Scott Smith Books: A Simple Plan and The Ruins

I read The Ruins when it first came out back in 2006. I was a writing student in college and it blew me away. It stuck with me over the years and I thought of it often. I figured it was time for a re-read and I was so happy that it stood up to the test of time. I didn’t remember all of the details, nor the ending, so it was almost as good as reading it for the first time. I can’t recommend this enough. It sticks out as having such a unique concept and writing style.

I mentioned it to a friend in passing and he mentioned Smith's first book, A Simple Plan, saying it was just as good. I don't know how I'd managed to read just one book by an author and then skip the other, but I was glad to have a new one to read now!

I re-read The Ruins first, just because. As I mentioned, I remembered just enough to have the basic concept of the story, but the specifics and the writing style felt like new in the best way.

In A Simple Plan, I could definitely tell that Smith has a set writing style and it works so well for the stories he tells. I love how it feels so natural as it builds up. It's a great example of how one small moment can truly change the course of your life. And with his signature writing style, there’s no time to pause and think, “There’s no way this would happen in real life” because it’s totally realistic. Even as the characters make their choices, you’re not trying to steer them in a different direction because it seems like there IS no other direction. I recommend this just as highly as I do The Ruins.

Have you read one or both of these books? What did you think?

If I loved these books, do you have any similar titles in mind you'd recommend?

The Family Upstairs and The Family Remains

I love a good suspense book, especially when nothing else seems to be catching my attention. Lisa Jewell is always a good choice when I want something well-written and twisty.

I first read The Family Upstairs as a Book of the Month choice in 2019. I loved it back then, but once I heard there was a sequel, I knew I needed to re-read the first so I could appreciate it completely. Thankfully, my memory is pretty terrible, so while I knew I read the book and loved it, I didn't remember anything beyond the general storyline. This is actually a great quality as an avid reader because it means re-reading felt pretty darn close to reading it for the first time!

I love how Jewell creates storylines that are full of mystery, but the pacing keeps the suspense like a rollercoaster so you don't feel exhausted and ready to flip to the end. Her characters are all really vivid, which helped make the twists seem more organic. They each had distinct voices, too, which I feel like a lot of authors struggle with when they have alternating narrators.

The end was a great twist with some loose ends, but it didn't feel hokey. It felt realistic, like the way things wrap up in real life that makes you think, Ok, that's done... for now. And thankfully, Jewell felt that way, too, and wrote a sequel!

Even with the loose ends, I wasn't sure what was going to happen in The Family Remains. I think it's a great storyline, though, giving Jewell a chance to fill in some holes left by the first book without making it seem like she's retelling the same story.

I also love that she wrapped up all the loose ends and then, at the very end, tugged one loose.

Will there be another book? I don't know, but I'd read it! The story and characters now live on in my imagination, so I'd love a chance to peek into their lives again.

Have you read these books? Share your thoughts in the comments! Recommend some other suspense books, too!

Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson

Joshilyn Jackson has been one of my favorite authors since I read gods in Alabama in 2006 as a creative writing student. I can’t count how many times I’ve gone to see her on book tours, and I can’t count how many giveaways I entered to get an ARC of this book. I was so excited to win an ARC from William Morrow and started reading as soon as I got it.

Jackson always had some Southern gothic vibes layered on top of quality literary fiction, and she successfully pivoted to domestic suspense with her last release, Never Have I Ever. The Southern gothic still applies to this genre as well, as she’s as good as ever with Mother May I. The suspense is well done, and it’s impossible to know what’s going to happen because there are so many options. The loose ends all get wrapped up in the conclusion, though, and the payoff is worth it. I can’t recommend this one enough.

Best Adult Fiction Read in 2020

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore (2020). I read about the concept of this book and bought it immediately. I’m still obsessed with it - loaning out my copy and recommending it to everyone I know. It’s so fresh and unique - Oona is living her life out of order, meaning when she’s 18, instead of turning 19, she turns 51! She lives that year and learns about her condition, so on her last day of being 51, she knows she won’t necessarily wake up 52 the next day. I already want to re-read this book, and maybe even read it in as chronological of order as it can go.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (2020). Desiree and Stella are twins, light enough to pass for white. One twin embraces this and disappears into a privileged white life, not acknowledging her past. The other doubles down and ends up working hard, being a single mother to her darker daughter. This book totally lives up to the hype. I absolutely loved the story itself, but Bennett’s writing is so seamless that you get sucked in completely, and then a beautiful, profound line will stop you in your tracks.

