2017 in Books

My goal of 40 books this year fell 10 short. Hey, I moved and started a new job and I also spent an embarrassing amount of time watching Peaky Blinders, Big Little Lies, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. You should watch ALL of those but only after you do some reading. Here were my favorites this year:

Fiction 

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Drew and I each bought a copy and read this together. It was the longest book I've ever read and we both LOVED it. I will likely not read any more of them because I liked the way this one ended and I didn't like what I read about the next few. Perhaps we will watch the show instead. You'll love Jamie, he's pretty much the perfect man.


The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Oh yeah, I watched this show too but first I read the book. You know all about this already but you should still read it. This was my first Margaret Atwood read and it did not disappoint. Last night I started Alias Grace so that I can watch that soon.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

An amazing young adult story about a young woman who witnesses her friend be shot by the police and the aftermath that ensues. Again, heartbreaking but raw and real for young adults.

Non-Fiction 

Why I left Why I Stayed by Tony Campolo & Bart Campolo

Tony Campolo has been one of my favorite Christians for years, the work he does and his heart for justice are what I admire about him. This book is a dialogue between he who is still a minister today and his son Bart who left the ministry and Christianity. It is heartbreaking and honest and desperate but so relatable for those of us who find ourselves somewhere in between.


Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond 

The author lives in rentals throughout the city of Milwaukee to research this book and as sensitive as I have always been to the issues of poverty I had never put much thought into the urban poverty issue of lack of housing. I learned so much and it read like fiction-which is terrifying because it is real.


Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming 

My only point of reference for Alan Cumming was as Floop in Spy Kids but we bought his audiobook and with his Scottish accent I'd listen to him read the phone book (do they still make phone books?) His complicated relationship with his father was both humorous and horrifying. Drew and I both cried and laughed out loud multiple times as we listened to this on a road trip.

One Day We'll All be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul 

A mostly light and funny read, it didn't get great reviews but I love books of comedic essays and this didn't disappoint.


The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer 

Yes, the title is misleading but I tend to think of all librarians as bad asses. People whose job it is to save rare pieces of culture and knowledge in one of the most notorious centers of knowledge in the Islamic world from a fundamentalist terrorist group? Yes please.


What books did you enjoy this year? I'm setting my sights on 50 books for 2018. Check out the Modern Mrs. Darcy's Reading Challenge for inspiration-that's where I'll be starting.

Magic

I finished the Harry Potter series.  And as cliche as it sounds the only word I can think of to describe it is magical. 

Don't ask me how I made to 25 years old without knowing how it ended. It must have been magic but I was hanging on every word in the last book. Harry, admittedly, was not a character that I loved but like anyone you spend 7 books and 5 months of your life with, you get attached. He was certainly brave beyond belief and the fact that he could love so deeply having never known love was inspiring.

I don't want to go into too many details because 1. Most of you read these books eons ago & 2. Those of you who have magically made it to your age without knowing need to start reading them now. 

I will read these books with my children one day, should I ever have any. As much as they swept me away at my age I can only imagine the magic a child would feel as they read them. 

The thing I've been most impressed with is how these books bring people together. Both of my Mary friends, my cooperating teacher, and my husband have cheered me on and shared in every memory of the books. They have all been so excited for me to read them and that's how you know they are special. Not only do they mean so much to people but they are excited for other people to experience the joy that comes from the characters and the story. 

These books were certainly far outside of my usual realm (I've since begun Hillary Clinton's autobiography) but I already know which ones I will read again (4 & 7). However, I've hated the movies. They're just blah. I get that there is no way to get every detail of the books but  I just haven't been impressed with them. 

I know I'm late to the party on the whole HP business but I'm totally a believer now. Color me impressed. 

7

"At some point, the church stopped living the Bible and decided just to study it, culling the feast parts and whitewashing the fast parts. We are addicted to the buffet, skillfully discarding the costly discipleship required after consuming. The feast is supposed to sustain the fast, but we go back for seconds and thirds and fourths, stuffed to the brim with fat and inactivity. All this for me. My goodness, my blessings, my privileges, my happiness, my success. Just one more plate."

 

So I just finished this book. And I'm not going to give away any spoilers because I fully expect ALL of my readers to read it. It will change the way you approach your lifestyle if you let it.

I've had this nagging feeling for a while that this lifestyle I've created for myself is not how Jesus called us to live. And when it feels like I'm surrounded by "consumers" it's nice to know I'm not alone in wanting less to make more room/time for Jesus and what he has called us to do.

Brief overview:

For 7 months Jen Hatmaker chooses 7 different areas to reduce excess in her/her family's life. Clothes. Shopping. Waste. Food. Possessions. Media. Stress. If you're looking to feel inspired by that nagging feeling I suspect many of you have that the church has this whole "life on earth" thing all wrong please pour yourself into this book. Let it change you because it certainly has changed me.

