Hey y’all. 🙂
Yes, I’m here…I’m here. Sorry for going MIA lately, I’ve just been in a bit of a slump. But y’all know nothing gets my pulse racing and my mouth babbling like books do. So I thought this would be just the post to get me out of hiatus.
Still doing the Goodreads 2015 Reading Challenge. Jimmy was right…I under-challenged myself. I’ve read 11 (nearly 12) of 50 books. Oops. Next year I’ll aim higher, haha!
Okey dokey, here’s my February edition of What I’m Reading.
{What I’ve Read Recently}
1. Sharp Objects // So freaking creepy. Gillian Flynn is a weirdo or genius. I’m stuck between the two. It terrifies me how easily and believably she writes incredibly messed up scenarios. In my best Jimmy Fallon voice…EW.
2. Wedding in Provence // Light, fluffy, sweet. I needed more of that and less heavy this month. I went lighter in quite a few selections and this one was sweet. Made me long to visit France again.
3. I’ll Give You the Sun // This is YA. I read a lot of YA and I love it. Hands down my favorite read this month. Hands.Down. No contest. Get it and read it now. It broke my heart, made me laugh, cry, you name it. I couldn’t put it down. It’s beautiful.
4.Revival // Classic King. A creepy page turner. It literally gave me chills several times. He is so damn good.
5. They All Fall Down // More YA. This one requires some suspension of disbelief but I don’t care. I really loved it, sort of Gossip Girl-ish.
There are a couple more, but these are the ones I wanted to share. You can find all of my recently read books HERE.
I also tried and abandoned a bunch of books. My life got so much better the day I gave myself permission to abandon books I wasn’t enjoying!
{Up Next}
1. Lost Lake
2. Leaving Time
There you have it!! What are you reading?
xoxo
S
I have soooooo much to say about “Leaving Time” but I can’t until you’ve read it. It really left me haunted.
Just started I’ll Give you the Sun last night — already surprised by part & I’m only to chapter 3!
I love when you do these posts! I now get most of my book recommendations from your blog:)
Also, I was just thinking last night about giving up on a book and felt bad. I’m halfway through
and just not feeling it. Life is too short to read bad books, right???
Oh and I absolutely loved Leaving Time!
Love your book threads! I read “Tempting Fate” by Jane Green at Christmas and read it in 2 days. I haven’t been able to get into a single book since then. I have started about 5, and only gave them about 20-50 pages before returning them to the library. Hope to get some great ideas from you!
LOVED I’ll Give You the Sun! So glad you recommended it.
I signed up for goodreads years ago, but haven’t done anything with it. I clicked on your link for your goodreads books, but it said it was private. Maybe I am skipping a step?
I just put I’ll Give You the Sun and They All Fall Down on hold at the library. Can’t wait to start reading again. I can’t stand when I don’t have a book to read!
Tried to see your goodreads page but it says it’s private 🙁 I’m tech challenged. Help!
I just finished Leaving a Time. I am reading Outlander now. Next up is Station Eleven.
I LIVE for this particular posts! I’m reading The Girl on the Train and it is good!
Tell the Wolves I’m Home is a wonderful & touching book!! I enjoyed every minute of it! Hope you do too!!!
I’ve read lost lake. It is interesting and pretty good. I liked her new book First Frost slightly more so try that if you like this one.
I loved Tell the Wolves I’m Home!
I love your selections!
xoxo keep reading!
tara
OMG I started reading Tell The Wolves I’m Home while sitting in my dentist’s office waiting for my girls. The secretary came over and brought me tissues since I started to cry in their lobby. Good story, but sad start.
Wolf Hall. Blech! That was the first book in a while I gave up and it made me do a happy dance knowing I never had to read it again!
The Edgar Sawtelle book I adored though! Another vote for Tell the Wolves… Isn’t it funny how what makes a good book, at least for me, depends a bit on where my brain is at. When I’m tired any light reading like Jo Jo Moyes is perfection!
I loved Tell the Wolves I’m Home. Hope you like it as much. I’m reading Dark Places by Gillian Flynn and it’s rather creepy too.
Love your list. I have found so many books through your blog. I read Leaving Time last month. I have almost read 12 books this year too. I set my challenge at 30 so definitely need to up that number.
Yes, you’re right, life is far too short to press on with books that are tedious or just plain rubbish. Children are very good at abandoning books I think, which is why writing for them needs to be a little bit better. CJ xx
I just finished Big Little Lies and I love it!! Right now I am reading Fairest by Gail Levine. It is a YA book but it is a really sweet story and very light reading (which I need some days)!! I hope you enjoy Wolf Hall. I have been trying to read that one on and off for a year and it is a hard read!
I hated Wolf Hall and Edgar Sawtelle (abandoned them) and any Jodi Picoult book since 1995. Her early books are wonderful, and then she went commercial. What a shame.
I have a personal rule that once I finish 50 pages of a book, I finish it. Unfortunately I got to p. 62 before I realized that I really disliked The Girl on the Train. Terrible writing, backflashes every 3-7 pages, three unreliable narrators. UGH!!!
I love JoJo Moyes”s books. I am currently reading and loving The Foremost Good Fortune by Susan Conley…..a memoir, which I rarely read or like.
I loved Tell The Wolves I’m Home so much that I couldn’t share it as I couldn’t bear to hear anything negative about it…painfully beautiful…
Love your book posts! It always gives me fodder for my “to Read”list! I just started The Girl on a Train and so far, so good. I finished “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?” and was unimpressed.
