What I Read | November Edition

The four books I read in November put my 2014 tally at 49. Only three books left to reach 52! Totally doable, but I’m still a little nervous about fitting it in. It’s December, after all.*

Here are the books I read in November:

The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg | A family comes to terms with the mother’s morbid obesity and how it is destroying her health and life. Each chapter jumps from present to past, with the present chapters each taking a new character’s perspective as that part of the story unfolds. This book was okay, but it was far too short for what the author was trying to achieve. One of the later chapters changes perspective from first to third person, and it’s kind of jarring. From there, the book went downhill quickly for me. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed | I think Cheryl Strayed is an amazing writer. I’ve read Wild twice, and earlier this year I read her novel Torch. Her stories are amazing, if sometimes unbelievable, and she exudes a gentleness as she doles out her advice as Sugar. Somehow she has a way to be both firm and kind, and I find that to be refreshing and admirable. As for the advice and reading through an entire book of her advice column, I found myself sometimes nodding along, but mostly feeling conflicted because I don’t share many of Sugar’s values. Still, it was worth the read.

The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian| This is the story of one family in Italy during 1943 and 1955, a mystery detailing murder, romance, war, and revenge. That makes it sound a lot better than it was, but the two time frames alternate in each chapter (with snippets from the killer’s point of view mixed in) and I don’t think it works. The timelines are too close together. And no one would ever be able to guess who the killer is. This was a book club book, and provided a lot of interesting conversation about war, family, and literary craft, but I thought it was just okay.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes | When I picked this up at the library, I thought it was The Rosie Project, but I had remembered seeing the cover and thought I’d give it a shot. It wasn’t until I was about 50 pages in that I realized there was a Romance sticker on the spine, but by then I had already gotten a substantial chick-lit vibe. My expectations were pretty low, but I really enjoyed this. It wasn’t as predictable as I thought. The narrator ends up working for a quadriplegic, who is grumpy and mad at the world, but the two of them forge a friendship and she goes on a mission to show him life is really worth living. Doesn’t that sound light and fun? It is (mostly).

So, have you read anything good lately? I’d love recommendations as I cobble together my 2015 reading list.

*As part of my list of 33 things to do before I turn 34, I plan to read 33 books. This month makes 8/33.