Yellow Wallpaper

I read 109 books in 2017, which is a bit higher than my number for recent years (here is 2016's post , which includes links to previous years). I did finish school at the end of 2016, giving me more free time, plus I read most of the Whitney finalists, and I read several shorter books. 90 books were fiction (including 2 poetry books), and 19 were nonfiction, which is pretty sad compared to previous years. I have a lot of nonfiction on my list of books I'd like to read, but don't seem to get around to reading it as often as I should. I think this year I will focus on reading more nonfiction (and less on staying up late reading mediocre books I downloaded free from the library). 82 books were by female authors, and 27 by male, which reflects trends I've noticed for the last few years. For some reason I tend to gravitate to female authors, especially when it comes to fiction. This year I also had several instances where I read multiple books by the same author, and in ...

In the Woods by Tana French I've seen this book pop up now and then on recommended lists, but never got around to reading it. While I love mysteries, I'm fairly picky about what I like, and wasn't sure I would enjoy this one. As you can see by what happened during the rest of the month, I totally loved this and went on to read the other five books that French has written so far. Although they are a series, each book focuses on a different character--although I would miss a character when we moved on from them, I also liked getting to know a new voice and perspective in each book. For me, the strongest aspect of this book was the psychology of the main character, and I was sad to leave him behind in the next book. The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay I've liked all of Reay's other books and had been looking forward to this one, and perhaps that anticipation made it harder to enjoy. I liked the protagonist and thought the setting was a lot of fun, although at t...

Tonight we watched the movie Kiki's Delivery Service , which is the story of a young witch who moves to a new city to learn how to live on her own. In the movie she is only 13, which seems awfully young (and even other characters comment on her youth), but apparently in that world it is normal for witches to do this. She mostly finds good people to help and mentor her and to become her friends, and the drama in the story is fairly low-stakes as she learns how to work through life. Then I got on the computer and read a blog post from a woman who has been teaching her preteen daughter how to use public transit to get around her city. I realized that my kids are much more sheltered and less adventurous than I was at their age.  I had an early-morning paper route starting at about age 11 that I kept through starting 9th grade (because Seminary interfered with it). Every single morning I'd wake up early, fold up all the newspapers, load them in my bags, get on my bike, and ride ar...