March 9th isn’t too late to roll in with my February book report, is it? 😉 As I mentioned last month, my goal for 2020 is to read 4 books a month. And thankfully I hit my goal a couple of days into March. Better late then never right? Here’s what I read……
Such a Fun Age
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid was for lack of a better description, such a fun read ;)……with a thought-provoking plot! I really enjoyed it, and I think it would make for a great book club discussion. Leave it to Reese Witherspoon to pick a good one! I almost always love her book club picks. Do you follow Reese’s Book Club on Instagram?
The Audible version of this book nails the voices! This story is set in Philadelphia and centers around Emira Tucker, a black babysitter, and Alix Chamberlain, a white woman who employs Emira to take care of her children. When Emira is accused of kidnapping while babysitting and the incident is caught on video, the story takes a turn. While this story centers around race and class issues, it’s also about finding yourself and your voice and figuring out not just WHAT you want to be but WHO you want to be in life. The title of this book is soooo fitting in so many ways!
I loved it! I give it 4 out of 5 stars because I wasn’t a fan of the ending. But I thought this was an amazing debut novel! It’s so fun and fast-paced. The pop culture references were spot on, and while I didn’t like all of the characters, I did root for Emira! And I’m so glad to see a story about the everyday biases we often don’t even realize we have getting so much attention.
Maid
This memoir had been on my to-read list for quite a while. Maid is Stephanie Land’s story of breaking away from her Pacific Northwest hometown to follow her dream of going to college to become a writer. In her memoir, she writes about the tumultuous journey to reach her dream as she was almost completely derailed when a summer romance with a guy that was all sorts of wrong for her turned into an unplanned pregnancy and left her as a single, uneducated, young mother.
In Maid, Stephanie writes about turning to residential housekeeping as a way to make ends meet. She writes about being overworked and underpaid, of barely surviving on food stamps and WIC coupons in order to eat, and of the government programs that provided her housing. In her book, she shares that she wrote the memoir to remember the fight and to cut through the deep-rooted stigmas of the working poor.
I did the audible version of this book in which Stephanie herself reads which definitely added a more personal tone to the story. She’s an incredible writer, and her story is a testament to her determination to realize her dream. I came away feeling grateful for parents that cared enough about me to get me started on the right track in life. I think we often take our parents for granted, but their influence, if positive, can really make all the difference in the path we take. And it’s clear that Stephanie plans to be more of a parent to her children than her parents were to her.
Open Book
With regard to celebrity gossip, I’d personally rather hear it from the horse’s mouth. 😉 If you grew up alongside Jessica Simpson and remember watching her on MTV’s Newlyweds, I think you might be surprised at how well aware she is of the role she’s played into over the years. In her memoir, she gets really honest, not always painting herself in the best light. And that takes a lot of courage! This was another Audible read for me, and listening to her tell her story was fun and heartwarming.
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry
This was the February Book Club pick for my Instagram Book Club @4readingwomen. (You should totally read with us!) I’ve thoroughly enjoyed two other books by Fredrick Bachman, A Man Called Ove & Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer, but this one wasn’t a hit for me.
This story is about the relationship between a seven-year-old girl and her seventy-seven-year-old grandmother, and the apology letters her grandmother leaves behind when she passes. And as much as I loved the quirky characters, I felt like the author spent too much time explaining details about the fantasy worlds the grandmother had created to connect with her granddaughter. The fantasy worlds were so detailed that I felt they took away from the main story.
I think this book brings up some great discussion points about the complexities and differences between mother/daughter relationships versus those between grandmother and granddaughter. This book also makes you think about why so often people wait until the end of their life to get their relationships in order or apologize/recognize the hurt they might have caused. There are some really great themes in this book, but for me, the make-believe lands kind of glossed over the more emotional parts.
In the three books I’ve read by Bachman, the common thread seems to be a celebration of uniqueness. I think he’s a great storyteller, but this particular story wasn’t a favorite of mine.
So tell me about your recent reads! Any great ones you think I need to add to my TBR pile!
If you want to read along with my Instagram Book Club, in the month of March we’re reading The Immortalists! Published in 2018, you can pick it up at your local library if you want to join in the reading fun!
