My 16yo and I have agreed on a reading challenge: We will each read 20 pages a day of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. If we do that, we will complete the book before we leave on our trip to the Galápagos Islands in a few weeks. And this (somehow?) will enhance our trip. At page 206, am I having regrets? Perhaps.
New bookstack! ☀️ What is everyone reading this long weekend?
Words of advice from Mr. Darwin. Luckily we can still do these things in this country. For now. 🤞🏻 #carpediem
I've seen this quote before, and I love it, but I love this framing of it even more!
Also, I think I need this quote on a t-shirt. For those non-great days.
pickI enjoyed this tale of Willa Knox in a falling down house in modern day Vineland, New Jersey in and Thatcher Greenwood a high school teacher in a falling down house in 1870s Vineland. I love the juxtaposition of the 19th century of Darwin by the principal of the high school, to the annoyance of Thatcher and the Trumpian views of Willa‘s father in law Nick. It just goes to show that you cannot use logic and reason to undermine good old blind belief
panBarbara Kingsolver is a very good writer, and this book is rich with metaphor and well-drawn parallels between the 2015 and 1870 storylines that illustrate the ideas about America she‘s trying to convey.
But. It‘s not a good book.
The problems are:
- the book is tedious and the story and characters didn‘t draw me in
- I disagreed with much of her overall sociopolitical message, which made it even more tedious to read.
#weekendreads
Reading this one for my in-person book club which meets this Thursday. I suggested it because I enjoyed Demon Copperhead tremendously. This one, unfortunately, is a slog. I‘m about halfway in, and there‘s no plot to speak of - it‘s long on characters discussing social issues and short on story.
Speaking about Darwin's Finches (on my last post), if anyone is interested in the theory of evolution and Darwin's work, you might enjoy the tagged book.
Now, it's been almost two decades since I've read this (and it was a translation) so I was very young then and I'm hoping the writing isn't actually as dry as I remember 😅
Still, it's an interesting book and I'd love to read it again soon.
#Naturalitsy
#WinterGames2024 #XmasChaCha +5pts
panDon‘t read this book unless lots of animal death and racism don‘t bother you and you‘re just super into Victorian science. I‘m Brooke H on Goodreads if you want to read my full review. (And yes, I did read this entire book to prep for a trip to the Galapagos. Of which there was one chapter. So.)
