All the books I read in January

I read (and listened) to a lot of books this January. As a reminder, I was doing a Dry January (lol) and yeah, I failed. The first night I went out to dinner with friends, I dove mouthfirst into a spicy cucumber margarita. Still, I mostly drank socially and tried my best not to drink at home alone or buy my own alcohol so I ended up not drinking more days than I drank which is a win. Therefore, lots of reading happened. Here are my reviews! 

Fiction

Mad Honey - Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan | 4.5/5

I rarely buy books, but I was at The Strand in New York City this past November and thought I should buy a book, read it, then give it to my mother for Christmas! Classic win/win. Except I didn’t read it in time so I didn’t give it to her. This book seemed interesting - murder of a young girl in a small New Hampshire town, mother is a beekeeper, son charged with the crime. I ended up really enjoying it! It was “gripping” and I stayed up late a few times to finish chapters. However, there were SO MANY triggering topics. The mother was a victim of domestic abuse, and those parts were really difficult to read. The gaslighting, the rage over seemingly nothing, the actual violence - it was a lot. That being said, I felt like it was useful to the story to understand why the mother starts to believe that her son may be guilty of the crime he is charged with. There was a surprising twist, a trial, lots of ups and downs. Overall, I thought it was engaging and covered sensitive topics with grace. I was also really into the bee stuff, ha.

Under the Whispering Door - TJ Klune | 5/5

I can’t stop thinking about this book! If you read House in the Cerulean Sea then you will enjoy this too, as it’s from the same author! He is such a great writer. The first chapter reads like a really great comedy sketch, and then the (really mean) main character dies at the end of the first chapter. But then! He is a ghost and watches his funeral and he gets taken to the tea shop where he’ll cross to the afterlife, naturally. It was so funny, heartfelt, and the characters are all so lovely. I sobbed through the ending! I was so happy!

Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel | 5/5

I’m not usually a fan of science fiction, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I tried to read her first book, Station Eleven, but couldn’t get into it. I did like her next book, The Glass Hotel, but it was less sci-fi than the others. This was certainly sci-fi with time traveling and colonies on the moon, but it was super interesting and easy to follow. I loved how it all connected in the end.

The Villa - Rachel Hawkins | 4/5

This book takes place at an Italian villa over two different time periods - current days and the 1970s. In the 70s, it became a celebrity murder house and the current day girls are going to stay there and one of them (Emma) is intrigued. Her best friend, Chess, is a celebrity self-help guru a la Rachael Hollis. It flips back and forth between the 70s up to the murder and beyond, and the current time where they are finding out more details about the people who were staying there. It was fun, a little weird, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was very Charles Manson meets toxic best friends. 

The Club - Ellery Lloyd | 3.5/5

This is the story of a Soho House-style private club called Home that is a historic institution and only the best of the best celebrities can get in. The owner is a horrible person and actually, everyone who works there and narrates the story is pretty terrible! It takes place during the opening weekend of a new club/island launch and then the owner turns up dead, and lots of secrets come out. It was your average suspenseful thriller-y book. Fun but not great. 

Non-fiction 

The Light We Carry - Michelle Obama | 4.5/5

There is no better way to kick off your year than listening to Michelle Obama teach you how to live. She is so full of wisdom, advice, and humor! I really enjoyed her stories and found them to be more relevant / relatable than Becoming. I just love her storytelling and grace without being pretentious or talking down to you.  

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals - Oliver Burkeman | 5/5

Something I want/need to work on this year is time management. I have ADHD so I tend to procrastinate, but I always submit things on time. It’s just that it gets done under pressure, at the last minute, and with lots of anxiety. I want to get a hold on that! This book taught me a little bit about how to do that, while also reminding me of my impending death. If we’re lucky, we only get about 4,000 weeks to live.  Are we spending our time on the right things? It was easy to read and the author is funny and English.

Spare - Prince Harry | 4/5

I went into this extremely hesitant because I’d already read some of the highlights, but also I was afraid he’d come off as a massive prat. HOWEVER, I found him to be endearing. I also think the media took liberties with their reveals because they are overblown and not as dramatic. (For example, he didn’t blame Kate or Will for his nazi costume.) While there are reveals about his brother and father being jerks, for the most part he places blame on the press and the institution. You can tell this kid is just fucking desperate for a hug. Is writing a book and exploiting their behavior the best way to get it? Nope. I can’t imagine that will close the family divide. Also, the military parts were (kinda) interesting (like I feel really bad that he was targeted by terrorists because of the media) but I got really bored and listened at 1.8x the speed.

On Writing - Stephen King | 5/5

Stephen King’s memoir slash book about writing. It has the hands down best advice I’ve ever read. It’s honest, direct, and he seems like a really approachable and good person. He is fucking hilarious, and I love how authentic he is. He was always a weird kid, very into monsters and the macabre, and he followed that and turned it into a career. There’s worse people to listen to than Stephen King!

The Colony: Faith and Blood in the Promised Land - Sally Denton | 4/5

I love listening to true-crime books. I don’t care how poorly written they are, just give me a fucked up true story and I’ll eat it up! This one was about fundamentalist Mormons in Mexico City! It was actually a super sad story, two women and many of their children were targeted and gunned down by a Mexican cartel. It covered the whole history of the LDS church and its murderous and polygamist past, and how it intersects with multiple cartels in Mexico. So random, but interesting. Also Brigham Young was not a good guy. (The people I’ve met from Brigham Young University however? So nice!)