I read seven books during the first three months of this year.  Five were fiction, one was a memoir, and one was a Bible study.  Here are my thoughts on each one.

Confessions of a Domestic Failure

by Bunmi Laditan

 

A New York Times bestselling author reviewed this book as being “freaking hilarious”.  That was enough to make me want to start the year off with it.  And it WAS hilarious!  The main character is a new first-time mother who has a tough time juggling all the things a mom has to juggle.  Even though it’s been almost four decades since I had my youngest, I still had quite a few laugh-out-loud moments while reading this book.  It’s true that her lack of parenting and homemaking skills is exaggerated, but that’s part of the comedy.  Besides being funny, it was also heartwarming.  I wanted so badly for this young mother to find some friends, and I was so happy for her when she did.  Then I was so worried for her when those friendships were in danger of falling apart.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was happy I started the year off with a fun read.

 

Still Me

by Jojo Moyes

FINALLY read the last book in the trilogy, and I LOVED it!  I’m so glad my friend Lynn told me that Kindle was offering it for $1.99.  I straightaway downloaded it and devoured it.  It had been a while since I read Me Before You and Me After You, but I had no problem picking right back up with the story line.  In this one, Lou arrives in New York and begins working for an extremely wealthy family as a companion for Agnes, the lady of the house.  You read about the difficulties she has maintaining her long-distance relationship with Sam who is still in England.  And you learn how she helps Agnes overcome the anxieties she has trying to fit in to high-end society as Mr. Gopnik’s second wife (his first is at all the social events) and trying to coexist with his adult daughter.  Further on, Agnes reveals to Lou a huge secret about herself.  There’s so much more happening in this story as well.  I don’t think I’m divulging too much when I say that the last bit of the book reminded me of the movie “Sleepless in Seattle”.  I enjoyed the movie Me Before You, and I think Still Me would also make a great movie.  Since seeing that movie, I always picture Lou as Emilia Clarke while I’m reading. 😜

 

In Pieces

by Sally Field

 

I have always loved Sally Field all the way from back in her Gidget days.  She is 8 years older than me, and I feel like I’ve watched her grow up and grow into acting.  Her memoir In Pieces had me so surprised.  From her life at home as a child to her life at home as a celebrity to her feelings about different roles she played.  Almost none of it was as I imagined it would be.  And I didn’t know the story of how she was discovered before I read this book either.  I admire the honesty and openness of her writing.  While it is a book about her life, it is also a book about parenting and mother/child relationships.  The epilogue absolutely wrecked me.  And I’m so happy to say that I still love Sally Field after reading her memoir, maybe even more so.

 

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

by Alexander McCall Smith

 

This series was recommended to me by my niece Amy.  I had never heard of it before.  In this book, which is the first in the series, the reader is introduced to Precious Ramotswe and learns about her young life and how she is led to open her own detective agency in her home country Botswana.  Although it is not a folktale, to me it had the feel of an African folktale, which I enjoyed.  I was surprised at the love interest she chose as her first intimate relationship, but I suppose love (or infatuation) can make fools out of even wise people.  Getting beyond that, the story tells of several of her first cases she accepts and how she goes about solving them.  I found it to be a charming book, and I look forward to reading more in the series.

 

Trustworthy

by Lysa Terkeurst

 

In January and February, I took part for the first time in an online Bible study with Proverbs 31 Ministries using this book.  The book focuses on strengthening your trust in God by examining the lives of several of the Old Testament kings.  The experiences of these kings can provide lessons for application in modern-day life.  I enjoyed the study, as I’d never spent much time in 1 and 2 Kings before, and I found it interesting.  The P31 Ministries provided the accompanying videos for free online for a limited time.  While I was very interested in the parts of the videos that showed Lysa in Israel in the actual settings we were reading about, there was a lot of video I could have done without.  And I don’t think one would need the accompanying video at all to complete this study.  I wouldn’t call this study life-changing (at least not for me), but I did learn a lot from it so am glad to have done it.

 

This Tender Land

by William Kent Krueger

 

I read this book for my book club.  It is set in Minnesota during the Great Depression.  Two boys, Odie and Albert, are portrayed as orphaned brothers.  Despite being Caucasian, they are living at Lincoln School, a school for Native American children.  The children at the school are treated badly by most of the school staff, leading the boys to escape in a canoe.  Also escaping with them is Mose, their Native American friend from the school, and a young orphaned girl named Emmy.  Most of the story is about the long journey they make while on the run fleeing to evade capture by the evil school superintendent.  Throughout their adventures, the author depicts what various parts of society were going through during that era.  Partway through the story, it occurred to me that some of it had a Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn feel to it, which was later confirmed when I read the notes at the end of the story.  The story did have a couple of drawbacks for me.  One was how Emmy had mystical powers.  The other was how fast the author had everything resolve at the end after having this long drawn out travel.  Before I read this book, I saw where critics were comparing it to Where the Crawdads Sing.  That book I loved!  This book was okay, but to me did not come close to the mark that “Crawdads” did.

 

A Million Dreams

by Dani Atkins

 

When I first heard about this book, I was intrigued by the premise of the story.  Beth and her husband Tim had made two unsuccessful attempts at in vitro fertilization before Tim died.  Only one of their embryos remained frozen.  When Beth decides as a widow to try one last time to have their baby, she discovers that the fertility clinic has mistakenly implanted her embryo into another client.  This means her biological child is somewhere out there being raised by another mother.  I enjoyed the book during the first half, wondering how it all would go.  But then it became rather flat for me.  By three quarters of the way through, it was so highly predictable that I was having a hard time motivating myself to even pick it back up and finish.  Finish I did, though, so I feel justified giving my two cents.  I would not recommend it.  That being said, it didn’t rate any lower than a 4 or 5 on Amazon reviews (only 28 reviews).  So even though I’m not a fan, others evidently enjoyed it.

 

I really let myself get too bummed over that last book and slowed way down with my reading.  It made me wonder what other people do when a book goes sour for them.  Having already invested the time in reading over half the book, I felt I had to finish it.  My daughter Cara told me she would have no problem quitting it and starting something else.  What do YOU do?