Book Chats: Episode 1, Reading Round Up

Thank you so much for joining my first reading round up! You can watch the YouTube video HERE or scroll down to find the transcript which you can read as if it's a blog post. 

Thanks for joining me for my first reading round up book chat!

You'll find all the links mentioned in the video below:

If you want to join my Blueprint for Revolution read along, be sure to like my Facebook page HERE and turn on notifications. I'll host more read alongs in the future! https://www.facebook.com/caffeinatedwhilereading/ My other blogs: Thriving or Surviving Let Me Tell You About My Period

My private tutoring and coaching packages (including a free 30 minute Zoom option) HERE.

Other people and shops to check out: Carter Sullivan's YT Channel -- she has book vlog playlist. Strapping Store, independent women and queer owned gift My friend, Marianne's art HERE. Books discussed with links to purchase on Bookshop: Please note: The following links are affiliate links. They are NOT sponsored or paid content links, but fi you purchase through them, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason Let's Talk About Down There by Dr. Jennifer Lincoln Autoamor by Laura Chica * Bradley Cooper speaking French and focusing on communication HERE Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Welcome to Your Period by Yumi Stynes and Dr. Melissa Kang The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander Inside the Wolf by Amy Rowland Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (updated edition) * Judy Blume discussing her books, including touching on updating her books over the years HERE. Blueprint for Revolution by Srdja Popovic

* Follow my Facebook page HERE to join the read along! Joe Nuthin's Guide to Life by Helen Fisher The Book Thief by Markus Zusak They Called Us Enemy by George Takei * One Book, One Coast details HERE. (Check your local library for details specific to your region) Life on the Bridge: Linking My World to Yours as an Autistic Therapist by Kaelynne Partlow * Find my tutoring, coaching, and other offerings HERE--you can schedule a FREE 30 minute Zoom to discuss your needs. I'm Not the Only Murderer in My Retirement Home by Fergus Craig * The other two books I briefly mention by Helene Tursten can be read in any order: ...An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed ...An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Middle East -- does not appear to be available on Bookshop. Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media by Ana Victoria Calderon Mildred's Vegetarian * Visit the restaurant in London, England HERE. * Suzette, the creperie I mention in London, England HERE. Konbini

Book Chats: Episode 1 VLOG Transcript:
00:01
Hi friends. Welcome to the YouTube channel.
 
Today we are going to talk about books. I have, I believe, 16 or 17 books that I'll be discussing. So, this could end up being a long video. If you like it, please subscribe and hit the like button. My goal is—one of my goals is to get more into doing book reviews because reading is life, essentially.
 
If you're not into my style or whatever, find another creator that you do like. I really like the book reviews of Carter Sullivan. Maybe you will too. I will link her as well as most of the books I'm going to discuss today, and a few other bits and bobs and things in the discussion or in the description box.
 
I may need to pause the video repeatedly today, so if you see little jumps or whatever in my position, or the way I'm talking or whatnot, that may be why. I do have the tail end of some Covid-19 symptoms, and I'm coughing and clearing my throat a lot. I am on the upswing, thankfully. The past two years have been really hard on me in terms of my health. I’ve had a lot of various challenges and things that I'm trying to work through. I have been blogging about those on my blog Thriving or Surviving, which I'll link in the description box as well. I also will link my reading blog Caffeinated While Reading in the description box.
 
But anyway, get yourself a beverage and sit back and let's get into it. This mug is one of my favorite mugs. It's from a shop in Sacramento that I will link called Strapping Store, incredible woman owned, queer owned gift shop, independently owned, and Susan, the owner, would be thrilled to have you stop by in person or her website. I will link that as well. Just gonna link all the things as one does on YouTube, correct?
 
I know I'm going to get some questions so about what's behind me, so I'll just talk about that also. And if you hear some crunchy, chewy kind of noises, my dog is on the floor right here chewing on a dog toy, she may hop up on the couch with me at some point and do a little cameo herself. If she does, I'll introduce you when we get there.
 
Anyhow, this poster right here, Ski Mount St, Helens. If you know, you know—you don't ski Mt. St. Helens. I was six years old when Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980, so you can do the math and figure out how old I am. My uncle had this clipped out of a newspaper and laminated and hanging in his basement for years and years. When he passed away, it was one of the things I wanted to keep. I'd always loved it, so I got a frame for it and put it up on my wall. Often, people look at it and they don't quite get it at first, and then you see the realization dawning, and they start to laugh. Ski Mt. St. Helens, hottest slopes on the west—in the west.
 
This snail, it's a beautiful picture up close. Let's see if I can get us in closer. Getting lots of reflection, unfortunately. There we go. The snail is made up of flowers. That actually was a greeting card that somebody sent me years ago, and I loved it so much I framed it.
 
This is a portrait taken of Big Sur, California by my grandparents’ friend in the 1960s. I have two of them. They’re, along with the Ski Mt. St. Helens poster, some of my most favorite items. They were hanging in my grandparents’ house while I was growing up, and I always admired them. And when they passed away, it was one of the only things that I really wanted in terms of possessions. I wanted my grandparents back, of course, but I took these, and then other family members have the additional the rest of the set.
 
And then these two pieces, they're paintings or prints of paintings done by my friend, Marianne. She's a an extremely talented painter. These are scenes from San Francisco. I will link her social media, and if she still has a storefront, I will link that in the description as well. Her style is very realistic, hyper-realism, but she also does other styles as well. And she does process painting videos, which I love they're very calming. Her travel videos and her sense of style are also on point. Marianne's a great person, and I hope you'll check out her art.
 
Anyway, gonna take another sip of my coffee and let's jump into this.
 
