Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (11.16.22)

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center (★★★☆☆)

E-Book • Libby • Contemporary Romance • 2022

The Bodyguard is a contemporary romance about Hannah and Jack. Hannah is an Executive Protection Agent (aka, a bodyguard) whose next job is to keep wildly successful actor Jack Stapleton safe from a stalker while he visits with his mom who is sick. Hannah doesn’t seem like the typical bodyguard for a man like Jack, but that’s what makes her so good at her job. But in order to sell her presence in Jack’s life while he spends time with his mom at their family ranch, Jack and Hannah have to pretend to be dating. Ahhh… the fake-dating trope! It’s one of my faves, for sure. I really liked this book, but there was just something missing the mark for me. It was hard for me to understand the love story between Jack and Hannah—I could see them developing a close friendship after all of this, but I didn’t feel any chemistry between the characters nor see what made Jack fall in love with Hannah, or vice versa. I thought the ending was clever, although I could have done without the epilogue. All in all, a good romance but not one I’m rushing out to recommend.

The Smart One by Jennifer Close (★★☆☆☆)

Print • Owned (Thriftbooks) • Contemporary Fiction • 2013

The Smart One is a book about the Coffey family. There’s Weezy, the mother who might be a little overbearing at times. There’s Martha, the oldest daughter who is living at home and working in retail after burning out quickly in her career as a nurse. There’s Claire, the middle child who just broke up with her fiance and is in dire financial straits. And there’s Max, the youngest child who is away at college and just started dating Cleo. The story follows the perspectives of Weezy, Martha, Claire, and Cleo as they navigate life and family and careers and mental health struggles. It’s a character-driven novel, but the characters are just so awful and hard to root for. I wouldn’t say I need to like my characters to enjoy a novel, but when it’s a character-driven novel like this, I really want to be able to root for someone. Honestly, though, I don’t even know if I hated the characters as much as I disliked the writing. I wanted more for these characters, but the writing failed to live up to what they could be. They deserved better, I guess.

The 57 Bus: A True Story About Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater (★★★★★)

Audiobook • Libby • YA/Nonfiction • 2017

This book was… incredible. It’s part-fiction and part-nonfiction. The novel part, which is based on a true story, takes the story of a nonbinary teenager named Sasha who is involved in a horrific accident on the bus one day. A Black teenage boy named Richard thought it might be funny to take a lighter to the skirt Sasha is wearing. Sasha is sleeping on the bus at the time, but Richard thinks, surely, they will wake up before the skirt erupts in flames. Sasha does not wake up until they are engulfed, and some bus passengers have to help them put out the flames. Sasha then must undergo surgery and treatment for the burns while Richard is arrested for the crime. The novel flashes between Sasha and Richard’s stories, and between those chapters are nonfiction chapters. Information about the gender spectrum, about Black teenagers’ incarceration rates, about the justice system, about burn treatment, etc. It’s such an interesting way of telling a story, and I found myself truly awed by it.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

My Post-Book Process

Do you have a post-book process? As in, what do you do after you’ve finished a book? Do you immediately start your next book? Do you write out your thoughts in a lengthy Goodreads review? Do you stare at your library book stack or bookshelves to decide what you want to read next? Have you ever even thought about having a process of what to do when you finish a book?

Kaytee and Meredith, the hosts of the Currently Reading podcast, talked about their post-book process on a recent episode and it got me thinking about my own process, which is… nothing, really. Here’s what it looks like now:

  • I finish the book and rate it on Goodreads. I’ll also mark my next book as “currently reading” immediately since I adhere to my strict TBR list and always know what’s coming next.
    • Side note: my TBR list is only 5 books deep at any point in time. I keep a longer list of the different books I want to read soon and I can choose any book from that longer list to be added to the shorter TBR list. This ensures I’m not reading too much of one genre, too many heavy books in a row, etc. I also make sure for every two non-diverse books, I have a diverse book included. It’s mood reading lite, I guess you could say.
  • If it’s a book I own, it goes back on my bookshelf. If it’s a library book, it gets placed near my front door so I remember to grab it when I’m leaving home.
  • I keep a stack of the 5 books I’m reading next on my dresser. I’ll pluck the book off the stack, get a bookmark, and place it on my bed or coffee table. At this time, I usually pull up my TBR list, remove the book I just took off my TBR stack, move the rest of the books up the list, and then add a new book to the bottom of the list. If this new book is one I own, I’ll pull it off my shelves and place it on the stack. If it’s a book I need to get from the library, I’ll request it.
  • About a week later, I remember that I haven’t filled out my reading tracker spreadsheet in a good, long while. OOPS. I fill it in and often consult Goodreads to figure out what days I started/finished certain books.
  • I put together my actual, fully fleshed-out thoughts about the book when it’s time to write my “What I’m Reading” blog post. Sometimes it’s been many, many days or over a week since I finished the book, so my thoughts aren’t always as fresh as I’d like them to be.

