I was surprised that I got The Great Alone from my library as quickly as I did since I was seeing it everywhere on the internet and Kristin Hannah is pretty popular these days. Not even 5 days after putting in a request, I got the email saying they were holding it for me. Yay! It was very compelling which meant it was read quickly. The only other book I've read by Hannah is The Nightingale. At first I was thinking how different these two books are (Nightingale set in France during WWII, Alone in Alaska in the 70's), but realized a day or two after finishing the second, they also had a lot in common - the effects of war on families, what people will do to survive). I intend to read more of Hannah's books (I even have one I bought for 50 cents over a year ago at our library's annual sale), but for now I can wholeheartedly recommend what I have read from her so far. (Somehow I forgot to take a pic of The Great Alone, maybe because it was a new release and had to be back at the library so fast. So here's a 4th of July picture I love that was taken during the week I was reading it. Ha!)
I also got The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin from the library quickly. Four siblings go to a mysterious woman they hear about who can tell you the day you will die. As you might guess, most of them are not happy with what they hear. Parts of this really worked for me, especially the youngest who dies at the youngest age and the oldest who lives the longest, and I really liked the exploration of the idea of whether or not knowing how long you have to live changes the way you live. The story line of the two middle siblings dragged a bit for me, and I never felt the fortune teller piece of the story got developed enough or resolved.
As I've mentioned many times, I do Book of the Month Club (BOTM). Sometimes a selection will appeal to me enough to order (I like that you can skip months with no obligation), but I don't have time to read them when they arrive. The Woman in the Window was a BOTM selection I didn't order, probably because many people were likening it to Hitchcock's Rear Window, which is my favorite Hitchcock movie, hands down. I thought it might be a cheesy, unoriginal knockoff. But I kept seeing people whose opinions I respect write that they loved it, so onto my library request list it went. I wish I hadn't let the comparisons to Rear Window deter me because I really enjoyed this as a suspense/thriller. It was fast-paced and had a number of good twists that didn't feel like they were thrown in there to conveniently resolve the story.
Somehow I missed that Elinor Lipman released a new book last year. When I saw someone I follow on FB mention how much she enjoyed On Turpentine Lane, I immediately got online to request it. It was sitting right there on the shelf, my library request showed me. I've always felt like Lipman deserves a bigger following than she has as her books always have delightful, real characters who find themselves in believable but somehow unlikely situations. The woman can WRITE. Unfortunately, I've read everything of hers now once again and will have to wait for something new.
My last book for July was actually finished on August 1st at 12:55 A.M., but since 99.9% of it was read technically in July, I'm gonna go ahead and count it, mmmmkay? The Couple Next Door by Shari Lipman was one of those aforementioned BOTM club picks I ordered but didn't have time to read. Having been pleasantly surprised by The Woman in the Window, I wasn't optimistic that another suspense/thriller was going to work, but it did! This was a page-turner that kept me reading past when I should have gone to bed. I didn't love it, but I liked it very much and would recommend to anyone looking for this type of book.
Oh, I also surpassed my 18 books for 2018 this month. Here's to seeing how many more before the New Year!
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