book review — Blog — Jennifer Pett

Editor’s Note: Books chosen to review or recommend are not based on endorsements. I purchase my own books with cold, hard cash or find them for FREE through my dear old local public library. I write about books that I like and believe that others might like also. If you would like to purchase a book that I have recommended, please consider using the affiliate link provided. Just click on the picture or the title and VOILA! There it is, waiting for you!

Friends! The time has come! The season is upon us. . .

the SUMMER READING season!

Reading all day! Reading all night! Reading by water, reading under trees, reading in cozy corners of lovely air conditioned spaces!

It’s time for us to find our lovely reading rabbit holes and DIVE RIGHT IN.

Here are some of my Summer TBR’s. . .

These books will travel with me throughout this holiday weekend. A little bit of this, and a little bit of that. . . books that will make you think and books that are palate cleansers for your brain.

You in?

CONTEMPORARY FICTION

The Book that Matters Most by Ann Hood

I am excited to escape into this tale of Ava, a woman whose marriage has fallen apart, whose kids are up and out of the house, and, without warning, she finds herself at loose ends. Searching for connection and community, she joins a book group whose aim is to identify and reread the books that have mattered most to the members throughout their lives. Through this, Ava explores her past and finds healing for the future. No doubt a plucky heroine!

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

This book was released a few years ago, and for reasons unknown, has been languishing on my shelf. Well, it shall languish no longer! This is the story of one couple’s relationship evolution over twenty-four year’s time, and explores the notions of “marriage, creativity, power, and perception” (book jacket). Sounds right up my alley.

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Mbue’s novel was my BOTM pick this spring, has been recommended by several friends and trusted sources, and was just announced as Oprah’s newest Book Club choice. I am looking forward to spending time in the world of Jende Jonga, an immigrant who works as a driver for a Lehman Brothers exec right before the collapse of the firm. The novel explores the relationships between class, race, cultures, and marriage within two families, both of whom are chasing the American dream.

CLASSIC FICTION (and an escapist reread)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I stumbled upon this gorgeous edition of one of my favorite childhood books at my (new to me) local independent bookstore, and IT HAD TO LIVE IN MY HOUSE WITH ME FOREVER AND EVER. Even the endpapers are gorgeous! I loved spending childhood summers with the Marsh girls, huddled in a corner in my room, tired and happy after spending the afternoon at the pool. If you haven’t spent time with Meg, Jo, Amy, and Beth, I hope you will consider making their acquaintance.

NONFICTION

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

So many readers I love and respect have metaphorically placed this slim book into my hands, and I am looking forward to reading Coates’ letter to his adolescent son about race, slavery, segregation, all within the context of American history. Coates, a memoirist and national correspondent for The Atlantic, brings both his reporting prowess and personal experiences to create an informative and compelling commentary on race in America. Important reading, and I can’t wait.

The Story of Charlotte’s Web: E.B. White’s Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic by Michael Sims

My seven-year old and I enjoyed reading Charlotte’s Web aloud this spring, and after it was finished, we were NOT. We had so many questions about E.B. White! What was his writing process, how did he create this story, how did he find his ideas, what he was like, and was there a REAL Charlotte? I am in the middle of this book now, and am finding Andy, as he was known, to be a fascinating person and even a better writer. Did you know, for instance, that he was a long-time contributor to The New Yorker? Or that he brought a spider’s egg sack from his country farm back to his home in New York City, because he just HAD to see the spiders emerge? Sims’s book has answered many of my curious boy’s questions, and has been inspiring to me as writer and a human. And, beyond that, I am always a sucker for a good biography.

NONFICTION: The Creative Life

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

This is a necessary reread to give this girl a long overdue kick in the pants. Applicable for writers, creatives, or anyone that just wants to get something done, Lamott weaves sensible advice within poignant and hilarious stories that makes you feel less alone in your work, whatever that work may be. For this go-around, I am enjoying this book on Audible, which helps the Anne's wisdom to wash over me in a completely new way. Highly recommend.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Another necessary reread for me this summer. Like Lamott, Pressfield gives creatives much needed encouragement with force, passion, and plainspoken candor. He addresses the resistance that artists of all kinds face, and discusses how to, basically, get over yourself and get your work done. I always find myself returning to Pressfield when I am facing daunting new projects, as I am this summer. A must read.

Essentialism by Greg McKeown

McKeown’s book helps busy people make the best use of their time by identifying the work that ONLY THEY can do, and helping them craft a way to be rid of the excess. What is essential for you to do, what balls can be dropped, and how can the rest be shifted? I know how to do EXACTLY NONE of that, so I need to spend some time figuring out what in my work life is essential. I’ll keep you posted.

HUMOR

Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 by David Sedaris

David Sedaris is hilarious. He is irreverent. He is inappropriate. He is wildly funny and cringy and so smart and astute in his observations of human nature. The wildly entertaining tales of his quirky, unconventional family will have you guffawing. Quite simply, he make me roar. I will love listening to his latest on Audible.

