What I’m Reading – May 2020

I have seen or heard of “Me Before You” for a while, and for whatever reason finally decided to give it a read. Sometimes I read book summaries before I begin to see what they are about but I didn’t with this one, so I was a little caught off guard on the subject matter, but I appreciated that the author was approaching such a controversial topic. I’ve said before that one of the reasons I love reading, is because it makes me think. It gives me perspective, and this book definitely did that for me once again. I love books in London/European settings, this one was about a girl who was looking for a job, and ending up finding one as a care giver for a quadriplegic. His family was looking for someone to be a friend to him, to help give him a reason for living…and it turns out that he had made a deal with them, that he would try for six more months but after that if nothing changed, he would be ready to end his own life in an assisted suicide facility in Switzerland.

Honestly, I have no idea what I think about all of this still, I have a lot more compassion for people in his situation now, and understanding as to why he would be contemplating that choice for his life…not saying that I am supportive or in agreement, just more understanding. It was the kind of book that left me thinking for a long time after, and just truly grateful for the little things I can do in life, like feeding myself and going to the bathroom. Being able to scratch an itch on my face, being able to reach out and grab something. I will say that there was some language in this book, I always add those warnings, so beware of that. One more thing I appreciated with this story, was just how not only did the girl influence the young man she was assisting, but how he drastically influenced her as well. I think there is something we can learn from everyone in our life, and just enjoyed how he was able to help her as much as she helped him.

I have mixed feelings on “The Flatshare,” because it started out so cute and silly, and was a great chick lit love story, but half way through the book the language picked up and was just bad the last third of the way through. This was one I contemplated quitting but just scanned through to see how it ended trying to avoid the language as much as I could.  Another London story, a girl is looking for a new place to live, so she takes up the offer to share a guy’s flat since he works nights at a hospital and is only home during the day when she would be working. In theory, they would never meet and never have any relationship with each other. But I’m sure you can probably guess how that goes.  

I read “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” last year and it was really cute! “P.S. I Still Love You” was the second book in the series, it was really cute too, just a continuation of her relationship with one of the boys from the first book. I liked the first book better than this one, but I think that is typical of series. Think teenagers, high school drama with friends and boyfriends, with a side of family to go with it. Some language in this book, as well as issues teenagers face with social media.

Ruta Sepetys has slowly become one of my favorite authors… I’ve read a few of her books now, all historical fiction, and have appreciated that she has taken somewhat obscure historical situations and brought characters and stories from them. “Out of the Easy” was  a good read, covering the situation of a teenage girl growing up in the 1950s in New Orleans, with a prostitute for a mother. It was interesting to read about the city, the time frame, the crime…and how this young girl was trying to make an honest life for herself and move on. It was somewhat of a short read, and my only complaint is that I felt like it ended very abruptly, I would have appreciated a slower end to it and maybe extending some of her relationships a bit to feel more closure with the story. At any rate, it was a very interesting read.

With all of the WW2 historical fiction I have read over the last few years, I really haven’t read much involving WW1. Last month I read “Lovely War,” which I think was my first one, and then this month “The Girl you Left Behind.” This book was based in France, where a woman and her family had been “left behind” as their men were called off to war. Their city became occupied by Germany, and their small hotel they were running demanded to serve the Germans in their town. This was a story of the sacrifices and the lengths to which a woman would go to be reunited with her husband, all told during present day (with flash backs) through the dispute of the rightful owner of a painting the husband had painted of his wife before the war. It was quite interesting, to see the life of the woman discovered by the persistent current painting owner and the assistance of a man she had also grown to care for. I struggled a bit transitioning from the war time section of the book to the present day section, but I really enjoyed reading this and seeing where the story would go.

I was a little on the fence about sharing “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone,” mainly because of my conflicting feelings on the book. This book had a lot of good things to say, but it was also a book covering a lot of difficult life topics, and at times the language was just awful. I don’t know that I would have continued reading this one except that it honestly helped me a lot with some personal things I have been dealing with lately regarding difficult personalities and things someone has said to me in the past, just processing those things and figuring out how to move forward and not letting someone else’s actions dictate my response.

Lori Gottlieb is a therapist, and this book is her telling of different client interactions, how she helped them, how she sought out a therapist for herself and how he helped her move through issues in her own life, and thereby also helping those she was speaking to as well. It was extremely interesting, as well as helpful, just encouraging in letting life be what it is, not letting negative past experiences interfere with your present life, and not to worry about the future. Easier said than done in my opinion, and her advice on the matter was truly helpful for me. How to relieve yourself of guilt from saying no to others, how to focus on the person you want to be, doing the best you can and just “letting it be”… coming to grips with the face that we all will die at some point, acknowledging if you have regrets in your life or are you making the decisions you want and living the life that you want… a LOT of topics are covered in this book, this is just somewhat of the gist. So again, this is more of a read if you are contemplating therapy for yourself, which I do think is more helpful than a lot of us realize, and if you are looking for basic advice about how we talk to ourselves, or how to confront those issues you might be just sweeping under the rug.

I saw this on instagram around the time I was finishing up “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone,” and it really resonated with me in relation to what the book was trying to convey. Just thought I would share it here as well.

Hope you have all found something interesting this month, as usual I love it when you share your reads with me too! If you’re interested in seeing the previous months of this year, just click below on the links or above on my book tab!

What I’m Reading: January, February & March 2020

What I’m Reading – April 2020

I love keeping track of what I’m reading and have read on the Goodreads app, and you can follow along with me here if you’re interested!