December tends to be a solid reading month for me - with the days getting shorter and the temperatures a bit colder, I give myself permission to get in bed and read a little earlier than usual. Here's a little of what I've been reading this past week:
I kept seeing Fredrik Backman's Anxious People on various to-read lists and at the bookstore - with a cheery bright yellow cover the title didn't quite seem to match, but I decided to check it out. The story revolves ostensibly around a bank robbery turned hostage situation gone decidedly wrong. The story is told through police interview with the hostages, and flashbacks to the open house where all the victims were congregated when the crime took place. As the police attempt to home in on the robber, various threads of the story are revealed, with connections (known and unknown) between the characters made. This book is by the same author as the also popular, A Man Called Ove, and a I found significant similarities among the characters - namely that they are concrete and often obtuse in a way that is certainly off-putting but with a bit of narrative backstory you come to understand the motivations or reasoning behind their behavior and as a result they become (or are supposed to become) endearing. I found the characters in these books aggravating - along the lines of Eleanor Oliphant in Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. While I did find the stories themselves compelling from a plot point of view - I did want to know what was going to happen and where the characters would end up - I didn't find the journey particularly enjoyable.
Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden: A thriller/mystery that takes place on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. An enforcer who distributes justice when the police fail to do their job, Virgil Wounded Horse is hired to ferret out who is bringing heroin to the young people on the reservation. When his own nephew is caught up in the chaos, Virgil finds himself unsure of who to trust, and reexamining the Native beliefs he thought he was better off leaving behind.
Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel: This type of book must have a genre named for it. I don't know what it is, but it's among my favorites - middle-aged woman with semi-dysfuntional family (kids and parents) come together for milestone event (wedding, funeral, 50th birthday party) - old wounds are reopened and potentially healed, old misunderstandings are righted, certainly romances of some sort ensue, and many lessons are learned. In this one, Bridget, a cellist, plans to spend a quiet summer in her country home with her writer boyfriend - only to find that he has other plans, her grown twin children are moving back in, and she has no idea where her career is going. A fast-paced enjoyable read with charming characters.
- Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds: After enjoying Reynolds' Track series, I've been eager to read more by him. This book - told in 10 separate vignettes about 10 separate kids (some intertwined by circumstance) who have to find ways to survive and thrive after the school bell rings and they are set free into a world full of distractions, dangers, and detours. While we all may wish for carefree childhoods - these are the fears and realities kids face every day - and the courage they hold that many adults don't quite give them credit for or even realize. I read this in one sitting - but think it is certainly worth a slower re-read.
- Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins: When Anna is sent to a French boarding school for her senior year of high school, she laments leaving behind her best friend and a blossoming romance...but when she meets the charmingly handsome Etienne St. Clair, she thinks maybe the City of Lights may have bright side after all. If only he didn't already have a girlfriend. A standard teenage romance - this one is filled with all the sappy conversation and romantic hope a teenager craves.
- No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen: Felix Knutsson is a middle-school kid with nowhere to lay his heavy burden. He and his mom have been evicted from their apartment and living in their van. As Felix distracts himself from reality with his favorite trivia game show and his beloved gerbil, he navigates friendship and hunger knowing he is always one misstep away from foster care. Is it possible for him to lean on someone else without betraying the person he loves most?
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