What I’m reading

I set a 2018 goal to read at least 2 books per month from the library to:

• encourage me to read more, and
• borrow instead of buy, decreasing what I spend on books.

I’ve read 16 books this year so far — 11 from the library, 4 purchased, 1 borrowed from a family member. Last year I think I read a total of 24 books (probably all purchased), so it’s been successful so far.

I attribute this to:

• My sister’s new book club, which has been so fun!
• Our new town’s library always has very new books available. (How long can I keep saying new town? We’ve been here almost 5 months now. 😆)
• One of my Lenten commitments is to cut back on tv.

I won’t bore you with a review of all 16 books, just two that scored the highest on my 1-5 rating system (#booknerd) and one I’m thinking about throwing in the recycle bin.

Let’s start with the bad one.

The Bridges of Madison County

by James Robert Waller

Summary from Amazon
The story of Robert Kincaid, the photographer and free spirit searching for the covered bridges of Madison County, and Francesca Johnson, the farm wife waiting for the fulfillment of a girlhood dream, The Bridges of Madison County gives voice to the longings of men and women everywhere-and shows us what it is to love and be loved so intensely that life is never the same again.

My thoughts (spoilers ahead)
I’ve heard positive things about this book and movie for years, but never read it. When a family member was getting rid of it, I figured this is as good a time as any to check it out.

Wrong. There is no good time to read this book. The writing was fine, but the story — NO. It glamorized adultery and completely missed the mark in describing love. Did it describe passion? Sure. But not love. Love isn’t a steamy one week affair while your husband and kids are out of town, and it’s certainly not writing your kids a letter about said affair to read when you die and asking them to celebrate how you cheated on their father and lied to all of them for years.

If you loved this book (it won awards so someone likes it), please tell me what I’m missing.

What Alice Forgot

by Liane Moriarty

Summary from Amazon
Alice Love is twenty-nine years old, madly in love with her husband, and pregnant with their first child. So imagine her surprise when, after a fall, she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! she HATES the gym!) and discovers that she’s actually thirty-nine, has three children, and is in the midst of an acrimonious divorce.

My thoughts
I stayed up way after my bedtime to finish this book. Such a page turner. I related very much with the younger Alice who was madly in love with her husband. After her accident, it was almost as if I physically felt her devastation when she realized her husband didn’t like, let alone love her anymore. I even had a nightmare that night that my husband was leaving me.

The author did a great job covering several complex relationships (husband-wife, sister-sister,  mother-child) to the extent I was invested in at least two of the storylines. I thought the infertility storyline was relatable, but a lot more dark/negative than my own journey.

A Strange Scottish Shore

by Juliana Gray

Summary from Amazon
Scotland, 1906. A mysterious object discovered inside an ancient castle calls Maximilian Haywood, the new Duke of Olympia, and his fellow researcher Emmeline Truelove north to the remote Orkney Islands. No stranger to the study of anachronisms in archeological digs, Haywood is nevertheless puzzled by the artifact: a suit of clothing that, according to family legend, once belonged to a selkie who rose from the sea and married the castle’s first laird.

But Haywood and Truelove soon realize they’re not the only ones interested in the selkie’s strange hide. When their mutual friend Lord Silverton vanishes in the night from an Edinburgh street, their quest takes a dangerous turn through time, which puts Haywood’s extraordinary talents—and Truelove’s courage—to their most breathtaking test yet.

My thoughts 
Time travel + castles + a love story = 😍😍😍

It took me a chapter or two to get into this book, but then I was hooked. I liked the way Emmeline Truelove operated outside of the culture she lived in while she was in “modern” Scotland. She was a woman with a “man’s job,” making her the target of gossip because she worked so closely with men, particularly the Duke.

You know I’m all about a love story, and this one did not disappoint. The end though!! I did not see that coming. If you read this, do reach out so we can chat about it.

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A few others that scored above a 3.5/5, but didn’t make the cut for a full review:

• Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (Adoption scam in the 1930’s)
• The End We Start From by Megan Hunter (Unique poetic/lyrical writing style. London floods. A new mother copes.)
• Artemis by Andy Weir (I enjoyed this one so much, I bought it for a birthday gift recently. It’s set in space, what else do you need to know?)

What are some of your favorite reads lately?