Not the most streamlined post-book process, huh? I never really thought about what the ideal post-book process should look like until I listened to this episode. I mean, I’ve wanted to get better about filling in my reading tracker more frequently and I always thought it would be nice to do what Meredith does after she finishes a book and leave myself a voice memo on my immediate thoughts after finishing a book. But those were just ideas I had. I wasn’t sure I wanted to put them into practice.

But the more I sat with this episode and the more that I thought about streamlining my own post-book process to make it something that feels really good to me as a reader, it started to feel like something I have to do. Or at least, I have to try and see how it goes. So, here’s the new post-book process I want to begin implementing:

  • Once I finish a book, I rate it on Goodreads and write some quick thoughts about the book in my Notes app. (Or I can do what Meredith does and leave myself a voice memo.)
  • The same day, I need to fill in my reading tracker.
  • I don’t need to start my next book right away. In fact, since my TBR list is a tab on my reader tracker spreadsheet, once I fill in my tracker, I can tab over to my TBR list and take a look at the books I have there and choose my next book from that list. It doesn’t have to be the first book on the list, if there’s another book that speaks more to me at this moment in time.
  • I can continue with my usual process of removing a book from my TBR list, adding a new book to the list, finding the book on my shelves, and placing it on my TBR stack. (This whole process brings me such delight.)
  • Within one or two days, I need to write out my overall thoughts about the book in a draft, to be used for an upcoming “What I’m Reading” blog post.

Do you have any sort of post-book process?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (11.7.22)

Everything’s Trash But It’s Okay by Phoebe Robinson (★★★☆☆)

E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Nonfiction • 2018

I liked Phoebe Robinson’s first book of essays, and I was hoping for more of the same magic in this book, but unfortunately, it fell a bit flat for me. In this collection of essays, Phoebe covers a range of topics, from the problems with white feminism to societal beauty standards and more. She has a really powerful essay where she breaks down her history with money and the time period when she had $19,000 of consumer debt to her name. That essay made me feel a lot less alone in my own struggles with money that I experienced in my twenties and part of my thirties. But not all of the essays worked for me, such as the one on singleness. For most of the essay, she describes some of the benefits of being single but a lot of the benefits were just a bit concerning to me. “You don’t have to hide purchases from your partner!” “You can watch whatever shows you want!” etc. I get that she’s trying to have a comedic angle, but some of this made me wonder how many toxic relationships she’s been in. Hiding purchases from your partner is not normal! My main gripe with this book, though, was the writing.  Phoebe had so many important things to say in this book, but it was hard to read about the importance of intersectional feminism when all of her points are drowned out in a sea of silly hashtags, fake URLs, and meandering analogies that don’t make any sense. All in all, a book that had a lot of potential but unfortunately, not one I would recommend to many people.

To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn (★★★☆☆)

E-Book • Libby • Historical Romance • 2009

I am continued to be flummoxed about the fact that the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn was chosen out of every other Regency romance series to be adapted for Netflix. Like, I am so glad something was chosen because romance is such a popular genre but there are way too few adaptations of our beloved books. But damn, this series? Nahhh. I was looking forward to reading To Sir Phillip, With Love, since it’s Eloise’s story and she’s the Bridgerton I feel most connected to. I just love her spunk and her wit and her desire for things other than marriage and motherhood. But those are the things I get from Eloise from Bridgerton, the TV series. Eloise in the books is very, very different. She starts up a correspondence with a man named Sir Phillip after she finds out his wife has died, as she was Eloise’s distant cousin. And then, out of the blue, in one of the letters, Phillip proposes marriage to Eloise, which she was not expecting. And yet… the request intrigues her, which is why she finds herself fleeing town and hiring a carriage to meet him. At his house. Without telling him she is coming. IN REGENCY TIMES. I mean, this would be a crazy thing to do today, but it’s especially odd in the 1800s for an unmarried woman to leave her family, not tell them where she is going, and travel to a stranger’s house. It’s a very odd choice, but whatever, I went along with it because sometimes, that’s what you have to do in romance novels. The rest of the novel played out in a mostly pleasing way. I did love Eloise and Phillip’s connection to one another, mostly because Eloise is sunny and chatty while Phillip is more introverted and broody at times. There were themes of depression and mental illness running through this novel and I think Quinn handled this topic very poorly. Obviously, mental illness was not something that was handled well by anyone in the Regency era, but I think there’s a way to stay true to the reality of that time period while handling the topic with the care it deserves. That aside, I loved Phillip and Eloise together and I think these kids will make it work. And I’m super, super interested in how their story will be portrayed on the Bridgerton series!

