Fiction:
Love, Love Jandy Nelson's writing. You know when you read a book and you just want to be friends with the author and want to read everything they have ever written? A twisty family saga centered around twin brother and sister struggling to find themselves in the midst of horrendous loss. Both artists, both hiding, both desperate for love and acceptance among the most gorgeously depicted settings and characters that jump off the page and right into your imagination. If you're into YA, interested the artistic/creative process, aren't easily offended by language or struggles with sexual identity give this a read. Click the title to read more at Goodreads and look at all these awards. Just wow. Favorite quote:
"We wish with our hands, that's what we do as artists."
Author of Big Little Lies. This follow up is less twisted but will swallow you up all the same. Get to know nine different characters through a bizarre stay at "Tranquillum House" an Australian wellness center where they get more than what they signed up for and learn hard lessons about how they see themselves as well controversial health crazes. Favorite quote:
“I don't get the obsession with strangers, her first husband, Sol, once said to her, and Frances had struggled to explain that strangers were by definition interesting. It was their strangeness. The not-knowing. Once you knew everything there was to know about someone, you were generally ready to divorce them.”
Mystery/thriller about a nanny working for a wealthy, disturbed family in a futuristic and possibly haunted house. Anything by Ruth Ware will satisfy you if you are in need of a suspenseful page turner, but this one in particular has some spooky gothic undertones if you're into that sort of thing. Favorite quote:
“People do go mad, you know, if you stop them from sleeping for long enough...”
Historical fiction, about an Irish girl raised with a family of slaves on a plantation. Can be gruesome and heart wrenching at times but a necessary story that causes you to flex your reading muscles and push your mental boundaries around race and privilege. Favorite quote:
“We a family, carin' for each other. Family make us strong in times of trouble. We all stick together, help each other out. That the real meanin' of family. When you grow up, you take that family feelin' with you.”
Read for a laugh, memorable characters, and just a plain fun story line. This is our book club January pick so I won't say much more other than the book is probably better than the movie (haven't seen the movie, only the trailer, but let's be real: are there any movies that actually surpass the book they are based on?)
“That's right,' she told the girls. 'You are bored. And I'm going to let you in on a little secret about life. You think it's boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. The sooner you learn it's on you to make life interesting, the better off you'll be.”
Generational story of Palestinian-American women battling the constraints placed on them by their culture. Three women endure life-threatening abuse kept quiet through archaic customs and familial silence impregnated with shame, until finally a line is crossed and a different brand of bravery causes one of them to stop the cycle. Favorite quote:
“Where I come from, voicelessness is the condition of my gender, as normal as the bosoms on a woman’s chest, as necessary as the next generation growing inside her belly.”
Psychological/sci fi thriller Ive been waiting for dealing with False Memory Syndrome. I don't usually go for this genre but loved Crouch's first book 'Dark Matter' and this follow up not disappoint. I love books that make you question what *you think* you know. Crouch explores our understanding of human memory, our perceived identity and how flimsy our realities are... total mind bender. Favorite quote:
“There are so few things in our existence we can count on to give us the sense of permanence, of the ground beneath our feet. People fail us. Our bodies fail us. We fail ourselves. ... But what do you cling to, moment to moment, if memories can simply change. What, then, is real? And if the answer is nothing, where does that leave us?”
A mostly light love story also dealing with grief and telling the truth about our struggles. Evvie, victim of abuse at the hand of her late husband, finds herself trying not to fall too fast for a former baseball star whose pitching arm has given out on him. Though their losses are different they begin to find healing with each others help to lighten the burden of grief. Favorite quote:
“And if you’ve been somebody’s first call, it’s hard not to be their first call anymore. She says it’s one of the reasons why parents sometimes feel sad when their kids are getting married. It’s not just the empty nest. They’re not the first call anymore. I’m not Andy’s first call anymore. It doesn’t mean I want to be his girlfriend, and it doesn’t mean I don’t like her. But it was sad. It’s different. The doctor says it’s important to be sad.”
Nonfiction:
A memoir by the wife of one of my favorite podcasters (Michael Gungor on The Liturgist) about deconstructing her faith and navigating motherhood after the birth of her daughter with Down syndrome. Favorite quote:
“I still see harsh comments online or receive them right to my face, comments on how we have fallen into the deep end, how we throw the word love around to too many people. And to that I’d say, “Oh, thank you, I’m trying to.”
Read this if you have gone through something tragic and people said these well intended words to you "Everything Happens For a Reason." You won't feel as alone or as offended. Favorite quote:
"I can't reconcile the way that the world is jolted by events that are wonderful and terrible, the gorgeous and the tragic. Except that I am beginning to believe that these opposites do not cancel each other out....The horror of cancer has made everything seem like it is painted in bright colors. I think the same thoughts again and again. Life is so beautiful. Life is so hard.”
Reading Now :
What were some of your favorite books from last year? What is on your TBR list?
Thanks for being here...Happy Reading!
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