On Reading People & Personalities

Note: Top Shelf Text received a copy of this text as a member of the Reading People Launch Team. All opinions are my own!

I recently wrote a little about this book in a post featuring the amazing bonuses that you'll receive when you pre-order Reading People: How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything before its release on September 19th (that's next week!) and spoke about how it's been helping me to get to know myself a little better. I want to tell you a little more about how I've been thinking about and using this book to make small, beneficial changes in my life!

The work behind Reading People actually started long before the actual drafting of this book. Anne Bogel (of Modern Mrs. Darcy and the What Should I Read Next? Podcast) started exploring personality frameworks as a personal project many years ago. She was fascinated by the ways in which we can categorize different aspects of our personalities, and used her growing knowledge about personality to make her life happier and to better understand the people she loves. In Reading People, Anne introduces readers to the major frameworks used to describe personality. For each framework, she gives an overview, some basics, and points to resources to use in figuring out how you can both figure out where you fit into the framework. She then takes it one step further by offering some advice for using your results to understand your needs and the needs of others in your life. 

This isn't a book that you sit down and read cover-to-cover. It took me about a month total to read the whole book, because it's the type of book you want to pick up, read a chapter or two, and then take some time to digest the information and make some observations about how it applies to you. Reading this in one sitting might give you information overload and scare you away from personality frameworks, so I highly suggest keeping it on your nightstand (or on your coffee table) to peruse slowly. 

The book covers topics such as introversion vs. extroversion, highly-sensitive people (HSPs), the Five Love Languages, Kiersey's Temperaments, the MBTI and the MBTI cognitive functions, the Clifton StrengthsFinder, and the Enneagram. Anne points out that having an understanding of your personality is certainly helpful, but it's also not your destiny, and that the purpose of this book is to help you get to know yourself and others better so that you can not only be empathetic, but also play to yours and others' strengths. 

Here's what I've gleaned from it so far:

I am a definite HSP. Knowing this has helped me make sense of the situations in my life where I've felt most over-stimulated and uncomfortable, and is keeping me aware of the types of environments that I place myself in. This is also becoming increasingly clear as I dive into heavier reads for the Diverse Books Club. I've never needed my escapist reads so much as I do now, to help me balance out digging into hard topics. I'm also pretty aware of this when selecting TV shows and movies. (For example, going to see Dunkirk in theaters this summer was a huge mistake for me. I was rattled for hours afterwards.)

I am a strong introvert -- I knew this already, but in chatting with friends about this book I realized that some of my friends didn't know this about me. For those new to personality typing, this may be the most confusing part. I've had several people comment that I can't possibly be an introvert because I'm friendly and peppy. Being friendly doesn't mean I'm an extrovert -- it just means I have good manners! (Credit to my parents for that.) I would happily pick spending my Saturday night on my couch with a book over going anywhere with others -- just one example of needing to draw my energy from solitude rather than from the company of others. Letting people know that I need time by myself (or with a book) to recharge is one step I'm taking now, especially as we head into the holiday season. Thankfully, I have a partner who already understood this about me and happily leaves me alone for long stretches of time so I can reorient myself. If you're a teacher and an introvert -- you know the struggle is real every day of the week. Hence why my after school me-time, and time spent unplugged on the weekends is precious to feeling balanced!

My MBTI personality type is an INFJ, and for now, that's the only "type" that I have figured out. I'm not rushing to type myself under every framework -- as Anne stresses throughout the book, this isn't a matter of just taking a simple quiz, but of making observations about yourself over time and across situations. Right now, I'm spending a lot of time pondering the love language for myself and my partner, and trying out different ways to implement the five love languages and see what works best for us.

The thing I like most about Reading People is that reading it feels like an ongoing experience. It's more of a reference guide than a strict how-to, so I can pick it up whenever it suits my needs. Plus, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the gorgeous cover. I highly recommend this title if you're at all interest in personality frameworks (this is the perfect place to start) and think it would make a really interesting non-fiction pick for a book club -- it would be fun to see if you could guess the types of your fellow members! I should mention here too that it's really really difficult for me to get into non-fiction books, so the fact that I've picked this one up multiple times speaks to the accessibility of it.

Although I received a copy from the publishing team, I have another copy on order to gift to my mother -- because some books you just have to share with others but don't want to give up your own copy! (Bookworm problems, right?)

