Considering I hadn't intended to begin our summer reading challenge until this week for Memorial Day, coworkers jumped right in and started early, and May has at least been a good month of reading anyway. I finished A Little Life by Yanagihara which is a beautiful but devastating, heart wrenching read. You know going in you're bound to have your heart and soul ripped out, thrown on the ground, stomped and utterly shredded--but well worth every exquisitely written word. It's kind of like watching the Walking Dead--you know it's going to be horrific, you're well aware it's going to tear you up, but you can't not watch, then you're so glad you did because it's so well done. That's A Little Life. Read it.
Next was my very first introduction into manga with Death Note Vol 1. It's the story of a death god who is bored with existence, so drops his Death Notebook into the human world, where it's discovered and put to use to kill death row criminals in an effort to clean up the world...at first.
For someone who thought manga were simply fat comic books, I was pleasantly surprised at how well written this book is--I was completely sucked into the story line and can't wait to carry on with the rest of the series to find out what happens with these characters. I passed it on to Michael who's also enjoying it (he's reading!! That's the greatest gift, ever!!)
Next, for my history selection, I read Candice Millard's River of Doubt which chronicles Theodore Roosevelt's adventure into the Amazon to discover, and put on the map, a new river that nearly cost him and most of the expedition's lives during this terrifying trek through uncharted jungle.
It struck me at first as an early century Jackass circa 1912, as these idiot men planned so poorly for this trip. But how they fought to survive and see each other through to the end is quite remarkable and awe inspiring. I was given new respect for these crazy, reckless men who braved all and lived to tell the tale.
After that followed the autobiography, A Chance in the World by Steve Pemberton, which has been fairly popular at our store since it's a story of a local boy, abandoned as a young child and separated from his siblings, who grew up neglected and abused in the foster care system and managed to track down the remains of his birth family.
Another sad orphan story, but I still enjoyed recognizing local street names and familiar places--this one at least has a happier ending than Little Life, so...give it a chance!
Next up was my mystery selection, Into the Woods by Tana French. I don't typically read mystery books but I've heard so many great recommendations about Tana, I had to give this one a shot.
Winner of the Edgar Award, it pulled me right in and had me guessing whodunit the whole time. Creepy, twisted, with a shocking reveal at the end, Into the Woods is everything you'd dream of in a good mystery.
Finally, I'm currently on the Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, a German forester who endeavors to show how trees communicate and nurture each other and their living environment.
It's a quick, fascinating read that makes you want to go out and hug all the trees in your yard and neighborhood, then go for a hike and try to listen to the trees talking...Yeah, it really does!
Which leaves me more than halfway done with my extended reading challenge (add another genre and a bestseller for 2017) and considering I should completely finish the entire challenge by the end of June, I'm already looking forward to what I'll read next when I'm all done...Back to the backlist and my A to Z challenges!!
How is your summer reading challenge coming along?
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