January Reading

January was a good month of reading for me! Hopefully this sets the tone for the whole year. Although that may be expecting a bit too much. I have a special gift for picking out terrible books—I have the strangest, most unwanted and utterly useless talents. (Proof: when I joined facebook in college and reconnected with my 2nd grade best friend, one of the very first memories he shared of our many afternoons spent playing together was how I could do a really awesome seal bark imitation. I’m humbled and honored to have made such a lasting impression with that very odd talent of mine.)

1. The Rosie Project (Graeme Simsion) I absolutely loved this book. LOVED it. I bought it (very hesitantly—I rarely, rarely buy a book I haven’t already read) since it was on sale for Kindle last month, and it was possibly the best $2 I’ve ever spent. A very unconventional romance about a college professor who almost definitely falls somewhere on the Aspergers/autism spectrum, as he sets out to find himself a wife. I thought it was so charming and sweet, very unique, and laugh-out-loud funny at points. I’d highly recommend it.

2. Attachments (Rainbow Rowell) I started out not really enjoying this one, and almost gave up on it more than once. But I’m glad I stuck it out, because this story of a rather anti-social man who lands a job screening emails (and falls in love with a woman he’s never met whose emails he can’t stop himself from paying a little too much attention to) is so funny and lovable. I wasn’t crazy about the ending, but Lincoln is a sweet guy to root for, and the friendship between the two women whose emails he monitors is just fantastic.

3. Secret Daughter (Shilpi Somaya Gowda) I have rather mixed feelings about this one. It’s a back-and-forth story between a mother in India who had no choice but to give up her newborn daughter, and the American family who adopted her. I thought the subject matter was very moving (absolutely heartbreaking at times), and I haven’t read much set in India, so it was pretty eye-opening to learn about the culture and life there. But it fell a bit flat for me . . . it felt to me like it covered all these huge events just superficially. The characters didn’t always ring true to me, and I kept thinking, geez, with this series of events, the author could have done so much more. Overall, I enjoyed it, but definitely didn’t love it.

4. Lily’s Crossing (Patricia Reilly Giff) I’m almost positive that I read this in elementary school but completely forgot about it. It felt very familiar. Lily is a young girl spending the summer of 1944 at her beach house, where she befriends a young WWII refugee. I can’t remember, but I’d bet I really enjoyed it as a kid. As an adult re-reading it, I thought it was fine. One I’d definitely pass on to my kids to read when they’re old enough, but nothing I went crazy for.

Did you read anything you really loved this month?