REVIEW: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

 

I will admit, I was intimidated and worried about reading any novel by Octavia Butler, but I wanted to give it a go because I love dystopian fiction, fantasy and novels that critique society and this novel hit all the spots. Besides, Ms. Butler is the WOMAN.  I am so glad I read this novel.  

This is the first book in the Earthseed duology series, which many have hailed as classic sci-fi.  The story begins in the year 2024 (this novel was published in 1993 FYI) and revolves around the life and family of teenager Lauren Olamina and her family. They live in a gated community in the suburbs of what remains of Los Angeles and it is widely considered to be one of the safe areas of the city. The community is trying to salvage their society but it has been ravaged by drugs, homeless, violence, crime, theft, war, disease and water shortage (sound familiar?). Survival seems to get harder each day. Lauren has a condition called hyperempathy, which makes her really sensitive to the pain of others, often experiencing it as they experience it. It is told in the form of Lauren's diary entries, which I found to be really effective in conveying the story. 

I really enjoyed the novel's themes of family, faith, hope, community but also human's capacity to inflict violence upon each other.  Butler's prose is engaging and vivid, although the novel itself is hard to read, in the sense that what she writes about can be hard to digest. I loved meeting her characters and watching them develop throughout the novel. I definitely would recommend this novel and I hope to read Parable of the Talent at some point. 

REVIEW Motherland by Julia Ioffe

 

I picked this up because I was curious about this aspect of Russian history and Russia is all over our news, still. I was also a history major so it appealed to me.  What I learned was very surprising, particularly with regard to one of Communist Russia's legacies.  

Early in the Bolshevik Revolution, in 1917, women not only gained the right to vote, but they gained the right to no fault divorces, child support and free higher education. Abortion and birth control were also legalized within the same time frame. by 1920, women were required to work under the new regime. Journalist Julia Ioffe, a Russian born journalist, follows this history from its unique and optimistic beginning to the unraveling of this idealism at the hand of male leaders. Interspersed is a personal history of the women in her own family. She also tells of the history through female leaders, such as Alexandra Kollontai, the wives and daughters of Russian political leaders and the ordinary people. Ioffe and her family emigrate to the US in 1990, but when she returns to Russia as a journalist in 2009, she finds that the very stereotypes that the women in 1917 were trying to dismantle have returned. 

 This book was obviously widely and thoroughly researched and I learned so much that I hadn't known previously.  I did find the parts about Ioffe's own story more interesting, however although I loved the parts about Putin and Navalny.  It is incisive and illuminating in  its history and I would highly recommend this to anyone seeking to better understand Russian. 

Links I love

 

It's been brutally cold here this week.  On Sunday, the windchill was seriously ten below zero.  I don't like the extreme heat, but this has been way too cold. We enjoyed a quiet Sunday watching the game and eating snacks! We're watching The Olympics too (ouch, Lindsey Vonn!). 

Happy Valentine's Day!

1. 18 historical romances to read just in time for Valentine's Day. 
2. Why couples should have other couples as friends.
3. Health benefits of matcha.
4. I'm looking forward to some of these adaptations.
5. Best Disney books for adults (and which BookTok is obsessed with).
6. I love watching Ms. Norwood bake. 
7. The Starbucks food order that is high in protein.
8. 6 reasons to take a lunch break.
9. James Van Der Beek passed away this week (RIP Mox).  He had colorectal cancer.  Here's some information on that cancer, which is rising among people my age (I'm 46).
10. The 800th episode of the Simpsons is up!
11. The most anticipated romantasy books of 2026. 
12. Hidden mountain towns in Italy that look like a snow globe. 
13. How Thomas Harris found Hannibal Lecter.
14. The hidden women's labor behind modern classics. 
15. Some books to pick up for Black history month. 
16. Frozen smoothie mixes ranked from best to worst.
17. What spinster actually meant and how the meaning morphed. 
18. Draco Malfoy and the Chinese New Year
19. Memoirs about r elationships and dating.
20. The most romantic places to go in each state.
21. Make sure you have a hobby.
22. A beginner's guide to translated books.
23. Some good high protein dinners. 
24. The symptoms of Menopause and how to recognize them
25. What does "wuthering" mean in wuthering heights?
26. What makes a good book to movie adaptation?

I hope that everyone has a good long weekend!

REVIEW Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block

 

I read this because I was fascinated by the concept of a parent homeschooling and having experiencing homeschool lite during Covid. This memoir offers a glimpse into one boy's experience homeschooling and then re-integrating into school for High School. It isn't really about homeschooling though as much as it is about the  complex relationship that he had with his mother - which at points made me absolutely cry. 

