I’m patting myself on the back over here for all the reading I did this month! Not only did I finish five books (which is a lot for me lately) but they were all good ones.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman : I was so into this. One big criticism I had read that had kept others from enjoying it was that they didn’t like the main character. I liked him fine, though, despite some of the awful things he did. I could also see him changing and redeeming himself by the end which makes me excited to see where the story goes. I just love a good fantasy. (4 stars)
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng : I expected this to be a mystery, and although there was that aspect it was more of the story of a family dealing with mixed-race issues. It was absorbing and gave me a lot to think about in regard to the mother-daughter relationship. (4 stars, audio)
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel : The hype is for real, guys. This is a dystopian set after a worldwide flu has eliminated most of the entire planet’s population and all modern conveniences (like electricity) have been lost, but you also get the story leading up to the outbreak. It follows some very unique characters – a film star, a traveling symphony, a cult leader – and has a sort of mystery to it as well. (5 stars)
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin : I probably had too high of expectations for this one, since everyone was telling me that if you like books, you’ll love this one. And I like books! But I didn’t love it. I did like it, though. The tone of the book was a lot lighter than I was expecting, so I felt like I was reading chick-lit or a romantic comedy, but yet it dealt with a lot of serious issues. So it was confusing. (3 stars)
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro : I knew very little about the premise of this book going into it and I think that really added to the experience so I’m not going to say much. It’s a quiet book that relies heavily on characterization and atmosphere; it was thoughtful yet disturbing and haunting. Can’t wait to discuss it with book club. (4 stars)
Reading challenge:
This year I’m participating in Modern Mrs. Darcy’s reading challenge. This month The Magicians will count as a book I’ve been meaning to read (as evidenced here!)
From Nora:
Everything I Never Told you is waiting for me at the library so I hope to pick it up this week (of course, I received 2 other books digitally from the library yesterday and last week picked up two others I requested. Total first world problem when they all come at once, especially when they had really long wait lists!).
I would strongly recommend NOT watching the movie that was made of Never Let Me Go. I loved the book, didn’t love the movie.
From Kessi:
“The Magicians” was one of those books that I couldn’t get into and ultimately abandoned. Maybe I need to give it another shot, since we generally have such similar literary taste. Of course, I read “Storied Life” with you for book club.
The other three titles are on my to-read list, with “Station Eleven” and “Everything I Never Told You” being my two most recent purchases. (: Yay, books!
From Stephany:
I read Everything I Never Told You this month, too, and LOVED it. It was so good! Much different than I was expecting, but still so engaging and well-written. I’m currently reading The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry for book club… just started it last night but really loving it so far!