Monday Mini-Reviews: A Mixed Bag

There is way too much going on right now - both at home and school - as we near the holidays for me to get much reading done.  I'm plugging along but after reading Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, I've hit a bit of a reading slump.

These four books are what I've read most recently. I enjoyed a couple of them, but have mixed feelings about the other two.

 

A Hundred Suns by Karin Tanabe is historical fiction at its best.  Set in Siam (what is now Vietnam) in the 1930s, I loved this book which combines a fantastic setting that I enjoyed learning more about with a story that had just enough suspense to keep me turning pages. I did mostly guess how things would resolve, but I really feel that Tanabe's work is under-appreciated and have enjoyed every single thing she has written.  I wish she'd get picked by a celebrity book club so that she'd become a household name.

Verity by Colleen Hoover- I have enjoyed the three previous CoHo books I've read, but I have heard repeatedly that Verity is not for everyone and that there are some trigger warnings that should accompany it.  This book was a little like watching a train wreck. Hard to read, but impossible to put down.  Hoover has such an engaging writing style that she holds a lot of appeal to readers.  However, this book just made me feel icky.  Long ago I read the Flowers in the Attic series by VC Andrews and couldn't stop reading them. The topic isn't the same, but I feel towards Verity like I felt toward FitA.  I'm not recommending this one but there are tons of people who rave about it.

The Search by Michelle Huneven- having attended church my entire life and been in congregations who have had to extend calls to potential pastoral candidates, I found this book a little bit fascinating - and totally unlike my church's process.  Huneven's congregation doesn't seem much into actually reading the Bible or learning about God, which seems not very churchy, but I enjoyed learning about each committee member and could find similarities between her characters and people I know.  I have lots of friends who have struggled with various aspects of how their churches are run, and would love to talk about this book with them.  This is an under-rated gem that I hope more people stumble across.

Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli- This was a GMA book club pick, and generally I enjoy what is being selected by them, but I'm pretty meh about this pick.  I also enjoy kind of depressing books, but the entire book is literally chapter after chapter of Eve grieving the untimely loss of her husband who committed suicide.  The first chapter has a great hook and I was instantly sucked in, and I know that grief doesn't just evaporate in a few chapters' time, but this was just Too. Much. Sadness.  I am sure somewhere there are readers who feel like this hit the nail on the head when describing the grieving process; it is just really hard to read about. 

I'm not sure what next week's reading will bring, and I'm hoping that there will be time to devote to this in the evenings this week, unlike last week where I seemed to get sucked in to my phone.