Wednesday Reading Meme
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! A big hug to all of you. :)
What I Just Finished Reading: It's been a good week! 4 books and a short story, woot woot! I read: The Night She Disappeared, The Family Upstairs and The Family Remains, all by Lisa Jewell, Tails of the Apocalypse, an animal-themed anthology, and Graceful Burdens by Roxane Gay. Reviews below.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I've just started Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I'm not sure I love the interview format, but I'll give it a go.
What I'm Planning to Read Next: I'm going to keep borrowing books from Amy's bookshelf since I seem to be on a roll. I think next up may be The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacqueline Mitchard, because that was also recommended to me in the past, and then maybe This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straud, which is apparently a Freaky Friday type situation.
14. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
Tallulah and Zach, 19-year-old parents of a baby, go missing after a night out in this page-turning mystery thriller. The story bounces back in forth between a couple different timeframes and points of view: from the night of the disappearance and the aftermath, shown most often through the eyes of Talullah’s mom; the events leading up to that night as experienced by Tallulah, and then a year after the disappearance, when a mystery writer becomes drawn into the story when she finds a clue hidden in her garden underneath a note which reads “dig here”.
I absolutely loved this. All of the characters are unique and interesting, and as we meet more and more of them we find that most of them are hiding something, and they all have some piece of information that contributes to solving the mystery. The author is so skilled at writing layered, multidimensional people as well as a clear yet twisty plotline. Lula in particular is so well written, and as the story draws closer to what the reader knows will be the last time she’s seen, there is such a mounting sense of dread.
I also always love when something that happened earlier in the book is revealed to have more importance than initially thought, and that happened once in this book in such a way that I literally gasped at the realization.
Some of the bits and pieces I had figured out, but how it got to that point was always a surprise. I stayed up late and read this in one sitting because I just had to know how it all turned out.
Date Read: February 07, 2024
Page Count: 401
5 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - April I - where there is an investigation (14/74)
+ Around the Year in 52 Books 07 - pronoun in title (14/52)
15. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
I so enjoyed the last book by Jewell that I immediately went downstairs and snagged another one from Amy’s bookshelf. This one involves a woman who, on her 25th birthday, finds out that she’s inherited a large home in Chelsea… where her parents where found dead years before, members of a cult who committed suicide. Libby’s older siblings were missing but Libby was found in the home as an infant and adopted, but now she decides to investigate the mystery surrounding her parents death.
This story (like the previous Jewell I read) bops back and forth between the current time in Libby’s POV and that of a woman in France who is trying to get back to the UK, and the past through the eyes of Henry, Libby’s brother. The characters all have depth and each part of the story is equally interesting, meaning that I had another late night staying up turning pages compulsively to find out what happened. Definitely some creepy moments and surprises were in store.
There were a few moments that were pretty over the top, but considering how I couldn’t stop reading I’m still giving this one 5 big stars.
Date Read: February 08, 2024
Page Count: 340
5 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - February F - title begins with F (15/74)
+ Around The Year in 52 Books 41 - chilling atmosphere (15/52)
16. Tails of the Apocalypse by various authors, edited by Chris Pourteau
As soon as I saw the title I knew I absolutely had to get this book, a compilation of 15 stories about animals dealing with life during or after the apocalypse. Some of the stories are told from the point of view of the animals, and some from the humans who love them.
Often anthologies can be hit or miss, but I found the vast majority of the stories in this one were really entertaining. The book starts out strong with The Water Finder’s Shadow by David Burns, wherein Earth is a wasteland, water is scarce, and water finders are highly sought after. But what happens when one loses the skill? In Demon and Emily, the world ends via giant bugs (my worst nightmare) and there is one very loyal dog, and in Ghost Light a plane lands in Scotland as nuclear war ravages, and one man determines to find his way home.
My favourite of the book was probably When You Open The Cages for Those Who Can’t, by Edward W. Robertson, about a resilient little girl who sets out to save the animals at a kennel after plague wipes out most of her town. He wrote such a realistic child and she made my heart clench. I also loved Unconditional by Chris Pourteau, the story that inspired the anthology, who ends his world via zombies and who writes a dog POV that made me want to hug the brave boy.
