One for the Books

Between work and kids and various biennial political events and writing and such, you might be surprised to hear that I found time to read in 2019. For sure, many busy people read via the miracle of audiobooks. I've heard people extol the virtues of whiling away rush hour, kids' piano lessons, and road trips by being read to. Every time I buy a book, Amazon offers to read it to me. Even the kids' school libraries have audio books.

This does not work for me.

"Look, doc, I don't care if  you actually

recommend our toothpaste. We already

got 4 dentists to recommend it. We need

someone to not recommend it so it can

be 4 out of 5. Otherwise, it sounds fake!"

Humorist Dave Barry once said that everybody thinks they are an above-average driver. I think I am definitely an above-average driver--if you pick the sample extremely carefully, the way toothpaste companies pick dentists who recommend their toothpaste.

I've only been in a couple of wrecks, but that is a result of me over-compensating by being overly cautious. I can definitely enjoy a good audio book in the car, as long as someone else is driving. I tried using them on our first family road trips, and I would get absorbed in the story and suddenly, the chapter would end and I'd have no idea what state we were in. So it is either music or silence for me on the road, and my reading happens via physical books (I know, so quaint) or on my Kindle, which does limit the number of books I can get through in a year.

Nevertheless, according to my Amazon order history, in 2019 I bought the following books:

