Books Read Last Month ~ October 2018

I love the end of the month and taking a look back at what I read over the last 30 days. Ten books for me in October, one of which I did not finish. I am not surprised I got to ten, while we still had some warm days, we had a couple of cooler weekends to curl up in the house and just have some lazy reading days. A few of my books this month were on Audible, at least in part. A couple of titles this month were not that great for me but there were some real winners too,  Here’s what I dove into and some mini book reviews of each.

Small Great Things – Jodi Picoult – I have not been a big reader of Picoult books for quite some time. Years ago I read a few of her books but after My Sister’s Keeper I shut down on this author and just couldn’t do it anymore.  I even started terming people that whack out the endings in a similar fashion as “the author pulled a Picoult” or  after reading something similar, “I was Picoulted”. However after quite a few friends encouraged me to give this one a shot, I did and I do not regret it. Small Great Things was a deep examination of certain ugly and beautiful aspects of our culture, love and hate and everything that comes with it. Ruth Jefferson is a well respected labor and delivery nurse, that is African American, assigned to a baby boy of white supremacists. They demand she be taken off the case. In a twist of fate she is alone with him in the nursery after a procedure, he goes into cardiac distress. Does she follow her supervisors orders or care for and try to save the baby.  What happened and what happens as she is tried for his death is engaging, sad and beautiful, all at once. If there was a weak point for me, I would say it was the ending, but the book was very well written overall.  I would go as far as to say this was the best book I read in October.
5 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

Need to Know – Karen Cleveland – What would you do if you were a CIA spy investigating a Russian sleeper cell and then suddenly everything you know and trust comes into serious question. That’s what happens when Vivian Miller stumbles on information and is faced with choices that will turn her world upside down no matter what. I thought this was a great book and I am not surprised to learn it will becoming to the big screen and Charlize Theron will play Vivian. Let’s hope the movie is as good as the book.
5 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

On Living – Kerry Egan – This is a quick read, or if you are like me, a shorter Audible selection. I don’t think it was much longer than 4 hours and I finished it up on the 3rd day on my commute. This book is a beautiful memoir written by a Hospice chaplain on the stories of her patients prior to their deaths. Some I found lovey, others very sad. Lots to reflect on here and there sure were little pieces that made me wonder about some of my own choices down my path.
4.5 🍷🍷🍷🍷 +

After I Do – Taylor Jenkins Reid – I have become a big fan of Reid. I think she is a gifted writer and her book Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is one of my top favorite books and definitely one of the best I read this year. This book is not an exception to that – Lauren and Ryan have a whirlwind romance, fall in love and marry.  And now what? Before long their marriage starts to grows stale, both are irritable with each other and on the brink of divorce the decide to separate for one year.  I don’t necessarily agree with how they handled their issues or some of the choices they made. But that is ok because for me it was about the story and the craft of the words on each page. TJR did not disappoint once again.
4 🍷🍷🍷🍷

Where’d You Go Bernadette – Maria Semple – A quirky book about mom, Bernadette Fox who disappears after a series of odd events involving her family and neighbors. I loved this author’s creative way of telling this story. She pieces together emails from her daughter Bee’s attempts to find out where her missing mother is. I did listen to this book on Audible and it was an entertaining light read while commuting to work.
4 🍷🍷🍷🍷

The Next Person You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom – I was really looking forward to this book coming out. I loved  The Five People You Meet in Heaven years ago and this is the sequel. It fell a little flat for me. It didn’t draw me in nearly as much as I suspected but there was one chapter that I did love very much involving a dog. The ending was interesting and did tie up the story for me but overall just so-so.
3 🍷🍷🍷

My Name is Lucy Barton – Elizabeth Strout – This was just ok for me. There was nothing really wrong with it but sometimes I just need a little more. A lot of examining of a mother-daughter relationship and the bonds we have with others as Lucy Barton is hospitalized and her mom, visits. Nothing much happens presently but the story is in the character development, relationships and who they have become from past experiences.
3 🍷🍷🍷

A Fall of Marigolds – Susan Meissner – This book merged together three time lines, 1911, 2001 and 2001, all tied together by a beautiful scarf with a marigold print. My favorite was the historical part of the story in 1911 where we meet  Clara, a nurse in the Ellis Island hospitals. I was fascinated by the history here and although Clara was a teeny bit annoying to me, it was definitely my favorite of the 3 time periods. 2001 was difficult for me to read emotionally as it centered around 9/11/2001.  2011 tied everything together. I listed to this on Audible and while it did entertain me as I drove to and from work, it wasn’t something I was raving to my reading friend about.  Good but not great.
2 🍷🍷

Winter in Paradise – Elin Hilderbrand – I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t like this book. I have enjoyed most of what I have read by this author before but this one fell short for me by quite a bit. This is stated to be the first in the Paradise series and ends with a cliffhanger. That alone is enough to make me not like a book, I mean, come on, I just read 300+ pages and I need it to come together – tell me what the heck happened. Nope, not gonna happen here.  On top of that, the plot is weak and unrealistic and the characters are largely unlikeable. A weird love (if you can even call it that) triangle begins with the two brothers and Rosie and the whole thing is so far fetched that I am surprised I even finished it. I guess I was hoping it would get better, but it did not. I highly doubt I will continue the series.
1.5 🍷 +

Unsheltered – Barbara Kingsolver – I really was looking forward to Kingsolver’s newest release and had reserved it at the library months ago.  I have to tell you, I didn’t finish it.  I don’t know what happened, I tried, I really did.  I gave up about 20% in. My mind kept drifting, I couldn’t focus and it just wasn’t pulling me in.  This was just one of those I am chalking up to, this one isn’t for me and placed it promptly back in the library return bin for someone else to enjoy. I am sure others will like it, but it was time for me to move on.

My October book of the month: Small Great Things

What books did you read last month?