One of my dreams came true over Christmas break and I started reading Charlotte's Web to Trey at night. We are only a few chapters in, but he seems into it so far. I am so excited to read him some of my childhood favorites.
Trey's favorite new series is Captain Awesome. We have read all of them and he is very sad that the next one won't come out until March. We just started reading Galaxy Zack, and that might tide us over. His other favorites are the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. He can read most of the words now by himself, so that makes them extra fun.
I won't list everything I've read since June, but in looking at my book journal, the books seem to fall into three categories - historical fiction, young adult, and borderline grocery store fiction. The grocery store fiction includes some chick lit, but it is mostly stuff you might buy at the check out stand, the book section at Fred Meyer, or maybe even the airport. It's what doesn't take a lot of concentration and what I like to say "won't win any awards." During grad school, my brain is pretty dead by the end of the day, so while I still like to read, I can't bring myself to put too much concentration into my bedtime reading - thus young adult and grocery store.
One of my favorite genres is historical fiction, and I've read some good ones lately. I really enjoyed Circling the Sun by Paula McLain which was about Beryl Markham, the first female pilot who crossed the Atlantic, and was a great read. It made me want to read West with the Night, her autobiography, but I haven't gotten around to that yet. I also really liked Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan, who also wrote Loving Frank which I liked, which was about the wife of Robert Louis Stevenson. Even though I had no particular interest in Stevenson or his wife, it was a really intriguing story.
I also enjoyed the Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy which was about the Civil War and the Underground Railroad. I did read Nightengale by Kristin Hannah which I thought I would like more than I did. I just don't think Hannah is that great of an author and I felt pretty judgy as I read it. I also thought it lasted too long and I was dissatisfied with the ending. Why it is on the New York Times list I have no idea. Lastly, I just finished the third of Jane Smiley's trilogy which included Some Luck, Early Warning, and Golden Age. It spanned over 100 years with the same family, and I found it really enjoyable. I liked the third installment best, but the other two were also good.
A few other novels I read that don't fit into my three categories but are worth mentioning are the Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman, which I thought was excellent and I just read is being turned into a movie. I loved the story, albeit sad, and couldn't put it down. I read Kent Haruf's last book that was completed before he died but published after called Our Souls at Night. I have read most of his novels, and he was a favorite of my mom's and mine.
Ann Packer is another of my favorite authors (Dive From Clausen's Pier is one of my all-time favorites) and her newest, the Children's Crusade, came out this spring. I promptly bought it but read it over the summer. I thought it was okay. A memoir that I enjoyed (and Michelle Obama said was her favorite book of the year) was the Light of the World by Elizabeth Alexander. It is a story written about the death of her husband and her grief, and while the topic is clearly sad, the book was beautifully written.
I recently read Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff which has been on several Best of 2015 lists and I was a little disappointed. It is a story of a marriage; the first half is told from the viewpoint of the husband, and the second half is told from the viewpoint of the wife. I'm not totally sure why everyone loved it so much (it was actually President Obama's favorite book of the year - but not why I read it) and moments like this make me question my judgment as a reader.
In terms of my grocery store books, my favorite was the Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. It was a super fun book that was a spin on Will and Kate, and I really enjoyed it. It is a perfect read for something that is decently written but doesn't require deep thinking.
I liked the new book called After You by Jojo Moyes okay. I was a little disappointed because I have liked her others a lot. This was the sequel to Me Before You, which I really loved. Now that I'm writing about it, I can't even remember what happened in the book, which tells you something. A friend of mine recommended a Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan, which was about the woes of a working mother, and while I finished it, I really didn't like it. I'm not even sure why I finished it. I think so that if my friend asks me about it, I can tell her I read the whole thing. But then we get into that tough spot where someone really likes a book and you do not, and it feels a little awkward...luckily, it hasn't come up yet. I have read a few others that fit into this category, but I don't even want to mention them...yes, that bad.
Young adult books are my new favorite grad school genre. There are some really good books out there that are well written which fill my overstressed overwhelmed overtired reading need. They read quick, but they are quality. I really liked the War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Bradley and Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead. I also enjoyed the Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin. I think I can fit in a few more grown up books at the beginning of this term before jumping back into young adult.
Right now I'm reading Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson, which just won the National Book Award, and then I'm going to try to read Purity by Jonathan Franzen before the term gets too heavy. I just read that Richard Russo has a new book coming out this spring that is a sequel to Nobody's Fool, so I think I'll get that on my list, and I also am looking forward to Curtis Sittenfeld's new book that is a take on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I love following book blogs, and reading about new titles is one of the things I love best about Twitter. I've been listening to some good audiobooks too, but I think I'll save that for another post. Happy reading, everyone! Any suggestions - send them my way!