This title will be released on September 19, 2017

Bottom-Line Rating: 5/5

Title: Reading People: How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything

Author: Anne Bogel

Publisher: Baker Books, 2017

Price: $9 on Amazon

ISBN: 0801072913

Format: Paperback

Source: Baker Books / Reading People Launch Team

Review: The Long Run

{image via Goodreads}

I wouldn't necessarily call myself a runner. Sure, I enjoy running, but if we're being honest, it's hard and requires a lot of mental energy for me, so it's not always my go-to option for exercise. In the past year or so, I've only gone on a handful of runs, but after reading The Long Run: A Memoir of Loss and Life in Motion, I've felt inspired to lace up my sneakers and take another shot at being a "runner."  

Here's the thing about this book: it's not a typical sports memoir. Catriona Menzies-Pike is not a famous athlete. She's run a handful of marathons and many, many half-marathons, but when you put her running accomplishments in perspective, she's pretty much on par with any other ordinary person who also happens to run marathons.

What makes this memoir interesting is not that it's about running, but that it's written from a feminist perspective. Within the first chapter, I realized that this was one of the most well-written memoirs I've read, and by the time Menzies-Pike mentioned her PhD in Literature, I could tell that she was a voracious reader, and someone of extraordinary intelligence. She not only writes about her own life experiences -- a plane crash that left her orphaned, a downward spiral shortly after, and her discovery that running helped to heal her -- but also writes about the history of women in running. 

I learned so much about the discrimination of women in this sport (starting in the time of Ancient Greece and continuing well into the 1960's) and the stories of individual women who dared to run alongside male athletes. One of the most interesting (and disturbing) facts that I learned? Women were often told to avoid running because it would threaten their fertility. Women runners who entered races were often scolded for their selfishness, race organizers certain that to run a marathon was to sacrifice a future as a mother. Now, of course, we know that a woman can be both an athlete and a mother, so it seems absurd to think that this was a huge reason behind the discrimination. There are some spots where I felt the history (or the focus on sexism) was a little drawn out and sluggish, but in the end I came away from this book feeling inspired to run and to encourage the women in my life to pursue dreams that may feel impossible. Her story is proof that dedication bears fruit and I loved her overall message that no matter your size, speed, or distance, when you set out on a run, you are a runner.

This title will be released on May 23, 2017.

Bottom-Line Rating: 4/5

Title: The Long Run: A Memoir of Loss and Life in Motion

Author: Catriona Menzies-Pike

Publisher: Crown Publishing Group, 2017

Price: $17.00 to pre-order on Amazon

ISBN: 1524759449

Format: E-book

Source: Net Galley

Note: Top Shelf Text was provided with a copy of this text by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!

Review: Pirate Hunters

{image via Goodreads}

I'm sure many readers can relate -- sometimes, a book catches your eye and finds its way into your hands immediately because you just know you need to read that book right now, while other times a book can catch your eye but has to wait patiently for you to rediscover it. With Pirate Hunters, the latter is true for me. This book first stood out to me as I perused titles for my June Currently Coveting post...last year.

I happened upon it again in a bookstore last week and when I saw it I yelled out, "I've been meaning to read this book!" It went into my stack right then and there (and it didn't hurt that it was on the bargain shelf). I don't reach for nonfiction books often, so when I find one with a premise that interests me, I always want to give it a fair shot so I can (hopefully) recommend it to you!

Thankfully, Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship turned out to be just as enthralling as the title suggests. I love stories of treasure hunting and I was really caught up in the idea that this book told the story of a real life treasure hunt with all of the suspense of a great movie! Pirate Hunters tells the story of John Chatterton and John Mattera, two men who made it their mission to discover a lost Spanish galleon ship that had supposedly sunk off shore of the Dominican Republic. The story behind it takes place in the late 1700's, when a respectable captain-turned-fearsome-pirate named Joseph Bannister had an epic battle with the Royal Navy. In the end, Bannister torched and sunk his own ship, named the Golden Fleece, and both the legend of his pirate career and the ship's treasure were lost to history.

Chatterton and Mattera had both made their names in the diving/treasure hunting business long before this expedition, and reading about their backgrounds and what led them both to this incredibly long and hard search for the Golden Fleece made the stakes feel so real. These men both sacrificed so much of their lives for the chance at discovering this treasure -- failure was not an option that they wanted to consider. Of course, there were plenty of obstacles, both relating to the actual search for the treasure and in terms of funding the trip, dealing with the minimal amenities available in the Dominican Republic, and the long distance relationships that they struggled to maintain. What I loved most about reading this book was the dedication to the discovery -- the personal motivations for both men kept me engaged and wanting to see that their hard work rewarded.

