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I really didn’t mean to take off an entire week from blogging, but May has been positively insane. With end of the school year shenanigans, dance wrapping up for a few months, and our camper renovation in full swing — we have been completely overwhelmed. I do have posts planned for tomorrow and Friday, so hopefully we’re getting back in the swing of things. I missed you guys!
Wait, is June really tomorrow? I know we say it almost every month, but this year is flying by and I can’t believe we’re within a few weeks of our summer vacation! The girls have been out of school for a week and we’re winding down our dance season and gearing up for a two week getaway to our favorite place ever. Of course, that means I’ll be reading so many books next month, but the craziness of May didn’t keep me from making major strides in my reading goals for the year. Yes, I read at least four books and, yes, I read a nonfiction selection, but I’m ready to have a few months of double digits. Can I get an amen?
22. EVERYONE BRAVE IS FORGIVEN BY CHRIS CLEAVE
★★★☆☆ | Historical Fiction
From Amazon: London, 1939. The day war is declared, Mary North leaves finishing school unfinished, goes straight to the War Office, and signs up. Tom Shaw decides to ignore the war—until he learns his roommate Alistair Heath has unexpectedly enlisted. Then the conflict can no longer be avoided. Young, bright, and brave, Mary is certain she’d be a marvelous spy. When she is—bewilderingly—made a teacher, she finds herself defying prejudice to protect the children her country would rather forget. Tom, meanwhile, finds that he will do anything for Mary. And when Mary and Alistair meet, it is love, as well as war, that will test them in ways they could not have imagined, entangling three lives in violence and passion, friendship and deception, inexorably shaping their hopes and dreams. Everyone Brave is Forgiven features little-known history and a perfect wartime love story inspired by the real-life love letters between Chris Cleave’s grandparents.
What I Loved: I loved the idea of this book. I’ve read several other historical fiction novels set during the second World War and after seeing praise surrounding this one, I couldn’t not read it. I loved the characters — especially Mary and Hilda. I loved their friendship and the dynamic between them when they were at odds. I loved how spunky they both were in completely different ways. I also loved the wartime letters and the overall plot of this book, but in the end, it wasn’t my favorite.
What I Didn’t: I didn’t love the downtime. I felt like the book was too long (just topping 400 pages) for its contents. There were so many subplots going on in and around the main storyline and I thought it was distracting and made it take forever to complete. I also hated reading about racial tension during this time. I get it — it existed and we probably do need to talk about it — but they way it was portrayed made me a bit uncomfortable and I thought it was oftentimes insensitive.
Read This Instead: Secrets of a Charmed Life, All the Light We Cannot See, and The Nightingale were all much better versions of this story.
23. THE CASE AGAINST SUGAR BY GARY TAUBES
★★☆☆☆ | Scientific Nonfiction (audiobook)
From Amazon: Among Americans, diabetes is more prevalent today than ever; obesity is at epidemic proportions; nearly 10% of children are thought to have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. And sugar is at the root of these, and other, critical society-wide, health-related problems. With his signature command of both science and straight talk, Gary Taubes delves into Americans’ history with sugar: its uses as a preservative, as an additive in cigarettes, the contemporary overuse of high-fructose corn syrup. He explains what research has shown about our addiction to sweets. He clarifies the arguments against sugar, corrects misconceptions about the relationship between sugar and weight loss; and provides the perspective necessary to make informed decisions about sugar as individuals and as a society.
What I Loved: Is it a copout to say the subject matter? I bought this book because I was interested in learning more about the sugar epidemic, but that is exactly where my interest stopped. I do comment myself for making it through five of the eleven hour audiobook before completely giving up. I will admit, that it was full of interesting and infuriating information and if I had picked up a paperback and read one chapter every few days over a longer period of time, I might could have finished it.
What I Didn’t: This book was extremely technical. I don’t mean that it was difficult to understand, but it was bland and read like a college text book.
Try This Instead: I’m on the hunt for another text that falls within this same subject, because I am interested in how our bodies react to sugar and how I can continue limiting the amount we ingest in our home. I would recommend watching Fed Up instead. It is much more interesting and takes a significantly smaller portion of your time.
24. ANNE OF GREEN GABLES BY L.M. MONTGOMERY
★★★★★ | Classic Children’s Literature (audiobook)
From Amazon: When Marilla Cuthbert and her brother, Matthew, decide to adopt a child from a distant orphanage, they don’t get quite what they bargained for. The child who awaits them at the tiny Bright River train station is not the strapping young boy they’d imagined–someone to help Matthew work the fields of their small farm–but rather a freckle-faced, redheaded girl named Anne (with an e, if you please). Matthew and Marilla may not be sure about Anne, but Anne takes one look at Prince Edward Island’s red clay roads and the Cuthberts’ snug white farmhouse with its distinctive green gables and decides that she’s home at last. But will she be able to convince Marilla and Matthew to let her stay? Armed with only a battered carpetbag and a boundless imagination, Anne charms her way into the Cuthberts’ hearts–and into the hearts of readers as well.
This was my selection for Collaboreads last month and you can find my full review here. If you aren’t already signed up to receive updates on the Collaboreads linkup straight to your inbox, you can do that at the bottom of the post!
25. THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS BY LAURIE FRANKEL
★★★★★ | Contemporary Fiction (audiobook)
From Amazon: This is how a family keeps a secret… and how that secret ends up keeping them. This is how a family lives happily ever after… until happily ever after becomes complicated. This is how children change… and then change the world.
