Last month, I was a little embarrassed to devote an entire post to what I read in May. Only three books for the month. (One a very short middle grade that took me about 2 hours to read.) I probably should have just tagged those books on to the end of some weekly wrap up post :) But, it's my chance to talk books, so I want a whole post! :) I really did love The Arrangment by Sarah Dunn. I think it is one of my top books of 2017. All your forever married readers will appreciate what the author was trying to say with her story. You might even apply those takeaways to your own relationships. When a book does that, I love it even more! I haven't read many books that really blew me away this year. Good books just not much with the "wow" factor.
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman is a good book. No 'wow' factor :) MGAMTTYSS uses some fantastical elements to tell a little girl's story of grief. She delivers several letters to unsuspecting people from her grandmother. Each character is both represented in fairytale and real life. It can get confusing at times. The overall story is still a good one! I am convinced Backman is an excellent writer and anything he writes will be good. I loved A Man Called Ove. And I think I will be picking up some more of his books in the near future.
Have A New Teenager By Friday by Dr. Kevin Lehman was another May start and June finish. This is a non-fiction parenting book. I have to thank my first born for always making parenting books required reading! LOL. My take away from this books is give your teen consequences, responsibility, and don't save their ass when they get in a bind. Pretty much we are doing it all wrong over here! Partially kidding but I did learn a thing or two :)
Shall we move on to June books now?
Can I have a little cheer for sticking to my reading list this month?? I never do that! But... I have these books from the spring library sale and I really need to read them. I also had two library checkouts that needed to be returned.
The Dry by Jane Harper was a highly anticipated mystery/suspense read for June. The basis of the story is two unsolved murders in a small town with the detective having a personal connection to the victims. The story resolves both murder mysteries. I had been reading and hearing all good things about The Dry. Modern Mrs. Darcy was dropping words like "favorite" and "top of 2017". Other reviewers were "blown away" and in "awe", so I thought I should get right on that! Let me say, I wasn't as "blown away" as others. It is a good book. Well written. The story flows nice and smooth. Not too boring but not too exciting. You get to know the characters. You like them. You feel the setting come to life. However, I didn't feel compelled to read this book. There were no late nights with this one. I think mystery genre readers will like this and feel all those super exciting feelings about The Dry. The rest of us are probably no better or worse off reading it or not reading it.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. This is definitely going to make my favorite books list in 2017. The premise of this book is an unsolved death in a family. The focus is all the inner feelings, connections, and relationships of the family members experiencing the loss. Every character reflects back as they wonder why and how this could have happened. I thought Celeste Ng captured those things very well. For me this book hit on a personal level. The relationship between the brother and sister in this family dynamic reminded me of my own sibling relationship. My own dependency on my brother in our crazy childhood and his increasing desire to distance himself (as a way of coping). It made me sad but it also made me understand too. This is why I love reading. It makes me consider other perspectives. I think if you love family dynamics and family drama, you will love this book. If reading this review makes you want to read this book right now, I will personally send you my copy. Just let me know in the comments :)
The Refugees by Viet Than Nyugen. This book was a collection of fictional short stories about Southeast Asian refugees' experiences. It was interesting and a quick read. I liked the short story format versus a novel by this author. If you like reading about the immigrant or refugee experience (one of my favorite things to read), then this book will be perfect.
This month was a good reading month. I'm so happy about that. I have three books left from my Summer TBR: The Nightingale, The Lightning Thief, and Behind Her Eyes. Then I'm going to make another TBR with only light and fluffy books :)
Linking up with Jana and Steph for all the book recommendations you could want to read :)
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Can't wait to check out The Arrangement! Reading is one my favorite beach activities!
ReplyDeleteI'm getting back into my How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and How to Listen So Kids Will Talk book soon. I feel like I can get teens and tweens to do what I want any day of the week as a teacher, but my elementary kids, forget it! Maybe I need to move to the beach to become a better reader! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm totally down for more reading if that means I can do it while sitting on the beach
ReplyDeleteYou are the second person I saw that mentioned the Backman book. I absolutely loved A Man Called Ove!
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ReplyDeleteBeach reading is the best kind of reading! I recently read Beartown, my first book by Frederick Backman. Now I have to read A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me....Everything I Never Told You has been on my to read list. You have a great upcoming reading list! I read all three and enjoyed them all!!
Everything I Never Told You was SO GOOD. I cannot wait for her new one.
ReplyDeleteI've heard amazing things about My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry, I loved his most recent book Beartown, so it's on my list. The Dry is not on my list lol. I don't have anything against Modern Mrs Darcy at all, we live in the same city I think and I am a huge Austen/P&P fan (obviously so is she) but I have found I don't like her recommendations/favourites more than I do, if that makes sense. Everything I Never Told You is on my list. Hope you like The Nightingale, it was one of my favourites the year I read it.
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