It was a good reading month for me. I read thirteen books: five physical books and eight audiobooks. Like always, it was a mix of fiction and non-fiction. People always ask me how I read so much. It helps that I have always been a fast reader, but I also prioritize reading. I try to read every night before bed to wind down, and I can get through 50-100 pages before falling asleep. Audiobooks are also helpful in how much I read, and I listen to books (and podcasts) on 1.5x-1.75x speed. Let’s dive into the books I read!
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A Psychological Thriller I Couldn’t Stop Reading
(TW: has scenes depicting child abuse, domestic violence, PTSD, and suicide) I selected Girl A by Abigail Dean as one of my Book of the Month selections for February.
The novel begins fifteen years in the past, with 15-year-old Lex Gracie escaping from her house, later known as the House of Horrors. Girl A unfolds through flashbacks and the events of the current day. Classified as a thriller, I would say Girl A is more of a deep psychological dive into a character’s traumatic past.
Girl A is a sad and unsetting read but a hauntingly beautiful written story. If you like true crime documentaries, I think you’ll like this novel.
Rating: 4.5/5
Sometimes We Just Need a Little Magic
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Practical Magic was listed as available on the Libby audiobook app, and I thought, why not take a listen to this book from the 90s. I enjoyed how Alice Hoffman told a story about the Owens and how magic had affected their lives. If you like character-driven novels that explore family relationships, this book may be worth a read or listen. It was a little slow sometimes, but that was ok.
Rating: 3.5/5
Note: This book is nothing like the movie.
Gotta Have a Little Romance
One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid
One of my favorite books I read last year was Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and so it’s been on my list to visit her older work. The novel One True Loves isn’t an original storyline, but somehow this worked, and it’s probably because Taylor Jenkins Reid is a fantastic writer.
In short, this story is about a woman named Emma who marries her high school sweetheart. On their first wedding anniversary, her husband disappears and is presumed dead. Emma moves back home to a life she always wanted to escape to work in her parents’ bookstore. She ends up falling in love with another guy from her past and is engaged to be married. Emma finds out that her husband was found alive (three years later) and is coming home. The question Emma must answer is who she will choose to be with?
While the book is a romance, I think it was more than that. We follow Emma as she explores life as a “widow” and how she finds herself again. It’s like a coming of age for someone in their late 20’s/early 30’s.
Rating: 4/5
A Family Drama About Lies
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Everything I Never Told You is about a teenage girl’s death and how her family grieves her death. The story focuses on the Lee family, who live in Ohio in the 1970s. Celeste Ng explores themes of love, race, and the consequences of keeping secrets. Told in a non-linear fashion, this book relies heavily on character development. If you are looking for a character-driven read and explores family dynamics, this may be the book for you.
Rating: 4/5
A Book of Essays Worth a Read
Conditional Citizens by Laila Lalami
This essay collection by Laila Lalami is a timely read about what it means to be American. Through her essays, Lalami explores American citizenship and her own experiences as an immigrant from Morocco. She discusses race, class, and borders and left me a lot to think about. When I listened to this audiobook, I was also finishing Isabel Wilkersonâs Caste, which has similar ideas and themes.
Laila Lalami is a wonderful writer, and I will be adding her other books to my TBR.
Rating: 5/5
What If You Could Revisit Your Regrets
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
(TW: suicide)
I enjoyed this piece of literary fiction. The chapters are short, so itâs easy to read when time allows me to read. The book jacket describes the books as âa dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived.â I loved the library’s storyline and the relationship between Mrs. Elm and Nora as Nora explores the alternate lives in the library. While reading this book, I thought a lot about my own life and regrets. This novel would be an excellent pick for a book club discussion. There is so much to dissect and analyze in this novel.
Parts of the story are light, but most of the book is pretty heavy. It’s a quick and fantastic read-through.
Rating: 5/5
An Interesting Memoir
Hill Women: Finding Family and A Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains by Cassie Chambers
In this memoir, Cassie Chambers writes about her family history and her childhood in the Appalachian Mountains. Going into this read, my knowledge of life in Appalachia was limited. I was both fascinated and enlightened by the stories Chambers tells throughout the memoir.
I listened to this book on audio book, like I do for most non-fiction, and it felt like having coffee with a friend.
Rating: 4.5/5
Must Read Non-Fiction
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Caste is a difficult book to review. Isabel Wilkerson wrote a well-researched narrative about the American Caste system while comparing it to the Caste system’s history in India and the Nazis in Germany. Throughout the book, Wilkerson weaves her personal experiences with historical events. It is a read that is educational, challenging, and thought-provoking.
I started listening to the audiobook in late October and finished it in early March. It was a slow read for me, but an important one.
Rating: no rating. Just read it.
A Book About the Consequences of Our Lies
The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson
I enjoyed this quick, easy, and thought-provoking novel by Nancy Johnson. This book explores themes like race, family relationships, and teen pregnancy. But overall, the Kindest Lie explores the question, what makes someone a mom by showing the act of motherhood from different perspectives. The Kindest Lie was a slow burn, in the beginning, taking time to build up to the lies that ultimately are exposed.
Rating: 4/5
A Twisty Domestic Thriller That Kept Me Guessing
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
The Wife Between Us is pretty much your typical wife, husband, mistress storyline, but it’s still worth a read, especially if you love thrillers like me. It is a slow burn as the characters and their stories are developed initially- keep going, the plot twists will start to come at you fast.
I listened to this on audiobook from the library through the Libby App.
Rating: 4/5
A Young Adult Novel in Verse
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Clap When You Land is beautifully written and when I started it, I didn’t want to stop, The characters are well developed and I wish their stories went on where the book ended. I look forward to future works from Elizabeth Acevedo.
In short, this is a story about two teenagers who live in two very different worlds but are connected by their father that they unknowingly share. The book explores family, race, grief, sexual assault, and how one simple lie can affect multiple lives.
I listened to Clap When You Land on audiobook and highly recommend listening to it if audiobooks are your thing.
Rating: 4.5/5
Another Thriller About Marriage
Too Good To Be True by Carola Lovering
This novel was an impulse Book of the Month pick, and I started reading it without knowing much about the plot. I think this is the correct way to go into the story. The plot is crazy and resembles a soap opera, but Carola Lovering makes it work. In the novel, there are three different narrators: two women and one man. The story moves along quickly and a twist that I didn’t predict coming. If you like a good love triangle, suspense, and a cast of unreliable narrators, you’ll probably like Too Good To Be True.
Rating: 4/5
A Must-Read Novel
This book was published at the end of 2019, and I wish I had read it sooner. The story is complex and is filled with uncomfortable scenes of race and identity. Such a Fun Age starts off with a bang: Emira, a black babysitter, is stopped at a supermarket because she is suspected of kidnapping the white little girl she is with. The situation is caught on video by another customer, and the story continues from there. Throughout the book, we alternate between Emira’s point of view and her white employer Alix’s. If you are looking for an anti-racist fiction novel to diversify your book sleeves, pick this up.
Rating: 5/5
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