This has been another good reading month, although I’m so far off my target for the year that I’m sure I have no chance of reaching it.
Still, I’ve been enjoying the extra time spent with a book and the struggles of the first part of the year seem to be behind me (touch wood).
I started the month with a book that has been on my radar for a while: Wild by Cheryl Strayed. I pretty much ignored the hype when the movie came out and I haven’t seen it. It was only after I saw the trailer for an indie documentary about the Pacific Crest Trail that I became interested in the story.
The book is a memoir following Strayed’s decision to hike alone along the PCT, a trail that runs from Mexico to Canada along the western states of the US. After her mother died, Strayed went off the rails, destroying her marriage with meaningless flings and taking drugs. Hiking the PCT made her rediscover life and take a hard look at her decisions and what she wanted for the future.
I really loved this book. Strayed writes beautifully and her descriptions of the wilderness and the struggles she went through are compelling and vividly rendered. I would definitely recommend this to anyone with a hint of wanderlust.
After finishing Wild, I had a really strong urge to read The Maze Runner, which has been on my mental TBR list for a while. It turned out to be in my local library, along with the other books in the trilogy, so I headed down for the first time in years to borrow them.
I have to admit, I was disappointed. I pushed on to read all three books, even though I didn’t enjoy The Maze Runner or its sequel, The Scorch Trials. Both books had rave reviews on Amazon, while many people seemed disappointed in the third novel, The Death Cure. As I haven’t used the library for so long, I felt compelled to read all three novels, and I actually enjoyed the third book more than the other two.
But overall, I found the trilogy pretty uninspiring. The story is pretty unpleasant and I didn’t see the point in the overly elaborate trials that the characters were put through by WICKED. Sorry if you love this one, but it wasn’t for me.
While I was waiting to pick up The Scorch Trials from the library, I went back over the last Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead Ever After. I’ve written about this before so I won’t go into detail here, but I do enjoy revisiting the Sookieverse occasionally when I want a book that I know will give me a quick, engaged read.
Finally this month, was another really great novel that I randomly picked up from Tesco one lunch time (my lunch break book buying habit is getting to be an issue!) White Crocodile by K.T. Medina is a crossover crime/literary novel that follows a woman who goes to work for a mine clearance charity in Cambodia after the death of her estranged husband, who was killed working for the same company.
This one is lyrically written and the action is always absorbing and vivid. I was also fascinated by the author’s own story: the brief description given in the novel makes her seem like an incredibly interesting person who I’m sure would be a great person to have dinner with. Having worked as a mine clearer herself, Medina brings that knowledge and authenticity to her novel in spades.
July’s reads
- Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found, by Cheryl Strayed
- The Maze Runner (Maze Runner Series), by James Dashner
- Dead Ever After: A True Blood Novel (Sookie Stackhouse 13), by Charlaine Harris (read my review)
- The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner Series), by James Dashner
- The Death Cure (Maze Runner Series), by James Dashner
- White Crocodile, by KT Medina
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Lauren says
Have you heard of the popsugar reading challenge? It’s essentially 52 books (three should be a trilogy) so it should be one book a week. It’s fun because it gives you an assortment of books like “one I started but never finished” “classic romance” etc. Sounds like if you liked white crocodile you may like “dark places”. Haven’t read Gone Girl but she truly is a great writer, painfully real.
Love the list!
L
Amy Lord says
Hey Lauren, I have heard of the Popsugar challenge but never looked into it. I like the idea of the prompts rather than a specific book – a few of the bloggers I follow did a book bingo challenge over the summer that had a similar setup. Thinks for the book tip, I did enjoy Gone Girl so might check it out!