For the Love of Books: Quarter Two 2019

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Life has really snuck away from me this year in several ways, including in reading. After reading 74 books in 2018, I’m not sure I’ve read ten this year. Reading has been slow, as has writing. I’ve had a lot of things going on in my life right now, personal things, and this year has been about balancing all the aspects of my life.

News flash, I’ve sucked pretty badly at it. It’s still a learning process in the lesson of life, that’s all.

That being said, in the past few weeks, my reading has picked up again and I’ve wanted to cover what I’ve read in the past three months.

April 2019

1. SAY NOTHING

In April, I read one book but it was a nonfiction book. Those always take longer for me than fiction books. The book I read was Say Nothing, a story about a murder during the Irish Civil War in the 1970s and 1980s. The book told an intimiate story about a mom who went missing and intertwined it with the larger-overall story of the IRA and major players during the war.

It took a while for me to get into this book and really get invested into it, but once I did, I finished it pretty quickly. Being part Irish, I always want to know more about Irish history.

May 2019

I read two books in May and one was a reread.

1. THE FAVORITE SISTER

I picked up The Favorite Sister last year at the Amazon Bookstore here in Austin. I’ve found that bookstore to be a great place to find new authors for a pretty decent price (if you’re a prime member, you can get prime pricing right there in the store). This book covers a group of women who are on a reality TV show about women entreprenuers.

There’s a split timeline and a murder, leading up to the moment where we found out how that person died. Given that this is a split timeline, the person who dies is one of the narrorators in the past. The book gives it away that she died pretty early on, so I struggled to connect with the character knowing she was going to die anyway.

Split timelines are hard to do, y’all.

2. BIG LITTLE LIES

Big Little Lies was a re-read in anticipation of season two on HBO. I re-watched season one of the show while reading this book, so it was a fun way to compare the TV show and the book in real time. There were details in the book I had forgotten about, so it was a great comfort and refresher to read this book again. After reading it, I actually picked up the author’s newest book and I’ll read that in the next quarter (Read my original thoughts on Big Little Lies here).

June 2019

1. THE BIG KAHUNA

This isn’t a re-read but it’s a book in a series I love. The Big Kahuna is the newest book in the Fox and O’Hare Series by Janet Evanovich. This book felt like the first one suffering from the Stephanie Plum problem, where it feels like Evanovich is no longer that invested in the characters. While her books are fun to read and humorous, it seems like Evanovich checked out a while ago on developing strong, multi-dementional characters.

2. THE LAST MRS. PARRISH

The Last Mrs. Parrish was another Amazon Bookstore find. I’ve heard about this book for a while now, but never got it. It was on sale at the bookstore, so I figured I’d snag it. I’m not far enough into it yet to have an opinion, but I’m excited to be finally reading it.

After the megareading marathon in 2018, I needed some time to detox from reaing and do other things. Now that I’m finally gearing back up into reading, it’s fun to have a book to pick up every day.

What’s been your favorite book in the past few months? And side note, happy birthday to my mom! I love you, Mom.