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeannette McCurdy (★★★★★)

Audiobook • Libby • Nonfiction • 2022

While I am still WILDLY UNCOMFORTABLE with the name of this book, I understand why McCurdy named her book this way and I think she deserves to feel whatever way she wants to feel about her mom. Jeannette McCurdy is a child actor who got her big break as Sam Puckett on iCarly, which was a Disney show starring Miranda Cosgrave. I never watched the show, but it’s one I was somewhat familiar with. This memoir delves into the dark side of child acting, and it’s one that is deeply sad and incredibly infuriating. Throughout her life as a child actor, which is something she only did because she was pushed to do it by her mom, she endured countless years of abuse at the hands of her mom. Her mom encouraged her to have an eating disorder (she eventually struggled with anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating, and is now in recovery). Her mom was also emotionally manipulative and sexually abused her until she was 16. This memoir is difficult and I think it’s going to make me look at all child actors in a very new light. I listened to this book on audio, which McCurdy reads, and she has a mostly flat affect throughout the book. I didn’t mind it, but it could bug some people. This memoir was powerful, visceral, and filled to the brim with trigger warnings so please take care. I am so glad McCurdy is in a space where she can talk about the abuse she suffered and the help she has gotten since, and I can only hope she continues to heal from this traumatic upbringing.

What are you currently reading?

Categories: Books

October Reading Wrap-Up

It was another slow reading month for me: I only finished 8 books. (I say “only” because that’s low for me; I know it is very, very high to others.) I am trying to come to terms with my slower reading pace these days, but I’ve built an identity on being a voracious reader so there’s something deflating about it. I’m working on it! Anyway, let’s dive into October reads:

Books Read

1) Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (★★★★★ – print, owned, Book of the Month) – A new favorite of the year about a woman living in the 1960s who becomes the host of a cooking show.

2) Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur (★★☆☆☆ – e-book, Libby) – A rather lackluster F/F romance about two old friends who reconnect after 10 years apart.

3) The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson (★★★★☆ – audiobook, Libby) – The third book in a fun YA mystery series. The entirety of the book takes place during one day when the teens are snowed in.

4) Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi (★★★★☆ – audiobook, Libby) – An excellent novel about a girl living in Afghanistan whose entire family is killed during a coup, and how she finds her way back to Afghanistan 30 years later to get some answers.

5) A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy (★★★★★ – print, owned, Thriftbooks) – A heartwrenching book from the mother of one of the Columbine killers that details what she was thinking, feeling, and doing after the massacre.

6) The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren (★★★★★ – print, owned, Amazon) – A fun contemporary romance involving a new dating app that uses DNA to match people up.

7) Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay by Phoebe Robinson (★★★☆☆ – e-book, owned, Amazon) – A book of essays from a comedian that didn’t quite land for me.

8) To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn (★★★☆☆ – e-book, Libby) – The fifth book in the Bridgerton series. I have given up on Julia Quinn knowing how to write a good male hero.

Book Challenges

1) Book Club: We read Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus in October, which is a book we all gave 5 stars! Since this was my suggestion, I was very happy to see it so well-received.

2) Unread Shelf Challenge: The prompt for October was “a book that makes you nervous.” I ended up choosing A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold. I chose to interpret “nervous” in the way that I was nervous that reading the book was going to be a very emotional experience. And while this book was very emotional, it wasn’t too much for me.

3) Goodreads Challenge: I am quickly finishing up this goal, which was to read all of the books I added to my Goodreads list before 2018. In October, here’s what I checked off:

  • Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (DNF) – Mostly a “not right now” book. I tried to start it, but it just wasn’t the right time. I have a physical copy of the book and I put it back on my bookshelf. I do want to read it, but I need to be in the right headspace.
  • A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy (★★★★★)
  • The Nix by Nathan Hill (DNF) – I just decided I didn’t care to read a 600+ page book with a white male protagonist.

