Book Reviews

Book Reviews

My January reading did not take off in the way that I hoped. I had a huge and pleasing stack of books that I couldn't wait to start reading at the first of January and I just.could.not. get into several of them and that super slowed me down. Annoying. But there were also a few treasures too.

1.) A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I read The Secret Garden when I was in elementary school and I loved it but somehow I wasn't inspired to read more books by the same author. Why?? Was I so busy reading Sweet Valley High? Probably. OH.MY.GOSH!! I love this book so much and I would've loved it in elementary school too. It is darling!

From Goodreads:

Sara Crewe's young but doting father sends her to a London boarding school when she is seven. On her eleventh birthday her life of luxury comes to an abrupt end when she receives news that her father has died, shortly after losing his entire fortune. The school-mistress turns Sara into a servant to pay off her debts, and though Sara uses the entire force of her imagination and her good heart to remember who she is and keep starvation from the door, her life is desperate. Until the past returns in a very unexpected manner...

This book is so charming and so sweet! It is the perfect read aloud book for my daughters. It is magical and just sweeps you away into another world. I loved the character of Sara Crewe. She is fantastic to root for and to admire.  I loved the way that she handled herself despite whatever hardships that life threw at her. I loved that she cared so much for others and wanted to lighten their load. I loved that she shared all that she had even when at times all that she had was her vivid imagination. I can't wait to watch the film adaptions with my girls...the Shirley Temple version and the 90s version.

My Rating: This is a classic for a reason. It was magical and I adored it.

2.) Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

I heard about this book on my favorite podcast...What Should I Read Next?...and was super intrigued. I am not a big sci-fi reader...but I wanted to push myself this year to get a bit more out of my typical reading box and I thought that this book would be the ticket. The plot was intriguing and I enjoyed trying to figure out what was going on. I liked the style even if it is a little detached. It is told via interviews and journal entries. My problem was that it took me FOREVER to really get into it. It felt sluggish. By page 100...my usual point of deciding whether or not to keep reading a book...I still wasn't totally convinced. I read another 20 pages and then found myself sucked into the story when the action really began. I was hoping that this would be a stand alone novel but, of course, it wasn't and none of my questions were answered by the end of the book. Frustrating.  I will most likely read the next book in the series because I have questions that I want answered but I don't enjoy being jerked around as a reader with no payoff at the end. I also don't enjoy feeling manipulated to buy the next book. My husband is currently reading this book and as it is a genre that he regularly reads and enjoys I am curious to see how he feels about the book and it's ending.

From Goodreads:

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand. Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected. But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history’s most perplexing discovery—and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?


My Rating: I was entertained but I didn't LOVE it and the ending was frustrating.


3.) Celebrity Run-Ins by Kathy Griffin

Don't judge me. Yes, I occasionally read celebrity tell-all books. Whatever. Sometimes you just need a gossipy book about celebrities being obnoxious celebrities especially when you are having a hard time getting into your big stack of more ambitious books and just want a quick light read. This definitely fit the bill. I saw Kathy Griffin talking about her book on TV and discussing her celebrity run-ins one morning and thought that perhaps this fluff would be the antidote to my reading slump. It happened to be available at the library and boom! I read it in an afternoon. Did I love it? No. Kathy Griffin is not my kind of person. But did I guilty pleasure read about all of her celebrity run-ins? Oh yes I did. Will I read more of her books? Depends on my mood.

From Goodreads:

Kathy Griffin’s Celebrity Run-Ins is Kathy’s funny, juicy index of all of the celebrities she has met during her many years in show business, bursting with never-before-told stories.

My Rating: Mostly entertaining and slightly embarrassing to be caught reading.

4.) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

This is another OH MY GOSH...I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH!!! This was one of my nighttime classics that I have on my Kindle to read when I can't sleep in the middle of the night. Usually classics are interesting enough so that I am happy to read when I can't sleep but not so thrilling that I can't put them down or fall back to sleep fairly quickly. This book failed the ol' insomnia test. It was too darn good!! I stayed awake for hours at night loving every minute of this story. Move over Emily and Charlotte...Anne is where it's at! This book packs a powerful punch and I loved every minute of it.

The writing is superb. I was surprised by the huge narrative shift a third of the way into the book but that is when the magic happened and I was unable to put the book down. It definitely worked for me!! The characters...particularly Arthur Huntingdon and Helen are interesting and complex. Helen Huntingdon is giving Elizabeth Bennett a run for her money as my favorite heroine from classical literature. I especially loved Anne's unusual and refreshing take on the typical Byronic hero. Arthur Huntingdon is no Mr. Darcy. He is moody, mean-spirited, manipulative and dark. He is definitely not husband material and not sexy at all. The way that Bronte wrote about Arthur and his evolution and their love slowly turning to hate was masterful. The themes that were dealt with in the novel such as: the disintegration of a marriage, abuse, alcoholism, infidelity, betrayal, disillusionment, disgrace, independence, courage, and forgiveness were especially exciting in a novel from this period. I couldn't believe what I was reading. It is not hard to believe that this book was so shocking and caused such a stir in the Victorian era. I love Mary Sinclair's quote about this book:

  "The slamming of Helen Huntingdon's bedroom door against her husband reverberated throughout Victorian England."

