October Reflections

In October, I read thirty-two books. I may have read fewer books overall. But I was able to finish three Bibles this month! Eleven books were review copies. Two were gifts. Two were books I bought. Seventeen were library books.

Books Reviewed at Becky's Book Reviews

126. How To Find What You're Not Looking For. Veera Hiranandani. 2021. [September] 384 pages. [Source: Library]
127. Abel's Island. William Steig. 1976. 117 pages. [Source: Bought]
128. Letters From Father Christmas. J.R.R. Tolkien. 1976/1999. 160 pages. [Source: Library]
129. The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan. (Enola Holmes #4) Nancy Springer. 2008. 183 pages. [Source: Library]
130. The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline. (Enola Holmes #5) Nancy Springer. 2009. [160 pages] [Source: Library]
131. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Mildred D. Taylor. 1976. 288 pages. [Source: Library]
132. The Beatryce Prophecy. Kate DiCamillo. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. 2021. [September] 256 pages. [Source: Review copy]
133. A Christmas Waltz. Josi S. Kilpack. 2020. [November] 130 pages. [Source: Library]
134. While I Was Away. Waka T. Brown. 2021. [January] 310 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Books Reviewed at Young Readers

153. Dear Beast. Dori Hillestad Butler. Illustrated by Kevan Atteberry. 2020. 80 pages. [Source: Library]

154. Scary Stories for Young Foxes. Christian McKay Heidicker. Illustrated by Junyi Wu. 2019. 320 pages. [Source: Library]
155. Misty the Cloud: A Very Stormy Day. Dylan Dreyer and Alan Katz. Illustrated by Rosie Butcher. 2021. [September] 40 pages. [Source: Library]
156. Dear Beast Pet Parade. (Dear Beast #2) Dori Hillestad Butler. Illustrated by Kevan Atteberry. 2021. [February] 80 pages. [Source: Library]
157. Donut Feed the Squirrels (Norma and Belly #1) Mika Song. 2020. 112 pages. [Source: Library]
158. Apple of My Pie (Norma and Belly #2) Mika Song. 2021 [June] 128 page. [Source: Library]
159. Otter: Best Cake Ever. Sam Garton. 2021. 32 pages. [Source: Library]
160. A House. Kevin Henkes. 2021. [September] 32 pages. [Source: Library]
161. Outside, Inside. LeUyen Pham. 2021. 48 pages. [Source: Library]

Books Reviewed at Operation Actually Read Bible

63. Fix Your Eyes: How Our Study of God Shapes Our Worship of Him. Amy Gannett. 240 pages. [October] [Source: Review copy]
64. The Barrister and the Letter of Marque. Todd M. Johnson. 2021. 412 pages. [Source: Review copy]
65. The Joy of Hearing: A Theology of the Book of Revelation. (New Testament Theology #1) Thomas R. Scheiner. 2021. [November] 208 pages. [Source: Review copy]
66. Braced for Love. (Brothers in Arms #1) Mary Connealy. 2021. 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]
67. A Man with a Past (Brothers in Arms #2) Mary Connealy. 2021. [July] 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]
68. Behold the Lamb of God. Russ Ramsey. 2011. 160 pages. [Source: Bought]
69. Love on the Range. (Brothers In Arms #3) Mary Connealy. 2021. 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]
70. Do You Believe? Twelve Historic Doctrines to Change Your Everyday Life. Paul David Tripp. 2021. [October] 400 pages. [Source: Review copy]
71. Ecclesiastes. Illustrated by Cynthia Rylant. 2018. 40 pages. [Source: Library]
72. When Words Matter Most: Speaking Truth With Grace To Those You Love. Cheryl Marshall and Caroline Newheiser. 2021. [September] 176 pages. [Source: Review copy]
73. The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery. Amanda Cox. 2021. 352 pages. [Source: Review copy]

 Bibles Reviewed at Operation Actually Read Bible

8. Berean Study Bible. God. 2020. 1504 pages. [Source: Gift] [Source: Free Online]
9. 435E1B Paragraph Bible, Holy Bible, King James Version. Local Church Publisher. 1950 pages. [Source: Gift]
10. Matthew's Bible 1537. William Tyndale, Myles Coverdale, John Rogers. 1537. 4304 pages. [Source: Bought]

Monthly Totals

October
number of books	32
number of pages	13,518

Yearly Totals

2021 Totals
Books	378
Pages	104,993

 

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

134. While I Was Away

While I Was Away. Waka T. Brown. 2021. [January] 310 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: One wintry January afternoon, my mom said to me, "Waka, chotto sentaku tatande yo."