At 8, Stefan Block moves with his mom, older brother and dad from Indiana to Plano, Texas. He calls Plano an "almost perfect nowhere," which I wouldn't know about not having ever been to Texas let alone Plano. It seemed that the decision to homeschool Stefan was based upon very effervescent and fluffy reasons and, when he finally was homeschooled, there was very little oversight into what was actually being taught to him.  He did math, which was his only structured subject, but then, essentially left to his own devices. Having said that, the decision to homeschool seemed to be also  based upon his mother's own dark and tragic and, quite frankly, sad history. At some point, it fell to Stefan to end the homeschooling experiment and break his mother's heart. 

What I LOVED about this book is that it is told from the child's perspective and Block doesn't try to correct what is obviously a child's observations with his own now adult wisdom. It was almost painful to watch him adapt to his mom on an almost daily basis as any child would and to read him describe that sort of mental gymnastic. It wasn't until Block was an adult that he could fully grasp that her life and his were shaped by a fear so powerful it became  destiny. And yet, he didn't reject her. At all. Instead, he loved her fiercely and showed us that love by writing this memoir that told her story alongside his. 

So good. It is one of the few books that actually made me cry. 

Links I love

 

I hope that everyone is ready for the Super Bowl!  We have Patriots fans here so people are all geared up! I think that by the time you've read this, I've completed my taxes and am working on another review!  Life and my job have been really, really busy. 

• -February has some good true crime and mystery books coming out. 
• 15 translated books to read this year. 
• Foods that reduce anxiety.
• Washington Post is gutting its book coverage.
• 12 novels about Galentine's day.
• NY has a new archbishop.
• 5 claustrophobic crime novels. 
• 19 Winter Olympic Storylines they're watching.

Please don't forget that I have a Pangobooks store!

Links I love

 

This week has been a tough one for us weather wise. On Sunday and into Monday, we got over a foot of snow, taking a while to dig out - luckily it was the light fluffy snow!

This week was also the 40th anniversary of the Challenger explosion. I was in 6th grade in NY at the time, but the teacher that was part of the launch was from NH. This was one of those moments, for me, where I can tell you where I was exactly when it happened. 

• Ideas for historical fiction.
• What are the Terminator movies really about?
• Women in espionage: a reading list. 
• The best nonfiction books: the 2026 Duff Cooper Prize
• 15 books set in Essex. 
• 5 novels with unsympathetic main characters. 
• There's a film option for Frozen River. 
• The impact of book bans on teens.
• Some of the best foods to keep in your car during winter weather emergencies.
• Catherine O'Hara passed away, sadly.
• Memoirs and the AIDS epidemic. 
• Why Book Retreats are the next big thing in travel.
• Ideas for the slow cooker that I'd like to try.
• Bookish planners and supplies to help with your reading. Sticker sets too!
• Where to watch the Super Bowl in Boston.
• 5 common misconceptions about ADHD that people still have. 
• The literal meaning of the phrase "ducks in a row".

I'm currently reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (I'm VERY late to the game but better late than never) and listening to Careless People. 

REVIEW Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall

 

This was the book selection for our book club this month and I enjoyed it, although I wish that I had read it not back to back with Cursed Daughters because there was some overlap in themes and tropes. Beth and Frank are living what to, many people, appear to be a fulfilling life. They love each other and work together on the farm that they own, very closely. They seem to share everything and lead a life that many would envy. However, two years previously, their son Bobby died on the farm and Beth blames Frank for that tragedy as Frank was supposed to be watching out for their son. One day, a man and his son come to the farm after their dog escapes, gets onto Beth's farm and is shot. The man is Gabriel Wolfe, Beth's first love. And so begins a love triangle that literally changes lives. 

I definitely enjoyed this novel, but I think that I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it at a different time then directly following Cursed Daughters.  Hall uses dual timeline narrative, which I always adore because it is a very effective way to keep me, the reader, hooked into things and wanting to know more about how we got to where we got. I found it very easy to empathize with the characters, the decisions that they were making and the justifications that they had for their actions. At the heart of this novel are themes of love and loyalty: to family, to partners and children, to values.  

There were also elements of a thriller that made this novel very enjoyable to me. The plot had twists and turns that I didn't always figure out. I definitely also felt that I was immersed in the lives of the characters: it was easy to picture myself at the farm or in the pub with the characters, hearing, seeing and smelling what they were.  Definitely one to read.