The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans (2020). I’ve been reading a lot of story collections this year, and all of them have been so good. Evans blew me away, though. The stories are so fascinating yet realistic and have really stuck with me even after finishing the book. I got to hear her read part of a story at an online event and she was fantastic! I have her other collection to read next, but I know I’ll keep re-reading these stories and recommending them to everyone I can.

Writers & Lovers by Lily King (2020). I was in a reading funk until I opened this book. I absolutely loved it, and I want to read more like it and I already want to re-read it. Something about the everydayness of things drew me right in and kept me comfortable in the story. I think King captured exactly that uncertainty of relationships and writing and how they work together.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (2019?). I absolutely love time travel books, and this one was all I ever wanted and more. There are so many rules about going back in time at the Funiculi Funicula cafe that made the story more suspenseful. A few different characters went back in time within the cafe's constraints, and it was very touching and thought-provoking to see how they dealt with their situations. I loved how all of the characters tied together. Amazing book.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

I absolutely love parallel universe/alternate timeline type stories, and this one hit the spot - and even had a nice little twist. I liked the concept that all of Nora’s alternate lives could only be picked up from the current moment and lived on from there. There was no watching her past and being caught up with all that self had experienced, so that made it seem more immersive - Nora was just as new as the reader to these alternate lives.

I also like how this book handled depression at the beginning, and even the ending was deftly handled so it wasn’t hitting you over the head with its preachiness.

See more of my favorite parallel universe books here! Note that I need to update that post to include Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore, which is absolutely amazing.

SPOILER ALERT:

(Did you stop reading if you don't want to be spoiled?)

I go back and forth, even now, well after finishing the book, on the actual ending. The idea that Nora, who has battled depression all her life, would want to live in the end seems a bit obvious. But then I balance that with some other lives where she died (presumably, since she couldn't experience a life that wasn't current), and figure it all worked out ok. I keep waffling though, so if you've read this book I'd love to hear your thoughts on that!

The Big Door Prize by M.O. Walsh

It's been too long since I posted about an adult book, and just for fun. I recently read The Big Door Prize by M.O. Walsh and had to share some thoughts.

First off, the premise is what hooked me. A machine is installed in a grocery store in the small town of Deerfield, Louisiana. This machine reads your DNA and gives you a printout telling you what you're capable of in this life. Sit down, feed it $2, swab your cheek with a Q-tip, and get instant results. The whole town lines up to see their potential.

Of course, some people don't buy what the machine is selling, but even those few are tempted to give it a try. Wouldn't you be? Some people find out that they're doing exactly what they were destined to do. Some people realize they're on the wrong path, and they quit their jobs and go in a whole new direction. The book itself follows Douglas Hubbard, his wife Cherilyn, high school student Jacob, and the Catholic school's priest, Father Pete. Since it's set in a small town, there are a lot of other secondary characters that shine in their roles and round out the whole story. 

Also, the "twist" of the story is so slick, so slight, so hidden in the last little bit of the book, that I read it, kept on, then stopped in my (reading) tracks. It's so good. SO good. Seriously. I'd say the slow parts of the book are worth it JUST for the twist. The overall resolution to the book is good too, but wow, that twist...

I "accidentally" read a 1- or 2-star review of this when I added it to my "Currently Reading" shelf on GoodReads. The reviewer said the book had a lot of potential but was pretty slow and didn't dive as deep as it could have into the story. I was kind of bummed about that, but since the premise itself really interested me, I stuck with it. It did get a little slow in some parts, but I kind of liked that it was more about the lives in the small town and how they were affected by this machine, than the machine and how that played out for individuals. It was funny enough to just hear about how people turned their lives upside down and went a little crazy based on their DNA reading; I actually think focusing more on this would have been boring because it would read more like a short story collection of everyone's options.

