Reading
My reading year has started off slower than I would have liked. I mean, I have been reading and enjoying it, but I’m behind on my numbers if I want to hit my goal of 75 books for the year. Not to worry- on this episode of SHU’s podcast she gives a February pep talk about not getting discouraged if the year is off to a slow start. Phew. First, I read this: I read Lily King’s Writers and Lovers years ago, and really liked it. I liked this one as well- my only complaint was that I wished there were more to it. Don’t get me wrong- the book is really well-written, I just wanted more of the story. I also felt like the main character was vaguely familiar, and I put that down to a similar writing style to Writers and Lovers. But then, guess what! Julie texted me that the two books are companions! The story line of Writers and Lovers takes place in between parts 1 and 2 of Heart the Lover. It’s the same character, which I didn’t realize. I LOVE THIS! I love that I didn’t realize it was the same main character, and that I had to fit it together afterwards like pieces of a puzzle. Next up… I’ve been wanting to read this for a while, and was excited to get it from the library: I forgot two things: 1) I don’t like political thrillers, and 2) Louise Penny’s writing style can annoy me. Let’s look at an example: “Instead of diminishing with time, that sense had grown, the chasm widening. She increasingly felt the need to do more. To help more. To not report on the pain but do something to ease it. To give back…” All those fragmented sentences! And she’s just saying the same thing over and over again with different words! She does this constantly, and it distracts me from the story. Another thing I didn’t like was the fast pace. I like a book where I get to see what the characters do in their spare time, what they eat for breakfast, and what their houses look like. We don’t get that here, because the story takes place in less than 48 hours. If I am going to read a book with such a short timeline, I would like it to be shorter so I can read the entire thing in one or two sittings. This book was almost 500 pages, which was too long (for me, for this style of storytelling). However, in spite of all my complaining, I’m glad I finally read this book written by two great women. If you like political thrillers and Louise Penny’s writing, you will love this. And now… In spite of the fact that Birchie highly recommended this, I was hesitant to pick it up because of the extremely weird premise- a woman believes it’s her destiny to “marry” an airplane, i.e. die in a plane crash. WHAT. But here’s the thing- it actually works. Somehow you accept that premise and are rooting for this odd person. I’m only about 1/3 of the way through… I’ll report back when I’ve finished. Have you read any of these? What are you reading now? Top photo by Ugur Akdemir on Unsplash