The Guest List by Lucy Foley has been on my TBR for a few and a book club I'm in picked it. Overall, I think it was good. I really struggled finding aThe Guest List by Lucy Foley has been on my TBR for a few and a book club I'm in picked it. Overall, I think it was good. I really struggled finding any likable character to side with, although I did end up liking Hannah more than most.
Jules is marrying Will. She's beautiful, rich, and pretty all about Jules. He's beautiful, charming, and famous from a reality TV shoe. They are holding their wedding on a small, isolated island near Ireland, and the guests are ferrying in from the mainland. The wedding party is already there, and the tense moments start early.
Pasts are stirred up, jealousy runs rampant, fueled by lies and copious amounts of alcohol.
The wedding reception is broken by a scream ...more
The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams was a postal book club book and probably not one I would have chosen on my own. The premise is how books can chanThe Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams was a postal book club book and probably not one I would have chosen on my own. The premise is how books can change your life. I agree with that premise but typically wouldn’t read about it, ironically.
However, this book did pull me in. Mukesh and Aleisha were our main characters, with a handful of secondary characters influencing their lives and decisions. Aleisha is working at the local library, despite not being a reader or liking books, and her brother Aidan is pleased, since he is a reader and a library enthusiast. Aleisha and Aidan split time taking care of their mother, who is disabled with mental health issues since their father left.
Mukesh recently lost his wife who was a big reader and library enthusiast but Mukesh himself never read (sense a theme here?). Mukesh is elderly, fearful, and lonely. He picks up a book left behind by his late wife and begins reading. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger pulls him in. He starts this journey with a trip to the library.
All of the characters are bonded by a reading list that has been left in various places. They all begin reading the books on this mystery list and, eventually, we see paths crossing.
This was a really good book that took a turn that made me tear up. By the end, I really enjoyed seeing how some books really DO change lives. ...more
Yetu is the current historian of her people, and all of the memories she has to hold have become so painful that she only thinks about escaping them. Yetu is the current historian of her people, and all of the memories she has to hold have become so painful that she only thinks about escaping them. Her people have forgotten the past and go about their days, relying on her to hold their entire history for them. Each year, on the day of the Remembering, she gives the memories back and is finally empty. At least for 3 days.
During this time, Yetu escapes and meets some humans in the shallows of the ocean. She finally realizes what it means to have a history, have a past, even if it’s painful. She needs to go back and save her people from the heavy burden she put upon them.
It’s interesting. After I finished this, I thought about my history. And there isn’t much that I know of. My history doesn’t weigh me down but I also recognize I don’t know enough. Close family is scarce and not a lot was brought through the generations, and I know there were secrets. I doubt I'll get to know much of my history and it will end with me.
Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman was part of the Fantastic Stranglings book club. It took me some time to get through it but it’s reallyRoses, in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman was part of the Fantastic Stranglings book club. It took me some time to get through it but it’s really a great novel about a young Pakistani girl named Razia. Her family immigrated to Corona, Queens and the novel follows Razia as she grows up with one foot in Pakistani culture and the other desperate to be American.
You get to see her struggle against her family and their wishes for her arranged marriage, her friendship with her traditional Pakistani friends and her relationships with her American friends. She is truly torn between both worlds and it’s difficult to see her struggle against the family she loves but the culture she wants to leave behind. A beautiful book that ends WAY too abruptly. (I really want to know what happens!!!!)...more
I had heard such good things about this book but when I picked it up to read, I just couldn't get into it. There's nothing I could put my finger on buI had heard such good things about this book but when I picked it up to read, I just couldn't get into it. There's nothing I could put my finger on but it was a rough start for me. However, once I really sat down to read, I was hooked.
Tookie is one messed up, struggling woman at the beginning of this book. In hopes of pleasing her crush, Danae, she goes and picks up the corpse of Danae's ex-boyfriend and puts him in a refrigerated grocery truck to bring him across state lines. I think a normal person would consider that wrong to begin with, but Tookie had the unfortunate luck of not realizing the corpse had drugs stashed on him. Tookie goes to prison.
Once she is out of prison, she marries and begins working in a bookstore. One of the bookstores most annoying (beloved?) customers dies unexpectedly but comes back to haunt the bookstore and, specifically, Tookie.
Set in Minneapolis, starting in 2019 and working its way through George Floyd, covid, and all the weird traumatic shit of the last two years, Tookie's haunting almost seems like a side note compared to what's happening out in the world, in her city, and to her people.
Tookie is a character that seems hard to like and equally hard to hate. She's a real person with some very real flaws, flaws she has even pushed so far down she doesn't remember them.
I've always enjoyed Erdrich's books. This was definitely up there at the top....more
Magical realism that is a bit fluffier than I would normally read. In general, beautiful descriptions of Paris, food, and tea. Be prepared to be hungrMagical realism that is a bit fluffier than I would normally read. In general, beautiful descriptions of Paris, food, and tea. Be prepared to be hungry!
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