In fact, there is a short story collection with a similar premise! If you like the idea of a machine telling you something and changing your whole life, check out This Is How You Die: 

THIS IS HOW YOU DIE is a new short fiction anthology, filled with stories and comics about a world in which a machine can predict how you die.

It just takes a drop of blood from a finger. Then it spits out a sliver of paper upon which are printed, in careful block letters, the words “DROWNED” or “CANCER” or “OLD AGE” or “CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN.”

Nothing else. No dates, no details. And it’s always — always — correct.

 Anyway, all of this is to say that if the premise of a machine determining your future interests you, read BOTH of these books!

Best Adult Fiction Read in 2019

I always enjoy looking back over the books I read in a year and grouping them into genre categories, and then ranking them. I use the star ratings on Goodreads for each individual review, but when it comes to picking my favorites, I typically just go for the ones that stuck out in my mind. Too often I hear a title or see a cover and try to remember if I read it or not, because it seems vaguely familiar but I have no clue what the story was about. Well, these are not those books. These are the books that I loved reading and that I have recommended to many others as soon as I finished the last page, and now I'm recommending them to you.

I'm including publication years because I am not one of those hip book bloggers who limits "Best of 2019" to books that were actually published in 2019 - I'm not sure I read enough of those. These are just books I happened to read in 2019, but this year it's interesting that 2/5 were published this year, and 2/5 were published last year. How very contemporary of me.

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf (2015). If I could have picked all of Kent Haruf's books for this list, I would have. And yes, I know it's my list and I can do whatever I please, but 5 is such a delightful number for a round-up list. Anyway, I discovered Haruf this year thanks to a bookstagram/librarian friend, and I am forever in his debt. I later found out that my dad loves this author but never recommended him to me, and I'm trying to not harbor anger about that. (Joking, kind of.) Anyway, something about Haruf's writing is so simple and beautiful and powerful. If I had to compare him to anyone, it would be Steinbeck, and I love me some Steinbeck, but I think Haruf beats him overall.
     Our Souls at Night was Haruf's last book, published after his death, but it's a great final book. It's not part of his trilogy, but it is set in the same town. Some of the dialogue makes vague references to Haruf's previous work, which might seem like he's full of himself, but it's actually so amazing and self-aware and really made the book, in my opinion. The story itself is wonderful - an elderly widow and an elderly widower are neighbors and begin a relationship, kind of out of the blue. They are honest and to the point and everything about it makes you want to strip your life down to the necessities and forget the rest, which is a good way to look at Haruf's other works. He only has 5 novels, so do yourself a favor and read them all. If you only read one, read this one. If you're reading them all, please read them in publication order.
     Our Souls at Night was made into a movie on Netflix, but I'm debating watching it. I always love the book more than the movie, but this book was SO GOOD that I'm not sure if the movie would ruin it for me, even if it's decent.

Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink (2018). I love the Welcome to Night Vale podcast, so when Alice Isn't Dead started as a podcast, I downloaded all the episodes. I never got a chance to listen, due to time constraints, having a small child around, etc. So when the book came out, I was excited to get to experience the story in some way. The book is AMAZING. Such a great mystery, such creepy circumstances, and the writing really portrays the suspense. I still haven't listen to the podcast, but I think I'll re-read the book next year and then make time to start listening. Have you listened to the podcast and/or read the book?

Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson (2019). I would have chosen this one on the anticipation alone. Kevin Wilson has been one of my favorite authors ever since I read his story collection Tunneling to the Center of the Earth years ago. Every time I find out he has a new book being released, I get incredibly excited, because he does surrealism so... realistically. I had this book on my "To Read" Goodreads shelf ever since it was announced, and then it was an October Book of the Month choice, so I got to read it before it was officially released! Waiting from when I chose my book to when it was delivered was almost unbearable, but of course worth it.
     Kevin Wilson is one of my favorite authors for the way he can make you laugh and make you cry with straightforward words, not trying too hard. When I saw this book was about spontaneous human combustion, I was worried it might be a little too out there for me to really be interested in (or believe) the subject matter. But Kevin Wilson is the king of taking slightly strange or unrealistic aspects and making them understandable and palatable for any reader. As always, his stories are about the characters more than what’s actually happening to them, and he presents some amazing, realistic characters in this book.   

Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2019). I know this book has already won awards and is on so many "Best of" lists, but I think it's earned, and not just hype.
     This book blew me away. I love classic rock and the band lifestyle of that era, and this is a great interpretation of that time. I loved the style of the writing. I have to admit that I'm a huge Aerosmith fan, and when I was in 8th grade I got a copy of their autobiography, Walk This Way. It's told as interviews with band members, and I read it so many times I probably still have parts memorized. This book reminded me so much of that, so it rang true to me. I loved the approach, the rock stories, the music. I have to say, it's hard for me to get into "music" in books, as in the lyrics written out. I couldn't hear it in my head so I mostly just skimmed. Also, the “twist” didn’t do much for me, but I can see how it affects the story overall, so I’ll take it, but I felt like it was presented in a strange way, and meant to be a big reveal, but it just didn’t work for me. Overall I loved the book though, and am reading more by the author already. I haven't listened to it myself, but I've heard the audiobook is told with many different actors doing voices, and I love how that must bring the story to life.

Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering (2018). I wasn't sure what to expect when I checked this book out just because I was seeing it everywhere, but this book blew me away. There was a lot of drama, which kept it interesting and had be turning the pages. Even with that being said, it was so real, so well developed, and so intriguing. Many of the characters made me think of real people, which was both good and bad considering the main male character was a psychopath. I could hardly put this down.

Have you read any of these adult fiction books from my top five? Which ones? What are your top five books read in 2019?

The Whisper Man

Backstory:

The Whisper Man by Alex North was my first selection from Book of the Month. This is totally a #bookstagrammademedoit type of thing. I've tried two different subscription boxes, years ago. One was a selection of local goods - food, crafts, coffee - that I really enjoyed, but got pretty pricey over time. The other was a young adult book club subscription. I was sent a YA book that had post-it notes marking certain pages, and small gifts wrapped up with the corresponding page number labeled on it. The idea was that it was an immersive experience - you're reading the book, then opening a gift that relates to what's happening in the story. It's a great concept, but I didn't enjoy many of the books, and the gifts were things I didn't really need or use, so I stopped that subscription as well.

Cue seeing The Whisper Man all over #bookstagram, with all the blurbs saying how creepy it is, how you shouldn't read it at night. I looked it up online to get my own copy, but it didn't release until August 20th, and this was the beginning of August when I was seeing it all over the internet. So I read more into everyone's posts, and saw that they were getting it from the Book of the Month subscription club. I found a code to get my first book for $10, and selected The Whisper Man.

It got to me a few days later, but I was finishing up one book, and had one that I needed to read to review. Once those were out of the way, I started The Whisper Man.

Plot:

Tom Kennedy's wife dies unexpectedly, so he moves his young son, Jake, to a new town for a fresh start. Jake had been pulling away from his dad since his mother's death, and while they had never been close, the distance bothered Tom. It also bothered Tom that Jake was talking to himself. Except... not to himself. Jake seemed convinced that a little girl was his friend and was always around, even when no one was with him. Jake has trouble at his new school, which adds to the stress Tom is feeling about the state of his life. Their new house is odd and unsettling, too. Tom is determined to find out the history of the house, and especially the mystery of the junk in the garage.

At the same time, the local police are investigating the latest kidnapping of a young boy. Twenty years ago there had been a string of related kidnappings, and the cops were sure they had arrested the correct man. He's been in jail since, but now another kidnapping has occurred. It could be a copycat, but some of the details were never released. The police realize that their suspicions of the killer having an accomplice might be true.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this book overall, but I had no problem reading it at night. It was creepy and unsettling, yes, mostly because the boys being kidnapped were approximately the same age as my son, so of course that might bother a person a bit. Some of the twists were pretty entertaining, but I do wish we had gotten more information about the killer who was in jail and the accomplice. I can't say too much without spoilers, but there was a lot that could be explored there, or perhaps better explained. I'm glad I read it, and I'm looking forward to more Book of the Month books, but I don't think this story lived up to the hype.

