Recent Goodreads Reviews

I'm using Goodreads to track my reading, rate books, and write reviews. They conveniently offer HTML coding to post the review one writes on their site right into a blog, so that's what I'm going to start doing. Let's begin with:

 Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic! There's humor in the vein of Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods," which I read as my sister was preparing to hike the Appalachian Trail and from which I gained an appreciation for the momentousness of an undertaking like walking the AT or PCT (as Strayed does). But Strayed's tale is more than a funny travel journal; it's an emotional traverse of her mind and soul following life-altering events. Her description of what it felt like to lose her mother at too-early an age could have been plucked right from my own mind and heart, which was intense. I'm familiar with the California and Oregon she inhabits on the trail, though certainly not as intimately, not having hiked the Pacific Crest Trail myself - of course, now I want to! This is a great book on so many levels, and I reveled in the experience of reading it. 

Fifty Years in Polygamy: Big Secrets and Little White Lies by Kristyn Decker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I know the author of this book personally, and while it was incredibly hard to read, I'm grateful to have a better understanding of her life and experiences. Yes, the writing is uneven and a bit *too* personal at times to make a flowing narrative; however, this is a *real* person's memoir that has something to say to all of us about inner strength and being able to rise above immense challenges. For those unfamiliar with polygamous sects, Kristyn's story will help you to understand the evil that has been perpetuated in people's lives.



Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was an interesting book to read right after "50 Years of Polygamy: Big Secrets and Little White Lies" (Kristyn Decker). The two memoirs touch on many of the same themes of religious fanaticism, misogyny, and the inner struggle of women to reconcile their culture and beliefs with a growing self-awareness and self-respect. Feldman's book is more polished than Decker's, and benefited from much better editing. However, Feldman writes almost at a remove, as if distancing herself from events in her life that happened only a few years before. I was disappointed that she told nothing about the actual process of separating herself and her son from the Hasidic community, because I think that it would have given even more insight into the power of the rabbinical courts in everyday Americans lives (well, Americans who are also Hasidim). Overall, like "50 Years of Polygamy," "Unorthodox" provides insight into a relatively unknown aspect of religious culture and the lives of the women caught in a web created by others.



R My Name Is Rachel by Patricia Reilly Giff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

LOVED THIS! Patricia Reilly Giff never disappoints, and I love how her MANY main characters ALL have their own unique voices. This is a great snapshot of life during the depression, and Rachel is a sympathetic, admirable protagonist. I would certainly recommend this book for 4th - 8th graders, and of course for adult readers who enjoy YA fiction as much as I do.



Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Argh. I thought it would never end! At least now I have completed the trilogy... that's the best I can say about it.




 ~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)