There’s a few misses, of course. A few authors chose to write stories that take place within their larger fictional worlds of their other books, but without context I think there was something lacking for the readers who don’t know their work. But overall, it was a great collection of stories.
Dates Read: February 09 to 11, 2024
Page Count: 407
4 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - April P - a character has a pet (16/74)
+ Around the Year in 52 Books 16 - related to “It’s raining cats and dogs” (16/52)
+ Challenges and Fandom Fan Favourites 08 - animal on the cover (07/16)
17. Graceful Burdens by Roxane Gay
This short story by Gay is about a (near) future in which women are examined at 16 to see if they have the proper genetics to bear a child. In only 21 pages she sweeps her way through this landscape, showing us a woman who’s been deemed unworthy, one who has children and shouldn’t, those who fight to make what changes they can, and hints at the horrible future for motherless babies in this nightmare. It’s a tour de force, really. Bravo.
Date Read: February 11, 2024
Page Count: 21
5 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - August U - with a 2 and 1 in the page count (17/74)
+ Around The Year in 52 Books 24 - orange, green or purple cover (17/74)
18. The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell
Sequel to The Family Upstairs, this story again follows multiple timeframes. In the present, they’ve tracked down the missing Phin but he doesn’t seem to want to be found, leaving Henry to go after him and Lucy and the kids to go after Henry. Meanwhile, we go back in time to Lucy’s abusive ex Michael meeting his second wife, Rachel, and follow Rachel’s story until it intersects with the family.
I loved Rachel. Her story was the most interesting to me and I loved her strength and resiliency. Henry was a surprise in this one,and I’d also love to see more of a new character, a quite brilliant detective who knows how to think around corners. I also really loved the intensity of the writing. There’s a whole lot of tension throughout the book with everyone’s stories that keeps building and building, and the author in one case leaves you hanging for quite a few chapters in anticipation of what’s happened. Very well done.
Dates Read: February 12 to 23, 2023
Page Count: 370
5 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - May M - author who is on this week’s Most Read Authors in Canada list (18/74)
+ Around The Year in 52 Books 30 - country bordering Mediterranean Sea [takes place partially in France] (18/52)
+ Challenges & Fandom Fan Favourite 16 - a book with a character you could relate to (08/16)
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What I Just Finished Reading: It's been a good week! 4 books and a short story, woot woot! I read: The Night She Disappeared, The Family Upstairs and The Family Remains, all by Lisa Jewell, Tails of the Apocalypse, an animal-themed anthology, and Graceful Burdens by Roxane Gay. Reviews below.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I've just started Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I'm not sure I love the interview format, but I'll give it a go.
What I'm Planning to Read Next: I'm going to keep borrowing books from Amy's bookshelf since I seem to be on a roll. I think next up may be The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacqueline Mitchard, because that was also recommended to me in the past, and then maybe This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straud, which is apparently a Freaky Friday type situation.
14. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
Tallulah and Zach, 19-year-old parents of a baby, go missing after a night out in this page-turning mystery thriller. The story bounces back in forth between a couple different timeframes and points of view: from the night of the disappearance and the aftermath, shown most often through the eyes of Talullah’s mom; the events leading up to that night as experienced by Tallulah, and then a year after the disappearance, when a mystery writer becomes drawn into the story when she finds a clue hidden in her garden underneath a note which reads “dig here”.
I absolutely loved this. All of the characters are unique and interesting, and as we meet more and more of them we find that most of them are hiding something, and they all have some piece of information that contributes to solving the mystery. The author is so skilled at writing layered, multidimensional people as well as a clear yet twisty plotline. Lula in particular is so well written, and as the story draws closer to what the reader knows will be the last time she’s seen, there is such a mounting sense of dread.
I also always love when something that happened earlier in the book is revealed to have more importance than initially thought, and that happened once in this book in such a way that I literally gasped at the realization.
Some of the bits and pieces I had figured out, but how it got to that point was always a surprise. I stayed up late and read this in one sitting because I just had to know how it all turned out.
Date Read: February 07, 2024
Page Count: 401
5 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - April I - where there is an investigation (14/74)
+ Around the Year in 52 Books 07 - pronoun in title (14/52)
15. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
I so enjoyed the last book by Jewell that I immediately went downstairs and snagged another one from Amy’s bookshelf. This one involves a woman who, on her 25th birthday, finds out that she’s inherited a large home in Chelsea… where her parents where found dead years before, members of a cult who committed suicide. Libby’s older siblings were missing but Libby was found in the home as an infant and adopted, but now she decides to investigate the mystery surrounding her parents death.
