A BOOK : When you Read This by Mary Adkins

When You Read This by Mary Adkins won the “Relationships” category in the 2020 Reading List awards, which is what triggered me to read it. They summed the plot up nicely:

“After her death at 33 from an aggressive lung cancer, Iris leaves behind a blog that connects her boss and sister.  Told through blog entries, emails and texts, this tender, uplifting, and at times amusing story shows each working through their grief and discovering an unexpected connection.”

The format makes for a rewarding reading experience, as you use emails and blog entries to piece together the characters and the bigger picture of what’s happening. You’re thrown in pretty quickly and it took me a few pages to get my bearings, but it’s worth spending the extra time to get there. The characters are intricate and frustrating at times because oh my gosh, Carl, and so understatedly honest about their struggles grieving over the loss of someone they love and the past that has conditioned them to grieve the way they are.

While ultimately sad, it’s surprisingly funny at times and has an ease of transitioning between the heavy and the light. I loved the little details like including the comments on the blog and bringing in side storylines like Carl’s mission to rename Smith’s company and some of the clients.

What’s complicated is how by the end I sort of felt like Iris was used. I’m wrestling myself *a lot* with this. Even one of the characters mentions how she’s struggling because it seems like everyone else can move on, but she can’t and as the reader you can *see* that people aren’t moving on. So it’s not like because she has died all of the other characters live happily ever after. But essentially what brought all of these characters together in the first place is her death and as a result they were helping one another heal present and past wounds. Part of me wonders if the reason why I love the book so much (the epistolary structure and how it’s used to bring the reader in and out of their own grief for Iris) is also what left me unsettled at the end. It swiftly swung me back from having my heart hurt to being excited and happy. Which is also a pretty realistic emotional experience, and I would imagine *really* hard to accomplish.

Would say for readers of general fiction that love finding characters they can root for. It has some of the humor of Meg Cabot, but due to what the characters are working through I wouldn’t classify it as a funny book. It’s thoughtful with a quick pace that allows you to choose what aspects you’d like to linger on.

A BOOK: The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

Disclosure: I got this book from the publisher. I requested it because it was being heralded as a great debut and was on this February’s LibraryReads list, and I wanted (and still want) to include it in a booktalk I have coming up!

Happy release week to The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray!

This book is about how you can’t run from your experiences growing up. What happens when you’re a kid is going to impact you and the relationships you have as you get older. It’s about what happens when you face your struggles head on, when you bury those struggles and everything in between.

It’s about a family struggling through betrayals — it’s about trying to do the right thing and trying to figure out what that is.

It’s about the complex layers of family. The loyalty that may keep you hanging by a thread, the choosing to love when things get hard, the choosing to sever ties when needed, the unspoken and the assumed.

But mostly this character-driven drama, is about three sisters: Althea, Viola, and Lillian. Althea is in jail, Lillian is watching her children, and Viola is supposed to swoop in from Chicago and save the day. But oh, how much more complicated everything is.

An absorbing read for those that like stories about families with a lot of the realistic hardship of life thrown in, but yet still are mixed strongly with hope.

 

A BOOK : One Day in December by Josie Silver

A few weeks ago I caught 10 minutes of This American Life’s Rom-Com episode on the radio and ever since I’ve been thinking about why I love Rom-Coms so much. They are my favorite brand of movie– there was a week last year where I watched You’ve Got Mail every. single. day. When I was sick recently I had the soft sounds of Serendipity playing in the background. I find so much comfort and peace in them, yet at the same time they fill me up with a childlike excitement for life. And I realized why.

They often have a feeling of magic and possibility to them. People risking it all for the chance of building something new with someone– a chance encounter turned into the potential of a life-changing moment — finding someone that you see and sees you — and so.much.more. One of my favorite parts of growing up was realizing that magic and possibility isn’t limited to romantic relationships, but in fact its potential exists everywhere: The intoxication of sharing secrets you rarely tell anyone, finding a story that resonates with something so deeply personal, and unexpected kindness are just a few of the many ways I come across this feeling. Recognizing this has made me appreciate rom-coms that much more — often they have an uncanny ability of packaging up that unbridled hope and excited disbelief so well, and typically in just under 2 hours you’re left with fuzzy optimism about the beauty the world contains.

I am digressing. We are here to talk about A BOOK. The above all is just to say…

…damn. One Day in December is a good rom-com.

