a tale for the time being, by ruth ozeki (this was a great premise - a diary washes ashore on the west coast of canada, written by a teenager in japan. we go back and forth between the life of the woman who finds it and the diary entries as we try to unravel the mystery of who the author is and how the diary got across the ocean. there's some dark undertones that emerge - suicide, bullying, sex work - and ultimately i was glad the book was over. it's well written and was interesting to read, but it isn't one that i will be rushing out to recommend.)
the long winter, by laura ingalls wilder (book 6 in the little house series, taking us through a real winter in dakota territory when it started blizzarding in october and didn't end until april. i was startled as an adult to realize how close the ingalls family came to starving to death, and i don't actually remember reading this one as a child. this was a quick read, and i'm glad to be continuing through this series. 3 more books to go!)
my friends, by fredrik backman (oh, this one disappointed me. i loved a man called ove and a few others and was eagerly anticipating this book's release. while a lot of what i like about backman was still there, this book was sadder than the others and there is a lot of foreshadowing of bad things to come later in the book. I DO NOT NEED THIS ANXIETY IN MY LIFE. it didn't make me want to keep reading. so yes, i liked the characters and i was moved by the story, but it felt emotionally manipulative and i wasn't in the mood for that right now.)
travels with charley in search of america, by john steinbeck (this had been on my to be read list for a long time and i understood (correctly) the premise that Steinbeck drives around the country in a truck with his dog and documents it. but whomever told me that this was the premise really undersold it. it's September 1960. Steinbeck is 58 and he's going to die at 66 (thanks, wikipedia). the JFK-eisenhower election is upon us, and by the time Steinbeck finishes with the trip JFK will have won. so yes, he does travel around the country and tell us about the people he meets and the places he sees, but it's so much deeper than that. he talks with people about the election and muses on his own beliefs about which is the better candidate. the threat of the atomic bomb is present in many chapters - it's clear he's ruminating on that. He goes to new orleans where ruby bridges is desegregating an elementary school and he watches her walk into school one day while people spew hate at her. he muses on masculinity. he muses on the soul of his dog. it's really beautifully written and there is SO MUCH TO UNPACK. i loved it and would highly recommend it to you.)