Premise/plot: While I Was Away is a memoir. The author recalls her sixth grade year--1984--in which she's sent abroad [for five months] to Japan to live with her grandmother and attend a [Japanese] school. Her parents want her to be able to speak, read, and write Japanese. She'll miss all of summer vacation, and the first few months of her seventh grade year. She'll know what she's missing out on in Kansas...but she has no idea what will await her in Tokyo.

My thoughts: I really loved this one. I thought it was a fascinating read. So much depth and substance. So much food for thought. It packs in a lot of emotions and feelings, and so many experiences. I think my favorite part was seeing the development of relationships. She's leaving her family and friends behind in Kansas. She's going to live with her strict grandmother. She'll be visiting aunts, uncles, and cousins. She'll be attending school and meeting a lot of people her own age. To see her build relationships--to struggle to build relationships--to make a life for herself and find her place to belong...it was just a beautiful thing to see. And one we don't often get in such great detail.

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

133. A Christmas Waltz

A Christmas Waltz. Josi S. Kilpack. 2020. [November] 130 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: The dark-haired man with the red satin waistcoat began walking toward her from the other side of the ballroom.

Premise/plot: Marta, our heroine, comes to look forward to waltzing with David every year at her family's Yuletide Ball. Their first waltz occurs when she's newly 'out' and just sixteen. She's yet to experience the season in London, and this first dance fills her with all the feels. The two seem to have a connection. Emphasis on seem. For while the dance is oh-so-wonderful, that's all it remains--a memory of a dance. When given opportunities through the years to take the relationship further, deeper, he passes. Content, at least temporarily, to keep it just a nice, cozy memory to pull out now and then. Every single Christmas, these two waltzes. Years pass. Circumstances change. Yet one thing never changes. No matter where they find themselves in their lives, they make their way to each other on the dance floor every Christmas.

My thoughts: A Christmas Waltz is a bittersweet historical novella. On the one hand, it is sweet how these two find joy and comfort in each other's company year after year. A few minutes together each year to share one's private thoughts and dreams. 

On the other hand, because Marta is almost romanticizing and idealizing this relationship with David, she's making her life more bitter the rest of the year. Because her husband doesn't stand a chance against this perfect, idealized, dreamy, swoony connection. Granted, from what Marta tells David about her husband, he doesn't care...at all. He doesn't care if his wife is happy or unhappy. He is not physically present--all that often--and emotionally there's no connection at all. Still there are plenty of romance novels out there where wives and husbands fall in love with each other after the fact, putting aside previous loves and daydreams, working through misunderstandings, finding common ground and building a future together despite not having all the feels when they say I do.  

The book definitely reminded me of Storybook Love:

We've got a storybook love and that's all and that's all
A fantasy world where we love one another
A storybook love and that's all and that's all
A boy and a girl who hardly know each other
But I feel you lookin at me
And in your eyes it's plain to see
One day soon we both will be much more than friends
But until then
It's a storybook love
And that's all and that's all
A fantasy world where we love one another
A storybook love and that's all and that's all
A boy and a girl who hardly know each other
But I already know
How much I'm gonna love you so
I feel it inside me even though it hasn't happened yet
So all we get
Is a storybook love and that's all and that's all
A fantasy world where we love one another
A storybook world and that's all and that's all
A boy and a girl who hardly know each other

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

132. The Beatryce Prophecy

The Beatryce Prophecy. Kate DiCamillo. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. 2021. [September] 256 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Answelica was a goat with teeth that were the mirror of her soul—large, sharp, and uncompromising. One of the goat’s favorite games was to lull the monks of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing into a sense of complacency by arranging her features in a benign and indifferent expression. For weeks, she would bite no one. When approached, she would merely stare into the distance as if she were considering something profound. And then, when the brothers had relaxed their guard, thinking that perhaps, somehow, Answelica had changed, the goat would come from behind and butt them in the backside as hard as she was able. She was very strong, and she had a very hard head. Because of this, the goat was able to send the monks flying great distances through the air. When they landed, she bit them. She was a goat who formed peculiar and inexplicable antipathies, taking an intense dislike to certain individuals.

