What I Read: January

Buckle your seatbelts, folks! I have A LOT of books to recap this month! I took the entire month off social media, plus had two straight weeks stuck at home with sick kids who napped A LOT. All in all, I read 10 books and DNF three. It was a very successful reading month!

First up, let’s discuss the books that I DNF (Did Not Finish). It really depends on what mood I’m in and what the books means to me, but I’ve learned to DNF books if they just aren’t right for me. Sometimes I feel guilty, like when the book is about race in our culture and I know it’s a valuable subject but I just am not feeling the style of writing. Sometimes I love the characters and am into the plot, but I just can’t even with all the sex scenes. Sometimes I force myself to read at least 50 pages to give it a chance, and sometimes I abandon it as soon as my eyes gloss over. Do you have rules for when you abandon a book? I’d love to hear them.

This month, I abandoned three books: The Nest, The Paragon Hotel and Negroland. The Nest was about a dysfunctional family waiting for their trust fund money to come through. I was actually enjoying it, but everyone kept having sex and it was gross. So I quit. Next, I picked up the Paragon Hotel. I was already feeling a little disappointed in the last book, so I wanted my next read to be REALLY GOOD. But it turns out that it has a heavy focus on a transgender woman and also includes a lot of sex, so I quit before I even read 50 pages. The last book I quit was Negroland. I wanted to enjoy this one and I’m sure that the content is powerful and necessary, but the style of writing meant that I was reading each page two or three times just to understand what was being communicated. I might revisit this one another time but for now I DNF.

Now, onto the books I did read!

I Beat the Odds

Goodreads Synopsis: The football star made famous in the hit film “The Blind Side” reflects on how far he has come from the circumstances of his youth. 
Michael Oher is the young man at the center of the true story depicted in “The Blind Side” movie (and book) that swept up awards and accolades. Though the odds were heavily stacked against him, Michael had a burning desire deep within his soul to break out of the Memphis inner-city ghetto and into a world of opportunity. While many people are now familiar with Oher’s amazing journey, this is the first time he shares his account of his story in his own words, revealing his thoughts and feelings with details that only he knows, and offering his point of view on how anyone can achieve a better life. 

My Review: It’s been awhile since I watched The Blind Side, but I sure do remember being swept up into the story of how a nice white family raised this poor black boy. I didn’t know it then, but I was being caught up in a philosophy that is now called the “white savior mentality”. I really appreciated how this book focused more on Michael and ALL that he went through, and not just on the family that “saved” him (because they didn’t). He definitely still thanks them and loves them but there is so much MORE to his story. I did enjoy this read and it gave me a lot to think about!

Jayber Crow

Goodreads Synopsis: For thirty-nine years Wendell Berry has brought us stories from the fictional town of Port William, Kentucky. The latest, Jayber Crow, is the story of a man’s love for his community and his abiding and unrequited love for Mattie Chatham, “a good woman who had too early made one bad mistake”. Sent to an orphanage at the age of ten, Jayber grows up knowing of loneliness and want, and learns how to be a watchful observer of human goodness and frailty. With the flood of 1937 he returns to his native Port William to become the town’s barber. Slowly, patiently, the observer becomes participant.”This is a book about Heaven”, writes Jayber, “but I must say too that it has been a close call. For I have wondered sometimes if it would not finally turn out to be a book about Hell — where we fail to love one another, where we hate and destroy one another for reasons abundantly provided or for righteousness’ sake or for pleasure, where we destroy the things we need the most, where we see no hope and have no faith…where we must lose everything to know what we have had”.

My Review: Um, I don’t know what I’m missing here, but I did not love this book. The writing was BEAUTIFUL. I mean, for someone to write such a long and drab story but keep me reading for so long was incredible. Seriously, the writing style was incredible. But the plot? I just wasn’t quite sure if things were going to get interesting and then they never really did. This book goes from the childhood of Jayber all the way through his adult years as a “ineligible” bachelor. I did find it slightly creepy that he pines for a married woman for most of his life, and dedicated many chapters to his thoughts and attitudes towards her husband. I stuck this book out and I’m glad I read it, but I still feel like I’m missing something for the average 4.35 star review on Goodreads!

Winter Stroll

Goodreads Synopsis: Another Christmas on Nantucket finds Winter Street Inn owner Kelley Quinn reflecting on the past year as he writes a holiday letter to friends and family. Though the year has had its share of misfortune and worry, the Quinns have much to celebrate. Kelley, now single, at least is on better terms with his first wife Margaret, who is using her celebrity to lure customers to the inn in record numbers. Their son Kevin has a beautiful new baby, Genevieve, with the Inn’s French housekeeper, Isabelle; and their daughter, Ava, is finally dating a nice guy–her devoted colleague, Scott. 

My Review: Just like the first book in the series, I flew through this book and was drawn in by the light and fluffy nature of this book. I read this book at the beginning of January, and I already can’t remember what happened i it. But that doesn’t mean that I disliked it! On the contrary, it was a great curl-up-with-a-blanket-and-relax book. I already have the next one in the series on deck and will finish all four this winter! It’s a cute, fluffy read and sometimes that is exactly what I need!

