Thoughts on “Made for You and Me” by Caitlin Shetterly

Made for You and Me by Caitlin Shetterly came to me via LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program. I read it during the recent Readathon.

About the Book:

Made for You and Me by Caitlin Shetterly (cover)Shortly after their marriage in 2008, Caitlin Shetterly and Dan Davis packed up their life and drove from Maine and family connections to the promise of Los Angeles. Both freelancers, they were confident in their ability to make it out west. But when the recession hit a few months into their new life, the jobs dried up. On top of that, Caitlin gave birth to their son, Matthew, the happy result of an unexpected pregnancy. With no money and no means of support, Caitlin and Dan finally decided to move back to Maine. They packed up the car and began the long trip home, determined to carve out a life for themselves there.

From the start of their first road trip, Caitlin sent email updates to friends and family. As the popularity of these missives grew, Caitlin started a blog, which grew into a series of audio diaries for NPR. As word got out about this young family struggling to find the American dream in the midst of a crumpling economy, support in myriad forms began pouring in, turning a single family’s journey into a kind of symbol of the American experience.

My Thoughts:

When I first received Made for You and Me through LibraryThing, I was a little worried. I expected it to be (a) sappily patriotic, (b) whiny, or (c) cheesy. It turned out to be a nice balance, blending personal experience with a reflection on America. There are certainly people who had (and have) it worse than Caitlin and Dan, which Caitlin acknowledges. Yet I think their story rings true because there is so much in it to which many people can relate.

Made for You and Me is, first and foremost, a memoir, one person’s experience of a certain point in her life and in American history. It’s not a how-to book; Shetterly isn’t giving advice to others in similar positions. She’s also not trying to compare her situation to those of others in any sort of mine-is-worse-than-yours sort of way. Rather, she is sharing her family’s story, with its good decisions and its not-so-good ones, its ups and downs as they, personally, experienced them. Caitlin’s writing is honest and engaging. There’s plenty of emotion in her story, but to me it never felt overdone. She welcomes the reader into her family’s life without holding back.

I liked reading Caitlin’s story. I appreciated her honesty and never felt like she was seeking sympathy or writing just to complain. She shares her frustrations and reflects on the family’s journey, but always in a way that moves her forward, always seeking the positive in a genuine way. I’ll admit, the book turned out far better than I’d expected, and I’m certainly glad I read it.

Those are my thoughts. Check out Made for You and Me by Caitlin Shetterly on GoodReads or LibraryThing. Or, take a look at the extras on Shetterly’s website, which include videos, interviews, and articles.

My Week in Books: April 17-23

My Week in Books

Welcome to my weekly Saturday feature here at Erin Reads, where I highlight new books that have entered my life, what I’ve been reading, and what’s happened on Erin Reads over the past week.

New Acquisitions

It’s been a rather slow acquisition week. I did receive a copy of Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program, but I didn’t feel a single book warranted a vlog! I do love the book’s cover, and even though I’ve been reading mixed reviews, the premise intrigues me enough that I’m looking forward to reading it.

TBR Additions

I was away last weekend and had a final on Thursday, which means I’ve been very out of the book blog loop. Did I miss your review of a book I must add to my TBR list? Please let me know! I’d hate to miss out.

Read This Week

I haven’t started any new books this week. I’m still working on Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, The Hill of Devi by E.M. Forster, and Miss New India by Bharati Mukherjee. I’m really enjoying all three, but my reading time has been limited and I haven’t made much progress. All my time has been focused on The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, which I have a week to finish for Reading Buddies!

On audio, I did finish Freakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, then moved on to The Imposter by Damon Galgut (read by my new favorite, Humphrey Bower!). I haven’t started a new audiobook yet. Nothing I have in the wings is really calling to me.

Erin Reads Recap

Your Turn!

How was your reading week? Do tell!

Reading Buddies Wrap-Up: “The Knife of Never Letting Go” by Patrick Ness

Reading Buddies ButtonBeware; the following post will contain spoilers for The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, book 1 of the Chaos Walking series. Read at your own risk!

