I read six books over these two months.  Five were fiction (with two of those being historical fiction), and one was a memoir.  I thought all except one were really quite good!  Here’s what I have to say about each one.

 

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

by Bryn Greenwood

This book had been popping up on different “recommended” lists for a few years, but when I read the reviews, I just wasn’t sure I wanted to read it.  They were so polarized!  It seemed readers either thought it was great, or they despised it.  I actually felt a little bit afraid to read it.  But when I was at my daughter’s in Houston, there it was on a shelf as part of a collection the landlord had in the furnished house they were renting.  So I finally took the plunge.

The author hooks you from the beginning.  We meet the main character, Wavy, when she’s just five years old.  You can’t help but want to read on to see what had happened to this young child to cause her to abhor being touched and refuse to talk or eat.  It reminded me of a dog that had been horribly mistreated.  The story is a stark reminder that we are not all brought up by loving, supportive, caring parents.  The one person who Wavy comes to respond to the most besides her little brother is a young adult male.  Their relationship is the reason for the differences of opinion over this book.  But I have to wonder what Wavy’s life might have been like without him.  The adult content is definitely XXX in a few parts in my opinion.  So if you can’t handle that, stay away.  But if you can see past that, the writing is good, and the story is arresting.

 

The Chicken Sisters

by KJ Dell’Antonia

After reading All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, I needed something light, and that’s what The Chicken Sisters is.  It’s a fictional story of two sisters who compete on a TV show called Food Wars to find out which of two restaurants in their small hometown in Kansas has the best fried chicken.  For me this book was just okay.  I was expecting to get more laugh-out-loud moments from it.  Oh, well.

 

The Tide Between Us

by Olive Collins

My sister-in-law Karen sent this book to me.  It is historical fiction, which is one of my favorite genres, and I was intrigued when I read the description on the back.  I did not realize that so many Irish were forced to work as indentured servants in Jamaica.  Or that today Irish is the second-most predominant ethnicity in Jamaica.  I learned these facts by doing a little further research while I was reading this story.  One of the main characters is a boy, Art O’Neil, who was forced to leave Ireland in 1821 when he was 11 years old.  He was taken by ship to Jamaica along with other young boys to work the plantations there.  The story tells of his life as an indentured servant and how he was linked through his past with the landowners he hated.  At the beginning of the book are two family trees which I referred back to often as I read.  They show Art’s family and the landowner’s family.  The story takes us through the next 3 generations ending in 1991.  I think it is a really interesting story…part history, part mystery.  I would definitely recommend it!

 

As Bright as Heaven

by Susan Meissner

In this historical fiction novel we follow the Bright family: Thomas, his wife Pauline, and their three daughters, Evelyn, Maggie, and Willa.  The story opens with Pauline at the gravesite of her infant son not long before the family moves from the small farming town where they live surrounded by their extended family to the city of Philadelphia.  The year is 1918, and the Spanish flu begins to rage while at the same time WW1 is being fought.  We learn how the family manages life as they adjust to their new home and face the struggles of the time.  I loved how the story was told from the perspectives of each of the female members of the family.  The author did a great job with that.  To me the book had a bit of a Little Women vibe that I really liked.  This book has a 2018 copyright, so it was written and published before our current pandemic…what a coincidence!  I highly recommend it!

 

If You Only Knew:  My Unlikely, Unavoidable Story of Becoming Free

by Jamie Ivey

I would describe this book as a spiritually inspirational memoir.  The author is completely open about her life and the mistakes she has made in it.  She chronicles her life journey to come to terms with those mistakes through her ongoing spiritual growth.  I admit that there were times that I found myself growing tired of the narrative, but I’m glad I read it all the way through.  The last chapter was the most helpful to me, but I think the previous chapters are necessary in order to make that final impact.  Anyone who struggles with sin (and isn’t that all of us?) might benefit from reading this book.  I had not heard of the author before, but the book says she hosts a podcast called The Happy Hour.  I plan on checking that out, too!

 

Daisy Jones & The Six

by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Daisy Jones & The Six is about a fictitious rock band of the 1970s.  The author of this book took a very different approach to the storytelling.  The whole thing is an interview of the band members through which the story is told of their formation, their rise to popularity, and their sudden break up.  I thought this technique was a really neat way to tell the story.  I read online that a series based on the book that goes by the same name has been produced by Reese Witherspoon.  It is supposed to be 13 episodes airing on Amazon, but as of yet no release date has been announced that I can find.  I’ll have to keep an eye out for that!

 

So there you have it!  A little synopsis of what I read during March and April.  Now, this month I’ve finished one book that I absolutely LOVED!  And the book I’m reading now is pretty good so far, so I’m already looking forward to posting about them once the end of June is here.  And also whatever other books I end up reading before then.

As always, if you have thoughts about any of the books in this post, or if you’ve read something recently that you’d like to share about, please comment!