Parallel Universes in Realistic Fiction

I first read The Other Life by Ellen Meister in 2011, shortly after it came out. I loved the concept and the writing, and loved Meister's other books when I read them later. But the overall concept of The Other Life stuck with me. Quinn finds a portal in her laundry room that allows her to travel between the life she used to live with an old boyfriend, and her current life with her husband and son. I've previously written about the book:

There is a supernatural element of the portals that take Quinn from her "real" life to her other life, but they are explained very well, and it was easy to picture the fissures and Quinn's travel without feeling like you'd been displaced into a sci-fi novel. The portals are logically discussed before the end of the book, and with the focus being more on people and relationships than the paranormal, I would say this book is literary fiction more so than being classified in any sub-genre.

I loved the concept because I always liked wondering what would happen if. I remember being a kid at my grandparents' house, spacing out and wondering what things would feel like if I didn't exist. I wouldn't even know what I was missing. Pretty strange thoughts for a seven-year-old, but I think that's where all my wondering started. Every time I've made a big decision relating to moves, jobs, schools, etc, I take a few minutes to imagine how each path might turn out. I know there's no way to really know how things will be until you're in the moment, but some of my decisions have been drastic enough (like being offered two jobs in dramatically different fields) that I can speculate.

Then the TV show Community rocked my world with "Remedial Chaos Theory", a remarkable episode of television, especially for a half-hour sitcom, that approaches the concept of parallel universes. Each time the dice are rolled, a different outcome plays, showing everyone all the things that could have possibly happened if one thing was changed. 

I recently got hooked by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and loved her book Maybe In Another Life. It was more like The Other Life than "Remedial Chaos Theory", but it was really well done. Hannah has been feeling adrift in her life, unsure of everything from what career she should pursue to what city she should live in. When a friend convinces her to come back to her hometown of LA, Hannah is willing to try, partially because her high school boyfriend still lives there. On her first night back, Hannah goes to a bar with her friend to have a "welcome home!" party. In one universe, she goes home with her high school boyfriend to rekindle their romance. In the other, she goes home with the friend she's staying with. The chapters alternate from that point on, and the story develops so beautifully.

By the end, I did have a few questions about some of the "meant to be" aspects in one universe that didn't seem to completely apply in the other, so I need someone else to read this and talk to me about it! The last couple of chapters also had some of the same paragraphs copied and pasted - I know it's to show how things can be the same in both universes and still be "right" in each separate one, but as a reader, I don't want to see the exact same verbiage twice. I skimmed those paragraphs, but that was my only minor "issue" with the book.

Last year I started writing down some of my bigger decisions that led to one thing and could have gone a totally different way. It was my goal to write poems about what might have happened if I made the opposite choice. I haven't been able to find a good starting point, but reflecting on these books and episodes might be giving me the creative kick I need.

Daisy Jones and the Six

I don't remember how I heard about this book - everyone's buzzing about it, so maybe I saw a friend was reading it via Goodreads, or saw it on #bookstagram. Either way, I put it on hold at the library and didn't have to wait too long to start it. I was so excited to crack open the cover, which felt amazing in itself, because I haven't been reading much lately.

Then I started the story. WOW. Not only do I love classic rock and band drama from the '70s, but it's so well-written, and presented in an interesting way of the author compiling a narrative from all parties involved.

Also, it's totally the book I've been trying to write for decades.

I'm not saying the author stole my work or my idea or anything like that! I'm just feeling validated that this idea I had as a thirteen year old Aerosmith fanatic might actually have literary merit! I thought the story I was writing was glorified fan fiction, but  Daisy Jones and the Six has me rethinking that, and revisiting my story.

There are so many quotes about how you can't be a writer without being a reader, and I've always been a reader. And I've always loved music. And falling in love with Aerosmith as a young teenager gave me a way to connect music and writing. I worked on my fan fiction novel off and on for several years. I'm not exaggerating when I say I think of it often, even as an adult. I think of the title (which I still think is pretty perfect), and the main character, and what really should happen in the end. Because of course I haven't finished it!

But now, on the cusp of finishing Daisy Jones and the Six and honestly having no clue what will happen, I'm intrigued about my own story again. I want to re-read what I wrote so long ago, and see how my age and wisdom (ha!) might influence how the story will pan out. It's so refreshing to find a book that has not only made me fall in love with reading again, but has also made me fall back in love with writing, imagining, and all that comes along with that type of creating.