Whew! That was one heck of a story, wasn’t it? I couldn’t tear myself away. My thoughts on this one are, I think, best shared in bullet point rather than paragraph form, so here it goes:

  • I liked the book and couldn’t put it down, but I didn’t love it in the way I love Graceling by Kristin Cashore or The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I think that might be because I didn’t love any character excessively. I certainly rooted for Todd and Viola, but I didn’t love either the way I do Katsa and Katniss.
  • The book didn’t go in any direction I’d expected. A new planet? Aliens? Settlers? Not what I’d expected, not usually my cup of tea, yet I was surprisingly fine with it.
  • Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (cover)The story was much more violent than I’d expected, too. There seemed to be a lot of death, violence, and graphic description, which I hadn’t been anticipating and was a little surprised to find. Not a problem for me, just not what I was expecting.
  • Every once in a while I got tired of the whole chase thing. Really, the whole book was one big long chase scene. A gripping one, for sure, but still. It was a lot of pages of Todd and Viola trying to outrun an army.
  • I continued to enjoy the way Noise was explored, how characters related to one another when Noise was involved, how Noise affected everything. In my first post on The Knife of Never Letting Go, I mentioned the connection between Noise and our contemporary environment of nonstop information. I really liked how Ness kept that theme part of the story without becoming too preachy or overt about it.
  • I really wanted Aaron to go away. And then, when he finally did, I kept worrying he’d come back. It seemed to me there was something inhuman (superhuman?) about him, the way he just kept coming, even with his face hanging off in shreds. He was one of the scariest monster-type villains I’ve encountered in a long time.
  • Oh, Manchee…why did you have to go? I loved Manchee, loved his comic relief and his fierce little loyalty. I think his death hit me hardest. I kept hoping he’d come back. Amanda shared a theory last time that if you like Manchee, you’ll like the series; if not, you won’t. Does that hold true for you? It certainly did for me.
  • The end…what?? I’d been thinking maybe I wouldn’t continue with the series, but after I finished the last page, I knew I’d keep going. I actually finished The Knife of Never Letting Go in bed late one night and used my phone to order The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men, the rest of the trilogy, before going to sleep! The ending definitely took me by surprise and made me curious to see where Ness would go from there.

I’ve now finished The Ask and the Answer (which I liked better than The Knife of Never Letting Go) and am about half way through Monsters of Men. I really like the direction in which Ness has taken the series and am anxious to see how he concludes it. Though, honestly, I’m not any more attached to the characters themselves than I was during The Knife of Never Letting Go. Still, the story is ridiculously gripping, the themes keep me fascinated, and I’m really not sure how Ness is going to get his characters out of the mess they’re in.

So, what did you think of The Knife of Never Letting Go? Will you be (are you already) continuing the series? Feel free to jump in, whether or not you officially read this one with Reading Buddies! Reading Buddies reviews (if I’ve missed yours, just let me know!):

CRP: “The Hill of Devi” by E.M. Forster (Part 1)

The Classics Reclamation Project is my personal challenge to read and enjoy the classics. Each Wednesday, I post about the classic I’m reading at the moment.

The Classics Reclamation ProjectAfter listening to E.M. Forster’s novel A Passage to India over the past couple of weeks, I decided to pick up Forster’s nonfiction account of his time in India during the early 20th century. Entitled The Hill of Devi, this account is comprised mostly of Forster’s letters describing his experiences.

I’m only about 60 pages into The Hill of Devi, but I love it. It’s easy to read, full of interesting information and experiences, and lovingly written. In the preface, Forster admits that most of his letters were addressed to relations, including his mother, saying:

“I was writing to people of whom I was fond and whom I wanted to amuse, with the result that I became too humorous and conciliatory, and too prone to turn remote and rare matters into suburban jokes…

‘Amusing letters home,’ from Miss Eden’s onward, have their drawbacks. Aiming at freshness, they may sacrifice dignity and depth.” (p. 7-8)

It’s true Forster’s letters have a light-hearted delight about them. To me, though, that is precisely what makes them so endearing. Forster, apparently, had a gentle sense of humor that doesn’t come out much in his novels (at least, the ones I’ve read). His delight at experiencing India just pours through his descriptions and anecdotes, and they are a joy to read.