This is a book worth reading, even for those who don't normally read nonfiction. The elements of treasure, history, suspense, danger, and putting-it-all-on-the-line were what drew me in and kept me reading until the very end. Kurson's also written another book featuring Chatterton, Shadow Divers, which I'll be putting on my to-read list.

Bottom-Line Rating: 4/5

Title: Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship

Author: Robert Kurson

Publisher: Random House, 2015

Price: $11 on Amazon

ISBN: 0812973693

Source: Concord Bookshop

Format: Hardcover

Review: The Radium Girls

{image via Goodreads}

I've been so lucky with the books I've read this year. I already have a bunch of contenders for top ten of 2017 -- and it's only April! I'm not a big non-fiction reader, so it's high praise to say that The Radium Girls is on the short list for best reads of 2017. The Radium Girls is, essentially, the story of a great injustice. I'll freely admit that I had no knowledge of the history behind this book before reading, but now that I know better I can't stop relaying the story to anyone willing to listen.

Incredibly well-researched, and told with a narrative tilt that makes for a captivating read, The Radium Girls tells the story of the women who worked in radium-dial factories across the U.S. during World War I and beyond, carefully painting much-needed military clock faces with a luminous paint made from radium. In that time period, radium was being hailed as a miracle element. It's tumor-blasting powers had recently been discovered, and medical professionals and marketing firms were taking advantage of the public's newfound obsession with its health benefits. The military held contracts with these dial-painting factories so that they could ensure their soldiers and pilots could read their clock faces, as the radium-laced paint shone brightly in the dark. That luminous paint earned these women the nickname "the shining girls," and along with it an elevated status in society. It turns out that working in the radium-dial factories was one of the best jobs that a woman could have in that time -- it paid well, there were social benefits, and there didn't appear to be any downsides. That is, until the girls started to get very sick.

Here's my disclaimer for this book: if you have a sensitive disposition, this might not be for you. The descriptions of the girls' suffering was pretty detailed and graphic. I was chatting with my boss about the history behind the book one day and when I finished relaying just a few of those graphic details he asked me why in the wold I wanted to read about that (valid question, I'll admit) and I replied that it was like watching a train wreck -- terrible, but I couldn't look away.

I might have had a sort of fascination with the medical decline of the girls while reading, but what really kept me interested was the girls' quest for justice. I won't give away the big parts of the story, but I will say that if you have an interest in social justice, this is the book for you. These women were faced with incredible pain, deceptive doctors, greedy corporations -- and yet, they kept fighting for their rights. It's largely thanks to them that we have protections against occupational hazards, because while their jobs were touted as the best out there, their work actually poisoned them. Highly recommended (even for those who don't usually read non-fiction like myself), and absolutely a good pick for a book club read, The Radium Girls is one book that you'll want to put on your to-read list this year.

This title will be released on May 2, 2017.

Bottom-Line Rating: 5/5

Title: The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women

Author: Kate Moore

Publisher: Sourcebooks, 2017

Price: Pre-order for $17.99

ISBN: 149264935X

Format: E-book

Source: Net Galley

Note: Top Shelf Text was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!

Currently Coveting {January}

If you read my 2017 Reading Resolutions then you know that one of my goals this year is to spend more time reading the books that I love. With that goal in mind, I picked out a few titles that I'm coveting this month. My reading time is pretty packed this month (new releases galore!) but these are some of the books I'm hoping to get to when I have a spare slot in my to-read list. There are a lot of great books coming out this month, but if you want the sneak peek for the whole year, check out The Great 2017 Book Preview from The Millions.

A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn // I read & reviewed the first in this series last year and really enjoyed it. I'm always interested in mysteries but add a strong female detective into the mix and I'm hooked. The historical fiction element is an added bonus. I'm looking forward to picking this up after I've finished the latest installment in the Inspector Gamache novels -- my current mystery read. 

Release date: January 10th

The Chosen Maiden by Eva Stachniak // This story features elements of Russian historical fiction, the world of professional ballet, and that tenuous relationship between siblings who are both prodigies in the same field. I read The Winter Palace by Stachniak and really enjoyed both her writing and her attention to historical detail. 

Release date: January 17th

The Jolly Regina by Kara LaReau // This new series has been compared to A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place  -- two of my favorite series to recommend for middle grade fiction fans. The series features the unintentional adventures of the Bland sisters aboard a pirate vessel. The cover art is adorable and I am so on board for a new witty series. Fun fact: the author for this series edited my all-time favorite (modern) children's novel: The Tale of Despereaux. So I'm willing to bet she'll be an author to follow in the future.

