This is always one of my favorite posts to do, I just enjoy reading so much haha! I feel like this month had a crazy variety to it, so probably anyone could find something that interests them! Happy reading my friends!
“It’s Always the Husband” was a great read, a story of three college roommates and how their lives become permanently intertwined on one horrible night one of them commits a murder. Fast forward twenty plus years to their adult lives, and one of them is being forced to jump from a bridge to her death. A crazy twisting of this plot will keep you reading until the end.
I picked up “The Island of Sea Women” not really knowing what to expect and wow. What a novel. I thought it was mainly going to just be about the women who did the free diving for sea creatures to sell for food in the market, I had no idea the political unrest that this book would cover and how it effected this culture of women. Haenyeos were a sect of Korean women who lived on the island of Jeju and made their living by diving over and over again (without the aid of an oxygen tank) to glean abalone, octopus and other sea life from the ocean floor. The stories of these women and how they supported their families were incredible, as well as how they survived the wars and political unrest throughout the century. A more personal story of two women and their friendship is followed throughout, and is just gut wrenching at times what they went through, there were times I cried, and times I just had to put the book down. I’ve said it before but it is incredible what people survive and endure…I enjoyed this book for so many reasons, the historical and cultural implications, as well as the stories of forgiveness it involved.
“The American Princess” was another historical novel filling in the blanks of the life of Alice Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter. What a life she lived. This was another long story (as the book above) but it was very well written. Alice was a pistol and lived her life to the fullest extent she knew how. Very interesting story with lots of insight into an very American family.
After those last two books back to back, I needed a more lighthearted read. I don’t know if “Slightly South of Simple” necessarily fit that bill, but it was fun in its own way and just an easy book to fall into. Three daughters return to their mother’s home in Peachtree Bluff, each coming for their own reasons. I loved the stories about their lives and how they supported each other through hardships. Definitely looking forward to reading the second book of this series!
I ended the month with “All We Ever Wanted” by Emily Giffin. This book surprised me, I wasn’t expecting it to be about teenagers, and a horrible situation involving a staged inappropriate picture of a girl passed out, that was passed around on social media and through messaging. How the parents handled the situation, how the private school got involved, how everyone interacted to get through this awful situation was an interesting read to follow. It felt very relevant to what a lot of teenagers go through these days, which is extremely disheartening and sad. A lot to learn from this one.
Hope you found something here that interested you! I thought that description of your brain during reading was so cool hah! Check out the links below for my other book reviews this year and my Goodreads link!
What I’m Reading – February 2019
What I’m Reading -January 2019
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