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Not only am I recapping last month’s reads today, but I wanted to fill you in on my reading goals for 2017. It is virtually impossible to read much more than I did last year, simply due to my current season of life. Instead of focusing on a year long goal, I want to make sure I’m reading more consistently on a regular basis. This year, I’m going to aim for four books a month and make sure at least one of them is nonfiction. In my review post each month, I’ll tally up the total for that month as well as offer an overview on how the entire year is going. Let’s dive right in!
I love how Leah is breaking down her reading posts this year and even though I prefer to bring you all of my reads at once, I am going to borrow from her format. It was time to try something new!
1. THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR BY NICOLA YOON
★★★★★ | Young Adult
From Amazon: Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story. Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us. The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?
When choosing a book from Book of the Month Club in December, I had the hardest time. None of them spoke to me particularly and I didn’t want to waste my subscription. I had already skipped November’s box and hated to do that two months in a row, so I decided on the safe option: YA Fiction. Spoiler alert: It was a good call.
What I loved: Books told from multiple points of view always rank high on my list. This one alternates primarily between the two main characters, but is frequently interrupted by seemingly unrelated characters, objects ideas. The chapter headings are fascinating and all of the ancillary storylines add so much to this book. Often, “star crossed (teenage) lovers” gets on my nerves so hard, but these two were the exception.
What I didn’t: The only downside to this book was finishing it. As creaky as my bones were after six straight hours of reading, I was not ready for this story to end.
I would recommend this book to anyone: who loved Eleanor & Park. The stories are very similar (from overall plot to unexpected ending), but I think I loved this one even more. If you like young adult fiction, adorable romance, and quirky characters — this story is for you!
2. THE GROWNUP BY GILLIAN FLYNN
★★☆☆☆ | Thriller
From Amazon: A canny young woman is struggling to survive by perpetrating various levels of mostly harmless fraud. On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection. However, when the “psychic” visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan’s terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore. Miles, Susan’s teenage stepson, doesn’t help matters with his disturbing manner and grisly imagination. The three are soon locked in a chilling battle to discover where the evil truly lurks and what, if anything, can be done to escape it.
When I ordered my book box for January, I chose two different options: one that I thought sounded right up my alley and another that I knew Josh would love. I was trying to think forward and give us a little something new to read on the plane. Much to my surprise, Book of the Month gifted us this novella by Gillian Flynn and I couldn’t wait to settle down with it.
What I loved: I loved that this was a surprise gift. I didn’t even know she had written anything new, so I was thrilled to find it tucked into my subscription box last month. I loved the shortened format — I’m not usually a fan of short stories, but it was fun to read this in a matter of minutes and then move on. I do like Flynn’s writing style and this was similar to previous works, in that manner. It was perfectly creepy and reminded me of a ghost story we would tell in elementary school (with a major caveat).
What I didn’t: The book begins with some pretty tawdry details and I didn’t find them necessary to the overall story. I can deal with smut if it advances the plot, but these few paragraphs could have been reduced to a single sentence: she was a prostitute. I’m usually a fan of ambiguous endings and this one was wonderfully curious, but I wish it had been a little more resolved.
I would recommend this book to anyone: If you’re a huge Flynn fan, I think it’s a shame to miss out on this one. Also, if you’re a George R.R. Martin fan, you might should read this one, too. It was apparently written just for him and included in one of his previous books. I didn’t hate it, but I’m not sure I would recommend it either.
3. COLUMBINE BY DAVE CULLEN
★★★★★ | News + Nonfiction (audiobook)
From Amazon: What really happened April 20, 1999? The horror left an indelible stamp on the American psyche, but most of what we “know” is wrong. It wasn’t about jocks, Goths, or the Trench Coat Mafia. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on scene, and spent ten years on this book-widely recognized as the definitive account. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, he draws on mountains of evidence, insight from the world’s leading forensic psychologists, and the killers’ own words and drawings-several reproduced in a new appendix. Cullen paints raw portraits of two polar opposite killers. They contrast starkly with the flashes of resilience and redemption among the survivors.
