I read 6 books in October, but I would only really recommend 2 of them, which is unfortunate. But when you read as many books as I do, there are bound to be some duds. I really need to start noting on my Amazon wishlist why I added a given book to it, or where the recommendation came from. Often, when I go to pick out a new book, I can’t remember why I wanted to read some of the ones on there, especially those that have been there for awhile. It might help me make better informed decisions if I wrote a little reminder.
Anyway, here are October’s reads.
4 stars. I enjoyed learning about an aspect of American history that I had never even heard of before, that of sending orphans to the west via train to be adopted. All of the details were fascinating, and the story was sweet. I just bought another book by Christina Baker Kline on sale for my Kindle and I’m looking forward to reading it!
2 stars. This was my least favorite Liane Moriarty that I’ve read so far. The central conflict simply wasn’t as interesting as the ones in her other novels. What Alice Forgot still stands as my favorite, though I’m waiting on a few more from her backlist to make their way to me from the library. Big Little Lies is premiering on HBO soon, and I’ll be excited to watch it if I can find it streaming somewhere.
October’s book club read, which we never actually got together to discuss, which is too bad, because I would like to know what other people thought. This was an Oprah book club pick and adapted for TV on OWN, but I wasn’t wild about it. It was an interesting premise but just missed the mark for me.
I only gave this 3 stars on Goodreads, but it was my most talked-about book in awhile, so maybe I should bump that up. This one pushed the same buttons for me as The Happiness Project and the like, and I’ve found myself obsessed with the concept of hygge this winter!
My team at work read this and discussed it in a book club setting. It is so many people’s favorite book, but I really didn’t care for it! I wonder if some of the beauty got lost in translation. I found the story rather simplistic and I didn’t fall for any of the characters. HOWEVER, it makes great fodder for conversation, and I liked thinking about what my Personal Legend might be. It’s a pretty quick read, so despite not liking it I’d actually recommend it, if only for the cultural context.
I read this to get into the Halloween spirit and it was pretty “meh.” I gave it a mere one star. I tried to read The Turn of the Screw but couldn’t get into it either. Oh well.
