It’s time to update what I’ve read since my last post on this topic. My goal of reading more books by listening to some and reading others has been working! I’ve read more books in these last two months than I have in a long time. And this pleases me!
A couple of these books (A Place For Us/Rent Collector) I read for my books clubs and the others were just for my own pleasure and knowledge.
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza.
Synopsis: As an Indian wedding gathers a family back together, parents Rafiq and Layla must reckon with the choices their children have made. There is Hadia, their headstrong eldest daughter, whose marriage is a match of love and not tradition. Huda, the middle child, determined to follow in her sister’s footsteps. And lastly, their estranged son, Amar, who returns to the family fold for the first time in three years to take his place as brother of the bride.
What secrets and betrayals have caused this close-knit family to fracture? Can Amar find his way back to the people who know and love him best? A Place for Us takes us back to the beginning of this family’s life: from the bonds that bring them together to the differences that pull them apart. All the joy and struggle of family life is here, from Rafiq and Layla’s own arrival in America from India to the years in which their children – each in their own way – tread between two cultures, seeking to find their place in the world as well as a path home. A Place for Us is a book for our times: an astonishingly tender-hearted novel of identity and belonging and a resonant portrait of what it means to be an American family today. It announces Fatima Farheen Mirza as a major new literary talent.
My thoughts: I enjoyed this book and recommend it. It can be a bit difficult to follow because it does jump around in terms of time but the stories are intriguing and interesting. If you have any curiosity about how different cultures figure out how to traverse the American experience, this is a good read.
The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
Synopsis: Survival for Ki Lim and Sang Ly is a daily battle at Stung Mean Chey, the largest municipal waste dump in all of Cambodia. They make their living scavenging recyclables from the trash. Life would be hard enough without the worry for their chronically ill child, Nisay, and the added expense of medicines that are not working. Just when things seem worst, Sang Ly learns a secret about the ill-tempered rent collector who comes demanding money – a secret that sets in motion a tide that will change the life of everyone it sweeps past. The Rent Collector is a story of hope, of one woman’s journey to save her son and another woman’s chance at redemption. It demonstrates that even in a dump in Cambodia – perhaps especially in a dump in Cambodia – everyone deserves a second chance.
My thoughts: While I enjoyed the story, the voice of the main character does not ring true/authentic. She’s a dirt poor Asian woman who uses American slang. Enjoy it for the story, a slice of life based on true events.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Synopsis: Debut author Sally Thorne bursts on the scene with a hilarious and sexy workplace comedy all about that thin, fine line between hate and love.
Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.
2) A person’s undoing
3) Joshua Templeman
Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She’s charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual.
Trapped in a shared office together 40 (ok, 50 or 60) hours a week, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. There’s the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything – especially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking. If Lucy wins this game, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua and dressing for work like she’s got a hot date?
After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth-shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether she’s got Joshua Templeman all wrong.
Maybe Lucy Hutton doesn’t hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.
My thoughts: This is a light, fun read especially after you’ve read something a little heavy.
#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amurso
Synopsis: The first thing Sophia Amoruso sold online wasn’t fashion – it was a stolen book. She spent her teens hitchhiking, committing petty theft, and dumpster diving. By twenty-two, she had resigned herself to employment, but was still broke, directionless, and working a mediocre day job she’d taken for the health insurance.
It was there that Sophia decided to start selling vintage clothes on eBay. Eight years later, she is the founder, CEO, and creative director of Nasty Gal, a $100 million plus online fashion retailer with more than 350 employees. Sophia’s never been a typical CEO, or a typical anything, and she’s written #GIRLBOSS for outsiders (and insiders) seeking a unique path to success, even when that path is winding as all hell and lined with naysayers.
#GIRLBOSS includes Sophia’s story, yet is infinitely bigger than Sophia. It’s deeply personal yet universal. Filled with brazen wake-up calls (“You are not a special snowflake”), cunning and frank observations (“Failure is your invention”), and behind-the-scenes stories from Nasty Gal’s meteoric rise, #GIRLBOSS covers a lot of ground. It proves that being successful isn’t about how popular you were in high school or where you went to college (if you went to college). Rather, success is about trusting your instincts and following your gut, knowing which rules to follow and which to break.
A #GIRLBOSS takes her life seriously without taking herself too seriously. She takes chances and takes responsibility on her own terms. She knows when to throw punches and when to roll with them. When to button up and when to let her freak flag fly.
As Sophia writes, “I have three pieces of advice I want you to remember: Don’t ever grow up. Don’t become a bore. Don’t let The Man get to you. OK? Cool. Then let’s do this.”
My thoughts: I did not like this book at all and I do not recommend it. It is supposed to be empowering for women especially young women encouraging them to forge their own way and not listen to the naysayers. While this may be good advice, the book read like fluff and complaints!
Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner
Synopsis:Rachel Blum and Andy Landis are eight years old when they meet late one night in an ER waiting room. Born with a congenital heart defect, Rachel is a veteran of hospitals, and she’s intrigued by the boy who shows up all alone with a broken arm. He tells her his name. She tells him a story. After Andy’s taken back to the emergency room and Rachel’s sent back to her bed, they think they’ll never see each other again.
