January 2017 Wrap Up

I read six books this month. Can we please let that sink in for a second? January is normally my worst reading month. I'll probably celebrate by reading a book.

The Bronze Horseman, Paulina Simmons 3/5

“Ask yourself these three questions, Tatiana Metanova, and you will know who you are. Ask: What do believe in? What do you hope for? What do you love?”

During the summer of 1941 the Metanov family are living a hard life in Leningrad. As the German armies advance their future looks bleak. For Tatiana, love arrives in the guise of Alexander, who harbours a deadly and extraordinary secret.

Dear Goodreads People,
Please be careful to compare a book to Outlander.
Sincerely,
A devout Outlander fan

I love historical fiction just as much as the next person. We need to call this what it is though. When you compare a book to Outlander the bar has been raised high. I was ready for this book to blow me away, to put me in a reading slump and to make me force Fiona to read it. Basically what Outlander did to me. I tried to not go into this book with high expectations. I’m going to try to not spoil everything about the book.
This was not a bad book. I was just disappointed. The first three hundred pages were awesome. I loved how slowly the two characters fell in love. That being said there was a huge problem that could have been solved so easily. But because the heroine was such a doormat it wasn’t. She let everyone walk all over her. Even her love interest. (Which got annoying by the end of the book). Another part that was annoying was the characters didn’t seem realistic. They almost didn’t act human in some situations especially with the use of dramatic writing.

2. Passenger, Alexandra Bracken 5/5

“It's our choices that matter in the end. Not wishes, not words, not promises.”

In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she’s inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s never heard of. Until now.

Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods—a powerful family in the colonies—and the servitude he’s known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can’t escape and the family that won’t let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, Nicholas’ passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back to them—whether she wants to or not.

Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods’ grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are playing, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home... forever.

I hate January. 

January is the most stressful month of the year. It’s at least the busiest time of the year. Because of that it was hard for me to read this book. I’ve had this book since the day that it came out. That was about a year ago. I loved the Darkest Minds trilogy so why wasn’t I picking this one up? It’s historical fiction, time traveling and romance. What was I doing with my life? I have no idea. I decided to finally buy the audiobook so that I could get through this book. For some reason I was in no mood to read. It’s definitely a different experience when you’re reading an audiobook. I don’t think it’s as fun as sitting down and losing yourself in a book. That’s why I picked up the physical book. The physical book always wins.

This book was everything I wanted. It was really different from the Darkest Minds Trilogy and it didn’t bother me one bit. I loved the main character and how relatable she was. So much better than the heroine from The Bronze Horseman. The romance was so beautiful and realistic. It was not a slow read which is always great. That being said I do wish that this book was more descriptive. I would have loved to know more about the places that they went to etc. Overall this book was fantastic. Once again Alexandra Bracken doesn’t disappoint. I think that this book would be a good book to read before Outlander. If you don’t like this book I don’t know if you’ll love Outlander.

3. Love Warrior, Glennon Doyle Melton 5/5 

“So what is it in a human life that creates bravery, kindness, wisdom, and resilience? What if it's pain? What if it's the struggle?” 

“It's ok to feel too much and know too little.”

“No woman on earth doesn’t give a fuck—no woman is that cool—she’s just hidden her fire. Likely, it’s burning her up.”

“You are not supposed to be happy all the time. Life hurts and it's hard. Not because you're doing it wrong, but because it hurts for everybody. Don't avoid the pain. You need it. It's meant for you. Be still with it, let it come, let it go, let it leave you with the fuel you'll burn to get your work done on this earth.”

“People who are hurting don't need Avoiders, Protectors, or Fixers. What we need are patient, loving witness. People to sit quietly and hold space for us. People to stand in helpful vigil to our pain.”

Just when Glennon Doyle Melton was beginning to feel she had it all figured out—three happy children, a doting spouse, and a writing career so successful that her first book catapulted to the top of the New York Times bestseller list—her husband revealed his infidelity and she was forced to realize that nothing was as it seemed. A recovering alcoholic and bulimic, Glennon found that rock bottom was a familiar place. In the midst of crisis, she knew to hold on to what she discovered in recovery: that her deepest pain has always held within it an invitation to a richer life.