Release date: January 10th

Books for Living by Will Schwalbe // My non-fiction pick for the month. In this, Schwalbe explores the role that books play in our modern society and the books that help us to navigate our universal questions. Each chapter features a book, with stories about how the book influenced him and the people in his life that are tied to it. You know I love books about books, and this seems like a perfect fit for the beginning of a new year.

***

What are you looking forward to reading this month?

Top Ten of Twenty Sixteen

Welcome Twenty Seventeen!

This year, I read 55 books. That's actually quite a bit less than I read last year, so I'm taking some time to reflect on what worked (and what didn't) as I plan my reading resolutions for 2017. You can read more about those on the blog next week!

As always, these are some of my most highly-rated books, and come to you in no particular order. 

I'd love to hear some of your top picks from 2016 in the comments if you'd like to share!

The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell

You know a book is good when you cannot stop talking about it. I've raved about The Year of Living Danishly to anyone willing to listen, and even talked a few of my coworkers into reading it too. Now we all gush about the Danish way of life. I am the type of person who thinks a lot about quality of life and how to improve my own, and this book actually gave me a few great ideas for finding that balance between work and personal life (spoiler: teachers rarely find that balance). Not to mention, I'd jump at the chance to relocate to Denmark, where quality of life is the driving focus for the entire population. You can read more of my thoughts here.

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

If you like mysteries and have not yet started Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache novels, then all I have to say to you is "What are you waiting for?!?"

The Beautiful Mystery is the eighth in the series and I think it's the best of them all, though I want to be clear in saying that this is the best mystery series I have ever (ever) read, so all of the books are great in their own right. I started this series over the summer and have been raving about it since. Even if you aren't a mystery lover, I would still recommend it to you. Worth a try, I promise.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

I didn't read many classics this year (oops), but this 1938 gothic novel was one of the best books I read and continue to think about. I'm sure there are other reviewers who could put it into words better than I can, but it's haunting and mysterious and the character of Mrs. Danvers is unforgettable.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

I have yet to speak with a reader who read Outlander and didn't love it. The only intimidation of it is the size of each book in the series. I flew through this first one in just a few days over the summer (when reading for five hours at the beach was possible) and went immediately to the bookstore to pick up the next two. These are books that you want to be fully immersed in, and I find the mix between historical fiction and fantasy to be perfectly captivating.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I read this in two days with no interruptions, thanks to a seaside vacation. It was beautifully written. Definitely a reading experience that I highly recommend, if you're interested in more serious historical fiction or stories from WWII.

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley

This is a new-to-me series that I fell in love with this year. The vibrant cover is what first caught my eye at the library, but the story inside was just as mesmerizing. I'm looking forward to reading the second in the series in 2017.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

How interesting is it that I have been a reader for twenty years and had not yet read Anne of Green Gables until this year? Looking back on it, I'm sad for all of those years I spent without the influence of Anne Shirley. I love this book so much that I read it twice just this year (once in paperback, once through audible -- I highly recommend the Rachel McAdams narration) and loved it equally both times. Tears were shed, giggles escaped, and I can't help but dream of my own little Green Gables.

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Though I read this in childhood, I rediscovered it this year in an effort to read more children's classics. This is another one that I both read and listened to through audible. I love the level of writing in it -- sophisticated, and with the best closing line in all of literature (well, maybe except for Ulysses) -- and my students loved Templeton's character ("He's so rude!"). We celebrated finishing the book by watching the 1973 animated film and I loved how closely the film stuck to the dialogue of the book. 

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

I don't read a lot of young adult literature (something I'm attempting to branch out in next year), but this was a really fascinating read that mixed mystery and sci-fi with a classic villain character. Highly recommended for those who enjoy Marvel-esque stories. I'm looking forward to reading more of Schwab's work in 2017.

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

I'm doing something unprecedented here -- I'm adding a book to my top ten for the second year in a row. The Tale of Despereaux easily holds a spot in my top three books of all time, and I swear it doesn't feel like a children's book when I'm reading it. The theme of dark and light, or chiaroscuro, has stayed with me and has had a profound impact on the way that I both interpret characters by other authors and try to write my own. If you haven't read this yet, put it at the top of your list for 2017. 

***

What made it to the top of your list in 2016?

