November Book Review

This month I hit my yearly book goal of 90 books! I have read some wonderful books this year, but most of the books that I read this month were not great. Maybe I’m just in a bad mood? Haha, I don’t know…but I have some unpopular (and strong!) opinions to unpack in this post!

It Wasn’t Roaring, It Was Weeping

My Review: I have long loved Lisa-Jo’s writing since I read her first book when my first baby was in a stroller. I’m pretty sure it was the first audiobook I ever listened to. She just has a way with words, capturing motherhood in a beautiful lyrical tone. This book is a mix between memoir and personal reflection essays. Lisa-Jo grew up in South Africa during a deeply racially segregated time, and she also grew up in a home with a verbally and physically abusive father. On top of that, her mother died of cancer when she was a teen. As she has grown up and become a parent herself, she has had to unpack all of these traumas of her life and learn to not carry them on into her own family. Adding another layer of complicated feelings and emotions is the fact that her father has repented and completely turned his life around and is now the most gentle, loving and caring man. Lisa-Jo lyrically writes this entire story, honoring her father and mother and carrying on the torch of a transformed life. I thought this book was beautiful, although it was heavy and dark and a bit too flowery for me.

Well Met

My Review: I am finally working my way through books that I have on my own physical shelves! This one has been around for awhile, and I finally got around to reading it as Renaissance Festival season winds down. This was cute, but not my favorite romance ever written. I do like how it was enemies to lovers, and the beginning of the story leads us to believe that the romance is going to happen between two different characters, but it ends up being different than expected. I don’t think I liked this one well enough to read the next books in the series, but I liked it well enough to finish it and enjoy it along the way.

The PLAN: Manage Your Time Like a Lazy Genius

My Review: I couldn’t even finish this book, guys. It was SO overcomplicated. There were acronyms and lists and rules and acronyms for those lists and rules. I LOVED The Lazy Genius Way (her first book) and was so excited for this one. She started out very strong talking about how there are no time management books written FOR or BY women. And I was SO excited! Finally, a book that would tell me how to manage my time while also raising my kids. Unfortunately, this book did no such thing, and ended up spending so much time complaining about “the patriarchy” and how it’s society’s fault that we don’t get to manage our time. My recommendation is to skip this one and listen to her podcast or read her first book.

Ginger Pye

My Review: This was a read aloud that I did with the kids, and also checked off another book on my list of Newberry Medal winners! Honestly, this book claims it was about a dog but the dog has gone missing for 80% of the book haha. The characters were lovely and silly and the kids actually got into this book way more than I did! Of course, it was also slightly outdated in some areas, but overly it has held up over the years.

The Connelly’s of County Down

My Review: My favorite book of the month! Despite the fact that this book is character driven intstead of plot driven, I actually loved this book! The plot line was unique and the characters had real life problems and personalities that were true to life. I loved how everything wasn’t cookie cutter, but there was still a decently happy ending. I know this is the second book by this author, so I’ve already added the author’s first book to my reading cue!

The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed History

My Review: Sharon, WHAT HAPPENED? This book was a mess! It skipped around, it skipped from first person to third person, and it never detailed what twelve people we were actually learning about. I have been a follower of Sharon Says So for a LONG time, so I was excited to hear she had a book coming out! And as it started to come out, people had the HIGHEST PRAISE for the book! I mean, it has insanely high ratings on Goodreads. And I think I read a completely different book than all those people. Sharon has a true gift as a teacher, and I will read other books by her if she puts more out…but this one needed an editor and it needed to flow much better. I can’t tell if I’m more disappointed in the actual book, or all the people who claimed this was THE BEST BOOK THEY’VE EVER READ.

Water for Elephants

My Review: I read this book in one day when I was home sick from school. It sure was a unique story! I’m sure that back when it came out, it made a great book club book, because there is a lot to think through. The characters, right or wrong decisions, how far one will go for love, how far one’s morals should be stretched for love. I can’t say that I loved this story, but it did keep me turning the pages and thinking deeply. I wish that some of the more explicit scenes had been removed from the story, and then I probably would have liked it much more!

The Block Party

My Review: I will say, this kept me engaged and turning pages! It was a bit longer and slower than what I would qualify as a “thriller”, but it was fast paced and involved dark secrets and murder and mistakes made in the past. I think we might call these types of books “domestic suspense”. Everyone who lives on this block is a suspect. There is really only one normal character and her teenage daughter, and I ended up liking the teenage daughter as a favorite character! I do recommend this one if you like these types of who-done-it suburban drama mysteries!

The Five Love Languages

My Review: This was a re-read for me, and I don’t feel like I picked up too much new information, but it was still a good refresher read. If you haven’t read this book, I do highly recommend learning about and studying The Five Love Languages! It’s a very helpful tool in marriage, parenting and friendship!

All the Colors of the Dark

My Review: Yeesh. This is an example of another super hyped book that I strongly disliked. The only reason that I kept on reading was because I expected it to have an exciting twist that made it pick up and go faster. This book was so slow, and so long. It spanned decades in the lives of three children who grew up together in a small town. One child was kidnapped and that kidnapping shaped the rest of their lives- the good decisions and bad decisions. There is a mystery that is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and it takes until the very last chapter to solve the mystery (and I felt that the solution was subpar, to be honest). Anyways, I strongly disliked this book. Too dark. Too long. Too boring. Too flowery in the details and the writing.

Reconnected

My Review: This was a good one! Carlos Whittaker has a great sense of humor and his heart is on his sleeve. He is genuine, kind, and wants the best for people. He has a huge social media following and decided to this experiment where he steps away from screens for 7 weeks. He first goes and lives at a monastery for two weeks, and then goes and lives with an Amish family for two weeks. I thought his insights were good, and I enjoyed reading about his experiences (especially the Amish part). The one thing that I didn’t like about this book was how inaccessible his situation felt to me. I don’t know hardly anyone who can pause their life for 7 weeks and just completely step out of the “real world”. He references that his kids were at summer camp and his wife seemed to be having a grand old time at home, but I felt a little uncomfortable that he CAN just leave his life and someone else will handle all the details. I mean, I would happily take two weeks of silence where someone else cooks all my food followed by two weeks of work where someone still cooks all my food, pays my bills, handles any needs of anyone in my life, but I just find that part unrealistic for the average person. So, if I read this book as descriptive (what Carlos experienced), it worked for me. If I tried to read it as prescriptive (what I should also implement in my life), I started to feel like I my life is just completely different from his circumstances. Still, there are some good principles about relying less on our phones and screens.