Looks like I picked the right week to finish The Handmaid’s Tale. I don’t know how much more there is to say about it. I didn’t love it, don’t like her writing at all, but I feel the story and the message matter more than the execution here. I’m trying to revisit an old favorite every month to see how it holds up, and this seemed the clear choice for right now. While it definitely deserves its status as a modern day classic, I’ll probably never read her again.
Not sure why I didn’t read “the other” Life After Life when it first came out. I’ve always loved Jill McCorkle, and this got more attention than she usually gets, although really that was only because Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life was published at the same time. (That was so weird.) Anyway, I love her, and so much of this was so good; it was like literary comfort food just when I needed it. Then there’s a very weird, out of nowhere Big Thing That Happens right at the end, and it just throws the whole thing off. I don’t know what on earth she was doing with that. Still worth reading but I’m scratching my head over that ending.
I don’t usually jump back and forth between books, but the other day the kids and I stopped at a park on the way home from the library and I got some unexpected reading time. I didn’t have my current book with me so I started Shelter, which I had just picked up. I read the first 50 pages and I will get back to it soon. It’s easy to get into and I can tell I’ll have some strong feelings about it. Stay tuned.
Moved on to Emmy & Oliver which was quick and easy but pretty forgettable. It had a couple strikes against it going in. For one, I don’t like YA all that much, and two, well it was pretty hard to focus on anything this week. Once in a while I really love a YA book but this one didn’t do it for me at all. Feels silly to criticize a young adult book for being too adolescent, so this is mostly on me. I only like this genre when it has crossover appeal and I don’t see it here.
Pretty excited to read Jane Steele next. I probably won’t have a ton of time to read over the weekend but I’m loving what I’ve read so far. Reader, I murdered him? I’m in.
