I killed it this month! I ran the gambit of historical fiction to chick lit to crap I didn’t enjoy. All for a total of 11 books, 3199 pages, an average of 106 pages per day. Which is pretty darned impressive, if I do say so myself!
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (254 pages). Another round of my favorite, (mostly) historical (very little) fiction. This novel was the true story of Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew who managed to survive the Holocaust by becoming the man who tattooed other prisoners when they arrived at Auschwitz. My first thought was, what an insult to this man. And to the Jews in general. As tattooing is prohibited in the Old Testament, this was just the ultimate insult. Which I never really thought about until reading this book. Lale meets his future wife, Gita, when he tattoos her arm. He promises her that they will both survive and they will have a life together. Even knowing that they do, I wiped away tears when they were finally reunited after the Russians arrived at the concentration camps and they were sent to different places. Every time I read about the horrors of the Holocaust, my heart breaks. For the evil that humans can exhibit. And for the people who refuse to believe it happened. I finished in 5 days (although w of those days were last month).
The Kennedy Debutante by Kerri Maher (368 pages). Yep, more historical fiction for this girl! There are so many Kennedy’s that I don’t know much about the “lesser” known ones. Kathleen (or Kick as she was known) was the fourth Kennedy child. She had her debutante season in 1938 in London when her father was there as the ambassador. And it was there that she fell head over heels for Billy Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington. While religion (she was Catholic, he was Anglican) and the War tried to keep them apart (and succeeded for nearly 5 years), Kick eventually followed her heart and married Billy. He was killed in action by a German sniper 4 months after their marriage and a month after her beloved brother Joe Jr was killed when his plane exploded. And 4 years later, Kick herself was killed in a plane crash. So much grief in such short lives. I found Kick to be a fascinating and inspiring character. I’d have loved to have seen what her life would have been had Billy not been killed. I finished in 7 days.
The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester (447 pages). To 22 year old Estella Bissette, her life working at an atelier in Paris could only be more perfect if she were the clothing designer with her own atelier. But the year is 1940 and the Germans are advancing. Her mother sends her to America for her safety. There, she makes friends and connections. Fast forward to 2015. Fabienne Bissette knows that her grandmother is an iconic fashion designer, but does not know her real story. A story of love, sacrifice, subterfuge, family and loss. Not going to lie, I bawled several times. While Estella and Fabienne weren’t real people,there were actually several characters in the book who were. The novelist took a what if and turned it into an amazing story. I finished in 3 days.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (355 pages). So I’d already watched the movie on Netflix. And dang, did Netflix do a killer job with it! I mean, it was pretty much verbatim. Which I totally appreciate. Lara Jean Covey’s worst nightmare comes true. Five love letters that she wrote are sent out. And in an effort to make one boy think she wasn’t serious, she agrees to a fake relationship with another one. It was super cute. I finished in 3 days.
A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult (356 pages). A shooter enters an abortion clinic and takes hostage the women (and man) who are there (after killing several of them first). When the hostage negotiator arrives from the police department, he learns that his daughter and sister are in the building. He also slowly starts to piece together what led the shooter to this moment. The novel is written backwards in time- it begins at 5 pm and goes back to the beginning of the day. Each hour, you learn new things about each hostage. Like the doctor who is a strongly religious man, but feels that it is his calling to help women. Or the anti-abortion protester who has gone undercover to prove that they are forcing women to have abortions. Each fact in each hour made me more and more invested in their lives and was more effective than knowing everything upfront. I couldn’t put it down. It was most definitely a difficult topic for a novel. I finished in 2 days.
The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory (325 pages). This would have been a perfect pool/beach read. If only it hadn’t been rainy and/or cold two days I was reading! Nik has been casually dating pretty boy actor Fisher for only 5 months when he surprises her with a very public proposal (to Nicole) during a Dodgers game. She turns him down and it goes viral. Happily, doctor Carlos and his sister hop up to save the day and get her out of dodge (yep, I went there). Nik and Carlos begin a rebound fling that both of them seem on the same page about- casual, fun, food, sex. That’s it. But is that every really it when the other person gets you better than you get yourself? I finished in 3 days.
The Beatrice Letters by Lemony Snicket (69 pages). This was a very odd collection of letters between Lemony Snicket and Beatrice Baudelaire and actual letters that you popped out of the pages. Seeing as I loved the series, I assumed I would love this book. Wrong assumption. I finished in 1 day.
The Storied Life of A.J. Fiery by Gabrielle Zevin (258 pages). It was like Silas Marner, except the baby (Maya) was left in AJ’s bookstore. AJ and his wife opened Island Books on Alice Island. About a year after her death, AJ awakens from a drunken stupor to find his rarest and most expensive book of poems has been stolen. But a few weeks later, AJ comes home to find that Maya’s mother has left her for him to raise before she commits suicide. No connection, no explanation, just a note and a toddler who now has no family. And just like with Silas Marner, AJ’s world is opened up by the introduction of this little girl. It was a cute modern take on an old classic. Ironically, AJ (book snob that he was) probably would’ve hated this novel! I finished in 3 days.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (349 pages). So this is supposed to be one of the great Southern American novels. It was just, meh. It takes place in a small southern mill town in the 1930’s. The central characters are John Singer (deaf-mute who turns into the confidante of most of the town), Biff Brannon (owner of the cafe. And possibly a closeted homosexual in my opinion), Jake Blount (alcoholic, Communist drifter), Dr Copeland (African American doctor who has a deep hatred for most white men), and Mick Kelly (young girl with musical dreams). The town has its own set of issues. I finished in 5 days.
The Unauthorized Autobiography by Lemony Snicket (212 pages). Again, loved the original series. Did not like the addendums. This one was, like the other, a collection of letters and photos. I did not like it. I finished in 1 day.
And the Rest is History by Marlene Wagman-Geller (206 pages). 34 stories of the first meetings of some of the greatest (or simply most infamous) couples in history. From Jacob and Rachel to Celine Dion and Rene Angelil. Most were couples I had heard of (and even read novels about), others were new to me. It was sweet. It was lovely. I finished in 2 days (because I had to).
This month’s favorite was ...The Paris Seamstress. The two historical fiction came a close second.