Here, for example, is Forster’s description of the food at a feast to which he was invited early on in his first visit. The following numbered list is, in the text, accompanied by a diagram of Forster’s plate, basically a circle with numbers indicating where each of the dishes described was located. He described his dinner as follows:

1.The Hill of Devi by E.M. Forster (cover) A mound of delicious rice–a great stand-by.
2. Brown tennis balls of sugar–not bad.
3. Golden curlicues–sweet to sickliness.
4. Little spicy rissoles.
5. Second mound of rice, mixed with spices and lentils.
6. Third mound of rice, full of sugar and sultanas–very nice.
7. Curry in metal dish–meant to be mixed with rice No. 1.
8. Sauce, as if made form apples that felt poorly. Also to be mixed with rice, but only once by me.
9. Another sauce, chooey-booey and brown.
10, 11, 12. Three dreadful little dishes that tasted of nothing till they were well in your mouth, when your whole tongue suddenly burst into flame. I got to hate this side of the tray.
13. Long thin cake, like a brandy snap but salt.
14. It may have been vermicelli.
15. As for canaries.
16. Fourth mound of rice to which I never came.
17. Water.
18. Native bread–thin oat-cake type.

I love the mixture of humor, analysis, and enjoyment. I often find myself smiling as I read Forster’s letters, which isn’t at all what I expected! I’m very much looking forward to continuing to read The Hill of Devi over the upcoming week.

Thoughts on “Nazareth, North Dakota” by Tommy Zurhellen

I received a copy of Nazareth, North Dakota by Tommy Zurhellen for review from Atticus Books. I read it during the recent Readathon.

About the Book:

Nazareth North Dakota by Tommy Zurhellen (cover)1983, the middle of North Dakota: a child is born. Well, actually, more like a child is given, or perhaps abandoned. In the Motel de Love No. 3, an infant boy is left outside the room in which Roxy and her no-good husband, Dill, are staying. And so begins a clever, contemporary version of the story of the Messiah.

From “The Annunciation” to “The Temptation on the Mount,” Nazareth, North Dakota follows this modern Messiah through three decades of his life. It’s peopled with all kinds of characters: corrupt sheriffs, hardworking townspeople, revival preachers, mysterious old men, meddlesome bikers…even an escaped circus elephant. Never obvious and never dull, Nazareth, North Dakota is an exciting ride, regardless of how well you know the stories on which it’s based.

My Thoughts:

I think it takes a lot of skill to rewrite a famous story well, retaining enough elements to keep the story familiar while burying recognizable threads to such a degree that the end product feels fresh and creative. Tommy Zurhellen has that skill. I have a feeling Nazareth, North Dakota reads differently depending on your knowledge of the stories from which it draws. My general familiarity certainly led to some moments of recognition, but my lack of specific knowledge led, I’m sure, to my missing that added layer at times. But what’s so cool about Nazareth, North Dakota is that it holds up as a good story even without that extra layer. While it’s based on the story of the Messiah, it’s by no means dependent on it.

Nazareth, North Dakota is only just over 200 pages long, yet Zurhellen manages to introduce and flesh out a surprising number of characters. It doesn’t take him long to bring a character to life, and he deftly dispatches each new creation into its appointed place within the story’s tangled web. I loved Roxy, proud and fierce; I also loved her mother, Annie, and her friend Joe. Severo gave me the creeps. Ole Simonson intrigued me. They were all so vividly alive.

There is a really fascinating interview with Tommy Zurhellen on the Atticus Books website that I’d recommend if Nazareth, North Dakota sounds at all interesting to you. Here’s a taste, part of Zurhellen’s explanation of how his novel differs from “more straightforward adaptations:”

“One thing I definitely didn’t want to do while writing this book is simply ‘update’ the New Testament into another religious allegory. I’m a fiction writer, and for me the fun of fiction is creating characters you care about, and then seeing where they take you. There’s a freedom involved there, and if you don’t feel like you have that freedom to explore, well, you might as well be completing a paint-by-numbers coloring book.”

If you enjoy clever adaptations, stories told from multiple angles, or anything just a little bit crazy, I think you’ll like Nazareth, North Dakota!

Those are my thoughts. Check out Nazareth, North Dakota by Tommy Zurhellen on GoodReads or LibraryThing!