Book 22: The Geography of Bliss

This book has been on my radar for a while, but I finally got around to reading (listening to) it.



I found some of it quite funny, and it was all very interesting, but not much was news to me. I enjoyed his descriptions of different places, and found Moldova particularly nifty, because I didn't know much about Moldova. But really, nothing here is rocket science, though it is still a reasonably good read.

Book 21: Bring Up the Bodies

I just finished the second book in this trilogy about Thomas Cromwell. Like the first book in the trilogy, Wolf Hall, this also won the Man Booker Prize.



I loved it.

This one was different from Wolf Hall (shorter, for one), and had a different flavor to it. Thomas Cromwell shows different motivations and reveals a new aspect to his character. Now I'm a bit miffed that I have to wait for her to finish writing the third.

Book 20: I Am Nujood

I picked this for our neighborhood book club because it looked reasonably interesting and it was a book club set available immediately from the public library.


It turned out to be an interesting story that gave me a view of Yemen, which is a place I don't know that much about. It was a bit simplistically written, but it was the account of a child.

While I live happily in my bubble of literacy and self-determination, there are many women and children around the world who are not so fortunate.

Book 19: The One World Schoolhouse

I'd heard of Khan Academy on a homeschooling board I hang out on, but I didn't exactly know what it was all about until I heard an interview of Sal Khan on NPR. His intention is to provide a world-class education to everyone, for free or very little cost.



Khan talks about how mastery of foundational concepts, especially in math and science, is essential to understanding more complex ideas, and we should not force (or allow) students to move on until they have shown mastery. Hmm, sounds a lot like some language learning software I've worked with before. It also fundamentally turns the time-based school year on its ear.

Khan proposes providing his videos and problem-generating software to students in developing countries so that they have access to quality education, too. This now seems like real possibility, with the development of inexpensive tablet computers.

I registered for an account at KhanAcademy.org and started at the beginning with math (studies show that the best predictor of a good math teacher is a solid understanding of math concepts). I'm happy to say that so far, I have achieved mastery of addition of one-digit numbers.

Book 18: Wolf Hall

Normally, say "trilogy" to me, and I'll run away screaming. But this book and the sequel both won the Man Booker Prize, so I gave it a try.



I didn't realize until almost an entire chapter in that the Thomas who was the main character was Thomas Cromwell, but then I was hooked.

This was an audio book and the reading was spectacular. The reader created many distinctive voices that were wonderful to listen to, and also helped me keep all the Thomases, Henrys, Anns and Catherines straight.

Book 17: Three Sisters

One of my 5/5 challenges this year is to read five dramas. Since I hadn't started a single one and it's mid-March, it was time to get going.



I'm sure I've actually read this before. And I really do love Chekhov. But I was often so confused. Why is Olga suddenly crying? I thought Masha left--why is she still here?

I looked to see if there was a production of it I could watch, since that's the way it's supposed to be enjoyed. I found a couple from the 70s and they got terrible reviews because "nothing happens." Well, yes, that's pretty much the point of the play, my friends.

So maybe I'll stick with Chekhov short stories. And plays in which something happens? Like Shakespeare, perhaps? We'll see.

Book 16: Free-Range Kids

I tried listening to this as an audio book a year or so ago and didn't really like it then, but I enjoyed it much more when actually reading it.



My kids are really too little to be free range, since they are still in the "I have almost no impulse control" stage, but for the future, these are some great ideas. I especially liked the chapter about giving up the illusion of being able to control what happens all the time. That's a concept I could implement throughout my life.

I also appreciated the specific tips she gave for teaching kids self-help skills to keep them safer. It was good to be reminded that most people are good and helpful, and that the world is physically safer for children than it probably ever has been in history (in terms of disease and injury), and that crime rates are lower than they have been since the 1960s.

Book 15: Tom Jones

I have finally finished this behemoth!



It was a bit of a slog for a long while, but toward the end I was more interested, because I began to see how it might all turn out. Some of it was quite funny--I think most of it was supposed to be funny, actually.