You can find my top ten lists from past years here:

Twenty Thirteen

Twenty Fourteen

Twenty Fifteen

Currently Coveting {December}

Oh my goodness. I'm ashamed to say that it has been months since I posted a Currently Coveting list.

Not that I haven't been coveting -- and buying -- books in that time.

My most recent purchases have been this and this for my December book club reads, and I am so excited for our book club discussion at the end of this month.

Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine by Sarah Lohman

I've recently started cooking almost all the meals in my family (I just headed up my very first Thanksgiving this year) and I've become really interested in how to use spices to flavor healthy, fresh food. Since I started eating mostly clean a few years ago, I have found spices to be my biggest resource in the kitchen. This exploration of the eight flavors that unite American cooking seems like a great way to learn more about the cultural history of the country, in addition to being a resource for great recipes.

The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel

I'm craving a good story about fascinating, intelligent women and this seems to be just the right fit. It just came out yesterday and tells the story of the women who worked as "human computers" for the Harvard Observatory. Those women went on to make significant contributions to astronomy. 

The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

Are you tired of hearing me talk about Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series? I have been working my way through them since the summer. Shown above is the tenth in the series, which is on my to-read list for this weekend. I have been lucky so far in that my library was fully stocked with every volume in the series except this one, so when I went to snatch it from the shelf I was so disappointed to find that I would have to wait for a hold copy to come in. I'm telling you, this is one of the best series that I have ever (ever) read.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

This has been recommended to me several times (most recently by my grandmother), and I've heard that it is lovely as an audiobook. It's in the same category as The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. I'm looking forward to picking it up soon.

Penny Dreadful by Laurel Snyder

Sadly, I haven't been reading much middle grade lately. Sometimes (okay, often) being in school all day makes me want to read only adult fiction when I get home. I'm hoping to reignite my love for children's lit this month. Penny Dreadful looks like a great place to start.

If you liked that, read this!

If you liked:

Read this:

If you're a fan of Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project, I highly recommend Helen Russell's The Year of Living Danishly. I just finished reading the latter over the weekend and thought it was so good that I carried it with me and (not exaggerating) pulled it out at every opportunity to spout facts about the Danish way of living to anyone within a five foot radius. 

I loved The Happiness Project when I read it two years ago and found it really helpful in reflecting on and improving my own happiness scale, and I've been drawn to any and all books that promise further revelations about personal happiness. I haven't yet read Rubin's second book, Better than Before, but it is on my list for vacation reading (hopefully) before the new year. There are two things that draw me to nonfiction writing: interesting facts (see above) and self-improvement tips. The Year of Living Danishly has both, while also convincing me that I need to move to Denmark at the earliest opportunity. I got this recommendation from my favorite podcast (hosted by my favorite blogger) and am so glad I picked it up. Highly recommended for those readers who are currently staring down the barrel of a long, cold, dark winter, as Russell writes about winter blues and how the Danes combat them because (spoiler alert) they spend months in near-constant darkness and still come out #1 on the worldwide happiness scale. Now that is impressive, and just another reason why living like the Danes is big on my goals list.

Summer Reading Challenge

Because summer is only three (three!!!!) weeks away for me, I'm already anticipating which books I should put on my library holds list leading up to my first day of summer.

 I'm looking forward to summer for so many reasons, one of them being more time to read whatever I want. I'm thinking it'll be fun to challenge myself a little bit, so I've put together a summer reading list that's flexible and easy for you to use too! Next week I'll post a summer reading challenge specifically for kids, but I think this is flexible enough that it could be used by readers of all ages. I'll include suggestions for children's literature to fit the list next week, but this week I wanted to include some of the books that I'm thinking about using to fulfill these seven categories.

You can download the PDF version of the challenge here.

One: A Book that Features the Sea

I couldn't resist putting this on the list. If you know me in real life (or follow me on Instagram), you'll know that the ocean is close to my heart. I love living near the water and genuinely feel a huge difference when I'm away from it for long periods of time. Summer is the perfect time to spend hours at the beach with a book in hand, so I thought this was the perfect category to kick off my challenge.

I'm thinking I might fill this category with Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World, which has been on my list since I included it on March's Currently Coveting list, although I've also had Isaac's Storm on my to-read list for quite some time.