04:59
The first book I'm going to talk about, I will have to put an image right here. It's called Jar City. I don't have the book in front of me. I read it as an e-book from my library. The author's name is escaping me at the moment. I should have been more prepared, but it is an Icelandic name that I probably would butcher.
 
I am going to definitely butcher a couple of the authors names today, but we'll be doing our best. My name is Malea, not an easy name. People mispronounce it all the time, so I do try to be aware of that when it comes to other names, but sometimes it can't be helped.
 
Anyway, Jar City: this book is Nordic Noir. It is very dark. It is very gristly. It's murder, it's rape, it's. . .there's a child death, although the child is not. . .assaulted, the child dies of a brain tumor. There's a mystery. There are family mysteries, there are community mysteries, there are mysteries that go back several decades. It's very dark, both in the sense of the theme of the book, but also throughout the book, the settings are dark and described as being dark. The weather is very rainy, and you know, it's a time of year where it's darker. In general, there's less daylight. They're in deep, dark, dank basements, things like that. It's a very good book, if you like that type of mystery. The main character is grumpy. He's a single man who, like, has messed up his own family, but has a little redemptive moment with his own daughter, his troubled daughter. I really enjoyed the book. I'll probably read more by this author, and probably more from that series, because it is a series involving the main character, the detective.
 
Let's see. I just finished that one yesterday. I read it very quickly two days, which is interesting, because my health has not been great and I've been struggling to focus to read, which tells you that it must have been pretty good if I was able to read it when I'm really struggling to focus with my reading. I do read multiple books at a time, but usually only two, or, you know, three to four. This past week, I've had six going at once, and like I said, I've got like, 16, 17, maybe 18 that we'll be discussing today.
 
Anyhow. Moving on, the next book that I recently finished, Let's Talk About Down There by Dr Jennifer Lincoln. I got this at the library, but it also has a little inscription by her: “Because shame has no place in understanding how a body works, Dr. Lincoln, March 2024.” I picked this up, as well as one of the other books I'll be discussing to read and review for my podcast and blog called Let Me Tell You About My Period. The goal of that podcast and blog is to destigmatize anything and everything around menstruation and to generally support the health and well-being of people who have periods. This book isn't exclusively about periods, but it does talk a lot about periods. It talks a lot about female anatomy. It talks about period products. It talks about birth control. It talks about different pros and cons of birth control and period products. It talks about understanding your anatomy. It's written in a Q and A fashion. The top of each page has a question, and then there's a brief answer. Most of the answers are only a page or two long. There are some charts. There are some illustrations throughout. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I did know most of the information that was in here already, but I also have sought out a lot of this information intentionally, both through working in healthcare as my day job, but also for my podcast and blog that I am doing with my friend Liesel. So, most of what was in here was not new to me. However, if you have questions and you don't know who to ask, you're too embarrassed to ask a friend, a family member or your doctor, this might be a good place to start. It's a great resource, very easy to read, very quick to read. You don't have to read it start to finish. You can go to the table of contents, find the question that's most relevant to you, and just go directly to those pages. It's an easy book to dip in and out of as needed. Highly recommend.
 
09:33
All right, this next book I got because I'm working on learning Spanish. I'm probably going to butcher this now that I am putting myself on the spot. Estoy aprendiendo Espanol pero muy lentamente. I'm learning Spanish, but very slowly. I don't hear very well, and so sometimes hearing the way things are pronounced is very difficult, and my pronunciation is horrible. Often when I try to speak Spanish, even if I have all the correct words and they're in the correct order, and they're in the correct form, my pronunciation is so bad that sometimes I'm not very well understood, and it's partially a hearing issue that I have, but I'm trying. I can read more Spanish than I can speak or understand when it's spoken to me. But one of the ways that I like to practice, besides using Duolingo and apparently Google Translate now has a practice part of their app is to seek out Spanish materials, whether that's podcasts, movies, TV shows, but also books.
 
10:36
I picked up this book, Autoamor by Laura Chica. It's basically a book about enjoying your life, finding ways to enjoy life more. I believe this says, “Discover what you love and live a beautiful it's basically you discover what you love and live a beautiful life.” That's not the exact translation, but that's enough of an idea for you to know what this is about. There are sections that are like, you know, full length pages like normal. But there's also these smaller blurbs. I find it helpful to sometimes go through and just try to translate the smaller blurbs when I just have a few seconds. But we will see how this goes. I am excited to get into this. I'll probably try to focus on one page a day, maybe some of the pages, I will explicitly try to translate word for word and try to build understanding of grammar and things like that. Other pages, I'm probably just going to try to build meaning. The actor Bradley Cooper, I saw a clip of him speaking French recently, and he was saying that it's more important to try to communicate than to try to get the grammar and the vocabulary exactly correct. Those weren't exactly what he said, but that was the idea he was like, you know, communicating and making mistakes is better than just not even trying, right? And that has been my experience when I've traveled. I've only had one negative experience when it comes to language, with a lady in a grocery store in France saying Americans never speak language when I couldn't understand her very rapid fire French. Once she slowed down and repeated herself, I understood her, what she was speaking. She just didn't like that. She was speaking so fast, and I had to ask her to repeat herself, and I didn't know how to ask that in French, even though I had greeted her in French. Otherwise, I've had lovely experiences, even with horrible foreign language skills. If you're curious, I'm working on Spanish, French, Turkish and Norwegian, which seems like a lot, but I'm enjoying it, so I don't really care if it doesn't work for somebody else. And yeah. . .
 