Laurie spies Jack sitting at a bus stop reading from her seat on the bus. Their eyes meet. A spark flies. But time moves too quickly and before either of them can do anything, the bus is carrying the two apart and they’re left dealing of the aftermath of having an instant connection with someone and suddenly they’re gone seemingly forever.

Laurie spend an entire year with her best friend/roommate, Sarah, searching for her bus boy. Until finally… he shows up literally at her door… on the arms of her best friend as the boyfriend Sarah has been smitten over and so excited for Laurie to meet. There is no way Sarah could have known her Jack was Laurie’s bus boy. The book switches from Laurie and Jack’s perspective over the next ten years as they grow up, their friendship is built, and they work through the fallout of that split second connection they shared as strangers on that fated December day.

Once Day in December was the stomach butterfly variety of  cute with delicious tension and impossible situations and goodness gracious so much wonderful, beautiful friendship. I loved Sarah and Laurie’s friendship. Loved it. How they built each other up and ate disgusting sandwiches and tried to navigate difficult circumstances and most importantly how they 100000% loved one another and acted on that love. While technically Sarah is a secondary character, because of her importance to Jack and Laurie she was right up there.

I also loved how imperfect every one was. Every single character had me rolling my eyes or cringing at something they said or did. All of their identities were slowly morphing as they were growing older and they had to adjust emotionally as they came to terms with their realities. Love is never a game and watching the trio try to figure out how to protect themselves and one another was an unexpected appreciated bonus of this story. Plus there were at least a few moments that made me directly think of specific romantic comedies, which was fun.

Books like this make me really cognizant of the trust we as readers put in our author’s hands to take us on these emotional journeys that will often lead us to a broken heart (which is okay if done well — see my last book I raved on about) or a heart that is singing. If you’re in the mood for a little piece of heart magic from Silver and want to be treated well as a reader, One Day in December is a book that respects and honors its readers.

A BOOK : Sunburn by Laura Lippman

Well hey there addictive-can’t-put-ya-down-these-characters-are-so-captivating book! Yowzers, I loved Sunburn by Lauren Lippman so much.

This book is really easy to slip in to and just never stop reading. Not normally something I would pick up on my own, it was listed as Roxane Gay’s favorite book of 2018, so I tried it out and was blown away.

Two characters falling in love with one another, both with secrets that may cause the other person to not fall in love with the other + both with motivations that make you as the reader wonder when and where the curve ball is going to come from.

One of my favorite parts of the book is it jumps around from time-to-time to different characters. We all know that we all perceive events and peoples a little differently, bringing our own contexts and biases with us to every situation, and Lippman does such a good job of getting into the heads of her characters, that as a result you see how everyone sees reality slightly different—bringing to question how even the characters see themselves. It was masterful, and I love the shifting ground I was standing on as I was reading Sunburn.

The setting was also beautiful. Not in like an actual beautiful sense, but in the sense was it felt so stinking real. Gosh, I spend so much time thinking about Polly’s apartment- the care that went into it and the life she was setting up for herself and trying to design. The town of Belleville was so tangible and tragic. This book was so tragic. UGH.

If you haven’t noticed, this is a book I hands-down suggest you pick up… especially if you live in the midwest are in the midst of a polar vortex! It has an uncomfortable heat to it and the absorption that will get your mind off the snow.

A BOOK : Vox by Christina Dalcher

This entry is brought to you by me trying to stay awake until at least 10pm because if I go to bed before 10 I won’t be able to sleep. Adventures in adulting! But as a result of this quest to not give in to trying to sleep at 8pm I finally finished Vox by Christina Dalcher.

If you are pro-human rights, Vox takes some of your worst fears of the 2016 election and brings them to life. In this world, a subgroup in America has risen to power and their goal is to bring America back to the way it “should” be. They call themselves Pure (I think) and their idea is that men should work and make all of the important decisions/handle all of the important things. Like you know. Getting the mail from the mail box (women aren’t allowed to get the mail) or communicate (women are discouraged from even blowing kisses). The communication bit is the driving part of the story — all women above 3-months old must wear counters that count the words they speak. As soon as they hit 100 they are shocked at increasing intensity the higher they get above 100. And if you identify as LGBTQ+ you are imprisoned until you identify as straight.

It’s a dark dark dark book, that hits a little too close to home for comfort. It’s also super not subtle with some of its messages — stand up now for what you believe in because the future is not a guarantee. The main character, Dr. Jean McClellan even goes so far as to reflect often about how she hadn’t voted in the last election and she regretted it.

