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Hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
I managed to get quite a bit of reading time in last week and in the coming week I’m hopeful to get even more. In the district where I teach it’s Mid-Winter Break this week. A much needed respite for staff and students! Normally, I travel somewhere during this time, but was gone over the holidays and will be gone again at Spring Break, so decided to stay home. I’m thrilled to be facing a week of no real responsibilities, only a couple short appointments, and the freedom to read and write as much (or as little) as I want. I hope all of you have a wonderful week, too!
Last Week’s Reads:
I finished three books this last week with mixed results. Early in the week, I finished listening to A Separation by Katie Kitamura, and I’m thoroughly flummoxed. The book was absolutely nothing like it was promoted as. That left me both disappointed and feeling a little cheated. I’ll do a post (possibly a discussion?) later this week. I really liked Running by Cara Hoffman. It’s a dark story of three teenage “runners” in Athens during the 80’s. Runners are those people passing out hotel fliers in tourist locations throughout the world. The moral compass for these three was spinning out of control! Review coming soon. Finally, I finished Yoojin Grace Wuertz’s debut, Everything Belongs to Us, yesterday. At times I liked this book a lot and at other times, not at all. I’ll need to do a little more digesting before I review Everything Belongs to Us.
Currently Reading:
The Roanoke Girls is Amy Engel’s first novel for adults and I’m liking it very much. For me it’s a refreshing change from heavy stories set in foreign countries. It’s nice to come back to a family story set amidst mysterious deaths and disappearances in America’s heartland.
Likely to Read Next:
I’ve always been fascinated by painter Andrew Wyeth. The muse of his most famous painting, Christina’s World, was Christina Olson, a disabled woman living on a remote family farm in Maine. A Piece of the World is Christina Baker Kline’s melding of facts and fiction in the imaging of the life of Olson and her relationship with Wyeth. I’m very excited to start this book!
Have a Great Week of Reading!
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I can’t wait to read Roanoke! It’s on my list for next week, will read your review!
You’ll probably get your review up before mine!
Oh yay! I’m psyched you might be doing a discussion on A Separation. And I also wonder if the expectations set by the marketing affected your opinion of the book. Before I started reading, I read some Amazon reviews and almost all of them called out the publisher for marketing this as a thriller or the next “literary Gone Girl” (actually, that was The Millions. So, I was ready with the right expectations.
And – thanks for reading Everything Belongs to You…now I know not to bother returning to it!
AND – glad to hear The Roanoke Girls is good – I’ve had that one on my radar and was waiting on some early reports before requesting from NG b/c I have way too many March books I’m interested in, but just requested!
I think I am going to try a discussion post on A Separation. I’m a little nervous because I’ve never done one before, but figure I need to jump in sometime and this seems like a great book for it.
Good call on Everything Belongs to Us! I’m still really enjoying Roanoke Girls, but definitely see the author’s YA background. Never=the-less, I’m interested and want to see how it’s going to play out.
I hope you enjoy your week long break – we’re also on a break here in the UK at the moment, and I’m enjoying the lack of routine and time to read. Happy reading!
I think we may feel similarly about Everything Belongs to Us! It completely lost me during Part III through Part VI (over half the book). I really enjoyed Namin’s parts, but I was SO bored by Sunam.
So excited about The Roanoke Girls! I’m reading it soon!
I think it’s going to be a hard book to review. I actually liked Jisun the best, and you’re so right Sunam was just a way to link the two women.
I want to read A Piece of the World…and The Roanoke Girls is on my list, too.
I recently discovered A Separation..so I’ll be checking into that one, too.
Enjoy! Thanks for sharing, and here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES
We’re both reading The Roanoke Girls right now! I love it; it’s even better than I could have anticipated and I’m dying to get back to it (but, alas, work). I’m thankful to you for the heads up on A Separation; I’m planning to either read or listen to it and this marketing deception seems to be a recurring theme. Good to know ahead of time! I hope you have a lovely week, Susie!
When you get to A Separation I would recommend reading it. The narrator only added to the problems of the story for me!
I look forward to finding out both our thoughts once we finish Roanoke Girls.
Have a nice week, Tara!
The Raonoke Girls sounds good. I’ve been seeing it around a lot lately. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
Lots of interesting books featured here. I need to take a look at your lighter reads. I feel like I’ve been reading too many dark books lately.
I tend to read more serious books, but it sure is nice to get a lighter one in now and then!
That’s really disappointing about A Separation. I have a hold at the library for that one, but I think I’ll remove it, now. Everything Belongs to Us has a lot of mixed reviews. It seems to be a book you either love or hate. I would love to read The Roanoke Girls, so I’m happy it’s working for you.
I have three weeks until spring break, and I can relate. Enjoy your week!
I’m doing a discussion post on A Separation on Thursday, so you might want to take a look and see what others have to say.
Yay for Spring Break!
I hear you on Running! I read it two weeks ago and am still not sure what I want to say about it.
I’ve started on March books and am reading In the Name of the Family- historical fiction about the Borgias. Good but not great so far.
Enjoy your week off- hopefully we’ll get some nice weather!
Ooh, Running definitely sounds intriguing! I’m looking forward to your review. Hope you have a relaxing break!
Thank you!
I just posted a video on my Booktube channel where I mentioned The Separation. When you reply to my comment, would you comment on my video instead about what you thought about the book? I haven’t heard anyone talk about it before and I think my viewers would also like to hear your thoughts.
https://youtu.be/8SVWshiMqrQ
Thanks so much!
Karen – I took a look at your video and think it’s great for people who can’t make it to the book store and want to know what’s new out there. You probably already know that sometimes books that aren’t as new get mixed in with the new releases. For example, A Gentleman in Moscow came out early last fall. Good luck!