Some of my favorite quotes:

"May we embrace unity over infighting, bravery over comfort, us over me, people over principles, and God's glory over our own."

"This nagging tension that things aren't right, that life is more than blessing extremely blessed people...that's all true."

"I'm done separating ecology form theology, pretending they don't originate from the same source."

"I marvel at how out of place simple, humble Jesus would be in today's American churches."

"Jesus gets a fresh platform in the empty space where indulgence resided."

Oh and P.S. she's also hilarious.

Let's Review

I've never been one to "discover" things. (You know, like how Columbus discovered America.....gag me) I'm a happy bandwagon jumper. All of the things I'm about to review are old. So you may have decided you did or didn't like them months ago. But I'm a late bloomer and I've had a bit of free time the last week or so.

This week and last are the only break I get between spring and summer classes so I've been reading for pleasure which will sadly end again come Monday.

books

One day last week I read The Great Gatsby....yes it was the first time, what can I say I didn't reach much in my youth. But I've evolved into someone who wants to read something before I see the movie. And with Leo...you know I was going to see this movie. The book was great. I wasn't moved by it and it didn't make me want to be a better person but I can appreciate it for what it is. One of the reasons it probably didn't affect me very much is that I read it in less than 24 hours.
It was the first book I'd read that I didn't have to stop and take notes and highlight in months so I breezed through.

The joy of owning a Kindle (thanks Dad!) is that I can immediately start another book I want to read and don't forget about reading altogether for months at a time. So that same night I started:              Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling. I needed something light-hearted and had heard awesome things about it. To any and all ladies who may read my blog, if you don't listen to any advice I ever give again listen to this: read this book! It would be great to read at the beach or as I begged my sister to do on her plane ride to Prague Monday she did not listen. I laughed until I cried more than once. Drew laughed at me, laughing at the book. She is a genius and she's also maybe the funniest freaking person ever. I finished it in 2 days.

 Then I started this little gem: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. My feelings about it are mixed. It was funny at points. It is a "Chinese mother" telling how she parents her two daughters in modern America. It was interesting, certainly. However, I think it may have offended me a couple of times but I'm not entirely sure. Whatever, I'm easily offended. But I think it's worth a read. She was definitely passionate about her style of parenting which I can appreciate.

Now I'm reading this:

 

Which my mom has been begging me to read for years. So far, so good.

 

 

Now onto the movie portion of my reviews.

 

Saturday Drew and I finally rented Django Unchained. I loved Inglorious Bastards so I had high hopes for Django and oh he did not disappoint. I love that Quentin Tarantino has the balls to rewrite History to suit his fancy, I think he is brilliant. I loved Jamie Foxx who I am normally not crazy about. And Christoph Waltz was kick-ass as a "good guy" who kills people for money.

 

In true Tarantino fashion, there were parts of the movie that I hung out in the kitchen and had Drew yell when it was over. But the thing that made this movie for me was the music. I'm so excited to watch it with my sissy when she gets back I know she will love it.

 

 

Then on Sunday we went to the $3 matinee and saw The Great Gatsby. And I will just tell you, I'd be fine if I never saw another movie. It made me completely re-think the book. Leonardo Dicaprio is getting more handsome the older he gets which I'm totally fine with but it's a little unfair. Prepare to get angry with me literature snobs: I liked this movie more than the book. Oh I cannot get enough of the movie. In fact I dreamt last night that I got married again.....Gatsby style.

 

And once again the music was perfect. I love that both of these movies used current music in their movies whose stories are not.

 

 

I hope to see Gatsby again ASAP and I will be purchasing both soundtracks. I'm also taking book suggestions...I have until Monday people. Tell me what's worth reading!



Uncle Tom's Cabin

Remember book review Friday???? Yeah, me either. That was so short lived why bother even bringing it up. I haven't done a book review in a while but not to fear, I'm still literate.

Uncle Tom's Cabin is a book that I have heard about in history classes, well, forever. Even in my, shall we say, less than impressive middle and high school social studies classes, I remember it at least being mentioned.  I bought it in a used book store and even while purchasing it I thought I had a good handle on exactly what I was getting myself into. I won't give a "book report" but will rather discuss some of the things that stuck out to me.

I was prepared to read of unimaginable horror faced by slaves for 379 pages. But that was not the case. I commend Harriet Beecher Stowe for showing a seemingly innocent type of slavery not only in Kentucky (where that was more common) but also in New Orleans where it was quite rare. However, even as well as these "servants" (as their masters preferred to call them) were treated it did not change the fact that they desired freedom. Stowe even gives a real life example of a slave-holder being surprised to find out his well-to-do slave would want freedom.