My recommendations for this category:
The Fossil Hunter by Shelley Emling
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Terror by Dan Simmons
The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan

Two: A Book Recommended by Your Best Friend

I know you probably have more than one best friend, so ask for recommendations from all of them and then take your pick! For this, I asked two of my besties for their recommendations. My bestie the high school civics teacher recommended Revolutionary, which is the story of one women who disguised herself as a soldier during the Revolutionary War. That she gave me a historical recommendation is not surprising, but she compares it to Mulan, which is a favorite Disney movie of ours so that's motivating me to read it. Another friend who is a speech language pathologist recommended the first in the Georgia Nicolson series, because she says everyone needs a silly YA book on their summer reading list and the wit and charm of this British series perfectly fits that need. I'll probably end up reading both books since they're so different.

Three: A Book that You've Been Meaning to Read

I have so many books that could fit this category, so I'm going to leave it open for myself. I have a couple books in mind, including Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings, Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. 

Four: The First Book in a Series

I've been meaning to read the Lunar Chronicles since the fall, so I'll be filling this category with Cinder, but I have a few other series that I'd like to begin too, so it's possible that I'll be starting more than one series this summer.

My recommendations:

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig

Five: A New Bestseller

I'll be sure to let you know when I discover which of the summer's most popular books is going to be on my reading list, but this category is definitely one that I'll have to think about for a bit longer because it requires browsing summer reading lists -- something that I savor when I have the time to do it.

Six: A Work of Classic Literature

I've been slowly working on reading more of the classics, but I'm the first to admit that they're not the first books I reach for when perusing a shelf. I'm still wanting to read more of Jane Austen's novels, having only finished Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility (and about half of Emma before abandoning it), so I may pick another one of her's to read this summer. I'm also thinking I may take another crack at Jane Eyre, which I read in college but didn't love at the time.

Seven: A Nonfiction Book about an Unfamiliar Topic

I'm super picky about my nonfiction picks, so this is another category that I'm leaving completely open for myself. I usually only read nonfiction when I happen upon a book or see one recommended by several sources. 

Here are a few that have caught my eye:

The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History by Molly Caldwell Crosby

The Killer of Little Sheperds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science by Douglass Starr

Currently Coveting {April}

April is going to be an extremely busy month around here -- but busy in a good way. I'll be taking over the classroom in my student teaching placement, launching my very own literacy unit (details to come!) and jet setting for a week of pure relaxation at the resort where my brother has been interning. Needless to say, I am so happy that April is here. Since I'll be taking a week to lay on the beach and indulge in my to-read list, I'm queuing up a few books to take with me! First on the list is this Pulitzer Prize winner, which just about everyone has raved about since it first debuted in 2014. I'm still considering other candidates to tuck into my suitcase, including my finds for April below...

The Rivals of Versailles by Sally Christie // I read and loved the first in this series before it's debut over the summer. I remembered recently that the second in the series was due out in April so I immediately pre-ordered the second. Not only are the covers beautiful, the historical detail is rich and the stories are almost too scandalous to believe, but the history behind it all is true! If you're a fan of historical fiction, I highly recommend looking into this series (this second installment came out just yesterday)!

America's First Daughter by Stephanie Drat & Laura Kamoie // I've been re-reading this middle grade historical fiction novel about the children that Thomas Jefferson had with one of his slaves. It casts Martha Jefferson Randolph in a not-so-positive light, and I'm curious to read a different account of her life as the daughter of a founding father.

Salt by Mark Kurlansky // I've realized that my interest in non-fiction mostly centers around small details in history. I stumbled across this account of how salt -- something that seems so unassuming --  has shaped the history of humanity. Definitely worth checking out at the library this month.

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma // This sounds like the sweetest memoir. A girl and her dad make a deal, that he'll read to her every night for 100 nights. When the 100 nights are up, neither of them want the tradition to come to an end. They continue until the day she leaves for college, and here she writes about the many books and life lessons that she learned from that time together. 

***

What are you looking forward to reading this month?

Happy Reading!

~Madeleine~

Review: My Life on the Road

{Find it on Goodreads}

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had joined a few online book clubs and I'm loving how they've encouraged me to stretch my reading in different directions. Lately I've been sticking to only a few genres and have been working my way through this favorite mystery series, so when Emma Watson's book club elected to read My Life on the Road, I knew it would be out of my comfort zone for a number of reasons. First, I've read very few memoirs, as usually when I venture into non-fiction I tend to pick historical books or biographies of ancient historical figures, so a contemporary memoir was a new field for me. Second, I didn't really know who Gloria Steinem was; I recognized her name but wouldn't have been able to tell you a single thing about her before reading the book. I felt that this made me a great candidate for judging her book, because through my reading experience she was speaking to a first-time audience member. 

