Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This isn't a 4-star book on its own, it's 4-stars as a good third book in a series that makes you like everything that came before it even better. Without the darker first two books, this one would seem unbearably silly. With them, this one is a bit of a relief. This one introduced a new character Cora who I didn't love. I was more interested in the characters we already knew, and Cora didn't interest me as much. I'm hoping there will be a fourth, darker book about one of the other characters we already know.

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NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman

NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is fundamentally a history book about autism and Aspergers and how it's been handled through time. There is also a lot about how adults on the spectrum have done well in their adult lives and lobbied on their own behalfs and on the behalf of children going through what they did. There were some particularly moving and terrifying parts- particularly the section on the holocaust. I feel like the book was helpful to understanding certain issues about disabilities in general and not just the autism spectrum specifically.

There is very little science, unfortunately. The title suggested to me that there would be at least some substantial section on neurobiology.

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The World According to Garp by John Irving

The World According to Garp by John Irving
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I first read this as a teenager and didn't fully appreciate it. At the time, it just seemed really weird and sexualized. Which it is. But wow, there's so much happening in this novel, both on the surface and in a literary way. And dear lord, the under toad. I hear you, Irving. And I see the toad everywhere.

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These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Starts off well, like most of the other books. Though she's still going to school, Laura has work-related adventures as a teacher and begins to grow up. Mary is progressing at college and all of this is great.

Then Pa spends all her teaching money, IN ADVANCE, on a musical organ. Yuck.

Then page after unromantic page about boring Almanzo Wilder and his dangerous unbroken horse.

The ending is particularly bad, and I almost imagine her at the end, sitting outside her cabin, realization dawning in her eyes that she's made a terrible mistake.

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Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This covers about two years. Mary goes off to college which is a really exciting. The family moves to the town for the winter and they have tons of social events.

Laura is maybe 14 at the beginning of the book, and 15 at the end, and she has so much drama at school and at church and with boys. There's a really one-dimensional character Nellie. She's still more interested in playing than in boys.

There's one racist scene that makes this unideal as a kid's book or for reading out loud.

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The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Despite the adorable cover, this is the one where the Ingalls family almost all starves to death.

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By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Things have not been going well since the second novel when the Ingalls family got malaria or the third novel where their new wheat farm was ravaged by a grasshopper plague. This book opens with the Ingalls family recovering from Scarlet Fever. So the solution is to move back West again! Seriously, this is the third move and each place has resulted in worse and worse conditions. Really what was wrong with that first place in The Big Woods? It looks pretty good in retrospect. Even their dog Jack is getting tired of this nonsense.

Oh, and Mary is blind now. She didn't make a full recovery from the Scarlet Fever. Laura isn't too worried about it. I get that Laura is only about 12 years old, but a little sympathy here?

Anyway, this time Pa works for a train company, forces his family to run an impromptu bed and breakfast, and seeks to claim a homestead near a wolf den where his daughters Laura and Carrie almost get eaten. Nonetheless, he neglects to watch his baby Grace when outdoors. Can’t wait to see what horrors await the family in the next book! There are some suggestions that child marriage might be next.

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