October + November 2020 Book Review

I know what you’re thinking– It’s 2021 but I’m still posting 2020 books. Well, even though I’ve been behind on sharing the books here, I was not behind on reading them. Here is what I read in October and November– a lot of 4 star books here and one 5 star book, which is a pretty big deal for me. Let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you thought!

The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis – This book has two parallel stories going on at the New York Public Library. The first is in 1914 and is about a woman, Laura Lyons, who lives with her husband and children in the apartments of the New York Public library. She is also trying to find her way in a world dominated by men. It’s also about Sadie (80 years later) struggling with the legacy of her grandmother, Laura Lyons. Honestly, I don’t even care to give much more of a synopsis than that, because I really didn’t like this book. I saw it on Good Morning America and figured it must be good. It was just good publicity. The characters were underdeveloped and unrealistic. It seemed to be more of a rough outline of a book than an actual fleshed out novel. By the end I was skimming just to be over with it. 1 Star

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel – This one is about a young Jewish woman who narrowly escapes being taken to a concentration camp by forging her own papers. It seems that she has the artistry required of a good forger and she realizes she has the ability to help people escape the Nazis by becoming a forger for the resistance. It’s also a bit of a love story. I have read SO many books about WW2 and I’m always amazed at how many different stories there are to tell– from Jews surviving concentration camps to people fighting in the war and everything in between. I really enjoyed this book. 4.5 Stars

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley – This book starts off with an elderly man who feels lonely and disconnected from people. He decides to write his story in a notebook and leaves it in a cafe to be picked up by someone else to share their story and then another person and then so on. A community and friendships are built as the notebook passes from hand to hand. I loved the premise for this novel; so unique and heartwarming. The characters were endearing and people you wanted to root for. It was an overall feel-good book and made me want to start my own authenticity project. 4 Stars

The Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman – This book takes place in 1918 during the Spanish Flu pandemic (very timely and yikes!). It’s about a 13 year old girl, Pia, who finds herself taking care of her twin baby brothers in the middle of this pandemic. She leaves her brothers in search of food for them but falls ill herself. When she awakens in a hospital days later, she isn’t allowed to leave and is taken to an orphanage. Pia faces the unimaginable while in the orphanage and she struggles with wondering if her brothers are still alive and if she’ll ever find them again. It was a good story and also really interesting to read about how the country faced a pandemic back then. 4 Stars

Long Bright River by Liz Moore – Long Bright River is about two sisters– Mickey, a police officer and Kacey, an addict on the streets. Suddenly Kacey goes missing and Mickey is desperately trying to figure out where she is or if she’s even alive. It’s a great police story, but also a tender story about sisters. It’s a long book, but a quick read. 4 Stars

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Noemí, a chic young debutante, receives a strange letter from her cousin begging for someone to come save her from some mysterious and unknown doom. Noemí travels to the Mexican countryside to aid her cousin but when she arrives, she too gets caught up in the house’s tangled web of gloom. WEIRDEST BOOK EVER. It started off a bit slow, albeit suspenseful, and didn’t really take off until about 2/3 of the way in. And once it did it was weird. Crazy weird. Did I mention weird? I don’t even know what to rate this. 2 Stars? 3?

The Guest List by Lucy Foley – This book is about a wedding that takes place on a remote island off the the coast of Ireland and the main characters– the bride, the groom, the bridesmaid, and groomsmen all have secrets they’re hiding. And then someone turns up dead on the wedding day. Dun dun DUNNNN. I’m not usually a big on thrillers because they often fall flat for me, but this one was really good. There was a great buildup of suspense and it had me guessing who killed who throughout the whole book. 4 Stars

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid – This one is about a woman, Evelyn Hugo, who becomes a famous actress and how she makes it to the top using her wits (and at times her body). I appreciated how Evelyn Hugo was this strong, progressive woman who smashes the patriarchy with her every move. It’s also a bit of a love story. A very quick and easy read that I was into from the first page. 4 Stars

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls – The Glass Castle is a memoir about a girl, Jeannette, whose parents are always moving around the country with her and her three siblings in tow. Jeannette and her siblings are often tasked with raising and feeding themselves. They deal with their alcoholic father and neglectful mother, but somehow still manage to thrive. I’m making the book sound dark and the parents sound awful, but the book actually has a lot of levity and can be amusing. It reminded me so much of the book Educated by Tara Westover, except this was a quicker read and even more appalling. 5 Stars

XO,

L