All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
Synopsis: This is a series of anecdotes about a veterinarian
starting his career in the 1930s in Yorkshire. The connecting theme being that
treating animals is often related to understanding how to treat the people that
own and care for them.
My Thoughts: This is probably Jodi’s favorite books series,
and we have been watching the new series produced by the BBC on PBS. The story
is based off the experience of Herriot (which is the pen name for James Alfred
Wight), thus makes it an interesting study in nonfiction.
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Synopsis: This is the tale of humanity's survival on one of
the Galapagos islands after a series of random events shipwrecks an unlikely
group of people. As usual, in his unique and satiric style, Vonnegut delivers a
commentary on humans, their behavior, and how it relates to the world around
them.
My Thoughts: Vonnegut mixture of sci-fi, black comedy, and
satire is really unlike anyone else that I’ve ever read. In this book, he pins
the cause of the world’s problems on the too-large human brain, and then shows
how evolution decreases the size of the brain and creates a more sustainable
future for the planet.
I’ve also read by Kurt Vonnegut: Breakfast of Champions,
Slaughterhouse Five
The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
Synopsis: This book follows three generations of a fictional
powerful American family, the Miltons. It begins with Ogden Milton buying an
island in Maine to console his grieving wife after the loss of their oldest
child. The island and its house become a symbol of White American isolationism,
privilege and racism through the World Wars, Civil Rights and all the way to
modern day.
My Thoughts: A story
about the secrets hidden in history and how social etiquette was just another
way that barriers were built between races in America. I liked the book, still
trying to decide if it was a little heavy-handed in its message, but it may be
that it’s a message that needed to be delivered with a heavy hand.
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Synopsis: Sal Paradise joins Dean Moriarty, a tearaway and
former reform schoolboy, on a series of journeys that takes them from New York
to San Francisco, then south to Mexico. Hitching rides and boarding buses, they
enter a world of hobos and drifters, fruit-pickers and migrant families, small towns,
and wide horizons
My Thoughts: Might be this one went over my head, but I just
struggled to connect with this. I respect that the writing style was
revolutionary for the time, and it encapsulates the beatnik movement, but much
of the point was lost on me.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Synopsis: The story
of Kya, who is abandoned by her family as child and survives outside of society
in marshland. This is both a discussion on how environment's influence on
humans and a murder mystery.
My Thoughts: This book received quite a bit of positive hype,
and while there’s an interesting mystery at its core, I found it to be a bit saccharine
at parts with characters who were a little flat, either too good or too bad.
More blurring of those lines might have elevated this tale for me.
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