I always love to look back on the month and find what books, music and media stood out. My favorite and most well established hobby is reading, but it’s fun to track other things I enjoyed too.
Favorite books this month:
*Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell (5 stars). I completely devoured this book. I absolutely love Rainbow Rowell, and this book didn’t disappoint. This got mixed reviews on Goodreads and the plot was definitely more slice-of-life than action packed, but I loved the characters: Cherry herself, her estranged husband, her sisters, her mother, as well as a new love interest. Each character felt real and complex to me, and I also enjoyed the dynamics that emerged and evolved throughout the book.
*Blue Sisters by Coco Mellars (5 stars). I picked this up on a whim when I was browsing for alternate reads at the library after I left my kindle in Philly. I remembered Stephany recommending about it and picked it up. I don’t know if I would have picked this up on my own, but this novel about 3 sisters processing the death of their sister and dealing with a family history of addiction was excellent. Similarly to Cherry Baby, this was a much more relationship-centered book, and I was really invested in each of the sisters even as they made destructive and messy decisions.
Other Books Read this Month:
*The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark (4 stars) A really fun thriller. I loved the setting in Ojai in the ‘70s, and enjoyed how fast-paced this was.
*The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (3 stars). I was expecting to like this more than I did. The pace felt slow, and I didn’t feel as invested in the characters.
*The Keeper by Tana French (3.75 stars) I enjoyed book 3 in this series, but not as much as book 2. Still a solid, atmospheric mystery.
*Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley (3 stars) There were a lot of themes I found interesting in this book: climate anxiety, balancing career, motherhood, and being in a partnership, and mental health struggles. However, I found my dislike or lack of attachment with the secondary characters made me less invested in the book. The book covers about a decade of Coralie's life, and I wonder if a more condensed time period would have worked better than me.
*Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson (2.75 stars) I’ve really like some of her YA mysteries, but this one wasn’t for me.
*Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (3 stars) I liked this, but again felt the length detracted from the pace. I think this book suffered in comparison to another space opera series I loved (Becky Chamber’s Wayfarers), which maybe wasn’t a fair comparison.
TV Shows:
*We are mainly watching the Sopranos right now, which is great! Neither Joel nor I had ever seen it, so it’s fun to see what all the hype was about.
Music:
Right now I’ve got 2 things playing on repeat: Ella Langley’s "Dandelion" and Mikaela Davis’s "Graceland Way." I guess I’m just in a country mood lately? Also, I'm a sucker for the harp in Graceland Way.
Next up, I think I’ll pick up Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo or Good Material by Dolly Alderton. What’s next on your TBR, and what have you been listening to lately?
Phil and I JUST finished The Sopranos last night! It took us about 4-5 months to get through it since we only have 30-45 minutes to watch something before I go up to bed to read. It was fun to watch this show and understand what all the buzz was about. On my own, I started to watch the latest season of Top Chef and I finished season 2 of The Pitt (which I LOVED!!).
ReplyDeleteBlue Sisters was one of my top reads the year that I read it! I'll have to put Cherry Baby on my TBR list. I had a really stellar reading month in August with 3 5-star books, 2 of which were non-fiction!