January Reads

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

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:

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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?

8 comments:

  1. I read and really liked Light Changes Everything by Nancy Turner. Last year I read her trilogy about Sarah Prine, starting with These is My Words and this is about a different character, so I enjoyed the continuing story line. All of the books take place in Arizona Territory at the end of the 1800s, early 1900s.

    I posted the others I read on instagram and facebook (https://www.facebook.com/macyfron/posts/474201343220121)

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    1. Oooh I had These is My Words on my list a couple years ago but then my library didn't have it on ebook so I never read it... I will have to look those up!

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  2. Oh and right now I'm reading Memories Before and After the Sound of Music by Agathe Von Trapp, so I'll check out the ones you read!

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    1. I was wondering if any of the ones by her children are good!

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  3. Just finished The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wells (i think!!). good character development but wanted more of the story. Felt like there was a great build up to really know the characters but then the main plot was rushed and resolved and ended too quickly. Also there was a faith aspect that could have been better developed.

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    1. Oh I hate it when things feel rushed at the end!

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  4. I totally added Frederica to my TBR list after I saw it on Jenny Uebbing's post. Looking forward to hearing what you think! Sometimes I need more than one person to recommend a book before I dive in, especially if it's a new-to-me author 😂

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    1. It is fun! I've had Georgette Heyer recommended to me pretty often and have just read random books by her and felt fairly ambivalent about them. But Frederica was really cute! So I think it's probably a matter of starting with the best books by a certain author so you can get a feel for whether you're willing to go on an all-out binge or not ;)

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