STET by Sarah Gailey
Started: 7/28/19
Finished: 7/28/19
Super short, and very moving, but it’s mostly in the footnotes and the editing comments, so it takes a little maneuvering to get at it.
fiction
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Started: 5/24/19
Gave up: 5/25/19
An Emily recommendation, and one that started out well, but then a baby died, very early on in the story, and I just couldn’t continue. I would like to read the book, but I think I might need a few years first.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Started: 5/8/19
Finished: 5/10/19
I’ve heard so much about this book while also learning absolutely nothing about it, so I really didn’t know what to expect. It’s an interesting story, but I think I was looking for more to come out of it. More…plot. So I’m left feeling unsatisfied. Sort of “that’s it?” I’m pretty sure that’s the fault of my expectations, though, and not of the book itself. I need more distance from it.
The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo
Started: 4/24/19
Finished: 4/25/19
Overall, I don’t think I liked this book. I read it quickly, it drew me in pretty well, but it’s written from the point of view of this woman who never seems to have matured past college age. She’s telling the story to someone, and her voice is irritating. And her two great loves? Also irritating. I would not be friends with any of them, and oh my god, she’s just wrong. I don’t think I felt this strongly about that when I finished it. Given a week to let it sit, and yeah – I didn’t like it.
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
Started: 4/18/19
Finished: 4/19/19
This is a movie waiting to happen, and I’d happily watch it. It’s the story of a lonely, sarcastic, black French Canadian teenager transplanted to Austin, Texas in the middle of high school. In some ways it’s predictable, in other ways it isn’t, and I flew through it.
When You Read This by Mary Adkins
Started: 4/18/19
Gave up: 4/18/19
I couldn’t get into this one. It’s the story of a woman who died told via the emails of the people who knew her (and one person who didn’t know her but started working for her boss after she died). It might be depressing, it might be uplifting, I think it’s supposed to be funny, but I didn’t stick around to find out for sure. I wasn’t learning enough about the characters to care, and the intern really bugged me.
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Started: 4/7/19
Gave up: 4/7/19
This is hard to admit, but I gave up on Dandelion Wine. I love Ray Bradbury, but I couldn’t read this. It’s an ode to small-town life before the Great Depression. Remember when boys were boys and men were men and small towns were great and aren’t little brothers wonderful and gosh, summer lasts forever, and MAYBE if there had been a plot!
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Started: 4/6/19
Finished: 4/7/19
The writing in this book was painful, but also felt painfully real and accurate for a coming of age/coming out story told from the perspective of a teenager. I have diaries from around then (a little younger, but still), and MAN are they painful to read now in exactly the same way. I got over the wincing discomfort and enjoyed this one.
The Last Thing She Told Me by Linda Green
Started: 3/21/19
Finished: 3/22/19
I’m not sure who recommended this book, but whoever it was, I don’t trust them anymore. It’s not bad – the writing is better than the last one I read – but it’s disturbing and it really hammers you over the head with the “men are horrible and it’s women who bear the brunt and feel shame their entire lives” message. I’m not arguing the point, but goodness some awful things happen, and I wasn’t really prepared for that when I started reading.
The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope by Rhonda Riley
Started: 12/19/18
Finished: 12/27/18
This was an odd one, and I’m not sure I liked it. I didn’t dislike it, and I was interested enough to finish it, but I’m feeling kind of meh about it.
One Day in December by Josie Silver
Started: 12/12/18
Finished: 12/14/18
A British love story that references Love Actually and Bridget Jones liberally. The beginning was difficult, but it got better largely because the friendship between the two women was well-written. The man was two-dimensional, boring, and not worth the angst thrown in his direction.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Started: 12/2/18
Finished: 12/11/18
Female spy captured in Nazi-occupied France tells her story via written confession. Fascinating, funny, sweet. Ultimately the story of a friendship.
The End of the Day by Claire North
Started: 11/27/18
Gave up: 12/1/18
Someone visits people before Death does. Could have been good, but there’s no plot (I got a quarter of the way in – nothing) and the main character isn’t interesting enough to carry the book without a sense of purpose to what action there is. Gave it up.
Digging In by Loretta Nyhan
Started: 9/11/18
Finished: 9/12/18
I don’t remember where I heard about this one, but it was a nice read about a woman trying to recover from her husband’s tragic death a year before. She has a teenage son and a job in advertising, and it was funny and sweet and light, despite the tragic background. (I do occasionally read and enjoy non-SFF books.)
A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan
Started: 4/29/18
Gave up: 4/29/18
Supposed to be in the vein of Where’d You Go, Bernadette, which I LOVED, and Today Will Be Different, which I strongly disliked (both by Maria Semple). This one fell into the strongly dislike category. The main character and the overall situation should be relatable, but I just can’t with her character, her decisions, her choices. So I quit halfway through.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Started: 4/7/18
Finished: 4/8/18
Fascinating story that follows two families, descendent by descendent, across the centuries. One stays in Africa, one is captured by slavers and goes to the US.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Started: 2/19/18
Finished: 2/19/18
I flew through this YA novel/thriller. I have a minor quibble with one of the ways the title is used, but otherwise, this was pretty good.
American War by Omar El Akkad
Started: 1/28/18
Finished: 2/3/18
Speculative fiction, second American civil war begins 60 years from now, the south refuses to give up oil. Told entirely from the point of view of a young southern woman fighting, not for the cause (she doesn’t care about oil), but because the war (and the north) destroyed everything she knew and loved. It felt real and dirty and uncomfortable, and I’m not sure I liked it, but it was good.