Coffee and a Few Good Reads

Bowwow Powwow	Gordon Jourdain, Brenda J. Child, Jonathan Thunder
Genre: Children’s Fiction	Date started: Dec 2020
Prompt: 16	Date finished: Dec 2020
How did this book make me feel: connected	Stars: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
What I most loved: The translations between English and Ojibwe	What I didn't like: Lack of detailed storyline
Review: This book is a good representation of the Ojibwe culture, but the storyline is lacking. Very little actually happens in the story but the images are thorough and follow the story well.

Anxious People	Fredrick Backman
Genre: Mystery	Date started: December 26, 2020
Prompt: 13	Date finished: December 28, 2020
How did this book make me feel: entertained	Stars: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
What I most loved: Reading a genre I don't typically read. I could not put this book down.	What I didn't like: The characters were not fully developed. I felt like I didn't know them as well as I needed to.
Review: It was a fun, fast-paced story. I enjoyed it, and it redeemed the author for me, since Beartown was so bad. It made me want to look up another of his books, hoping for another lighthearted story in-between some of the darker books I find myself gravitating towards lately.

We Need to Talk about Kevin	Lionel Shriver
Genre: Psychological Thriller	Date started: January 1, 2021
Prompt: 8	Date finished: January 4, 2021
How did this book make me feel: unsettled	Stars: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
What I most loved: The character development. These characters, though some unlikable, were very well developed.	What I didn't like: I didn't like the format. This book was written as letters to Eva's estranged husband. It kept jumping between past and present, and the format of reading letters was not pleasing.
Review: This book was jarring. I could not put it down, despite the fact that I did not want to keep reading. I did not expect that Franklin and Celia were dead in the backyard. I wonder if Kevin had an undiagnosed emotional disorder, or perhaps Eva did. This book was a struggle from beginning to end, but I enjoyed the struggle the whole way through.

Tuesday, January 12, 2021