Race Across Alaska by Libby Riddles and Tim Jones

Goodreads synopsis: Libby Riddles wanted an adventure. At the age of 16 she left home for the snowy frontiers of Alaska, the Last Frontier. There her love of animals drew her to the sport of sled dog racing. When she entered the Iditarod, the famous marathon from Anchorage to Nome, she was just another Iditarod Nobody. Twelve hundred miles later, having conquered blizzards, extreme cold, and exhaustion, she and her dogs crossed the final stretch of sea ice, miles ahead of the nearest competitor... and suddenly she realised: I will be the first woman to win the Iditarod. This is the story of a courageous woman and her heroic dogs. This is the story of Libby Riddles's adventure.

My rating: 4 stars.

Content warnings: PG. Mild swearing, violence towards dogs.

Thoughts: I wasn't originally going to read this book, but Winterdance made me want another Iditarod story and this was the other book club pick. But I'm glad I did. The story itself is enjoyable and very easy to get into and read. Riddles talks less about the preparation and focuses more on the specifics of running the race, which was interesting.

What I enjoyed the most though, surprisingly, was the margin notes giving more details about elements of the race, like the dogs, or what's on a sled. I thought I would just skip them and read the story, but I actually really looked forward to them. Having those kinds of details enhanced the reading about the race in general, and it was all neat things to know, written in an easy to digest way. It was nice.

From reading the story, Riddles seems like a neat, down to earth person, and reading through her Iditarod story was something I enjoyed a lot. I'd recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in the Iditarod race.

(As an interesting side note, in one short part of the story, Riddles mentions meeting Paulsen on the race. That, combined with the difference in focuses and details in different places, make Winterdance and Race Across Alaska good books to read together.)

When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest

Goodreads Synopsis: In an inspiring pairing, Amy Hest and P.J. Lynch create an unforgettable tribute to the immigrant experience.

Jessie lives with her grandmother in a poor village in the valleys of eastern Europe. When, to everyone's surprise, young Jessie is chosen by the village rabbi to travel to America, and to leave her grandmother behind, they both feel their hearts will break.

Award-winning author Amy Hest brings her sure and inspired touch to the story of our immigrant heritage as she follows Jessie across the ocean to a new life—and a new love—in America.

Exquisitely illustrated by P.J. Lynch, with paintings that glow with warmth and carefully observed detail, WHEN JESSIE COMES ACROSS THE SEA transcends time and culture in a tribute to the courage and hope of all who seek a better life. It is destined to become a modern classic.

My rating: 5 stars.

Thoughts: I was a little afraid to pick up this book again, but excited too. I had such vague memories of the book itself, just one picture really stuck out in my mind at all, but I did have such vivid memories of how much the book meant to younger me.

This book is so gorgeous. I almost cried by the end, I still love it so much. The story is so beautiful, and the illustrations are masterpieces. Yes, the back of the book says it's for ages 6-9, but even as an adult, this book is so worth the little bit of time it takes to read.

I just really love this book.

Winterdance by Gary Paulsen

Goodreads synopsis: Paulsen and his team of dogs endured snowstorms, frostbite, dogfights, moose attacks, sleeplessness, and hallucinations in the relentless push to go on. Map and color photographs.

My rating: 4 stars.

Content warnings: PG-13. Swearing, violence towards dogs.

Thoughts: I grew up reading a picture book about the Iditarod. So when this book came up as a pick for a book club, I got pretty excited about it. It's something little me wanted to know more about, but as I got older and that book faded from memory eventually and the whole event slipped my mind.

But it's back now.

Paulsen is a great writer. After Hatchet and the rest of the Brian books I didn't really doubt that. But I was curious how non fiction would look. His writing is still like his fiction. It's engaging, entertaining (a little more crass, but the intended audience is older) and he makes the story feel real.

There was a surprising amount of emotional depth to the story too. There were a few things that struck me deeply and it wasn't something I had expected.

It can be a heavy story at times. But it's infused with a lot of humor too, and there's an overarching awe about the race and how it changes a person to participate. I really did enjoy it.

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman

Goodreads synopsis: A modern classic, Einstein’s Dreams is a fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905, when he worked in a patent office in Switzerland. As the defiant but sensitive young genius is creating his theory of relativity, a new conception of time, he imagines many possible worlds. In one, time is circular, so that people are fated to repeat triumphs and failures over and over. In another, there is a place where time stands still, visited by lovers and parents clinging to their children. In another, time is a nightingale, sometimes trapped by a bell jar.

Now translated into thirty languages, Einstein’s Dreams has inspired playwrights, dancers, musicians, and painters all over the world. In poetic vignettes, it explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence.

My rating: 2 stars.

Content warnings: R. Some swearing, mentions of nudity both sexual and non sexual.