Let's move on to what I'm currently reading. I have four books that I'm currently reading. Like I said, I tend to read multiple books at a time. This first one, I started quite a long time ago with one of my book clubs. I ended up being sick and not going to the book club. . .but I also hadn't finished the book yet. I ended up having to return the book because there was a long line of people waiting for it. I just got it back from the library yesterday so I can finish it: Chain Gang All-Stars. This is a near future, somewhat dystopian novel about the justice system, about the prison system, the prison industrial complex, about prisons for profit, about prisons for profit and entertainment. Think modern prisons, modern prisons for profit crossed with gladiator matches. It's an interesting novel. I'm I think I'm about halfway through this. I'm looking forward to getting back into it and finishing it. My friend, Liesl, really seemed to enjoy it, so it'll be fun to finish it and be able to discuss it with her. It is a little bit on the thicker side. This is what? I do enjoy longer books. I believe this one is, let’s see, this one is 363 pages for this particular edition with normal size print.
 
I am almost done with this one. Another one for my period podcast: Welcome to Your Period. If you know somebody at the beginning of puberty who is likely to have a period, or who cares about people having periods, this is the book. This book is so good. I wish this book had been around when I was going through puberty, when I was starting to have periods. It is straightforward, is written to meet multiple people at multiple levels, at multiple places in life. They use both medical terminology and lay terminology. There's a big practicality aspect to this book. Like the other one, Let's Talk About Down There, you can dip in and out. You can find the topic you need and read just about that. Or you can read it start to finish. This is a do-it-yourself adventure, choose your own adventure sort of style book about periods and puberty. It's extremely inclusive, not just with regards to gender, but also to ethnicity, to learning differences, to bodily differences.
 
15:28
I love this book. It is very well written. It is written by both a lay person and a doctor, together. It talks about the embarrassing parts of having periods. It talks about the practicalities of being at school or trying to swim. It talks about how to talk about your period. It talks about birth control. It talks about so many different things, but it's probably the inclusivity and the approachability that I like best about this. It is extremely empowering without pandering, and it does acknowledge that periods can be hard to talk about while supporting that we should be able to talk about them without it being hard. Welcome to Your Period by Yumi Steins and Dr Melissa King, please go and get this book for the menstruators in your life, especially if they haven't had their first period yet. If you're not sure how to talk to your young person about their periods, this book might be the help that you need. Can't say enough about this book. I will be doing a deep in depth review of this book on Let Me Tell You About My Period on our blog and the YouTube channel associated with that later this week.
 
All right, this next one, The Littlest Library—if you know, you know: I got it at Costco—by Poppy Alexander. A woman’s family members die, and now she finds herself alone. She sells her home, moves to a small cottage in the countryside, but there's a catch. There's a telephone box out front, and whoever owns the cottage is responsible for doing something with the telephone box for the town. She ends up turning it into a small library. This ends up being a little more controversial than she would expect. She finds throughout the book, she worries about being alone, but there's a lot of found family in this book that I really like. There's a rom-com element that I'm just getting to the beginnings of. There's a lot of different personalities in the book. I'm really enjoying this one, although I am finding it hard to focus maybe because it's kind of got a lot of tropes that go along with a lot of rom-coms. It is good, but just right now, not really making my brain fire very well. I will keep reading it. I'm just dipping in and out here and there. When I need something easy or fast—The Littlest Library, Poppy Alexander.
 
And then this next one, Inside the Wolf by Amy Rowland. I just started this two days ago. If you like Flannery O'Connor, if you like, I can't think of her name, Kingfisher? if you like Southern, Southern noir, Southern Gothics, you'll probably like this. If you like mythology, storytelling, folklore, folk tales, you might like this. It's modern, it's contemporary, but the protagonist is an expert in folklore, folk tales, mythology and things of that nature. She returns home to the family farm after being away in the city. There is a theme involving a wolf, but I've just gotten started with this, so I'm not very far into it. I am very much enjoying it. I think I'm going to really love this. I think once I get a little further into it, I'm not going to be able to put it down. And also, the cover is just beautiful. I love the cover. It kind of reminds me of, is it Eric Carle that does those animal books with the beautiful covers? You can see the fox legs behind the plant, the flower up here.
 
Okay, that's when I'm planning to read, and what I have read, and what I'm in the middle of reading, or actually not what I'm planning to read, what I'm planning to read is coming next. This pile is big. I split it up into a couple of groups: One books related to book clubs I'm in, books that I just want to read for various reasons, and then some non-fiction—not necessarily books that you read straight for straight through.
 
First, we have a classic Are You There, God? It's me, Margaret by Judy Blume. If you read this book when you were younger like me, you may notice that the cover looks a lot different. It looks like a text message thread, right? Judy Blume went back through several of her books and updated them as technology changed. There was an interview with her, and if I can find it, I'll link it. She has talked about how you watch a movie or read a book or something from decades before, and the technology doesn't really make sense. Like Now somebody might read the original version of this would be like, Why? Why don't they just call their friend from their cell phone when they're walking home? Why aren't they just calling their parents from their cell phone when they have a problem?
 
20:31
Judy recognized that cell phones and things like that and modern technology existed, so her books should reflect those to stay relevant and to stay current. So, she has updated this. I'm excited to read it. I kind of would love to go get an early copy of it and compare the two, but I'm not going to do that right now. I am reading this along with my podcast partner, Liesl, and our friend Angel. We might rope in our friend Priscilla as well, because this is, like, you know, classic coming of age, first period puberty lore in the United States, right? We are going to do a mini podcast episode after we read this and after we watch the movie version. Very excited about this. I probably haven't read this since I was, I don't know, a late teenager. This was one of the few books that my mom didn't really want me to read. Otherwise, we were a pretty open household when it came to reading. I think it was more about a little bit of embarrassment on my mom's side when it came to periods and period talk.
 
