Last week was my spring break and I took the opportunity to luxuriate in lots and lots of reading. It was so nice to slip back into my old habits for a little while! I always feel more like myself when I'm lost in a good book. Now that I'm back to the usual grind of work and school, I don't have time to write long reviews. I figured I'd just jot down a few thoughts on the four books I read here.
My first book was St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell. This was a short story collection, which is not a format I typically read, but I really enjoyed this one. Each of the short stories had a magical, surreal quality to them and were very well written. I felt like each one could have been turned into a longer novel successfully. I was always left wanting to know more. My favorite story out of the collection was the eponymous "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," which focused on a school dedicated to civilizing the human children of werewolves. It was a story with a totally wild premise that spoke to very real ideas about identity and belonging. I really enjoyed Karen Russel's weird and imaginative style and would definitely read something by her again. This was a 4/5 book for me.
My next book was Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple. This irreverent novel focused on an anxiety-ridden woman named Bernadette that simply disappears from her home following a series of increasingly awkward misunderstandings that paint her in a bad light. The story is presented as a collection of documents collected by her precocious adolescent daughter as she attempts to figure out where her mother disappeared to and why she left. I thought this was a really quirky and interested read. I was totally engaged in the mystery of where Bernadette might have gone and found myself sympathizing quite a bit with her with her situation, as implausible as it was. Semple's writing was an entertaining mix of being funny, sarcastic, and heartfelt. This was another 4/5 read.
Next, I moved on to Mosquitoland by David Arnold. This young adult book follows a teenage girl named Mim who runs away from her father and stepmother when she learns that her mom is battling some sort of mystery illness several states away. She buys herself a bus ticket and sets off on a journey. Along the way, she reflects on the events from her past that have led up to this moment and meets a colorful cast of characters that teach her all sorts of things about life, both good and bad. When she finally reaches her mom, things aren't the way she expected and she must find a way to reconcile her old memories with her current reality. I thought this novel was pretty good, but it had a few typical YA tropes that bugged me a bit. The protagonist was uncannily smart and mature for her age and she was able to operate in the adult world more independently than is realistic. When I run up against these elements in fiction for teens I always roll my eyes a bit, but this story was still heartfelt and interesting. Arnold's writing was clever and the story was engaging. I could see bookish, sensitive young people falling in love with it. This was a 3/5 read for me.
The last book I finished was Every Day, another young adult novel focused around an interesting premise. The main character of this novel, A, wakes up in the body of a different person each day. He can access most of that person's memories and spends the day living that person's life. When he falls asleep, he wakes up in the body of a new person and repeats the process. He's been doing this for his entire life, just living day to day as all sorts of people. His normal routine is interrupted, however, when he falls in love with the girlfriend of one of the bodies he wakes up in. He can't keep himself from seeking her out each day, in a new body, and trying to form a relationship with her. Suddenly, he has something in his ever-changing life that he wants to remain constant and this opens up all sorts of feelings and challenges for him. This was a very engaging read, although it did also suffer a bit from the trope of teenagers going around doing whatever they want with very little parental oversight. I did still enjoy it though, especially the aspect of A exploring the different lives he ends up in each day. This was another 3/5 read for me.
So that covers everything I finished during spring break! I'm so looking forward to summer when I have more free time to read again! It can't come fast enough.
2024 Reading Challenges Tally:
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 8/30
Clear the Shelves 2024: 8
