1-STAR
*The Secret History (Fiction, D. Tartt)
Donna Tartt has a knack for writing the most UNLIKABLE characters ever. This was about 6 rich kids (well, 5 rich kids and 1 who pretended to be) who killed one of their own because they were worried that he would run his mouth about another murder they committed. All 6 of them were so incredibly terrible that I just didn't care what happened to them. Well, I guess I can't say that because NOTHING HAPPENED TO THEM and that infuriated me. No major consequences for their actions.
All they did was sit around and get drunk, do drugs, and talk about how smart they were and would throw in a Greek sentence or two (in case we forgot they were intellectual people). Oh, and they killed people.
The sad thing is that Donna Tartt is an excellent writer. Had even ONE of these characters been even the tiniest bit likable, this probably would have been at least a 3-star read for me.
*Home Front (Kristin Hannah)
I just need to stop reading books about veterans, the spouses of veterans, and war-related PTSD (and the spouse of someone with war-related PTSD). Because they never. get. it. right. Or even CLOSE to right.
Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors. But this book was not for me.
I realize that every person and every situation is different. But I just could not get past the cringe-worthy clichés about PTSD and veterans in this book.
And the children were HORRIBLE. Don't get me wrong, I love a book with a well-written 4-year-old and the drama of a 12-year-old. But these kids were just terribly written.
2-STARS
**The Hunting Party (Fiction, L. Foley)
This book started off strong for me, but as it went on I hated each character more and more.
3-STARS
***Uglies (Fiction, YA, S. Westerfield)
1st part of a quadrilogy. Is that a word? Anyways. I liked it. I think. I'll keep going with the series. Typically the first book is never the best one.
***The Light in Hidden Places (Fiction, YA, S. Cameron)
I think the biggest problem that I had with this book was that I listened to it on audio. And the narrator was fantastic....however the book is told from a teenage girl's perspective and the narrator sounded like she was in her 40s or 50s. If that makes sense. It just felt so....distracting.
***The Shell Seekers (Fiction, R. Pilcher)
Had this been 100 pages shorter, I probably would have liked it better.
4-STARS
****The Lost Apothecary (Fiction, S. Penner)
ALMOST a five-star read. I loved this book. There were parts of it that felt a bit rushed though, so I deducted a star. But I'm still thinking about it. So maybe I shouldn't have been stingy with my stars.
****The Art of Making Memories (Non-Fiction, M. Wiking)
From the author of the Little book of Hygge and the Little book of Lykke. I really enjoyed this one, especially because he stresses the importance of getting out of 'digital photo hell' by organizing and printing off your pictures (whether it be actual pictures or in a printed book from a website). I sooooooo need to work on this big time. It's one of my goals for this year. I'm going to work backwards, so my first book will be for the year 2020. It will probably be thin ha ha. Also, Mark Wiking's books are just so cute. They look adorable all lined up.
5-STARS
*****The Namesake (Fiction, YA, A. Young)
The sequel to Fable, one of my favorite books last year. It did not disappoint, and I was NOT ready for this story to end! I want more books! And these books win all the stars for their covers.
