Happy Monday, friends! I had an excellent weekend, mostly because I spent yesterday shopping with my mom. I’m on the hunt for a rain jacket for Ireland and wanted to check out the Columbia outlet store near me to see if I could get a jacket for a decent price. (Trying not to pay $100+ for a rain jacket.) Unfortunately, I struck out but I still had a fun time with my mom. I got some new tops, a really cozy fleece jacket, and… um… 8 books. Oops! Used bookstores are my kryptonite and I ended up at two of them yesterday.
Now, let’s talk about reading! I finished two books last week, and I loved both of them. My reviews are below!
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (★★★★★)
Pachinko is a sweeping novel following four generations of a Korean family living in Japan. The story begins in the 1930s when a young girl named Sunja finds out she’s pregnant and agrees to marry a man who brings her to Japan to live. Readers are taken on a journey through Japan in the 20th century, a time when many Koreans were fleeing their country to find a safer place to raise their families but encountering harsh discrimination and poverty along the way. It’s a heartbreaking story but also a hopeful one with well-written characters who felt so authentic and true. It’s a long book – nearly 500 pages – but it didn’t feel overwrought or drawn out. It was perfectly paced and I found myself so engaged with the story and this family. I also realized how little I know about Korea and how they became divided – and how the war and division affected its people – so I went down many a Wikipedia rabbit hole while reading this book!
First Time in Forever by Sarah Morgan (★★★★☆)
Emily Donovan arrives on Puffin Island in a state of panic: she’s just lost her job, her estranged sister has died, and she’s become the sole guardian of her six-year-old niece. Not to mention, she’s now going to have to finally face her debilitating fear of the ocean, as it surrounds her everywhere she goes. And then she meets Ryan Cooper, a local, and he makes it his mission to open Emily’s eyes to the beauty of the island and the beauty of life itself. This romance novel is so much more than about a man and a woman who fall in love. It’s also a story about facing your fears, opening your heart, and trusting in yourself. My heart went out to Emily and everything she was dealing with, but she handled it all with such grace and pluck. I found myself cheering her on whenever she made big strides to overcome her big fears – and as she opened her heart to her niece and Ryan and the locals on Puffin Island. A truly wonderful romance from Sarah Morgan, and I’m excited to read the rest of the novels in this series!
I’m currently reading…
> Something Like Happy by Eva Woods, for book club. This novel has gotten high ratings from many trusted reviewers, so I’m crossing my fingers that I love it as well.
> What Happened by Hillary Clinton, on audio. I’m finally going to dive into this tome (it’s nearly 19 hours on audio) and I hope it doesn’t make me too emotional.
> The Darkest Link by Scarlett Cole, for my romance pick. I’m a little wary of this novel, as Goodreads tells me the Kindle edition is 456 pages and that’s ridiculously long for a romance, but we’ll see how it goes!
I also read and loved Pachinko. I learned so much about the dynamics between Japan and Korea. I had no idea Japan was such a closed nation that treated immigrants so poorly. 🙁
I finished another book by Fiona Davis over the weekend. I heard about her on a recent WSIRN episode and really enjoyed the 2 books by her. I really love how the settings feature so prominently in the book! Especially as someone who really loved NYC as all 3 of her books are set in NYC. Now I’m reading the 12th Gamache novel. It’s really good so far. The last couple of books in this series have been SO good. The books definitely get better and better as the series progresses! Up next, I’m going to read “Less.” It’s a Pulitzer winner. I usually avoid those books as they aren’t very easy to read at times. But I’ve been told this is a very readable and funny novel.
Ooh, I hope you share the 8 new books you got!