Weekly Reading Thread: January 30th-February 5th

I read The School Of Mirrors by Eva Stachniak. I won this Advanced Readers Copy from a Goodreads giveaway.
I didn't much like this book too many characters in the beginning to keep track of.
It's about Veronique who basically was sold by her mother to be a lover to the King at a very young age and she is discarded after she gives birth to a daughter Marie Louise who is raised by horrible people but eventually taken and raised by a midwife and trained to be a midwife herself. But always wanted a mother and father. It was a sad book and too long.

I read an older book Three, by Ted Dekker. There were issues. I didn't really like it. 2.5/5 stars.

I am going to start The Only Plane in the Sky and alternate with Baby Teeth. I'm waiting on library books to come in, and I've had these for a while.

Lisa

*Tam Lin* by Pamela Dean. I had asked on Facebook about a good fairy-tale retelling, as I’d read a disappointing one and this one was oft recommended. It is a ballad retelling more than a fairy-tale retelling, and one that I’d read another retelling of last year. It is basically a campus novel which I found not that absorbing.



*Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters* by Anne Boyd Rioux I call these “toothbrush reads” as I read whilst I brush my teeth, floss, and do my hair. I heard about this one on Novel Pairings – I enjoyed the discussion of Little Women and how it has been interpreted and read through the years. It was written before the Greta Gerwig film, which I consider to have been a very well done adaptation, I’d be curious to hear her thoughts on it.

I am about 1/2 way through The Lincoln Highway and I am absolutely loving this book.

I finished The Night Swim by Megan Goldin  3.8 / 5

TW: rape

This was a fast-paced story about two rapes in different time lines. 25 years ago, Jenny was raped by a group of boys and found drowned to death. A strong swimmer, her younger sister Hannah always felt she was murdered.

In current time, we have a rape trial going on in the town of Neapolis. Rachel Krall is the host of a very popular true crime podcast. She starts receiving notes from Hannah, requesting help in re-opening her dead sister's old case.

The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of every one involved. Shaved off a few points in my star-rating since I wasn't entirely surprised at the outcome, but I still looked forward to putting this book on every day (audio) and breezing through it. It held my interest.

"I'm Rachel Krall and this is Guilty or not guilty, the podcast that puts you in the jury box." Loved that there was an actual podcast w/in the storyline. Even better on audio!

This was my 1st Megan Goldin novel and I am excited to be awaiting her latest release, Stay Awake, which is supposed to be out this Summer.


I am now about 20% into The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner.

I finished The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne - I loved this book, 5 stars -it is now one of my all time favorites!

It's definitely in my top 5, and possibly my #1. I love this book!

I was on a mega roll last week. Mostly in part because my boss was out of town which meant our company basically shut down. I read 6 books:

The Three Mrs. Wrights by Linda Keir. 4 stars. This was a quick, fun read about three women who are all involved with the same man.

The Barren Grounds by David A. Robertson. 2 stars. I actually only read this because it was on the bookshelf. I'm trying to get rid of some old books that I hadn't read so I'm rotating old/new when I read. It is young adult and is about two Canadian indigenous foster children who find themselves in a Narnia-like world. Chronicles of Narnia was a favorite book of mine when I was a kid so I was hopeful, but it was pretty flat.

What You Wish For by Katherine Center. 5 stars. About a young woman whose old crush comes back into her life, but he's completely changed from a fun-loving goofball to a somber safety zealot.

One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London. 5 stars. Another enjoyable read about a plus-sized influencer who gets picked to be on a show similar to the Bachelorette.

One of Us is Next by Karen McManus. 3 stars. The sequel to One of Us is Lying. I think I bought this for my youngest kid for Xmas a couple of years ago and attempted to read it last year, but it just couldn't hold my attention. The beginning is very slow but gets better and the ending is truly a surprise.

The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell. 3 stars. About a family whose mother is a hoarder and their tragic life (as in not one family member didn't experience some trauma that had little to do with their mother's hoarding!).


Next up is probably All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. Boss is back so doubt I'll read much this week.

This past week, I read:

We Were Never Here, by Andrea Bartz.  Suspense-y, mystery-ish book about a pair of twentysomethings who have been friends for years and like to travel together; when, on two trips in a row, someone winds up dead in a similar fashion on their trip, the narrator is forced to ask whether her friend is out killing people on purpose, and what kind of friendship they have, exactly.  I enjoyed this -- it was mindless, but/and a page-turner.  Not sure I fully bought the ending, but that's fine.

