May Books
We’re a fair way into June now so I thought I’d better get on with posting the books I read.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin
I’m not into video games, but I loved this. Although gaming is a big part of the plot, this character-driven story focuses on the relationship between Sadie and Sam. I started noting some sentences I liked and then, as usual, got too into the story to remember to stop and savour the really good bits.
How Bad are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything – Mike Berners-Lee
This book is about the carbon footprint of many things we consume daily. The book is broken into chapters of items according to their carob footprint, beginning with the lowest footprint. Some things surprised me; he considers an e-bike to be lower emissions than a regular bike if you take into account the food required to provide the energy to pedal a conventional bike. I’m not sure this analysis would stack up in the real world, because it’s unlikely that people would necessarily eat more just because they’ve biked to the store.
I like his approach to how to limit our personal carbon footprint. By getting access to the best information we can, we can choose how to spend our carbon budget. In this way, he doesn’t label any items taboo but instead encourages decisions based on your priorities. The confronting part of all this is how hard it is to meet the carbon budget he sets as responsible (and how far I am from meeting it). This would be a good book to dip into and out of.
Oh William! – Elizabeth Strout
My sister put this in my hand after she finished it on a weekend down at my parents. It’s a fairly quick read. The prose is sparse with a gentle meandering feel to the narration. I didn’t like William and that also coloured my feelings towards Lucy, but I got over that as Lucy unpacked her childhood trauma.
6 Comments
Elisabeth
I’ve heard so many mixed reviews for Tomorrow x3. I feel like people either love it or hate it…so naturally I want to read it and see where I fall in the spectrum.
I read two Elizabeth Strout books. My Name is Lucy Barton – loved it!! Rated it 5-stars Anything is Possible was so confusing and depressing. Olive Kitteridge was kinda a miss for me, too. I feel like one book about a depressing upbringing is okay. But THREE novels that follow the same pattern was just too much (and I think most of her other books are this way, too). I had Oh, William! out of the library, but opted not to read it in the end…but it sounds maybe a little less intense than some of her other books?
Melissa
I didn’t find Oh William too intense emotionally. I hadn’t read Lucy Barton so I was coming to this without any backstory. I’ve read the first two Olive books, but my recollection of them is somewhat hazy, and I don’t have any notes ot jog my memeory.
NGS
I read one Strout book and was seriously emotionally traumatized by it. I will not be dipping back into her catalog that will obviously send me into spirals of depression about my own childhood. I think her writing is deceptively slight, but in the end the emotional power is too much for me.
I did not enjoy Tomorrow x3. There was just too much video gaming for me! I’m surprised when other non-gamers didn’t find it distracting!
Melissa
THat’s interesting about you finding the gaming secitons distracting. I actually found them interesting, even as a non-gamer.
Suzanne
I loved Tomorrow3! Such a great book and I am NOT a gamer. So glad you enjoyed it too.
The carbon footprint book sounds interesting. I have never read any Strout! I hear so many good things, though. Maybe I will have to pick one up!
Melissa
I’m glad I’ve read the Strout books that I have, just in terms of her observations on people and life, but I wouldn’t call her an “enjoyable” read.