My Week in Books // 3-10-21

Basketball is over and I’m anxiously awaiting the start of volleyball now! Get me in a gym as much as possible, please! I grew up on sports and I love them more than anything…maybe the only thing I like at least as much as books!

We’re also expecting some cold weather…and while I’m not sure I can believe some of the snow reports I’ve seen (5′ of snow, seriously?!?!), that would rock my world if it were true!!

Anyway, I’d love to hear about what you’ve been reading lately…drop me a comment below!

Last Week’s Reads:

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Whoa…what in the world?! Somehow this book was written in 1932, yet strangely feels like it could have been written yesterday. In a Brave New World, Huxley imagines what a world would look like where individualism is gone, everyone is happy all the time, and decisions are made for us. It’s a bleak world – one I hope to never see – yet there are so many similarities to our current reality that it literally scares me! Genetic modification is totally a thing and people are born into their hierarchy class, and because they don’t know any different, everybody is strangely okay with the roles their born into. Families do not exist and sexual promiscuity is rampant.

I’ve heard so many references to Brave New World in the media recently that it was just the motivation I needed to pick the book up. I’m glad I finally read it (and it helped fulfill 1 of the 12 modern classics I’ve picked out to try and tackle this year), but I really hope Huxley’s predictions stay firmly in the fiction/dystopia genre!

*** In the Quick by Kate Hope Day

Do you ever read a book and just want it to be the best book you’ve ever read because of the cover alone? Because this book was a totaly Netgalley request based on the cover alone. I read If, Then by Kate Hope Day and didn’t really enjoy it; In the Quick was much better for me, but still left me frustrated.

The things that worked for me: I loved a strong female lead in a role that’s traditionally held by males (June is an astronaut), I loved how smart June was (she could figure out scientific problems that baffled everyone else), and I loved the atmosphere of the Pink Planet, it read quickly (but also felt a little YA-ish).

What I didn’t like: there was a lot of confusion of how all the pieces fit together in the whole picture (and none of that was really cleared up by the time the book ended), there were random parts of the story that were totally unnecessary and felt like they were there to simply fill the pages, the relationship that appears about 80% of the way into the book, and the ending that abruptly came to a halt (if you hate loose endings, this is not for you!)

Overall, this was ok. I got a lot of The Martian vibes (a book I surprisingly loved!), but it left me feeling like the book was unfinished.

Current Reads:

No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us by Rachel Louise Snyder

I’m about halfway through No Visible Bruises and I’m impressed with the way Snyder has compiled the data on domestic violence to help identify and establish patterns that could potentially save people in violent relationships.

*** Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf by Haley Krischer

This has been on my Netgalley list for awhile…I’m intrigued by the premise.

(#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.)