Love Warrior is the story of one marriage, but it is also the story of the healing that is possible for any of us when we refuse to settle for good enough and begin to face pain and love head-on. This astonishing memoir reveals how our ideals of masculinity and femininity can make it impossible for a man and a woman to truly know one another - and it captures the beauty that unfolds when one couple commits to unlearning everything they’ve been taught so that they can finally, after thirteen years of marriage, fall in love.

I have fallen in love with Glennon all over again. Is there anything that this woman won’t talk about? I literally feel like I am reading from Glennon’s journal. There were so many times in this book when I would stop and say, “That is me,” or “I get that.” I loved her vulnerability throughout the entire book. From the time she talked about being an alcoholic to the time she found out her husband was unfaithful. This book was filled with those moments that people hate having. Those moments where life as you know it is ending. This book was comforting because Glennon constantly reminds you that you are not alone. You don’t have to be experiencing what she is going through to relate to her. That’s why her writing is so great, she talks about the bigger picture. That’s why there is a bunch of quotes at the top. I couldn’t pick one quote. Is it as good as Carry On Warrior? No. Is it still amazing? Yes. It feels somewhat unfair to compare the two. They are two different parts of Glennon’s life. 

God, I hope she keeps writing.

4. March: Book One, John Lewis 5/5

“I loved going to the library. It was the first time I ever saw Black newspapers and magazines like JET, Ebony, the Baltimore Afro-American, or the Chicago Defender. And I’ll never forget my librarian.”

Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper’s farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president.

Book One spans John Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.

Many years ago, John Lewis and other student activists drew inspiration from the 1950s comic book "Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story." Now, his own comics bring those days to life for a new audience, testifying to a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations.

I don’t normally read graphic novels. So many people were recommending it to me. Especially in the midst of the recent Women’s march. I loved this graphic novel though. It’s somewhat hard to review a graphic novel. It’s mostly pictures and small bits of writing. That being said I loved the artwork and the pieces of writing that they kept to put in the story. You dive into John Lewis’s life and feel like you're actually experiencing what he is experiencing. Whether that be his early life on the farm or when he was practicing for a sit-in. I cannot wait to pick up the next graphic novel. 

5. The Butler: A Witness to History ⅖

From Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Humanities fellow Wil Haygood comes a mesmerizing inquiry into the life of Eugene Allen, the butler who ignited a nation's imagination and inspired a major motion picture: Lee Daniels' The Butler, the highly anticipated film that stars six Oscar winners, including Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey (honorary and nominee), Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr., Vanessa Redgrave, and Robin Williams; as well as Oscar nominee Terrence Howard, Mariah Carey, John Cusack, Lenny Kravitz, James Marsden, David Oyelowo, Alex Pettyfer, Alan Rickman, and Liev Schreiber.

I was mistaken when I picked up this book. I thought this book was actually about the Butler’s life and what he did. This book was mostly about how they made the movie. 

Opps.

6. Named of the Dragon, Susanna Kearsley 2.5/5

Tormented by horrific nightmares since the death of her baby five years before, literary agent Lyn Ravenshaw agrees to accompany an author to Wales, where she encounters an eccentric young widow desperately afraid for her own infant's safety and a reclusive playwright who could be her only salvation.

I love Susanna Kearsley and I am disappointed by this book. Before this book I was reading a dystopian about the world falling apart. Note to self: Don’t read a book like that while Trump is president. It was making me depressed and worried so I decided to pick up a romance book. I wanted the cheesiest romance book that I could find. Maybe I should have just watched a Hallmark movie. Since I am a huge Susanna Kearsley fan I expected this book to pick me up. The first two hundred pages were build up to an unexciting and short ending. Also, there was zero romance. I had no idea who the romantic interest even was until the end. The one thing I wanted from the book and it wasn’t even there. I should have picked up a Rachel Hollis book. If you are a Susanna Kearsley fan there is really no point in picking up this book. Read The Winter Sea or The Rose Garden

Let's hope that February is just as good.

DFTBA

-AB