Mini Book Reviews: December 2023

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What a great finish to a great year of reading! As I read my final book of the year, Strange Sallly Diamond, I couldn't help but notice some of the themes of the books I read this month overlapped. I read two books with quirky characters, The Mystery Guest and Strange Sally Diamond. Questionable adoptions were the themes in The Berry Pickers and Strange Sally Diamond. I couldn't help but make comparisons between the books. In All That is Mine, I Carry With Me, and Strange Sally Diamond, you have themes of misogyny and victimization of women. Don't let that deter you from any of these books--they were all good reads!

This year I read 70 books and DNF'd 3. My top 10 books were; Demon Copperhead, Hello Beautiful, Adelaide, The Great Believers, Last Summer on State Street, The Collected Regrets of Clover, Shark Heart, Birdie and Harlow, The Berry Pickers, and Strange Sally Diamond. There were many other good ones as well, so if you don't follow me on Goodreads, please do so you can check them out! 

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise was a really fun read about a young woman, Tanner, who is just kind of lost and goes to live with an elderly woman, Louise, who needs live-in help. She doesn't think she needs the help. Tanner has been living an aimless existence after a devastating soccer injury, playing video games non-stop. This situation makes for some really entertaining dialogue. She starts to notice that things are not what they seem with Louise. The pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place when Louise wakes Tanner up at 1 am after receiving a mysterious letter, demanding that they leave immediately in a mint green Jaguar she has hidden in a shed. The trip takes the 2 women on an adventure and as they travel, Louise begins to share more of her story with Tanner. The snappy, witty dialogue made the pages turn for me. 

I loved The Maid when it was released--Molly the maid's unique, quirky voice and devotion to her position as a maid, solving a murder at an upscale motel was one of my favorite reads of 2022. I had mixed feelings about reading a sequel--I always do--I wondered if it could stand up to the original. While The Mystery Guest brought back Molly's unique perspective, I found the mystery somewhat predictable, the ending a little too pat. In the original story, Molly's peculiarness seemed offputting to the other characters, but in the sequel, she was almost lovable. There is a subplot, a backstory about Molly's early life with Gram that could have been a whole separate book. Lots of repetitive dialogue made me ready to be finished. Call this one Molly-Lite.

After reading and loving A Woman is No Man, I knew I had to read this one. The author's latest is another take on life as a Muslim woman, but in Evil Eye, the main character is college educated and an art instructor at a local college. Tradition still rules, and she also is responsible for raising the couple's young children, as well as maintaining the household and keeping her husband happy. As she sinks into a depression, she begins to compare her life to her mother's, having flashbacks to her own violent childhood. This was a sad but ultimately rewarding read. 

I normally would agree very little with the views of Liz Cheney, but after the events of January 6, I found a whole new admiration for her. Instead of stepping in line with the rest of her political party, she did the right thing, stepped 'across the aisle', and fought for democracy and the Constitution. In Oath and Honor, she retells the events of that terrible day. She shares how she was selected to be a part of the investigative commission and the exhausting search she and the others did to uncover all the facts about the events leading up to that terrible day. The attention to detail is impressive and after reading this it is hard to understand how anyone could deny the election results or what took place in our Capitol that day. I finished this book in awe of Cheney and all the others who risked intimidation and threats to make sure the truth prevailed. 

A 10 year old girl comes home from school to find her mother is missing. The primary suspect is her dad, who somehow manages to maintain his innocence. Set in the 1970s, All That is Mine I Carry With Me navigates the 3 children's lives as they grow up without a mother. Her sister steps in to help the kids and defend her sister's legacy. This was an engaging story, but a bit long-winded. I kept waiting for something exciting to happen. The reveal isn't so much of a revelation as the ending, which had me scratching my head. Overall, this was worth reading. Oh, and that title? It's a translation of a Latin quote- omnia mea mecum porto- that one of the characters has tattooed on her arm. 

This beautifully quiet book should be on everyone's reading list. Told from several perspectives, The Berry Pickers is the story of a native Canadian family who traveled to Maine on their annual trek to pick blueberries. The youngest child, who wandered off to eat her sandwich, disappears without a trace. One of her brothers lives with the guilt of being the last to see her--something that affects him for the rest of his life. Norma is a young girl being raised in Maine by an overprotective, anxious mother. Many things about her life don't feel right, and as she gets older, she begins to ask questions, only to be shut down. There are no surprises and you know how this book will end. The journey is the destination. I loved this book. 

Quirky characters are having a moment, aren't they? Meet Strange Sally Diamond--a reclusive young woman with few social skills who takes everything literally. Prior to his death, her father instructed her to carry his body out to the incinerator in the backyard, which she does, lighting it on fire. As this absurd story unfolds, we learn about the horrific early years that defined Sally's childhood. It's a twisty tale and there's a lot to unpack. It's a dark story, with a lot of disturbing scenarios. Sally's innocence and bluntness lend a lot of humor throughout the book, which helps lighten the tale. I went into this one blind--it was recommended by a few book bloggers at the end of the year, so I impulsively picked it up. You should too. It was probably one of the best books I've read this year!

What have you read lately? Do you ever notice recurrent themes between books you've chosen? It kind of reminds me of that compare and contrast activity we had to do in English class in high school! Any books you would recommend for me?

I'm linking up with Jenn and Zenaida for Tuesday Topics and with the ladies of Fit Five Friday:  Darlene, Michelle, Jenn, and Zenaida.