Bi-Weekly Reading Wrap-Up (February Edition PT. 2)
Hi. Hello. How are you all doing? Today I am back to talk about some books I read in the second half of February. Oh February, what a month. I have no idea how I'm still in the middle of like 7 books, but I am. Maybe I'll finish in March? But let me not get ahead of myself.
So, the 4 books I read:
1. Pet Sematary by Stephen King
WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWWOWOW. That's it. That's the review.
Alright you twisted my arm, I'll add a little more detail. This book is surprisingly very long. It starts off a little slow, but when it picks up, it REALLY picks up. I now get why people are obsessed with Stephen King. The man really is a master of words and suspense. There were some parts where I legitimately got chills.
The basic plot is that there is this family, the Creeds, and they move to Maine since the father, Louis Creed gets a job at the University of Maine. They are this nice perfect family and they live in this nice large house. However behind their house there are some weird things happening in the woods. And really that's all you need to know. If you're into horror or just want to be massively creeped out one day, 10/10 would recommend.
2. Himself by Jess Kid
The second book I read wasn't as fabulous of an experience. I genuinely thought I'd love this book. The first few pages I was like damn I think I'm going to love it. However, I did not. This book was just meh. Not bad, but not 5 star worthy either.
Basically there is this guy, Mahoney, and he returns to this village in Ireland to find out what happened to his biological mother. When he's there, he realizes that the town people are holding on to a LOT of secrets and thats he's going to need to do some investigating.
I really liked Mahoney as a character. I also really liked the other characters around him, but there were just so many! And their names sounded all quite similar to each other! I got lost. Also, it seemed like there were 4 plots within 1 plot and sometimes that works out really well, but in this case, I was just confused. One thing that may have also contributed to my not really liking this book was the magical realism element. I don't like speculative fiction, so it's not surprising that I wouldn't really like this. This wasn't a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, however it was just not my cup of tea.
3. The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans
So this book wrecked my soul. Love that for me.
This is a collection of short stories, plus one novella. I am not a fan of short stories or novellas, however this was fabulous. If you liked 'Someone who will love you in all your damaged glory', you will like this. All the stories are witty and sharp and reflective. Each story is so thoughtful and feels like it was written with so much care and deliberation. I felt like crying after every one. If Danielle Evans could write an entire book for each story that would be much appreciated, thanks. If you are feeling in a short story mood one day, would HIGHLY recommend this book.
4. The Burning Girls by CJ Tudor
CJ Tudor is a thriller writer who wrote 'The Chalk Man' which I really enjoyed reading last year. So obviously, when this book came out I just had to read it. Is it better than 'The Chalk Man'? No. But it is pretty good.
The story follows this vicar who moves to this small English town. It's a small English town so obviously there are some weird vibes and lots of secrets. In classic detective vicar fashion, the vicar gets involved in solving these weird occurrences and mysteries. Tbh I probably liked it for the sole reason that the main character was this vicar who enjoys investigating and that it took place in a small town with a lot of secrets. Love that trope.
It was a fun mystery. Nothing too gross or intense. If you're looking for a quick, engaging thriller mystery with some interesting characters, I'd say give it a go. If you're looking for something with some real shock value that may make you gasp out loud, this ain't it chief.
So there you have it folks, the last of the books I read in February. I read some really fabulous stories this month, and I look forward to reading a bunch more in March.
Just to reiterate, if you're interested in themed reading, the themes for March are 'Books written by women' and 'Mystery/Thrillers'. Props to you if you can read a mystery/thriller written by a woman.
On a separate note, my physical book stack reading is really not thriving. So I thought it might be interesting to get people to vote on 2 books that I HAVE to read, every month. The idea is, I'll provide a list of 5 books that I physically own, and you guys can vote on two of them that I must read by the end of the month. I'll think of them as 'Reader's Choice' books and perhaps I'll be more motivated to read them. Hey, sometimes you gotta think of new ways to motivate you to pick up books that are literally staring at you from the shelf.
So for March, I'm going to list out a few options below. I'll link them to their Goodreads pages. Let me know what you think I should read:
1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
2. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
3. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
4. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
5. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Hope you all have a wonderful week! Happy reading!