Thoughts: Some of the little stories were thought provoking. Challenging the way time and life are viewed. At least that's how I chose to look at it.

But the rest. I'm not entirely sure what the point was. I spent most of the book pretty confused as to why it was considered so great, what it was even supposed to be about and why the connection with Einstein was necessary. Maybe without that it would have been a little more interesting. But even so, they felt like little worldbuilding exercises that were published as a book more than anything else.

I'm not saying that automatically made them unenjoyable. But I think if they had been fleshed out more as short stories they would have done their themes much more justice.

Or maybe they weren't supposed to have themes and I'm just grasping for some kind of meaning from this book because confusion and indifference isn't something I expected.

In Someone's Shadow by Rod McKuen

Back cover synopsis: In Someone's Shadow is, quite simply, one of the most direct, touching and beautiful collection of love poems by an American poet. In diary form it chronicles aloneness, the coming of love, the duration of an affair and the leave-taking. Using the seasons of the year as a platform to speak eloquently of man's need, the words in this book underscore the reason why Rod McKuen has become not only the most influential and best-selling poet of our lifetime, but quite possibly the best-selling poet of all time.

As well as the "diary," In Someone's Shadow contains a series of verses entitled Did You Say the War Is Over?, some of the material from A Man Alone (written for Frank Sinatra) and a collection of lyrics from the writer/composer's recent songs.

My rating: 3 stars.

Content warnings: PG-13. Some sexual poems.

Thoughts: Well... it's poetry.

I had never heard of Rod McKuen before stumbling into this book, which either points to my lack of culture or how unlasting the work actually was. Or both, but probably the former.

I decided to read it entirely because I liked the sound of the title.

Which became funny, because the "In Someone's Shadow" portions I liked less than the "Did You Say the War Is Over?" bits.

I'm not really a poetry person, so it's hard for me to get into it/understand it sometimes. That being said, there were some poems I did really like in this one, and I think I'll hang onto the book for a bit for those. The rest weren't super impressive, but I can't tell if that's me, or the poems themselves. Probably a mix of both.

Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

Goodreads synopsis: Breathtakingly illustrated and hauntingly written, Tales from Outer Suburbia is by turns hilarious and poignant, perceptive and goofy. Through a series of captivating and sophisticated illustrated stories, Tan explores the precious strangeness of our existence. He gives us a portrait of modern suburban existence filtered through a wickedly Monty Pythonesque lens. Whether it’s discovering that the world really does stop at the end of the city’s map book, or a family’s lesson in tolerance through an alien cultural exchange student, Tan’s deft, sweet social satire brings us face-to-face with the humor and absurdity of modern life.

My rating: 4 stars.

Content warnings: G. None.

Thoughts: I don't really know what to say about this. The person who suggested it said "attempting to explain it beforehand would harm the experience." And I think he's right. It's an odd combination of soft but unflinching, and sort of childish, but mature in all the best ways. Basically, it's a softly written book that gets you to think deeply about modern life and how strange and wonderful it all is.

It's a short, quick read, but definitely one worth checking out.

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Goodreads synopsis: Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean, ferrying wealthy passengers from city to city. It is the life Matt's always wanted; convinced he's lighter than air, he imagines himself as buoyant as the hydrium gas that powers his ship. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter that he realizes that the man's ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.

In a swashbuckling adventure reminiscent of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Oppel, author of the best-selling Silverwing trilogy, creates an imagined world in which the air is populated by transcontinental voyagers, pirates, and beings never before dreamed of by the humans who sail the skies.

My rating: 4 stars.

Content warnings: PG. Some mild language, a use of "feck" which looks like it should be something different, brief chaste kiss, bloodless shooting, mention of someone being mauled, characters thrown from an airship, characters are drugged, two child characters are given alcohol.

(spoilers below)

Thoughts: I really didn't expect to like this book. The synopsis that came on my copy didn't sound too interesting, and the cover didn't do much for me. But I got it as a gift so I figured I should give it a try.

It was actually really fun. It's the first steampunk I've read that I can think of, so it could have been hard to get into. But the worldbuilding was fantastic and kept me really invested in the story. If for nothing else, the world the story is set in is beautiful and I really loved it.

The plot itself isn't anything super interesting, and most of the characters seemed a little trope-y to me. But there was enough interest to keep me invested and still enjoying the story.

My biggest complaint was the "romance" between Matt and Kate. I'm pretty sure the book said he was 15, and Kate acted way younger most of the time. Neither of them are old enough for me to really care about their feelings beyond a cute friendship for now. But on that note I was happy with how the book left that thread for now.

If I stumble into the next book I'll probably take a look at it. Don't think I'll go out of my way to hunt for it, but if I see it I'll pick it up.