Books I Read in November ~ Born and Read in Chicago

12.06.2012

Books I Read in November

I meant to get this posted earlier this week, but I was struck down by some God awful virus that skipped over the kids and hit me out of nowhere. Blargh. There's nothing worse than having to manage two small, and highly active, kids. Thankfully, my husband was able to get home early the other day so that I could rest. Man, I miss having my own sick days...

Anyhow, November was a good month for reading, albeit with some rather heavy stuff; I'm now on to reading some chick lit to cleanse my book palate.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

A beautiful, yet haunting and sad, coming of age novel. "The sun kept on with its slipping away, and I thought how many small good things in the world might be resting on the shoulders of something terrible." OH, how I loved this passage. I felt so very emotionally drained after reading this book, but I did enjoy being thrust back in time (to the 80s) with June, the excellently fleshed out protagonist - an awkward and insecure teen, yet wise beyond her years. Tuck in if you like a tear-jerker.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

	I went and put this book on hold as soon as I got done with Gone Girl and I liked this one just as well. Crazy intense and DARK, as the title implies. It was really hard to read about children being murdered, so I tried to quickly scan those parts because I'm not normally a fan of crime/thriller novels. But these books are so un-put-down-able. And her protagonist, Libby, is sort of horrible and sort of lovable all at the same time. But, (like Gone Girl) if you don't want to read a story about bad people doing bad things, with no good guys, no happy endings or real closure, these are not the books for you. Gillian Flynn creates some incredibly crazy complex characters and I'm in awe of her talent for writing stories that take you on a page turning ride of tension and suspense. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller At first it was hard to get the rhythm of this book, due to the stream of consciousness writing style. But, it's well worth getting into this lovely post-apocalyptic story. That seems contradictory, but it's really quite beautiful and evocative. Yes, there is some gut wrenching stuff and rather macabre characters; but it was SO much easier to handle than reading The Road. I stupidly read that book when I was, oh, about 4 months postpartum with my first child; as if I wasn't emotional enough... I'm still horrified when I think about it - Pulitzer, shmulitzer. Anyhow, there are more hopeful themes and tender moments in The Dog Stars which made it more palatable, and overall enjoyable.

I went and put this book on hold as soon as I got done with Gone Girl and I liked this one just as well. Crazy intense and DARK, as the title implies. It was really hard to read about children being murdered, so I tried to quickly scan those parts because I'm not normally a fan of crime/thriller novels. But these books are so un-put-down-able. And her protagonist, Libby, is sort of horrible and sort of lovable all at the same time. But, (like Gone Girl) if you don't want to read a story about bad people doing bad things, with no good guys, no happy endings or real closure, these are not the books for you. Gillian Flynn creates some incredibly crazy complex characters and I'm in awe of her talent for writing stories that take you on a page turning ride of tension and suspense.

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

At first it was hard to get the rhythm of this book, due to the stream of consciousness writing style. But, it's well worth getting into this lovely post-apocalyptic story. That seems contradictory, but it's really quite beautiful and evocative. Yes, there is some gut wrenching stuff and rather macabre characters; but it was SO much easier to handle than reading The Road. I stupidly read that book when I was, oh, about 4 months postpartum with my first child; as if I wasn't emotional enough... I'm still horrified when I think about it - Pulitzer, shmulitzer. Anyhow, there are more hopeful themes and tender moments in The Dog Stars which made it more palatable, and overall enjoyable.