#217: Three 5-Star Books + One Popular Letdown

Today, I'm sharing three recent favorites I can’t stop thinking about, then unpack one widely loved novel that surprised me in the wrong way. 

1. How To Read A Book by Monica Wood, a prison book club - fun! 
2. What Kind Of Paradise by Janelle Brown as a lingering, introspective audiobook. Set in the late 90's with tech on the horizon and the tension between protection and control 
3. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen as sharp, funny, uncomfortable family drama  + why a 500-plus page novel can feel fast when the writing is masterful 
4. An unpopular opinion on Buckeye by Patrick Ryan and what didn’t work for me 

www.daraboxer.com

Transcript

Welcome And Passover Chaos

Dara Boxer 0:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Raw on the Cooked, a weekly podcast that provides simple routines around the home plus raw and honest book reviews. My name is Dara. I'm a Midwestern stay-at-home mom to four young kids, and I thrive on simplicity. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode. I am recording the week of Passover, and it is the perfect storm of two older kids at home for spring break, two younger kids home with me because they just are anyway. My husband decided to go into the office this week. I'm trying to plan out some fun spring break adventures for my kids while simultaneously cooking for Passover, cleaning for Passover, if you know you know, and also packing for Passover because we are having the first night here, just the six of us in our own home. And then for the second night, we are actually going to be in Florida with my entire family and extended family. So uh if you're counting, that is kids home from school, uh, planning adventures, cooking for Passover, cleaning for Passover, and packing for a week-long trip for myself and four little people. My husband is on his own for packing, so at least there is that. It's been a little bit of a madhouse this week, but at least I have some pockets of time where I get um to sit in my bed and record a podcast episode, which is what we have going on now. I have the main Passover meal. I'm doing this delicious short rib dish that's braised in red wine. Oh my gosh, it's so good. I just popped that in the oven, so I have a couple of hours. Uh, the baby is simultaneously napping, and the older three are doing Legos. So I feel like I can, you know, get that off my chest, feel good about that, and also share three books that I've read recently that I loved so much. I wanted to share them with you today, and then also talk about one overrated book that kind of took me by surprise for me not enjoying it as much as I would have liked to. Okay, so let's just dive right in. The first book is called How to Read a Book by Monica Wood, and I found it impossible to put down. It was one of those like really quick, punchy reads, but it also lands really deep and just it felt really gut-wrenching at times, but also really hopeful. And most importantly, I thought the plot was really, really uniquely original. Um, so the whole premise is um a book club run by this uh retired elderly woman who volunteers at a prison for a prison book club. And so we have three main characters. One is the woman Harriet, who leads the book club. Uh, we have Violet, who is a 20-something-year-old prisoner in prison to follow her journey. And then we follow, oh my goodness, I'm blanking on his name. Um, he he, we will, you know, if you decide to read the book, come to find out that he gets uh entangled with these two women in very interesting ways. The book was so good. I love the alternating point of view. It was really well done in this particular case because we were able to move between our three characters, each with a very distinct uh and believable voice, and um, it never felt confusing in a way because, of course, you know, always dealing with flashbacks in the present and what have you, and it was just very, very, very well done. I thought everything uh really wrapped up well, and all my questions and all the um items I felt like were checked off really neatly, so it ended really well. Um, I did cry a little bit at the end, and one of the ways that I know it was a good book, well, actually, two ways. So, first I had a very hard time putting it away. Um, I read this on a recent trip that we took a couple months ago, and um, I actually loaded up my Kindle with three books, and I was able to read this one within days, so that's like an awesome sign. The second sign was that I had to sit with the book for a couple of days before I could pick up a new book. It was just so I just wanted to think about it, and I feel like if you're if you need to take that time to like stop and absorb the book, then I feel like that's a good sign. So that got five stars from me. I loved it so much. Um, so I hope you enjoy that as well. And again, that's called How to Read a Book by Monica Wood. The second book that I really, really enjoyed recently was What Kind of Paradise by Chanel Brown. I actually listened to this as an audiobook. Um, the narrator was Helen Laser, who also narrated The Wedding People, which was one of my favorite books from last year. But anyway, it was the book uh What Kind of Paradise, it was one of those very um, it seemed very like, okay, whatever on the surface, but it leaves you thinking for a long time after you put it down. Um, so at its core, it's a story about a young woman growing up in a very controlled and isolated environment with her father. And slowly she starts to question everything that she's been told about her world, the truth, and about who she is. And it's sort of like part coming of age and part psychological unraveling. Uh, and it really starts to explore the tension between protection and control, especially with a parent-child relationship. But most importantly, what I really loved was it explores the relationship that humans have with technology. Um, this was set in the late 90s, just when like the dot coms and all these, um, you know, the web essentially was like right on the horizon, um, right, like computers were starting to become an everyday object in people's homes. Like, it was so good. Um, it was so good. Um, I loved it. The pacing was perfect, it was steady, it was excellent, the writing was clean, and um it really allows you to sit in discomfort over what's unfolding rather than just like oh, it was good, you guys. Um, and again, it it it raised a lot of deep questions about autonomy, our belief systems, um, and about what happens when your entire reality is shaped by one person. So if you're looking for something that's like fast paced or plot heavy, this might not be it. This leans more towards like introspective. Um, but if you like really character-driven stories that feel a little unsettling, this one is definitely for you. And it really dives deep into exploring the relationship and like where we go um with technology and oh man, I just I loved it so much. I I hate to say this, but I definitely I can't remember her father's name. I sympathize him with him in a lot of ways. I mean, I obviously don't agree with a lot of the decisions that were made uh along his journey, but like I totally see where he's