Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Nine: A Memory Called Empire AND A Desolation Called Peace

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Eight: Unorthodox

I've been reading a lot of fiction lately, and I decided I was in the mood for a change, so I looked in Libby for a non-fiction book that was both available now and interesting.  Deborah Feldman's memoir of leaving the Satmar Hasidic Jewish community was the answer.  It's a fascinating look inside a pocket of life in the U.S. of which I was pretty much unaware.  If you liked Tara Westover's Educated, you'll be interested in Unorthodox.  You know from early on that both women left their insular religious communities; the interest in their stories is in both how they left and in the inside look at the communities they had been a part of.  Plus, there's a Netflix miniseries based on Unorthodox, which maybe I'll watch at some point.  Feldman also wrote a second memoir, Exodus, which picks up (I think) where Unorthodox leaves off.  I'll definitely be interested in reading it at some point, though Unorthodox was a very intense read, so I'm ready for a break back into fiction for the moment.  But I'd highly recommend this book.

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Seven: Broken (in the Best Possible Way)

I was so excited a few months back when I learned that Jenny Lawson (known on the Internet as The Bloggess) had a new essay collection coming out this spring, and it did not disappoint!  I listened to the audiobook--read by the author--and it was so good that I actually looked forward to my commute.  If you're unfamiliar with Jenny Lawson, I would describe her writing as in the vein of David Sedaris, particularly in her ability to find humor in the everyday, but with more of a focus on mental and physical health.  

Anyway, Broken (in the Best Possible Way) has everything I've come to expect and enjoy from Jenny Lawson's books: a look at life from someone else's (very funny) perspective, a look at a variety of mental health issues that I'm not super familiar with, a good helping of weird animal stories (but not the kind of animal stories where your heart gets broken), and a heaping dose of earnest quirkiness.  If you have a sense of humor at all, or if you enjoy personal essays, this is a book worth checking out.  

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Six: A Walk Around the Block

Normally Spike Carlsen's A Walk Around the Block is the kind of book I'd listen to, rather than read, but it wasn't available as an audiobook, and I'm so glad I decided to try it in print!  I thoroughly enjoyed this look at the infrastructure of daily life.  From the true cost of lawns to what happens to your recycling at the sorting centers to road sign trivia and beyond, this book is full of fun and fascinating facts.  It's given me a new appreciation for the objects that I encounter so often that I've stopped noticing them.  Plus, this is a fairly quick read, and it's generally light and entertaining.  If you want a new appreciation of the world around you, this is the book for you.

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Five: Prairie Lotus

I dipped back into the world of middle grade fiction to read Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park.  Since it's written for younger readers, this is quick to read, but it will stay with me for a while as I both enjoyed its story and appreciated the work it does to portray a more accurately diverse picture of an often romanticized and whitewashed time: the heyday of the American frontier.  

Prairie Lotus, set in the late 1800s, is the story of a 14-year-old girl, Hanna, who wants nothing more than to attend school and someday soon become a dressmaker, and whose father is white and whose late mother was Chinese.  Father and daughter settle into a new prairie town in Dakota Territory--not unlike the town where Laura Ingalls Wilder of the Little House books lived as a teen--and in fact, Hanna meets a girl, Bess, not unlike the young Laura.  But, as with the other places where they've tried to settle, Hanna and her father are confronted with racism against Hanna.  However, unlike in the other towns where they've tried to settle, a few of the white people in this town are willing to support Hanna and her father, despite the prejudice most of the townspeople express, and the story ends on a cautiously hopeful note.  

This is excellent historical fiction for older kids (and I know a few other adults who really enjoyed Prairie Lotus), and you don't have to be familiar with the Little House books to appreciate it: its story and characters stand on their own merit.  If you like historical fiction, this is well worth reading.

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Four: The Seep

What if an invasion of non-corporeal aliens made everyone kinder and more accepting (if also sort of high most of the time), and also solved climate change?  That's where Chana Porter's novel The Seep begins.  

At first, and for years after the invasion, trans woman Trina Goldberg-Oneka enjoys these changes along with most of the rest of humankind.  But by the time she's fifty, Trina's wife has decided to be reborn as an infant (which is possible, due to the alien substance called Seep, which is how the aliens control humans).  Trina is devastated and sinks into alcoholism until a random encounter with a boy who's grown up sheltered from the Seep startles her out of her stupor and into action.  (If this seems like a spoiler, don't worry: it's not more than you'd get from the back of the book.)  

The Seep is way more upbeat than this semi-dystopian vision may sound, and I appreciated how many questions it hints at but doesn't raise directly, leaving them to readers to ponder (or not).  It's one of the weirder books I've read lately, but in the best possible way: it was refreshing and original and I couldn't guess how it would end.  If you enjoy alien invasion stories, or if you're interested in a very different vision of the future, this novel might be for you.

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Three: The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Alix Harrow's debut novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, had been vaguely on my radar as something I might enjoy, and then a friend suggested it, too.  I'm so glad I finally read it!  It was captivating.

The basic premise is this: there are Doors that lead between worlds.  We follow a young girl named January--whose "in-between" skin has meant that she never fits in anywhere and faces suspicion (and worse) everywhere--as she begins to grow up and to learn more about these Doors, both from her own experiences and from a mysterious book.  Of course, she has dangerous and powerful enemies.  The villains are suitably evil, and while they're mostly one-dimensional, the chief villain has enough dimensions to be a believable and interesting character.  January is a dynamic character who starts the story with plenty of room to grow, and it's a pleasure to see how she changes.  The various settings are most fun of all, though.  I love Harrow's depictions of the worlds through the Doors; they're so varied and vivid.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is equal parts coming-of-age, adventure, mystery, and fantasy; if you like any of those, it's worth a look, and if you like all of those, it's a must-read.