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It’s Monday and the holidays are fully upon us. I love this time of year, especially when all my Christmas shopping is done. (And, it almost is thanks to a little shopping at the airport!) Last week was an extra busy one for me. On Wednesday I had to have a root canal. Fun! Fun! Fun! Actually, it wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated. On Friday, I made a quick trip down to the Bay Area so I could spend a couple days with family and attend a memorial service for a really wonderful man, who also happened to be my uncle. It’s always sad, but he lived a great life and was a shining example of what a good man’s life looks like.
Last Week’s Read
I finished rereading The Secret History by Donna Tartt on the plane ride down to California. This has long been one of my all time favorite books and I really wanted to see if it would hold up to the test of time. I’m happy to say, it did, but the second time around was definitely a different reading experience. It’s really difficult to compare two reading experience spaced twenty-five years apart. I was definitely more enraptured with the book the first time, but I think that would be true of any second reading for me. Overall, I was less sympathetic to the characters and naturally viewed them from a more mature perspective. (Yes, I mean older!). More than ever, I want to talk about The Secret History with others!
Currently Reading
I’m well over halfway through with the audio version of Forty Autumns by Nina Willner and I’m really enjoying this story of a family on both sides of the Berlin Wall over a span of forty years. As is the case with so much nonfiction, I’m learning a lot and am once again amazed at all that i didn’t know. If you looked at my Winter Preview 2018, you saw how many great books I have lined up for the winter months, and I just couldn’t resist the temptation any longer. I’ve read 40% of The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin and can say without reservation that the book is a fantastic start to my 2018 reading! Benjamin’s novel follows four siblings who as children visit a sort of fortune teller who tells each the date they will die. Though they don’t really believe, her predictions none-the-less haunt the siblings.
Likely to Read Next
I keep saying I’m going to take a break from nonfiction, and then I start another one! Too many bloggers I trust (Sarah @sarahsbookshelves, Cathrine @gilmoreguidetobooks, and Tara @runningnreading) have raved about Anna Quindlen’s Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake. I can ignore it no longer. I’m looking at my introduction to Quindlen as a book I’m going to read just for me! (No review. There are plenty of good ones out there.) On the fiction side, I’ll probably turn to Grist Mill Road by Christopher J. Yates sometime in the next week. I adored his debut novel Black Chalk (a campus thriller) and am eager to see what Yates does with his sophomore effort.
I hope you have a great week in books!
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So glad to hear The Immortalists is living up to the hype! I’ve got that one too…along with like 5 other books for 1/9. Haha. And I’ll obviously be reading Grist Mill Road in December as well 🙂
PS – LOVE that you’re going to read the Quindlen! You’re going to love it!
Hmmm…I have a lot of January books, but only two for 1/9. What am I missing?
The Immortalists is definitely high on my list for next year, so glad to hear you’re enjoying it!
YAY!!! I’m so glad to hear that you are enjoying The Immortalists and that you are planning to read the Quindlen; such a great read. I am currently reading The Grist Mill Road and I think it’s going to be a good one. 😉 I’m sorry to hear about your uncle; he sounds like such a wonderful man and I know he will be missed.
I’m happy to hear a good report on The Grist Mill Road. Sophomore books make me nervous!
I loved that Anna Quindlen memoir!
I like to reread books but, with my current heavy review schedule, it is hard to fit in rereads. I seem to always find something new when I reread. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
I almost never reread, so this was a treat to me!
Glad to hear you’re enjoying The Immortalists. I thought it was a great read!
I’m almost done and still really like it. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.
So sorry about your uncle Susie. I’m so happy to hear you’re enjoying The Immortalists…there’s hope for 2018 then!! I say that because I’m currently 0-4 on my 2018 reads😱
0 for 4? That’s awful. I’m sorry.
Grist Mill Road is on my wishlist. I’m getting ready for the new year. Come see what I’m looking forward to and what I’m reading now.
I’m so impressed/jealous. My Christmas shopping list is still pretty long!
I’m glad to hear you are enjoying The Immortalists. It’s on my list for next year.
Happy reading, Susie!
We’re having a huge extended family Christmas this year, so I was motivated to get the shopping done early. You’ll get it done!
I thought the Secret History held up over time. I recently reread it in 2013 and still was quite into it — maybe not as much as the first time but still plenty good, chilling. I don’t read much nonfiction but Forty Autumns looks really interesting. I will add it to my list.
My mentor told me she stopped reading The Secret History because it was too dark for her. I enjoyed her The Goldfinch, so looking forward to reading this one too.