Though my pace was slower and I wasn't enthralled in the same way that I am when reading fiction, I came away really liking this book. In it, she talks about everything from her childhood to her experiences attending sacred (and secret) Native American ceremonies, to standing by a friend's side as she battled cancer. I found it to be a really full account of a life -- everything from her biggest, career-making moments to the smaller, meaningful moments that happen in the everyday. In this book, I found another great female role model. Steinem tended to tackle feminist causes in places where female voices were barely whispers, planting confidence and passion where it could grow into movements and long-lasting change. Though I am moving into a professional field dominated by women, her movements made me think a lot about the power of a group of people who believe in making change for the benefit of everyone, even those who fight against it. 

By far, my favorite section of the book was Steinem's forays into Native American culture. I found her peek into their lives truly fascinating and came away from the book wanting to know more about how the culture is fighting to stay alive in modern times. I'm still searching for a book to help me learn more, so recommendations are welcome! 

In the end, I was so glad that I read this book. I felt uplifted by Steinem's words and admired her character. I'd recommend this for any book club who is looking for a non-fiction pick, to women of any age, and to any reader looking to learn more about what it means to be feminist. 

Bottom Line Rating: 4/5

Title: My Life on the Road

Author: Gloria Steinem

Publisher: Random House, 2015

Price: $16 on Amazon

ISBN: 0679456201

Format: Hardcover

Source: Public Library

Winter Break Reading List

One of the things that I loved about college was having that month-long winter break. I relished the fact that my to-do list that had nothing on it, and in anticipation each year I would build up a huge list of all the books that I wanted to read during those weeks. 

This year is a little different for me because I don't get the same extended period for a break. I do have a couple weeks, however, to rest and relax before my responsibilities kick into an even higher gear in January. I'm hoping to make the most of that time by indulging in some of my favorite activities (reading tops the list, obviously) and having quality time with friends and family.

I like to build my stack of winter break reads ahead of time, so I've picked out just a few books that have already made it onto my list. I think a trip to the library is in order...

The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig // Lauren Willig is one of my favorite authors of historical fiction and I can't wait to preview her latest book, written in partnership with two other excellent writers. 

The Interrupted Tale by Maryrose Wood // I've been meaning to continue reading The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series and I need to read both the fourth and fifth installments. I'm looking forward to seeing more of the mystery revealed!

The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran // I love Michelle Moran's writing and I'm so excited to read her account of Nefertari, the niece of the more well-known Nefertiti. (If we're being honest, I already started this one last night and it has me completely enthralled!)

Other People's Children by Lisa Delpit // I think a break is the perfect time to catch up on a little bit of professionally-minded reading. I have a whole stack of education books that I've been meaning to read, so this may not be the exact one that I pick up, but I'm hoping to tackle at least one from the pile while I'm relaxing at home!

***

Now, no matter how much I add to this list, it's almost inevitable that I'll stray from it the second that I see an interesting book on the library shelf, so stay tuned to see how it turns out! Also keep an eye out for a new review later this week!

Happy Reading!

-Madeleine-

Currently Coveting {August}

Can you believe that the summer is almost over?

At the moment, I'm knee deep in several courses that will continue throughout the month. Let's just say, my graduate program is keeping me very busy. Reading has been such a good escape from the frenzy of assignments, and I have a huge stack of books (for both children and adults) to get through in the next few months-- all of which I'm hoping will earn 5-star ratings.

In the meantime, I've come up with a few books that I'm coveting. I'm on a book-buying ban for the month of August, so I may have to join the holds list at the library for a few of these.

Rather than giving you a single sentence about each of my picks, I've decided to include the Goodreads' descriptions for each book so that you can get a better idea of what they're all about, so without further ado, here are the books I'm coveting this month:

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George // I love books about books (and books about people who also love books), and this one looks like it will not disappoint!

 From Goodreads: “There are books that are suitable for a million people, others for only a hundred. There are even remedies—I mean books—that were written for one person only…A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: that’s how I sell books.”
Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.
After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.
Internationally bestselling and filled with warmth and adventure, The Little Paris Bookshop is a love letter to books, meant for anyone who believes in the power of stories to shape people's lives.

The Rocks: A Novel by Peter Nichols // I'm not usually a contemporary reader, but this one drew me in with its comparisons to Romeo & Juliet, and with its enviable Mediterranean setting.

