Our January Books

One of our New Years resolutions this year was to read more. At least, it was one of my goals and Josh surprisingly joined in! And if you aren't aware what a miracle that is, his favorite quote in December was "Nah, I don't read" (Tom Hardy). So to help keep us honest and to remember what we liked and didn't like, here's our reports!

BETHANY'S BOOKS

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
This book blew my mind and continues to blow my mind. I started it a LONG time ago and loved what I was reading but then got busy and didn't have time to read it so I let my mom borrow it and within that time she finished it and managed to get it back to me and then it sat on my shelf with a depressing sticky note not even a quarter of the way through.
So I finally picked it up again and, once again, loved it. And I still took a long time to finish as each little section told me something about myself that absolutely changed my perspective about experiences both past and present so I would have to close my book and think about it a bit and talk to Josh about what I'd learned and how it plays into my life. Halfway through I even pulled out a pen and started marking it up (something I NEVER do, not even in high school when my teachers told me to) because I wanted to remember everything I was thinking. And even with all those talks and pauses and note-taking, I managed to finish.
I may have to write a separate post about what I learned about both myself and the world.

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwabe
Another light read that I really loved listening to while I was working. I expected it to be depressing, but in fact it was very sweet as a man talks with his mother who has cancer and they read books together and reflect on them. I loved listening to the stories from his childhood, especially those revolving around books, and the conversations he had with his mom when he asked about them. Plus I got a few great books to add to my list! But it also taught me a lot of lessons as his mother was a very inspiring person and taught him many valuable lessons that he reflects on.
It's a very thoughtful memoir that made me love his mother and mourn with him when she died. I had to stop listening about three chapters to the end as I knew what was coming and wanted it to be more personal so I grabbed the ebook so I could read instead. I may or may not have cried the whole way through the last chapter. This could possibly be one of my favorite books now.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by MaryAnn Shafer and Annie Barrows
I've seen this book around and a few people have mentioned it to me but since I didn't know much about the story and no one ever "raved" about it, I never bothered with it. But I needed another audiobook and that was available so I gave it a listen. And I LOVED it! Another book that might become a favorite. Of course I love books that talk about books, but it's also placed right after World War II, is a love story (that isn't mushy or sexual), and is rather funny. There's a lot of great characters and I love the way it's written- the style made a great audiobook. I'm glad I found this at the thrift store so I could add it to my shelf and read it again later.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
On New Years, Josh and I finally watched all three Hobbit movies. I really liked them, but since I hadn't read the book since I was probably ten I couldn't remember what the book was like and how similar to the movie it was. So I read it again and it made me want to punch the movie in the face. They took out some great stories and added in a million others that were completely unnecessary. I loved the book, as I know I did before, and will be looking for the Lord of the Rings trilogy at the thrift store so I can read those, too.

The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel
This was a quick light read that I really enjoyed, but didn't necessarily get hooked on. It was an audiobook that I liked listening to while working because I didn't NEED to pay attention to every detail and could tune back in at any time. It's a collection of stories and information about the wives of the astronauts of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. It got a bit confusing as an audiobook as there were many different people to keep track of and I couldn't flip back to see who they were, but the more important people I got the hang of.
I especially loved paying attention to all the mid-century sexism where the wives were manipulated by the press and NASA into being simple housewives that just loved cleaning and baking while the men were celebrities who slept around and drove Corvettes. It also gives you a really good glimpse into what it was like to be a wife of an astronaut, something that I wasn't necessarily curious about before but loved learning about all the same. Plus it helped to educate me about these missions that I haven't really looked into before.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
This book has been recommended by so many people but since I don't usually love Young Adult novels about high school kids, I didn't bite. But I saw the audiobook in my library's database and was waiting for other books I was itching to read to free up so I decided to give it a go, knowing it would be quick. And it was. And it was entertaining and written in an interesting way and thankfully nothing incredibly immature and no awkward sex scenes that always really irk me in YA books. I found myself getting particularly upset about Eleanor's situation and wanted to punch people in the last section. But otherwise, it didn't change my life and didn't teach me anything new and I didn't even have anything to say about it to Josh. But it was good and entertaining and the perfect listen while I was working. Maybe I'll have to stick to listening to YA books that are light enough I don't need to focus on but entertaining enough to keep me interest? I have a hard time paying attention to deeper books while I'm working.

Gone Girl by Jillian Flynn
I had a hard time with this book. Another one that was recommended to me by a billion people and when I found the audiobook in my library's database, I requested it. And when I started listening, I loved the writing style (though HATED Kirby Heybourne's narrating) and was intrigued by the buildup knowing that the wife goes missing or dies or something- not really a spoiler, in fact, you probably knew more than I did if you paid better attention to the movie trailer.
But I hated it much more than I liked it in the way that I really hate but sorta like the show Scandal. I hate the characters, it's too dark and vulgar for my taste, but I HAVE to know what happens. And then there was a huge plot twist halfway through which only pushed me to finish.
It's a very well written book and the structure was very unique. The story captured me. All in all, it was a good listen that kept me curious throughout, but I'm glad I didn't buy it and have to see it on my bookshelf every day.

JOSH'S BOOKS

The Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell
By the length of my list compared to Bethany's, you may find that I'm not as much of a reader as she is. I commute just over an hour everyday and was coaxed into listening to books. I've wanted to see the Lone Survivor movie about Marcus Luttrell (played by Mark Wahlberg) since I saw the trailer. I saw this as an audiobook and was listening to it the next day. I enjoyed the book a lot since I am interested in the war in the Middle East, the military, the SEALS, and most things violence. This book takes you through Luttrell and his team's background and training, the battle that makes him the 'Lone Survivor', and how a village pretty much saved his butt from the Taliban. I liked the book and would recommend it to most, as long as you don't mind imagining a somewhat graphic battle scene! So take that world, I listened to a book, and am in the process of reading another.

No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden by Matt Bissonnette and Kevin Maurer
Bethany was so gracious in getting me into reading by finding me books that would actually interest me. She knows I love action flicks and military so obviously my imagination would do well with the same type of books. No Easy Day is a great piece of history that happened during my lifetime which is way cool! This book is about a Navy SEAL, Mark Owen, who works his way into the most elite team in the Navy- SEAL Team Six. Owen grew up in Alaska, went to University to satisfy his parents and joined the SEAL's shortly after graduating. This book goes into detail of some of Owen's training and missions that he was deployed on during his career. I found out that SEAL Team Six was not only the team to kill Bin Laden but also the team that was part of the rescue operation of Captain Phillips who's boat was attacked by Somali pirates in 2009. This was a good book and a cool part of history to hear first hand.