This is my last full week of the kids being in school, so I was kind of on a tear! I love summer more than anything but there is less me-time, and me-time is reading time.
I finished Last Things and had a good solid cry. This was obviously really sad, but I’m glad I read it. It gave my empathy a little kick-start, and it reminded me that I love comics and have a bunch of them in my basement and that Lucy is ready for more graphic novels.
I also finished The Light We Lost over the weekend and most definitely did not cry over that one. First of all, billing it as “One Day meets Me Before You,” is not especially accurate and kind of tells you how it ends. Second, I never ever get into stories that romanticize old flames the way this does. She had super hot sex with this guy for a few months, then spends the next ten years comparing him to her husband/father of her kids. Not a fair fight. I found this very adolescent and pretty dopey.
After that, I decided to read something that was supposed to be adolescent, but not dopey whatsoever. I love Judy Blume, and Forever was always a favorite. A delight to reread, holds up great and I hope tween girls today are still reading this one.
I was somewhat disappointed in Woman No. 17, although I’m not sure what I was expecting. I just didn’t have any strong feelings about it. The characters were okay, the writing was okay, the story was okay. One of the okayest books ever. Some funny bits here and there but it didn’t really go anywhere or do much for me.
Today I started How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids and I’m already regretting it. This is really more of a memoir than anything, and I am not into memoirs at all. The writing style is not my taste at all, serious overuse of parentheses, and not nearly as charming or funny as it’s trying to be. I don’t know how I’m going to feel about any of this when it’s over. (DOUBLE MEANING!) Thank you for seeing what I did there.
