Meh-- you can skip these:
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang: Did I like this romance? Not really. Did I also put holds on the other 2 books in the series? Yep. **Audio
The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang: BETTER. **Audio
Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain: This book was sort of on my radar because I read a magazine review las year, so when it popped up as a skip-the-line book on Libby, I snatched it up. Rally fascinating, and if you like nonfiction, I recommend it. **Audio
The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brummer: I really did not like this title (too try-hard), and the book was... just OK for me. I have actually read a better death doula book in the last year **shrug** *2023
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston: I feel like I have read this gentle time travel story before... better. **2023
Sea Change by Gina Chung: I liked Shelby van Pelt’s octopus book better, and apparently there is really only room in my hear for one? **2023
Not this-year books, but still entertaining
The Housemaid by Freida McFadeden: terrible but also LOVED IT. **Kindle
One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid: How did I miss this one?? **Audio
Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake: Predictable but adorable. **Audio
After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid: This was her second book, and it’s SO SO SO good. **Audio
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: Late to the party but ALL IN. **Audio
A Very Typical Family by Sierra Godfrey: This was a library system common read, so I got it on my Kindle via Libby. Took me a second to believe the story line, but then I liked it a lot.**Kindle
Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood by Jessica Grose: This was terrific! I worry about how books like this one (written by a journalist) will do when they incorporate scholarship, but she wove an awesome narrative using stuff from all my favorite fields. I have read all of the scholars she cites, and IMO she used them perfectly. By the time you read this, I will have probably written a whole post about this topic/book, but this one is a YES for me. **Audio
If you see these at the library, give them a read
Watch Us Shine by Marisa de los Santos: I wanted this to be awesome because I love her, and this book returns to beloved characters from 2 of her earlier books. But. Ugh. I HATE when all of the sudden there is backstory where there never was, and that's the whole premise of this book. Also! She is a poet, and her books are lovely, but this one was overwritten? Like, Cornelia was just a little too winsome. **2023
The Only One Left by Riley Sager: A really great twisty pot, but not my fave. Lots of tropes and cliches. **2023
The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams: This was just as brilliant as I thought it would be from the description-- so tense, so spare. **2023
Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby: The Sex and the City chapter! OMG I am still laughing. **2023
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak: I did not like this one as well as his previous book (which I freaking LOVED), but I did like it. **2023
READ THESE RIGHT NOW
The Celebrants by Steven Rowley: LOVED this one. **2023
With my Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson: If you have not read these thrillers with badass southern heroines, you gotta try them. Her audio books are terrific, but I actually read this one and liked it a lot, especially the end. **2023
Zero Days by Ruth Ware: SO GOOD and tense-- I really love her, it turns out. **2023
Everything's Fine by Cecelia Rabess: I loved every single word of this book, and it was so fun to imagine the story unfolding through COVID, etc. LOVED it. **2023
This Month:
This Year:
68 books published in 2023
75 print, 7 Kindle, and 52 audio
So much reading, Sarah!!
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of the Thursday Murder Club - I think each book gets better.
My reading drops off precipitously in the summer, so I'm literally only managing to do the weekly chapters of ATGIB. It is what it is. I honestly have no idea how you manage to listen to so many books on audio? I cannot get into audiobooks to save my life. I get easily distracted and feel like I'm interrupted from morning to night so I'm forever pausing and restarting things...and I only have two kids?! Seriously - how do you do it??!! I think I've listened to two audiobooks in the last 5 years?
If you fee your attention wandering, you need to listen faster in my experience. I usually start at 1.5 and work up to about 2.25-- I read in my head really fast, so this is what feels good for me. Definitely play around with speed. I also listen when I am alone n the car driving to work (25-40 mins each way including walk time to my building/depending on traffic) and when Ben is home after dinner and I am cleaning up the kitchen (not every day).
DeleteI definitely need to read "Screaming on the Inside." Plus it's available immediately on libby! Score! Have you read "Pineapple Street"? It's a great summer read - rich people behaving badly but with redeeming qualities. I flew through it.
ReplyDeleteYES-- loved that one for exactly those reasons.
DeleteOoh, I just finished A Very Typical Family as well from the library - I had a hard time staying interested in it at first, but so glad I stuck with it - I ended up liking it a lot!
ReplyDeleteme too!!!
DeleteI have read three Helen Hoang books and each one is very meh. I feel like I *should* like her books, but I don't.
ReplyDeleteI was also meh on the Thursday Murder Club, but I've heard that the books get better, so maybe I should go back to them.
What a fantastic reading month! I admit to feeling a little jealous that you read so prolifically and I don't -- not because I think it's a competition but because there are SO MANY BOOKS in the world that I want to read, and I simply cannot read enough of them. I like your advice to Elisabeth to listen at a faster speed. I listen to audiobooks at 2.0 or 2.25 speed and it definitely helps me get through them faster! I think once I get back into a walking routine (and then once I start having quadruple the daily commute wah!) I should be able to listen to more.
ReplyDeleteZero Days is definitely one I am excited for. I like Ruth Ware... although I admit that her newer books seem a little more rushed than some of her older ones.
So glad you finally jumped on the Thursday Murder Club train! I love the series so much!
Wow. When and how do you manage 23 books in your busy life. That's impressive!
ReplyDeleteI am always SO impressed how you manage to read so much while being so busy! I am also a fan of speeding up audiobooks - 1.75x is my sweet spot but sometimes I'll move to 2x if I'm feeling it.
ReplyDeleteThe Kiss Quotient is my favorite Helen Hoang book so give that one a try if you haven't. Her books are SO STEAMY, though. Whew.
I think After I Do is the final TJR I need to read to be a completist. I need to get around to it!