Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I also have an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

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Exciting Times (2 stars): I know Sally Rooney endorsed this novel and it’s supposed to be similar but, for me, it was nothing like it at all. The main character in this story has an apathy throughout, an attitude that just stopped me from feeling anything for her at all so she came off as full of herself and navel gazing to me. Not a great fit for me.

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The Motion of the Body Through Space (3.5 stars): I’ve had a mixed relationship with Lionel Shriver’s books. Her biting sense of humor usually comes off like she is condescending to me and I can’t connect wth her characters. But I was curious about this topic and I am younger than the couple in this book but my husband has recently gotten obsessed with rock climbing so I wanted to see if i would enjoy it. Each of the characters in this story is dislikeable in their own ways and yet I felt for them (most of them, never felt anything but disdain for Bambi) and found myself engaged the whole time.

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The Bitter and Sweet of Cherry Season (3.5 stars): This book was exactly what i thought it was going to be. A sweet story of complex, broken individuals who come together and take care of each other. I’ve read many books like this and they are like a cozy blanket on a cool summer night. Don’t you love the cover? Doesn’t it make you want to curl up with this book? It delivers perfectly on that promise.

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Parakeet (2 stars): This is another darkly comic book that I should not have picked up. The reviews are raving. You might love it. For me, it was too absurd and I just could not connect to the main character ever. I did love the sibling and the very best part of the book, for me, was the sibling relationship. There were too many other things I really disliked however and it just didn’t come together for me.

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This is How I Lied (4 stars): I had never heard of this author or this book. When I saw it available in the library, I randomly checked it out. And I am so glad I did. This story of Eve’s death was gripping with plenty of interesting characters, a gripping pace, and a satisfying ending. I am not a fan of unreliable narrators or dislikeable main characters or twists for twist’s sake. This book has some of each of them but not enough to ruin it for me. I loved it.

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500 Miles from You (3 stars): Even though I enjoyed this story, I never connected with it as much as I did with Bookshop on the Shore. I didn’t connect with either of the characters enough. I did love the small town and I loved several of the characters in the story. Just didn’t love this one.

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And there we go, grateful to be reading.

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Books I Read this Week 2020 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I also have an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

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The Library of the Unwritten (3 stars): I checked out and returned this book tens of times. I finally decided yesterday was the day to read it and it turns out I was wrong. While it started strong, it would not hold my interest and by the end, I was dragging my way through the story. On another day, in another mood, I might have loved it but yesterday apparently was not the day. If it was 2/3rds as long I think the story would have been tighter and considerably more interesting to me. I loved the premise of this book and loved the creativity behind it.

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The Guest List (4 stars): Read this one in one sitting. I am not sure I am a big fan of the moving forward and backward in time thing so many authors like to do lately. Clearly something terrible will happen or this would not be a story. And i get that it’s there to keep me interested and keep my pulse going but, for me, it pulls me out of the story. Other than that, I really enjoyed my time with this story. I loved all the different twists that were believable and yet unexpected. I couldn’t stop reading.

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The Second Home (4 stars): This story was exactly what i thought it was going to be: a layered story about family and the complexities of growing up. It was interesting how many times the parents were lauded to be the “perfect” parents and yet the kids each turned out to be broken in different ways. There are some really serious topics explored in this story so it’s not “light” reading in my opinion but it’s one of those books that I enjoyed reading. I’ve never been to Cape Cod but I loved the way the book brought it to life.

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A Burning (4 stars): This was a provocative read covering topics around social media, politics, fame, government and how fairness/truth can in fact be subjective and of course distorted. How everyone has their own story and is always optimizing on their own needs. How people might be willing to help but not if it means true self sacrifice. I know this was in India but the topics explored and statements the author is making are definitely not unique to india.

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Sad Janet (2 stars): One of the reviews I read called this a “cynical, misanthropic read” and I think that’s exactly why I didn’t like it. I don’t disagree with the sentiment that we do overmedicate people today. But I also don’t believe that medication is inherently evil. It’s a complex and layered issue. I don’t enjoy cynicism so there’s also that.

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With or Without You (4 stars): “Did he really believe that you could shuffle the past and the present like a deck of cards, and everything would be okay again?”

For some reason, it took me forever to start this book. I had this idea that it would be really depressing and I was going to have a tough time getting through it.

But I was completely wrong.

The story takes a little bit of time to take off. Stella and Simon’s “before” life wasn’t that interesting to me. So by the time she falls into the coma, I still wasn’t really attached to them as characters. And I wasn’t sure where the story was going to go. I thought maybe it would be one of those stories where selfish man turns hero.

But this story isn”t as simple as that. It has layers and the characters make choices and there are consequences to the choices. Every one of the characters in this story is real, flawed, and grows in their own ways. This book is about relationships, about finding one’s self, about recovery, lost dreams, friendship, and so much more.

This is sad, astonishing, intense and realistic story about life, death, choices we made, opportunities, paths we get to shape up our lives! This is about heartbreak, loneliness, self-discovery, insecurities, love, trust, friendship!

It has unexpected turns and I found very little of it predictable. The characters managed to surprise me and each of them grew in their own ways. By the end of the book, I was rooting for every single one.

with gratitude to netgalley, edelweiss and Algonquin Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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And there we go, grateful to be reading.

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Books I Read this Week 2020 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.