Any predictions on how much longer I try to take these photos on my own before I just use the ones curated on Goodreads?!
[14] Thief River Falls by Brian Freeman
Mystery thriller, selected by a coworker for work book club
Synopsis: Lisa Powers is the author of the bestselling thriller Thief River Falls, named after her northern Minnesota hometown. But instead of celebrating the success of her fourth novel, Lisa’s struggling with grief from losing most of her family over the past two years. When a young runaway boy shows up in her yard in the middle of the night, after he’s witnessed a murder and escaped his own death, Lisa vows to keep him safe and expose the crime he witnessed. But that’s difficult with all of the people trying to chase the boy down.
Review: The book I read before this one was painfully slow so I appreciated the fast pacing and lots of action in this book, and that it was an easy read that didn’t require looking up any words (ha). I questioned some of Lisa’s decisions throughout the book – like why she kept leaving the boy alone. Something seemed a bit off to me, and it mostly made sense why in the end. This was a good pick for book club, because people are going to want to talk about the ending. I’d like to here, but I don’t want to spoil it!
[15] Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Fantasy, selected because it’s on my 2020 To Do list and I wanted to use my Kindle
Synopsis: Harry Potter’s parents died when he was a baby, and he was sent to live with his aunt, uncle, and cousin, who make him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs and treat him unlovingly and with contempt. On his eleventh birthday, he learns his parents were wizards, discovers he has magical powers of his own, and that he’s a celebrity in the wizard community for sending the dark wizard Lord Voledmort in to exile after he killed Harry’s parents, but could not kill him. Harry receives an invitation to attend Hogwarts, an English boarding school for wizards and witches. During his first year there, he makes friends and enemies, discovers his natural wizardry talents, and discovers something sinister is going on on campus. (Ha, my synopsis is definitely not necessary, as most people reading this have probably already read the entire series once or more!)
Review: Many people warned me that the first Harry Potter book was childish, and that the books “grow up” as the characters do, but I never found the maturity or tone of the writing off-putting. I enjoyed it from the beginning, and loved being introduced to the wizard world with Harry. In the past, people recommended these books and movies to me, but out of order – someone gave me book three or four, and someone took me to the second or third movie – and that did NOT work for me. I needed to start the series at the beginning to appreciate and understand it. I loved the book, and am excited I finally understand some of the Harry Potter references now. I am looking forward to reading more of the series!
[16] How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper
Contemporary fiction, saw in an article or on Goodreads
Synopsis: Andrew is an anxious forty-two year-old who lives alone and keeps to himself. He has a unique public health job in London – he searches for next of kin of those who die alone, and plans their funerals when no kin are found. During his job interview, he spaced off and accidentally lied about having kids, then made up a wife as well, because he figured he wasn’t going to get the job. Oops. Five years later, he’s still living that lie at work, and it’s becoming an issue – his boss is insisting on having group dinners at each other’s homes, and Andrew is interested in his new coworker Peggy, but of course, she thinks he’s married.
Review: I dislike movies that rely on a lie being revealed and its aftermath as a huge part of the plot, so I was surprised how much I liked this book (maybe I can handle that theme in book format better?). I was also surprised at the humor in it – there are many clever lines that made me laugh out loud. This story gave me a lot of feels for Andrew, and left me with many thoughts about loneliness and what leads people to no longer having anyone in their lives.
A new book rule:
Books that are hella long (like these two, over 700 pages each) are going to be read on the Kindle. I don’t want to commute with a book that’s this big and heavy. Nope, nope, nope! Unfortunately, one of these books is over a six month wait to read digitally from the library, but that’s okay – I have plenty to read now!
HP! I’m so glad you liked the first book 🙂 I’m excited to hear your thoughts on the rest of the series. I grew up with these books (I’m four years younger than you), went to the book release parties at Borders (remember Borders?)…were they popular when you were a kid, or did you just miss out on that craze?
And I am excited to read the rest of them! I do remember Borders! And I remember the hype behind these. I think they started coming out when I was in high school and did not read for fun, and I didn’t know anyone reading them! It’s fun to join the party late 🙂
I’m SO glad you loved the first Harry Potter so much! It’s such a great series and it’s just mind-boggling to me this world Rowling created. So inventive! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts as you read the rest of the books.
I’m also glad to see your positive review of How Not to Die Alone! I really enjoyed that book, especially the way everything was revealed at the end.
It is mind-boggling! I was thinking that a lot as I read it – all the things she had to come up with! I kept my eye out for butter beer, since I hear people talk about that a lot, but that must be later, when they get older 😉
I was waiting for that reveal! I really wanted to understand what happened to him. And I was glad to see him making some changes in his life at the end.
Yay!!!! I’m SO glad you liked Harry Potter! I was really nervous when I saw it in the picture along with two others – I was afraid you DNFed it. But yay for that not being the case! I feel like a whole other world of pop culture opened up to me after finally reading the books a few years ago. I had a general idea of what happened in the books, because I feel like being totally clueless about them would’ve been impossible growing up (since, especially towards the end, Harry was just about my age as the books were released (i.e.: he was 17 in Book 7, and it came out in 2007, which was the year most of my classmates and I turned 17). The books always take place one year after the previous books, but the last three didn’t come out annually (unlike the first four), so those of us born in 1990 “caught up” to Harry age-wise). Regardless, now that I’ve read them, SO MANY THINGS make more sense, and I like that I’m able to enjoy Harry Potter-themed things now in a way I couldn’t when I hadn’t read the books/seen the movies.
I am excited to see what other pop culture things make sense to me after I read more, because I really enjoy understanding pop culture 🙂 (that sounds sarcastic, but it’s not)
That’s cool that the books were delayed so you and Harry graduated at the same time. But you didn’t read them until you were an adult? I can’t recall, even though we’ve talked about it!
I love Harry Potter! I agree, it makes much more sense to start with the first book and go in order 🙂 I hope you continue to enjoy the series.
Thank you! I think I will!
And why o why were people recommending it out of order? Ha!
I’ve debated picking up the Harry Potter books on Audible. I’ve read them before but it’s been YEARS!
I know several adults who listened to them recently (as a second or third or whatever time through) and really enjoyed it!
HARRY POTTER!!! So glad you are loving the book and next thing you know, you’ll be at Hogwarts in Orlando! 😉 And yes, read them in order, duh. Why would someone who’s read them tell you otherwise?
How Not to Die Alone sounds really intriguing!
Right?! Maybe I will see you there!
I am really confused why people recommended them out of order. Was it laziness? Why would that make sense? I’ve had people recommend other series of books to me telling me “you don’t need to read the others,” and well, a lot of the time, you DO need to. Otherwise you’re left wondering all these things that were explained IF YOU READ THEM IN ORDER!
How Not to Die Alone was really good! It really makes you think about what we do to isolate ourselves, or how we stop reaching out to others, then all of a sudden, we’re alone.