Book Stats

  • # of books read: 8
  • # of pages read: 3,081 pages
  • Genre breakdown: Romance (38%), Fiction (25%), Nonfiction (25%), YA (22%), and Nonfiction (13%)
  • Format breakdown: e-book (38%), print (38%), and audiobook (25%)
  • Fastest read: A Mother’s Reckoning (7 days)
  • Slowest read: Sparks Like Stars (13 days)
  • Star average: 3.88
  • % of books by or about BIPOC or the LGBT community: 38%
  • Abandoned books: 1 (The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett)
  • Goodreads goal check-in: I set a goal of 135 books this year and currently, I am 9 books behind schedule. Ahhhhh.

Superlatives of October

  • Favorite book of the month: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
  • Favorite romance of the month: The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
  • Most disappointing read of the month: Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay by Phoebe Robinson
  • The book that totally lived up to the hype for me: Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi
  • The book that was the hardest to get through: A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold

What was the best book you read in October?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (10.26.22)

A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold (★★★★★)

Print • Owned (Thriftbooks) • Nonfiction • 2016

Sue Klebold’s son, Dylan, was one of the killers of the Columbine massacre that occurred in April 1999. This book is her attempt to make sense of what her son did and help other parents better understand their children. It’s a difficult book, as Sue is grappling with immense amounts of grief—grief over losing her son to suicide, grief over coming to terms with what was going on in her son’s brain to lead him to commit mass murder, and grief for all of the people her son killed and their families. Whenever the identity of a mass shooter is released to the public (and how sad that these mass shootings are so common now that this is a typical process we’re used to), I always think of the family of that shooter. What must it be like to know that your child or sibling or cousin or grandchild or niece or nephew committed such a heinous act? In this book, Sue gives us an up-close look at this kind of grief and bewilderment. I don’t believe the Klebolds did anything wrong here. I believe they missed some signs of depression in Dylan, but those signs are so, so easy to miss (and even easier 25 years ago when mental health and depression weren’t common things we talked about). This was an incredibly hard read but also an enlightening one, and I am so impressed with Sue’s courage to write this book and be totally honest about what she experienced and the emotions she went through.

Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Libby • Fiction • 2021

This book begins in 1978 Kabul where 10-year-old Sitara lives a charmed life. Her father is the president’s right-hand man and she experiences all of the privileges that come along with that. Everything changes though when communists stage a coup, assassinating the president and Sitara’s family along with them. Suddenly, she’s an orphan in a place that doesn’t feel like home. Sitara is soon taken in by an American diplomat who takes her to America and changes her life completely. Thirty years later, Sitara—now Aryana—is a renowned surgical oncologist and is thrown from a loop when the very same guard who smuggled her out of the palace where she lived during the coup (and possibly, the same guard who killed her whole family) shows up in her examination room as a patient, upending the tidy world she has created for herself. There is so much to love about this book: it’s propulsive and enlightening and fascinating. There are badass female characters and beautiful scenery and an uplifting ending. I have some quibbles with the plot and the way some things were revealed while others were not. It also felt overly long in places, especially in the middle. (I think I would have grown very weary of it, had I not been listening to it on audio.) All in all, though, a really fantastic read about a part of the world I read very little about!

The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren (★★★★★)

Print • Owned (Amazon) • Contemporary Romance • 2022

You guys, I loved this book so much! Christina Lauren’s books just always work so well for me. I don’t know what it is about this writing duo, but their books give me all the sappy, happy feels. In this novel, there’s a new dating service in town called GeneticAlly that matches people up based on their DNA (there’s a whole scientific reasoning behind it, but I couldn’t explain it to you if I tried. Something about genes and how certain ones can help show compatibility?) All you have to do is send in a spit sample, and select what type of match you want—do you want to keep your options open and allow any percentage of matches? Or do you want to hold out for only the top matches, someone who is 80-100% genetically compatible with you? Single mom Jess opts for the top matches and is shocked when she receives a 98% score with GeneticAlly’s founder, Dr. River Peña. Never having seen a score so high, the team has a proposition: Spend three months getting to know River and attending events to promote their business, and they’ll pay her. Okay, okay. I know that sounds kinda sleazy, but I promise it does make sense in the context of the book. And, ugh, I just loved Jess and River and their connection so much! It was a slight enemies-to-lovers trope, but they weren’t enemies for very long and it was so heartwarming to watch them fall for one another. This novel has some fantastic side characters, too, including Jess’s daughter who added a special precociousness to the book. It was sappy and romantic and everything I love in my romance novels. Were there issues? Yes, absolutely. But if I’m rating based on how the novel made me feel, it’s a solid 5 stars.

What are you reading right now?