Premise/plot: How much do YOU need to know about a book before reading it? For some, knowing that it is Kate DiCamillo's newest book might just do the trick. Her books are just that good. For others, knowing that it is medieval fiction might be reason enough. Combined those reasons might lead to some high expectations.

Brother Edik, a monk in the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing, discovers a sick (possibly dying) child near the monastery being guarded by the notorious goat, Answelica. The goat has taken quite a liking (and this is the goat that hates everybody) to the young unconscious girl. It seems clear cut and obvious that it is right to take her in and try to heal her... But the girl's recovery seems to have a different set of risks... Someone--the king and his advisor(s)--are determined to find the girl. But their intentions with the girl, well, it isn't looking good.

Of course that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of plot. The less you know the better--in my humble opinion.

My thoughts: I really love Kate DiCamillo. I don't automatically love, love, love medieval settings. I don't. But when it is beautifully written by one of my favorite authors....I'm going to lean towards loving it. I really enjoyed the writing, the relationships, and the detailing of the plot. I love how DiCamillo weaves stories together piece by piece until suddenly everything clicks into place and there's a thing of beauty.

Quotes

The monk—terrified, undone—would scream, too.

The monk and the goat would then engage in a duet of screaming until the goat was satisfied and trotted away looking beatific, leaving behind her a trembling, weeping monk.

The brothers of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing would have liked to butcher her, but they were afraid of the ghost of Answelica.

The monks agreed among themselves that the ghost of the goat would surely be more vicious and determined, more impossible to outwit, than the flesh-and-blood goat.

How would she seek her revenge from the afterworld?

It beggared the imagination to consider what the ghost goat would do.

And so she lived.

Which is just as well.

Which is, in fact, wonderful.

Because without the goat, Beatryce surely would have died.

And then where would we be?

All of this took place during a time of war. Sadly, this does not distinguish it from any other time; it was always a time of war.

“And what are the Chronicles of Sorrowing?” asked Beatryce.

“The Chronicles tell the story of what has happened and of things that might yet happen, those things which have been prophesied.”

“Sorrowing,” said Beatryce. The word was a heavy one. “It does not sound like a happy book, a joyful book.”

“Alas,” said Brother Edik, “it is not.”

“Well, then,” said Beatryce, “that is not a book I would care to read.”

What does it mean to be brave?

This was a question that Brother Edik asked himself as he walked through the dark woods with Jack Dory and Cannoc and Answelica.

To be brave is to not turn away.

To be brave is to go forward.

To be brave is to love.

Brother Edik was not turning away. He was going forward.

And he loved. This, Brother Edik could do—did do—best of all.

Still, he could not keep himself from trembling.

And he could not stop the words of the prophecy from tumbling through his mind:

A girl child

unseat a king

great change.

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

131. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Mildred D. Taylor. 1976. 288 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: "Little Man, would you come on? You keep it up and you're gonna make us late."

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry earned the Newbery Medal for 1977. The novel is set circa 1933 and stars the Logan family. Cassie Logan, our heroine, has brothers--many brothers, some older, some younger. The family is put through many trials as tension builds in their community. There is a thin line between holding onto one's dignity and staying strong and resolute AND doing what one must to survive the times. 

The family definitely is facing many grown-up problems. But the problems aren't limited to the grown-ups. No, the children--Cassie, Robert (her older brother), TJ (Robert's friend), etc. also face their own trials and tribulations. At its heart, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a coming of age story.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a heavy novel. It is more bitter than sweet. There are many tragic notes. I do wonder if this is the kind of book that adults would appreciate a million times more than a child reader. 

The love and tenderness in this family are heartwarming. There are other books--some set earlier, some set later--that follow the Logan family. This is the only one I've read. I *believe* this was the first to be published. But GoodReads now lists it as FOURTH in the series. It used to be a trilogy--that I remember from book fair days--but now there are ten books in the series.

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews