Last Year I Was Reading…

Last Year I Was Reading is a weekly meme created by Maria over at Reading Maria. This is my first time participating and I’m excited to see what comes up with these posts!

How does one particpate? You take your current read and compare it to what you reading this exact time last year. Which one do you like better? What is different about the books? Any special facts/things you want to make note of or bring attention to? Be sure to link it back to my blog so I can see them!

This year I’m reading…

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’m finding this one to be a little overly tedious to me and, at nearly 40% in, I’m only lukewarm on the whole story. I’m normally really into dytopian-themed books (Severance, Red Clocks, and The Handmaid’s Tale), but I think I prefer them to have a faster plot. Wanderers seems to take every single aspect of this possible epidemic and disect it almost to death (I mean, the book is nearly 800 pages long so there’s that…). Because I’ve broken the book into parts that I try to get through daily, I’ll probably stick with it (I also have a crazy amount of trusted sources that have really liked this one), but I sure hope it picks up and begins to be more cohesive soon!

Last year I was reading…

It’s pretty tough to compare these two books at all – they’re wildly different in all aspects! The Nickel Boys is a historical fiction book about a real-life boys school in Tallahassee, Florida during the 1960s. At The Nickel Academy, horrendous crimes were committed against the boys over the 111 years that it operated. Whitehead, in his signature prose, tells this chilling story that will stick with you for the rest of your life!

Between the two, I’d recommend…

There’s no contest between these two – The Nickel Boys is the book I’d recommend! It’s difficult to read because the treatment of these boys is beyond anything imaginable, but it’s also an important read. Whitehead’s writing sinks into your bones and his stories become a part of you – a necessary thing when it comes to learning from our pasts so as not to repeat the behavior in the future.

Have you read either of these books? I’d love to hear your thoughts!