This story (like the previous Jewell I read) bops back and forth between the current time in Libby’s POV and that of a woman in France who is trying to get back to the UK, and the past through the eyes of Henry, Libby’s brother. The characters all have depth and each part of the story is equally interesting, meaning that I had another late night staying up turning pages compulsively to find out what happened. Definitely some creepy moments and surprises were in store.
There were a few moments that were pretty over the top, but considering how I couldn’t stop reading I’m still giving this one 5 big stars.
Date Read: February 08, 2024
Page Count: 340
5 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - February F - title begins with F (15/74)
+ Around The Year in 52 Books 41 - chilling atmosphere (15/52)
16. Tails of the Apocalypse by various authors, edited by Chris Pourteau
As soon as I saw the title I knew I absolutely had to get this book, a compilation of 15 stories about animals dealing with life during or after the apocalypse. Some of the stories are told from the point of view of the animals, and some from the humans who love them.
Often anthologies can be hit or miss, but I found the vast majority of the stories in this one were really entertaining. The book starts out strong with The Water Finder’s Shadow by David Burns, wherein Earth is a wasteland, water is scarce, and water finders are highly sought after. But what happens when one loses the skill? In Demon and Emily, the world ends via giant bugs (my worst nightmare) and there is one very loyal dog, and in Ghost Light a plane lands in Scotland as nuclear war ravages, and one man determines to find his way home.
My favourite of the book was probably When You Open The Cages for Those Who Can’t, by Edward W. Robertson, about a resilient little girl who sets out to save the animals at a kennel after plague wipes out most of her town. He wrote such a realistic child and she made my heart clench. I also loved Unconditional by Chris Pourteau, the story that inspired the anthology, who ends his world via zombies and who writes a dog POV that made me want to hug the brave boy.
There’s a few misses, of course. A few authors chose to write stories that take place within their larger fictional worlds of their other books, but without context I think there was something lacking for the readers who don’t know their work. But overall, it was a great collection of stories.
Dates Read: February 09 to 11, 2024
Page Count: 407
4 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - April P - a character has a pet (16/74)
+ Around the Year in 52 Books 16 - related to “It’s raining cats and dogs” (16/52)
+ Challenges and Fandom Fan Favourites 08 - animal on the cover (07/16)
17. Graceful Burdens by Roxane Gay
This short story by Gay is about a (near) future in which women are examined at 16 to see if they have the proper genetics to bear a child. In only 21 pages she sweeps her way through this landscape, showing us a woman who’s been deemed unworthy, one who has children and shouldn’t, those who fight to make what changes they can, and hints at the horrible future for motherless babies in this nightmare. It’s a tour de force, really. Bravo.
Date Read: February 11, 2024
Page Count: 21
5 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - August U - with a 2 and 1 in the page count (17/74)
+ Around The Year in 52 Books 24 - orange, green or purple cover (17/74)
18. The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell
Sequel to The Family Upstairs, this story again follows multiple timeframes. In the present, they’ve tracked down the missing Phin but he doesn’t seem to want to be found, leaving Henry to go after him and Lucy and the kids to go after Henry. Meanwhile, we go back in time to Lucy’s abusive ex Michael meeting his second wife, Rachel, and follow Rachel’s story until it intersects with the family.
I loved Rachel. Her story was the most interesting to me and I loved her strength and resiliency. Henry was a surprise in this one,and I’d also love to see more of a new character, a quite brilliant detective who knows how to think around corners. I also really loved the intensity of the writing. There’s a whole lot of tension throughout the book with everyone’s stories that keeps building and building, and the author in one case leaves you hanging for quite a few chapters in anticipation of what’s happened. Very well done.
Dates Read: February 12 to 23, 2023
Page Count: 370
5 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - May M - author who is on this week’s Most Read Authors in Canada list (18/74)
+ Around The Year in 52 Books 30 - country bordering Mediterranean Sea [takes place partially in France] (18/52)
+ Challenges & Fandom Fan Favourite 16 - a book with a character you could relate to (08/16)
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