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Years ago, I read Writing Down the Bones
by Natalie Goldberg and it pushed me to write
more than I have in a long time.
I had hoped that this book, The Great Spring,
was going to have the same effect on me
but instead
it was more of a collection of short stories/essays…
which, honestly, is never my thing.
So….meh.
Nothing against the book…
just…
not my thing.
3 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s
NEXT UP: MR FLOOD’S LAST RESORT - JESS KIDD
I just realized I have never actually read
Still Alice…
I had only seen the movie.
But now that I have read Every Note Played,
I think I would like to read Still Alice as well.
I was a little prepared for this book,
but still,
totally not prepared for this book.
I mean, I knew what it was about
but, I really wasn’t that familiar with ALS
and what it does to a person.
What a heartbreaking, terrifying disease.
And she writes about it in a way
that makes you really understand
the scope of its entirety,
of its paralyzing progression…
I felt constricted and panicky just reading about it,
I cannot imagine what
it must be like to be living with it
or watching a loved one deal with it.
That said, it was a beautifully written book
and well worth the read….
just, keep some kleenex handy.
5 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s
NEXT UP: THE GREAT SPRING - NATALIE GOLDBERG
I really didn’t know what to expect from this book.
I really only picked it up because
it was available to me.
But I was totally and pleasantly surprised
at how much I actually go out of this.
(Mostly, due to timing, you know with the stupid separation and all…)
But, all in all, I did find it helpful and interesting
(and also very amusing which is incredibly important).
There was a whole section on the phenomenon
and mystery of online dating
which, as you might know, I have been dipping my toe
into (very, very tentatively, because really…it’s a scary place out there).
And sometimes, it’s just nice to read something
that you can relate to
and, if all you can get out of it is a sense that you
are not alone…that there are other people out there stumbling around
in the dating world trying to avoid fake profiles
and offers of unwanted photos and forced small talk/awkward silences…
then that is probably good enough.
I know it made me feel better.
4 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s
NEXT UP: EVERY NOTE PLAYED - LISA GENOVA
I loved the first two books in this set…
I don’t really want to say series because,
although they are related, they are very distantly related,
like 4th cousins 3 times removed that heard of each other
but just vaguely….
You really can read these independent of each other…
but it’s better to read them as they were written even
just for the timeline…but
do you have to read them all to know what happened
with the earlier characters? Yeah…not so much.
Did I need to re-read 2 one thousand page books
before I started this one?
Definitely not.
But they are good books and I did enjoy re-reading them.
However, I do wonder it might have been overkill.
I found myself a little irritated and wanting to be done
of the third book. I don’t think it was the writing or the
characters, I think I had just been in Kingsbridge for
too long and should have taken a light-quick-read-book-break in the middle maybe.
Which makes me feel a little bad about
only giving this one
3.5 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s.
But…not bad enough to change it.
NEXT UP: MODERN ROMANCE - AZIZ ANSARI
My goal for 2018 was to read 24 books…
and I read 36!
I wrote about 27 of them on here already,
but here is a quick blurb on the ones that I missed
28. Educated - Tara Westover
Allllll the hearts. If I could give more than 5 ♥♥♥♥♥ out of 5…I totally would.
I loved this book. Her writing, her story.
So good. Heartbreaking. Incredible.
Hard to wrap your head around.
So sad and yet so happy for her….
Those were all the notes I had written to myself about this book.
I love, love, loved it.
Go read it. If you are only going to read one thing I have recommended this year,
make it this one.
(but really, why wouldn’t you trust me on more than one book?
I’m a good judge of books! I promise!)
29. The Magnolia Story - Chip and Joanna
2.5 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s
Honestly…I don’t know why I even tried this book.
I knew nothing about Chip and Joanna
or even why they were writing about a magnolia…
but it seemed popular
(and he is cute. I am not going to lie. His cuteness is kinda sold me on the book).
Anyway. The book irritated me
but just because…it’s not really my kind of thing.
30. In a Dark, Dark Wood - Ruth Ware
4 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s
Pretty good. Very quick, suspenseful read.
I thought the writing was ok but nothing that
took my breath away. I didn’t love the characters.
But…it was ok.
31. The Lonely Hearts Hotel - Heather O’Neill
5 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s
Oh. Did I mention a book taking my breath away?
Because this one did.
Heather O’Neill is a Canadian novelist but also a poet
and that is so obvious in her way with words….
I adored the writing…
but I fell head over heels in love with the characters.
Rose. Oh…I loved Rose.
Seriously. Read two books I recommended this year…
you’ll thank me!
32. Mrs - Caitlin Macy
2 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s
This one…yeah…I am not recommending this one.
I really did not enjoy this book.
It felt presumptuous and overdone to me
I felt irritable while reading it
and that is not how you want to feel when
reading a book.
33. The Storied LIfe of AJ Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin
5 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s
I loved this book.
I had written myself a note that said
”35 pages in and I am loving this book,
reminds me of Nick Hornby…slightly sarcastic and snide.”
Also, I loved that the part about how
people would come in the bookstore looking for
”a book with a red cover, do you know the one?”
YES. People really do that.
Sigh.
(and yet, I kind of miss retail. Heehee)
34. Option B - Sheryl Sandberg
5 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s
Yeah…remember that I was reading this
at the height of my separation
before I had admitted out loud that
I was in the middle of a separation…
so my mindset may have affected how much I liked this book.
But it helped me. I found myself making a lot of notes
that when I look at in retrospect now,
knowing where I was at while reading it,
I can see why some of these things spoke to me
so strongly.
But I loved how she talked about Anne Dilliard saying
”how we spend our days is how we spend our lives”
which I took to mean that you should find the happy
in your every day life, don’t just wait for the big things,
make your own gawd damn happy.
And that you cannot/should not rely on someone else to make you happy.
They may not always be there.
Oh.
And you can fail by failing to try.
Also.
Believing it will all work out … helps it to all work out.
35 and 36 Pillars of the Earth and World Without End - Ken Follett
5 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s
OK. I am not sure that these
should count
because I read them before
but they are also about a 1000 damn pages each
so…I am counting them!
:)
I loved these books. I loved them just as much the second time around.
Although I was a little frustrated with myself
when I realized
I probably didn’t NEED to re-read them before reading the third.
They are connected but very remotely…
you could easily read these as single books
or out of order and not really be affected…
I mean, obviously a little but not that much…
But the books are so good.
……………………………………………………
And that was it for 2018!
I debated on whether to set my goal for 2019 at one more
than my goal last year - which would be 25
or
to go one more than the amount I had read…
which would be 37…
Um. I set the bar low…and went with 25. :)
Got any recommendations?