Time was a little more limited this month, but it was a true mixed bag of reads.
Let’s begin with the first DNF of the year. They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover––and I did––so much so that I bought The Dallergut Department Store and its sequel based on the beautiful, colourful cover. If you’ve seen it, then you will know. It was phenomenally cute. I loved the concept, and really wanted to love IT, but I just couldn’t continue. After expanding into rom-coms, I have drawn the line at cute and polite fantasies. And when Santa turned up, I closed the book and gave up.
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley- I did this on audio, and everything about it was enjoyable, but I still cannot tell you what happened and why. I didn’t love the characters, and the storyline just didn’t seem to have a direction, but that being said, I can see why it is beloved. It just wasn’t for me.
When my book club friend told me what her favourite book was, I just couldn’t bring myself to read it. But I did. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is about an American high-school shooting. The concept is alarming, and she really had to talk me into it, but I’m glad she did. It was compelling. There were many characters, but at no point was it overwhelming. It walked through the event in the eyes of the shooter, the victims, the parents and the local authorities. Never before had I experienced Jodi Picoult’s writing, but this was brilliant from front to back. The concept is a hard sell, the reality a difficult truth to comprehend, but it’s a story worth reading.
Books of the month!
I couldn’t choose! The Hunger Games was the first book ever to hook me. I am indebted to Suzanne Collins for the journey she has set me on, and for bringing Haymitch Abernathy into my life. Perhaps one of my favourite characters of all time, so it’s a no-brainer that I would read and love Sunrise on the Reaping. He was already a tragic character, but the layers this story adds to him made my heart ache for him. I didn’t think I could read about The Hunger Games arena AGAIN with such anticipation, but I did. The way he is launched into that world, the characters he meets (lots of cameos, which I felt were naturally included), they all had me gripped. The ending is tragic, and it makes sense how he becomes the man we find in Book One. I literally cannot wait for the movie adaptation of this one. And if they put Woody Harrelson in as him with a disclaimer telling me he was playing a teenage version of himself, then I would ignore any signs of aging and gladly accept the casting of a 60+ year old man.
In my quest to find more rom-coms, I stuck with what I knew by going with another Ashley Poston read. The Dead Romantics came before The Seven Year Slip, and I only wish I’d discovered it sooner. The speculative fiction with Ashley Poston’s stories is so cute. I will happily always accept a fantasy element rather than reality, but the characters she creates are so real. I don’t know if it’s because I relate to these slightly geeky, not entirely confident females she portrays, but I love the MFC, Florence Day. Her journey with self-doubt in her writing, and grief are all entirely real. It’s written so well that the fact of her ghost editor Benji Andor hanging around isn’t even weird. I loved it. Despite it being only the second book I have read, I can safely say that Ashley Poston is now a favourite author of mine. I immediately bought A Novel Love Story and pre-ordered her latest book, Sounds Like Love.