Stowe seemed well aware that Northerners (whom she cut no slack) would not respond well to a book that showed only unimaginable physical abuse. Most Northern people at the time believed that such ocurences were such a rarity they probably would have paid little mind to such a book. Stowe knew just how to reel the people in and show emotional horrors faced by slaves, which is often much worse than physical.

The protagonist of the story is Uncle Tom. From the time he is living as happily as seems possible in slavery, with his wife and children, learning to read, trusted to travel alone, etc. until the time that he is beaten to death in New Orleans by a truly horrible man, his faith is never shaken. His willingness to tell others of Jesus is childlike in it's purity and you are left wondering at the end, if your faith would remain unshakable in such a situation. Upon being sold South (which was a terrible thing to a slave from Kentucky) his wife is crying and worried and Uncle Tom simply says "There'll be the same God there, Chloe, that there is here."

All of the characters in this book are so vivid. There is no character that leaves you feeling indifferent about them. You either fall in love with or loathe them. Tom's first master in New Orleans, St. Claire, was my favorite character. He reminded me of someone I know (though I won't say who). His views on slavery, his humor, his unwillingness to go to church because of all the church was upholding at the time made him seem like he could single handedly put an end to such a vile system.

"Religion! Is that what you hear at church religion? Is that which can bend and turn, and descend and ascend to fit every crooked phase of selfish worldly society, religion? Is that religion which is less scrupulous, less generous, less just, less considerate for man, than even my own ungodly, worldly, blinded nature? No! When I look for a religion, I must look for something above me, and not something beneath."

Not until the end of the book did Stowe begin the shock and awe view of slavery, which was not overdone and was completely warranted. Tom's last master was a dick. Excuse my lack of a vocabulary but much like St. Claire's wife I would have liked to have given him a piece of my mind. To think that even one such man could be responsible (or rather irresponsible) with so many slaves still sickens me to the core.

The impact this book had on America leading up to the Civil War is probably even more than I realize. I've heard told 100 times (though whether or not it is true will probably never be known) that upon meeting Stowe, President Lincoln said to her "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war." Oh, Abe.

No, Uncle Tom's Cabin is not considered non-fiction. However, each story told represents either something the author witnessed or a story told to her by someone witnessing such things. I cried more than once, not surprisingly. The talk of liberty and what it should mean to all of us is heartbreaking. When one successful runaway says "I have no wish to pass for an American, or to identify myself with them." You begin to feel the same way.

I laugh sometimes as I hear pastor's from the pulpit go on and on about our forefathers. Some of them, no doubt, great men with amazing minds. But they upheld this institution, should we really be trying to "get back to how they intended it?"  There should be one man we are trying to live our lives like and let me tell ya, it ain't Tommy Jefferson. Uncle Tom held fast to Jesus until the very end and that's what I hope to do.

Read it!

Book Review Friday: Water For Elephants

I decided that I, Meghan Moore-Hubbard, am going to read one book a week this year. I have never taken the time to read a whole lot but when I do I am always glad I did. I'm easily distracted by the TV but being unemployed (Drew says that's not the appropriate term because I'm not searching for a job but it makes me sound pathetic so I use it) leaves time for both. So in order to keep this up I have decided to devote my Friday blog posts to reviewing the book that I read that week. This week it was Water For Elephants.....I know I know I'm about a year behind. But better late than never.

I did not see the movie before reading this book (or after for that matter) but now I don't think I want to. Don't get me wrong I thought the book was great but some of the content (ie animal cruelty) is not something I need to see visually, it's bad enough in my mind. In case you're like me and don't get out to the movies or read much here's a little hint: it's about a circus.

Circuses are fascinating to me. Well circuses like this one, not modern day circuses. Granted I probably romanticize them, but can you imagine? Travelling all summer long on a train setting up and tearing down almost daily. Traveling with clowns, animals, performers, and the ever-present "freaks." It just seems so surreal but the exploitation is so real.

I won't give it all away because I know my mom reads my blog (at least she says she does) and I'm delivering it to this book to her to read next week. But suffice it to say Sara Gruen did her research. I don't think I've ever been to the circus, that I can recall. But I felt like I was there. The language, the descriptions, the vivid characters and the story line allowed my usually tame imagination to run wild.
I read this book in about 3 days, it kept my interest for 3 huge reasons:
 1. The main character is an elderly man in a nursing home, bound to tug on my heartstrings
2. He was a vet, so imagining all of those cats, zebras, horses, and eventually an elephant kept the pages turning in my hands.
3. It is set in the depression era, like the Grapes of Wrath I just read but this man's story during the depression differs so wildly from Grapes it's almost hard to imagine they are even in the same country much less the same time period. A good opportunity to compare and contrast America at that time (both fiction I know but an inside look nonetheless).


I suppose I'm not telling you all anything you probably don't already know (it was after all the #1 New York Times Bestseller and a hit movie) but even if you're not a reader this one will keep your interest and keep your imagination running. I give it 2 thumbs up.