My (Summer) Reading Week

So I'm taking a small break from vacation blogging to share the books I read last week. I just had too much to say to fit them in an Instagram post. (And remember I was at the pool for four or five hours every day last week so I had a ton of extra reading time.)

While I enjoyed The Kiss Quotient more, I thought this book was also fun. I really liked how Esme learned to love Khai for who he was rather than trying to change him. And I loved how kind Khai was to Esme, even when he was annoyed with his family (or her!). This was just a good, fun, summer read.

Maid is the memoir of a single mother trying to escape poverty in the States -- in Washington state specifically. The father of her daughter is abusive and all she can find are low paying jobs. What struck me was how few choices Land had and how much poor people are monitored -- Land talks about how to be able to qualify to live in one housing complex, the authorities could show up randomly to perform drug tests. I'm going through a hard time personally right now and this book put that in perspective -- I have so much support and so many options compared to Land (and many other people around the world.)

I LOVED this book. It's about the Los Angeles Public Library and focuses mainly on the fire which the library experienced in April 1986. But it also tells the story of the library's history and delves into the hidden corners and jobs of various people working in the library. There were parts of this book which made me cry (yes, I was a bit of a sobbing mess at the pool one morning), and I highly recommend it.

Although take my recommendation with a grain of salt -- remember my 2018 book review (you can read it here)? I had a category called "Non-Fiction Which Only I Might Love Because It Touches On One Of My Passions." This book may just fall into that category :)

 

We belong to a neighbourhood pool, which is not actually in our neighbourhood, and for the past two weeks, the kids had daily tennis and swimming lessons. Then we ate lunch and stayed for another hour of organized "AquaFun." Anyways, Sam's teacher from this past year was there at the same time with her two kids and she recommended this book to me. This is the third Ruth Sepetys book I've read and they have all been really good.

This one tells the story of four teens/young adults, and their journey to escape through Poland and get on a ship during World War II. I love how the four stories come together and the various people they meet along the way.

This is my neighbourhood book club pick for this month. I thought it was fiction so I was surprised that it was non-fiction. I was also surprised how much I enjoyed this book and how quickly I read it. It's basically Sedaris' thoughts on various aspects of life. I loved reading about how he and his siblings went clothes shopping in Japan and I laughed really hard at his description of his interactions with a turtle. I want Dave to read this book. Also, Sedaris' sister is Amy Sedaris who I think is also famous :)

You know how when an author writes an amazing book and then you have high expectations for their follow up novel? Well, I LOVED The Alice Network, and while I also liked this book, in my opinion, it didn't quite measure up. For the first hour I read it I had a fluttering sensation in my stomach because I was so excited to FINALLY have it in my hands. And this poor book really couldn't live up to my super-high expectations. So while I think it was a good book, I didn't LOVE it. (Does any of this make any sense at all? Is it just me.)

Please don't take that as a "don't bother reading this book." Take it more as a "don't get overly excited and you will enjoy this one."

Christina Lauren is my new light reading author. I just love her predictable romance stories and how she gets her (they get their?) characters together, despite the obstacles. This book absolutely hit my expectations for a fun, light read which I devoured in one sitting on a Friday night. And yes, Christina Lauren is actually two best friends writing novels together so I never know how to refer to them -- singular author, plural author -- help!

Have I inspired you to check any of these books out? Let me know...