What I loved: This book was written by a reporter who followed the case closely from the beginning and tells the story of Columbine from the killers’ perspectives, the victims and survivors, media, notes, and case files. I loved the alternating time lines in this one, too. It helped to give you a break from the heartbreaking reality of what was going on during the attacks and briefly focus your attention on the investigation and aftermath. I thought it was very interesting to read about the perpetrators and how different they were from one another. I loved hearing aspects of this case that I had never heard before, as well as having Cullen debunk myths that gained momentum in the days after the attack.
What I didn’t: It was hard and heartbreaking to listen to. The stories from the parents of the killers were especially difficult and forced me to think about how far outside of our control some things really are. I can’t imagine living with the responsibility and burden that they have been left with.
I would recommend this book to anyone: who loves true crime stories or investigative reporting.
4. THE NIGHTINGALE BY KRISTIN HANNAH
★★★★☆ | Historical Fiction (audiobook)
From Amazon: In love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are. FRANCE, 1939: In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France … but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive. Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can … completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others. With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France — a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
This month’s Collaboreads prompt was to read a book by an author who shares your first name. Rachel had already established this prompt before inviting me to cohost this year, so I was initially panicking a bit. Then I remembered buying this audiobook last fall and never even starting it (#audibleoverloadproblems)!? You can read my full review here.
5. THE MEMORY BOX BY EVA LESKO NATIELLO
★★★★☆ | Thriller
From Amazon: A fast-paced suspense where a group of privileged suburban moms amuses themselves by Googling everyone in town, digging up dirt to fuel thorny gossip. Caroline Thompson, devoted mother of two, sticks to the moral high ground and attempts to avoid these women. She’s relieved to hear her name appears only three times, citing her philanthropy. Despite being grateful that she has nothing to hide, a delayed pang of insecurity prods Caroline to Google her maiden name–which none of the others know. The hits cascade like a tsunami. Caroline’s terrified by what she reads. An obituary for her sister, JD? That’s absurd. With every click, the revelations grow more alarming. They can’t be right. She’d know. Caroline is hurled into a state of paranoia–upending her blissful family life — desperate to prove these allegations false before someone discovers they’re true. The disturbing underpinnings of The Memory Box expose a story of deceit, misconceptions, and an obsession for control. With its twists, taut pacing, and psychological tenor, Natiello’s page turning suspense cautions: Be careful what you search for.
You know when you get a text at 12:06 a.m., about a book, that it must be good. My friend Amy hand-delivered this to me the following morning (in her pajamas!) and insisted that I abandon all plans for the day in favor of this novel.
What I loved: This story was completely unpredictable. It was perfectly twisty and I found myself constantly confused and yelling what in the fresh heck?! I think the plot device was really creative and watching Caroline react to information that she should have known, but didn’t, made the book even more interesting. It reminded me of What Alice Forgot, not in story or tone, but in the way she used pieces of information from everyone around her to figure out what was going on in her own life.
What I didn’t: I didn’t like how unlikable some of the characters were. The further you delve into the story, you’ll know exactly what I mean, but I don’t want to say too much and ruin the whole story.
I would recommend this book to anyone: who loves domestic thrillers and perfectly ambiguous endings.
6. FOOD FREEDOM FOREVER BY MELISSA HARTWIG
★★★★★ | Self Help
From Amazon: Food Freedom Forever shows you how to design your reset, making your short-term protocol maximally effective. You’ll learn how to spot your specific triggers before they’re pulled and strategies for dealing with temptation, strengthening your new healthy habits, and boosting your willpower. Melissa also shares advice for retaining your food freedom during holidays, vacations, periods of life stress, social pressure, and criticism from friends and family. By the last page, you’ll have a detailed plan for creating the perfect diet for you, finding your own healthy balance, and maintaining the kind of control that brings you real food freedom every day.
I knew when I read this in October, that it would need a reread for the first of the year. It laid out such a perfect plan for reintroduction, post Whole30, that I wanted to read it during January and apply these principles to the following year. I’m not going to review it again (because my feelings are pretty much exactly the same), but you can catch my original thoughts here.
SIX BOOKS. I’m not sure how I pulled that off in such a busy month, but I am super excited to jump start this year. I had a great batch of reads last month and given that we’re traveling this week, I’m already making a fantastic dent in February. What are you reading this month? Anything I should add to my must read list?
Total number of books in January: six
Number of fiction books in January: four
Number of nonfiction books in January: two?!
Number of Audible books: two
Total number of books this year: six
Best book of the year: The Sun is Also a Star
