Rainy Day Reads

Challenges:   Around the Year in 52 Books: A category from another challenge (my Bingo Board reading challenge) Bingo Board reading challenge: Read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah Along with “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr I think this was probably the most hyped WWII book of this year. I say this year. Apparently they were actually published in 2015 and 2014 respectively, according to Goodreads, but I feel like this is the year they really became known (and hyped).  This book follows two French sisters during the Nazi invasion and occupation of France. Vianne is quiet, shy and just wants to keep her family safe, while Isabelle is brash and confrontational and looking for anyone to love her like she has been craving since childhood. It’s quite hard to give a brief synopsis of this book as there are so many things going on. Not only is there the Nazi occupation forces to worry about, but the small family has its own deep wounds to try and heal, stemmi

This book made its rounds on Booktube quite a while ago and everyone was really excited for it when it first showed up. But as people read it, I seem to recall some pretty mixed reviews. People kept comparing it to “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern when it first came out, and since I didn’t really like that book, I decided this wasn’t for me. But I happened to come across it at my library, and since people had been saying that it wasn’t all that reminiscent of “The Night Circus” after all I decided to give it a go.   This story follows Scarlett who lives with her sister and father on a small island. She is about to be married off to a count, whom she has never met, but she is happy about these prospects because it will allow her to escape her abusive father. Her sister, Donatella, however, has other plans. She snags invites to a game, Caraval, that is played every year, hosted by Legend, who appears to be a magician of some sort. When the sisters reach the place where the g

This book is about Astrid who is struggling to figure out who she is, and even though she has an inkling, she is afraid of acknowledging it. We follow her as she tries to come to terms with her identity and her life in a small town in a dysfunctional family.   I’m quite conflicted about this book. Sometimes I really liked reading it and other times I thought it was a bit meh. The ending also caught me by surprise, because this is one of those books that had a good chunk of pages left and I had settled down to watch the final bits of the story come together, when suddenly it was the end and all the pages left were interviews, discussion guides and a preview…So disappointing. Especially because I didn’t really feel like the the ending was that great. I was expecting a bit more redemption from all the people in Astrid’s life.  I found pretty much all the relationships in this book to be terrible. Like I said Astrid has a pretty dysfunctional family where the mother is a wor

This is the land of opportunity. A lot of Europeans migrated here in the 19th and early 20th centuries looking for a better life and a new start. And it is no wonder they chose to come to Argentina, as this country has a lot to offer. These days it is mostly tourists who come through, either as part of a bigger trip to South America or simply to immerse themselves in Argentine culture. And there's a lot immersion to do! First off, we have the food. Argentina is world famous for its beef, and no trip is complete without a good lomo or some sort of other steak. Choices abound. That being said, it is actually possible to survive here as a vegetarian, you just have to study the menus a little more thoroughly ,and be aware that most Argentinians do not consider pork or poultry "meat". So specify that you ONLY want the vegetables! To go with the eminent food there's the drinks. Of course wine abounds, as Argentina has some very fine wine country, but the equally famo

I’ve heard a lot about this book and everyone who has read it has seemed to love it. It is about a woman who decides to become a vegetarian, which her entire family seems to have a massive problem with. We hear the story from the perspectives of her relatives instead of herself, so I found it pretty hard to connect with her.   First we hear from her husband. This is the period when she decides to become vegetarian. It not just the fact that she becomes vegetarian, she seems to have some sort of mental health issue in relation to this, but instead of being concerned about her mental health her husband is obsessed with the fact that she leaves the house without wearing a bra.  Next we hear from her brother-in-law. Now the woman seems to be in a mentally healthier state and she helps out with her brother-in-laws art project. This art project consists of him painting flowers on her naked body and filming it. This man is sexually obsessed with the woman and wants nothing more th

Challenges:   Bingo: Night by Elie Wiesel Diversity Bingo 2017: Jewish Main Character This book is set during World War II and our protagonist is Eliezer, a young boy living in Transylvania with his family. Soon the Nazis make their arrival and Eliezer and his family are first forced to move into a ghetto with other Jews and then they are moved to a camp.  This book is told from the perspective of Eliezer, and we follow his struggle with faith as these harrowing things unfold. He started as a devout Jewish scholar who wanted nothing more than to study the Jewish mysteries, but at the end of the book he is deeply questioning his faith.  This book is quite short but very powerful and while there are many books dealing with the Holocaust I think this one has a bit of something more, as we follow Eliezer’s internal struggles with faith and morals as well as the external struggle to just survive.  I gave this book 5 stars out of 5. 

Challenges:   Around the Year in 52 books: A book that is a continuation of a book you’ve already read This book is the third and final installment of the “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” series and I was really torn about it. I liked the first book enough to give it 4 stars out of 5, while the second only got 3 stars. This last book was really seesawing between the stars for me, because while I adore the setting and ambience, I started to have a real problem with Lara Jean as a person.  First let me say that I really enjoy Jenny Han’s writing and the whole setup of this series. This book made me super nostalgic for high school and I didn’t even go to an American high school, but all the traditions, the winding down of the school year, saying goodbye and people setting off on different paths in their lives…ugh! So nostalgic!  As for Lara Jean she started to really bug me. Beware of slight spoilers below! She is dating Peter throughout this book and sever

Usually I get my books from the library, but every once in a while something will possess me and I will spend tons of money on books. This was one of those times and the result is a lovely mix of fiction and non-fiction of books I can’t wait to read.   Fist up we have “Cinder” by Marissa Meyer. I’ve already read this and I really liked it.  I gave it 3 stars which might seem a bit middling, and I definitely did have some issues with it, but overall I liked it and continued the series, which I ended up really loving. You can see my review of “Cinder” here :  Then I got “Private Peaceful” by Michael Morpurgo. This book is a story about the First World War, and since one of my all-time favorite books takes place during that time (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) I figured I should broaden my reading horizon on that subject. Apparently this book is about a boy who is too young to fight, but he follows his brother to the battlefields and reminisces about his childhood.