Five books this month, including two thrillers, an absolutely incredible sci-fi-slash-thriller novel, some contemporary fiction and a teen favorite.
(As a reminder: I always track my reading both on Goodreads and via Instagram stories.)
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“CALL THE CANARIES HOME” BY LAURA BARROW
Three estranged sisters reunite converge 28 years after burying a time capsule in their small Louisiana hometown. After digging up a box of childhood memories and photos, Savannah finds a photo from the day her twin sister, Georgia, went missing. Discovering the photo pulls Savannah and her older sisters Rayanne and Sue Ellen back into the search for Georgia.
This book had an interesting premise, but I didn’t absolutely love it. The plot felt a little disjointed, like the author was trying too hard for a twist, and the ending left me a little unsatisfied. I thought too much of the book was focused on the interpersonal conflict between the sisters, so it read like it was trying to be both a family drama and a thriller/mystery at the same time, which was too much given how short the book was and how slowly it moved. However, it was easy enough to finish, and I didn’t hate it.
“THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY” BY JENNY HAN
Belly has spent every summer of her life at her family beach home, which her family shares with her mom’s best friend Susannah and Susannah’s sons Jeremiah and Conrad. But, one summer, Belly returns to the beach house to notice Jeremiah and Conrad both looking at her differently, and Belly realizes she starts to feel differently toward the brothers.
I know I’m not the target market for this YA book, but I decided to read it because so many of my friends have read it, and there’s now a TV series based off of it. I hate to say it, but I hated this book. First off, WHY would you name your main character “Belly?” It was so distracting and annoying and I couldn’t get past it. I really loved Han’s “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” when I read it a few years ago, so I had high hopes. But this book just fell flat. It’s a love triangle between Belly and the two brothers with Belly narrating the whole thing, and it’s very superficial and surface-level.
“DARK MATTER” BY BLAKE CROUCH
Jason Dessen is an ordinary college physics professor living with his wife, Daniela, and his son, Charlie, in Chicago. One night, Jason is abducted on his way home from a bar. His abductor asks him a simple question: “Are you happy with your life?” Shortly afterward, Jason wakes up to find that his wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And rather than being an average college professor, he’s a celebrated genius who has found a way to defy the laws of physics and achieve something remarkable. Something impossible.
This book will now occupy a large portion of my brain going forward. It’s going to live rent-free in my mind until I die. I am OBSESSED. I couldn’t give too much away in the description without spoiling the plot, and this review will be kind of vague so I don’t give it away, but this book had such an interesting premise and I cannot stop thinking about it! It definitely had its flaws — one of the storylines felt unfinished and I found myself wanting a sequel-of-sorts told from another character’s perspective, but I absolutely LOVED the whole concept of this mind-blowingly incredible book and I can’t wait for the TV series! I highly recommend it.
“JUST THE NICEST COUPLE” BY MARY KUBICA
Jake Hayes is missing. At first, Jake’s wife Nina thinks he may be laying low to avoid her after a fight. But, as the days go by, it’s revealed that Jake has disappeared without a trace. Completely shaken, Nina’s coworker Lily confides in her husband Christian that she may have been the last person to see Jake before his disappearance. After Lily’s confession, Lily and Christian decide that nobody can find Jake.
Ah, another mediocre Mary Kubica thriller. I read a few of Kubica’s books during a book club I was part of back in Chicago. They’re never groundbreaking, and often leave me disappointed. That was the case with “Just the Nicest Couple.” Lily was annoying and Christian was the dumbest human to ever exist. I think Kubica wanted us to feel sympathetic toward Nina, but Nina’s character is so under-developed that I didn’t really care about her at all. Once again, a generic popcorn thriller that’s easy enough to finish, but has an unremarkable plot and twist that I’ll likely forget about in a year.
“STILL ALICE” BY LISA GENOVA
50-year-old Alice Howland lives a wonderful life. She has a devoted husband, three adult children, and a prestigious job as a psychology professor and faulty member at Harvard University. But one day, Alice notices a forgetfulness creeping in. She can’t remember words when she needs them, she finds herself prone to bouts of confusion and she can’t keep track of the tasks she’s always easily managed. Alice soon receives a devastating diagnosis: Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease.
Wow. This book was horrifying, but in a touching way. It was really, really heavy. “Still Alice” is told from Alice’s perspective, and so the narration becomes more unreliable as the book carries on, and the story starts to meander until it becomes incredibly disjointed. Genova has a Ph.D in neuroscience from Harvard, so I felt like the story was as accurate as it could be given that Genova doesn’t have Alzheimer’s, and I appreciated Genova’s familiarity with both the science behind the novel and the setting.
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I’m glad I was still able to keep on track with my annual reading goal this month – especially since I just got ordered out for a very late-season wildfire, so who knows what my October will look like.
