My Week in Books {3/4/20}

Does it feel like we just celebrated Christmas just yesterday? But somehow we’re already into March and before we know it, we’ll be in the dog days of summer! 🤷🏼‍♀️

I read some good books last week, but before we get to them, here are a few posts from the past month that you may have missed:

• February 2020 Reading Wrap-Up
• Book Flights Vol. 2
• Libro.fm’s Bookstore Link – Allowing you to easily buy physical books from your favorite indie bookstore!

What did you read this week?

Last Week’s Reads:

📱 *** In Five Years by: Rebecca Serle

This is the second book I’ve read by Rebecca Serle (check out my review of The Dinner List here), and I’m here to say that I truly enjoy her writing and books. If I had to choose one of these books over the other, I’d definitely choose In Five Years. 

In Five Years, at its core, is about friendship, loyalty, and connection. It explores the messiness of relationships and causes the reader to meditate on the ideas of fate and destiny. Once again, I connected with Serle’s easy, yet profound, writing style and she quietly put me in a position to contemplate the “what if?” scenario.

This is a quick read, but one that will stick with you for a long time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Atria Books | Pub Date: March 10, 2020 | 272 Pages | E-Book | Purchase via Bookstore Link

📖 *** The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World by: Jeff Goodell

I was blown away by this well-written book about the looming consequences of the global warming crisis. I’ve had this one on my shelf for some time, and admittedly, the environmental, non-fiction tone caused me to keep passing it over. But that was a huge mistake, as Goodell writes relatably and makes the book very easy to digest!

The bottom line is that sea levels are rising. Many people throughout the world already know this from firsthand experience, but for those of us who live inland and haven’t personally been affected by it, this book puts that information out there in a straight forward way that demands some action…not today, but yesterday!

Already a few years past its publication date, this book NEEDS to be read by everyone…because we will ALL be affected soon. We owe our children and grandchildren a better future than what they currently stand to inherit. Quite frankly, I’m embarrassed by all of us, but mostly by the naysayers.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Little, Brown | Pub Date: October 24, 2017 | 352 Pages | Hardcover | Purchase via Bookstore Link

📖 *** The Holdout by: Graham Moore

The courtroom setting is quickly becoming a trope that I enjoy. Miracle Creek is the first book off the top of my head that also also incorporates this idea, but The Holdout takes it to a new level by examining the lives of the jurors themselves. Not only do we get an inside look at how serving on a sequestered jury may look like, we also get a nuanced look at the American justice system and the flaws within that system.

This was a quick read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Many reviews suggest you go in blind and I would agree. There is also criticism that the reader has to suspend belief throughout the book but because I’m not legalistic in any way, I didn’t find this to be a problem. Overall, The Holdout is a quick read with a side mystery that I totally got caught up in!

 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Random House| Pub Date: February 18, 2020 | 325 Pages | Hardcover | Purchase via Bookstore Link

📖 From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by: Tembi Locke

This book is gorgeous! Locke’s sheer talent for weaving words together had me in gutwrenching tears…in the best way. This is a tribute to her husband – lost way too young to cancer – and their deep, abiding love. I felt her grief in my own heart. I was transported to Italy and felt like I was walking the cobblestone pathways and eating that rich tomato pasta. This book touched all of my senses and left a gaping hole when I finished the last page.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Simon & Schuster | Pub Date: April 30, 2019 | 339 Pages | Hardcover | Purchase via Bookstore Link

Currently Reading:

🎧 *** Running With Sherman: The Donkey With the Heart of a Hero by: Christopher McDougall

I dismissed this one because my initial thought was, “An entire book about a donkey? Really?!” But then another reader meantioned that it was the same author as Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen and I knew I needed to read it ASAP. I’m a HUGE fan of McDougall’s book, Born To Run, and this one is just as good. I love the way McDougall weaves a story together – and the audio of this one is excellent as well!

Knopf | Pub Date: October 15, 2019 | 341 Pages | Audiobook | Purchase via Bookstore Link

📖 Severance by: Ling Ma

I’m not sure I chose the best time to pick this one up, but I did! I think my expectations of this one might be spoiling the overall story for me – I know it’s satirical, but I’m not sure I’m smart enough to get the nuance of everything Ma is trying to say. (Also, maybe I’m just not far enough into it and things will become more clear as I continue.) Either way, I like it enough to continue. It’s giving me some Station Eleven vibes!

Farrar, Straus, and Giroux | Pub Date: August 14, 2018 | 291 Pages | Hardcover | Purchase via Bookstore Link

(#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.)