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In My Library Tote: Recent Reads

It’s been a while since I’ve shared what I’ve been reading lately. Despite the craziness of life right now with two little ones, I still try to make time every day to read a little bit. I feel like it keeps me sane more than anything else… or at least as much as wine does. I typically try to share what Jona has enjoyed as well, but somehow my short term memory disappeared around the time Violet was born and I can’t for the life of me remember what we’ve read! To remedy that I’m starting to track what we read in my bullet journal, so hopefully by next month I’ll be back with some preschool recommendations. Anyhow, here’s what I’ve been reading.

{recent reads}

{A Game For All the Family by Sophie Hannah} Let me preface this by saying that I started this before Violet was born and then tried to finish it in the hazy newborn days. It’s a thriller, which should have been a big red flag right there. I’m learning that is just not my genre. However, I really liked the woman who narrates the story; several times she had me laughing out loud, which gave me hope for the rest of the book. Well, that was pretty much the only thing I ended up liking. I found the story strange, the plot head-scratching (but not in a good way), and the other characters, save the narrator, flat. Perhaps if I read it at a different time in my life I would have better things to say. Since I didn’t, well, I don’t. Rating: 2/5 stars.

{Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg} I picked this book up at Savers when I was there shopping for this post. I had it on my to-read list for a while, as I loved the movie, and I couldn’t resist it for a buck. As a book lover, it pains me to say this, but this may be one of the few instances where I enjoyed the movie more than the book. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great book, but I feel like the movie got it so right. Rating: 3.5/5 stars.

{Some Luck by Jane Smiley} A glimpse at an ordinary Iowa farm family from the 1920s to the 1950s, this book seems to be about the opposite of a book like A Game For All the Family. Nothing much happens, but somehow I found it somewhat comforting to read. Each chapter chronicles a year of the Langdon family’s life and highlights both the mundane quotidian tasks and the major life events. It moved slowly and took me a while to get through, especially on audio, but while I was listening it did capture my attention. However, it didn’t stay on my mind when I walked away, so for me it was just good, not great. Rating 3/5 stars.

{My Life in France by Julia Child} I adore Julia Child and have had this book on my to-read list for a very long time. I’m glad I finally picked it up, as this was by far my favorite read of the month. I loved her descriptions of France, and of food. I also just find her so inspiring. She didn’t “follow her dreams” in the traditional sense, instead it seems like she stumbled upon them. And I don’t remember her exact age when she began at the Cordon Bleu, but I’m pretty sure she was in her mid 30s. For someone like me, who sometimes feels frustrated that I still haven’t figured out what I’m doing with my life, Julia’s story is a comfort.

{The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George} Continuing with the France theme, I read this story of a “literary apothecary” who owns a boat-turned-bookshop that floats on the Seine in Paris. As a sucker for all things French as well as books about books, I hoped to really love this one. However, for some reason I just couldn’t get into it. I loved the idea of a “literary apothecary” and would be thrilled to visit a floating book store. There were definitely parts of the story that I enjoyed, but I had a hard time getting attached to the characters. Rating: 3/5 stars.

Have you read anything good lately?