This was a rough week on a personal level but a pretty decent one book-wise, and that’s what really matters, right? I finished My Name Is Lucy Barton very quickly and it was killer. I know I’m not the first one to say this, but I’m in awe of how she manages to convey so much in so few words. This book could easily have been twice as long and not felt stretched. I loved this perfect little book, probably going in my top ten for the year, will definitely read it again. Elizabeth Strout, please write all the books.
Over the weekend I started We Had it so Good. It really wasn’t grabbing me at all, and I felt maybe it was me, that I wasn’t in the right frame for it, so I put it down after about 50 pages and got back to it after going through the next one. I did finish it and I can’t really put my finger on what went wrong with it. It wasn’t bad but just really ordinary and forgettable I guess. I didn’t care much about anyone in the story and I could have given up at any time and not gone back to it. Not sure what drew me to this one in the first place but I doubt I’ll read this author again.
I know I should give up on thrillers but I won Things We Have in Common via Goodreads giveaways so I felt kind of obligated. This one actually wasn’t bad! I liked the voice of the creepy/outcast/stalkerish narrator, although maybe what I liked most about that was that it reminded me of You, probably my favorite thriller ever. This was a pretty solid page turner in its own right; the ending is a little off but if you like this type of thing more than I do, give it a go.
Next up was Faithful. I’ve read a lot of Alice Hoffman‘s books over the years and I thing she can vary pretty wildly in quality but I’m always interested in her stuff. I liked this one a lot; it’s not all that original but it’s pretty charming with a very engaging main character. It reminded me in some ways of The Language of Flowers but I liked this better. I thought the way this ended was pretty funny and I’d like to see a sequel somewhere down the line although I don’t think Alice Hoffman really does that kind of thing. I just really liked Shelby and I don’t want her story to be over.
Today I started People Who Knew Me, and I’m planning to stay up late to really dig in to it. I LOVE the premise of this novel: this woman decides to fake her death and start a new life after 9/11. That’s so twisted! I’m really curious to see how this goes. I’ll keep you posted!
