This was a low-reading week, for me, but most of the reads were fantastic, so that’s a great week in my book. Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

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The Honey Bus (4.5 stars): What an absolute gift of a book. I am so glad I didn’t know much about this book because I might have not read it thinking it was yet another memoir, or a book about bees, or whatever excuse I might have had for thinking it wasn’t for me. But it was. It so was.

This wonderful book is about a girl whose family falls apart after the separation of her parents when her mom goes back to her family home with the two kids. The mom is (for her own reasons) uninterested in paying attention to the kids and there’s so much neglect, yearning, need for belonging in this book and yet also so much salvation, hope and kindness.

The story is so beautifully told, pulls you in so much and makes you root for her and feel for her and cheer for her, and live all these moments with her. Beautiful observations from Meredith about family dynamics, school dynamics, and life dynamics. To top that off, there are great stories about the bees, that makes you realize the amazing creatures that they are.

An absolutely beautiful story about bees, a family, and how much of a difference one single person’s love can make in a person’s life. Absolutely recommended.

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Ask Again, Yes (4.5 stars):  I loved every bit of this book.

“The thing is, Peter, grown-ups don’t know what they’re doing any better than kids. That’s the truth.”

I’ve noticed that sometimes the quietest stories are my favorites. Stories where I slowly get to know each character and before I know it they have grown on me so much that I can’t imagine waking up another day and not finding out about how they’re doing. The best novels are like that for me. Characters that I miss deeply. Characters who are flawed and so deeply lovable and so deeply real.

“She’s learned that the beginning of one’s life mattered the most, that life was top heavy in that way.”

And this book is full of them. Almost every character is imperfect. They are messed up, broken, struggling, and just working hard to move forward in life. Terrible things happen in the book, and sad realities of life surface. There are heavy issues like parental abandonment, substance abuse, mental illness, and sexual abuse. The scars of life’s experiences and the intermingling of all this deeply affects these characters, all of whom I had come to cherish in some way or another.

“It wasn’t that she didn’t love him, he knew. It was that she loved him so much that it frightened herm loved him so much hat she worried she might have ti protect herself from it. He tried to let her know that he’d figured that out, finally, that there was no need to explain, but then he realized that she might not know it herself.”

It’s hard to get the ending of such a book right. But this author does it just perfectly. It’s true. It’s real. It’s not a pretty bow tied perfectly and yet it still manages to leave glimmers of hope. I have enjoyed all my moments with this book and I am glad I stuck with the slow simmer. These characters will stick with me for some time.

With gratitude to netgalley and scribner for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Miracle Creek (4 stars): I had heard so so much hype about this book that it was almost impossible for it to live to all the gushing reviews. But, alas, for the most part, it totally did.

I love character driven stories, and if the author manages to put together a character-driven story and then add an interesting plot on top of it, and then weave some fascinating courtroom drama on top of that, how do you not love what the result is? This book handles a lot of serious issues like autism, immigration, motherhood, disability and more.

Each of the characters is flawed and struggling with their own lives/truths and trying to find their way through their lives. And then there is so much lying, so many layers of hiding the truth that all peel back layer by layer as the story unfolds that the reader’s grief just incrementally gets deeper.

I loved how much this book made me think about immigration, about family dynamics, about what it means to do the right thing, about secrets we keep from each other. About moral decisions. About being true to who you are. And so much more.

If you’re like me and are afraid to pick this one up due to all the hype, you won’t be disappointed. It’s really deserved.

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How to be Yourself (3.5 stars): I’ve started this book a few times before I made my way through it. I didn’t read the full title so I didn’t realize at first that it was about social anxiety. I am definitely introverted (though likely not shy) and it’s rare that I’d choose a social setting over a book on any day. But I know that it is important to socialize and this book has some simple, tangible tips on how to make it easier for people like me. Some of these I have tried and already found to be true. For example, I find it easier to socialize at my kids’ school if I have a role to play and a purpose to be there. I also find it easier to socialize in settings that have a common interest like book club or crafts or a class etc.

The biggest little piece of nugget this book left me with that I will remember, however, is that when I am anxious about looking a particular way around someone new I meet or in an environment that’s anxiety inducing for me, I just have to remember people want you to be kind to them. That kindness is valued and remembered over anything else. Like the saying goes: people might not remember what you said but they will remember how you made them feel.

This makes it easier for me. All I have to do is show up and be kind. I can do that much.

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The Mother-in-Law (4 stars): I really enjoyed this book so much more than I thought I was going to. I thought it would be another twisty thriller with unlikeable characters. I’ve read too many of those. I hadn’t read anything about this book nor had I read this author so I had no idea what to expect.

First thing I loved about this book is that it’s actually quiet and not hysterical. None of the characters felt over the top to me (well maybe except for one but that comes in at the very end). They were all interesting, flawed but reasonably real characters. The men were not as developed as I wish they were but the mother in law and the main character were and I really enjoyed reading about the characters. While there was the underlying “whodunit” it was so much more about the people and not the mystery for me. And yet I felt the book moved really fast and I kept wanting to read more.

A pleasant surprise for me.

