Book Report: Quick Reviews of What I’ve Been Reading

My 2019 New Year’s resolution is to read more. I’m keeping track of the books I read on this Pinterest board and on Goodreads. Following the lead of Modern Mrs. Darcy, here are my quick reviews of what I’ve read lately, along with some other bookish stuff.

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What I’ve Been Reading

Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin

Aviva Grossman is a congressional intern who has an affair with her married boss. Through a series of events involving her blog and a car accident, her situation becomes public. In this way, the story reminded me of both the Monica Lewinsky affair and the Chandra Levy affair (without the tragic ending). Other characters in the book include Aviva’s mother Rachel, the congressman’s wife Embeth, a single mother Jane, who is running for political office, and Jane’s 13-year-old daughter Ruby, who has her own complications in life. I loved Young Jane Young. I was hooked from the first page. Gabrielle Zevin is a wonderful writer who is able to combine humor and heart while keeping the story moving along quickly. Her characters, even 13-year-old Ruby, are likable, while also being human and flawed. No surface treatment here. I’m a fan!

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

I loved Young Jane Young so much that I immediately moved onto another novel by Gabrielle Zevin, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. A.J. Fikry is the sullen, antisocial owner of a declining bookstore on an island that I pictured as something like Nantucket. He is mourning the death of his young wife and having trouble finding the joy in anything when in short order a valuable manuscript he owns is stolen and a baby is left in his bookstore. A.J. becomes the unlikely caretaker of the baby, which in ways both direct and indirect lead him back into life. As with Young Jane Young, I was pulled into the story immediately and found the characters endearing, but not in an overly sweet or simple way.

When All Is Said by Anne Griffin

In contrast to the two previous books, I started When All Is Said, feeling like it would be a slog. The story opens with an 84-year-old Irish widower Maurice bellying up to a bar in an Irish hotel in order to toast the five people who have had the biggest impact on his life. That already had me feeling a bit down, and the beginning of the book goes on to re-tell some difficult parts of Maurice’s childhood, which depressed me further. I was also beginning to fear that the book might lack continuity or story since each of the sections was dedicated to a different person. But it turns out that the way the book is organized became one of my favorite things about it. The different characters are prominent in their sections, but they show up in other places as well, and there are plot lines that moved through different people’s stories, connecting them all. I can’t remember ever going from being so down on a book at the beginning to so utterly taken with it by the end. When All Is Said is one of the best books I’ve read this year.

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Books We Gifted

Paris: An Inspiring Tour of the City’s Creative Heart by Janelle McCulloch

My mom loves Paris so I bought her this book for Mother’s Day. I took a bit of a chance because there isn’t a good ‘look inside preview’ of it on Amazon, but when the actual book showed up it was lovely. The book is organized by arrondissement (we discovered on Mother’s Day that none of is confident about how to say that word out loud) and is equal parts gorgeous photography and written detail about the places and neighborhoods in the city. I can’t count this as an actual review, because I only leafed through the book before I gave it to my mom, but I can recommend it as a good gift for someone who loves Paris even if that someone is you!

We gave Tom’s mom Lake of the Ozarks: My Surreal Summers in a Vanishing America by Bill Geist (Willie’s dad and a journalist himself) for Mother’s Day. It’s a memoir about the summers he spent working at the lake as a high school and college student in the 60s. Lake of the Ozarks is in our neck of the woods, and Tom’s family has a long history with the place, so we’re all eager to read this one.

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New Releases

Sunset Beach by Mary Kay Andrews

Mary Kay releases a new book each summer and I always make a point to pick it up. Her books have fun locales, spunky main characters, some characters you love to hate, a little mystery, and a little romance; the perfect beach read (even if you’re nowhere near the beach). But here’s something that I really love, often a house gets a starring role in Mary Kay’s books and this year its a beach bungalow that our main character Drue inherits and rehabs. I’m in!

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Little Fires isn’t a new release but it is new in paperback. It was a New York Times bestseller and also Amazon’s Best Novel and Goodreads’ Readers Choice Fiction Winner for 2017. The premise is compelling: what happens to the members of a (seemingly) normal family when a mother and her teenage daughter who arrive on the scene and challenge everything the family thought they knew? This was my book club pick for last year and it generated a lot of discussion, including what kind of mother is best for a child and who gets to decide? Hulu is making Little Fires Everywhere into a series starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington.

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Kindle Deals

Here are a few of Amazon’s Kindle Deals that caught my eye. They’re all at great prices as I write this, but that is subject to change.

The Love Season by Elin Hilderbrand

Elin Hilderbrand is known as the queen of the summer beach read, but there is never a bad time to read anything Elin writes.

Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos

I’ve read it and loved it. The prequel (of sorts) Love Walked In was a Kindle Deal in last month’s Book Report.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

A #1 New York Times bestseller by an amazing author. I loved this book so much that inspired one of the items on my places to go and things to do list.

The Lost Book of the Grail by Charlie Lovett

If you like books about books, Charlie Lovett is an author you’re going to want to check out. I did a mini-review of one of his earlier books (also on sale) here.

Have you been reading anything good? I’d love to hear!

P.S. It’s kind of a funny story and July Book Report.

Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means if you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.