I've officially kicked off another year of reading. Overall I'd say we're starting the year with a whimper. This definitely was not my best month of books, lots of just meh books, but a could pretty good ones in there. Here's the recap:
The Book of Goose - by Yiyun Li - historical fiction - three stars - I pulled this one off the new books shelf as it sounded interesting, but it was a bit of a disappointment. It's a book about the friendship between Agnes and Fabienne, an unlikely pair. Fabienne decides that they should write a book, which she dictates to Agnes. The local postmaster helps them to get it published and Agnes is thrust into the spotlight. Her fame gets her into an exclusive boarding school. Years later Agnes, who now lives in he US, learns that Fabienne has passed away. To me this story really didn't hold together well, it was almost like a collection of related short stories. Some parts were very interesting, others not so much. Just OK.
Sex and Vanity - Kevin Kwan - fiction - four stars - I loved Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians series, and finally got around to reading this newer book of his. This is the story of Lucie Churchill who meets George Zao at a wedding in Capri. Their romance never quite gets off the ground due to an embarassing fiasco, but years later, when Lucie is engaged, George resurfaces. This is a quick paced read. I liked Lucie generally, but she seemed like such a weak character, that was annoying. More annoying was her cousin who is the source of many of the machinations in the book. George's Mom and Lucie's brother were great characters who made me laugh. Definitely not as good as his previous books, but still worth reading.
The Crucible - Arthur Miller - play - five stars - So last year I started trying to read some classics, but for whatever reason I kept picking Russian books that were not at all enjoyable. I still want to go back and read some of those things I never did, but this year I thought I would aim a little lower. This little play was just the ticket. Written at the height of the anti-communist movement, I thought there were pretty interesting parallels to the divisiveness what we are experiencing today also. The book is about the Salem witch trials, how it came about/how people were accused, tried, convicted, and executed. Definitelyl worth the read.
Sula - Toni Morrison - historical fiction - three stars - So along the lines of the previous book, I wanted to read some Morrison. I was actually looking for Beloved, but it wasn't at the library, so I picked this book up instead. It was not what I was expecting. It's about the unconventional friendship of Nell and Sula from two very different backgrounds who are best friends. They follow very different paths though, and later there is a great betrayal. At the end of the day, I never felt particularly sympathetic towards any of the characters in the book, and the story seemed somewhat pointless. Meh.
Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases - Paul Holes - autobiography - five stars - This was a really interesting read about a detective who helped to find the Golden State Killer among many others. Not super technical, but a good mix of both his personal story as well as his professional story. I thought it was really interesting about how he continued to pursue different cases throughout the years as technology, particularly DNA technology evolved and improved. There's a fair amount of gore/disturbing details, but not too too bad.
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (The Hundred-Year-Old Man, #1) - Jonas Jonasson - fiction - five stars - I was doing some browsing at the library and picked this book up at random. It was a really fun read. Kind of reminded me of a Forrest Gump type tale except that it takes place in all over the world, and the main character, Allan, manages to meet and befriend a lot of world leaders/dictators in his travels. The story is told in two timelines: present day when 100 year old Allan runs away from his old folks home on the day he is to celebrate his 100th birthday and chaos ensues when he steals a suitcase for no particular reason; and chronologically as Allan looks back on. his life and we hear about his back story. Fantastic, funny characters, and situations that made me chuckle. Highly recommend!
One Italian Summer - Rebecca Serle - fiction - three stars - I've really enjoyed Serle's other books, but this one really fell flat for me. I loved the descriptions of Italy and the food, but honestly I just did not like the main character, Katy, at all. Katy's mother has just died and she's basically having a mid-life crisis. Her thought process is basically that her mom is her whole life and she's nothing without her mom. Nevermind that she has a father and a husband - who's she decided she wants a 'break' from because even her marriage seems to have no meaning without her husband. Anyway, she and her mother were scheduled to go on a trip together to Positano, where her mother spent a very special summer years ago. Katy arrives and meets....her mother, but much younger, and she proceeds to explore the city and Italy with her younger mother as well a another handsome guest at the hotel. This really just fell very flat for me. Again, great descriptions of Italy, but besides that, very blah.
My favorite this month was definitely the 100-Year-Old Man. I'm currently reading The Diamond Eye. Next up is either Unlikely Animals or Kaikeyi. Would love to know how you have started out your reading year!
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