Books I’ve read this spring/summer

One of my favorite things to do is read. I have always been an avid reader. But there have been some times in my life, periods when I have been going through some things, that I just could not get into reading books and it was very upsetting when this happened. Sometimes these periods would last for YEARS! This is how I accumulated over 100 books from my Mom that were just collecting dust on my bookshelves.

Last summer I got back into reading and I haven’t stopped since. And I love it! Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver is the book that sucked me back in. It is on my list as one of my favorite books all time ever. I’ve slowed down slightly since summer is over but I’m still finding time to sneak in some reading.

I usually include in my what up wednesdays post the books I’m reading and do a little review so I thought instead of doing a whole post about it so that it’s easier to reference.

I love to read fiction and my style is that of Oprah’s book club. I’m not a big fan of rom/com, chick lit, sci-fi, or fantasy/YA. And while I don’t usually read mysteries, I sometimes do because I like to get sucked into the ones that are really good just can’t put it down because I have to know who did it type books.

I also rate my books on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest. If the book is extra extra good it gets a 10+. This used to be my Mom’s rating system but she stopped it several years ago. On the rare occasion I find one of her 10+ books, I can’t wait to read it.

A Piece of the World by Cristina Baker Cline– 10/10

This book is a fictional story based on a real life painting. Extensive research was done on the painting by the author and she talks about it at the end of the book and it’s quite interesting. This book is really, really good. It transports you to a farmhouse during the mid century and the girl that lives there. It’s about how she came to be in a famous portrait. It’s totally imagined but told in a way that makes it seem like it could be completely true.

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese– 10/10

An Oprah book club pick in 2023. And 715 pages long. I became immediately engrossed in this book. It takes place on India’s Malabar Coast and spans the years 1900-1977. It follows 3 generations of a family that suffer a peculiar affliction to water- specifically drowning. There are also stories about other people that get intertwined throughout the book. What surprised me most about the book is that they eventually find a diagnosis and name for this “affliction.” This is such a brilliant and engrossing novel and Oprah never lets me down.

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian– 10/10

Copyright 2018 this book became a Max series starring Caley Cuoco that lasted 2 seasons. It’s about a flight attendant who drinks too much and sleeps around. One day she wakes up next to a guy that was murdered in Dubai who she just spent the night with. She gets questioned by the FBI and keeps changing her story. Finally at the end there were so many twists and turns, I was on the edge of my seat. The Max series looks really good but they don’t follow the book completely so I’m probably not going to watch it but I def recommend the book.

Homecoming by Kate Morton– 10/10

I’ve always been a fan of Kate Morton and this book does not disappoint. Her books are kind of like mysteries but so much more than that. In this book a girl returns to the home of her Grandma and learns about a disturbing long buried police case about her family in 1959. She starts to look into the case and learns a lot of shocking information. At the end of the book we find out what really happened but there were so many twists and turns I actually had to sit back and think about it for a moment because I was like, “Ok, what? wait a minute…”

The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin -10/10

This book is from 2019 and it’s a story about a family of 3 sisters and 1 brother who lost their father early on and their mom took “a Pause” as they call it. The book jumps around from when the main character- the youngest sister- is 102 to when she was young. It also jumps around to get the perspective of the other family members. It revolves around how everyone in the family grows up and moves on but comes together again in the face of another tragedy. Even though the book jumps around a lot between the past and present and all the different characters, it was just such a good read I was kind of sad when it ended.

Adele by Leila Slimani– 10/10

This book is from 2014 translated from French into English in 2019. Only 216 pages long, it’s a different kind of fiction but it was really, really good. It’s about a woman who appears to have the perfect life- great job, beautiful son, successful husband- but is bored and consumed by the insatiable need to feel wanted and for sex. This is why I say it’s a different kind of fiction because at times it was a little bit graphic. But it’s also suspenseful because you keep waiting to see if she’ll get caught having her affairs.

The Dollmaker by Harriet Arnow– 11/10 ( or 10+ as my Mom used to rate her favorite books)

I absolutely loved this book! It’s 677 pages and was published in 1954. It’s set in the 1940’s during the war and it’s about a woman living off the land on a farm in Kentucky. They rent the farm and dream of owning their own farm one day. But her husband gets drafted into the war and instead of going into combat he is sent to work in the factories in Detroit. Since it’s only supposed to be for a very short time, she packs up her belongings and moves her and the kids to the city. The shock of living in a tiny row house in the city and having to shop for food and eat things like margarine instead of her own homemade butter from her cow is one of the most poignant parts of the story to me. Just to hear about how people lived back then and to just hope that they will be able to return to their farm, this was such an unforgettable and heartbreaking story.

Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh – 9/10

I wrote about Jennifer Haigh’s book Heat and Light here which I absolutely loved. Years ago I read her book called Faith which was really good too. This book was also good but just not quite the same as the others. It’s a controversial topic in that the main character works at an abortion clinic. She also smokes pot and befriends her dealer and there’s also chapters about a guy that hangs out outside of the clinic as a protester and how everything gets intertwined.

Nora Webster by Colm Toibin– 11/10

I loved this book and didn’t want it to end. About a woman named Nora who recently lost her husband and how she has to move forward in life. It’s set in Ireland and she lives in a small town and is always worried about what people think of her. She has 4 children and her 2 youngest sons are still at home with her and she has a hard time understanding their suffering of losing their father. It’s a simple yet magnificent work of fiction that I just loved.

Long Island by Colm Toibin– 10/10

Another book by the same author. This book was an Oprah book club 2024 pick and is the follow up to the book Brooklyn. You don’t have to read Brooklyn to read this book. I read it many years ago and remembered most of it but I also really liked that book too so if you want to read them in order, I would. It’s a very riveting story about an Irish woman who moved to America and married an Italian man. Years later she finds out that her husband impregnated another woman and the woman’s husband is going to drop it on their doorstep when it’s born. So the main character decides to go back to Ireland to visit her mother and think about what she’s going to do. She broke someone’s heart years ago and the story comes full circle. It was a really engrossing read and I really loved it.