Book 1: Chronicles of Narnia: the Silver Chair. The main children character in this book left much to be desired. All they did was bicker and complain about their adventure. Puddleglum was the only redeeming character in this entire book. And his rather pessimistic outlook on the world was much how I felt reading this book haha.
Book 2: Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy. Not much to report the horses talk, the children bicker, Aslan behaves in ways that make sense only in hindsight. Truly a typical Narnia book. I do think this one is one of the betters in the series and I enjoyed seeing Edmund and Susan if only briefly. Plus I love a good twins separated a birth plot line.
Book 3: Chronicles of Narnia: the Magicians Nephew. I actually mostly enjoyed this one. Though I had to laught about how he felt the need to explain ALL the things (like the lamp post for example- I mean why give us a reason its a magical world of course there's a magical lamp post we didn't ask). Genuinly it felt like he was trying to weave everything just right so the final book would actually land and not tumble down hill cartoon styles (imagine giant snowball). I am curious what Netflix is gonna do with the story in their upcoming adaptation though.
Book 4: Chronicles of Narnia: the Last Battle. Ick. My least favorite by far. Despite bringing back characters that I genuinely like (Edmund, Reepicheep, DLF) they had no baring on the story at all. I also felt annoyed by his writing Susan out of the story and I know there has been much said on the topic but my opinion? (hot take brace yourself) He was just being lazy he'd written 8 kings and queens and 7 is a much more religiously significant number so he had to toss one and Susan was the easiest to write off as she was supposed to be off in America and such. Genuinely from her perspective the whole story would be a nightmare. Your entire family is killed in a violent train accident and you are left behind to carry that grief alone? Yikes man, lighten up! This is a kids book. Wouldn't read again but at least I can say I've read it.
Book 5 : Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. The first of 3 books I read (listened to actually) that inspired movies. Space is cool. This book is cool. The movie about this book is wayyy cool! I loved how indepth this book was about all the individuals and teams that came together to use their brain power to solve the problems and bring the Astronauts home. I found the story engaging and I was on the edge of my seat for entire chapters as we grappled with one crisis after another. Truth be told we probably never would've known Jim Lovel if his space craft hadn't crapped out and we wouldn't still be talking about him if the incredible men and women who worked at NASA and its affiliates didn't do their job well in handling the crisis as they came. I'm so excited that NASA is looking at the Moon again and I am waiting with baited breath to hear the story of another Astronaut that has made the astonishing trip there and back again! (Lets cross our fingers that the April launch date is successful!!)
Book 6: The Rocket Boys. An excellent and relatively short read. It was well written and the pacing was good. Some elements felt odd to include (like his attempt at a "love-life") and others were crushingly sad (like his fathers disinterest and open lack of pride in him, his mother chewing him out for being selfish during the mine accident and his depression after the loss of his friend and mentor being written off as being "bad" and needing to focus on what really matters.). Frankly I'll be completely honest I think the movie October Sky did a good enough job telling the story that you could very well leave it at that and be more that satisfied.
Book 7: The Burnout. This was a recommendation from my therapist actually (no not as a self help book just as a amusing read). Let me say I was humbled by the fact that I have not read smut until this moment. 🫣 yikes! Haha it was still incredibly tame I know but still. I wrote a pretty decent Goodreads review for this one, which I'll link here. And leave it at that.
Book 8: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief. I convinced my sister that we should complete our YA trifecta by reading pjo this month *spoiler we didn't finish the series as we had planned*. This is a solid book! It was a fun read and rather quick. I have fond memories of reading this one following being gifted it as a birthday present. I do think Greek God's are a bit more in style nowadays what with Epic the Musical (which if you haven't listened to it shame on you, your family and your cows go do that righ now!) out and about in the world so it was fun to have that in the back of my mind while reading.
Book 9: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Sea of Monsters. A rush read trying to finish before March 1st. I thought it was funny how much world building is thrown into the beginning (things that probably couldve been in the 1st one- like the names of other campers and such). But the ongoing character development is enjoyable and the story moves at a quick pace. Genuinely I got sick right as I was finishing this book so some thoughts and reflections are a bit blurry.
Book 10: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The final book of the month! This book tells the inspiring story of tje Washington rowing crew and their efforts to win Gold at the 1936 Olympics. It paints a powerful (and often painful) picture of the depression, and the hurt that it caused so many families. As well as discussing Germany, the Nazis and how even the Olympic Games became part of their propaganda efforts. Throughout the book you learn about the individuals who rowed the boat and the lives that led them there, you learn some elements of the sport of rowing (which in and of itself was fascinating), and you see play out clearly all these boys had to overcome to accomplish their dreams. I listened to the final chapters of this book while on my sick bed which was fitting and gave the courage and perseverance of Don Hume the stoke for the Husky Clipper during that final race a whole new level of meaning! In the immortal words of Lary from Veggie Tales: "I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob." This excellent book was made into a pretty good movie but ultimately the movie barely scratched the surface of the story (for good reason the book is nearly 18 hours of audio content and the movie is under 3). Watch the movie to dip your toes in and then make the right choice and listen to the audio book. You won't regret it!!
Enjoy my sister's substack if you want her perspective on our joint reads and to sneak a peak at what other books she got through this month.
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