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I had so many good books in my stack this month, but I still managed to download an audiobook after discovering a novel written way back when I was in elementary school. I don’t remember ever hearing anything about it before a few weeks ago, so it was fun to read something without any preconceived notions. Our travels earlier this month helped beef up my total number of books this month, as well as plenty of time running after we returned. I’m trying to get into listening to books while I exercise instead of listening to music, since it makes me feel so much more productive!
I still love how Leah is breaking down her reading posts this year and I’m planning to borrow her format indefinitely.
7. ALL IS NOT FORGOTTEN BY WENDY WALKER
★★★☆☆ | Thriller (audiobook)
From Amazon: It begins in the small, affluent town of Fairview, Connecticut, where everything seems picture perfect. Until one night when young Jenny Kramer is attacked at a local party. In the hours immediately after, she is given a controversial drug to medically erase her memory of the violent assault. But, in the weeks and months that follow, as she heals from her physical wounds, and with no factual recall of the attack, Jenny struggles with her raging emotional memory. Her father, Tom, becomes obsessed with his inability to find her attacker and seek justice while her mother, Charlotte, struggles to pretend this horrific event did not touch her carefully constructed world. As Tom and Charlotte seek help for their daughter, the fault lines within their marriage and their close-knit community emerge from the shadows where they have been hidden for years, and the relentless quest to find the monster who invaded their town – or perhaps lives among them — drive this psychological thriller to a shocking and unexpected conclusion.
Trigger warning, this one is full of brutal and difficult to read/listen to scenes.
What I loved: How a story is told is often more important that the details of that story. I loved that the narrator seemed to be on the periphery of the story and hide a wide range of knowledge — both of the major players and of the details surrounding Jenny’s case. You aren’t sure who is telling the story until you’ve plowed through a quarter of the book and I think the curiosity surrounding the narrator was part of what made this one so interesting. I’m a huge fan of psychological thrillers, so this one checked all of my boxes there — creepy, confusing, ambiguous.
What I didn’t: The narrator is a manipulative jerk. Not only was he unreliable (I say this because we gain no other points of view, not because he’s spinning lies), but he’s smug and pretentious controls the narrative (I mean that of the story, not the book). When the details of what really happened to Jenny are finally revealed, there are far too many details to sort through. It was pretty graphic and hard to hear and the story could have been properly resolved without many of them. My only other complaint is that I had to suspend belief a bit with this one. It isn’t predictable, but everything lines up perfectly in the end and there are far too many coincidences for this to be believable.
Notes about the audio: How about a dislike wrapped up in a like? Although I hated the narrator of the story, the actor reading this gets a huge thumbs up. He captures Dr. Forrester’s voice perfectly and is just cold and manipulative sounding to make this work. The only downside to listening is that there is a huge cast of minor characters and I found it hard to keep everything straight. The things you hear aren’t happening chronologically, so it’s sometimes hard to follow along. I’d think reading the physical copy of this one might be easier, but you’d miss out on a perfect audiobook.
I would recommend this book to anyone: who like thrillers and isn’t afraid to suspend their belief. I’d steer clear of this one if you struggle with reading about rape, violence against women, or exceedingly frustrating misogynistic doctors.
8. EVERYTHING EVERYTHING BY NICOLA YOON
★★★★☆ | Young Adult
From Amazon: My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla. But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly. Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.
What I loved: This one was just as well written as The Sun is Also a Star — it was believable teenage dialogue, while also being adorable and thoughtful. It was a quirky love story that wasn’t too sentimental or steamy.
What I didn’t: I could have lived without the notes and excerpts from her medical records, etc. Sometimes those things really add to the story, but I skipped over most of them and followed along just fine. The text messages and emails were integral to the story, but the other excerpts were unnecessary. I also thought the way everything turned out in the end was far fetched. Not the love story part, but the origin of her sickness and the relationship between she and her mom.
I would recommend this book to anyone: who loved The Sun is Also a Star and Eleanor & Park — this had a very similar feel to both!
9. INTO THIN AIR BY JON KRAKAUER
★★★★☆ |Memoir
From Amazon: A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that “suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down.” He was wrong. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more–including Krakauer’s–in guilt-ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer’s epic account of the May 1996 disaster.
