Now that pool season has officially begun, there’s lots more reading getting done. This month might be a new record. 10 books at 3,135 pages. So let’s go!
Meet the Austins by Madeleine L’Engle (223 pages). I’ve had this series in my ante library for years. So finally got around to reading them. I expected something a little more like Wrinkle. But this was literally just a story about a family. Dr.
Wallace Austin and his wife Victoria have 4 kids- John, Vicky, Suzy and Rob. When a family friend asks them for a big favor, they take in a recently orphaned girl Maggy. And basically, that’s the whole book. The family’s little adventures and misadventures. It was sweet and loving. I finished in 2 days (pool time = more reading).
The Moon by Night by Madeleine L’Engle (270 pages). Book 2 in the series. Just as enjoyable. The Austins pack up the station wagon for a cross country road trip. I mean, it’s a road trip because things are changing for the family. But a road trip nonetheless. John is off to MIT in the family, Maggy is moving with her legal guardian to California. And the rest of the family is moving to NYC for Dr. Austin’s career. So one last adventure for them! It was an easy and enjoyable read. One fun thing was when Vicky mentions tessering like Meg and Charles Wallace. So clearly the Wrinkle in Time family and the Austins know each other. But you don’t see them interact. I finished in 1 day. Yep, it’s pool season again.
The Young Unicorns by Madeleine L’Engle (286 pages). Book 3 in the series. This one had a much different feel than the others. It was a lot darker. The Austins are now squarely situated in NYC. But there’s something sinister threatening the family. With new friends (including the mysterious Canon Tallis), and new enemies, in their lives, the Austins’ adventures have only begun. I finished in 3 days. Nope, not pool time. All. Day. Hearings.
A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle (332 pages). Book 4 in the series. The NYC chapter is over. The Austins are spending the summer with their grandfather before moving back home to their small town. It’s a summer of sorrow (grandfather has leukemia) and love. Vicky has three love interests in her life- Zachary, a troubled and exciting rich young man she met on their cross country travels; Leo, a local boy she’s known forever; and Adam, a young man working with her brother for the summer. Adam actually spent his prior summer working with Dr O’Keefe (yes, Calvin from Wrinkle). But now he’s working with dolphins. Turns out Vicky has quite a connection- to the dolphins AND to all of the young men in her life. I finished in 4 days.
Troubling a Star by Madeleine L’Engle (316 pages). Book 5 in the series. This one was dark too. The Austins have returned to their small town. Vicky strikes up a friendship with Serena, the great aunt of Adam. And for her 16th birthday, Great aunt Serena gives Vicky an amazing gift- a trip to Antarctica. Adam is down there on a research trip. So Vicky is very excited about her trip. Until she gets on the boat for the trip. Between warning notes and strange new people, turns out Vicky is in quite a bit of danger. Like, finds herself alone on an iceberg in the middle of the Antarctic danger. I finished in 1 day. Yes, pool time strikes again.
An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L’Engle (367 pages). Book 5 in the Wrinkle in Time series. Not really sure why I read 4 of them and ignored this one. But I’m on a L’Engle roll now, so I had to read this one too. Once I got into it, I remembered why I quit the Wrinkle series. As much as I loved A Wrinkle in Time, the rest of the books were weird. In this one, Polly O’Keefe (daughter of Meg and Calvin) has moved in with her Murry grandparents. Somehow, she and her friend Zachary (yes, the same Zachary that knows Vicky Austin) stumble upon a time overlap and go back 3000 years to the time of druids. Kind of like how her uncles ended up in Moses’ time in Many Waters. Weird. But actually more enjoyable than I think some of the other Wrinkle in Time books were. And oddly a lot more religious than I would’ve thought (despite a foray in Moses’ time in a previous book that seemed very unBiblical). I finished in 6 days.
The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L’Engle (243 pages). I kind of wish I’d have read this one before A Ring of Endless Light because Adam is the main character. And while he somewhat explained his summer to Vicky, this is the actual story of that summer. I also wish I’d read it before An Acceptable Time because it occurs 4 years prior to that story. And Poly’s name is spelled differently for some reason. Adam gets a summer job in Dr Calvin O’Keefe’s lab on Gaea (off the coast of Portugal). Dr O’Keefe is studying the regenerative abilities of starfish and if it can be translated to other animals (including humans). But on his flight to Gaea, Adam meets a beautiful girl who draws him into a treacherous web. And when Poly, who is on his flight, goes missing, his involvement deepens more than he thought possible. One explosive day spent in Lisbon brings everything to a head. This one had a similar feel to The Young Unicorns with the intrigue. And with the appearance of Canon Tallis. I finished in 3 days.
The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir (354 pages, well technically 434 pages. But who reads the notes, bibliography, and index?). Back to a little history for this girl, after my rash of YA books. Yes, legit history. Not historical fiction. Personally, I find the history of the British monarchy fascinating. Yet I am not very well versed in it. This is the story of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife and the mother of Elizabeth I. With as many wives as Henry VIII had, it’s hard to keep track of what happened to each one. But I can now tell you what happened to this one. Henry quickly became infatuated with Anne (while he was still married to Katherine of Aragon). He had his first marriage annulled, thus bastardizing his eldest daughter Mary, and quickly married Anne. Their only living child was Elizabeth, not the son Henry so desperately desired. As the anti-Boleyn factions started gaining strength and Henry’s eyes drifted toward Jane Seymour, things were set into motion to accuse Anne of infidelity and treason. Which quickly led to her trial and death. Within a month of Henry being made aware of her crimes, she was imprisoned, found guilty, sentenced to death and Henry was married to Jane. The intrigue and behind the scenes backstabbing was riveting. Like a soap opera! One fun fact- one of the noblemen who found Anne guilty had the last name of Fiennes. An ancestor to Ralph and Joseph. I finished in 5 days.
My (not so) Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella (434 pages). Cat Brenner is trying to live her dream life in London. But Instagram life isn’t real life. And she’s struggling to match her ideal to reality. Then reality strikes in a big way- she is fired by her boss, Demeter, the woman she’s been admiring the most. So back to her family farm in Somerset, where the real Katie comes back to the surface. She helps her dad and stepmom start a glamping business that really takes off. And then Demeter and her family show up for a vacation. Suddenly everything Katie thought she knew turns out to be as big of a lie as her Instagram! And when the dust settles, will Katie finally realize that life is imperfectly perfect?! I finished in 2 days.
The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict (310 pages). Back to a little historical fiction. Did you know that Albert Einstein had an equally brilliant physicist for his first wife? You didn’t? Me either. But her story was absolutely enthralling. Mileva Maric traveled to Zurich from her home in Croatia to study mathematics and physics at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic. She was the fifth woman to attend in this field of study (although there were other girls at her boarding house who also attended Polytechnic in other fields). One of her classmates was Albert Einstein. They went from friends to lovers to spouses. It took time and there were bumps along the way (illegitimate daughter, failure to get degrees, failure to find jobs). But Mitza knew she and Albert were intellectual equals. She helped coauthor his theories, even though she never got credit. And once she realized he no longer viewed her as an intellectual equal, or even as a human being, she took her sons and left him. To be forgotten by the world. I finished in 5 days.
And this month’s favorite goes to......The Other Einstein. I loved learning about the woman who helped the famous Albert Einstein and was promptly discarded for a prettier version after her intellect had almost been used up. But she managed to save herself and get out while she could still find the girl she had once been.
No comments:
Post a Comment