On to this, Blueprint for a Revolution, I plan to do a read-along of this on my blog, Caffeinated While Reading, I don't know how to say the first name. I think it's Srdja Popovic or popovich. I'm not 100% certain, but Blueprint for a Revolution, How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men and Other Non-violent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators or Simply Change the World. This is a look at revolutions, at protests, things like that throughout the world that have worked well using unconventional means. You know, as it says, rice pudding and Lego men. What do those have to do with protest? Join me and find out. I have read this a couple of times before. The last time was probably five or six years ago, so now seems like a good time to re-approach this. I do plan to do it one chapter, probably every two weeks on Facebook. You can find the link below, or go to Facebook and search for Caffeinated While Reading, or go to my blog, caffeinated while reading dot blogspot dot com to follow along on this.
 
One of my other book clubs is reading Joe Nuthin's Guide to Life by Helen Fisher. I just love that cover. I don't know anything about this book. We'll see how it goes. I love the book cover. I have loved every book that this book club has picked out, so I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy this one as well. Joe Nathan likes the two parts of his name separate, just like dinner and dessert. Mean Charlie at work sometimes calls him Joe Nothing. But Joe is far from nothing. Joe is a good friend, good at his job, good at making things and at following rules, and he is learning how to do a lot by himself. Joe's mother knows there are a million things he isn't yet prepared for. While she helps to guide him every day, she is also writing notebooks of advice for Joe of everything she hasn't yet told him about life and things he might forget by following her advice, Joe's life is about to be more of a surprise than he expects. Joe loves predictability, but his life is about to become a surprising adventure. I love that. Sounds great, and I love that they carried these little star like things up to the back. Excited to read this.
 
Another book club. Yes, I'm in more than one. I don't go to every meeting of every book club. This other book club is reading The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. I don't know if I pronounced that correctly. I've read this numerous times. It is one of my all time favorite books. I love this book so so so much. With my private tutoring students, if we're reading over the summer and they need something to read, and they're at a point where this is either just right or maybe slightly challenging or even slightly easy, I love to read this with my students. There's so much to talk about. There's so many layers to this story. It's a great one, and I'm really looking forward to revisiting this one. I'll probably read this pretty fast, because I am so familiar with it already. Normally, I kind of like to take my time and read leisurely, at a leisurely pace. I can read very fast, but I just I don't enjoy it. Why did we decide that reading really, really fast was really, really important anyway?
 
Okay, this next one is part of a nationwide reading challenge for the summer. Check your local library. You might be able to get a copy of this fairly easily. My Library has unlimited ebook copies. They Called Us Enemy by George Takei. I think it's Takei. Is it take or Takei? This is a graphic novel about his life in an internment camp as a young person.
 
25:25
It is not in color. It's all black and white, but I think it's going to be pretty good. It also feels very timely, given what's happening in the world, many parts of the world right now. This because it's part of a nationwide program. You should be able to find this very, very easily through your library. If you can't ask them to get on it and get copies. They're going to be events throughout the country around this book all summer long.
 
All right, the next two I just wanted to read just because. This one, Life on the Bridge: Linking My World to Yours as an Autistic Therapist, by Kaelynn Partlow. I think it's Kaelynn. I follow her on Facebook. This young woman is pretty extraordinary. She is autistic and faces a lot of challenges as an autistic person, but she also wants to show that it shouldn't be an autistic or having some sort of difference shouldn't hold you back. She challenges herself to try a lot of new things. She talks about what does and does not work. She talks about what it looks like when she's struggling. She talks about what it looks like when she's doing well. She talks about the importance of diagnosis. She talks about the importance of different therapies. She talks about support. She talks about lack of support. She's very interesting person. I love her Facebook posts. I love her videos. She recently went to a Lady Gaga concert and really surprised her with how much she enjoyed it. Anyway, I'm really excited to read this. I, In my private tutoring, I work with a lot of autistic and ADHD and autistic ADHD students, as well as students with other neuro divergences, and a lot of what she says in her videos and her posts really resonates with me and really fits in well with my approach with my students, which is highly unique to every student, by the way. I do not use a cookie cutter method if you have any interest in that, or if you have a student or you yourself are extremely shy and introverted or really just struggling with figuring out how to get around in the world. I don't just do academic tutoring. I also do social skills tutoring and coaching and support. I will put a link like with everything else in the description box, all right, the next one, the title got me.
 
This title just made me laugh, and it reminded me of two of my other favorite books. Those two books, An Elderly Lady Must Not be Crossed. And I can't, I can't quite read the title on the other one, but there's two books by Helene, I think it's Helene Tursten, that are just so funny. They're Swedish. They're about an elderly woman who goes out and commits murders. And it's hilarious. So when I saw this one, it reminded me of those. So, I'm hoping this will be just as good: I'm Not the Only Murderer in My Retirement Home by Fergus. Fergus, Craig. I think the title pretty much speaks for itself. I'm looking forward to reading this. I have a feeling I'll read this quickly. I'm very intrigued, very intrigued. I mean, elderly murderers. What's wrong with that? What could go wrong?
 
All right, the last four books I have are not novels or autobiographies or anything like that. These are more just for my personal interests, indulging some of my nerdy side.
 
I love art I love art history. I recently watched the TV show “Homeland” with Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin and so many other great actors and actresses. A lot of it takes place in the Middle East, and the art of the Middle East is just so beautiful, and it's just so special, and I could say a lot politically, but I am really worried about people in the Middle East for a variety of reasons, but also part of me is worried about the art and architecture and what is being lost in all the bombings and things that are going on right now. I thought I would indulge a little bit and get some books about art from the Middle East. I have one now, and I have another one that's on hold with the library that I'm waiting to come in. This is Palace and Mosque, Islamic Art from the Middle East. Just, I mean, look how beautiful that is. I do have some craft related stamps that look a lot like some of the mosaic patterns that you see in the Middle East. So, after I get through this book a little bit more, maybe I'll get some into bringing out those stamps and doing some projects, but I mean that so so pretty.
 
