January Reads

I'm going to blatantly copy Hannah and do a summary of the books I read in January, because I never did get around to a 2019 summary—too many books, and too many from so many months earlier that I can't remember much about them!!

Here's what I read in January:

This post contains affiliate links

Whose Body? ⭐⭐⭐ I've seen Sayers recommended time and again, so I thought I'd give her a try.
I'm really not that much of a mystery person though... It was slow to get into and the main character, Lord Peter Wimsey, has such an odd style of speech that I still find myself unsure of whether I like him or not. That said, friends have told me specific volumes that they prefer, so perhaps I won't worry about chronological order and will just try the best next time!

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Cecilia has checked this out from the library multiple times so I thought I would give it a try. It's written using very simple language, probably best for the 12-and-under crowd, but I love that Chinese folk tales are incorporated throughout the entire book (we have another book of Chinese fairy tales that Cecilia also really likes). The main character is a girl, but John Paul enjoyed this one as well. The themes of contentment with life+importance of family were really nice, and I generally enjoyed it and would happily let the kids read more by this author.

The Immortalists ⭐⭐ Ick. Did not like. It was well-written, I suppose, and redeemed itself somewhat by the end, but even the ending was not sufficient to balance out the straight-up smut in the first part of the book. Do not recommend.

Arcanum Unbounded ⭐⭐⭐⭐ In my quest to read all of Brandon Sanderson's work, I checked this out on ebook because it's one of the few I didn't read in 2019. I'm glad I waited, because lots of the stories have spoilers for certain books. Really fun stories, clean and enjoyable as always.

Maria ⭐⭐⭐⭐ This one was SO fun and good at the beginning and kind of petered out by the end. It's Maria von Trapp's autobiography, and since I adored The Story of the Trapp Family Singers so much, I had to give this a try! I really loved the description of her (very troubled!) childhood, as well as her reversion (I never would have guessed how anti-Catholic she became as a teen!) and her hasty decision to enter the convent (we all know what happens next). The rest of the book was fairly disjointed anecdotes, fun but lacking the depth her first book had. Her Bob Hope stories were pretty fun, as were her stories from her missionary days, but it ended with her... Sort of joining the Catholic charismatic movement but not being entirely sold on it? And then that was the end? It's out of print but available used and I think worth the price but don't expect the end of the book to live up to your expectations based on the beginning!

Current reads:

Frederica

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

What are you reading right now? Any February recommendations?