Kindred

Goodreads Synopsis: The first science fiction written by a black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of black American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity. Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she’s been given…

My Review: WOAH, friends. This book! I am blown away by the fact that this book was written back in the 60s! I thought that it was written within the last two years because the content is so relevant to the discussions that our culture is currently having about race, especially the legacy of the African American race. This book truly opened my eyes to the thoughts of African Americans and where they have felt their place is in our country. I HIGHLY recommend this book. I don’t usually read the Fantasy genre, but this book didn’t feel like a fantasy at all. It felt more like historical fiction and is probably the most eye-opening book I’ve read on the topic. Go read this book. Put it into your homeschool curriculum. I also noticed that this book has been turned into a graphic novel. I think that would be an incredible way to read this story (although I haven’t seen it myself, so don’t know for sure if it is as great as the novel).

Lady in the Lake

Goodreads Synopsis: In 1966, Baltimore is a city of secrets that everyone seems to know–everyone, that is, except Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz. Last year, she was a happy, even pampered housewife. This year, she’s bolted from her marriage of almost twenty years, determined to make good on her youthful ambitions to live a passionate, meaningful life.

Maddie’s investigation brings her into contact with people that used to be on the periphery of her life–a jewelery store clerk, a waitress, a rising star on the Baltimore Orioles, a patrol cop, a hardened female reporter, a lonely man in a movie theater. But for all her ambition and drive, Maddie often fails to see the people right in front of her. Her inability to look beyond her own needs will lead to tragedy and turmoil for all sorts of people–including the man who shares her bed, a black police officer who cares for Maddie more than she knows.

My Review: I don’t have great things to say about this book. I did not like it at all. First of all- why is Maddie leaving her husband? We are never told. I guess she just got bored? Dunno. Second of all, what’s with all the sex? No, thank you. Third of all- the most enjoyable part of this book was the plot twist at the very end, but I had to get through hundreds of pages before arriving there. The epilogue tied it all together pretty well, but I wish that the speed and interest of the last 10 pages was the way the entire book was written.

The Vacationers

Goodreads Synopsis:

For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. 

But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated.

My Review: Well, that book was a waste of my time. Ha, but seriously! I kept waiting for the plot to thicken or something exciting to happen, but this book was just flat and boring. It was about a slightly dysfunctional family (although probably more “normal” than most book families) who takes a two week vacation with their gay friends in Italy. The teenager does teenager things, the young adult man finally realizes he’s not mature and needs to be, the parents are recovering from an affair and considering divorce, and the gay friends get the call that they were approved for an adoption. There. Those are all the spoilers and that was the entire book summed up in four sentences.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Goodreads Synopsis: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. 

But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh. 

As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all. 

My Review: Oh, high school. I have fond memories of you, and yet I’m glad I’m not stuck within the walls of that place anymore! Oh, the drama. Oh, the angst. Oh, the romance. This book encompasses it all. It was so cute and so sweet and so chick lit that I could not get enough. I loved this one.

P.S. I Still Love You

Goodreads Synopsis: Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.
When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

My Review: I didn’t love the second one as much as the first one. There was too much focus on the angsty side of teenage sex and drama. But it was still worth the read to continue the story and hear what happens!

Made for His Pleasure

Goodreads Synopsis: Pleasing God is not a matter of personal choice, but an imperative that must be taken seriously. In a world of self, we must give way to the priority of God if we want to experience His joy.

My Review: I’ll keep this short. If you are Christian, READ THIS BOOK. It was so encouraging and convicting and challenging to me. There are several areas of my life that I have sunk into not putting effort, or going along with what our culture deems to be true, instead of Scripture. This was exactly what I needed to read at this point in my life.

The Quintland Sisters

Goodreads Synopsis: In Shelley Wood’s fiction debut, readers are taken inside the devastating true story of the Dionne Quintuplets, told from the perspective of one young woman who meets them at the moment of their birth.

Reluctant midwife Emma Trimpany is just 17 when she assists at the harrowing birth of the Dionne quintuplets: five tiny miracles born to French farmers in hardscrabble Northern Ontario in 1934. Emma cares for them through their perilous first days and when the government decides to remove the babies from their francophone parents, making them wards of the British king, Emma signs on as their nurse.

Over 6,000 daily visitors come to ogle the identical “Quints” playing in their custom-built playground; at the height of the Great Depression, the tourism and advertising dollars pour in. While the rest of the world delights in their sameness, Emma sees each girl as unique: Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Marie, and Émilie. With her quirky eye for detail, Emma records every strange twist of events in her private journals.

As the fight over custody and revenues turns increasingly explosive, Emma is torn between the fishbowl sanctuary of Quintland and the wider world, now teetering on the brink of war. Steeped in research, Quintland™ is a novel of love, heartache, resilience, and enduring sisterhood—a fictional, coming-of-age story bound up in one of the strangest true tales of the past century.

My Review: This book was CRAZY! I had never heard of the Dionne Quints, and I was fascinated by this story. I kept putting down the book to google what was true and what was fiction. This book kept me turning pages as fast as I could. Sometimes, it got a little slow and it really only covered five years of the quints life, when I wanted more. While the story revolved around the quints, it wasn’t actually about them, but a fictional nurse who was with them from the time of their birth. I was shocked to hear of the ways that they and their family was treated, and the way that they were put on display for the public to see. After finished this book, I looked at the reviews on Goodreads and many people had beef with the ending of the book that involves a rape. So, if that is a trigger for you, be warned. I felt that it went along with the story that was told and the terrible things that were done, but I can see where that would enrage some readers and throw them off from this book. I can’t say that I like the ending at all….I wish it had gone in a completely different direction, but I liked the book itself as a whole so much. This is probably my favorite piece of historical fiction that I’ve read!

In total, I read 10 books this month. 3 books were written by male authors, and 7 were written by female authors. 4 books were written by authors of a different race or ethnicity from me.