30:25
These have you know, a lot of the patterns have a lot of special, special meanings, gorgeous.
 
Okay, so that's one of them. I love creating art. I love painting. I love mixed media. I love working with paper. I am not very good at painting, but I want to get better, and I want to be able to incorporate painting into my art. So, I have Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media, a Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Stunning Effects by Anna Victoria Calderon. I mean, look at that. Isn't that pretty? I would love to be able to paint things like these and not have them look like a total mess. There's lots of projects throughout, lots of stunning pictures. She does start with some very easy to follow instructions. I am looking forward to working my way through this. It may take me a while. Thankfully, in my job I have I was—quite a while ago, I was laid off, and I've gone through a couple of other jobs, and the job I have now gives me a lot of time off, so I may use some of that time off to work through some of this in the following weeks. We'll see. Maybe I'll film some of it, and then the next two are cookbooks.
 
I love to cook. My kid loves to cook. Our roommate loves to cook. All of us love to cook. Our kitchen is tiny. It's minuscule, but we make it work. So this past summer, I was in or actually not summer. In November, I was in London, England, and I have a severe dairy allergy, and I just kind of naturally tend to eat vegan without thinking about it. But when I travel, I look specifically for vegan restaurants or restaurants with vegan options, because it's just so much easier to navigate than explaining my dairy allergy and having to risk mistakes and whatnot. I found this restaurant called Mildreds. I believe it is all vegan now, although at one time it was just vegetarian, the food was so good. I still think about the food. I still think about the decor. I think about the staff. I think about the whole restaurant. I'm going back to the UK in the end of July and the beginning of August. I can't wait to take my friend to Mildred's. So good. We're going to go to Mildred's as well as a creperie called Suzette. I will leave both of them in the description, if you have a chance, they are both divine. I have not cooked anything out of this cookbook yet, even though I've had it for a few weeks, partially because I just haven't felt well. But this weekend, I am off work, and I plan to get into it. So good, so so good.
 
33:23
And then everybody in my house really enjoys Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Indian. Those are all very different cuisines, but we enjoy all of those, and we enjoy Japanese culture a lot. We all want to eventually, someday, go to Japan. So I found this: Konbini. I don't know if I pronounced that correctly, but it's basically a cookbook inspired by Japanese convenience store food, which, if you've ever seen it, Japan, Japan's Convenience stores are living in the future. There's various sandwiches that often are called Sandos instead of sandwiches, there's various bowl type dishes. There's all sorts of things in this cookbook. Again, one we haven't tried any of the recipes out of, but I'm really excited to get to trying them. So that is my book chat for today, and I hope you’ll come back and see the next one. Thank you. Bye.

January and February 2026 Reading Achievements

Thanks to an unusual work schedule, I have a huge amount of time off which has skyrocketed how much I'm able to read. Since reading is my primary passion, I'm thrilled! 

January and February of 2026 have proven to be extremely fulfulling and I've read more, so far, this year than in the same timespan in years past. As of the end of February, I've finished 11 books. From 2016 to 2024, there have been many years were 11 books is more than half of what I read in an entire year! I'm definitely far ahead of my usual reading pace, even for my most prolific years. Of course, please don't judge your own reading spead or number of books against mine--we all read at our own paces and with our own preferences and habits; and, many of you don't have as much free time to read as I happen to enjoy.

Out of the 11 books I've read thus far in 2026, my favorites have been:

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

I Who Have Never Known Men is a piece of speculative, post-apocalyptic science fiction written in 1995 and translated from Belgian into English. It is haunting, heartbreaking, and beautiful. It is also deeply philosophical. 

The novel centers on a young woman who was captured as a young girl, along with 39 adult women, and kept for years in a cage overseen by male guards. An unexplained event takes place that causes the guards to abandon their posts and disappear at precisely the right moment, allowing the women to escape. By this point, the young girl has become a young woman. She is also the only one who has no memory of the world before waking up in this cage which allows her to be emboldened into taking chances the other women are too afraid to take on their own. 

The book spans several decades, despite how slim the volume is, as this group of women roams the world they emerge into as they search for other survivors and find ways to live and build a new type of community. This is a novel I will think about for the rest of my life.

Find I Who Have Never Known Men on Bookshop HERE or Amazon HERE.

Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson

Harbor Me is a a middle-grades chapter book set in Brooklyn and focused on a small group of Special Education students who are allowed time every Friday afternoon, before the end of the school day, to talk and share with one another without any adults present. 

The story is from the point of view of a girl who lives with her uncle while her father is away in prison. Her mother died when she is young and she aches for a mother-figure and lives with shame that her father is incarcerated. This is a beautiful story about personal shames, fears, and pain and how we can form close bonds with those around us--even when they seem so different and unlikely as allies. It is as much about found family as it is about healing. I have loved everything I've read by Woodson, but Harbor Me is easily my favorite of her books. 

Find Harbor Me on Bookshop HERE or Amazon HERE.

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

At first, I was unsure about The Frozen River due to its length. it's quite a bit longer than much of what I typically read, but the further I got into the story, the more I was hooked! 

This is a piece of historical fiction based on very real people, taking place shortly after the Revolutionary War in the New England area of the United States. It is told from the perspective of a very real midwife: Martha Ballard. While the author takes many liberties and embellishes and fills in many details, there are real threads of history throughout the book; however, it was the fictional story Lawhon created that I loved. This novel is a mystery focused on rape, murder, power, and rivalry. Ballard--both in real life and in the novel--hold an unusual amount of power as a midwife in the late 1700s and uses her skills and smarts to not only help pregnant women, but also to solve the several layers of mysteries throughout the book. 

