Monday, September 14, 2020

Summer Reading 2020: Final Check-In

And just like that....summer is officially over and for the first time ever I actually read every single book on my summer reading list.  I'm not sure what prompted my discipline in this one aspect of my life, but what a strange feeling to have actually completed the list of books I set out to read.


I have three final books to share mini-reviews about.  I may have saved them until last, but all three were really good.  




Parachutes by Kelly Yang- this is Yang's first YA novel, definitely for a more grown-up audience than Front Desk.  I had never heard the term "parachute" before, referring to young adults who are sent to the US to finish their schooling without their parents.  Claire comes to the US from her posh Shanghai life and moves in with Dani and her mother who could use the income they receive for housing a "parachute." Both girls have encounters that are life-altering -and that finally bind them together as they support each other through them.

The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny - this is the fifth book in the Three Pines series.  The first four were all OK...I liked them enough to keep reading, but I wasn't feeling the extreme love for these books that I've seen all over the internet.  Now, however, I think I get it.  This series is a slow burn....and the fifth book was fantastic.  I finally feel a connection to the characters and their community and appreciate the mysteries unfolding.  I just finished this book and am already looking forward to the sixth (thankfully there are sixteen published at this point).

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett- strangely enough I think I've read everything Patchett's written - except this book. And Bel Canto seems to be the title that everyone talks about.  I am not a huge fan of books set during a day or two...I feel like that reading about a specific event shouldn't take longer than the event itself.  And I did have to restart this one, but after getting into it, I could appreciate Patchett's writing and enjoy one of her early  works.  

For a brief moment I have toyed with the idea of creating a fall/winter reading list for myself since I was actually successful this summer. I'm not sure I actually want to do that, but I do have some backlist titles that are on my radar that I'd like to get done with.  




2 comments:

Kay said...

Congrats on finishing your summer list. I've really enjoyed hearing what you thought about them. I've read two of the ones you talked about today - Bel Canto - which I really liked and The Brutal Telling, which I loved. I just finished #16 by Louise Penny, her new one. I loved that one too and had stop myself from literally beginning again and reading it straight through for the second time. It's set in Paris and, and, and - I'll not talk about it. Ha!

Hope you are all doing well. I say - create a fall/winter list and see how it goes.

Ti said...

I did not care for Bel Canto when I tried to read it the one time. I also did not care for Run but I have loved every other book she's written. I may give it another chance.

A Fall/Winter list sounds good but the holidays, even in a pandemic tend to be busy and I just want to relax. My RIP list is my fall list. Haha.