“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith

This is a book about growing up in Brooklyn at the turn of the century. Other than that it doesn’t really have a plot to it.

What I really enjoyed was how all of the characters are described so well! They’re all believable and you can’t help but care about them. Francie I really liked since I could relate to her as a bookworm. Other characters who are clearly looked down on by the community in the book are also done well, like Papa and Sissy. From their portrayal, you like and care about them in a similar way to Francie, despite the fact that they are not beloved by the rest of the world in the book. Lee is also portrayed really well, Smith could have made him seem much nicer from the beginning, but you can kind of sense that he’s a scumbag from the start. Which makes his actions that much more terrible, since you could see it coming. An interesting tactic.

Since the story spans such a big chunk of time, you kind of grow up with Francie, and as details grow fuzzy to her the reader experiences the same phenomenon. Which is pretty cool. Probably doesn’t hold true on the second or third reading, but on the first one it definitely was the case.

The ending itself comes full circle to the beginning which is great, but it also seems like it’s wrapped up just a little too nicely. As though there should have been more to it than that.

Read for the characters, not the plot. But an enjoyable work to get through all the same.

"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" based on a story by J.K. Rowling but written by Jack Thorne

Alright so this story has gotten a lot of press lately for being, well, another book about Harry Potter, but also many people are saying that it reads like fan-fiction.  And, I mean, duh of course it does. It’s the first book in the Harry Potter universe that’s a play, which is a huge difference just by itself.

Think about it: reading a book is really an experience. You get sucked into the place and feel like you’re with the characters on their adventures. Plays aren’t like that. They can be if you’re in the theatre, sure, but if you’re just reading them they definitely are not. And it’s hard to bridge that gap between the two, to write a play that feels like a novel. So the entire experience around reading this book is going to be entirely different than anything else in the Harry Potter universe.

And then there’s the fact that the characters we know and love have grown up. Now I consider J.K. Rowling to be a wonderful writer and an incredible creator of this universe. Since she is trying to make these characters believable, she made caused them to change slightly over the years. They are no longer the scruffy gang that we once knew, now Harry, Ron, and Hermione are parents and adults with actual jobs that don’t involve getting into tons of trouble all the time. They do not seem the same as their characters in the main series, nor would I want them to if I’m being honest.

But therein lies the rub, the whole reason why people loved the Harry Potter books so much was because of the characters and the world around them. Now that all of that has changed, there is not much left of the original story that we all know and love.

Don’t get me wrong, the writing leaves a little to be desired and the plot is somewhat cliché (although it does get better in part 2). I am pretty far from claiming that this is anywhere near as good as the original books.

But maybe we aren’t giving it enough of a chance, none of us has seen the play performed and the difference between seeing it live and reading it is huge. Within the theatre you can also get “sucked in” to the story and the characters, similar to reading a book.

So don’t completely give up on this play, you probably just aren’t experiencing it in the right way.

Peaceful Resolutions to Conflict

Ok so there are many stories out there in the world that involve protagonists finding peaceful solutions to the conflicts that they face. Usually they are also torn about finding this peaceful conflict because the others around them are encouraging them to try and use violence instead. The ones that I can think of off the top of my head include “How to Train Your Dragon,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” and “Steven Universe.”

Stories like these create quite a contrast from the rest of the violent and indulgent media that gets shoved down our throats on a regular basis (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, turn on the nearest TV). They teach peace and putting effort into creating a solution even though it may not be the easiest to carry out.

There’s one major factor that links all of these stories that I’ve mentioned together.

THEY’RE ALL MADE FOR CHILDREN.

Why are we only telling kids that peace is good? Why isn’t that message important for adults as well? Why is this considered more immature than stories that feature blood and violence? Messages that promote nonviolent solutions are important for people of all ages, especially in a world where it seems that everything around us is about to be torn apart by war.

Really the only reason that I can think of is capitalism. The reality of the situation is that violence sells. People are more interested in watching someone get ripped apart than they are in watching someone struggle to keep the peace. As a result, media with well thought out conflicts that are resolved peacefully and reasonably have been regulated to “family friendly” media and considered juvenile.

Over the centuries there have been several theories about how art and morality intersect (Plato comes to mind). There are even more contemporary examples such as how terrorist groups recruit members through the media. I’m not saying that we should ban violent media because it ruins our morals, on the contrary, I think that they have a right to be out in the world. But if you ask me, if we want to change the way that the world is, we should develop a greater interest in plot lines with peaceful resolution and stop considering it to be something that is only for children. Because it’s not just for kids, violence affects us all and we all have a role we can play in stopping it.

“Sharp Objects” by Gillian Flynn

So I found this book at a book swap (I love those so much) and figured I’d give it a shot since it’s the same author as Gone Girl and everyone seemed to like that. (Disclosure: I’ve never read Gone Girl so I don’t actually know how good it is.)

