“…a great experience in a park typically doesn’t happen in a few minutes.” – Subpar Parks: America’s Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressive Visitors by Amber Share

CBR15 BINGO (Guide square: all about the NPS and the jags that give them bad reviews on Yelp.) BINGO! Hold Steady to Nostalgia BINGO! In the Wild to Edibles

I think I first found @subparparks on Instagram during the pandemic. I can’t remember the first post that I saw, but I laughed out loud at the jaded ridiculousness of some people. Amber Share’s account blends her love of lettering and illustration with her love of of the national parks in the U.S. After reading a one star Yelp review that referred to the Grand Canyon as “a very very large hole,” Amber was not gonna let that nonsense slide. I suppose we should thank that idiot for stomping on one of the wonders of the world and in turn Amber’s childhood memory of her first trip to the Grand Canyon. Don’t mess with Mother Nature, or eye roll majestic scenery. Someone might write a book about it.

While this is not a super detailed guide book of the NPS, it is a great primer for it and love letter to it. Beautifully illustrated and lovingly narrated by a big parks fan, this little book gives a great overview of each of the parks in the system. From well known Yellowstone to places like Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias, Share offers up historical, botanical, geological, cultural and zoological tidbits about each. She is also careful to include the native cultures that inhabit or once inhabited these lands. Sprinkled throughout the book are park ranger tips and good old fashioned common sense wisdom that, in the age of edge of the cliff selfie taking, cannot be emphasized enough.

It’s also a tongue in cheek look at how some people’s expectations will never be met and the arbitrariness of online reviewing. How can a natural wonder full of wildlife, old growth forest, multiple ecosystems, geysers, glaciers and waterfalls be reduced to a starred rating?

“Your body is not your own.”- Queen Charlotte by Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes

CBR15 BINGO (Sex square: Sexy times, sexual politics, sexuality ) BINGO! South America to Sex BINGO! Sex to Europe BINGO! Sex to History BLACKOUT!

*First, a big thank you to everyone involved in the annual CBR Bingo setup, monitoring, artistry, and square-developing shenanigans. It really is one of my favorite times of the year. Hats off to you all. *

I enjoyed all but one of the Bridgerton books and loved the first and third seasons of the Netflix series. I appreciate that the series uses the books as a blueprint but isn’t afraid to expand the story to include a racial spin to the high society politics of the time. In particular, the addition of a new character, Queen Charlotte, added so much to the first two seasons of the show that I was excited for the third season to branch out to include a backstory for her. This book is described as a “companion” to the Netflix series and is written by both the author of the Bridgerton books and the creator/screenwriter of the Bridgerton TV series.

Queen Charlotte is married off to the King of England at the age of 17 for the political gain of her family’s German principality. Spun by England as the “Great Experiment” that will join together the two tiers of British Society, white and black, their match is really an attempt to pair King George with a wife who will be grateful enough to overlook his struggles with mental illness. The book and show are both steeped in racial politics, but also sexual politics as well. Lady Agatha Danbury, promised at the age of 3 to a man much older than she is, lives a life entirely crafted for his enjoyment and convenience. Charlotte, married to a stranger almost immediately after landing on British shores, is a vessel expected to birth heirs to the throne. Brimsley and Reynolds, the King and Queen’s royal right-hand men, whose love and sexuality are forbidden are only afforded stolen moments to be together.

I don’t usually bother with reading TV/film-to-book adaptations. Seems redundant to me. This was totally an impulse buy that I enjoyed a lot more than I expected. While it does follow most of the show pretty faithfully, it does flesh out the characters a bit more. If you are a fan of the Bridgerton books and series, it’s worth the read.

“Flight is but momentary escape from the eternal custody of earth.” – West with the Night by Beryl Markham

CBR15 BINGO (Take to the Skies square: memoir written by the first person to fly nonstop from Europe to North America) BINGO! (Take to the Skies to Adulthood)

For last year’s CBR Bingo, I read Circling the Sun by Paula McClain and loved it. I fell hard for the problematic but endlessly fascinating shenanigans of mostly swanky Europeans living, farming and cocktailing their way across East Africa. McClain’s novel centered on Beryl Markham who was the most interesting of the bunch. Raised on her father’s farm, she grew up with the boys of the local tribe and held her own with them, hunting and roaming around the dangers of the African landscape. She was mauled by neighbor’s pet lion, grew up to be a horse trainer and eventually became an aviatrex who was the first person to fly nonstop from Europe to North America. FASCINATING. As a side effect of reading McClain’s novel, I also read Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen’s account of the same place and time period, Out of Africa, which I did not love. I think because Beryl was more my jam, her book did not disappoint.