From Goodreads: Set against dramatic Mediterranean Sea views and lush olive groves, The Rocks opens with a confrontation and a secret: What was the mysterious, catastrophic event that drove two honeymooners apart so suddenly and absolutely in 1948 that they never spoke again despite living on the same island for sixty more years? And how did their history shape the Romeo and Juliet–like romance of their (unrelated) children decades later? 

Centered around a popular seaside resort club and its community, The Rocks is a double love story that begins with a mystery, then moves backward in time, era by era, to unravel what really happened decades earlier.
Peter Nichols writes with a pervading, soulful wisdom and self-knowing humor, and captures perfectly this world of glamorous, complicated, misbehaving types with all their sophisticated flaws and genuine longing. The result is a bittersweet, intelligent, and romantic novel about how powerful the perceived truth can be—as a bond, and as a barrier—even if it’s not really the whole story; and how one misunderstanding can echo irreparably through decades.

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins // Supernatural beings + cults + mystery, sounds gripping, right? 

From Goodreads: Carolyn's not so different from the other human beings around her. She's sure of it. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. She even remembers what clothes are for. 

After all, she was a normal American herself, once. 
That was a long time ago, of course—before the time she calls “adoption day,” when she and a dozen other children found themselves being raised by a man they learned to call Father.
Father could do strange things. He could call light from darkness. Sometimes he raised the dead. And when he was disobeyed, the consequences were terrible.  
In the years since Father took her in, Carolyn hasn't gotten out much. Instead, she and her adopted siblings have been raised according to Father's ancient Pelapi customs. They've studied the books in his library and learned some of the secrets behind his equally ancient power. 
Sometimes, they've wondered if their cruel tutor might secretly be God.  
Now, Father is missing. And if God truly is dead, the only thing that matters is who will inherit his library—and with it, power over all of creation.  
As Carolyn gathers the tools she needs for the battle to come, fierce competitors for this prize align against her.  
But Carolyn can win. She's sure of it. What she doesn't realize is that her victory may come at an unacceptable price—because in becoming a God, she's forgotten a great deal about being human.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley // That cover. Can you guess how this one landed on my list?

From Goodreads: 1883. Thaniel Steepleton returns home to his tiny London apartment to find a gold pocket watch on his pillow. Six months later, the mysterious timepiece saves his life, drawing him away from a blast that destroys Scotland Yard. At last, he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori, a kind, lonely immigrant from Japan. Although Mori seems harmless, a chain of unexplainable events soon suggests he must be hiding something. When Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist, unwittingly interferes, Thaniel is torn between opposing loyalties.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is a sweeping, atmospheric narrative that takes the reader on an unexpected journey through Victorian London, Japan as its civil war crumbles long-standing traditions, and beyond. Blending historical events with dazzling flights of fancy, it opens doors to a strange and magical past.

The Abominable by Dan Simmons // I read Dan Simmons' The Terror and I designated it as a book that pulled me out of my comfort zone in 2013. The sheer size of that book had me reading it for quite a few weeks, but I loved his style. His writing really is spine-chilling.

From Goodreads: A thrilling tale of high-altitude death and survival set on the snowy summits of Mount Everest, from the bestselling author of The Terror.

It's 1924 and the race to summit the world's highest mountain has been brought to a terrified pause by the shocking disappearance of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine high on the shoulder of Mt. Everest. By the following year, three climbers -- a British poet and veteran of the Great War, a young French Chamonix guide, and an idealistic young American -- find a way to take their shot at the top. They arrange funding from the grieving Lady Bromley, whose son also disappeared on Mt. Everest in 1924. Young Bromley must be dead, but his mother refuses to believe it and pays the trio to bring him home. 
Deep in Tibet and high on Everest, the three climbers -- joined by the missing boy's female cousin -- find themselves being pursued through the night by someone . . . or something. This nightmare becomes a matter of life and death at 28,000 feet - but what is pursuing them? And what is the truth behind the 1924 disappearances on Everest? As they fight their way to the top of the world, the friends uncover a secret far more abominable than any mythical creature could ever be. A pulse-pounding story of adventure and suspense, The Abominable is Dan Simmons at his spine-chilling best.

What are you looking forward to reading this month?

Happy Reading!

-Madeleine-

P.S. Today's the day! If you were looking forward to snagging a copy of the first in the Galaxy Pirates trilogy (for middle grade readers) or the first two books in the Piper Green and the Fairy Tree series, you're in luck because all three books are being released today! You can find links to purchase them in my reviews.