While I haven’t been spending much time here in my corner of the internet because life is nuts, I have been keeping a better record of my books as I finish them. The “Show Us Your Books” link up is the greatest. Just click here and you will find an entire list of links just talking about books people have read recently. I find 90% of the new books I read from these link ups.
I’m a few books behind target for the year, but I’m sure I’ll catch up over the next few weeks with some flight time and some cabin time. I hope some of these are new to you. This post contains affiliate links that I may make a penny or two on if you click on them and buy a book. It adds no cost to you whatsoever.
Books I Loved:
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom (Amazon/Goodreads) – This was a book club pick for our January meeting and it was a great one to discuss. It’s a story about an orphan, a wealthy southern family and the slaves that worked on their land. It tells two different stories and winds them together beautifully and I could not put it down. It was heartbreaking and painful to read at times, but it gives new meaning to “family” and I would recommend it to anyone.
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (Amazon/Goodreads) – I picked this up at an airport bookstore after hearing about it a few times through SUYB. I flew through it. It’s another story with two different stories winding themselves together. The badassness of female spies during the world wars was very interesting to read about and the author explains the validity of the story at the end which I found fascinating.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara (Amazon/Goodreads) – This was our most recent book club pick. I think we have a few “My Favorite Murderer” fans in our group because everyone was excited to read this. I made sure not to google anything before picking the book up and that made it even more interesting. The author didn’t live to see publication of this book, so there are some weird chapters put together with other pieces of her writing, but I still loved reading it. If you’re like me, you will be annoyed that things aren’t in chronological order, but I got over that after Part 1.
Books I Liked:
Next Year in Havana by Chantel Cleeton (Amazon/Goodreads) – This was a great beach read in Mexico. It keeps with my theme of two different POV’s in the story, but I loved the glimpse into Cuban culture. It inspired me to do a lot more reading and learning once I was finished. The way this author writes painted the picture of Havana beautifully. Love, family, war – it was a book I liked a lot.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman (Amazon/Goodreads) – I grew up in Saint Paul, MN which has a huge Hmong population. I didn’t realize until recently that this is not the case in most of the United States, so maybe you’ve never heard of this refugee group. Many refugees came to the US after the Laotian Civil War. The largest populations are in Saint Paul, Fresno and Sacramento. This story is about a family in California that is dealing with a medical condition and the difference between Eastern and Western medicine. I didn’t know if it would be hard to follow with medical terms, but I couldn’t put it down. I learned so much about their history, their traditions and their values. I definitely went into it with an opinion after reading the summary on the back and was surprised how my view shifted throughout the book.
Books I’m Unsure of:
The Flood Girls by Richard Fifield (Amazon/Goodreads) – I liked the idea of this book. I liked a lot of the story, but when the book was over, I was mad about it. Not in the good way where emotions are just flowing, but just mad that I got to the end. I’m sure I’m in the minority on this, but that’s just how it goes. The story is about a small town in Montana, a softball team and the misfits that don’t belong anywhere. It had the recipe to be such a great book, but I was just too mad when I was done reading it. Am I the only one?
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher (Amazon/Goodreads) – I read this in about an hour. I laughed at a few things. I learned a few things about Carrie Fisher. But for most of the story, I was just sad. She references drugs so often and it wasn’t shocking or interesting, it was just sad. I think it might have been better as the “one woman stage show” that she intended it to be.
Let me know what you’re reading currently or what your favorite book of 2019 has been so far. My “to-read list” is currently sitting at 942 books and there’s always room for growth.
