Happy Monday, friends! I actually have two bookish moments of the week. What, what! First, I hit my Goodreads goal of 135 books over the weekend and that was super lovely! Can I knock out another 15 before the year is up? Time will tell! I’m not going to try too hard to hit that magical 150 number, but it would be fun to get to!
My other bookish moment of the week was exploring Tombolo Books, an indie bookstore in my town. This bookstore opened a few months before the pandemic hit and I haven’t had a chance to visit it yet! Thankfully, they are open for in-person shopping (you have to schedule a time to visit) and I picked up three books (The Fire Next Time, The House in the Cerulean Sea, and Written in the Stars) that I’m excited to read soon. I had planned this shopping date with my friend B. and then halfway through poking around the bookstore, all of my other friends showed up for a pre-birthday surprise! I’ve helped organize five of these birthday surprises over the past six months so I’ve been looking forward to how my friends were going to surprise me, and I was most assuredly shocked! Hehe. It was a lovely surprise.
Alright! Let’s dive into my reviews for this week. I finished two books and have another four in progress (whew!):
Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes (★★★★☆)
One-sentence synopsis: After Shonda’s sister questions why Shonda always says no to opportunities, she commits herself to a year of always saying yes.
Oh man, I loved this book so much! It was so inspiring. And what a perfect time to read this book, as I’m thinking about 2021 and what I want to accomplish next year. It definitely made me want to commit to my own “year of yes,” as someone who also says “no” way too often. During this year of yes, Shonda gives a commencement speech at her alma mater, loses 100+ lbs, goes on Jimmy Kimmel, turns down a marriage proposal, is interviewed by Oprah… and more. It was fascinating to see her transformation as the book progressed, as she began the year scared and anxious and sad, but as she said yes to more opportunities and yes to herself, she grew more confident and happier and more alive. I’m a longtime lover of Shonda’s TV shows (she is the showrunner for Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Private Practice, and How to Get Away with Murder) and I always picture her as this larger-than-life, super-confident woman but she’s not. Like anyone, she has vulnerabilities and anxieties and issues. This is a feel-good story and it’s a great time to pick it up, as it will give you a lot of inspiration for tackling your own challenge in 2021!
Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean (★★★☆☆)
One-sentence synopsis: Twenty years after Grace’s first love betrayed her, he has returned and she realizes she never stopped loving him.
This novel was just… boring. The characters were flat. The sexual tension that I expected wasn’t there. And while most historical romances can be quite anachronistic (authors try to make these novels so very feminist during a time period that was most assuredly not), this one felt like it leaned into the unreality more than it needed to. Still, I gave this novel three stars because I thought the last 30% of the book was much better than the first 70%, and I appreciated the look at a different section of society than most Regency romances (which typically follow high society people like dukes and earls and marquesses). In this book (and the two earlier books in this series), we follow working-class people and I thought MacLean did a great job of humanizing these individuals who aren’t given much space in historical novels, especially not in romance.
What I’m Reading This Week
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi – I’m still working my way through this book! I have a few more chapters to go, and feel like it’s one of those books I’ll want to read again (maybe even slower than I am now!) because there is so much information to glean from the pages.
- Come Away with Me by Karma Brown – I’m nearly finished listening to this novel, only a few hours to go. It’s excellent and may even be a five-star read for me.
- Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi – I’m a little more than halfway through this story, and it’s… fine. I went into it with the highest expectations based on how much I love Homegoing and it’s definitely not striking the same chord with me. But I’m going to stick with it and hope it pays off in the end!
- Love on Lexington Avenue by Lauren Layne – I can always count on a Lauren Layne romance to give me all of the happy feels, and this one is definitely doing that for me!
What are you reading?
I kind of felt the same way about Transcendent Kingdom. I think I might have felt differently if I hadn’t read “Homegoing” first. That is just a tough book to follow. I still liked it and think it would make an excellent book club book but I didn’t LOVE it like Homegoing.
Over the weekend I finished “A Good Time for the Truth” which was a collection of 16 essays by BIPOC living in Minnesota. It was really interesting and eye-opening. It showed how much work we have to do in the north towards more equality. We may not have confederate flags but there is a lot of other more subtle forms of racism – and less subtle like the redlining that was done in the 20th century that prevented Blacks from living in certain neighborhoods. I also finished “Wild Game” which was a memoir written by a daughter whose mother chooses her as her confidant when she has an affair with her husband’s best friend. The daughter was 14 when he mom confides in her (her husband was the girl’s step father but still – so messed up). And then I also read ‘The Midnight Library’ which I liked but didn’t love. Now I am reading “Suite Francaise” as a buddy read but I think it’s going to take me awhile. It’s very heavy as it’s set during WWII and starts when Parisians evacuate Paris in preparation for the Germans attacking. I also tried to read “Catherine House” and abandoned it at 20% because it was just too dark for me and the main character was so so so unlikeable.
Congrats on hitting your goal! That is amazing! I totally think you could do 150. Throw some middlegrade in there, ha.
Aww, I love the surprise and that you were surprised! You have such a great group of friends.
Year of Yes sounds really good! And wow, that is a lot to get done in a year!
I saw you were reading Transcendent Kingdom on Goodreads and was wondering how you were liking it. I DNF’d it and was surprised to, but the story just didn’t pull me in. I hope it gets better!
I just started A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor this am. It’s a sequel and I re-read my notes on the first book and the Goodreads synopsis but I am not remembering much! Oops! I hope it comes back to me as I read more.
OK, I think I need to add Year of Yes to my (really really long) TBR. 🙂
That is so awesome that your friends surprised you! It’s clear that you really prioritize your friendships and relationships – it must have been so much fun to have them turn the tables on you! (Come on, didn’t you suspect at least a little?)
I am still slogging through How to Walk Away but hoping to finish today when I step away from the computer… Have to do the de rigeur family Zooms first. Ah, 2020…