Tomorrow is the first day of school for all of us at my house. I've spent the weekend getting things organized so that tomorrow morning we feel a little prepared. I love the start of school. I love that it's still warm out, the purchasing of new markers and pens and notebooks, getting my library prepared for students to come back....but it is hard to give up staying up late and adding back in all of the rushing around.
My blogging has taken a back seat to real life, but I have found a few great books to share.
Razorblade Tears by S A Cosby has been all over Instagram. I picked this one up after hearing it talked about on a podcast- I'm an easy sell and it sounded great. Ike Randolph and Buddy Lee are both devastated by the deaths of their sons Derek and Isaiah who had been married to one another. Neither man was ready to hear about their son's homosexuality, but the two decide to try and find the people who killed their children. The two ex-cons are looking for revenge and find trouble almost instantly when people show up at Derek and Isaiah's house while they are there. This one is fast paced and gritty with some gory parts, but I found I couldn't put it down. Cosby does such a good job of creating a story that was hard to put down, but that dealt with tough topics like prejudice.
One Two Three by Laurie Frankel - I loved Frankel's This Is How It Always Is and was a little reluctant to pick this one up, worrying it wouldn't be able to live up to that book. However, One Two Three is an entirely unique novel and definitely worth picking up. Triplet daughters only know their town as one that has been slowly dying - ever since a chemical from a now-closed plant polluted their river causing birth defects and cancer and a variety of other health problems. The girls suffer from health issues of their own and their dad died just before their birth. Their mom has been fighting to sue the company who destroyed her family and ruined her town for all sixteen years the girls have been alive. However, she hasn't really made any progress and now the plant is planning to reopen. This isn't supposed to be a novel of suspense, but there are lots of secrets and I loved reading to find out the story behind the chemical plant and its history with the town. The triplet girls alternate telling this story and I loved their voices. If you're looking for something unique to read, pick this one up.
Are We There Yet? by Kathleen West was the perfect book to pick up the day before school starts. Several characters trade off narrating this one, and I loved every single one of them - flaws and all. There's Alice who is finding that maybe she isn't as aware of what's going on with her kids as she thought. Teddy, her son, keeps getting in trouble at school. Her friend, Meredith, is pretty confident in her own parenting, but she might also want to check on what's going on with her daughter. Alice's mom has been keeping a secret from her daughter her entire life that she's about to confess. This book could take place in any town in the US because the struggles are universal, and West does a fantastic job of creating characters who (although frustrating) make some pretty realistic decisions. I'm anxiously awaiting the release of her next book in the spring.
I am guessing I'll have a lot of school stuff to work on these next few days, but I've got piles of books sitting here tempting me to forget about work and relax for a bit.
1 comment:
I listened to the audio of One Two Three and thought it was very good as well. I read another review on the one by S.A. Crosby that made me curious and now yours so it certainly seems like a darker but different sort of story. Hope you have a great school year.
BTW - I always loved back to school supply shopping and even though I'm retired I still have an addiction to pens, notebooks, post-its and journals LOL - and, of course, books too.
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