• The Realm Below: The Rise of Tanipestis, by Susan Rooke. I was so excited to be asked to review this book. Susan has the most vivid, wicked imagination and this is no ordinary supernatural tale. 
• Educated, by Tara Westover: Good enough that I recommended it to my mother, who had (of course; she lives on the library website) already heard of it and put it on her ebook request list. We both loved this autobiography of a young woman raised in a prepper compound who finds her way out into the wide world and acquires an Oxford education. Families are weird.
• Doing it Over, Staying for Good, and Making it Right, by Catherine Bybee: A fun series of sassy chick lit novels set in the Pacific Northwest. Every once in a while, I get in the mood, read a few of these types of books, and then move on. 
• Shrill, by Lindy West: I really enjoyed this book of essays. She has a strong voice and is a strong advocate for women and for basically not being a jerk to people. She's also funny and smart as hell. 
• Rebecca, by Daphne DuMaurier: Eleanor chose this for her book club in English. For their book club report, they had to write, act in, film, and produce a movie trailer. Eleanor played the crazy person. If you've read it, you know who that is. I don't.
• A River in Darkness, by Masaji Ishikawa: I saw this one on Amazon and was intrigued. It's an autobiographical account of a Japanese-born man whose mother and step-father emigrated to North Korea, the hardships he experienced (Japanese immigrants were despised), and his ultimate escape and return to Japan. You will never look at weeds the same way again.
• The Girl with Seven Names, by Hyeonseo Lee: Another autobiography of a North Korean defector. She came from a different social class, so it offered a much different perspective.
• AP World History Prep Plus: It is entirely possible Eleanor actually opened this once or twice, but I didn't have the heart to ask.
• Finis, by Angelique Jamail. Angelique was our guest at the Austin Poetry Society meeting in March. This novella is an imaginative fantasy novel about a world in which people manifest animal traits. 
• Holes by Louis Sachar: Both Bruce and Eleanor read this book in 5th grade, but this is the first time the school asked me to buy it. Unfortunately, there was not enough supernaturalness, female characters or K-pop to hold Betty's interest.
• Macbeth (No Fear Shakespeare): This is wrong, dammit. You are SUPPOSED to fear Shakespeare. Not the witches, the Elizabethan English. This is what we scared teenagers with before the real world made Lady Macbeth cute. (For Eleanor's English class.)
• Loving Day, by Mat Johnson: I read Pym last year and loved it...Johnson has a unique vision and some of the most original characters in fiction. The narrator is a biracial man who was raised black by his black mom but unfortunately takes 100% after his lily white Irish dad in looks and has a Jewish daughter who identifies as black. It's a funny and profound look at how we identify ourselves and others. 
• A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini: Beautifully, vividly written and just plain brutal to read. By about half way through, I was plowing through it determined to finish, telling Hosseini, "YOU OWE ME A HAPPY ENDING, DAMMIT!" If abandoning your goat to return to the war-torn city where your family was blown up so you can rebuild an orphanage qualifies as a happy ending, then maybe, I guess? 
• Suzuki Music School: Viola Books 4-5: As it turns out, Bruce hates the viola and considers these books horrible trash books for a horrible trash instrument that only nerds like his sister who are to be pitied would ever want to play. Books are in pristine, never opened condition.
• Men We Reaped, by Jesmyn Ward: Despite the title sounding like a horror novel, Eleanor says it was a really interesting memoir of a young woman's harrowing childhood in Louisiana, so maybe a horror memoir? I haven't read it.
• Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah: When Jon Stewart left the Daily Show, I was like, "NO! No one will ever replace him! I can't even watch this non-Jon-ness!" But then Noah grew on me and I love how the show has evolved. His account of his youth in South Africa was both funny and interesting.
• Sweet Pipes Recorder Method, Volumes 1-2: I decided this summer to learn to play the Cheater's Clari-Flute. The fun and feel of the clarinet and the range of the flute, without the hassle of bleeding gums, finger callouses, or reeds, FTW! As a bonus, the learning songs make the house sound like a year-round Ren Faire...anyone want a turkey leg?
• The Proactive Professional, by Chrissy Scivicque: Staff recommended this as something I might want to give to staff, so I read it, and I did. It has not, in any way, made me more proactive. Or professional. 
• Lesson Book 1: Piano Adventures, by Nancy Faber: Oh, what an adventure it was! The chords, the suspense of wondering if the left and right hands would play the same song... (Bruce needed a second copy for my house.)
• Tipton Poetry Journal, #41: The fun thing about poetry journals is that it's a lot like getting your high school yearbook...you immediately look at your own entry first to make sure you don't look like a goober with a typo or something, and then you go straight to the table of contents and see who all you know and read their stuff so you can see what they've been up to.
• Isaac's Storm, by Erik Larson: My mother, who is a voracious reader, read this true account of the Galveston hurricane of 1900 when it came out in the 90's, but I hadn't heard of it until one of our staff recommended it to me. It was amazing to me how little government agency politics have changed in the last 120 years. It was also a gripping read; I read the part about the actual landfall of the hurricane twice, just to savor the writing and the vicarious experience of a major hurricane making landfall.
• First Book of Practical Studies for the Tuba, by Nilo Hovey: Is the tuba ever, truly, practical? (Purchased for Betty, of course)
• The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan: One of my poet friends posted about this British romance novel on Goodreads so I gave it a try. It's a romance novel, so plausibility and plot are not going to be strong points, but I dug the whole Scottish highlands setting. Kilts!
• In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote: Because high school these days is so hard core that the kids read true crime accounts of vicious murders in English class. (Eleanor enjoyed it.)
• One Hundred Recorder Pieces, Volume 1, by David Stilp: What happens when you get tired of playing Renaissance Faire classics like "The Sailor Likes His Bottle-o!" and "Holla-hi, Holla-ho" but aren't quite sure your pets' eardrums are ready to learn the notes above high E? You get a nice book of recorder pieces to play around with, that's what.
• Who am I? Who are We?, by Christa Pandey. I love reading books by people I know and respect...it is a good way to really understand someone you already know in a deeper way. In this book of poems, Christa grapples with that uneasy question of what we as individuals and communities have become in these polarizing times.
• The K-Pop Dictionary: 500 Essential Korean Slang Words and Phrases Every K-Pop Fan Must Know, by Woosung Kang: A (pop)cultural tour-de-force, providing glimpses into the slang of K-pop and K-drama stars, so that Korea-boos like my daughter Betty (whose Christmas present this was) can work tragically mispronounced Korean phrases into middle school conversation. (Apologies in advance, native Korean speakers.)
• Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend, and Rich People Problems, by Kevin Kwan: Eleanor gave me the first book in paperback format for Christmas. It was awesome fun, as I'd heard it would be. Scheming relatives, preposterous wealth, and an author who doesn't take his characters too seriously--all resulted in me reading a book a day. Also, I'm a sucker for humorous footnotes. 
• The Beautiful Ones by Prince: Bruce (a Prince fan) gave me this biography/autobiography/ collection of random found things for Christmas. It is not, in any sense, a normal biography, which is entirely appropriate. It included copies of song lyrics scrawled on the backs of envelopes, annotated photo albums, and Prince's handwritten notes for his autobiography. It was almost like rummaging through his nightstand. 
• Solos for Young Violists, Volume 4, by Barbara Barber: A gripping page turner, full of bold dissonance and stratospheric, demon-dog summoning flights. Not that I am the one reading it.

So, statistically, I guess I bought a whole bunch of books but only actually read 21 books...24 if you include the recorder books. Of those, half were written by persons of color and 55% were written by women. 52% were fiction, 38% were non-fiction/biography/autobiography, and two were poetry. Only 30% of the authors were not American-born.

Bob says that the worst book of 2019 was absolutely, without doubt, The First Book of Practical Studies for the Tuba. He does not recommend.