February Reading Round-Up

Maybe I've been doing it wrong; maybe I need to set really steep goals for myself so I can knock them out of the park. Because my February reading goal? Demolished. I wanted to read 8 books in February, which I thought was a pretty lofty goal to begin with, and I ended up reading 12 books. In the shortest month of the year. I don't want to blow my own horn here but...

TOOT!

TOOT!

It's all downhill from here, because there's no way I can keep this momentum going. It's March 2 and I haven't started anything, so I'm already behind. I'll ignore this nagging worry and instead do a book recap, because if there's anything I love more than a good book, it's dissecting and tearing apart the crappy ones. 

all excerpts from GoodReads

Homeland, Sam Lipsyte

What if somebody finally wrote to his high school alumni bulletin and told the truth. The appalling, yet utterly lovable, Lewis Miner, class of '89, did not pan out. Home Land is his confession in all its bitter, lovelorn glory.

Looker, Laura Sims

An unraveling woman, unhappily childless and recently separated, becomes fixated on the beautiful actress on her block and whose obsession with this neighbor drives her to the edge.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Hank Green

A sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight celebrity before realizing she's part of something bigger and stranger than anyone could have imagined.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh

A shocking and strangely tender novel about a young woman’s experiment in narcotic hibernation, aided and abetted by one of the worst psychiatrists in literature.

You Know You Want This, Kristen Roupenian

A collection of short stories that explore the complex—and often darkly funny—connections between gender, sex, and power across genres.

How to Walk Away, Katherine Center

A charming romance about overcoming obstacles and finding joy even in the darkest circumstances.

Maid, Stephanie Land

A beautiful and gritty exploration of poverty in America; the dark truth of what it takes to survive and thrive in today's inequitable society.

I Owe You One, Sophie Kinsella

An irresistible story of love and empowerment about a young woman with a complicated family and an IOU that changes everything.

Talent, Juliet Lapidos 

A debut novel about an English grad student working on her dissertation, desperate for inspiration.

Girls Burn Brighter, Shobha Rao

Set in India and America, a heart-wrenching meditation on friendship between two girls who are driven apart but never stop trying to find one another again.

The Falconer, Dana Czapnik

A coming-of-age story in New York City, where a young woman is grappling with privilege and the fading of radical hopes.

Educated, Tara Westover 

Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if there was still a way home.

The Good:

Girls Burn Brighter 

This book will break your heart, again and again. But holy cow, is it worth it. The easy comparison is Khaled Hosseini; if you liked The Kite Runner or his other works, you'll probably enjoy this. But it wholly stands on its own and was definitely one of my favorite books in a while.

The Falconer

I love a good coming-of-age story, and this one was quick and to the point. Lucy Adler is a talented basketball player struggling to find her place, torn between wanting more from life than male approval, but hopelessly in love with her best friend.

I Owe You One

I unabashedly love Sophie Kinsella, and this book is everything I want from her: cute, easy, predictable, and still thoroughly appealing. 

You Know You Want This

I didn't find myself relating with or even liking any of the characters, and somehow each story was more disturbing than the last. But I really liked it. I'm trying to read more short stories and I think this was a really important collection, exploring the "ways in which women are horrifying as much as it captures the horrors that are done to them."

The Bad:

Looker

Meh. The premise was dark and intriguing and I thought it'd be a really great thriller, but it just fell flat for me.

Maid

I'm conflicted here, because I really wanted to like this. It was well written and had it's moments, but if I'm being honest, I didn't like the author. I felt sympathy throughout the book, but more often than that I felt annoyed. Did I miss something, or was she only working like 25-30 hours a week? Most people can't live on that, let alone with a child to support. 

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Stealing this from Tucker (TuckerTheReader) on GoodReads b/c he says it perfectly.

Publisher: So Hank you want to write a book?

Hank: Yes, my brother wrote a bunch which means that I can too!

Publisher: What do you want it to be about?

Hank: I want to write a book about aliens.

Publisher: So like the 5th wave.

Hank: Kind of but let's remove all the violent parts.

Publisher: So like E.T.?

Hank: The alien won't actually talk or interact with the humans. Oh, and he won't be a living thing. He'll just be a big hunk of metal but we'll call him an alien.

Publisher: What about the main character?

Hank: So she'll discover the alien and then make a video about it which will go viral but let's make the main character super awkward and cringey.

Hank: Also, our main character will be bisexual so we can call our book diverse without actually going into the subject at all.

Hank: And we will have a love triangle. And a butler. 

Publisher: Well, usually readers hate love triangles but it doesn't really matter because whatever you write will sell because you're famous.

Hank: *Whispers* There actually isn't really going to be a plot just a bunch of random scenes that are boring but kind of make sense.

Publisher: Sounds great! Let's do it!

The Ugly:

Educated 

This was really disappointing because it was on my radar all of last year and I was so excited to finally get it from the library. I can't say Westover wasn't brave and inspiring for getting out of the crap hand that life dealt her, but I also can't say that the story made a whole lot of sense. This survivalist family, who doesn't believe in birth certificates or public education or modern medicine, went on to have three of their children earn a PhD? Without the obvious education component, earning an advanced degree is not cheap and Tara would never accept grants or charity b/c that's how the illuminati got you, or whatever nonsense her dad was spouting. So....how did all this happen?