My Week in Books {1/15/20}

I’ve been quiet here; I’m not sure where my motivation is, but…

In case you missed them, here are some links to my recent posts:

• My Week in Books {1/9/20}
• Q1: Most AnticipatedThe books published between January 2020-March 2020 I’m most looking forward to!
• The Unread Shelf 2020I’m on a self-imposed book buying ban!

What have you been reading (and loving) this week?

Last Week’s Reads:

📱*** Such a Fun Age by: Kiley Reid (Putnam) – Pub Date: December 31, 2019

**Unpopular Opinion!** I may be the only person in the world that isn’t a fan of this book! While it was readable, the writing was juvenile at best. I honestly thought I was reading YA (and believe it would have been better within that genre). There were a lot of disjumbled plot points (the husband’s racist remark on air) that were never fully explored that left me frustrated. At times I felt like Reid was trying to solve too many issues, leaving most of them half-finished. I thought the characters were horrific with no redeemable qualities; Emira was my favorite character, but she was a little too naive for my total endearment. (I did love little Briar though!) Overall, I was extremely underwhelmed by this story and won’t find myself joining everyone else on the bandwagon. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 The Library Book by: Susan Orlean (Simon & Schuster) – Pub Date: October 16, 2018

This book has been on my Unread Shelf for awhile and as part of my committment to reading my Unread Shelf in 2020, I finally picked it up! I have heard high praise for this one, and while I mostly agree, I was a bit bored. There is  A LOT of research and information about libraries (specifically the Los Angeles Public Library), and after awhile, I found myself skimming parts of it. (It also talks about the fire of 1986 that decimated the LA Public Library which was absolutely fascinating!) This book truly is a love letter to libraries, librarians, and even LA itself. It’s worth the read, but also not as good as I was hoping! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Currently Reading:

📖 *** A Long Petal of the Sea by: Isabel Allende (Ballantine) – Pub Date: January 21, 2020

I know absolutely NOTHING about the Spanish Civil War, so this book has been blowing my mind! Just before WWII broke out across Europe, Spain found themselves in a battle for their own country. Admist talks about a giant war looming on the horizon, Spainards still fled to France as refugees. There, 2200 Spanish refugees were removed from the French internment camps by poet Pablo Neruda, put on the SS Winnipeg ship, and sent to Chile under President Pedro Auirre Cerda‘s endorsement. This story takes off from there, following one family through their experience. It’s a little heavy on the factual information and that is kind of detracting from the character development a little bit, but I’m really enjoying this historical fiction novel!

📖 Little Women by: Louisa May Alcott ( Roberts Brothers) – Pub Date: September 30, 1868

Oh boy…I’m going to keep trying to push through this one for a little bit, but I’m starting to see why “classics” is not the genre for me. I really wanted to read this one before the movie is released on DVD in March, but I may have to DNF – and skip the movie?!?! 🤷🏼‍♀️

DNF (aka: Not For Me and/or Skipping For Now):

📖 The Garden of Small Beginnings by: Abbi Waxman (Berkley) – Pub Date: May 2, 2017

I DNFd The Bookish Life of Nina Hill earlier this year, and now I’m DNFing this one as well. I think Waxman’s writing is just to cutesy for me. I don’t know – but I was bored and I’m not going to force myself to read anything in 2020. #DNFingWithoutApologyin2020

(#partner #freebooks: All books noted by asterisks (***) indicate I received the book for free from the publisher, the author, or another promotional company to review. All opinions are my own.)