What I loved: This book was so far afield from what I normally read, but I needed to squeeze in a nonfiction selection and I had ordered this for Josh to read. He has a friend who attempted Everest and was on the mountain during the avalanche of 2015. We watched that story unfold in real time and waited to hear how the climbers survived. He says this book offers the best description of what life is like in base camp and the subsequent climb(s) to the summit. Krakauer did a great job of making this feel more like a novel than a historical account. There were plenty of footnotes to explain climbing jargon, so you don’t have to know anything about mountaineering to enjoy his story. Be sure to read the Author’s Note at the end of the book — it offers plenty of additional information not included in the original manuscript.
What I didn’t: There isn’t much about this that I didn’t enjoy — it was a great plane read.
I would recommend this book to anyone: who enjoys narrative nonfiction and tales of adventure. You will white knuckle this book and be awed by Krakauer’s journey.
Side note: Both this book and Into the Wild have been made into movies and both are excellent, if you’re into that sort of thing. I found Everest (the movie) much harder to stomach than the book — the book seems almost clinical (in the best possible way) and the visual imagery of the movie was difficult to watch.
10. THE HANDMAID’S TALE BY MARGARET ATWOOD
★★★★☆ | Dystopian Fiction (audiobook)
From Amazon: Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now.
This was my selection for Collaboreads last month and you can find my full review here!
11. INTO THE WILD BY JON KRAKAUER
★★★★★ | News + Nonfiction
From Amazon: In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.
What I loved: After reading Into Thin Air, I was fascinated with Krakauer’s writing style. As much as I loved the story of Chris McCandless, what I love even more is how the author handles the delicate story. Not told in chronological order, this book is arranged in a way that shows you where Chris has been, as well as where he’s going, and is interleaved with tales of other adventures and a little of Krakauer’s own adolescence. While I haven’t read many of the literary works referenced in the book, I loved reading quotes and passages from Chris’ favorite books, as they stood out to him along the journey. One of my favorite things about the book (and the movie!) are the stories of those that Chris meets along his journey. They are all profoundly touched by his zeal for life and even in the aftermath of his death, are forever marked by the time they spent together.
What I didn’t: As much as I loved the quotes within Chris’ story, I don’t really love when authors share quotes from other books at the beginning of each chapter. I feel like that gets me out of rhythm and I often skip over them. Both of the Krakauer books I’ve read are like that, so I’m guessing it’s his preferred method of sharing. I would consider the length of this book a love / hate. It was short enough to read in a single day — this is great for getting the story in and reading more books this month, but so sad to reach the end of the story.
I would recommend this book to anyone: Much like before, this is a serious story of adventure and wanderlust. I would recommend it to anyone who loves to travel and aims to see the world through a different lens. If you are an extrovert, hate to spend time outdoors and think people who are unplugged from society are kooky — this one might not be for you.
12. A MOTHER’S RECKONING BY SUE KLEBOLD
★★★☆☆ | Memoir (audiobook)
From Amazon: On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Over the course of minutes, they would kill twelve students and a teacher and wound twenty-four others before taking their own lives. For the last sixteen years, Sue Klebold, Dylan’s mother, has lived with the indescribable grief and shame of that day. How could her child, the promising young man she had loved and raised, be responsible for such horror? And how, as his mother, had she not known something was wrong? Were there subtle signs she had missed? What, if anything, could she have done differently?
What I loved: I think love is too strong of a word for books like this, but I knew after reading Columbine and seeing this book mentioned on Anne Bogel’s blog a few weeks ago, that I wanted to read it. I downloaded the audiobook and listened to Sue tell the story of how she came to terms with what her son did. Brave and direct, Sue shares her journey unapologetically and I cried through much of her story.
What I didn’t: This was a hard one to listen to (much like Columbine was), but I appreciated hearing the story unfold from her own perspective. I’m not sure it can be said that I didn’t like parts of the book, but I didn’t like facing the truth that we can’t ever know the intimate details of our children’s lives and minds. It was hard to consider that any mother could find herself in this exact same position.
I would recommend this book to anyone: who enjoys memoirs, is a mother, and doesn’t mind arming themselves with plenty of kleenex.
I was really hoping I could top my six books from January, but I have to admit I’m pretty pleased that I got as far as I did. I had already started a seventh book before February wrapped, but I just couldn’t get it finished in time to review for today’s post. Here’s to six more books in March!
Total number of books in February: six
Number of fiction books in February: three
Number of nonfiction books in February: three (!!!)
Number of Audible books: three
Total number of books this year: twelve
Best book of the year: The Sun is Also a Star