FOR THE KIDS

Ramona Quimby series by Beverly Cleary

The littles and I spend a great deal of time in the car, and Ramona has been our constant companion this summer. We have enjoyed the Audible version, narrated by the incomparable Stockard Channing, and have enjoyed watching Ramona’s scrapes, misunderstandings, and realizations about what it means to grow up. Our favorite book so far has been Ramona and Her Father, when Ramona and Beezus forge a two-girl campaign to stop her father from smoking. Spending time with the Quimby’s during all of our travels hither and yon has been a delight.

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My dear readers, I wish you the happiest of happy holiday weekends, with books and laughter and joy galore. Fire up your e-reader. Go to your local independent bookstore. Let Amazon Prime bring you a treasure in two days or less. Give yourself the gift of stories! Keep me posted on which reading rabbit holes ensnare you.

Happy reading!

Editor’s Note: Books chosen to review or recommend not based on endorsements. I purchase my own books with cold, hard cash or find for FREE through my dear old local public library. I write about books that I like and believe that others might also. If you would like to purchase a book that I have recommended, please consider using the Amazon affiliate link provided (click picture). Happy reading!
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Let’s review, friends. I know my role here. I am no New York Times Review of Books. I am a girl that likes some books and would be delighted if you tried them for yourself, if you are so inclined. For more on this, click here. If nonfiction is not your bag, check out the Best of My Bookshelf, Fiction Edition.

So, without further ado, I humbly offer to you

BEST BOOKS FROM MY SUMMER OBSESSION

The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

I’m a rabbit hole reader. To understand more about this, (click here). I love delving headlong into a topic and exploring it from all kind of angles. After spending a couple of weeks with the fictionalized versions of the players at the court of Henry VIII, I resolved to learn the real skinny. Fraser’s The Wives of Henry VIII provided just the ticket for my passage to OBSESSION TOWN. She dives deeply into each of his wives’ lives and investigates how and why they were chosen by Henry. Fraser also explores their relationships with one another and articulates each woman's worldview. Fascinating, to say the least. These ladies were fully realized women, some pawns in the hands of powerful men, others crafty and ambitious in their own right. There is so much more to Catherine, Anne, Jane, Anne, Kathryn, and Catherine (methinks Henry had a THING for Catherines?) than the rhyme “divorced, beheaded, died. . . divorced, beheaded, survived” suggests. An educational and very interesting read. . .the perfect end to the summer of Henry VIII.

BEST BIOGRAPHY

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
His name is Alexander Hamilton.

His name is Alexander Hamilton. There are a million things he hasn’t done.

But just you wait.

Just you wait.

Ron Chernow’s thoughtful, thorough, compelling and LENGTHY book explores the life of the misunderstood, brilliant, prolific, self-destructive, and ultimately doomed Hamilton, America’s frequently forgotten founding father. Spending time with Hamilton and his contemporaries was one of the highlights of my year. We think politics is rough now? Cruel? Lacking decorum and civility? HA! That’s nothing compared to what these men did to each other while designing the structure of our nation. For all their lofty ideals, when the chips were down, these founding fathers weren’t afraid to play DIRTY. (Except General Washington, naturally).

Now, I knew Lin-Manuel Miranda’s rap, blues, jazz, and ballad infused musical based on Chernow’s doorstop of a biography was Tony-Award winning and a big giant deal, but I had NO REAL CLUE what a TREAT it was when my mother surprised my sister and me with tickets to see the show. I avoided listening to the score, as I wanted to be as fresh as possible for the live event, but happily indulged in the book, as I wanted to have a sense of the story. And what a story it is.

The quintessential immigrant, Hamilton, brilliant, orphaned, and penniless, uses his pen and his personality to incite revolution. He rapidly found himself serving as an aide-de-camp to General Washington, Secretary of the Treasury, creator of our modern financial system, visionary for the army, founder of the Coast Guard. . .need I go on? Thanks to Chernow and Miranda, we can all be transfixed through words and music by Hamilton's extraordinary story. It has everything. . . poverty, power, politics, position, passion, and premature demise. I promise, you will love this book. Just you wait. Just you wait!

BEST Quasi-BIOGRAPHY

Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill by Gretchen Rubin

This is a gem. Rubin organizes Churchill’s remarkable life into forty succinct chapters that examine various aspects of Churchill's life, including his view of history, the world and himself, how he transformed throughout his life, the myths surrounding him, his fitness for office, how others perceived him, and his infamous “Black Dog” of depression. Rubin often presents contrasting views on a given topic, citing significant historical references to support both points of view (for example, Churchill as an alcoholic: yes or no?). This balanced construct allows the reader to form his or her own opinions from the carefully researched cases presented. A smart, quick read, Rubin’s book paints a balanced, yet nuanced, portrait of one of history’s most colorful and influential characters. (To explore Rubin’s groundbreaking books on happiness and habits, click here and here and here).