Perhaps what I loved most about this novel though, is that the fictional husband--also based on Ballard's real husband--is so in love with, supportive of, and respectful of our narrator in pretty much every way. The romantic in me definitely fell in love both with him and with one of the couple's fictional sons. This was a long novel, but I had a hard time putting it down to go do other things and read it quickly!

Find The Frozen River on Bookshop HERE and on Amazon HERE.

How About Now by Kate Baer

This poetry collection is a beautiful look at motherhood and being middle aged as a woman. Many of the poems were thought provoking, many were comforting, and some made me nod my head and think, "Yes, I recognize this. I feel understood by this." 

I could easily have raced through this poetry collection, but I was enjoying each and every poem to such a degree that I forced myself to slow down and savor every word. If you enjoy the poetry of Marie Howe, you'll love the work of Kate Baer!

Find How About Now on Bookshop HERE or Amazon HERE.

The Sea in Winter by Christine Day

I firmly believe that adults should be allowed to read books meant for children, and this novel is no exception! The Sea in Winter is a middle-grades novel and winner of the American Indian Youth Literature Award Middle Grade Honor. 

The novel centers on a young girl who dreams of a life on stage as a ballerina. Her dreams are upended by a devestating injury, a trip with her family, and re-injury. This is a coming of age novel as well as a novel about connecting with your roots, finding new paths through life, and much more. It is set in the Pacific Northwest (my favorite part of the world) and ties both the Indigenous history of the land with modern daily life. This novel spoke to me both as a parent and to my inner child who had to deal with heart breaks and shattered dreams growing up. I found this to be a comforting read in many ways and identified with both the children and the adults in the novel.

Find The Sea in Winter on Bookshop HERE and Amazon HERE.

The other books I've finished, so far, in 2026 are:

• Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh (also spelled TH1RT3EN)
• Darkhearts by James L. Sutter
• Reasons to Look at the Night Sky by Danielle Daniel
• Thieve's Gambit by Kayvion Lewis
• Black Ice by Hans Werner Kettenbach
• Goldenrod: Poems by Maggie Smith

Of these, the only one I would NOT recommend is Black Ice. For most of the book, I was enjoying how deliciously awful the main character (and most of the other characters) is, but at some point, the constant awfulness started to grate on my nerves and it became harder and harder to enjoy the novel. There was no release from the horrid nature of the characters in the midst of a murder mystery. The one character that could have been the counter-balance wasn't well enough developed and didn't have enough of a presence to be of any relief. I got far enough into the novel that I decided to go ahead and finish it, despite my belief that it's ok to put down a book if you aren't enjoying it, and I wish I'd just quit the book instead! The end was ridiculous and left too many loose threads. It wasn't a cliffhanger and it wasn't a prelude to a follow up novel. It just . .  . ended. 

What have you read so far in 2026?

BANNED BOOKS: Sold by Patricia McCormick

(Please note: links to purchase books may be affiliate in nature. I may receive a small commission if you purchase through these links, but at no extra cost to you.)

How do you write a book involving unspeakable sexual horrors happening to children without feeling the deepest pits of despair?

Patricia McCormick managed to do just that in her book Sold about Laskhmi, a 13 year old girl sold by her step-father and trafficked for sexual exploitation. 

McCormick originally traveled to India and Nepal as a journalist doing research on sex trafficking of young girls, but what she found was so much more than could ever go into a single article. She states that she wrote this for students--young teens--and that she was meticulous about her word choices and phrasing as she wrote. She specifically did not want to use graphic language. Instead, she tried to reflect the language that a young girl who doesn't even have the words to describe her experiences would use. She further noted:

"It’s written specifically for young people who want to know about the wider world. I worked with wonderful editors, fact checkers, all kinds of responsible parties who want to make sure that what we’re bringing to students, what we’re bringing and putting into their libraries, is informative and doesn’t brutalize them. Just because this is a brutal topic, we don’t have to brutalize them with that kind of language.”

The book is brutal, but also hopeful.

The book is NOT as explicit as those seeking to ban it would have you believe. 

Yet, it is one of the most banned books in the United States, regularly in the top five banned books. The most banned is Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult which I wrote about HERE.

This is one of the saddest books I've ever read, but the end was also perfection. While this book centers on the sexual slavery and trafficking of girls in Nepal and India, it is also a book about never losing hope. The book, told in the first person from Lakshmi's point of view is visceral. I felt Lakshmi's hope as it waxed and waned, her dread and fear as she realized the lies she'd been told, her terror at being abused sexually and physically, and her despair at being told she had to work off a debt.

Young Lakshmi is brutally abused and beaten by the owner of the brothel, then drugged and sexually abused by men for days after first arriving at the brothel. She is powerless, yet she has a small bundle of possessions from her remote, mountain village home that she regularly holds in her arms in order to inhale the familiar scents of that home. She holds on to hope that she will return there someday. At times, throughout the book, I had the sense that Lakshmi's hope was on the cusp of being broken, but through tiny moments of kindness from others--a boy who teaches her English words and gives her an American book, another boy who leaves her tea and gives her a Coca Cola without demanding payment--her hope is renewed over and over.

While the book strongly alludes to Lakshmi being raped repeatedly by adult men, it never really explicity describes these experiences, although sexual content is the primary reason for bans and challenges to Sold. McCormick makes it a point to not describe the details too clearly. Instead, she describes Lakshmi's fear and her occasional dissociation from what is happening to her. 

