February Books

If ever there was a time for book recommendations….its now! Seriously, stay inside – curl up with a big cup of coffee and a good book! Or, perhaps you want to take this time to clean/organize – throw on some headphones and listen to one of these while you do! It’s information overload watching the news and reading everything out there on the internet. If anyone is looking for a little escape, try picking up a good book!

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Ok, this was a good psychological thriller! One that I kept looking forward to listening to. It’s about a girl who agrees to participate in a psychological study on ethics and morality lead by mysterious Dr. Shields.  She really needs the money so she continues to participate even as the study gets more and more questionable and invasive.  If you’re looking for a quick, fun, entertaining read check it out! And if you didn’t love their first novel The Wife Between Us, don’t worry An Anonymous Girl is better (the twists and turns are a bit less obvious!)

7/10

Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

This novel is set in 1966 Baltimore and centers on main character Maddie Schwartz. Maddie just separated from her husband of 20 years and is beginning life on her own. The story opens with the murder of a young girl.  Maddie helps detectives locate her body which she then leverages to get a job at the local newspaper.  She then starts writing about another woman who’s body is found in the fountain of a lake. This book is dark, unexpected and true mystery thriller! I really enjoyed following Maddie on her investigation into the murder of Cleo. The author uses fact (stories are loosely based on real life murders in 1960’s Baltimore) with fiction to create a masterful mystery novel!

8/10

Still Lives by Maria Hummel

Kim Lord a famous artist in LA goes missing right as she debuts her latest exhibit featuring self-portraits of her as famous murdered women (the Black Dahlia, Chandra Levy, Nicole Brown Simpson etc.) Kim’s boyfriend is the ex of gallery employee Maggie Richter the novels narrator and primary point of view. Maggie begins to investigate Kim’s disappearance on her own while remaining a key suspect in the police investigation. Sounds like a book I would love, but I really didn’t.  The main character Maggie is kind of a bore and the first 100 pages move very slow.  The ending is exciting and unexpected – but maybe a bit too unexpected. I felt like the author didn’t plant enough nuggets early on to really make the ending feel believeable.  Overall, the book was a bit boring and pretentious. But, I bet it would make a great movie!

5/10

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Ok, this is probably the first real non-fiction novel I’ve read in a very long time! The novel centers around the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library Fire.  It was a disastrous fire that burnt for over 7 hours at upwards of 2,000 degrees.  I thought the novel was going to focus on the mystery of who set the fire (as arsen is suspected) and while a good chunk of the book is dedicated to that it also dives into other stories as well.  It tells the story of her love of books, the history or libraries and the often untold stories of their librarians! I know, to some this sounds boring and I will admit at times I felt the book dragged on a bit! The section on the library fire is by far the highlight of her novel-she tells it with such detail and passion that I truly could picture this fire without ever having seen the building.  Plus, the audiobook is narrated by the author which I love. Sometimes you have to change up the books you’re normally drawn to in order to expand your horizons a bit and this is a good book for that.

6/10

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

Ok, I LOVED this book.  I almost didn’t pick it up after reading the descitiion because I thought it would be a boring love story (as you can tell I am pretty into books that include murder lol) But it’s so much more than that! The novel centers around Lucy and Gabe who meet as seniors at Columbia University on September 11th. They cross paths again a year later – as if they were fated to meet.  This book explores the story of their relationship, the ups, downs, hopes, wishes, dreams.  Do they end up together? Are they better off apart? Just know that I like the actual description of the book am not doing it justice! This book is an unexpected delight.

10/10

This Is The Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

I didn’t know what I was reading when I started reading this. There, I said it. A while ago I put all of Reese Witherspoons Book Club Books on my hold list and this was one of them. This book is essentially a memoir and collection of essays by Ann Patchett.  She intertwines the stories and experiences of her life with essays she has written very well. Any aspiring authors should absolutely read this book! I took one creative writing class at University of Iowa and quiclkly realized being an author was not my calling.  I may have liked this book more because she did attend the Iowa Writers Program and she spends some time discussing her time in Iowa City which left me feeling a bit nostalgic.  If you love Ann Patchett’s writing, are thinking of giving writing a try yourself, or are looking for something different to read then I’d recommend this book. If you don’t fit in those 3 categories maybe skip this one.

6/10

Hope you read something amazing this month!