BEST MEMOIR

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

Hillbilly Elegy was recommended to me by two of my favorite readers (and favorite people!), and I wholeheartedly echo their endorsements. This first hand account of a self-proclaimed hillbilly will open your eyes, and more importantly, your heart, to a culture that tends to goes unseen by mainstream America. The broad expanse of our geography and our different races and religions create many sub-cultures within the wider American context that, all too often, seldom interact, leading to misunderstanding at best and mistrust at worst.

J.D. Vance invites us into his world of colorful, loving, violent, flawed, kind, and fascinating hillbillies who shaped him into who he is now, a military veteran and Yale-educated lawyer. His family was loving and scary in equal measure, so much so that when Vance was recruited for the Marines, the officer in charge of his case noted that boot camp would be breeze after being raised by his fearsome grandmother. Vance reveals the lack of agency present in his culture, with the resulting lack of hope, which “is distinct from the larger economic landscape of modern America” (p. 7). Vance's careful examination of the motives, perceptions, and cultural mores are neither romanticized or patronized; rather, he simply, eloquently, and honestly tells us his tale, one that helps part the curtain on a culture that feels ignored by most of America society.

BEST ESSAY COLLECTION

Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living by Shauna Niequist

This book was a giant, much needed exhale for a woman who didn’t even know she was holding her breath. In a series of essays, Niequist takes us through her journey from fleeing a frantic way of life and explains how and why slowing down, saying no, and disappointing the right people can transform the hurly-burly of our modern lives into one with greater peace, connection, and joy.

A pleaser and performer by nature, Niequist slowly was becoming someone who, in the pursuit of incredible productivity, became numb to her soul and the abundant LIFE that was to be found within her own small world. No, she did not move to some rural enclave where there are no trappings of modern life, no hustle, no logistics, and no commitments. From her home in the suburbs of Chicago, the belly of the beast, Niequist, like a wise friend who has emerged from the other side of the fire, implores her readers to just STOP. Stop proving and performing. Do what you were made to do at the speed that you were made to do it. She reminds us that we are loved, not for what we do, but because we are children of God. Spend some time with Niequist, and you too may just stop holding your breath.

BEST SHORT NONFICTION

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

FEMINIST. This is a loaded word in our culture, perhaps never more so than the present. I realized I was long overdue for refresher about the notion of feminism, so I picked up this timely, slim, and eloquent treatise, an expanded version of Adiche's famous TEDx Talk.

The other day, one of my sons and I were having a discussion about a teacher’s perspective on a national issue. My poor, hapless, unsuspecting boy stated derisively that this teacher was a “FEMINIST,” to which my husband quickly responded, “So am I. So is Mom. What do you think it means to be a feminist?” Out poured a slew of misconceptions and culturally-sanctioned rhetoric that shocked me, and frankly, had nothing to do with the issue we were discussing. Feminism can be a contentious idea that people still, despite years of cultural dialogue, have difficulty understanding. And to be honest, so do I sometimes. It is a LOADED concept. Fortunately, I was armed with Adiche’s simple, and at times, very funny words to help us find some clarity.

Adiche, the author of the award winning novels Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun, describes what it actually means to be a feminist, “a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes” (p.47). (Unlike the rhetoric that has been bandied about recently, Adiche contends that your stance on pro-life/pro-choice policies does not include or exclude you from the feminist club. I appreciate this position). She also explores the misconceptions and cultural constraints surrounding the concept of feminism from the unique perspective a woman who resides both in Nigeria and the United States. During a time when labels are thrown around in ways that are meant to divide rather than unite us, I believe it is helpful to understand the people and the stories that embody these labels. Adiche does this brilliantly.

BEST COOKBOOK/MEMOIR

How to Celebrate Everything by Jenny Rosenstrach

Jenny Rosenstrach is a DELIGHT. Her first book, Dinner: A Love Story (see review here) chronicled the recipes and stories of how family dinner became the organizing principle of her marriage, family, traditions, and life. Her most current book, How to Celebrate Everything, follows this same formula, with delicious, poignant, and heartwarming stories and recipes to take you through the whole year. From birthdays to New Year’s Eve and everything in between, Rosenstrach inspires the reader to make both ordinary and special occasions something to celebrate. Try her chocolate pudding pie. THE BEST. (And the easiest, cheater-ish, most delicious pie in the entire world! Shh. . . it involves STORE BOUGHT CRUST).

BEST NONFICTION PICTURE BOOK

Squash, Boom, Beet: An Alphabet for Healthy, Adventurous Eaters by Lisa Maxbauer Price

This GORGEOUS, vibrant, creative book by Price, (who has both NORTHERN MICHIGAN and SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE street cred. . .HOLLA!) has become a hit in our house. Through striking photographs, the book introduces young children to a slew of mouthwatering vegetables, linking them with the alphabet and cleverly worded text. It definitely has started conversations around here about what to grown in our garden this summer (Easter egg radishes, anyone?) and helps promote more adventurous eating. (Still can't get brussels sprouts past them. Sheesh). Price's book is a great gift for the reluctant eaters in your life, of any age.

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