You: Books to Shows

You and Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

I've wanted to talk to everyone about You after I binge-watched it on Netflix, but it's hard to find people who have watched it, read it, or both. A friend loaned me the book in October with the disclaimer that she, a fan of psychological thrillers, bought it based on the back cover blurb alone. I'm always excited to have books recommended to me, and I don't judge reading tastes, so I was looking forward to it... and read it in about a day.

As soon as I started reading, I realized the language is pretty brutal and it’s VERY creepy. Overall I couldn't put it down and sought out the follow-up, so what does that say about me?

It was very twisted but I think a lot of the language was over-the-top, and while it didn’t seem out of character for Joe, it could have been taken out and he would come off just as creepy and horrible. Some of the situations in the book seemed like they were there for shock value - or at least the language used to describe them was for shock value. It made me like the story a little less.

But the show polished up the story and took out a lot of the language and scenarios that seemed to be too much. They added some characters, like the little boy, and added some scenes that weren't necessary, but I won't pretend to understand what makes good TV. I'm sure they had reasons for adding in the kid and the abused neighbor and all the drama that brought in.

I think this has been one of my favorite book-to-movie adaptations, because even though I didn't like the book much, I thought the story was interesting, and that was really given room to shine on screen. The writing was what brought down the book, in my opinion, so having a chance to revise the story really made it better.

As I mentioned, I read the sequel and have heard that it will be "season two" of the show, so I'll definitely be tuning in for that!

Did you watch You? Did you read the book before, or after, or not at all? What did you think of the book compared to the show? I love dissecting things like this, so leave your thoughts in the comments!

Bird Box: Books to Movies

Everyone has something to say about Bird Box, the book, the movie, or both. So I'm going to assume that if you're reading this, you've read the book and seen the movie. If not, stop here because SPOILERS. I am going to be comparing the two, so be warned: no holds barred.

Quindlen

I read Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen in 2011. It's a book that followed a woman as she left her abusive husband, bringing her son along as they started a secret new life. There were vivid flashbacks, but also a lot of current action. It had a good narrative structure, but overall felt very stream-of-consciousness, which worked perfectly.

As the woman adjusted to her new life, you were living day-to-day right along with her. When she was struck by fear of her husband finding her, you were jolted into that emotion as well. It was very powerful, very realistic, and very suspenseful. The prose was beautiful in many parts, but never too flowery. The characters were realistic and likable, and I found myself thinking about them even after finishing the book.

I read this book at the perfect time because I was struggling with a story I was writing. It was a story told in three or four parts (I was undecided at that time), and the main character was a wife leaving her husband. This really helped me get into the minds of my characters and get immersed in that world. I finished the set of stories and it's still one of my favorites, and I credit this book for helping me through it. (Along with Foo Fighters' "The Pretender"... long story!)

N is for Noose

My mom has always loved to go see authors, and started taking me with her when I was really young. Sometimes the line was too long (like for Mary Higgins Clark), and my dad would have to come pick me up.

When I was 12 or 13, she took me on a road trip to That Little Bookstore in Blytheville. Sue Grafton was going to be signing her newest book, N is for Noose. My mom had read Grafton’s books since the very beginning, but I had never read an adult mystery before. I loved kids’ mysteries, like Encyclopedia Brown, the Boxcar Children, and From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I also read adult books – mostly just novels that caught my eye at the library. But adult mysteries just didn’t seem to interest me.

After meeting Grafton, Mom encouraged me to start at the beginning of the alphabet. I did, and loved the series. Kinsey Millhone was what I wanted to be when I grew up. I loved the simple, straight-forward style of the writing. I loved that you could actually start anywhere in the alphabet and know what was going on; each book could stand alone.

I kept reading each book as it came out, including Kinsey and Me, which is actually one of my favorites. When news broke of Grafton’s death, I texted Mom immediately. We were both sad to hear it. Mom is especially sad that the series will never be finished; she’s invested a lot of years into it! I’ve read them all also, but don’t feel as personally invested. I kind of like that the alphabet ends at Y, that the series will never really end. Because even if Z was written and published, I would hate to read it and have to say goodbye to Kinsey Millhone.