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And there we go, an good week of reading. Here’s to a great week next week.

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Books I Read this Week 2019 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

Another mixed week this week. A handful of reads I loved and the rest were so so. Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

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There’s a Word for That (3.5 stars): There’s always the opportunity to make dysfunctional families look too over the top and just ridiculous when you write a book like this. And the beginning started off a little like that for me but then the story unfolded and I got attached to each character a little bit in different ways and they each were so endearingly human that by the end of the book I was rooting for most of them. Lovely, sweet story. I really enjoyed this one.

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Feast Your Eyes (4 stars):  Myla Goldberg is such a good writer. I loved Bee Season and was anxiously awaiting this book. It did not disappoint. Feast Your Eyes is about Lilian who is a photographer and a single-mother. It’s a story about being a woman in the 50s, being willing to pursue your dreams, take chances, make a statement. 

The book is told from the perspective of Samantha, her daughter, who interviews Lilian’s friends and colleagues. She also includes journal entries and letters. When you listen to this book on audio is actually has a bit of a similar structure to Daisy Jones but it’s a completely different topic.

This is a beautiful story about the unintended consequences of a moment in public, the multi-layered texture of loving both your job and your kids, the journey of finding yourself and trying to find freedom in the 50s as a woman. It’s a beautiful story and it’s beautifully told.

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Weight of a Piano (4 stars): I absolutely loved every moment of this book. I am always weary when books claim to be like other books I’ve loved and this one had some hefty comparisons to live up to but within moments of starting to listen to it, I was lost in its world, vested in its characters and did not want to put it down. I loved the characters, the writing, the intertwining, all of it. This book is about family, immigration, love, loss, identity, belonging, the power of music and so much more. The pacing of the story was just right for me and at different times I was more invested in one character than the other but overall I found myself just wanting to be in this story for as long as possible. It even managed to end in way that felt just right. I’ve never read this author before so I don’t know if all her novels are just the perfect ones for me but I can’t wait to explore them if they are anything like this quiet, lyrical, beautiful and profound story.

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Maybe Someday (2.5 stars): I read this whole novel in one sitting. Well, I listened to it. That’s 5+ hours on a week day. I just could not stop once I had started and that alone makes this novel a 2.5 star rating for me. I liked the story and I liked the two main characters, even a few of the side characters. But here’s where things come to a halt for me, this story felt empty in the end for me. It felt like an appetizer or a dish with empty calories. It didn’t satisfy me deeply. Maybe because it felt like it stayed too on the surface for the kind of stories I like to read. Sometimes I am in the mood for this type of meal/book but maybe this time I wasn’t. It felt like I was since I pretty much inhaled the novel but alas afterwards I was left with an empty feeling. Much of the character development/depth was either offscreen or through telling and not showing and maybe that’s why I felt like I wasn’t really experiencing the novel. Having said all that, dialogue was great, and the pacing is just so unputdownable. Sometimes empty calories are just fine.

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Reasons to Stay Alive (3.5 stars): This is a short but not light book. I imagine that’s obvious from the title but I felt the need to mention it just in case. While, for me, this book was a bit too short and I found myself craving more. More on how to help get better. More on things to try. More on figuring my way out of the dark. I know that’s not the point of it so I don’t want to duck the author for that. This is a profound and honest story and we need so many more of these. I deeply appreciated the candor, the vulnerability, the openness. I am deeply grateful for the courage it took to write this. I just wish it were a bit more tangibly helpful for me (and I know that’s a lot to expect from a book with where I am at this moment.)

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Have More Fun (3.5 stars): Super quick read. I didn’t know anything about Mandy Arioto and there are bits of this that don’t resonate with me but the overall sentiment is so near and dear to my heart and something I really want to do. There are so many little pieces of gems here but the part I loved the most is how she talks about putting having fun with your kids and liking your kids above trying to fix all the things they do wrong. I can’t remember her exact wording but the idea of liking them as people and having fun with them is exactly what I want to put as #1 in our lives. I want them to look back on these years and smile with all the fun we had.

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The Girl He Used to Know (3.5 stars): I read this whole story in one shot. I loved the characters. My biggest complaint is that I wanted to know them more, I loved the scene with Annika’s mom because it was such a resonant scene as a mom and it showed so much of who she was. There weren’t a huge number of cases where there was that type of depth of showing. Glimmers here and there but I yearned for more. Especially with Annika’s roommate whom I adored. I know she is not a main character but she added so much depth to the story. Overall though, this was a quick and loving story for me.

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Fifty Things That Aren’t My Fault (3 stars): This book is written by the creator of the Cathy comic strip. I didn’t grow up in America so I read only a few of these comics but I’ve enjoyed them and this book got really high ratings so I thought I would give it a try. It’s an honest, sweet book at times but it also has a some dark undertones and parts where it feels like she’s highlighting all the millions of things we women grapple with. It’s resonant and sad and serious and also funny and sweet and tender.

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And there we go, an ok week of reading. I am on book 166 for 2019, so much for reading less this year. Here’s to a great week next week.

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Books I Read this Week 2019 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.