Reckless Girls, by Rachel Hawkins.  Also a suspense-y, mystery-ish book, this one about a young woman who sails with her boyfriend to Hawaii, where he gets hired to charter a boat to a weird atoll where people have been stranded previously and perhaps eaten each other (I picked it up because I was missing my beloved Yellowjackets).  Like We Were Never Here, I liked it, and the tropical atmospherics are great, but the ending was a little womp-womp.

Allegedly, by Tiffany Jackson.  This is YA mystery, by the author of White Smoke, which I read a few months ago and liked.  The narrator was convicted at age nine for killing a baby, and has grown up in "baby prison" and a group home while her unstable mother, who may have actually killed the baby, visits every few weeks.  The whole book is a did-she-or-didn't-she, and is good; the narrator is well-written and believable.

Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell.  I'm just going to assume everyone who wanted to read this already read it, but if for some reason you haven't, this is a YA book about a college freshman who writes fanfiction about a Harry Potter-type series, and is coping with a twin sister who parties, a mother who abandoned her, and a father who has never recovered from the end of that marriage, as well as the normal college-freshman academic issues and romantic leads.  I have never read any of her stuff, but there was a $5 used copy of this at the bookstore, so I picked it up, and really enjoyed it.

This is one of my all-time favorite books. I highly recommend it. 

But just an FYI: It's very triggering. 

Lisa 

Two books for me last week; both bombs!  Thankfully I’m reading a book now that I’m enjoying.


29 SECONDS (‘19 - Read ‘22) by TM LOGAN : 2 STARS
DESCRIPTION:  Sarah is a young professor struggling to prove herself in a work place controlled by the charming and manipulative Alan Hawthorne.  A renowned scholar and television host, Alan rakes in million dollar grants for the university where Sarah works, so his inappropriate treatment of female colleagues behind closed doors has gone unchallenged for year.  
REVIEW:  Other books, Lies (‘18 - Read ‘20) & The Vacation (‘20) were both 4-star reads for me.  This book, 29 Seconds, cadoodlebug didn’t like and gave it 2.5 stars but she did mention there were lots of 5 star reviews on Goodreads.  After reading, I don’t know why there were any 4 or 5 star reviews.  Great writing like the other 2 books I read.  Kept me turning the pages quicker & quicker BUT, when I neared the end, it fell flat!  At about 80%, I think the author got tired of this plot and made it run into a brick wall.  THE END!  Very disappointing.


AT THE END OF EVERYTHING (‘22) BY MARIEKE NIJKAMP : 2 STARS
DESCRIPTION:  The Hope Juvenile Treatment Center is ironically named.  No one has hope for the delinquent teenagers who have been exiled there.  Then the guard of Hope start acting strange and one day, they don’t show-up. But when the teens band together to make a break from the facility, they encounter soldiers outside the gates who force them to go back.  There’s a rapidly spreading disease outside and no one can leave their houses or travel without a permit.  As supplied quickly dwindle and a deadly plague tears through their ranks, the group has to decide whom among them they can trust and figure out how they can survive in a world that has never wanted them in the first place.
REVIEW:  Prior books by this author were Even If We Break (‘20 - 3 Stars) and This Is Where It Ends (‘16 - Read ‘17 - 5 Stars).  It took me about 5 minutes to realized this book has a non-binary character which, for me, makes for a difficult read.  This was also the case in Even If We Break.  As the book progressed, the non-binary issues didn’t bother me much since it was only one character.  Plot revolves around a covid-like happening.  Half way thru, I was bored.  No interest in any of the characters.  Very monotonous and went no where.  

If you enjoyed The Night Swim by Megan Goldin don’t miss her first book, The Escape Room from ‘20; 5 stars for me.  I loved it even more than The Night Swim (4 stars for me).

This week I finished The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin.  I got this book recommendation from a cousin who posted it on my year end best books post on Facebook.  She said it was the best book she read in 2021.  I gave this book 5 stars and am positive it will be on my best book of 2022 list.  It's a story about 3 different characters whom are all struggling in some way.  Their stories converge into one.  It reminds me a lot of Catherine Ryan Hyde books.

I also am continuing to work my way though Harry Potter.  I read the 3rd book, Prisoner of Azkaban.  I read my illustrated edition.  The pictures are amazing in these books.  If you are a big fan, you must get them!  I've been following up my read with a re-watch of the movie, and boy was I disappointed in this movie.  They changed so many things and just left out huge plot points.  I wasn't nearly as disappointed in the first two movies.  I remember when the movies originally came out, I stopped reading the books right before them because I ended up being disappointed in what was left out, but this time I'm interested to see how much and what was changed.  I'm positive that if you hadn't read the book, you would be very confused by the ending of the movie.

i loved It Ends With Us