coming from. It almost felt like an anti-hero story in a way. Um, this was my second book that I've read by Janelle Brown. I oh my gosh, I cannot remember what the first one was called. I should have written that down before I started recording, but um I remember enjoying that one as well. And this one um was fabulous. I I loved it so much. I really, really did. Um, so if you're looking for an awesome read that kind of explores our relationship with technology and how things have just like completely gotten out of control. And I, you know, how could you not love a story set in the late 90s? Oh, it was so good. I I really recommend it. So check that one out. Okay, and then the third book that I just finished, actually the other day, was The Corrections by Jonathan Frasen. So this was actually a super buy from Half Price Books. I was there picking up a birthday gift for one of my daughter's friends' upcoming birthday parties. And I, of course, like I'm not gonna like not rouse the shelves of half price books. Um, I always am on the lookout for super buys because I feel like I've had some really good luck that way. Um, so this is$4 at Half Price Books, and I just the back of it really intrigued me about a family, um uh, you know, a pair of parents that have been married um coming up 50 years. They have three adult children that are kind of like scattered and have left the nest. And uh this this the matriarch uh Enid, she just wants one last Christmas at home, and it just kind of like goes from there. When I picked up the book, I did not realize it was over 500 pages long. Um, so that was a little surprising, but it was one of it was one of those books that I was able to read from start to finish in a week um because I just could not put it down. It was so good. It was so good. It was just, it was actually it was masterful. Um, it was again, I love, love books about family drama. Um, this was not uh this was not what you this is not really what I expected. Um it was uncomfortable. It was super like it was just like sharply observant. I think that was like one of the like the I'm gonna borrow that from the book jacket. Um and it was just like felt like really deeply human. Um, the writer just has this uncanny ability to just expose like delusions that people carry and the ways that we justify ourselves and avoid one another and like long to be seen, um, all within like the structure of one Midwestern family. Um, so just to backtrack, I actually miss this has happened to me many times, too many for me to admit out loud, but like more than a handful of times. I picked up this book because I thought Jonathan Fraser was like a completely different Jonathan of another book set of books that I really liked. It turns out they totally different authors. And again, this has happened to me many times where I just like see someone's like first name and like the first initial of their last name, and I'm like, oh, I know that author. And then it turns out that no, I was wrong. Um, so anyway, that happened here. Um, so I did a little bit of like digging on Jonathan Frasen, and it turns out that he was actually, he actually grew up um in the St. Louis County. He grew up in Webster Groves, and it was impossible to not to read the corrections and like see that he based uh St. Jude, this fictional Midwestern town, uh, off of one of the municipalities in St. Louis County. Like, there's no way it's not. Uh, and if if he tells me otherwise, like maybe I'd believe him. But um, so that was like really fun because obviously we're in the St. Louis suburbs, and so like I felt like I was like kind of there and like totally understood what he was saying. I mean, he didn't like love the Midwestern bashing that he did. A lot of his characters were just like, but whatever. Okay, that's um a different, that's a different story. But it was oh, you guys, it was so good. I really don't want to give anything away, but I'll just say that this family, um, uh a mother and a father and three adult children, all with their own unique lives that are just so complicated and just I I have no it was it was lovely. I I just I loved it so much. Um, and again, it was a very long book, right? Like we're we're talking like nearly 600 pages. For me, it went by very fast and it was just super enjoyable. So uh that I think that's just all I'm gonna say. Um, this is just like this one last Christmas that this woman wanted to have. It was and it made me laugh. Um, it was it was just so it was so good. I loved it a lot. So I would look into that as well if you're looking for a family drama. And finally, the one unpopular opinion that I am, um, because currently at the time of recording, this book holds 4.18 stars with over a hundred thousand reviews on Goodreads. Da da da. It's Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. I know, I know, I know, I know. I'm as surprised as you are. I really wanted to like this book because I'm again usually really drawn to family saga books that span decades with multiple points of views, and this one just lost me. I will say that the first 100 pages really did capture my attention, and I was very much into where I thought we were going, but then like something shifted and I just completely gave up. Um, I was not invested in our characters, and it was long, it was close to 500 pages. But again, do you see the difference? How like the corrections by Jonathan Fraser was over 500 pages, they went by quick, they were awesome, and I didn't gripe once about the length of the book. Whereas here I'm just kind of like, uh, right. So I don't mind a doorstop of a book, right? Like, but again, the difference is that uh the corrections and many other doorstop books like held my attention and just had me totally hooked. So I just I there were some gripes I had with Buckeye. I hated the pacing, I didn't like our characters, I didn't care. I like I just felt like it was very like it was just uh it was just a no. Like I I felt like there really weren't that many redeeming qualities of the book. I did finish it because I was just like, well, where are we going? And and I was I I didn't like where we went. I but no, no thank you. Um so again, I'm an outside opinion on this one. Um, but there was just like a few things about it that I'm just like, this is like why are we reading? Like, why are we talking about this? It also got kind of confusing. I just felt like there were like so many characters and so many different points of view, and like nothing tied up nicely, and I just ugh it's gonna get like a no thank you from me. So that is all. Okay, guys, I have uh I have a lot of cooking, cleaning, packing, and just the works to do. So this is going to be on the shorter side for four books. Thank you guys so much. And again, I will have all of these book titles and the authors in the show notes, but the three that I love that I've read recently number one, how to read a book by Monica Wood. Number two, What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown, and number three, the corrections by Jonathan Freesen. And the overrated one, in my personal opinion, was Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. Thank you guys so much for tuning in, and I'll catch you back here next week.