One star = did not like it at all
Two stars = eh, it was okay
Three stars =
liked it
Four stars = really, really liked it
Five stars = absolutely loved it
2-Star (3)
**Letters from Peking (Fiction, Pearl Buck)
This book about an American woman (living in Vermont)
married to a Chinese man (living in China) started off strong but fizzled a lot
towards the end. And it was a tiny
little book so it felt more like a short story to me.
**Queen of Hearts (Fiction, Kimmery Martin)
I had high hopes for this book. I heard good things like "it's Grey's
Anatomy meets Friends"....except.....it wasn't. It was just very long and took forever to
just get to the point. It started off
somewhat strong, but then went downhill from there. Beautiful book cover though.
**Silver Sparrow (Fiction, Tayari Jones)
This book had such promise (two mothers, two daughters,
one father....one mother/daughter knows about the other mother/daughter but the
other mother/daughter doesn't know there's a 2nd family, etc.). But it just fell flat.
3-Star (2)
***The Secret Life of Violet Grant (Beatriz Williams)
I enjoyed this book.
It is part of a trilogy about sisters during World War II. I'm not sure if I will continue with the
series. The book dragged a bit
sometimes, but the writing was good and it was actually quite funny in some
parts.
***A Speck in the Sea (Non-Fiction, John Aldridge)
I had never heard about this event which took place in
2013....the rescue of a fisherman off the coast of Montauk. It got a bit wordy when talking about the
mechanics and logistics of fishing boats and fishing, but I still enjoyed
it. I learned a few new things too. Like...when a person who has been in the
water for hours and hours, and then find out they are going to be rescued (as
in...they see the helicopter coming their way), the relief can cause their
blood pressure can drop dangerously low to the point of fainting, so the Coast
Guard rescuers are trained to act extremely quickly. In this case, the Coast Guard rescuer broke
protocol and just jumped in with his face mask and water shoes and left the wet
suit behind. I also learned that
fisherman boots when turned upside down can be used as buoys with trapped air
inside. John's boots saved his life.
4-Star (2)
****One (Fiction, Sarah Crossan)
This is the first Sarah Crossan novel I've read, although
she's a pretty popular YA novelist. I
loved it. It's about Tippi and Grace,
who are 16-year-old conjoined twins (named after Tippi Hedren and Grace Kelly,
two beauties in famous Hitchcock films).
It took me only a few hours to read this book because it's written kind
of in poetry style. Sometimes a single
page will have four lines on it and that's all.
I'm not sure if this is how Crossan writes all of her books, but it was
refreshing!
****Why We Get Fat (Non-Fiction, Gary Taubes)
VERY informative. A little too scientific for me, but I learned SO much and I definitely want to re-read this one.
5-Star (2)
*****Us Against You (Fiction, Fredrik Backman)
I have a special place in my heart for Fredrik Backman
because of THIS piece that he wrote on his personal blog about his struggle with
anxiety and depression:
http://www.fredrikbackman.com/2018/07/02/something-about-the-anxiety/
Before his latest book, Us Against You, I read 2 other of
Backman's books: A Man Called Ove (which
was good....but not 5-stars) and Beartown.
Beartown was REALLY good book about a small town somewhere in Sweden
called Beartown. And Beartown lives,
breathes and dies by ice hockey. And
when something tragic happens, it rips the town (and the team) apart. The book wrapped itself up pretty well, but
then Backman dropped a sequel, called Us Against You. This book was the same characters (still
playing hockey in the aftermath of what happened in the previous book), and he
introduced some new characters as well.
Backman writes beautifully. I had
my highlighter out the entire time I read Us Against You and I don't think I've
ever highlighted a book so much. It was
excellent. And yes....you definitely need
to read Beartown first.
And, I follow him on Instagram and yesterday he announced
that he is writing a third book. He did
say though that he didn't know when (due to his mental health) and to please be
patient with him.
If you're unfamiliar with Backman, start with A Man
Called Ove. It's an easy, heartwarming
read. And then read Beartown. Beartown is much more gritty though, just as
a heads up (it is not heartwarming). But
it's worth the read. And if you love (or
even like) Beartown, DEFINITELY read Us Against You. This book made me cry (and usually books
don't do that to me). It's just SO.
GOOD.
*****A Lite Too Bright (Fiction, Samuel Miller)
Okay, here is the blurb straight from Goodreads:
Arthur Louis Pullman the Third is on the verge of a breakdown.
He’s been stripped of his college scholarship, is losing his grip on reality,
and has been sent away to live with his aunt and uncle.
It’s there that Arthur discovers a journal written by his
grandfather, the first Arthur Louis Pullman, an iconic Salinger-esque author
who went missing the last week of his life and died hundreds of miles away from
their family home. What happened in that week—and how much his actions were
influenced by his Alzheimer’s—remains a mystery.
But now Arthur has his grandfather’s journal—and a final
sentence containing a train route and a destination.
So Arthur embarks on a cross-country train ride to relive
his grandfather’s last week, guided only by the clues left behind in the
dementia-fueled journal. As Arthur gets closer to uncovering a sad and terrible
truth, his journey is complicated by a shaky alliance with a girl who has
secrets of her own and by escalating run-ins with a dangerous Pullman fan base.
Arthur’s not the only one chasing a legacy—and some feel
there is no cost too high for the truth.
And here are my thoughts:
1. This book is
classified as YA, although I cannot for the life of me understand why. Maybe because the main character is 18 or 19
years old? Other than that....to me,
this book is FAR from YA.
2. I listened to
this book for free on audio, but when I finished it, I went and bought a
copy. There were so many parts that I
wanted to highlight but you obviously can't do that on audio. Beautiful words like this:
"I feel my body outside itself, looking in. Some days I'm the passenger; some days I'm
the captain; and some days, I let chemicals steer the ship."
"The curse of feeling everything, is that you're
painfully aware when you feel nothing."
3. The author of
this book is 27 years old, and the lead singer of an alternative band called
Paradise Fears. And this is his debut
novel. UNBELIEVABLE.
4. This book
tackles so many issues....mental health (big time), mystery, family
relationships, travel. The list goes on
and on.
5. A pretty
important and pivotal portion of this book happens in Nebraska.
6. Just when I
thought I had it figured out and had even started thinking I knew what was real
and what wasn't real....there was another twist. And then another one. And then another one. While there are some slow parts, this book is
just....I have no words!
Total Books Read: 9 (2 non-fiction, 7 fiction)
Formats
Kindle:
Audio: 5
Real Books: 4
DNF (Did Not Finish) 3:
Gods in Alabama (Fiction, J. Jackson) - content
Holding Up the Universe (Fiction, J. Niven) - lost interest
Spectator Bird (Fiction, W. Stegner) - lost interest