Kevin Wilson

Kevin Wilson is the author of The Family Fang, Perfect Little World, and Tunneling to the Center of the Earth. He's quickly become one of my favorite authors, but I especially love his short stories. I had a chance to see him speak at a local university, and he was down to earth and very level-headed about being a writer. After being in an MFA program, I've started to hate stories with that typical MFA-touch of having no real resolution, and no real point. Kevin Wilson's short stories are the opposite of that. They bring up interesting, bizarre ideas and make you think, and leave you with your imagination in overdrive.

My two faves!

The Family Fang: The Fangs are a family of artists, creating pandemonium in public and filming the confusion. Kind of like a four person flash mob, before there were flash mobs. Annie and Buster participate with their parents as children, but as they grow up, they grow tired of a life of hoaxes. Both children move on, but when they’re down on their luck, they come home. Their parents ask them to participate in one final artwork, but can the kids give up all they’ve worked for towards getting away from this life? Very amusing, deep, and interesting. Wilson is a must-read.

Perfect Little World: Izzy gets pregnant by her high school art teacher, and isn’t sure what her small town can offer her after graduation. When a unique opportunity presents itself, Izzy has to take part. Even if it means promising ten years to a sociological experiment in which her child wouldn’t necessarily be hers, but raised equally by 18 other people. The story is just as multi-faceted as it sounds, and Wilson’s character development is amazing. I would love to get inside of Wilson’s mind. His stories are so vibrant and creative; beautifully written prose that borders on genre - usually sci-fi - but staying mainstream. I recommend this book to everyone, regardless of reading tastes or general interest.

Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: I'll be honest - the title and cover art grabbed my attention for this book, but I'm so glad it happened that way. These are some of the best, most innovative and interesting short stories I've ever read. The first story pulled me in and each of the following were just as fascinating. Wilson writes in a world where there is a company of stand-in grandmothers for families who aren't ready to tell their children that granny has passed on, where letters must be manually sorted in a Scrabble factory, where a museum of whatnot is a setting for love. Another book I'll be recommending to everyone.

Joshilyn Jackson

I read gods in Alabama in 2005 and it changed my life. Seriously. I have loved books and authors before, but the style of this writing and the story itself was so perfect… yet seemed like something I could write. Not in a way where I would scoff and say “Even I could write that!” But in a way that pushed me to write so I could love a book of my own as much as I loved that one.

I got to see Joshilyn Jackson speak at Square Books not long after her first book was published, and saw her a time or two after that as well. Her voice is amazing and her personality is so fun and charming. I used to read her blog obsessively, and her personality came out there too. This led me to feeling like I knew her, and that we were best friends… Which got super awkward when I saw her in 2017 at the American Library Association’s Midwinter conference in Atlanta. I greeted her like an old friend, but she is amazing and gracious and gave me the LAST ARC of her upcoming (at the time) book, which I dove into as soon as I got back to the hotel.

I have all of her books and love them and can’t wait to read more by her. As soon as I read her first book, she catapulted into my Top 5 Authors of all time, but as she writes more and more, she’s made it to that number one spot of Favorite Author by being consistently fantastic and innovative with her stories, while staying true to her writing self.

My Year in Books: 2017

In 2017 I read 127 books, broken down into 34,396 pages. My Goodreads goal was 104, or 2 a week. I exceeded that by reading one book every Saturday in the late fall, as a way to decompress after a stressful work week! I can't give a reason for my months with especially low numbers, except I feel like I fell into a lot of reading funks this year, where nothing sounded good, or I couldn't get into something I had to read, or I was just wasting time playing on my phone instead (yeah, it happens).

My monthly breakdowns:
January - 11
February - 14
March - 11
April - 8
May - 15
June - 6
July - 9
August - 7
September - 9
October - 6
November - 13
December - 18

My broad genre breakdowns:
Young Adult - 54
Middle Grade/Elementary - 28
Nonfiction (adult and children) - 19
Adult Fiction - 26

Picture books not included, since I keep track of those on my son's Goodreads page.

