#1. Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly
This book is really short, but I read it twice, so I say that counts as a full book. I love Fennelly’s straightforward voice. She draws you right in. I preferred the more fleshed out essays to the very micro pieces, but the book as a whole works really well with the mix of lengths. Fennelly is a great storyteller! And very funny, too.
#2. All The Ugly And Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
This book kept me up way past my bedtime for three nights. I truly wanted to put it down and get to sleep, but I couldn’t. It’s disturbing, but so compelling and well told.
#3. The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
What a great concept about a quirky music store where the owner will only sell records, and he knows exactly what song a customer needs to hear. It took me longer to read this book than normal, which means the middle dragged slightly for me. But it was worth it to get to the end, which I loved. (Thank you netgalley.com for the review copy.)
#4. You Think It, I’ll Say It: Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld
I have loved everything Curtis Sittenfeld has ever written. Well, I liked the book about sisters, but I LOVED everything else. Her writing is strong, solid, and straight-forward while showing the depths of human emotions like shame and hope. I love that she manages all that without taking her settings and subjects too seriously. By that I mean, in these stories she chooses seemingly less serious topics while still conveying how people really feel and act. Her work is so refreshingly unpretentious and relevant. (Thank you netgalley.com for the review copy.)
#5. The Power by Naomi Alderman
Such an original concept that imagines what it could be like if the women took over the world due to a new power in their bodies that made them the stronger and feared gender. The way the plot plays out forces the reader to think about abuses of power, human wiring, and what it takes to rise above the inevitable and predictable set up for the strong vs. the weak. I didn’t enjoy reading the violent parts. This is one I’m glad I read myself so I could join in the conversations, but I can’t say it was a enjoyable read.
#6. The Immoralists by Chloe Benjamin
I really liked this book despite some of the sadder story lines. It was a great premise about what we might do if we knew the day we would die. Would we live large and race towards it or be more careful and try to outsmart fate? I liked the use of four narrators and the structure Benjamin chose.
#7. Eternal Life by Dara Horn
This is one of my favorite books of the year so far. I loved the concept of a woman who saves her son’s life by giving up her own death, making her life eternal. It ends up being a blessing and a curse. Watching the story play out, some of it in ancient Jerusalem and some in modern American and many places in the middle, was really fascinating. I was captivated by Rachel and her love story with Elazar until the last page.
#8. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Really liked it and feel there’s lots to discuss. I picked this one for the June session of the book club I lead at ModernWell in Minneapolis.
#9. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
I’m drawn to books lately that include an element of magical realism/fantasy. I really liked the creepy fairy tale atmosphere of The Hazel Wood. I liked the second half more than the first half and would for sure read a sequel if Albert wrote one.
#10. White Houses by Amy Bloom
I was really into it for the first half and had trouble getting through the second half.
#11. Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks
Liked the first story a lot and had trouble getting into the rest. Tried!
#12. All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin
Thanks to netgalley.com I got an early release copy. I really enjoyed the first half and though I felt compelled to finish, I couldn’t quite get into the story or the characters.
#13. The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair by Amy Makechnie
I loved this book! So many good characters and everything about it feels original from the setting (Iowa) to the plot and every character. Click on the book cover to read what’s about. I can’t do it justice here, but know that it’s meaty story told through the sweet point-of-view of precocious and smart ten-year-old, Guinevere. I interviewed Makechnie about her writing process on my blog.
#14. Look Alive Out There by Sloane Crosely
You have to like essays about the seemingly mundane details of life. (The details are not mundane, at all, when well told.) Like Sedaris, this type of storytelling is a Crosley speciality. I enjoyed the collection a lot!
#15. Calypso by David Sedaris
Thanks to netgalley.com I got an early release of this one! I read a few essays a week to savor them. Mostly this was a rereading as I’ve seen most in New Yorker and elsewhere, but I still love the experience of reading Sedaris. He’s manages to be hyper-observant, funny, and poignant in each one. You can also get Calypso as a free extra at Book of the Month.
#16. Meaty by Samantha Irby
I’m listening to this one on audio and it is so good. I recommend her essay collection below as well. I love these books for many reasons, including the 90s references. I don’t mind the swearing, but if you do, then Irby is not for you. Meaty is a bit graphic. You’ve been warned.
#17. We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby
Clearly I’ve entered the obsession stage with Samantha Irby’s sharp and funny essays, which make you laugh with your whole body and contort your face in weird ways to avoid crying, except it doesn’t work and you cry anyway. A lot.
#18. How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
I found this character-driven novel VERY readable and looked forward to getting in bed each night so I could see what would happen next. That’s the ultimate sign of a good book in my opinion. I won’t be surprised if they make it into a movie. Highly recommend this one.
#19. Wifey by Judy Blume
Summer diversion, y’all. I’m not ashamed. Well, maybe a little.
#20. The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing by Margot Livesey
A good and somewhat heavy discussion of the plot and characterization devices behind several classics. Enjoyed it. But I love this kind of stuff.
