I recently had a lot of free time to read… because I was lying in bed (when I wasn’t watching Game of Thrones). I finished four books in four days, something I’ve never done before. Here’s what I read:

The Library Book by Susan Orlean (non-fiction, heard about it from Reese Witherspoon’s book club)

I loved this story about the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library fire, the history of the library, how the library works, and the stories of the people that work there. If this is how Orlean writes most of her books, I want to read more.

I especially loved her personal connection to the library. She had fond memories of going to the library with her mom as a kid, and she was struggling with her mom losing those memories from dementia. As Orlean wrote the book she pondered what the point of life is if we we’re just going to live and be forgotten. Why experience or learn or imagine if it will be lost when we’re gone? But then she thought about the library, and how if we share the stories and lessons learned, and read other stories and lessons learned and connect with those, we see how we’re part of “a larger story that has shape and purpose.”

That was only one small part of the book (literally, one page) but it really spoke to me. Cheesy, but that’s kind of why I blog, and read blogs…

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory (romance fiction, heard about it from Reese Witherspoon’s book club)

Another book set in LA that I heard about from Reese Witherspoon’s book club! Does anyone else read books from her recommended list?

This was the first romance fiction novel I’ve ever read! It was a stark contrast after reading The Library Book. The style was hip and conversation heavy – which was fine – it just took me a bit to get in to the swing of it.

It’s the story of Nik, whose NOT serious boyfriend proposes to her on the scoreboard at the Dodgers game. She’s humiliated, and says no, and the boyfriend storms off with his bros. She stays at the game, and when camera crews are about to bombard her, a stranger, Carlos, pretends to know her to help her out. Then she develops a relationship with him, but gasp! – they both think they don’t want anything serious, but are connecting more with each other than they have with anyone else in years, etc. etc. It was cute! A fun fluff read!

Looker by Laura Sims (“thriller” fiction, saw it on the new books shelf at the library)

Whoa, Looker was intense. It’s a quick read under 200 pages, and most of it is stream-of-consciousness from the seriously troubled narrator’s mind. The narrator is a middle-aged woman who is OBSESSED with the “actress” (we never learn her name) that lives on her street. The narrator’s husband recently left her, after years of them trying to have a child and being unable to, and she’s barely getting by, financially. She has a lot of time on her hands and spends most of it thinking about the actress, walking by her house, looking in her windows, and taking things out of her yard (that the actress has placed there because she doesn’t want them). The whole story is a crazy downward spiral that makes you feel icky but you can’t stop reading. The writing was clever, and raw – you really felt what the narrator was feeling. (But still questioned her and wanted to say “NO! STOP! DON’T DO THAT!”)

(I put “thriller” in quotes because while it’s labeled this way, many people on Goodreads thought that genre wasn’t quite right. It’s more of a psychological… mental… something or other.)

Falling into Place by Amy Zhang (YA fiction, recommended by Stephany)

Falling into Place begins with Liz, a high school junior, attempting suicide with a car crash meant to look like an accident. The book is non-linear (with a mysterious narrator), and jumps back and forth as it tells her story, and why she decided this was something she should do (because she’s a mean person and thinks everyone in the world is better than her).

This book is really well done. The non-linear story telling adds suspense to wondering if she’s going to make it. It also lets the reader put the story together like a puzzle, which I enjoyed.

A few reviewers on Goodreads said they struggled with it because they disliked Liz and what a bully she was. I didn’t feel that way. I felt sad for her.

A few reviewers also said Zhang wrote this book when she was in high school, and just, wow. I definitely recommend it!

And that’s everything I read in the last four days! I have another book to start on the train today which I’ll share with you Thursday!