Reading Update

Book #15 of the year was  The Compound, by Aisling Rawle. This is about a reality show in a world that's maybe just a bit more messed up than our current situation, but not by all that much. On camera constantly, housemates compete for relationships and possessions by doing increasingly brutal things. I expected some kind of realization or redemption but there wasn't any. But it was gripping and hard to put down.

 

Book #16 was The Hunter, by Tana French. This was the second in a trilogy; the third one is coming out next month. Cal Hooper was a police officer in Chicago and he retired to quiet, peaceful rural Ireland. Of course it isn't quite as quiet and peaceful as anticipated. 

 

Book #17 was The River is Waiting, by Wally Lamb. This book was heart-wrecking. It was a book club read, and we were all plunged into despair by it. There's a horrible event in the first chapter and then the whole rest of the book shows the consequences of that event. There's a lot in the book about the prison system in the United States. 

 

Book #18 was Amy Tan's The Backyard Bird Chronicles, which consists of journal entries and drawings of what she witnesses in her back yard during the pandemic. I enjoyed this one enormously.

 

Book #19 was Spectacular Things, by Beck Dorey-Stein, a story of two sisters and how they manage to go on living when they lose their mom. It was an interesting peek into the world of professional soccer, too.

 

Book #20 also gave a glimpse into a world that was unfamiliar to me, that of internet influencers. It was Everyone is Lying to You, by Jo Piazza, mostly set at a conference for said influencers called MomBomb. It's a pretty gory and awful story, and then some of the stuff tacked on at the end made me a little confused and perhaps in need of the inevitable sequel? 

 

In my last reading update I said we'd be teaching online for a bit; it turned out to be only two days and then we were able to reopen. I am very thankful to be teaching in person, whether or not there's more time for reading, but I've also been struggling to catch up on the work the kids did/were supposed to do during the days off and the online teaching. And as you can see from these reviews, I've been reading a lot of dark stuff. I need something a little more cheerful next...