The book also walks a fine line between the horrors of child sex slavery and the growing relationships the girls and young women build amongst themselves. There are tender moments of care and friendship between the girls that help to alleviate the tension as the story moves along. These moments also help to humanize the characters and build them up as multi-demensional people to a degree that you feel like any of these girls could be a real person. 

During the 2023-2024 school year, PEN America notes that Sold was tied for the third most banned book in the United States with bans in 85 school districts. The book tied with The Perks of Being a Wallflower. 

One of my many frustrations about book bans is that they seek to severely restrict access to books that include characters and situations that people experience in real life and these books allow those who are not free to express their own experiences to know that they are not alone. Jodi Picoult has noted that teenagers have told her that they had plans to hurt themselves or others at their schools until they read her book, Nineteen Minutes--they have told her that her book saved them and others because they felt seen and understood. We need MORE of that, not less. 

Books save lives.

The website Common Sense Media indicates Sold is appropriate for ages 13 and up, though the reviews of the site's users have a range of what readers feel is appropriate for this book. Some of the reviews point out that this book is important, in part, because girls across the globe have experience sexual harrasment or assault. Readers who feel shamed by their experiences, despite being victims, may find strength in Lakshmi's journey and the ultimate outcome of the story. They may see themselves in Lakshmi and the other girls in this book. Many readers note that there is quite a bit of sexual content--but again, the sex is not graphically described so much as Lakshmi's emotional response and inner thoughts around it are explored. It's also important to note that there are other instances of physical violence and alcohol abuse. These are all topics that most young people are much more aware of than adults want to acknowledge. A teenager living with an alcohol or abusive parent or family member or a child who is sexually harrased or abused may find strength in Lakshmi's journey.

McCormick has stated:

"To ban this book is to erase the young people around the world who are currently enslaved . . . To ban this book is a disservice to the women who shared their stories with me so the world could know about their plight. And to ban this book is disrespectful to the young readers who want to know about the world as it is – so they can make a difference. 

"But, perhaps most important, to ban this book is to take away a lifeline for readers who are experiencing abuse. These kids know what adults often don’t. Books aren’t the problem; they are part of the solution."

According to PEN America, 60% of book bans in the 2023-2024 school year were for books considered to be Young Adult. Further, 59% of banned books are challenged due to addressing grief and death, while 57% are challenged for touching on sexual topics or content. 

According to reviews on the book's page on the Barnes and Noble website:

• Publishers Weekly considers Sold appropriate for ages 12 and up.
• School Library Journal considers the book appropriate for 9th grade and up.
• Kirkus considers the book Young Adult. 

These reviews also note that the book has won several awards:

• National Book Award Finalist
• Publishers Weekly, Best 100 Books of the Year
• NPR's Best Books of the Year
• American Library Association, Top Ten List, Best Books of the Year
• Gustav-Heinemann Peace Prize
• Booklist Editor's Choice Award
• New York Public Library Best Books for Teens
• Children's Literature Council's Choice
• Book Sense Pick

You can buy Sold by Patricia McCormick HERE.

You can buy Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult HERE and you can read my review HERE.

SOURCES LINKED (not necessarily in order):

• https://pen.org/report/beyond-the-shelves/
• https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sold-patricia-mccormick/1100600727
• https://www.phillyvoice.com/most-challenged-banned-books-america-sold-patricia-mccormick/
• https://hhsmedia.com/52117/feature/author-of-book-sold-mccormick-shares-journey-of-writing-book-about-trafficking/?print=true
• https://people.com/jodi-picoults-nineteen-minutes-was-the-most-banned-book-last-year-8736199#:~:text=The%20book%20is%20about%20a,feeling%20isolated%2C%22%20she%20continues.

BANNED BOOKS: Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Earlier this year, a small group of friends and I decided we wanted to read some banned books. I suggested the most banned books across the United States: Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult.

According to Pen America, this novel is one of 19 that has been banned in 50 or more school districts with the following four books being the next most frequently banned:

• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• Sold by Patricia McCormick
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Nineteen Minutes, in fact, was banned 98 times in the 2023-2024 school year. Looking for Alaska was banned 97 times. More than 80% of all book bans (not just the titles I've noted) appear to come from Iowa and Florida. Texas and Utah also came up regularly in the articles I read for this post.

In the case of Picoult's book, nearly every ban is focused on a single page and a single depiction of date rape. They are not at all focused on the fact that the book is about a school shooting in which ten students die and many more are injured. Nor are they focused on the fact that the entire novel centers on a student having been brutally bullied his entire life.

Think about that. ONE PAGE depicting a teenage girl being date raped is the reason for objections to this very long novel. The edition of the novel I read was published in 2013 and is 656 pages long.

ONE PAGE is the focus of nearly every ban of this book. 

A violent video game and description of human characters in the game being slaughtered in a school shooting was not the cause of objection.

A student being mercilessly bullied--even having his pants and underwear pulled down in a school cafeteria and numerous students seeing his penis, which Picoult describes--was not the subject of the objections.

Cold and calculated planning of a school shooting by one student was not the reason for objections.

Blood, injuries, and death of multiple students did not merit all of these objections.

A heavily implied suicide by one character and an explicitly stated plan by another character was not the subject of all of these objections.

Instead, it comes down to one page depicting a date rape that is not nearly as graphically described as the penis of the boy who is subjected to bullying. 

As with pretty much all book bans, I have to wonder how many of those proposing or supporting such bans have actually read the material to which they object. 

I want to encourage you to pick up and read Nineteen Minutes or one of the numerous other books regularly facing bans. 

Picoult's book was long, but it was engaging and I saw myself, at various points, in many of the characters--the parents, the popular girl who felt like an imposter, the teachers trying do right by their students, the boy who was bullied until he couldn't take it anymore. I found myself identifying in some way with most of the characters except for the group of bullies. 

