss Flood. What a horror.

Favorite quote:
"When we are green, still half-created, we believe that our dreams are rights, that the world is disposed to act in our best interests, and that falling and dying are for quitters. We live on the innocent and monstrous assurance that we alone, of all the people ever born, have a special arrangement whereby we will be allowed to stay green forever."
- Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life

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Friday by Robert A. Heinlein

Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay, sometimes I display bad taste. This is a good example. This book is bad because the main character is a woman and she displays a very cavalier attitude about gang rape. This can be attributed to any number of causes: 1) perhaps Heinlein just doesn't understand female anatomy and women's emotional lives, 2) perhaps Heinlein wanted to display what a superhuman badass spy the main character is, 3) just trashy writing so as to kick up some publicity bad or otherwise to sell books? And I tried to forget this initial disaster except the main character goes on to completely forgive one of the rapists. Ugh, too much.

But let's say you just ignore that whole thing, which is tough, but let's say you do-- what a fun meandering sci fi book! It's fun to see what Heinlein predicted right or wrong, though he still has the opportunity to be proven right. The difficult-to-obtain futuristic library technology described by Heinlein is completely ours these days. In Heinlein's future it's easy to travel the galaxies, but expensive, whereas in real life we're not even close. IVF and even 3-parent IVF is already real, though specific genetic modifications to the embryos are still just on the horizon. (Crispr/Cas9)

And I like Friday/ Marge/ whatever her current identity is. I like how she's an unstoppable badass and a needy emotional mess at the same time. (Except when it comes to rape?)

Anyway, worth reading if you can compartmentalize feelings about fiction and enjoy trashy fun.

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Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the 4th book in Murakami's Rat series and I read them all in order: Hear the Wind Sing, Pinball, A Wild Sheep Chase, and this one Dance Dance Dance. This is the best one of the series in terms of the plot making some sense, but Wind/Pinball is the best in terms of deep thoughts in the book. A Wild Sheep Chase was especially clumsy with the magical realism and Dance, Dance, Dance improves on this aspect, but it doesn't feel like it's enough to rescue the series. Overall, I wouldn't say it's a great series.

Didn't buy the whole Yumioshi "love" story in this either. (Not related to my review but the title has almost nothing to do with the book either which is a disappointment.)

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