While the book covers the “state of America” you mostly follow Dr. Jean McClellan, a cutting edge scientist now forced to spend her days quietly at home. Her eldest son has scaringly drank the kool-aid, her husband although he disagrees with the state of the world is letting things go on without a fight, two twin boys we don’t really see much of and a young daughter who is being rewarded at school to talk as little as possible. Right before she was forced to stop working she was close to discovering the cure for a specific brain disease that impacted speech. Now, the president’s brother is suffering from that illness, so the government is attempting to enlist her in finishing her project to find a cure. Does she refuse? Does she work with them? If he works with them, what does this mean for the state of mankind? dun dun dunnnnn

Personal thoughts? It was scarily fascinating, a good reminder, and had interesting world building to it. My main hang-up is I don’t know if it was just me not reading close enough at the end, but I feel like I just was left with a lot of logistical questions at the end. Like how did a certain someone send a memo? And why did certain people wake up so quickly? And probably most important … if I am going to be perfectly honest, I don’t fully get what the purpose of the master plan of the Reverend was supposed to be.

But!

There’s a lot to unravel in Vox and if you’re into realistic what-if thrillers you should pick this 2018 release up!

 

A BOOK : My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

Hello, My Year of Rest and Relaxation is screwed up, so weird, and sits uncomfortably lodged in your throat, but that is why I loved it. Before I get too ahead of myself

• I thought that the writing was fantastic. Ottessa Moshfegh excellently draws you into such a specific time and place without you being aware of her coloring in details as you read.
• The premise itself is interesting–  the narrator is doggedly yet lethargically trying to figure out a way to sleep her current self away so she can wake up fresh and clean as a new person. Such a narrow focus in plot allows for in-depth character building and an impending sense of doom that keeps you engaged.
• It’s brimming with discussion points — from the relationships the narrator has to the ending to narrator’s larger and smaller motivations– there is so much to talk about.

Yet the reason I ended up loving this book was there is a specific feeling Moshfegh captures, and if you’ve ever felt it before it’s a little disturbing how weirdly relatable this book feels: That fervent desire to have your soul scrubbed clean and wake up with a whole new inside. In a way reading this book felt like it– you’re being plunged further and further into this swampy mess and when you finally close the book there’s at least a fresh minty candle lit in the middle of the swamp making you feel the possibility of being refreshed.

Other things that lingered:

The narrator has an odd sense of self-awareness — she is completely aware of her privilege of class and looks. Someone suggests she burns her birth certificate and cuts up her license and passport and she shoots back that she was born into privilege — why would she get rid of that? She is thin and blonde and attractive and she recognizes how she was able to coast in school as a result of it. Yet when it comes to examining her relationships she seems either incapable/afraid to give them a real honest look. I don’t want to say unwilling to give them a real honest look, because she *tries* but doesn’t seem to want to go beyond scratching the surface.

I REALLY want to know what the Egyptians at the bodega thought of her.

I don’t want to be any more specific, but there were some moments of beautiful let downs.

While *drastically* different, it has a similar sense of feeling to Alexandra Kleeman’s You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, where everything feels a little off and you’re absorbed into the stickiness of the unfiltered state of being a human.

Read My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh if you’re looking for something a little more experimental/different, want meaty complex situations + characters, want a book that you are going to react to, and are looking for skilled writing!

A BOOK : You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman

Whew! So if you are interested in a brain workout, read You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman. I chose to read this based off of the So Many Damn Books podcast and goodness, it is quite the trip. 🙂

I’d say You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine is good for people that like more challenging pieces revolving around idea rather than story. The first 2/3s is more focused on gathering your bearings and A’s slow descent into a different person, and then the last third picked up a lot for me as more things start to happen. Some things I liked:

– the relationship between A and B. At one point, A is asked, “Tell me, is there someone in your life who’s been sharing your life too closely?”, which essentially is their relatioship. The effects of extreme envy and how that changed A throughout the story was super interesting to me.

– B’s characer. B was such a grotesque character, but dang was she interesting.

– The overall discomfort the book gave me. Kleeman did such a great job with fully fleshing out this weird disjointed setting and getting inside of A’s not quite stable mind. It was a world where everything felt slightly off, discolored, and hollowed– at least through A’s eyes– and as a result it just gave that same feeling to me as I was reading it.

