Girl In Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

 My Rating: 4.0

Charlotte/Charlie is 17 years old and has been through many traumatic events. After receiving minimal therapy during a stay at an institution, she is about to be released to embark on life on her own.

This is a raw look at self harm. The writing is done in short snippets which made it hard for me to get in to the book. I did eventually get drawn in but then, I felt that there were SO MANY issues with all of the characters that I got numb. I would have preferred we had just the one main character and followed her journey. 

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Henricks & Sarah Pekkanen

My Rating: 3.0

Jessica signs up for a psychology study but s the questions grow more intense, Jessica feels that the psychiatrist conducting the study may know what she is thinking.

This had a very unique plot line and an ending that I didn't figure out till near the end. So why didn't I love this more? This was another case of a female character without a brain. She did such stupid things. I also felt that the book dragged on and on. This was written in the 2nd person and a very passive voice.  Disappointing when it had such potential.

The Year of Yes by Shomda Rhimes

My Rating: 5.0

This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda’s life before her Year of Yes—from her nerdy, book-loving childhood to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her. The book chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun—when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes.

Three things that stand out for me about this book:
1. I have never sat down and devoured a book cover-to-cover before
2. I have never laughed so hard
3. Every memoir/self-help book should be so real, honest & fabulous

What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty

My Rating: 4.6

Alice wakes up on the floor of a gym.  Apparently she has fallen off a treadmill and hit her head. She is worried if her first pregnancy baby is ok. She is whisked off to the hospital only to discover that it is 10 years past what she last remembers - and she has three children! As Alice tries to piece together everything that she has missed in the last 10 years, she also tries to figure out how she got to this point in her life and if this is where she wants to be.

In typical Moriarty fashion, she has come up with a unique plot that makes you wonder "how would I feel if that happened to me!".  I found this very intriguing from the first page and, as it unfolded, I kept wanting to know how it would end. Wonderful easy read. 

The Witch's Elm by Tana French

My Rating: 4.7

Toby considers himself lucky. He just avoided a potential issue with work and is out having a drink at the pub with his lads. He goes home and is woken in the middle of the night to burglars in the other room. He confronts them with nothing except a candlestick and wakes up in really BAD shape in the hospital.

Toby's Uncle Hugo has terminal cancer so, Toby decides to go to the family ancestral home and take care of Uncle Hugo and recuperate from his own injuries. When a skull is found in the old Witch's Elm tree and detectives start asking questions, Toby isn't sure what he remembers and what is real.

Do NOT read too much as the ending is great and I wouldn't want it spoiled for you. As always, Tana's writing and ability to pull you in to the characters and the mystery are without parallel. I think I may love the Dublin Murder series a bit more but this was fabulous. Get the audio version from your library!

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

My Rating: 4.9

Alicia is a famous painter with an affluent life and very in love with her husband Gabriel. This makes it so shocking when Alicia shoots Gabriel five times in the face. Not only that she would shoot her husband but, that she chooses to be silent...not one word since the crime. She is now in a criminal asylum.

Theo is a criminal psychotherapist who wants to work on Alicia's case and help her that he goes to the extreme of getting a job at the criminal asylum and getting assigned to her case.

The story unfolds from there.

This gives background on both Theo and Alicia as well as their current day interaction. I have been put off lately by all the thrillers that don't deliver so didn't have high hopes for this one. I am happy to say, it delivered! This may be the best book of this genre that I have read.  Thoroughly enjoyed it!

We'll Fly Away by Bryan Bliss

My Rating: 4.5

Told through letters from death row and third-person narrative, this unravels the string of events that landed a teenager in jail. Luke feels like he’s been looking after Toby his entire life. He patches Toby up when Toby’s father, a drunk and a petty criminal, beats on him, he gives him a place to stay, and he diffuses the situation at school when wise-cracking Toby inevitably gets into fights. Someday, Luke and Toby will leave this small town, riding the tails of Luke’s wrestling scholarship, and never look back.

This was a difficult read but so moving. So many tense moments held together by the dreams of what could be. This was very sad and emotional in the unfolding.

The Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

My Rating: 3.5

This is told through a parable and conveys learnings like not resisting what comes your way.

This is a mixture of Zen and Taoist with a healthy dose of humor thrown in. It is a self-help book told as a novel.  Two complaints I have heard is that it has mystical realism (or magic) and that it is very drawn out and you have to slog through parts. I feel there are definitely books with better writing but, it is all about what resonates with you to help you understand the concepts.

