December 2018 Reading Wrap-Up
I tried to get to my goal of 60 books for the year, but I fell one short. I do think I should be able to manage 5 books/month based on my usual reading, so I’m going to try for 60 again next year, but I had a couple of months in 2018 where I got really busy with non-reading life, so I fell short of my goals in the summer and had to play catch-up in the fall. Overall, it’s not too big of a deal for me because I always value quality over quantity when it comes to reading.
I read 6 books in December, all contemporary fiction. I’m listening to Sapiens on audio, but have a few chapters left still. Here are my reviews (I apologize for all of the half-star reviews but a lot of these books felt nebulous and in-between to me):
In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner * * *
This is a lighter read about two sisters who are polar opposites: Rose is smart and responsible with low self-esteem and Maggie is beautiful and confident, but making a mess out of her life. The beginning started out well and I enjoyed Rose’s path to asserting herself both with her younger sister and in her life in general. Maggie was pretty infuriating and I don’t think I could ever be as forgiving as Rose considering her awful behavior. As the plot progresses it gets more and more unbelievable in its plot, which took me out of the story. I think Weiner veers away from some necessary and redemptive conflict at the ending. I was also disappointed that Rose’s character didn’t make more of a complete arc and remained a bit of a wet blanket all the way through. Good in Bed is a more fun and entertaining Jennifer Weiner novel.
The Witch Elm by Tana French * *
I listened to this one on audio and unfortunately it was disappointing for me. I haven’t read Tana French before but I know a lot of people who are big fans. I still want to try one of her Dublin Murder Squad books since The Witch Elm is a stand-alone and apparently pretty different from her other novels (I guess they are all detective-based POVs). This book is narrated by victim/possible suspect Toby Hennessy. After he is brutally attacked in his apartment in an assumed burglary, he moves into an old family home to recuperate. When a body is discovered in the garden’s wych elm, the question of how it got there must be answered. My issue with this story is that it took so long for anything to happen all the way through. It was just super boring. Toby has endless meandering reveries and then there are excruciating, drawn-out conversations between the characters where very little is developed. I found the reveal to be pretty anticlimactic, the relationship between Toby and his girlfriend confusing, and an added twist at the ending ludicrous and unbelievable. The middle wasn’t bad, but again, it took forever and wasn’t worth the wait. The only interesting characters or scenes were with the detectives, but those were few and far between.
Rainbirds by Clarissa Goenawan * *.5
Like The Witch Elm, this is billed as a mystery, but it’s really more of a contemplation on grief and a character study of the narrator. It’s not a page-turner, but it does have a creepy, eerie feeling while you read. Ren Ishida travels from Tokyo to the small-town of Akakawa after his sister’s murder in one of the town’s parks. He takes up her post teaching at a cram school while he processes her mysterious life and death. I think Goenawan was trying to do too much, because she plants a lot of plot nuggets that don’t end up going anywhere and that was really frustrating as a reader. There is also a lot to be desired from the dialogue. Despite that, I was compelled by Ren’s narrative voice. Goenawan’s ability to set the mood was also affecting and I did enjoy the restrained, slightly surreal Japanese atmosphere of the book. Still, the plot holes and stretched coincidences let the book down.
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders * * *.5
This was one of the biggest critically-acclaimed books of last year, so I was happy to finally pick it up off my shelf. It is truly impressive in its concept and originality. The novel, compiled in voices and historical excerpts, follows the night of Willie Lincoln’s death and his time in the bardo (aka limbo). I really liked how Saunders took pieces of a variety of historical texts and biographies to paint the scene of certain moments in the story (Willie’s sickness, the Civil War, etc.). I’ve never seen that done before and it was a very cool effect. I also liked his depiction of the bardo and the various reasons why the large cast of characters are stuck there. At the same time, this didn’t go too much further than the scope of a short story, so I didn’t feel like there was a progression to the plot or my investment in it. Like other works by Saunders, this is also very surreal and eccentric, sometimes a little bit too much for my own liking. If you do want to stretch yourself in a literary sense and read something entirely new, however, I encourage you to pick this up.
All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki * *.5
Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being is one of my favorite books. I picked this one up at a used bookstore based on that. While it’s not bad, it doesn’t measure up to the emotional power and beautiful characters of Time Being. Yumi Fuller returns to her parent’s home in rural Idaho after 25 years away. She has come to take care of them in their ill health, but she discovers old and new demons while she’s there. The biggest issue I had with this book is that Ozeki is trying to cram too much into one novel: estranged daughter dealing with her past, the neighbor couple struggling with infertility, genetically modified potatoes, a van of eco-activists called the Seeds of Resistance. There’s just too much. There were certain pieces of this puzzle that I did enjoy, but there were others that slowed everything down and made the story and characters feel inauthentic. I never felt like the main narrator, Yumi, had anything that important or interesting to say. And then the whole activist plot line feels pretty preposterous and shoehorned into the book. In the end, the good and the bad balance out to “meh.”
Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday * * *
I just received this book as a Christmas gift and since it was on so many Best-Of lists for this year, I decided to jump right in. I am definitely jealous of Halliday’s writing talent. She is really skilled at capturing meaning out of mundane or tiny details and her way with language is just something you want to read. For that reason, I can see all the praise for the book and would recommend it. On the other hand, a lot of reviews hyped up the amazing link between the seemingly disparate first two sections of the book by the third, shorter coda. In the first part, “Folly,” we follow 25-year-old Alice as she begins a secret relationship with the famous, elderly writer Ezra Blazer. Then, in “Madness,” we jump to Heathrow airport, where Muslim-American Amar Jaafari is detained midway through his trip to Iraq. I won’t go into the third part except to say it is not some big reveal or revelation to the first two like it is sold. In fact, I thought the entire third part should be deleted from the book entirely. Taking the first two parts on there own, there were entertaining and enlightening parts in both, though also a sort of emotional blankness. In my opinion, this book is mis-marketed in a way that sets it up for disappointment. It’s a solid literary entry for the year and the two parts don’t need a reason to be reconciled. This has some faults, but Halliday is a talent to watch.
To keep up with my reading and reviews, follow me on Instagram @tinaisreading. I will release my Top 10 Books of 2018 tomorrow!