There were parts of the novel that were hard to read due to how emotionally raw and painful they felt, but this was an extremely well written and thorough depiction of modern high school and modern teenage life. It carefully wove together the complicated relationships of students, parens, and community members amid a tragedy, the events leading up to it, and the aftermath. It also laid bare some of the most difficult aspects of being a parent and how parents never truly know their children's deepest thoughts and feelings--even if we experienced similar situations in our own youthful years. 

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is a moving, but dark novel with a compelling story to tell. I hope you will read it and report back with your thoughts afterwards. 

You can purchase a copy of the book through Bookshop.org HERE.

Sources Linked:

• https://pen.org/press-release/nearly-200-percent-surge-in-school-book-bans-during-2023-2024-school-year/
• https://pen.org/banned-books-list-2024/
• https://apnews.com/article/jodi-picoult-nineteen-minutes-book-bans-c22ff8f0f5c8baddfaa0c8ff5268436e

The WORST books I read (and finished) from 2016 to 2024

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Years ago, I used to feel compelled to finish reading any book I started, no matter how much I hated it or didn't want to finish it. Over the years, I've eased up, but occasionally I still find myself finishing a book I can't stand for one reason or another. 

These are the four worst books I've finished from 2016 to 2024:

• A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Beauty, Adventure, and Success by Maye Musk 
• The Crooked Staircase by Dean Koontz
• Open Grave by Kjell Eriksson
• The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

A Woman Makes a Plan by Maye Musk

I didn't realize when I picked up this memoir that it was written by Elon Musk's mother. Had I noticed before leaving the library, I would have not checked the book out. 

The book started out somewhat relatable as I was a single mother and so was Maye Musk. I faced challenges and overcame them, and so did she. Yet, the further I read, the less and less I related. Musk's advice was flippant and extremely surface level--there was no substance. She glossed over the extreme amount of privilige she and her children have had--that's not to say they didn't have challenges, but her single motherhood and mine were vastly different--and her motto throughout the book seemed to simply be along the lines of "You just have to think positive."

Ultimately, I kept hoping for some redeeming quality and got so far into the book that I decided I might as well finish it. I wish I had that time back!

I rated A Woman Makes a Plan as 2 out of 5 stars when I initially read it, but it's more like a 1 out of 5 stars in my memory.

The Crooked Staircase by Dean Koontz

I have loved every Dean Koontz novel that I've come across until The Crooked Staircase. I wanted to love this one, but it just fell flat. It didn't have the usual tension or plot twists of most of Koontz's other work. I think I only kept reading it in the hopes that it would somehow get better as the story plodded along. 

It did not.

I was initially drawn to this novel because it seemed to promise a strong, badass female heroine. Ugh, she was not likeable at all. I didn't find myself cheering for her. I didn't find myself all that interested in any aspect of this novel. It didn't have the tightly wound up thriller aspects of other novels by Koontz and the story, at points, was just absurd. 

This is another one that I rated 2 of 5 stars, but on reflection, it feels more like a 1 of 5.

My favorite Koontz novel of all time is Intensity. I've read it several times and it creeps me out every time! It's thrilling and, as the title implies, INTENSE! I love it so much that I often gift it to friends who enjoy reading thrillers. Pick up a copy HERE.

Open Grave by Kjell Larsson

Open Grave by Kjell Larsson falls into one of my favorite novel (and movie) genres: Nordic Noir. I expected to love this book, but it was awful. There were too many overlapping stories, too many disconnected plot lines, and just not enough substance. I kept reading in the hopes that it would get better, and it sort of did in the last 50 pages...but not enough.

You can read my original review HERE. The end of the book fell flat and did nothing to make me want to pick up anything else by this author.

I initially rated this one a 1 star out of 5 and I stand by that to this day.

And, lastly, the book that made me angry that I'd wasted my time reading it:

The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

I am a huge Lisbeth Salander fan and the first three books about her, written by Stieg Larsson, are among my favorite novels of all time. When Larsson passed away, he left behind unfinished manuscripts and a little bit of a legal mess about who had the rights to his characters and his unfinished work. 

David Lagercrantz ended up picking up the character of Lisbeth Salander and totally missed the mark with The Girl in the Spider's Web. I remember being so upset by some of the changes he made to the character and her values that I threw the book across the room at one point and commented regularly, out loud, about how ridiculous the protrayal was. Lagercrantz might as well have given her a new name and made her into a totally unrelated character from Larsson's original protagonist. Lagercrantz made her unrecognizable and changed key elements of who Lisbeth is at her core. I feel so invested in Larsson's original character that I found Lagercrantz's work to be infuriating and a disservice to Larsson's work.

Weirdly, I was able to later separate the Stieg Larsson's version of Lisbeth from David Lagercrantz's version and ended up enjoying his subsequent novel featuring the character. 

I ended up trying to re-read The Girl in the Spider's Web to see if maybe I just wasn't giving it a fair chance, but it was awful. I rated it at 1 out of 5 stars, but it's really 0 out of 5. You can read my original review HERE.

You can pick up the original Stieg Larsson trilogy of Lisbeth Salander books HERE as an e-book or pick up physical copies HERE (book 1), HERE (book 2), and HERE (book 3).

I think I was hopeful that each of these four books would get better and surprise me--Open Grave almost did in the last 50 pages, but it was too little too late and the end was absolutely flat. If you review the list of books that I've read from 2016 to 2024, you'll notice that these are the only four books I've rated as less than 3 out of 5 reads; I no longer force myself to try to finish something if I'm really hating it. 

Have you read any of these? If you don't force yourself to finish novels you've started, what would make you continue to a read a book you aren't enjoying?