Show Us Your Books Reading Recap — What I Read in January

Happy February! I hope you’re staying warm! It’s freezing here (literally, below freezing for most of this week, according to the forecast). It’s the kind of weather that makes you want to curl up under a blanket and read a book — I would say it’s great weather for reading, but what weather isn’t, really? I read a lot of great books this month, including some long-awaited reads that didn’t disappoint. Let’s get to them!

First, a reminder of How I Rate and what I read last month.

4-Star Reads ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (4.5) — This is one of those hyped up books that I was a little nervous to actually read, even though I wanted to very much. Everyone loved this book. You can now officially put me in that camp too. The concept is great — a young woman makes a deal with the devil where she lives forever... but in exchange no one will ever remember her. Until someone does. I couldn’t stop thinking about The Time Traveler’s Wife and Tuck Everlasting. More thoughts to come in a couple weeks (with a two book-inspired recipes!) so stay tuned. 
Available on Bookshop.org and Amazon

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman (4.5) — This is the sequel to Beartown, and I read this as a buddy read. This took me a bit to get into, which I think has a lot to do with Backman’s style, but once I was in, I was all in. Definitely another tough read. I think I liked it even slightly more than Beartown, if I’m being honest, though still just shy of 5 stars.
Available on Bookshop.org and Amazon 

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver — We read this for book club, and I thought it was so great! It was on the shorter side and covered some timely topics, despite being almost 35 years old. [full review + recipe here]
Available on Bookshop.org and Amazon

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore — I’ve been wanting to read this forever, and I wish I had read it sooner! It’s about a woman who lives her adult life out of order. I loved it and can’t stop thinking about it, and when I recently found out there is a sequel in the works, it made my day. Anyway, my full review (with a fun hot drink recipe) is coming next Tuesday, so look out for that!
Available on Bookshop.org and Amazon

3-Star Reads ⭐⭐⭐

*At the Edge of the Haight by Katherine Seligman — This novel follows a young homeless woman in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Seligman, who came at this through an experience she had living in San Francisco, interviewed a lot of unsheltered individuals to make it come to life. It was slower than the description (which made it sound like a mystery/thriller) led me to expect, but it was still a stark reminder of how complicated and time-consuming being homeless can be. A valuable read for sure.
Available on Bookshop.org and Amazon

The Fixed Stars by Molly Wizenberg — I’m a huge fan of Molly Wizenberg and loved her memoirs Delancey and A Homemade Life (both of which I’ve reviewed here). This latest memoir is not food-centric in the way those were and instead focused on her realization that she loved a woman after going through most of her life believing herself to be straight and what happened after that. It’s a unique LGBTQ+ story, and I’m glad I read it. The style wasn’t my favorite. I agreed with a lot of what other 3-star reviewers said on Goodreads.
Available on Bookshop.org and Amazon

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour — This is not the book I expected but I still liked it. It’s a satire about a black man working in corporate America, specifically at a startup, and all that “startup culture” entails. It definitely conveyed its themes of racism, white privilege and the American Dream well though I thought it went a bit off the rails. Still, I can see this being a great book to read and study in school. I would recommend picking it up if you get the chance.
Available on Bookshop.org and Amazon

Did Not Finish

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez — After really liking In the Time of the Butterflies, I was excited to see Alvarez recently released her first adult novel in over a decade. It’s a story about a woman grappling with the death of her husband, surrounded by sisters and more than that I’m sure, but that’s about as far as I got. It didn’t have quotation marks, something that takes greatness to really overcome for me, and I just wasn’t feeling it. Despite its short length, I couldn’t power through and moved onto other books that were calling my name.

Currently Reading ????

*Ladies of the House by Lauren Edmondson — This is a modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility, so perhaps I’m at a disadvantage there (having never read the book and only seeing the movie once), but so far I’m finding the story rather underwhelming. I’m about a quarter of the way in, and not terribly invested but muddling through. I got an ARC of this novel (which releases today) and am, at this point, mostly finishing it to not ruin my NetGalley percentage any further. (If you’ve read this, does it get better?)

What was the best book you read last month? What are you reading right now? I’d love to hear what you’ve read and loved lately! Please share in the comments, and if you’re interested, the linkup information is below:

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This linkup happens the second Tuesday of every month. The next is March 9, 2021.
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*I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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