The first day of 3Q15, I started a new job. The last week of 3Q15, I moved 2,000 miles away. So, not a lot of time for reading this summer. Luckily, I found the library in my new town and took up reading once again.
Beautiful Day, by Elin Hilderbrand
Elin Hilderbrand might be taking over as James Patterson for me. That is, I seem to go for her books when I’m looking for something to just read. Not to think about too much, just to enjoy and finish quickly. (So to speak.) Anyway, her books have a formula that works for me; this one was no different. All her books take place on Nantucket and this time it was about a wedding, complete with lots of family drama. I found most of the characters charming and it wrapped up nicely.
The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty, by Vendela Vida
I heard about this on NPR awhile ago and finally got around to checking it out from the library. It’s about a woman whose belongings are stolen right out of from under her at a hotel in Morocco and how she takes the lack of ID and money as an opportunity for adventure. It’s written in second person, which kind of tripped me up at the end when I realized I’d read a whole book strictly through, basically, her thoughts, but it ultimately served as a useful vehicle to provide background information on the main character. Recommend.
Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter
This was really fun. It takes place over several decades and in different countries and then all ties together at the end. It also takes place in a fairly obscure part of Italy, which had me Googling and busting out my atlas, and I love that kind of stuff. It ended nicely, save for the ending of one character. That one just pissed me off, but since there ended up being several other main characters, it didn’t stand out as, like, the entire ending. Recommend.
The Girl Who Chased The Moon, by Sarah Addison Allen
I think this is probably a YAF book, which is NOT my genre, but luckily it had two main characters/storylines–one of a teenager and one of an adult. It was one of those magic-/supernatural-type stories, which, other than Harry Potter, is usually not for me. Despite all signs pointing to the “no” column, this was actually cute and I was not mad at it. I’m still not going for magic teenage fairy books, though.
Past Perfect, by Susan Isaacs
(I actually finished this on January 1st, but forgive me, I am adding it to the 2015 list.) I looooove Susan Isaacs, so I was excited for this book. BUT, it was a bit of a slow burn and didn’t really even get to the good stuff until the very end and then the ending wasn’t even wrapped up well. Like, I had to go Google, “past perfect susan isaacs ending” to see if someone else could explain it. Unfortch, all that yielded was a lot of reviews on Goodreads about how much people hated this book. So.
I am currently reading Lauren Groff’s Fates And Furies, but since I have to keep a dictionary at hand to even get through one page, I am not sure it’s for me.
What have you read lately?
We are reading Fates & Furies for my bookclub. Garrett is also in it and has started the book (I have not) and yesterday I asked him how it was going and he said “Lots of random sex and people with dumb names and talk about body parts. Not really my bag.” HA — Can’t wait to start it LOL!
He rattled off some of the dumb names though and it immediately made me start googling Arthurian Legend and then Mark Twain, so I’ll be interested to see if this is just some fascinating literary allusion all rolled up in blowjobs and ball talk. Should be interesting, no matter what.