Julie's Journal : What I've Been Reading Plus Some of My TBR

Right now, I'm reading Dark Corners by Megan Goldin.  This is the third book by this author that I have read and the second featuring podcaster, Rachel Krall.  Rachel has developed a reputation as a reporter/investigator who can prove the innocence of those wrongly convicted.  Now she's delving into the behind-the-scenes world of influencers.  A girl is missing and Rachel may be the next target of a serial killer.  So far it's living up to the hype!

I just finished The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon and I highly recommend it.  It's already on my list of favorites for this year.  It is the fictionalized story of real-life 18th century midwife Martha Ballard.  The story takes place in Maine, over the course of one brutal winter.  It contains difficult topics including sexual assault, child loss, and the powerlessness of women during this time period, but still manages to stay hopeful.  I loved the depiction of the marriage between Martha and her husband Ephraim.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman is another book I finished recently.  Nina is an introvert with very little family.  She has built a life she loves working in a small bookstore and going to trivia nights with her team.  Her world gets turned upside down when she learns that the father she never knew has named her in his will.  Along with an inheritance, she also learns that she has brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and some of them want to welcome her to the family.  Further complicating her simple life is a budding new romance with the leader of a rival trivia team and the financial difficulties that make the survival of the bookstore questionable.  Nina must overcome her anxiety to let some new things and people into her life.  The book was a little predictable, but it was a sweet, quick read.

For awhile I have been eyeing The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See, and I finally picked it up.  It is set on the island of Jeju in the Korea Straight.  Women on the island have been making a living diving into the ocean for generations.  Young-sook is our main character and she and her friend Mi-ja are taking their place in the diving collective.  Young-sook and Mi-ja are young during the years of Japanese colonialism and Mi-ja is somewhat ostracized because her father was a Japanese collaborator.  Over the years, they marry and have families, but a betrayal rips their friendship apart.  I was interested in the book because I had heard of the diving women, but this book focuses not just on the women but the greater political affairs that were affecting their island.  We follow them through WWII and the Korean war, all the way to current times.  I realized that my knowledge of Asian history is lacking.  This was a difficult book.  The women and their families go through horrors that I can't imagine.  

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Last year, I started keeping a notebook of books I want to read that either aren't available to me right now or I just don't have time for.  When I run out of things to read, I consult the book to see if I can get anything on the list.  I've found it to be a lot of fun and helpful as well.  

Right now on my To-Be-Read (TBR) list, in addition to books in my notebook, are several physical books that have been given to me lately.  I tend to read e-books more than physical books, so I need to put down my devices and concentrate on these books.  Right now I have copies of The Fury by Alex Michaelides, Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister, and two books by a new-to-me author, Will Dean.  I'm assured that Dean does twists in his stories very well.  I'm excited to pick one of these up for my next read!  

Julie's Journal : What I've Been Reading

I have a few recommendations today and one book that I really did NOT like!

Going Zero, by Anthony McCarten.  This was the last book I read in 2023 and I have been recommending it ever since.  Kaitlyn Day is a contestant in a game, hoping to win $3,000,000.  She must stay undetected, off grid and under the radar, for 30 days, while Fusion, a giant tech company, is hunting her and 9 other contestants.  Fusion has a lot riding on the outcome of the contest - if they can find all the participants they will secure an enormous government contract.  But Kaitlyn has more at stake than the prize money and she will be a more formidable opponent than Fusion realizes.    

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty.  Amina is a middle-aged mother, and a retired pirate.  She has no plans to venture back onto the high seas, until the mother of one of her former crew members comes calling.  She offers Amina an enormous sum to bring back her kidnapped granddaughter.  Amina agrees, but quickly discovers that not all is as it seems, and this adventure may be more than she bargained for.  This fantasy kept my attention with lots of action and humor.

The Measure, by Nikki Erlick.  One morning, everyone in the world, aged 22 and above, receives a box.  Inside the box is a string.  The strings are of all different lengths, and it quickly becomes clear that the string represents the length of the owner's life.  The story follows the lives of several different people, some with long strings and some with short strings.  Through their stories, we see how the very fabric of society is changed by people's knowledge of the length of their life.  New biases appear overnight.  People are suddenly ineligible for certain positions of power if they have a short string.  I liked this book.  Some library patrons thought there were too many characters to keep up with, but I found the story thought provoking.

Starter Villain, by John Scalzi.  This was fun.  Charlie is between jobs and in a pseudo-fight with his half-siblings over his father's house, which he has been living in.  When his estranged uncle passes away without any heirs, he is asked to represent the family at the funeral.  The funeral quickly turns weird when an assortment of characters turn up all wanting to verify that Uncle Jake is in fact actually dead.  Things just get crazier from there as Charlie discovers he is his uncle's heir and he has inherited more than just a family business.  I know people are going to look sideways at me for recommending this one, but I thought it was a fun, quick read.

Prisoners of the Castle, by Ben Macintyre.  Non-fiction.  I had never heard of the Nazi prison at Colditz.  Colditz is a castle and town in eastern Germany and was used to house prisoners of war who had attempted to escape from other prisons or camps.  It housed Dutch, French, Belgian, Polish, and later a few American prisoners.  Immediately on arrival, many of the prisoners started trying to escape again.  There were a number of obstacles to escaping from Colditz, but no shortage of inventive ways to try.  The prisoners quickly formed a society of sorts in the prison, in large part based on the class systems they were used to in military life.  I had never read about this part of WWII before and it was very interesting.

And now for the book I did NOT like.....

Vaster Wilds, by Lauren Groff.  The synopsis of this book sounded interesting.  A servant girl escapes from a colonial settlement and attempts to find another colony to settle in.  And truly, the book delivers on that premise for awhile.  She is wandering through the wilderness surviving with just her wits and a few small things she was able to bring with her.  But.....  I won't tell you what spoiled the book for me, but by the end I wanted to throw it at the wall!  It's been quite a long time since a book has made me that mad!  If you read it, let me know what you think.