One more comparison: unlike Out of Africa, Markham’s memoir is actually cohesize. While it does jump from situation to situation, it does so in a linear path. She writes about her feral childhood, her love of horses and her unending curiosity. After her father decides to leave Africa, eighteen year old Beryl establishes herself as a horse trainer in the male dominated horse racing industry in 1920’s Kenya. When she discovers flying, she blends her love of the African landscape with a job scouting for big game hunters, flying medical supplies and making emergency gin runs. Again, FASCINATING.

While she mentions male friends and lovers, although she does not refer to them as such in her memoir, Beryl completely leaves out her husbands and any mention whatsover of her romantic relationships. She doesn’t even hint at it. It is as though she deemed those parts of her life existing seperately from who she was and what she accomplished. It was refreshing.

“That’s how the madness of the world tries to colonize you: from the outside in…” – Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

CBR15 BINGO ( In the Wild square: Set in an unknown apocolyptic (?) wilderness. Scientists sent to explore.)

For some as yet unexplained reason, a portion of the world called Area X has been blocked off from civilization. After several decades, a new ecosystem has taken over full of marshes and wildlife. To study the phenomenon, through multiple expeditions of scientists have crossed over the border to map the area and take samples. Most of the scientists never returned and those few who did were husks of their past selves and riddled with cancers that killed them shortly after leaving Area X.

This is book one in The Southern Reach Triology and follows Expedition Twelve. An all female cohort consisting of a psychologist, surveyor, anthropologist and the story’s narrator, a biologist. They soon uncover a strange landmark not indicated on the maps made by previous expeditions. Too large to have gone unnoticed by their predecessors, the landmark becomes an irresistable puzzle to solve.

A little book packed with a lot of weird shenanigans. A strange, dangerous border that needs to be crossed under hypnosis. A palpable landscape that is both beautiful and repellent. A psychologist who may no more than she is letting on and moaning sounds that emanates from the wetlands every night after dark.

Since it is the first in a series, you will find more questions than answers here. Vandermeer does a great job of creating an atmosphere that is both familiar and otherworldly. Think space meets Jurassic Park meets Planet of the Apes. Kind of. Honestly, it’s hard to describe but it was a solid start to what I’m hoping is a great trilogy.

“…a voice on the radio offering a loom on which to spin his dreams.” – All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

CBR15 BINGO (On the Air square: Lots about radios and radio communication) BINGO! Dwelling to On The Air

This is going to be a terrible review. I liked this book too much and generally, when that happens I freeze when trying to review it. Doerr’s book won the Pulitzer nearly a decade ago. I’ve had this book recommended to me countless times and, as is often the case with books everyone raves about, I put it on my virtual TBR pile and forget about it. Why do I do this? It remains a mystery. To be honest, it would have continued to linger on that unread heap of treasures but when I googled “fiction about radio” to fill the square, it came up. CBR Bingo is the gift that keeps giving.

The story follows two children as they grow into young adulthood in Europe during World War Two. Werner, an orphan, lives with his younger sister in an orphanage in a German mining town. He’s an extremely bright and inquisitive boy who is always trying to figure out how things work. Unfortunately, his ability to fix and even build a radio from scavenged parts eventually catches the attention of the German authorities. Marie-Laure is a blind girl living in Paris with her locksmith father. Raised among scientists and their specimens in the Museum of Natural History, where he father works, her natural curiosity blooms. Able to navigate her surroundings by studying a model of the city that her father painstakingly built for her, she is content to spend her days at the museum or falling into the adventures of Jules Verne. As Paris is occupied, however, she must flee with her father into the greater world whose landmarks are unknown to her.

To say any more about this book would be a disservice to the reader. So much is going on here and Werner and Marie Laure’s journeys are something I’d rather you just experience. It is a lovely story about family, loss, adaptability, and the horrors of war. In a historical conflict with a clear delineation between the bad (Nazis) and the good (everyone else), I appreciated Doerr’s exploration of the gray here and the conflict between indoctrination and experience. The heroes are found in the most unlikely of places. Voices on the radio with the power to cause devastation and death can also offer solace and spark the imagination.

“Hi, Goldbug…wherever you are.” – Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry

CBR15 BINGO (Nostalgia square: Read this to my kid a billion times.)

