Recent Reads

Between the frigid weather and our recent vacation, I’ve had plenty of time to curl up and read. Here are some of the books I’ve finished recently along with my thoughts on them. Have you read any of them? Be sure to scroll down and tell me in the comments whether you agree with my review and leave me recommendations for what to read next!

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Just when I thought I couldn’t love the Obamas more, I went and read this book. Becoming is Michelle’s autobiography, starting with her upbringing on the Southside of Chicago and going all the way through her husband’s two terms as president.

Although I knew a bit about the Obamas’ history as a couple, I (sadly) knew almost nothing about Michelle’s story before reading this book. I found her accounts from her childhood and young professional life fascinating, perhaps even more so than her stories of the family’s time in the White House. Reading this book made me embarrassed about all the times I’ve complained about not having enough hours in the day; I still can’t quite wrap my head around how this woman managed to cram as many projects, philanthropies, events and campaigns as she did into President Obama’s tenure in the White House—all while raising two daughters.

The thing that amazed me most about Becoming was how forthcoming Michelle was about so many things that typically wouldn’t be talked about: her distaste for politics, her struggle to maintain her own identity independent of being “Barack Obama’s wife,” and how much she personally had to give up in the name of her husband’s success. It’s a level of candidness you don’t often get from public figures.

I highly recommend this book for all women, regardless of your political leanings.

My Rec: Read It!

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

Kristin Hannah has written, like, a zillion novels, and I may have set myself up for disappointment by picking one of her most acclaimed books, The Nightingale, as the first book of hers I read. The Nightingale was amazing and is one of my favorite books of all time. Firefly Lane, not so much.

I picked it up at the library when another Hannah book I wanted (The Great Alone) wasn’t available. It’s the story of two women who meet as young girls and how their lives and friendship evolve over several decades. In theory, I like the concept. In realty, it was meh.

For starters, the book was long. Like 500 pages long. I kept thinking ‘okay, the payoff at the end must be amazing for all of these different parts of the story to be necessary.’ After making it to the end, I think the length probably could have been cut down by at least a quarter. There were a lot of scenes that showed us the same thing over and over in slightly different ways, and scenes that didn’t really add much to the overall plot.

Also, though I really wanted to connect with the characters—it’s the coming-of-age story of two women, after all—I just didn’t. In fact, I kind of hated one of them!

Firefly Lane on its own wasn’t terrible, and it kept me on the hook long enough to read all the way through, but when you compare it to something like The Nightingale it just doesn’t come close.

My Rec: Skip It.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

I needed a breather after Gone Girl, but once a few weeks passed I was ready for more. Dark Places is the fictional story of the unsolved murders of a midwestern family and the lone survivor’s quest to find answers.

It’s dark. It’s gritty. It’s filled with conflicted characters that make you simultaneously love and hate them, which seems to be Gillian Flynn’s specialty. I loved it. I think I might have liked it even more than Gone Girl, and now I can’t wait to read Sharp Objects.

I will say that it starts off a bit slow, but keep pushing because the second half more than makes up for it.

My Rec: Read It!

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

This itty bitty book was on the shelf next to Dark Places and I grabbed it to have something quick to read on the plane on our trip to Mexico.

The Grownup is a short story about a phony clairvoyant who gets more than she bargained for with one of her palm reading clients. It’s creepy, entertaining and you can finish it in an hour or two. Plus it’s under $3 on Kindle!

My Rec: Read It!

Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis

Everyone and their second cousin was posting about this book on social media, so of course I had to pick it up. #FOMO. It’s part memoir, part self-help, part entrepreneurial handbook.

Rachel starts each chapter with a lie she once believed—”I should be further along by now,” “I’m a bad writer,” etc.—and then tells the story of how she overcame the lie, with life lessons on family, relationships and career sprinkled in between. Overall, I really liked it.

Unlike a lot of readers, who followed Rachel’s blog before the book came out, I had never heard of her before, so I went in without any preconceived notions of what I would be getting. I think this is one of the reasons I enjoyed the book rather than being put off by some things that bothered others (i.e. her “hey y’all!” southern-girl way of speaking when in reality she’s from California).

I can see how this book is not everyone’s cup of tea. Some of the advice comes off as preachy and some parts of her story feel unrelatable, but in general I though there were a lot of good takeaways, especially in the career arena. I always love to hear a successful woman tell the story of how she got to where she is.

My Rec: Read It! (if you don’t mind a little rah-rah self-help type of stuff)

In The House In The Dark Of The Woods, Laird Hunt

This quirky little book was on the display shelf at my library. It was the cover art that made me pick it up and this line on the jacket that drew me in: Once upon a time there was and there wasn’t a woman who went to the woods. Ooooh, I like it.

I would describe In The House In The Dark Of The Woods as fairytale-meets-horror, the way the Grimm Brothers originally intended their stories to be. There are shapeshifting characters. There’s a flying boat made of human skin. There’s a blurry line between what’s real and what’s imagined, and I admit I walked away wondering “WTF did I just read?” But, like, in a good way.

If you can put logic aside and just go with the fact that it’s going to be unconventional, this is a delightful little read.  It’s unlike anything I would typically pick up, but I’m glad I did.

My Rec: Read It!

Now I need some new books to add to my reading list. The Great Alone and The Alice Network are two that I’ve been wanting to read for a while, and I think I’m ready to add some true crime back into my life after taking a little break for more fiction. What do you recommend I read next?