When that happened I was like "Go Helen Go!!" I loved it and I cheered!!  The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is considered one of the first feminist novels. Helen Huntingdon is night and day different from Anne's meek and mild Agnes Gray. I couldn't believe that this was the same author of both novels. Wow. Anne Bronte's writing grew by leaps and bounds between her first and second novels. I loved this book!! It is fantastic!!


From Goodreads:

Gilbert Markham is deeply intrigued by Helen Graham, a beautiful and secretive young widow who has moved into nearby Wildfell Hall with her young son. He is quick to offer Helen his friendship, but when her reclusive behavior becomes the subject of local gossip and speculation, Gilbert begins to wonder whether his trust in her has been misplaced. It is only when she allows Gilbert to read her diary that the truth is revealed and the shocking details of her past. Told with great immediacy, combined with wit and irony, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a powerfully involving read.

My Rating: MY FAVORITE BRONTE BOOK!! It is underrated. Everyone should read this fabulous book!!

5.) The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

I am not a big fantasy reader. It is my least favorite genre. The exceptions being the Game of Thrones series, the Narnia series, and the Lord of the Rings series. After that...nothing. It just isn't my thing. But...in trying to broaden my horizons I decided to give fantasy another go. The result: meh. It's still not my thing.

From Goodreads:

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she's posted to an alternative London. Their mission - to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it's already been stolen. London's underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.  Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested - the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene's new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own. Soon, she's up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues, and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option - the nature of reality itself is at stake.

I thought that the premise of this book sounded amazing. Librarian spies sent to gather and archive literature from alternate worlds while adventure ensues. I thought that if I could get behind any kind of fantasy this would be it. I thought that the world(s) building was intriguing. I loved the idea of the mysterious interdimensional library that is suspended between worlds and time. I liked the alternate worlds with their varied problems and advancements...whether magical or technological. I loved the secret society of librarian spies. My problem was that after the introduction of all of these wonderfully exciting and mysterious elements...they are dropped without any further information or depth. What?!

The action begins quickly in an alternate London with a steampunk vibe with the librarian spy in pursuit of a rare edition of Grimm's Fairy tales...so far so good. The problem is that the author gives you very little background knowledge of anything... including the main character, Irene, the secret society that she belongs to, and the library itself. THOSE were the interesting parts!! I wanted the author to go back and tell us more so that I could care about Irene, the Library, and her mission. But that never happened and the novel suffers for it. There were so many things that were just touched upon and then dropped. It was annoying.  Plus, I could've done with less magical creatures and elements. This alternate London had magic, immortality, wizards, vampires, werewolves, the Fae, robots, secret societies, dragons, a little Dr. Who, and a whole lot of Sherlock Holmes. Think of all of the typical elements of fantasy and they were all thrown into this story. It was too much!!  The author needed to pick one or two of these elements and stick with them rather than this huge mixed bag of a little of everything.

I thought that the writing was okay but it took awhile for me to get into the book. Everything that I thought was interesting and wanted to know more about was abandoned and everything that I didn't care about was in the forefront. The characters lacked depth and that affected my ability to root for and care about them. There was too much action and not enough substance. I wasn't a fan. This is the first book in a series and I won't be reading any more. Maybe if you love fantasy you will like this book. The reviews are rather mixed from what I have read but this novel just wasn't for me. Disappointing.

My Rating: The premise was good but the execution was not.

6.) Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

I was super psyched to read this book!! It has come so highly recommended from friends, my husband, podcasts, blogs, and goodreads. I couldn't wait to dive into it. (This was another attempt to read more sci-fi which for the record I do enjoy more than fantasy.) To the book's credit...the story takes off like a shot. I was pulled right into the action and I could barely put it down. I read it in less than 24 hours.

From Goodreads:

“Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.” In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

This novel was captivating and entertaining. What's not to love about quantum physics and the multiverse?! I loved all of that! The novel was also creepy, mind-bending, scary, and sad. I don't want to say too much because the fun is the ride and trying to figure out what the heck is happening!! I enjoyed it! My husband read this book before me and has been dying to discuss it. I finished the book a little after midnight and HAD to discuss it IMMEDIATELY; which we did. The only downside is that I didn't love the last 1/4 of the book. It got a little sluggish and I didn't love the direction that it took but it was still a gripping, exciting, and crazy read. The ending was satisfying which is always nice. But reading this book sent me off down an Internet rabbit hole of quantum physics, the multiverse, superposition, Schrodinger's cat, and wave function. Good times! This would be a great book for a book club to discuss. Because you WILL want/need to talk about it with someone.

My Rating: A suspenseful, twisty. mind-bending thrill ride.



(So, to quote my favorite bookish podcast...What Should I Read Next? After a month and a half of broadening my horizons with the classics, sci-fi, and fantasy I think I've had enough for awhile.  Bring on the historical fiction please!)