A recap of my spring reading.
These books carried me through my son’s wedding in Texas, and my new travel teaching job outside L.A. Books have continued to bring me peace, solace and escape.
1. Aftertaste, Daria Lavelle – (AnotherJordy’s Book Club rec) – This is an extremely original premise, with many twists and turns involving the living reuniting, if just for a meal, with a deceased loved one. I had a hard time getting into it at first, but it grew on me.
2. Jump and Find Joy, Hoda Kotb – I bought a signed copy. I adore this book. It is truly full of joy and inspiration, encouraging to take the leap to places unknown. As this was the year of me becoming a “travel teacher” and taking on a new city and new job on my own, it was great timing. Trust your gut, and the universe!
3. Sisters in Yellow, Mieko Kawakami (Godmother’s book club) – This is another interesting setting (Japan) and characters, but a slow read for me. It is very detailed, with once again, not a lot happening.
4. Good Company, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeny – Now that I discovered the public library, I became acquainted with Libby! Another game changer. Free audiobooks!? Fantastic. This one has a great narrator. A book with an interesting plot and characters. New York and L.A. A marriage falling apart? Always my genre.
Book Signing at Godmother’s Books
5. American Fantasy, Emma Straub (Godmothers talk) – It was a joy to meet author Emma Straub and hear her talk about her just released book, before I read it. I enjoyed it, and love her descriptive, clever writing. Original premise and characters, but I did wish more “happened” in the plot.
Inspiration and Motivation
6. Real Optimism, Deeprika Chopra – This is a science based book on optimism. Facing many life challenges (post divorce, financial troubles, mid-life singledom, post empty nest, etc.) I read a few pages each morning to get my mind right to start the day.
Twisty
7. Lady Killer, Katherine Wood (library book) – This was the most fun I’ve had so far this year reading a book! Original characters, a plot full of twists and turns, gorgeous settings (Greece!), I looked forward to reading it every day after my grueling special ed teaching days!
Some Summer Reads for You
8. The Darcy List, Susan Moore – Hot off the press from the U.K. – Who doesn’t need a “Darcy list”? As an unplanned single mid-life woman, this is a fantasy I need to have! This book hit close to home. California to London. Young love. Divorce. Betrayal. Disappointment. Reinvention. Rebuilding. Pivoting. Courage to start again. New dreams and purpose. I read this outside of LA on my challenging special ed travel teacher assignment, and immersed myself in the U.K. life I was missing. I could feel the warmth of a slow burning pub fire, and see the soft glow of candles, wax melting, the taste of salty chips and a crisp glass of chilled wine. A brooding Scotsman (Darcy?). I think it’s time to start my new and improved mid-life Darcy list. Starting it now.
9. Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry (Libby, audio) – The wonderful narrator accompanied me on many a drive to and from my travel teacher gig, and then to and from school. I’m a big Emily Henry fan, but there were times this was far too long and slow. The present day love story kept my interest more than the jumping back to the past story. The premise again was clever, but it did drag at times.
10. Summer Fridays, Suzanne Rindell (Audible) – This book grabbed me right from the beginning with an interesting setting and time period (New York, just before 9/11). As I read it (or rather listened to it) on my last few weeks of teaching before a blissful summer break, the title spoke to me!
11. A Marriage at Sea, Sophie Elmhirst – I actually bought this for my dad last Christmas. When he finished, he passed it back to me. Fascinating true story about marriage and being lost at sea. The research states that there are over 3,000,000 shipwrecks in the sea. This is a truly harrowing story that was hard to read! The author did a great job of putting it together through journals and interviews, though the last few chapters fell a bit flat.
12. The Connellys of County Down, Tracey Lange (Libby – audio) – I always love a Tracey Lange book. I really appreciated the entertainment on my last two weeks of driving for my travel teacher job. She does such a great job with interesting characters.
It’s time to dive into my summer reading!
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