I read three over the weekend. I’m a librarian in a 5th & 6th grade building, so I’m always reading something middle grade. Two books were shorter nonfiction- The Great Molasses Flood, which is on one of our states award lists this year. Pretty good… It was about the Molasses flood that occurred in Boston in 1919. I also read Chernobyl’s Wild Kingdom. Lots of information about the disaster itself & also lots of info about half lives of different radioactive elements. Pretty deep stuff for middle grade nonfiction. It was interesting to read about the animals that are thriving in the Exclusion Zone & also that about 100 people, mostly old women have moved back to their homes in that area, even though it is technically against the law. Crazy!!! The fiction book I read was West of the Moon by Margi Preus. It was different. Not sure I really liked it. The setting was in Norway & combined Norwegian myths & fairy tales into a story about a young girl being bought by a goat herder & basically mistreated.
I’m now trying to finish an adult mystery/detective novel by Michael Connely called, “The Scarecrow” & I have started middle grade novel in verse “Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jaqueline Woodson. It is highly awarded this year… National book award, Coretta Scott King Winner & Newbery honor.
I had to put down Sharp Objects because I was so creeped out, LOL! I just read Windfallen by JoJo Moyes and loved it (saw her name in your stack). Have you read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon? I think you would love it. I’m actually listening to it while I commute to and from work (45 minutes one way) and it is saving my sanity.
Thanks for posting your books! I get the best ideas from these posts!
I know I say it every time you do these posts, but I love your reviews. I know I can always honestly trust your recommendations and have gone on to love so many of the ones you’ve shared. I just discovered Sarah Addison Allen through a challenge on Goodreads several months ago. Must read all of her books now. Glad I’m not the only one who enjoys YA books!
I just finished 3 great books:
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
I’d recommend all 3, but I’ll tell you Girl On the Train is the one everyone will soon be talking about. I’ve heard many compare it Gone Girl, yes it’s a psychological thriller, it’s suspenseful, and it’s a page turner- but I think I liked it better.
Just to follow up on what Julie said…. I reserved my copy of The Girl on a Train before it was published. When I picked it up last week, the librarian told me that the already had 300 holds on the book. I definitely see this one being buzzed about in the coming months!
Tell the Wolves I’m Home was a little uncomfortable to read, but so beautiful. When I was finished it was one of those that made me think, “Damn.” Still a favorite.
I finished Girl on the Train a couple of weeks ago and I still can’t tell if I liked it or hated it. I’m mixed. It was a good mystery, but I don’t know if I cared for the main character.
I love Jodi Picoult, but I did not love Leaving Time. Too much technical info on elephants and not enough plot development. The ending was beyond bizarre as well. If you haven’t read her novel The Storyteller, get that one. Other than 19 Minutes, that’s my favorite of hers. 🙂
Now I noticed The Tale of Edgar Sawtelle in your picture. Read that one! I loved it and couldn’t put it down.
And Gillian Flynn is awesome. Her stories chill the blood, but she’s such a good writer. My book club has read all her books at this point.
You can edit you challenge on good reads & increase the number you want to read. I’m currently reading The Magicians.
I liked all of the Sarah Addison Allen books I’ve read-falling for her writing first with Garden Spells. I really liked Lost Lake-read it aloud to my hubby on a long car trip. 🙂 I hadn’t heard of her latest one until a comment above, so I must get on it! Also, I set my goal for the year at 24 because I finished 20 last year… However, I haven’t finished one yet. 🙁 Thinking of getting rid of all social media on my phone except IG and throwing a book in my purse when I head out. Might help? Or my shakes from withdrawl might make it hard to read… 😉 How do you balance reading, being a mom and all the other “stuff” life tosses your way? 🙂 I need to be more disciplined. Big hugs-thank you for your posts!
I LOVED Leaving Time. It was amazing! I’m completely in love with elephants now. I also liked To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, We Were Liars, On Such a Full Sea, and The Supernatural Enhancements. Next up is The Martian and The Girl on the Train.
I just read “I Thought You Were Dead” by Pete Nelson. It was wonderful. The title is what the main character’s dog says to him when he comes home…because if he isn’t with his dog, he must be dead. Yes, he and his dog have conversations. Sounds strange but it is a beautiful book. Have tissues ready tho!
I just finished Leaving Time. I’ve read almost every Jodi Picoult book and loved them. I have mixed feelings about this one. I’m curious to hear what you think about it.
I just finished an “old” book (2012) that completely captivated me: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Have you read it? I keep thinking about it and referring to it in conversations. Just thought I’d mention it in case you haven’t read it. Also, I read Jo Baker’s Longbourn last year and it still resonates in me after all this time.
i joined the goodreads reading challenge this year because of you and its gone well so far! i read sharp objects at the end of last year and i LOVED it. it is creepy, though. if you did like the book, i recommend reading “the girl on the train” by paula hawkins. very “flynn-ish” and an interesting, quick read.
Definitely going to add those to my list!
And I can’t tell you how many books I have started and just said forget it.
I do not want to waste my time reading books I don’t enjoy because my reading time is super precious these days!
Hi Stephanie, thanks for the update. What is YA? You are quite lucky to have such an extensive library in Italy! Or do you order amazon.com?
Tell the Wolves I’m Hoooooomeeeee!!!! LOVED that one. I still haven’t gotten my hands on Jandy Nelson’s book, but I adored her earlier one, The Sky is Everywhere. Permission to quit is so liberating!
I just finished The Girl on the Train, and you would love it. I haven’t been reading as much as I’d like to, outside of work stuff (gentrification in Boston, anyone? No? Ok). Also, great big hugs and love, as always. Sorry things have been crappy – I wish I was closer.
Loved your list and added several to my to-read. I would love to see the list of books you abandoned too.