Even though I’m ludicrously behind on my book reviews, I did want to call out my year in reading, and shout out some of my favorite titles read last year, so here goes!

–Marissa

1. A book published posthumously (I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara)
2. A book of true crime (I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara)
3. A classic of genre fiction (i.e. mystery, sci fi/fantasy, romance)
4. A comic written and drawn by the same person (Space Battle Lunchtime by Natalie Riess)
5. A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa) (I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon)
6. A book about nature (The Hour of Land by Terry Tempest Williams)
7. A western
8. A comic written or illustrated by a person of color (Bingo Love by Tee Franklin)
9. A book of colonial or postcolonial literature (Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys)
10. A romance novel by or about a person of color (Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai)
11. A children’s classic published before 1980 (Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak)
12. A celebrity memoir (We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union)
13. An Oprah Book Club selection (An American Marriage by Tayari Jones)
14. A book of social science (The Little Book of Lykke by Meik Wiking)
15. A one-sitting book (Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson)
16. The first book in a new-to-you YA or middle grade series (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han)
17. A sci fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author
18. A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image (Space Battle Lunchtime by Natalie Riess)
19. A book of genre fiction in translation (The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani)
20. A book with a cover you hate (Tangerine by Christine Mangan)
21. A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author (Rainbirds by Clarissa Goenawan)
22. An essay anthology
23. A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60 (The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein)
24. An assigned book you hated (or never finished) (Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward)

Though summer is drawing ever closer, I’m trying not to neglect my reading duties (duties! ha!), though I’ve gotten bogged down in a few titles lately. Still and all, lots of good things to review, so let’s do it!

–Marissa

A Gathering of Secrets by Linda Castillo is the 10th in the Kate Burkholder series, and is another winner! I really love this series about a formerly Amish woman who is now the chief of police in her town. Picking up another Castillo is getting to spend time with old friends. 🙂 This is due for release on July 10th.

Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Only Have One by Raphaelle Giordano was apparently an “international bestseller”, but in my opinion was just… wretched. Trite and silly, a lecture disguised as prose, this was just… ugh. NOT what I was expecting!

How to Walk Away by Katherine Center was another winner from a writer I’ve grown to really enjoy for her straightforward, easy-to-devour women’s fiction titles. In this one, after a freak accident Maggie is in the hospital, and wondering if anything will be the same. Judging from the absence of her fiance, she’s guessing not… this is just a good, solid, positive, refreshing story that I tore right through!

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang has been getting rave reviews pre-release (it comes out June 5th) and for good reason – it’s unique and refreshing! Stella, who has Asperger’s, find dating (and in particular, sex) challenging, so she solves this in the most straightforward way possible: my hiring a male escort to teach her how to be dateable. What follows is by turns sweet, sexy, tender and fun – I flew through it!

Tin Man by Sarah Winman has been lauded as being just the “bestest book ev-ER”, but when I looked closer, I saw reviews were either glowing… or not. I’m a not. I didn’t feel like I was “in” the story, but instead being held at a remove by the writing, the jumps in timeline, the massive gaps left, and the oddness of the storytelling. What could have been a beautiful love story, or a story about a life lived, or about friendship… just didn’t resonate with me AT ALL. Bummer.

Rust and Stardust by T. Greenwood (due out August 7th) is a fictionalized account of the kidnapping and exploitation of Sally Horner, who was the real-life inspiration for Nabokov’s Lolita. I loved all the different voices and points of view in the short chapters, and kept finally myself marveling that this really happened (albeit this is a fiction retelling). Difficult but fascinating…

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward is a 2017 fiction National Book Award winner – so of course I should read it. But to say I *enjoyed* this book would be completely false. This raw, difficult, stilted, in-your-face-with-icky-details novel is about a 13 year boy struggling to find male role models… about what prison does to a man… about a mother who can’t kick drugs for her family… about ghosts and stories that form a family. I’m not going to lie… I REALLY struggled to get through this one, even though I can appreciate it.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara has been such a buzzy book, since it was published mere weeks before the featured subject was finally arrested (the Golden State Killer). Though McNamara died of cancer in 2016, she left behind a legacy of research, devotion and dedication to piecing together the story of scores and scores of rapes and murders in California, all finally linking to one man. This is a dual story: the story of the GSK, and the story of one woman’s dogged research. Recommended!

Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter (due out August 21) was a perfect palate cleanser after a couple of difficult reads, because I started reading and could NOT put it down! The first section of the book left me absolutely BREATHLESS and I had to get reading to find out WTF just happened! Andrea and her mother are eating lunch in a mall food court when “violence erupts”, and Mom reacts in a… very surprising way. No spoilers, but this is a twisty, fast-paced, “say WHAT?” kind of read, and I dug it! I definitely need to read more Karin Slaughter!