Bookmarks Magazine March/April 2019

I haven't had a chance to truly devour this magazine but here the initial books that jumped out of me that I have put in my queue:

      


    

I don't know exactly why but this one really intrigued me!



Do you have any great books you are reading - please share! If you get Bookmarks, let me know any picks I missed.

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

My Rating: 4.8

This is a re-telling of the Iliad is from the persepctive of a woman, Briseis and covers the final days of the 10 year long Trojan War, After Achilles, Greece’s greatest warrior, conquers Troy’s neighboring kingdom, he takes Briseis for his concubine.

The Illiad has Achilles as a hero but, this re-telling shows the perspective from a very different angle. Before you write this off as some "Greek mythology book" that wouldn't appeal to you, I urge you to give a try. I thoroughly enjoyed this well written book with it's spectacular writing.

The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

My Rating: 4.8

What would it be like to free yourself from limitations and soar beyond your boundaries? What can you do each day to discover inner peace and serenity?

This book is not for everyone. It is about enlightenment and some reviewers felt that it is very preachy. I like the first portion of this book that deals with becoming aware of your inner voice much better than the rest of the book. There are many statements that are made as fact ("the analytical mind can not handle the infinite" - really? I guess no one told John Wallis this!) which becomes very annoying. Combine this with the latter part of the book being very repetitive. If you can get past this and that it can feel "woo woo" it is a great concept of: you are not your thoughts and not allowing your thoughts to control you.

My Sister The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

My Rating: 4.4

Twin sisters, Korede and Ayoola. Korede is a nurse and is always there for Ayoola who is stunningly beautiful and has a habit of killing her boyfriends. Korede sides with her sister as she is family. It is only when her sister starts dating a doctor at the hospital that Korede has a crush on that she considers turning in her sister for the protection of the men in Nigeria.

I loved the Nigerian voice of this book and capturing so many colloquialisms. I don't know what I was expecting from the ending but felt disappointed. All in all, a quick delightful read. 

The Au Pair by Emma Rous

My Rating: 4.5

Twins Seraphine and Danny were born at their family’s estate on the Norfolk coast. Within hours of their birth, their mother threw herself from the cliffs, the au pair fled, and the village thrilled with whispers of dark cloaks, changelings, and the aloof couple who drew a young nanny into their inner circle. Now an adult, Serphine comes across a photograph of her parents, their older son Edwin and only one baby. Why weren't both twins in the picture? Which one of them is it in the picture? Seraphine starts digging to find answers and unravels some unexpected answers.

I enjoyed this quite a lot. The author led us down a certain storyline and I definitely thought I had it all figured out but there were a lot of twists at the end so I enjoyed having it unfold. 

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

My Rating: 3.0

Washington Black is an eleven-year-old field slave who knows no other life than the Barbados sugar plantation where he was born. When his master's eccentric brother "Titch" chooses him to be his manservant, Wash is terrified of the cruelties he is certain await him. Titch is a naturalist, explorer, scientist, inventor, and abolitionist and opens Wash's eyes to many things Wash had never thought of.

I wanted to love this book as the first 1/3rd of the book storyline pulled me in and had me eagerly reading on for more. Unfortunately, the rest of the book didn't deliver. It was long, meandering and had bizarre contrived story lines. Sad, as it had great promise.

Bookmarks Magazine Jan/Feb

Life has been crazy busy so this post is later than usual.  This edition of Bookmarks Magazine is packed full of great picks

They had a whole feature on Sebastian Faulks who, I am embarrassed to admit, I am not familiar with so, I went on Goodreads and picked out his highest rated book and got it out of the library:


I skipped over the feature on Liane Moriarty as I have found her books to be moderate, at best.

From their highlighted new books, here is what I put into my queue:

  

I am currently reading (probably from a previous Bookmarks recommendation):


Another one that was new to me:

I skipped over Haruki Murakami as I just haven't connected with his books in the past.Then I found a few more that were new to me:

     

I already had Tana French's latest on my library hold list:

This young adult novel sounded intriguing to me so I added it to my queue:


I am sure like all Bookmark's Magazines I will glean more from it in future but I felt like this was a great edition. Let me know any books you added that I may have missed! xoxo