This month featured quite the variety: historical fiction, Hogwarts, horror, humor,and heart. Ready??? Let's get to it!
1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling
I'm continuing my 2020 resolution to finish every Harry Potter book and watch all the movies. Before this year, I had never seen or read even 1! This was the first Harry Potter book (this was book 5 out of 7) that I actually read....I listened to the others on audiobook, but since I'm not driving to and from work each day, I knew it would take me ages to listen to it. I don't know if it's because I actually read this one (as opposed to listened) or what, but this one was my favorite of the series so far. I LOVE the fantastic little community supporting Harry and how they all band together to defeat He Who Shall Not Be Named. I really liked how Harry was sort of moody and emotional in this one. His character is more fleshed out in this book than in the other 4. I finished this book wanting MORE. I decided to read 1 Harry Potter per month so I stopped here but this was great. I watched the movie last week too, and really enjoyed it as well.
2. The Paris Hours by Alex George
This book. Guys. I loved it. This was my April Book of the Month pick. I typically don't go for the historical fiction option with Book of the Month, but this one just called to me. Going to Paris is a dream of mine and I love reading about Paris of the 1920's. (I loved The Paris Wife by Paula McLain). This book is one like Love Actually where there are these various story lines going on and at the end they all converge and you see how they are all connected. This one has elements of war time violence (pretty vivid descriptions of the Armenian Genocide), love, parenthood, trauma and more. It's not light by any means, but it's a fairly short book that really packs a punch. I thought it was beautiful. The description from Amazon perfectly sums it up, "Told over the course of a single day in 1927, Alex George's The Paris Hours takes four ordinary people whose stories, told together, are as extraordinary as the glorious city they inhabit."
3. The St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets by Annie England Noblin
I read Annie England Noblin's previous two novels and really enjoyed them both. Her books are classic chick lit that typically involve a single woman who finds both a man and a pet that help her find her way. This book followed that same format and honestly? It was just what I was looking for. This is a sweet story about a woman who inherits her birth mother's home in rural Washington. She befriends the local characters, learns to knit, and, of course, falls in love. This is a cute book if you're looking for something light and easy.
4. The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup
If you want to know the book I'll be suggesting all year when someone asks what to read next, here it is! I loved this book so much that I devoured it in 3 days. This is a super twisted (and violent!) book about a serial killer who leaves little chestnut dolls at the crime scenes. Except the little dolls all share a fingerprint on them from a young girl who was kidnapped and presumed murdered years ago. What??? This takes place in the Netherlands and is super duper creepy but so thrilling and suspenseful. I stayed up waaaaay past my bedtime reading this one. And the twist near the end got me good. If you're looking for a crazy psychological murder mystery, pick this one up.....and then message me when you finish we we can discuss!
5. Girl Logic by Iliza Schlesinger:
I think Iliza is one of the most talented comedians out there. For my birthday weekend in March, AJ and I had plans to stay downtown and had tickets to her show. It was cancelled, obviously, and it's rescheduled for this summer, but I'm not quite sure that'll still happen either. Boooo. Needless to say, I've been wanting to read this book for a while. I was expecting a bit more memoir and less advice with this one, but it still had me laughing out loud at parts (her bit about Disney's Belle being willing to sleep with a feline in a dinner jacket just to get away from Gaston and get in some good solo reading time had me howling). Iliza is just a wise, bad ass lady, and she covers it all in this book: dating, love, friendship, politics, sex, feminism and more. If you like Iliza's brand of comedy and witty perception on modern womanhood, you'll enjoy this book for sure.
That's a wrap, folks! The library is beginning curbside pick up of book holds and AJ and Hank renewed my Book of the Month subscription for Mother's Day, so I am set to go with new reading material! Happy reading, friends!
Savor Your Sparkle,
Leslie
No comments:
Post a Comment