Despite carrying my luggage in a backpack, I managed to take many, many books with me to Turkey. Because the bag was so dang heavy, I had to prioritize the order in which I read things so I could dump the heavy books first. (I recycled them by giving them away.) Since I’ve gotten back from vacation, I’ve continued my tearing through books, including reading one in less than 24 hours. In case you’re looking for a good summer read, here’ a list of what I’ve read over the last month.
The Healing: A Novel by Jonathan Odell
I learned about The Healing from a summer reads list from NPR. The storyline alternates between pre-Civil War and the 1950s and focuses on Granada, a woman born into slavery. For the first few years of her life, Granada was a house slave acting as a pet for her master’s wife. Her life changed when the master bought a new slave – a woman who practiced natural medicine and selected Granada as her apprentice. The author, Jonathan Odell, does a nice job of exploring the concept of freedom and its value without letting that overpower the basic story.
Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth
These are the first two books in what promises to be a popular ongoing series. Just before vacation, Wonder Boy and I swung by a local bookstore to pick up some travel books. When we walked in we were overwhelmed by the scads of teenage girls swarming the place. They were all there, we were told for a book signing with Veronica Roth who wrote Divergent. We were all “Who? “What?” But then a few days later when I was getting book for vacation and I saw Divergent, I decided to try it out. Thousands of teenage girls can’t be wrong, right? Right. It’s hard for me to properly evaluate Roth’s books because they seem so similar to The Hunger Games, falling into the same dystopian genre of books. (These seem to be the orphan books of today.) Ultimately, I don’t care if these were a knock off of The Hunger Games or anything else because they’re good. I loved Divergent and when I got home from vacation ordered Insurgent, which I read in under 24 hours.
If you’re getting ready for vacation, a trip to the pool or just want some easy summer reading, I recommend these. The topics are heavy, but you’ll fly through them.
The Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory
A lot of girls I know rely on Jodi Picoult as their go-to author. I can’t do that but understand the need for an author who’s consistently entertaining. I rely on Philippa Gregory and she doesn’t typically let me down. Her nooks are a good mix of historical fiction and smut. What’s not to like. This book for one. The Queen’s Fool uses characters from some of Gregory’s past books (there are only so many kings and queens to focus on) but this book showed inconsistencies. I didn’t like reading about Queen Elizabeth in a way that differed so much from how I’ve read about her in other books (by Gregory and others). It makes me start to question where the truth lies. And I don’t go to Gregory for thinker books. I’m not done with this author, but I wouldn’t bother with this specific book.
The Clothes On Their Backs by Linda Grant
Like a moody teenager, The Clothes on Their Backs was a little whiny and self-involved but enjoyable enough. It wasn’t the book I had intended to get and it won’t be one that sticks with me, but for a vacation read, not bad.
The Wedding by Dorothy West
I read The Wedding for book club and I am very interested in hearing what my club members thought of the book. I loved it. This is Dorothy West’s second novel and she finished it at age 85. I typically hate seeing author’s photos – I think I prefer to make up what the creator of a story looks like based on the writing – but West is cute as a button. What I liked about this story was the exploration of race and skin color within one race, as opposed to among races. It was also a great reminder that as scandalous as we think things are now, everything has been done before.
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
Of the books I’ve read this past month, one that I enjoyed the most is the same one I struggle to describe. When she saw I was reading it, A Cup of Tea and a What Penny commented, “This one took me two attempts, but ended up being one of my favorite books I’d read in years.” I totally get that. When I started I was very meh about the story. But once I got on the plane to Turkey, reading a Nobel Prize winning book that takes place in Turkey got much better. Snow is an intense book that I don’t think I could recommend to many folks. It’s just … meaty. But the work to get through it is worth it.