I’m offering you a very limited version of the Amazon description, and for good reason. I first heard about this book on the What Should I Read Next podcast and then later on Anne’s Summer Reading Guide for 2017. Everything she said made it sound wonderful, but she cautioned reading the jacket copy if you found it even the tiniest bit intriguing. I have rarely been let down when following her advice, so I decided to jump in with very little information and download the audio version without any research. I’ll do my best to avoid spoilers in the answers below, too.
What I Loved: Everything. I loved every single character in this book: the six year old protagonist, the quirky therapist, the over-indulging grandmother, and even the Night Fairies. I loved that even though this novel covers some very hot topics, it’s essentially about a family and Frankel depicts them perfectly. The dynamic between a hard working ER Doctor mother and an aspiring novelist / stay at home father was perfection. Their relationship was beautiful and the author did a fantastic job of showing the push and pull of marriage and family life. All five of their children are adorable and so richly developed. Although their youngest child is the focus of the story, the four older brothers are all so wonderful! I seriously cannot say enough about this one. It is, by far, my favorite book of the year and I’m going to go way out on a limb here and say it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.
What I Didn’t: There isn’t a downside to this one. At the very least I’ll caution that not all of you will like it. It will challenge your thinking and require you to love someone that you might not understand and admit that even when things are confusing and difficult to understand, they can still be beautiful stories. My favorite line from the entire book is, “Story is the best magic there is.”
I would recommend this book to anyone: who is willing to stretch themselves a bit, anyone who loves a good family story, or anyone who enjoys laugh/crying on their way home from the gym.
26. MISSOULA BY JOHN KRAKAUER
★★★☆☆ | News + Nonfiction
From Amazon: Missoula, Montana, is a typical college town, home to a highly regarded state university whose beloved football team inspires a passionately loyal fan base. Between January 2008 and May 2012, hundreds of students reported sexual assaults to the local police. Few of the cases were properly handled by either the university or local authorities. In this, Missoula is also typical. In these pages, acclaimed journalist Jon Krakauer investigates a spate of campus rapes that occurred in Missoula over a four-year period. Taking the town as a case study for a crime that is sadly prevalent throughout the nation, Krakauer documents the experiences of five victims: their fear and self-doubt in the aftermath; the skepticism directed at them by police, prosecutors, and the public; their bravery in pushing forward and what it cost them. These stories cut through abstract ideological debate about acquaintance rape to demonstrate that it does not happen because women are sending mixed signals or seeking attention. They are victims of a terrible crime, deserving of fairness from our justice system. Rigorously researched, rendered in incisive prose, Missoula stands as an essential call to action.
What I Loved: It’s hard to say you love anything when it comes to a book about rape, but I do really like Jon Krakauer’s writing style. My love for the previous books I’ve read by him, alongside a recommendation by Anne Bogel, landed this one in my Amazon cart (used books — score!). I like how he told the story of Missoula, at large, interspersed with stories of individual crimes, trials, and statistics. I read it in two days and that’s proof that it’s an easy read and narrative in style — I don’t do well with boring nonfiction tales.
What I Didn’t: The majority of the people depicted in this novel. Say what you will about the (very miniscule) number of false rapes reported, butmost of the law enforcement officials, defense attorneys, and education overlords described in this book were sickening. I was disturbed at the number of rapes that went unreported, unprosecuted, and unpunished. I think maybe my girls can just live at home forever and ever, amen.
I would recommend this book to anyone: who can’t look away. This is like a Nightline special on steroids, but with the amazing storytelling of Jon Krakauer. If you aren’t typically a fan of nonfiction stories, but are news and information obsessed, he’s a great place to start.
27. YOU WILL KNOW ME BY MEGAN ABBOTT
★★★☆☆ | Suspense
From Amazon: How far will you go to achieve a dream? That’s the question a celebrated coach poses to Katie and Eric Knox after he sees their daughter Devon, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful, compete. For the Knoxes there are no limits–until a violent death rocks their close-knit gymnastics community and everything they have worked so hard for is suddenly at risk. As rumors swirl among the other parents, Katie tries frantically to hold her family together while also finding herself irresistibly drawn to the crime itself. What she uncovers–about her daughter’s fears, her own marriage, and herself — forces Katie to consider whether there’s any price she isn’t willing to pay to achieve Devon’s dream.
What I Loved: This was super fast-paced and a definitely page turner. I read it cover to cover in about three hours — I could not put it down. While Ella is not a gymnast and we are nowhere close to that level of commitment, I did like drawing comparisons between the gymnast world and the competitive dancing one. I could certainly relate to their dedication, even if their methods were crazy. I also loved how twisty this one was. It’s not super unexpected, but there are several twists and turns and you’ll answer the question of Who done it? several times before arriving at the right answer.
What I Didn’t: It was hard to like the majority of the characters in this novel. There were a few you could identify with, but honestly? They were all either ten years old or ancillary characters. All of the major players gave you reasons to hate them. This isn’t something I didn’t like about the novel itself, but I didn’t especially care for anyone.
I would recommend this book to anyone: who loves domestic thrillers and books you can read in a single day (I wish I had known to save this one for next month’s Collaboreads post!).
Not the best month I’ve had this year, but amidst the few disappointments, I did read some really good books in May. I especially loved reading Anne of Green Gables with Ella (even though she isn’t quite finished) and I’m already thinking of something else we can read together this month. We might try diving back into the Harry Potter series while we’re at the beach — that is something we can all read together and it never gets any complaints (even from dad). Most of my selections for June are coming courtesy of Book of the Month Club — I’ve been hoarding some great thrillers for sandy beach reads. Are there any other books you consider must read for summer vacation?! Do tell.
Total number of books in May: six
Number of fiction books in May: four
Number of nonfiction books in May: two
Number of Audible books in May: three
Total number of books this year: twenty-seven
Best book of the year: This Is How It Always Is
