Comments on: Books read in April 2019

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Mon, 06 May 2019 11:29:29 +0000

In reply to Riley. @Riley- so glad you enjoyed Juliet! And I think your father-in-law will love K. It's a good baseball read!

By: Riley

Riley — Sat, 04 May 2019 20:32:44 +0000

Just bought the baseball book for my father in law- thanks! He’s so tough to buy for.

I read Juliette’s School of Possibilities and loved it. So fun. I also read “Before We Were Yours” which I really enjoyed, although it was highly disturbing that it was based on true atrocities in the 40s with children being essentially abducted and “sold” in adoptions. Still a good read.

I am actually reading the original Dr Spock child rearing book. I’ve got to say…a lot of it makes total sense and some of it is just crazy. It’s really fun to read! Makes me appreciate how easy it is to do things like make a bottle when I see the tables and charts about how to make baby formula back then!

By: Pauline Wiles

Pauline Wiles — Sat, 04 May 2019 16:01:04 +0000

I didn’t know there was a new Daily Rituals book, so I’ll look forward to reading that. Roosevelt is on my Kindle too. I re-read a couple of childhood classics, plus Help Me! (thought-provoking account of a year of self help projects) plus Essentialism, which made me accept I have my fingers in too many pies!

By: Kathy Johnson

Kathy Johnson — Fri, 03 May 2019 19:52:15 +0000

Remarkably, four of the books on your list were already on my to-be-read list, and now I’m thinking about reading the one about baseball, because I like the sport and my father and my son both played it. I’ve already read the Little Prince in English, but now I want to read it in French. I have the same issue with the language though. I brought home a children’s book from a trip to France last year, and it is sloowww going having to translate phrases that don’t make sense when you read the individual words!

My favorite reads in April were James Clear’s Atomic Habits, Ann Barry’s At Home in France, and Katherine Arden’s The Girl in the Tower (the second book of a trilogy–I’m reading the third book now).

By: Rinna

Rinna — Fri, 03 May 2019 13:51:08 +0000

I’ve actually done well in April, probably bc we were on vacation for 1.5 weeks during that month! A few books I’ve loved recently: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch; Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penney; The Library Book by Susan Orlean (as per my earlier comment) and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. But by far the most life-changing book I have read in a long time is The Choice by Edith Eva Eger. She’s a Holocaust survivor, and this story is part memoir (and hard to read at times) but more so a love letter to the strength of the human spirit and overcoming adversity. I cannot say enough about it. It’s a slim and very powerful read. I recommend it to everybody. (She’s 91 years old and still practicing as a psychologist in clinical practice. An amazing woman.)

By: Rinna

Rinna — Fri, 03 May 2019 13:42:10 +0000

In reply to Elisabeth. I second the recommendation for The Library Book. I far prefer fiction to non-fiction, so when I say that this non-fiction book was one of my recent favourites, it means I really enjoyed it. Laura, I can see this book being up your alley. (Don't be turned off by the fact that it's a Reese's Book Club suggestion :-) )

By: Ana

Ana — Thu, 02 May 2019 18:55:14 +0000

Brought back memories of Le Petit Prince which we had to read in our senior French class. I really loved it and was proud of myself for reading it in French. I reread A Wrinkle in Time to my children, so I could appreciate how exciting/fascinating it seemed to them, but found it lacking the magic I had seen as a child. And then the movie…UGH.

By: Timothy Hadley

Timothy Hadley — Thu, 02 May 2019 18:12:23 +0000

Dreyer’s writing style is a little pedantic and stuffy for someone who worked so long as a copy-editor, but he’s right about split infinitives, prepositions at the ends of sentences (both are OK), and the serial comma (!), so I like him. You’d be amazed at how many people still think it’s *incorrect* to place a preposition at the end of a sentence. (Or maybe you wouldn’t.)

By: BethC

BethC — Thu, 02 May 2019 14:45:14 +0000

In reply to Laura Vanderkam. I recently re-read A Wrinkle in Time and The House with a Clock in Its Walls, two of my childhood favorites. I still liked both although my adult mind was surprised by how (relatively) simple the plots seemed (compared to what I thought when I read the books as a kid).

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 02 May 2019 13:00:50 +0000

In reply to Barbara. @Barbara - that does seem like it might work to have them right next to each other. Another thought I had was listening to the audio book in French, with the English translation in front of me. Might work!