May 11, 2015

Recent Reads

48. Picture This: The Near-sighted Monkey Book
The author ponders how we are all artists as kids, and why we stop drawing as we get older - something we all experience. In this book she has little activities to help adults make a mark, color, and play again. I'm a huge fan of the author and her work, and while this book is filled with her signature funky art, it was too disjointed for my tastes. Rating: 2 stars.

The relationship between mothers and daughters is one that has been complicated since we first started walking upright as a species I'll bet. There is something about the mother-daughter bond that pulls and pushes at us, binds and embraces us, and one we often reject at the very core of our being when we are young. Most of us are horrified when we first hear something our mother would say come out of our mouth, but as we get older, we make our peace with that. 

This memoir is a coming of age story of the author as a 20-something finding her way in the world. I really liked the start and end of this book, where we learn more about the author's relationship with her mother, but the middle dragged on and on. The thing about ordinary life is that it is really only wonderful to the person living it, and often does not make for a thrilling read for the rest of us. I listened to the audiobook, which was read by the author, and though I quite like her, the voice did not work for me. It is interesting to note that I enjoyed her memoir about her father (the glitter) much more - probably because it was way less complicated a relationship than the one she had with her mother (the glue).

I've heard many women say that they didn't really appreciate their mothers until they had kids. I guess that means I might never appreciate my own Mother as much as I could, but in the meanwhile I try to enjoy every moment we do have together. Rating: 2 stars.

Some of these author essays/talks are better than others. Moving it to my Did Not Finish pile for now, as I'm not compelled to keep reading. Rating: 2 stars.

If you have little ones in your home and have not checked out the Scaredy Squirrel series, get thee to a library. We read these with my nephews when they were younger, and the books sparked much laughter and conversation about what scared this squirrel and how he dealt with his fear, with lots of re-enactment of the "play dead" option. I recently found one we had not read together, and while it is not as good as the earlier ones, it was still fun to read. Rating: 3 stars.

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