– The Wally stores. Kleeman took normal business practices, took them to the extreme and distorted them to create this really creepy store. My favorite part was the idea that the associates can’t really help the customer out by telling them where the product they are looking for is, but if you work the question the right way and you get the right associate you could get clues for where your desired item is (although I would hate that if that was real life!).

– On a side note, Booooooo C.

Kleeman is definitely a good writer with a bright [sorry, not sorry :P] creative streak!

Add You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine to your to-read list!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Fall TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday is created by The Broke and the Bookish.

Tuesday, September 27: Books on my Fall TBR List

Fall for me this year is hopefully going to be cleaning out my room in regards to reading whatever physical books I have that I haven’t yet, plus continuing reading like normal. So here’s what my list is like:

1. Guy in Real Life by Steve Brezenoff

I bought this a long time ago because it looks and sounds adorable!

 

 

2. Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Kreuger

People say it has reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

 

 

 

 

3. Maplecroft by Cherie Priest

This is actually for a book study I’m in… but Lizzie Borden has an ax!

 

 

4. Miss Jane by Brad Watson

This is up for the National Book award… and something about it really draws me in.

 

 

5. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

A spoooooky book for October!

 

 

 

6. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

I get to read this for work!

 

 

 

7. Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

A Goodreads friend of mine mentioned this is one of her favorites of the year, making me really want to try this.

 

 

 

 

8. Today Will be Different by Maria Semple

A new Maria Semple book! I’m so curious to see how that one goes.

 

 

 

 

9. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

I still can’t believe I haven’t read this!

 

 

 

10. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

I got like 100-200 pages into this a while ago, stopped reading and haven’t finished it. Definitely want to change that!

A BOOK : You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

I’ve been trying to get back to writing for myself, and that involves responding to books I’ve read. I’ve started posting reviews on my Goodreads page, but I really miss posting things on here.

So.  Here we go again!

You Will Know Me is an unstable book where you don’t know what the heck is going on– you just know *something* is. I liked Devon as a character– she’s the daughter of our narrator and is on her way to be in the Olympics. I liked that the story wasn’t told from Devon’s perspective, but of her mother. Her mother with all of these questions about her husband and the guilt of not being a perfect specimen for bother her kids. As a result we slowly got to see peaks into Devon– her real thoughts– as she is moving from kid to teenager, all the while dealing with this suffocating amount of pressure.

Drew was super creepy by the way!! I feel like he and Mr. Watts needed to spend more time together so they could take turns making wise, cryptic comments to one another.

There were a lot of things explored in this, almost making me want to read it again even though I have a ton of other stuff to read. If I were to read it, I would read it slower this time. Savoring the characters and their relationships and really trying to see them. My weakness with reading psychological suspense books is I get so focused on the plot– figuring out the who and why and the how, that I have a hard time slowing down to focus on everything else that is happening. And a lot is happening in this!

Read this now if you want…

-a psychological suspense
-you liked the unstable feeling The Girl on the Train gave you (if you read it) -a book with a hardcore awesomely interesting female character
-you want to see the darker side of gymnastics

Add this to your To Read shelf on Goodreads

A BOOK: The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone

B L O G M A S  D A Y   19

 

 

I would classify The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia as just plain and simple fun. It’s set in St. Louis (hurray Midwest!) and is about a girl who doesn’t really have her life together given a mission to solve a mystery. Why is she chosen out of all of the real life detectives and non-detectives of the world? Dahlia isn’t really sure. But she’s getting paid, so she’ll take it!

This is a pretty straight forward mystery as she starts with trying to solve the first issue (who stole a super-powered sword in the online game Zoth?), which eventually leads down a very tangled mess that involves MURDER. Dun dun dunnnnnnnn

What’s unique to this book is all of the gaming references. Because it deals with a mystery that deals inside of the virtual game as well as bleeds out into the physical realm, some of the story also takes place in the game which is neat. Also you get the fun and interesting tension of how the characters in the book do or don’t overlap with the characters they play in their game. In that aspect, there is a little bit of similarity with The Guild where you explore the group dynamics.

On top of the mystery, there is a little bit of romance thrown in, plus super strange characters that you aren’t sure are strange because that’s who they are or if it’s because they have SECRETS!

So if you like mysteries that are a little bit more cozier, like millennial characters, and/or are interested in online gaming… The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss might be for you!