Okay. This is going to be more about me than the book, but that’s nostalgia for you. We moved my son to college a few weeks ago. He’s our only kiddo. I’m an official empty nester now so I’m nostalgia-ing all over the place. He loved a lot of the Scarry books but this was his favorite. A superfan of all things vehicle-related, there was never a construction site or road re-surfacing that he permitted us to just pass by. We had discussions. Lengthy discussions with every garbage man, fireman, or bus driver. From ages 2-4, I don’t think he left the house without some kind of toy car or truck clutched in his hand. So this book was basically his manual for life.

This sweet little book is about exactly what it says it is: Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. It describes the Pickles’ family day trip to the beach for a picnic and then back home. They encounter traffic, road construction, and on and off-road mishaps, to finally make it to their destination.

The detail in this book is fantastic. You could read it 100 times (and I have) and still see something you never saw before. From real-life vehicles to silly things like the pickle mobile, Scarry created an illustrated world where youngsters could learn and use their imagination. From finding where sneaky Goldbug was hiding on every page to sympathizing with poor Officer Flossy’s attempt to stop Dingo from violating every traffic law, you are invested. It was always fun to read this book to my son, and I can’t say that about all of his pre-reading-age books. It’s a classic and one of my go-to’s when getting a gift for someone who has just had a baby.

“No one’s watching to see if I stay afloat.” – Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn

CBR15 BINGO (Asia and Oceana square: Hawaiian author, takes place in Hawaii, about a Hawaiian family, culture) BINGO! \ South America to Europe

I was surprised to find that I was the first to review this book for CBR. Remedy this immediately, everyone! It’s a really, really great book.

The story, put simply, is about family. In this case, a family in Hawai’i struggling to make ends meet. In search of more job opportunities, they are about to move to a different island. As a last hurrah, the father splurges on tickets for a glass-bottom boat tour. When Nainoa, the middle child, falls into the water and is brought back to the boat by sharks, everything changes. Why would a shark not only spare the child but save it? Is Nainoa destined for something beyond what they could ever imagine?

Nainoa’s parents cling to the miracle as both a spiritual and financial life raft while his siblings are left in the wake. His sister Kaui, excels at school but never quite fits in. Dean, feeling the sting of his younger siblings’ accomplishments, craves attention in whatever way he can get it. The family dynamics shift from a tight-knit tribe to a fractured whole scrambling to put the pieces back together. While at the center, the “chosen child” grapples with the expectations of his parents and community, unsure of why he was chosen and for what purpose.

Washburn’s story skews a little towards magical realism, but the “magical” parts of the book are more foil than focus. The mythology of Hawai’ian gods makes the lush landscape even more vivid and mysterious. The nagging sixth sense that pulls at each of the characters offers a deeper understanding of who they are: Kaui who needs to connect her intellect with her physical body, Dean who yearns to have something special that he offers the world, Nainoa who doesn’t want to disappoint. Ultimately the mystical elements speak more about their connections to the land, to their ancestors, and to one another.

The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Dean, Kaui, Nainoa, and their mother. It really emphasized the sense of isolation that each of them felt and the heartbreaking reality that they often misunderstood one another. It’s a bittersweet story about finding purpose, acceptance, and love.

“I want to tell your story, the way it really happened.” – Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale My Father Bleeds History & Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman

CBR15 BINGO (Picture This square: Maus I, Graphic novel) BINGO! – Strange World to Picture This

CBR15 BINGO (History square: Maus II, Holocaust, Auschwitz) BINGO! – South American to History BINGO! – History to Europe

I have to confess the only time that I read graphic novels is once a year for a bingo square. I was never a big comics person and I tend to equate the two (don’t come for me, I know that they aren’t necessarily the same) but do enjoy the ones that I have read. Not sure what is keeping me from pursuing them (outside of securing a sweet, sweet bingo square on my march toward BINGO BLACKOUT!) but at least I get read one a year, right?

In these two graphic novels, Spiegelman attempts to document the history of his father from the beginning of World War II, to the holocaust and eventually to his life post-war. It’s an autobiography, biography, and history all in one. It is also a story within a story as Spiegelman places himself in the novel interviewing his father during a series of visits.

Maus I concentrates on the deteriorating condition of his parents’ lives in Poland. Spiegelman follows his father from just before meeting his mother to both of his parents on a train bound for Auschwitz. It explores the everyday erosion of their businesses, their rights, and ultimately their ability to obtain food and shelter. The story is often derailed by his father listing his current grievances: his second wife, his son not helping him or visiting enough, and his health problems.

