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It’s been quite some since my last book post, and that’s because admittedly I’ve done very little reading this fall (thanks, Instagram, my pre-bed guilty pleasure). That said, I did make it through seven books on our cruise late summer, as well as another pair over the holidays, so in random order, here they are:
Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple
My rating: 4 out of 5
The Singles Game by Lauren Weisberger
I’m going to preface this by saying that Singles Game is chick lit in the finest sense of the term. Dudes, this probably isn’t for you. Ladies, I’m treating this one as a beach-y read, perfect for your long weekend in Miami or the Caribbean as the winter sets in.The premise: Good-girl tennis far falls in love with bad-boy tennis star, simultaneously breaking up with her long-time coach in favor of one that’s both well-known and edgier (read: a total jerk). Similar to how The Devil Wears Prada was clever in its insider-y look at the magazine industry, Singles Game offers a peek at the professional tennis circuit, with not nearly the clever writing as that of Prada. Still, I’m not sure if what I did like about this read was the fact that I was on the USTA juniors circuit for much of my youth and have an affinity for the sport or if Weisberger just gives great chick lit. For those who dig sports reads with a hearty dose of a love triangle thrown in the mix, this book’s for you.
My rating: 3 out of 5
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
This was a dramatically different sort of book than I was expecting—i.e. the title alone made me think it might be loosely based on Ree Drummond’s life in Oklahoma—one that I discovered thanks to many of you who recommended it in the comments. The protagonist, Eva Thorvald, loses her parents at a very young age and is raised by an aunt and uncle, and Stradal knits together various characters’ lives as they intersect over the course of a decade. A lover of ghost peppers from the time she’s small, Eva develops a passion for cooking, working in kitchens from the time she’s a pre-teen through building a burgeoning pop-up dinner concept into her 20s. This novel was every bit as humorous as it was heartfelt; as a Southerner, I could relate to many of the Midwesterner attributes with which Stradal bestowed upon his characters, and as a part-time food writer, I loved the way culinary culture drove this book.
My rating: 4 out of 5
Three-Martini Club by Suzanne Rindell
I’m not sure how I stumbled upon this book, though it might have been an advanced galley I was sent by the publisher. Regardless, it was one of those rare moments that I went into starting a novel with zero bias, having not read other reviews to steer my opinion. Set in the late 1950s when racial tension was on the rise, Three-Martini Lunch follows a trio of aspiring authors as they navigate the world of publishing during the Mad Men era. One, a girl Eden has to fight doubly as hard as a male counterpart might as she works as the assistant for a bigwig publishing exec. Another, said publishing exec’s lazy and entitled son, is constantly trying to impress his father while not producing any actual work of merit. The third, a delivery boy named Miles with true unbridled talent, has to work the hardest of them all to overcome two blows against him: being black and being gay. Their lives intertwine in unexpected ways, and the ending is rather gut-wrenching (but worth the pain, so stick with it). Three-Martini Lunch also made me nostalgic for a time period I never actually lived through, though feel as if I have through pop culture (anyone else out there absolutely devour the first season of Good Girls Revolt?).
My rating: 4 out of 5
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
After whizzing through The Nightingale—hands down, my favorite book of the last year—I got back on a Kristin Hannah kick for awhile, doing something I rarely do: re-reading an old favorite. Unfortunately, rarely do you love a book as much as you did the first time around, and that was the case with Firefly Lane. Perhaps it also had touched a nerve the first time as I read it while my mom was (SPOILER ALERT) watching her own Kate die of cancer.
My reason for reading it this time was because Kristin published a sequel that I very much wanted to read, but I felt as if I needed a refresher first. In short, Kate Mularkey and Tully Hart meet during those formative pre-teen years, and despite very different upbringings—Kate the product of a pair of strict parents; Tully, the daughter of a single parent who spends more of her life high than not—the two form a fast friendship that will go on to span three decades. Tully goes onto be a successful news anchor while Kate falls into the life she always knew she’d have: that of a wife and mother.
During their adult years, one major act of betrayal drives a wedge between the two, and they don’t reunite until Kate finds out she has terminal cancer. Firefly may not have lived up to my memory of it, but re-reading it made me cry nonetheless.
My rating: 3.5 out of 5
The post Books a Million: What I Read, Part XVI appeared first on Camels & Chocolate: Travel & Lifestyles Blog.
. That said, I did make it through seven books on our cruise late summer,… "Pin It")
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