What I Read This Week: February 21, 2021
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Fiction/Fantasy/Magic
[block rendering halted]At the start, the story reminded me of Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children and it kept from me enjoying it thoroughly. I couldn’t quite shake that comparison til about half way through. Eventually I saw it for the unique story that it is and I enjoyed it. The last third of the book was the best for me. It’s about a group of magical children who live in a special home for such youths. Linus is the social worker tasked with conducting a visit to the home to make sure things are on the up and up. Linus lives his life by strict rules and this assignment makes him see the world in a new way. It’s a hopeful story with magic and fantasy elements. I recommend this one for readers of those genres as well as readers who enjoy LGBTQ+ characters.
You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
Mystery/Thriller/Audiobook
This is my second book by this author duo and while this was much better, there’s still something missing. Parts of this story were intriguing and I was curious to see how it would end. I started by listening to the audiobook but the pacing was slow so I switched to the physical copy, thinking it’d be better but it wasn’t. The story was still slow moving and it took way too long for things to come together. I don’t regret reading this one but I wouldn’t recommend it.
The Little Book of Big Knowing by Michelle Sammons
Personal development
[block rendering halted]Copy from WOW! Women on Writing, published November 2020 This is a collection of small blurbs intended to offer spiritual guidance. Michelle covers every aspect of life and self-care in these pieces of insight. For folks like myself who have done a lot of personal development and spiritual work, these serve as kind, loving reminders. For those who are new to the genre, these would be gentle introductions to these concepts. I highly recommend this one for anyone looking for easy to digest spiritual guidance.
The Best American Essays 2020 edited by Andre Aciman
Personal essays
[block rendering halted]This is the second of these collections that I’ve read. This one felt a bit academic, as most of the essays included research and/or were reportage style. I prefer more personal essays, which is what I write and I read these collections for research and inspiration. While this collection didn’t resonate with me much personally, I recognize the writing is excellent overall. I’d recommend this for other essay writers or readers who enjoy academic yet personal writing.
Did Not Finish
This Close to Okay by Leese Cross-Smith
This is a new release that’s getting a lot of good buzz (published 2/2/21.) This started out strong and I loved it. Then I quickly began to feel uncomfortable with Tallie’s actions. She seemed out of line for a therapist, dishonest and selfish. I stuck with it for a while to see if things changed but I only felt worse. I read some reviews and saw there are many people who felt the same way I did and the ones who finished the book said those issues didn’t change, so I quit at 35% in.
Leave a Reply