Thursday, October 14, 2021

Quick Lit - October 2021

 Happy mid-October!  I have decided that October is one of my favorite months.  Maybe July, December, April, then October?  Or October before April.  It's probably whichever I am currently not experiencing.  October really feels like fall and, like I said before, the appetizer month to the holidays.  Anything I can get done now for Christmas prep still feels like I'm really ahead of the game and just super on top of things.  No pressure yet to get anything done!  The weather has turned even though it's been unseasonably warm here lately, we've had very few of the under 50° mornings to get to school!  Although the dark is creeping in, per usual, but it makes it slightly easier to get the boys to bed earlier(/on time) when it's already dark outside before bedtime.  

It is a crazy busy month for us, even busier than an usual October.  Maybe it's just that I forgot what October could be like with everything canceled last year but there is A LOT going on this month.  Just so many things.  Which is lovely but after this we'll definitely be ready for our winter hibernating where we only come out for holidays (and school and church and work and the grocery store and etc etc etc BUT...our social activities greatly settle down).  

My reading has stayed very steady and I'm almost right on track with where I was a year ago, a time where I was rereading the Harry Potter series which was so fun but those books are also LONG and that took some serious time.

I'm on Goodreads here which I keep very current with whatever I am reading, on Instagram here where I am about to overload feeds with pictures of fall foliage but also post about books sometimes, and linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy.  

First, other book posts in the past month: 

The Office: Books, Podcasts, and Merch

Books Luke & Sam Like

{15} Favorite Halloween Books

More Green Changes, 3 Months Later

Now Everything Else I've Read! 

The Royals Next Door by Karina Halle
Complete fluff about what would happen if you lived in a little servants' quarters on Vancouver Island and someone royal, say a thinly disguised Prince Harry & Meghan Markle moved next door in their attempt to escape the British PressAnd if you were coming out of a bad relationship and they had a really hot body guard.  It was a bit ridiculous but also fun.  Heads up for a few open door scenes.  3.25 Stars

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan
A World War II set novel about a group of women competing in a cooking competition for a spot on a  BBC radio program.  Showed what life was like in rural England during the war, for all the women left behind trying to make ends meet and still put food on the table.  I'm very glad I do not live in a time where food is rationed even though I really admired their dedication to putting good meals on the table for whoever they were feeding.  And lovely female friendships, despite the odds.  3.75 Stars

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
This is the author of The Martian, a book I enjoyed and we bought so Matt could read it too (he also liked it).  I saw many reviews where people said they liked this book more than The Martian so I had pretty high expectations of it.  And while it was better than Artemis (way too much of that book centered around welding), I think I still liked The Martian more.  Space travel and trying to save the planet and waking up to a spaceship where the only other 2 people on it are dead.  SO.  I kept trying to get Matt to read it and then hit a point where I told him I could tell him more of the story that would make him definitely want to read it but he also HATES spoilers of any kind (he doesn't even want to know a movie's summary before starting) so told me not to.  SO.  I wavered back and forth between 3 and 4 stars the entire book and got to the ending and saw why so many rated it so highly. He stuck the landing which is more than many do but I was iffy on so much of it before.  It was good though. 3.25 Stars

Stranger Care by Sarah Sentilles
This book made me cry and read the last 100 pages without stopping because I NEEDED. TO. KNOW. WHAT.  HAPPENED.  And it's non-fiction!  A memoir about the author's experience, with her husband, of the foster care system and trying to make a family.  There was also a lot about trees which was unexpected but lovely.  I could relate to parts of her story even though we've adopted, never fostered, but the parts about home studies and the questions and the nerves...that I totally got.  It was beautifully told and heartbreaking at times. 4 Stars

This Lovely City by Louise Hare
This was a book about a lovely city, London, and the complications of being a non-white person living there in the years after WWII (I believe).  It centers around a Jamaican man who is accused of a murder he can't prove he didn't commit and how that complicates his life and the lives of those closest to him.  I appreciated how the characters were determined to have their joy, despite life being hard and things not working out for them as they had hoped.  It was overall an optimistic book even though there were many hard parts. 3.5 Stars

The Paris Connection by Lorraine Brown
A chaste YA romance about two teenagers who are on the wrong part of the train when it splits in Europe, ending up in Paris instead of Amsterdam or somewhere further north.  She doesn't have her phone or much money (she must have had her passport) but does have bad memories of Paris and a boyfriend she got separated from on the train.  He is missing a big career making opportunity but is from Paris and has his phone and cash and all that.  The cover is fantastic and I loved reading about Paris and train travel and just being somewhere else.  3.75 Stars

Apple Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
A highly anticipated book that I was able to get on the list early so I got it pretty quick once it was released.  I've read all of her books and have liked some more than others but this one was on the better end.  A Delaney family, a mother who has gone missing, a history of playing tennis, Australia, complicated family dynamics, changing viewpoints, and a mysterious woman who lived with the parents for a few weeks.  I appreciate reading about a good, complicated family and this was an enjoyable page turner! 3.75 Stars

Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee
This book had such an interesting premise - following 8ish Chinese onboard the Titanic.  There really were 8 (known) Chinese on board and 6 of them survived although America wasn't letting Chinese in at that time so I'm not sure what happened to them afterwards.  Anyways, this was following a young Chinese lady who sneaks on board (because they won't let her on, even though she has a ticket) and tries to get her brother to join her in performing their circus act for a showman on board (I was reading this while I started rewatching The Greatest Showman which was an interesting coincidence).  Anyways, it's the Titanic, we all know what happens.  There were too many subplots, I couldn't keep the layout of the ship straight enough, and the end just made me mad (even knowing the ship would sink).  It was a disappointment. 2.25 Stars

The Ultimate Book of Outfit Formulas: A Stylish Solution to What Should I Wear? by Alison Lumbatis
This was a quick read that went over some style basics and then gave a lot of outfit formulas which were really fun and made me think differently how I could wear some items I already own.  Did it also influence a bit my recent clothing list?  Making me add some items after I had already scheduled that post?  Yes, yes it did.  My one quibble is that in the outfit formula parts all of the pictures were in black, white, and pink which made for a pretty book but hard to see some of the color combinations come together.  It's hard to imagine what is pictured as pink pants actually be blue.  But, again, it helped me come up with new combinations for stuff I already own so that's a big win. 3.75 Stars

Life and Other Near-Death Experiences by Camille Pagan
I accidentally read the book that was a follow-up to this one over the summer (I very specifically remember finishing it in our tent while camping and the rain had finally stopped) and I enjoyed that book quite a bit, even without having all the backstory (it took me AWHILE to figure out there was an earlier book).  Enjoyed it enough to want to pick-up this one even though I knew the ending.  It was a quick, 250ish pages read about a woman living in Chicago who has some not great things happen to her on the same day so she escapes to Puerto Rico for a month.  Who hasn't wanted to head to the Caribbean when life gets wonky?   I also enjoyed this book.  3.75 Stars

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
This book might be the longest I've waited for an already in circulation book.  I was in the 140s when I put it on hold and it took months.  Last I checked holds were up to the 200 somethings which is CRAZY.  A bit suspenseful but not at all scary, just a "what happened to this person and what do I not know about their past" type book.  100% a page-turner because I just couldn't put it down in the last 150 pages and there was ONE page I was almost afraid to turn, thinking I knew what it meant for the story.  I don't know if it quite lived up to the hype that it's been getting but I did really enjoy the reading experience.  Also involved a houseboat which made me REALLY want to rewatch Sleepless in Seattle.   3.75 Stars

That's what I've been reading lately, how about you?

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