The very last of the Beach Reads for this year: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. Of course i had heard of this book and movie, but I hadn't read or watched it. I'm quite glad that I finally checked out both the book and the movie. The book was wry and dark and very entertaining, as I tried to follow along as Sam Spade unraveled the web that an alluring woman pulled him into when she walked into his office one day. The movie, starring Humphrey Bogart, was charming. Bogart did such a good job of walking the line between charming and horrible misogynist - it was a masterpiece. It was also a Triple Dipper on my 14 x 14 Reading Challenge, since it fit into three categories: My Favorite Detectives, LifeTime Reading Challenge, and Books Made Into Movies.
I need more double and triple dippers if I'm going to finish this challenge in time!
Other books I've finished:
- The Artist's Way for Parents was one I read for work. I was never a follower of the Artist's Way, but I know it has influenced and inspired many people. So when I heard there was a new edition for Parents, I knew I should check it out and see if it was worth recommending to the parents in my congregation - and it is. It's still not really for me, but I can see how it could be great for many folks.
- How We Love Our Kids takes the notion of Love Styles/Languages and applies it to parenting. I found many of the ideas really intriguing - heck, I'm already a fan of the whole Love Languages Idea - but I also noted that personally I had a hard time deciding which type I was based on these descriptions. I felt a resonance with several of the Parenting Types, and that was somewhat contradictory. None-the-less, this is a thought provoking book that challenges parents to move beyond the love style they inherit from their family of origin, work with the love style of their parenting partner, and try to honor the inherent love style of the child they are parenting. Whew - that's a tall order but imagine the possibilities if we could all pull it off!
- Hope on a Tightrope is an older book, but after the recent (Ferguson and after) conversation about race in america I found it once again poignant. Dr. Cornel West is an amazing writer, and this book is the short and sweet version of his thoughts - full of bold inspirational quotes this is a very quick and easy (but not simple to mull over) read.
- Fed Up With Frenzy is another call for slower and simpler parenting, but this one has a serious flaw: after just a brief introduction it proceeds to a long list of things (slow things) to do with your kids. As a Fast Parent, this could be read just as MORE to do! Then in the back of the book there are chapters about EveryDay Slow and Slow Parenting - but by then it would be too late for most readers.
- Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto was a pick for my "Around the World in Alphabetical Order" category. It is a tense atmospheric drama set in an institutional hospital in Finland, but it suffers from a long build-up and weak ending.
- The Collected Poems of May Sarton was my latest for the "Poetry" category of my reading challenge. I hadn't ever read Sarton before, but she is a UU author and so I looked this up. I loved her poems, with such imagery!
More reading adventures ahead: So many Books, So Little Time!
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