This book is a pretty quick read, and centers around two child murders in a small, Southern town. The main character is a reporter who is covering the murders, and in doing so needs to return to her hometown where they took place. This turns out to be an unhealthy decision as she doesn’t get on too well with her family.

This is compounded by the fact that she also recently got out of a psych hospital for cutting words into her skin, which makes for a unique narrative since she is constantly describing how different words are “burning” into her body at times. This words then translate how she’s feeling or what she is thinking about into something physical, which adds an interesting layer to her psyche.

Honestly though, besides the protagonist it is really hard to like any of the characters, the rest are just idiots that she’s stuck dealing with.

Since this is a mystery, the ending is not one that you would expect. But looking back on it, that is the direction that the plot was going in the whole time, so it makes sense and flows naturally from the story.

So this is a good mystery and/or thriller novel with an engaging and memorable narrator, the rest is pretty ehhhh.

"Life From an RNA World" by Michael Yarus

This was a very interesting read, especially as someone interested in genetics. It is very accessible, even to novices, and written very clearly. Sometimes the style is a little obnoxious as the author likes to throw in references to literary works which can get kind of irritating (this is a science book, you don’t need to show off your knowledge of great works of literature).

What is very helpful is that the reader can use this book as a jumping point into more science, if they so choose. At the end of every chapter is a list of works and sometimes a short description of them. This can be used to further your studies of RNA, if you want. Or it’s just fun to examine.

Yarus here primarily posits the existence of an RNA world, or a world where organisms evolved without DNA. This is an interesting concept, and one that I hadn’t heard before. To show how he came to this conclusion, he brings you step-by-step through his thought process, starting with the principles of evolution. Everything is very clear and easy to follow.

I thought it was a great read, and a rather quick one too. It is important to know what we have evolved from, and the origins of life itself. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about evolution, whether they are in the sciences or not!

The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watkins

Full disclosure: I was given this book for free when I started my job so I figured that I’d read it and give it a try. It’s about the first 90 days in a new job or new position and the changes that you should expect and tips for how to deal with them. Honestly, I don’t think it’s helpful at all.

Transitions are important, absolutely, and you want to get up to speed asap, but the ridiculously anal way that the author expects you to go about them I think would create more problems than it would solve. For example, you really shouldn’t irritate your co-workers by filling out a little chart of every conversation and the things that you accomplished. The result is that some things are really overcomplicated, and then others are simplified down to the point of annoyance. He also uses all of these various acronyms and mnemonic devices, but it seems like he made them up and they aren’t actually corporate jargon because I’ve never heard/seen of them outside of this book.

Sure these techniques are probably helpful, and it is good to know what to keep in mind when going to meetings and everything, but take it with a grain of salt please!

Then there’s the general structure. Each chapter is started with a story about some hypothetical person who switched jobs or was promoted and did everything wrong. I think maybe 1 out of the 10 chapters involved someone transitioning well, which is just disheartening. And it nearly always was obvious what they did wrong, which makes me question the purpose of these little anecdotes. If you can figure out what they’re doing wrong right away, then do you even need to read the chapter?

So this book has a nice concept behind it, but not implemented terribly well.

"How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury" by Cressida Cowell

I finally got my hands on the finale to the How to Train Your Dragon book series. (It involved sneaking around the kids section of the library trying not to look out of place when I’m about 3 times the size of the rest of the people in there.)

Disclaimer: not the same as the movie. The books and the movies have taken pretty different paths, even though I think they are going to end up in the same place in the end. To be perfectly honest, I love them both and usually I prefer the books but in this case the movies are so well done that I enjoy all of them. To me they’re essentially separate entities, the differences between them don’t detract from the fact that they’re amazing and have dragons!

In the final book of the series there are plenty of characters who come back, which is nice. Seeing as how the book series is 12 books long, there are several characters who come and go, and it is almost a requirement of children’s series that they all make an appearance towards the end. Which is good if you really like a character that appeared in say, Book 6, but haven’t seen them since.

One thing I will say about this book is that it has less sass than the other installments since this one is focused on the plot. The whole point of this book is how Hiccup deals with the upcoming war between dragons and humans, so it is understandable that humor would take a backseat here. But don’t worry, there’s still sassy moments and funny dialogue, it’s just less present than the other books in the series.

And of course it explains why there aren’t dragons around anymore, which is what the entire series has been leading up to. Which is so much more emotional than I thought it would be, the ending in general is really poetic and well written. It blew me away since I was not expecting something like that from this series. A wonderful, heart-felt conclusion, you can really tell that this whole work was a labor of love from Cowell.

Again, I’d like to publicly apologize for having this series take over my life, it means such a ridiculous amount to me. I’m so sad that it’s over, but there’s still another movie coming out!