Category: Honest Book Reviews

Unfortunately summer is winding down. It's time to pack away the beach chairs. Time to close up the pool and cover the patio furniture. It's time to go back to work and school. Time to tally up the best books of summer 2019. This list of the best books of summer 2019 is extremely subjective. It's comprised of the best books I read this summer. Yup, it's my opinion. These aren't necessary "summer's hottest reads". In fact, some of these books could be a few years old already. It's not based on prize winning books or books "Everyone" loved. Nor is it based on books with five stars and a billion reviews. I mean, these books might have five stars and a million reviews, but that's not why I consider them the best books of summer 2019. I consider them the best books of the summer because they were the…

So lately, I've been watching movies and then reading the books. With the exception of Every Day and To All the Boys I've Loved Before, I've found most of the time, I prefer the book to the movie. I didn't want to review The Art of Racing in the Rain until I had seen the movie. I wanted to offer an opinion as to whether the movie did the book justice or not. My daughter and I went to see the movie the day it came out. And while we both cried buckets and used up a whole packet of tissues (what is it about dog movies and crying????), the jury is still out on which was better. They both have positive attributes...so maybe you need to experience both to decide. The Art of Racing in the Rain is about the life of Enzo the dog. He is adopted by…

So I was lucky enough to not only read one great, 5 star book last week (A Man Called Ove) , I was fortunate enough to read TWO 5 star books last week. The second one was The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters. It's written by the author of Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows, Balli Kaur Jaswal. I read Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows last year and I loved the characters. The author's ability to bring a culture that I don't have much experience with alive in my head was amazing. Usually a second novel following close on the heels of such a successful debut falls flat.  This wasn't the case with The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters. In some ways, this book was even better than her first. The premise of the novel involves three sisters making a pilgrimage to India. This journey is a promise made to…

Never have I ever read a book like "A Man Called Ove". (It's pronounced Oo-vah btw...you're welcome.) The reason I know this is because I truly have never read a book like this...I listened to the audiobook version and that's how the narrator pronounced Ove. If he's wrong, I'm sorry, but that's on him. I'm not sure if it was hearing the characters voices (bravo to the narrator...he was ah-mazing) or that this book was truly something else, but this is probably the best book I've read experienced in years. Honestly, I can't even find anything bad to say about it. Ove (okay, maybe he should have had a name that was a little easier to pronounce...there, that's the only thing bad I can say about this book) is an old curmudgeon. Actually, he's not really old, only 59. He's basically just a curmudgeon.  What makes one a curmudgeon? He's…

Have you read Daisy Jones & the Six yet? Book Clubs all over have been reading this book and losing their minds about it. Which is probably why I was on a two month waiting list at the library to get this book. I finally got to read it this week. I had to take a few days after finishing this book to organize my thoughts enough to write a review. Daisy Jones & the Six is a Bit Unusual The first thing you will notice about Daisy Jones & the Six is that it isn't set up the way a "normal" book is---a story told by some narrator, either first person or third person. Daisy Jones & the Six is told as an "Author interview". The members of The Six, Daisy Jones, and others that knew them as they built the band, are all interviewed by an author writing…

Every so often, a book comes along that has the power to change the trajectory of our entire lives. Where we were lost, the book helps us find our way. When we thought things were hopeless, within a story we found hope. We became inspired when we thought we had no more inspiration to stumble upon. Maybe you're thinking that that's a bit dramatic. And it might be...if you've never had a book that changed your life. I've been lucky enough to read not one, but three books that have changed my life. "Books that changed my life" might be a heavy title to bestow upon these novels, so maybe "books that made me examine my outlook" or "books that opened my eyes to a different perspective" might be a more accurate moniker than "books that changed my life". The books that changed my life in the way you may…