Maus II is mostly about his father’s time in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. His parents are immediately separated into different areas when they arrive, so the majority of the story is about his father’s time there. A quick learner with just enough skills in a variety of trades, Spiegelman’s father manages to keep himself, and later his wife, alive by working as a roofer, a cobbler, and an English tutor.

As Spiegelman struggles to get a fuller picture of what the Holocaust was like, he is also trying to gain a better understanding of his mother who committed suicide when he was young, his father who is difficult to love, and his brother who died before he was born.

Overlapping past and present with “characters” who are not always easy to like is what I think makes this book even more powerful. Spiegelman’s constant frustration with his father’s “stereotypical” behavior doesn’t leave room for empathy or any understanding that his past traumatic experiences may be to blame. His father’s paradoxical racism and passive-aggressive manipulation keep him just on the edge of unsympathetic. But, they are human beings in all of their complexities. Even though the Germans are portrayed as cats, the Poles as pigs, and the Jewish people as mice, Spiegelman manages to let the human slip from behind the mask of illustration.

This book was the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer. Unfortunately, it is also on just about every banned book list out there. I am beyond exhausted by a loud minority that wants everybody to feel comfortable all of the damn time. What kind of life comes from that sheltering? How can anyone grow up to be grateful or humble or empathetic if they are only given a version of the world that is stripped of history and diversity in all of its often uncomfortable complexities? Why wallpaper everything with a prescribed “sameness” that is offered up as ideal? How can our children develop a moral compass without knowing all of the horrible stuff to point away from?

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.” – The Alchemist by Paul Coehlho

CBR15 BINGO (On The Road square: Road trip of self-discovery from Spain to Egypt.) BINGO! | Politics to Bodies, Bodies Bodies

This was a book we had around the house because my son read it in high school. I think maybe it was a summer reading assignment. He recommended that I read it and it fit the bill for the square, so here we go.

A young shepherd in Spain sells his sheep and travels across land and sea in search of a treasure he has only seen in his dreams. Riches beyond his wild imagination are buried near the pyramids in Egypt. His dreams of treasure are confirmed by several people he meets on his long journey. A gypsy woman, a self-proclaimed King, a crystal merchant, and an alchemist each offer their “wisdom” to the young man as he makes his way to Egypt.

I know this book has been celebrated by readers for over two decades. I get the point of the parable here and even applaud it: follow your dreams, listen to your heart, wealth doesn’t equal fulfillment. Unfortunately, for some reason, I never really connected to it emotionally, and this is definitely the kind of book that relies on emotional connection. I had trouble with the flow, I think? A lot of it seemed repetitive and the unrelenting hammering of the moral of the story, which wasn’t a particularly difficult one to figure out, became exhausting. I don’t want to rail against a classic here. It just didn’t speak to me in the same way it has for so many others.

“How do we become human except in the face of adversity?” – Happiness by Aminatta Forna

CBR15 BINGO (Africa square: Main character is African. Author is of African descent:father from Sierra Leone. Various political/military situations in the book take place in Africa.)

Yet another book that jumped out to me initially because of its eco-fiction bent: studying urban dwelling fox in London. However, it turned out to be about so much more than that.

Attila is an itinerant psychologist from Ghana that specializes in PTSD. Regularly travelling to give keynote speeches and expert testimony, his early career was spent focused in war torn areas (Bosnia, Sierra Leone).

Jean is a wildlife biologist studying the urbanization of foxes in London. While the public and local politicians villainize the fox, she fights the uphill battle to educate those who would rather blame. Devoted to her job and a curiosity about life that her ex-husband did not share, she is trying to build a relationship with her now adult son that was strained during the break up of her marriage.

Both are fairly private people even though others are easily drawn to them. They both throw themselves into their work and retreat to recharge: Jean to her rooftop garden and Atilla to performing arts.

After they literally collide with one another on a bridge in London, they continue to cross paths in the city. When Atilla’s niece and her young son are taken from their apartment by immigration authorities, and the boy runs away from foster care placement, Atilla and Jean bring together their London friends to search for him. Traffic wardens, bellmen, street cleaners, and street performers all converge to find the missing boy.

It’s a book about adaptability. People who have absorbed the messier parts of their lives and accepted them as part of the whole. Like the wildlife in the story, the human characters have adapted to London: Jean by creating a green oasis on her rooftop (and the rooftops of others), the immigrants who have made lives for themselves in a new country, and Attilia who has found refuge in the city and its people, food and theater.

There is a lot more going on here but the nuances are better left to the reader. Ultimately, it is a beautiful and honest book about people seeking to make the best life that they can for themselves and those around them.