Rachel, the beloved, popular, and protected daughter of two doting parents, grows up wanting for nothing in a fancy Florida suburb. Andy grows up poor in Philadelphia with a single mom and a rare talent that will let him become one of the best runners of his generation.
Over the course of three decades, through high school and college, marriages and divorces, from the pinnacles of victory and the heartbreak of defeat, Andy and Rachel will find each other again and again until they are finally given a chance to decide whether love can surmount difference and distance and if they’ve been running toward each other all along.
With honesty, wit, and clear-eyed observations about men and women, love and fate, and the truth about happy endings, Jennifer Weiner delivers two of her most memorable characters and a love story you’ll never forget.
My thoughts: I’ve read many Jennifer Weiner novels and this one was a bit of a departure. It is a little deeper than some of her lighter weight novels but ultimately I really enjoyed it. I listened to this one at times particularly at the beginning I wasn’t sure that I would stick with it. I’m glad I did though. The characters and the story is well developed and interesting enough to stick with.
My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella
Synopsis: Everywhere Katie Brenner looks, someone else is living the life she longs for, particularly her boss, Demeter Farlowe. Demeter is brilliant and creative, lives with her perfect family in a posh townhouse, and wears the coolest clothes. Katie’s life, meanwhile, is a daily struggle – from her dismal rental to her oddball flatmates to the tense office politics she’s trying to negotiate. No wonder Katie takes refuge in not-quite-true Instagram posts, especially as she’s desperate to make her dad proud.
Then, just as she’s finding her feet – not to mention a possible new romance – the worst happens. Demeter fires Katie. Shattered but determined to stay positive, Katie retreats to her family’s farm in Somerset to help them set up a vacation business. London has never seemed so far away – until Demeter unexpectedly turns up as a guest. Secrets are spilled and relationships rejiggered, and as the stakes for Katie’s future get higher, she must question her own assumptions about what makes for a truly meaningful life.
Sophie Kinsella is celebrated for her vibrant, relatable characters and her great storytelling gifts. Now she returns with all of the wit, warmth, and wisdom that are the hallmarks of her best sellers to spin this fresh, modern story about presenting the perfect life when the reality is far from the truth.
My thoughts: Again, this is another author whom I have read many of her novels. Most are light weight fun and this one is as well. It is not as slap stick like as her Shop-A-holic series (fun read) but it is enjoyable and easy to stick with.
A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay
Synopsis: Antoine Rey thought he had the perfect surprise for his sister Mélanie’s birthday: a weekend by the sea at Noirmoutier Island, where the pair spent many happy childhood summers playing on the beach. It had been too long, Antoine thought, since they’d returned to the island – over thirty years, since their mother died and the family holidays ceased. But the island’s haunting beauty triggers more than happy memories; it reminds Mélanie of something unexpected and deeply disturbing about their last island summer. When, on the drive home to Paris, she finally summons the courage to reveal what she knows to Antoine, her emotions overcome her and she loses control of the car.
Recovering from the accident in a nearby hospital, Mélanie tries to recall what caused her to crash. Antoine encounters an unexpected ally: sexy, streetwise Angèle, a mortician who will teach him new meanings for the words life, love and death. Suddenly, however, the past comes swinging back at both siblings, burdened with a dark truth about their mother, Clarisse.
Trapped in the wake of a shocking family secret shrouded by taboo, Antoine must confront his past and also his troubled relationships with his own children. How well does he really know his mother, his children, even himself? Suddenly fragile on all fronts as a son, a husband, a brother and a father, Antoine Rey will learn the truth about his family and himself the hard way.
My thoughts: I read this book for one of my book clubs. I have to say that the synopsis is better than the actual book. It wasn’t awful but it also wasn’t nearly as intriguing as the description. The “secret” wasn’t a huge deal and then after it was revealed the book was just kind of “meh”. It read like a straight up romance novel with characters whose roles weren’t well defined. Again, it wasn’t awful but I wouldn’t recommend it.
The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
Synopsis: St. Elizabeth’s, a home for unwed mothers in Habit, Kentucky, usually harbors its residents for only a little while. Not so Rose Clinton, a beautiful, mysterious woman who comes to the home pregnant but not unwed, and stays. She plans to give up her child, thinking she cannot be the mother it needs. But when Cecilia is born, Rose makes a place for herself and her daughter amid St. Elizabeth’s extended family of nuns and an ever-changing collection of pregnant teenage girls. Rose’s past won’t be kept away, though, even by St. Elizabeth’s; she cannot remain untouched by what she has left behind, even as she cannot change who she has become in the leaving.
My thoughts: I have read a few Ann Patchett novels and she does not disappoint. Her books are not shiny, pretty easy to read. The relationships are troubled, sometimes dark and always complicated. This novel was her first 25 years ago and it has held up read. Like most Ann Patchett novels, reading one makes you want to read more!
So there you have it! Eight books read since February. I’m trying to keep up with the momentum. I haven’t set an annual reading goal but I really want to keep up with the read one/listen to one. So far, it’s working!
What say you? Have you read anything that you would recommend or not/
Share in the comments!
