Zora Neale Hurston, Behave, Innocents and Others, Darkest Corners, Rereading Roald Dahl, All Of A Kind Family

Reading to my kids is the best. In the last month we’ve reread The BFG, The Witches, and George’s Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl. I also shared with them the first two books in the All of a Kind Family series and my girls love those girls as much as I did when I read them as a girl myself. Such a treat to hear them say the same kinds of things I said to myself when I read the books.

In grown up reading:
Behave by Andromeda Romano-Lax about the wife of notorious behaviorist John Watson. As a perinatal professional working directly with parents, I am fascinated (and dismayed) by the continued influence of Watson’s theories on parents. News flash–you can’t spoil a baby. Kiss them as much as you want! So I was disappointed that there wasn’t more of a focus on Rosalie Raynor Watson the mother. It was more about their marriage and it just didn’t stay engaged the whole time.

The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas certainly delivered psychological complexity. Tessa and her best friend Callie put a serial killer behind bars back when they were kids, and now she’s back for the first time in years to deal with some family matters, and things get really twisted. She and Callie didn’t lie, but they may not have told the truth, and people are dying again. The plot was a little overstuffed but the characters were satisfyingly rich.

Snore at Innocents and Others by Dana Spiotta. As much as I loved all the film geeky stuff, the whole thing really added up to next-to-nothing for me. It’s a lot of smarts and not a lot of storytelling.

If you haven’t read Their Eyes Were Watching God (my book club’s latest pick) then you basically have to read it. The language is so beautiful it hurts and I just love Janie so much. Since nobody is actually reading this blog I won’t even attempt to write about what makes this book so great. It’s late and I’m tired and I’m out of words for this blog, yet I can’t seem to let it go. I’ve been blogging here for over 10 years, every single book I’ve ever read. It feels weird to think about stopping, just like that. But I think the day is coming when I do just that.

One thought on “Zora Neale Hurston, Behave, Innocents and Others, Darkest Corners, Rereading Roald Dahl, All Of A Kind Family”

  1. I have your feed saved to my reader and have been following along for quite some time. I know how hard it is to step away from a blog. I stopped updating my personal blog after something like 12 years. If you’re not getting enjoyment and satisfaction from writing here, then allow yourself to step away. It doesn’t necessarily have to be forever.

    And I’ve read Their Eyes Were Watching God too. You are spot on with your description. This book had all the feels before it was even a saying. 😉

    Take care

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