I’ve been trying to turn and burn through the titles lately, and here’s what I’ve read…

–Marissa

Rocket Men by Robert Kurson was just SO FANTASTIC. I love all of Kurson’s nonfiction books (which totally read like fiction) including Shadow Divers and Pirate Hunters, but this was my JAM. I love Kurson and I’ve always been absolutely enamored with the space race of the 1960s. This was about the daring – I didn’t realize HOW daring! – mission to send Apollo 8 around the dark side of the moon in preparation for the moon landing. Kurson just weaves in the science, the men’s personalities and lives, and the impact the mission had on the space program – and the world. I’m not kidding… I started this in the morning, intending to read one chapter, and had it done by that late afternoon. SO good.

Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence was just… if ever a book could be written just for me, this is it. Spence writes “love letters” (and some not-so-lovey ones!) to the books in her life as a public librarian. I howled with laughter, I nodded emphatically, I wanted to write her my own letter to tell her I agree about Nicholas Sparks, The Time Traveler’s Wife and Fifty Shades of Grey. This is an obvious choice for any librarian, but anyone who loves books – and libraries! – will dig this too!

Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall was a Book of the Month last month (yes, of course I’m a subscriber!), so I bumped it up my “digital galley” list. This is a perfect recommendation for folks who enjoyed You by Caroline Kepnes, as the books are similar. An unreliable narrator, a twisted view of a relationship, and the aftermath when things go too far. A serviceable psychological read that was easy to zip through.

I also read So Close to Bein’ the Sh*t Y’all Don’t Even Know by Retta, which was just a fresh, funny, honest memoir from a famous Hollywood face who happens to be ridiculously down to earth like the rest of us! I also read Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser, which was a fine enough novel, but not a terrible memorable “mommy lit” story for me, and just seemed to drag on a bit in the reading. I also just finished Intermission by Elyssa Friedland, about a couple who take a six month hiatus before deciding whether to proceed with becoming parents or separating forever. I like the premise very much, but found the story a bit cloying and boring-ish in parts.

Time for some fresh new book reviews!

–Marissa

Rainbirds by Clarissa Goenawan is such a quiet, quiet novel, and I absolutely fell into it. Ren is a graduate student in Japan who learns his much older sister has been murdered in her small town in Japan. He goes to settle her estate, and falls into a part of her life as he tries to unravel the mystery of her – and of himself. This is just a quiet, contemplative, slice-of-life

Ghosted by Rosie Walsh was just such a great setup for a story: a forty-something woman falls hard for a man she met while home in England visiting family, but when he goes on holiday after their week together, he completely disappears. Was she ghosted or is there something more at work? A bit clunky in spots, but overall I really loved the gentle mystery and tender love story at the center of this novel.

The Hour of Land by Terry Tempest Williams is just such a thoughtful, well-written, timely collection of essays as Williams visits 20 of our National Parks and talks about the parks, environmental concerns, family memories, and much more. Some I connected with more than others (either the setting – one I’ve visited – or her insights and thoughts), but all of them were just quiet and thought-provoking and beautifully written.

I also read Providence by Caroline Kepnes. Now, I loved her debut novel, You, but, this one is a TRAIN WRECK. By far the WORST book I’ve read this year, or possibly in any year. This was beyond stupid, had no resolution, and made no sense. I ABHORRED it. Seriously.

…suspense! Unless it’s one of these recently read books…

–Marissa

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian was an infuriating read! A great premise, though..a female flight attendant with a drinking problem wakes up next to a fare the morning after arriving in Dubai… except that things are very wrong when she awakes. This was infuriating because she kept making TERRIBLE DECISIONS. Another thought provoking Bohjalian novel, though!

I was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon is told in a really unique way. One chapter is from present day backwards from the perspective of Anna Anderson (who claimed to be Anastasia Romanov… was she?), and one chapter is told from the past forwards to the terrible moment of the execution of the Romanovs. A really interesting storytelling style, and it keeps the reader guessing until the last few pages. Great for historical fiction fans!

Let Me Lie by Clare Macintosh was so evocative for me, since the main geographic location is Beachy Head in Eastbourne – just a few minutes from where my grandmother lived my whole life. 🙂 This is another great omigod-the-twist! novel from Macintosh, though it felt a bit draggy in parts, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Anna’s parents committed suicide by jumping of Beachy Head exactly one year apart… but when Anna receives a note, she’s not sure suicide was involved at all… what a great set up!

Tangerine by Christine Mangan didn’t hit the mark for me, despite all the advanced hype and movie optioning. Morocco in the 1950s: Alice has just moved here with her husband when her estranged college roommate Lucy shows up out of nowhere and everyone gets super twitchy. Mangan was clearly trying for a Hitchcock/Highsmith kind of vibe, but it felt so telegraphed and drawn out and frankly… boring. Not worth the read at all – and I HATE the cover. Maybe it will be better as a movie…

All the Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson wasn’t his strongest (go back to The Kind Worth Killing!) but was another serviceable suspense novel with a few twists for fun at the end. Admittedly, though, I didn’t retain much of this title’s spark after I put it away…

I also read Every Breath You Take by Mary Higgins Clark (it was a serviceable enough audiobook listen) as well as The Elizas by Sara Shepard (it was “eh” at best) and The Neighbors by Hannah Mary McKinnon (fine, but forgettable).