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I’m back from vacation and it was absolutely wonderful! My sister, two cousins and I had an amazing time traveling around Portugal. The country is gorgeous, the people friendly, and from big cities to small rural villages, we loved it. We had so many unique experiences that the memories will last a lifetime. I hope to share more in some future post, but we’ll see. (My sister is much better about this sort of thing than I am and she’s planning on doing several posts about our trip, so I’ll at least share those.) During the three weeks since I’ve last done a weekly update, you might think I’d have managed to get a lot of reading done, but you would be SO wrong about that! I’ve only finished four books in that time and two were from before I even left on the trip. As life settles back down into normal, I hope my reading will pick up a little. What books have I missed that I simply MUST read?
Last 3 Week’s Reads
- Having loved Steven Rowley’s debut, Lily and the Octopus (my review), I was very much looking forward to his sophomore effort, The Editor. While I enjoyed this novel, it didn’t quite live up to the level of Lily. (Stop back Thursday for my full review.)
- After the success of Daisy Jones & The Six (my review) and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (my review) I wanted to try one of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s earlier books, so listened to One True Loves. It was definitely more on the romance side, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this story of a woman faced with the return or her presumed dead husband. As usual, the narration by Julia Whelan was excellent.
- I had trouble finding the right book to keep picking up and putting down on my trip and finally settled on The Better Sister by Alafair Burke. It took almost the entire two weeks of the trip for me to find enough time to finish this one, but I did enjoy it. (Review coming next week.)
- Being trapped on a plane for many, many hours on Friday forced me to stick with The Ash Family by Molly Dektar. That turned out to be a very good thing because the further I got in it, the more I liked it. (Full review tomorrow.)
Currently Reading
- I’m not usually a fan of short stories, but listening to a few while traveling was so easy. Polly Rosenwaike’s story collection, Look How Happy I’m Making You, all revolve around different themes of young motherhood. So far, I’ve found them to be both relatable and engaging and the stories are narrated by several of my favorite readers.
- While I was gone, my library hold of The Other Americans by Laila Lalami came in, but for some reason, I couldn’t get it to load in Europe. Instead, I turned to it this past weekend and after only 20% I’m loving both the story and Lalami’s gorgeous writing.
Likely to Read Next
I have SO many April books to get through. I don’t know what I was thinking when I requested so many! Next up will likely be one of these two which I’ve already been hearing really good things about.
- Normal People by Sally Rooney – This story of Irish teens whose lives intersect over several years has already been widely acclaimed and nominated for many awards.
- Miracle Creek by Angie Kim – Part mystery, part courtroom drama, this debut sounds like a perfect combination.
I hope you have a great week (or 3) in books!
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Welcome back! Sounds like a great trip. I never get any reading done when I’m traveling with friends (or family, for that matter). I hope to get to The Editor soon.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one who gets less reading done while traveling. Even on the plane I find it’s so much easier to watch movies.
Welcome back and glad you had such a great time! Sounds like an amazing trip. I typically don’t get much reading done on vacation myself. Looking forward to both Miracle Creek and Normal People!
I always feel like others are so good about reading on vacations, but based on the comments of you and others, it looks like that might not be so true.
Your trip sounds fabulous!!
I loved The Ash Family although it was a different experience for me – I am interested in your review!!
The Ash Family really was a very different read. I’ll look forward to hearing your thoughts on it, too.
I’m enjoying The Editor…and The Better Sister and Normal People are on my list.
I didn’t love The Ash Family, but I also liked it better at the end.
Thanks for sharing, and here are
MY WEEKLY UPDATES
Hmmm….I didn’t like The Editor nearly as much as Lily and the Octopus. Did you read that one?
Sounds like an amazing trip! Funny that you mention Julia Whelan. Until now, I haven’t paid much attention to the names of the narrators of audiobooks, but I just finished an excellent one that she did (Far from the Tree), and realized that I recently liked two others that she narrated (Emma in the Night and Chemistry). She’s so good! And more Taylor Jenkins Reid on audio sounds perfect–I’ll have to try to get my hands on some of her backlist on audio.
I started really paying attention to narrators about two years ago and have become a real fan of a few. Two more I really like are Cassandra Campbell and Therese Plummer. Good narrators can really elevate a book and a bad one…..
Sounds like you had a great trip. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
Portugal sounds like an amazing place to visit!
It is!
Your trip sounds incredible! Welcome back!
I’m glad you enjoyed One True Loves! It’s definitely on the lighter side, but it’s one of my favorites by TJR — it’s romance but she explores characters and emotions just as well in those as she does in books like Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones, at least in my opinion. I’m reading Normal People now and absolutely loving it. I’m already planning to pick up Conversations With Friends next!
I really did enjoy One True Loves. I think I’m just a hard core Taylor Jenkins Reid fan now. I need to go back and read a few more of her earlier books. Glad to hear that you’re also loving Normal People. I think I’ll definitely go there next.
Welcome back Susie! So glad you had such a fun trip, your pictures on IG were awesome. I wasn’t crazy about The Better Sister but my expectations were so high after loving The Wife so much
I agree that The Better Sister wasn’t as good as The Wife, but it was an easy book to read here and there while on the trip, so I appreciated it for that. (The trip was so good. I wish I could just travel for a living!)
Welcome back! I’m glad you liked The Ash Family and are enjoying The Other Americans. I thought both were really well done. And I think you’re going to love Normal People!
I’m almost 40% of the way through Trust Exercises and am not sure if I’m going to stick with it. I get the formatting choice, but it is exhausting. It’s takes precedence over the story and that’s never good. I may move on to another April book!
Okay, you’ve convinced me. I’m not going to try to go back to Trust Exercises. If at 40% you’re still struggling, I don’t want to waste anymore time on it.
I’m very excited to get to Normal People. I’ll turn to it after I finish The Other Americans. I have a feeling I won’t get much reading done this week. I was fine at school today, but crashed as soon as I got home. I always have a lot more trouble adjusting after flying from east to west.
Sounds like a great trip, and from your Instagram pictures, it looked beautiful! No wonder you didn’t get much reading done!
Thanks, Angela. Glad you enjoyed the IG pics.
Your trip sounds delightful. My weekly updates
Lily and the Octopus was one of my favourite reads. The Editor sounds very different though.
Have a great reading week 🙂
Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out- MY POST
SOO many April books, right?! I finally just finished April books – whew!
Do you think I’d like The Ash Family? Not that I need another April book!
And will be really interested to hear what you think of Normal People and Miracle Creek!
Welcome home! I loved following your adventures on Instagram!
I also loved the writing of The Other Americans. I’m excited for Normal People and Miracle Creek!!