What I read in August 2019

A slower reading month, as we got more guests, got a rental car, and just kept busier in general. I feel like I was fifty fifty this month - loved one book and didn't really love the other.

To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer | 5 stars. This was another recommendation from Modern Mrs. Darcy, and like most of them, it was totally worth my time. Even though it was YA, I just loved this book. The characters were so fun and interesting, and I always love a good epistolary novel. Super fun read!

The Whisper Network by Chandler Baker | 3 stars. This book was not a love, and maybe not even a like. That said, I wanted to know the ending and find out more about the characters. It had a bit of the second person plural (like Joshua Ferris's Then We Came to the End, which I enjoyed), but unlike Ferris's novel , the whole story wasn't written that way. It worked about 50% of the time. The plot was a little slow at times and the book could have been about half the length, but it was good enough, I guess. 

What I read in July 2019

Another pretty good reading month, in terms of quantity (although not necessarily quality). I love summer reading, especially reading next to the water or on the deck. It can be tricky, though, when I also want to visit family. So most of the reading this month happened before bed (which meant I stayed up way too late). It also helped that we were home a lot this July, with no car. 

The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger | 2 stars. I picked this book up at the library on a whim. they had a display of graphic novels, and I decided that if I was going to say that this genre was not for me, I at least owed it an attempt. Plus, there isn't a huge time involvement in it. I chose this one first because the author is famous, and even though I didn't love her most famous book (The Time Traveler's Wife) as much as most people seemed to, I figured this would be a solid read and a good intro to the genre.  As it stands, however, I wasn't much a fan of the story itself. It had a good premise (a night bookmobile - and I LOVE the bookmobile) that is tailored specifically to you and everything you've ever read, but it wasn't fleshed out very well and just seemed sad and the main character lonely and dumb and aggravating. 

The Cactus by Sarah Haywood | 5 stars. Such a fun book. Totally unexpected. This book reminded me of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, which I loved. This book was funny, entertaining, and just a great summer read. 

The Farm by Joanne Ramos | 4 stars. This book causes mixed reviews for me. I think my expectations were just too high. I thought it would be á la Margaret Atwood, maybe even a modern classic, but it didn't quite deliver on that front. There were parts of the book that were slow, and I think the synopsis on the book flap oversold the book too much (and may have been a bit deceitful, even). But, putting aside my initial frustration and disappointment, it was a good read.

Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine | 3 stars. This was the other graphic novel I picked up to test out the genre this month. It was a series of stories, some better than others. I enjoyed it a bit more than the other one, but in the end I think I've decided this may not be a genre I keep coming back to. I liked the illustrations in this book much better than the Niffenegger one, so there's that.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb | 5 stars. This was a recommendation from the 2019 Summer Reading Guide at Modern Mrs. Darcy, and honestly, one of my favorite books of the summer. Part memoir, part therapy, part commentary on life and relationships, Gottlieb lets us be a fly on the wall of her job as a therapist. I learned new things, too, about therapy in general. A really fun read that packs a lot of punch.

Pines by Blake Crouch | 4 stars. About halfway through the month I decided that I needed a little thriller/horror in my summer reading. A quick page-turner that may make me suspend belief and keep me guessing as I read. Crouch did not disappoint, and this was a fun book that actually seemed quite credible. If you enjoyed City of Ember (YA), this might be a good (adult) book for you.

So lots of reading happening this month, even if there were a lot of hit or miss titles. I love summer reading!