#21. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Reading now and loving it so far. This was one of my Book of the Month picks.
#22. Happily Ever After by Ali Wenworth
Fun essays. Liked, didn’t love.
#23. Educated by Tara Westover
I did the audio for this one and it was SO good. I cannot believe the childhood Westover experienced and the life she created both despite it and because of it. Really interesting story and extremely well told.
#24. How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays but Alexander Chee
Excellent essays about the writing life and more. I especially loved Chee’s essay about taking a semester-long course with Annie Dillard.
#25. Limelight by Amy Poeppel
I enjoyed the premise and the spot-on dialogue most of all.
#26. Modern Girls by Jennifer Brown
I liked this one a lot, but I really want to know what happens next, which is both a good thing (I was really attached to the characters) and a frustrating thing (perhaps it felt unfinished). I will for sure read a sequel if Brown writes one!
#27. The Optimistic Age by Heather Abel
I enjoyed this one, but wouldn’t say I loved it. I almost always like books that take place at a camp, and this one had a really original spin.
#28. Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence
This quick nonfiction read has everything I love: letters and bookish discussions. Librarian Annie Spence writers letters to books she loves (and ones she really doesn’t like). It’s charming and funny and heartfelt. Read in one night. It made me want to read a few I’d never tried before but meant to like The Virgin Suicides and Big Stone Gap.
#29. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I stayed up until 4:00AM reading this book and Bryan was furious at me because the book light kept bothering him and I was a zombie the next day when we took the kids to The Minnesota State Fair. Oops. It was such a good read though. Worth it.
#30. How to be a Happier Parent by Kj Dell’Antonia
Very practical, sound advice on all aspects of parenting that can lead to tons of stress: screen time, homework, meals, and so on. I have always loved Dell’Antonia’s writing voice since she wrote for the NYT Motherlode blog. The book is well done and I would recommend it to any parents who would like the parenting to gig to be a little, well–happier.
#31. Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs by Beth Ricanati, MD
Short and heartfelt memoir from a once stressed out doctor and mother who started baking challah every Friday to find some way to relax. Ten years and 1000 challahs later, she has this memoir to show for it. A good, quick read.
#32. Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam
I enjoy Vanderkam’s writing voice and gentle yet no-nonsense attitude about time and how we spend it. I said more about in my “Do Listen Read” post for September.
#33. Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs
Small Fry is excellent memoir by Steve Jobs’s eldest child. Their relationship and history was very complicated. As a reader, I appreciated the story she told as well as the writing she used to tell it. I did the audio version and it was so good! I highly recommend reading or listening to this one.
#34. The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
I had absolutely loved Walker’s novel The Age of Miracles so I had high hopes for this one. I liked the premise a lot, but the execution didn’t work for me. (Though I did find enough interest in the situation to read until the end.) It was the problem this town found themselves in that intrigued me, but not the people themselves, and that was the problem.
#35. Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis
Yes, I jumped on the bandwagon for this one. I did the audio and enjoyed it. I needed some rah-rah “You can do this!” in my life, and that’s exactly what Hollis delivers.
#36. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Winegate
Listened to the audio. I founds the parts that dip into the past much more compelling than the present storyline, which is almost always the case in books structured this way. (Sarah’s Key, for example.)
#37. The Miscalculations of Lightening Girl by Stacy McAnulty
My girls and I read this book one after the other, and we all LOVED it! Highly recommend.
#38. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
So many nonfiction books I like reference THIS book. I listened to the audiobook. Not exactly riveting, but very interesting. Glad I listened to the whole thing.
#39. How to Break Up With Your Phone by Catherine Price.
Yep, I’m working on some of my bad habits. Again. This is a good, fast read with tons of ideas. Even implementing a few would make a huge difference. Wrote a blog post, here.
#40. The Handyman by Carolyn See
I really enjoyed this “older” book (from 1999) that one of the members of my writing group gave me. I will say it took me a solid 40 pages to get into it, but once I did, I looked forward to crawling into bed each night to see what “the handyman” was up to. (He’s a handyman while he earns money for art school.)
#41. Ghosted by Rosie Walsh
I listened to this one. Although I enjoyed the narrator’s British accent, I was hoping the story was about friendship, but it’s really about a romance. Somewhat a mystery without being scary, but I found it a bit too bleak overall.
#42. Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
This isn’t out until April 2019, but I got an early copy from netgalley.com. Enjoying so far. Choi never holds back in her intense character studies. And I like a book that takes place at a school.
#43. Chuckerman Makes a Movie by Francie Arenson Dickman
I’ve been waiting for Francie’s book to come out and I’m really enjoying. Will report more when I’m finished.
#44. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Listening to the audio and it’s good.
#45. Forgetting Ophelia by Julie C. Gardner
Reading now and really enjoying. Eager to see what happens, which is always a good sign of a good story.
#46. Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Raey
I’m entering an epistolary novel stage that will likely last through part of 2019. Enjoying this one so far.
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