I read 20 books for review. This includes books I was sent to review for the blog, as well as books I review for the Memphis Public Library's Teen Bookletters. I started reviewing for this newsletter in May. You can sign up for these reviews (and others) here.

I only re-read 4 books this year. I feel like that is really great for me, even though I haven't kept stats like this in previous books. I used to want to re-read my favorites so often, I limited myself to reading them only once every year. I guess I have been cutting down on that, to the point that I only re-read a few, and at least 2 of those were because I was reading the next book in a series and needed to re-read the first to get back in the series groove.

I didn't do so well with my Reading Challenge. I hardly even attempted any of the classics, but read 6 of the diverse reads. I actually read a lot of diverse books this year though, like The Hate U Give and Dear Martin, among others. So the challenge to read more diverse books was a success, and I plan to keep this up in 2018. As far as actually accepting any other challenge, though - I'm going to pass. Even as a bookworm, I have balked against required reading and either trudged through, or gone to Cliffs Notes (I admit it!). So as an adult, giving myself required reading beyond books I am required to review is just... not something I'm going to do this year. I can challenge my reading in other ways. I'm going to stick with one broad goal of 115 books as a Goodreads challenge.

How was your 2017 in books? Do you have goals for 2018's reading life?

Best Adult Fiction Read in 2016

I would say I typically read more young adult fiction than adult fiction, and the adult fiction I do read is mostly suspense and psychological thrillers. Surprisingly, the top 5 adult fiction books I picked for the year are pretty different across the board.

In order from most recently published to oldest:

Good as Gone by Amy Gentry (2016). Julie was kidnapped from her house when she was 13, but the circumstances were very suspicious. She was never found, but suddenly appeared on her parents’ doorstep eight years later. Except several people don’t believe that this is the real Julie, and they have evidence. This book jumped around between points of view, seemed to introduce random characters, and basically did a great job at making sure you didn’t know what to believe as truth. It was very well done and very interesting to read.

Paris for One by Jojo Moyes (2016). I love Jojo Moyes' characters because they're so well-developed, so realistic, and so... cozy. The title novella is great to immerse yourself in, and the following short stories are pretty quick, with interesting twists and some surprise endings. I read it in one sitting and loved it.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (2014). I read this because it was one of Oprah’s Book Club picks and I needed it for my Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. I was SO glad I picked this one, because it was amazing. I’ve read Sue Monk Kidd before and loved it, and this one was no exception. It is based on historical figure Sarah Grimke and how she fought for slaves’ and women’s rights. The narrative was told from her point of view, as well as the point of view of Handful, a slave the Grimke family owned. I’m usually not into historical fiction but this way beautifully done and inspired further research on my part.

Someday Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham (2013). I love Lauren Graham, mostly as Lorelai Gilmore, so I was worried I was going to imagine that character as the narrator in this book. Luckily the story is about Franny trying to make it as an actress in New York, and she’s silly and funny, so imagining Lauren Graham as the character totally fit. I love reading about people trying to make it as actors, so I loved this book. The overall resolution was a little obvious, but there were nods throughout the book that Graham knew what was going on, so it seemed a little less hokey. The ending itself was very well-written. I’d love to read more from her.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (2011).  I loved this book! It was recommended to me by a friend who said I’d like it even though I don’t like sci-fi. To clarify, I don’t like hard sci-fi. I like things that seem like they could happen, like dystopia and robots and establishing human life on other planets. This book was amazing because it could be read as a statement on the direction society is headed - so much is done online, not face-to-face. Life seems so great on Facebook but it’s not in reality, etc.

Wade basically lives in the OASIS, an online world that’s better than the real world, especially considering that, in the real world, people live in trailers stacked on top of each other. He squats in an abandoned van to log in to the OASIS and become Parzival, an avatar who is still in high school, but is searching for the egg the OASIS creator left encoded in the game before he died. I don’t want to give too much away, but this book totally sucked me in, and I already want to re-read it! I recommend it to everyone, especially people who don’t like sci-fi, because it will blow you away. With the movie version being released in 2018, you might as well read it now so you can see it when it comes out! If the adaptation is well done, I think the movie could be just as great as the book.