Despite the weird weeks, I have gotten a decent amount of reading time in, largely thanks to our older son being back in school and our younger son taking 3 hour naps during the school day. The introvert part of me LOVES this. I feel more like me when I am reading consistently and getting some real quiet time.
I am (late) linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy. I'm on Goodreads here and Instagram here, friend me on either if you are interested!
Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald
I really enjoyed this historical fiction, set almost entirely at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, that had shades of The Time Traveler's Wife. Joe works for the railroad in the 1930s and is surprised to come across a woman who seems out of place in the main concourse of Grand Terminal. She doesn't look like she's from around here. As Joe figures out the mystery around this woman, Nora, he also has his job and, eventually, World War II to deal with. I wasn't sure where this book was all going to go but I really enjoyed the reading experience. 3.75 Stars
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
I've read a couple "bookish" books this year. This one about a bookseller named, obviously, Nina, who likes her predictable life with her routine and schedule. Then the father she never knew died and left her a whole extended family she didn't know about. Her life isn't quite so predictable now. I related a lot to her bookish ways as well as her like for planning and routine. Also a good reminder that it's good to throw that all out the window at times. 3.25 Stars
The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis
I read a decent amount of historical fiction in the past month and almost all set in NYC! The Chelsea was a hotel for artistic types for decades (and looks like it was recently reopened after a renovation) but this book is largely set in the 1950s. A writer, Hazel, and actress, Maxine, befriend each other while entertaining troops during World War II and their paths cross at the Chelsea too. It covers 1940s-1960s and the careers of Hazel and Maxine. It was interesting and mostly fun. 3.5 Stars
Recursion by Blake Crouch
I was surprised by how much I liked Dark Matter a couple years ago and knew I was going to read the author's newest. I don't read much sci-fy but Dark Matter was so engaging! This had similar beats and feel as Dark Matter, about False Memory Syndrome - people have VIVID memories of lives they aren't living - but maybe could be if they had made a few different choices in their past. But where did these memories come from? Covering multiple viewpoints, it was a little trippy and confusing, but a solid read. 3 Stars
Open Road Summer by Emery Lord
This is YA and maybe the first YA I've read where I've thought "Maybe I'm getting too old to be reading YA." Reagan is a bit a rebel and is following her BFF, Lilah, around as Lilah does a summer concert tour (think maybe Taylor Swift, in her early country years). And Lilah has an opening act who is a cute boy. So romance is going to happen. It was fine, I probably would have really enjoyed it...half my life ago... 2.75 Stars
Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen
Another historical fiction set in NYC! This is the book I bought myself at a bookstore on Mackinac Island back in June (I am going to write about that trip...eventually). I was leery it was a bad purchase choice but I ended up enjoying it. Set when Cosmo magazine was getting a lift in the 1960s under a new editor...who knew nothing about magazines. It follows the assistant (to the) editor as she adjusts to life in NYC and her new job. I've read very few episode of Cosmo but the behind the scenes of the magazine world was interesting. 3 Stars
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
This book was a delight - only about 100 pages of correspondence between a writer living in NYC with a bookseller in London. They wrote letters back and forth for decades and it was just so lovely to watch their friendship develop across the ocean, even though they never met in person. I really enjoyed how the writer would say it's just easier to have the London bookseller get her books, rather than make the trek out herself. Everyone who orders things online understands except they were doing all this via mail where it would take weeks or more between the request and the receipt! 4 Stars
Loving my Actual Neighbor: 7 Practices to Treasure the People Right in Front of You by Alexandra Kuykendall
I've really enjoyed her two previous books about Loving my Actual Life and Loving my Actual Christmas so I knew I was going to pick this one up. It's not the same format as the previous two but covers 7 different ways of loving your actual neighbors - as in the people living next door, across the street, etc. Seeing as we've had new next door neighbors for over 6 months I have yet to actually meet...this was maybe a good read for me. 3.75 Stars
The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel
More World War II fiction (poor planning on my part that I read so much historical fiction this close - usually I'm better at spreading it out!). A young woman lives with her husband at a winery in the Champagne region of France during World War II. The Germans' occupation affects them and their champagne more than I realized and they have to find small ways to fight back. The story bounces between World War II and a woman around 40, recently divorced, who is visiting her Grandma in France when they take a surprise trip to the Champagne region. I'm always amazed at all the parts of World War II I had no idea about before I read a fiction book (based on fact). This was another one of those. 3.5 Stars
Save me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl
Just earlier this year I read another food memoir by Ruth Reichl - that one about the start of her career as the restaurant critic for the New York Times. This one follows her critic years when she took over Gourmet magazine in it's final ~10 years. I've never read Gourmet but I enjoyed food memoirs and books set in NYC. It was a strange coincidence that I read two NYC magazine world set books so close! I enjoyed this one, she's an excellent writer and it's always interesting to read about lives different than my own. 3.75 Stars
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear
September feels like a good time to read a book about good habits, as we try to set some good ones for the new school year. I've read other books on habits and this one wasn't so radically different than those BUT it was an engaging read and plenty of worthwhile things in here. There are plenty of aspects of my life that could be improved with better habits. 4 Stars
Gravity is the Thing by Jaclyn MoriartyI read another review of this book that said the last 15% redeemed the whole book for her and I agree with that. A woman loses her Irish twin brother at the age of 16 and in the same year she starts getting mysterious mailings from something called "The Guidebook". It seems like too big of a coincidence that they aren't related so she follows along with these sporadic mailings which culminates in a retreat ~20 years later. She's trying to figure out what this Guidebook is about as well as still not over the unresolved mystery of what happened to her brother. I think this book could have been easily edited down another 100 pages and still left with a good book with less filler. But the ending was good. 2.75 Stars
You've Been Volunteered: A Class Mom Novel by Laurie Gelman
I read the first Class Mom book two years ago, before Luke had started school and found it SO fun. This one picks up 3 years later, when the kindergartners are now in 3rd grade, with a reluctant and snarky class mom who is also volunteered to coordinate and oversee the 5th grade safety patrol. It was just a really fun read that made me glad I've never been volunteered to run something like that but also that her version of being a class mom sounds like fun. 3.5 Stars
Read with LukeAda Twist and the Perilous Pants by Andrea Beaty
Our reading time has really been cut down with school and we've mostly been reading picture books so this is the only chapter book we finished in the last 30 days. We both really enjoyed Ada Twist and Iggy Peck and Rosie Revere picture books but the chapter book fell a little flat for me. It was mostly about science that went over my 1st grader's head and it just wasn't easy for me to read. Maybe he would like it better if he read it to himself when he was at least familiar with solid, gases, liquids, etc. 2.5 Stars
What have YOU been reading lately? Have you been pleasantly surprised by more reading time with kids back in school?
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