January book club reads

As per my post “Battle of the book clubs!” – I wanted to find the book club that best catered to my taste of variety, diversity and originality. I found about 8-10 book clubs I wanted to look into, and 6 january picks among them. (Pictured are all the books I read in january, but they were not all book club picks.) Now, I’m going to take my time with all the clubs (can I manage them all for an entire year? maybe…) before I start weeding them out. How many “bad” choices (and in bad I mean, not to my personal taste) before I cut them out? I don’t know, but the first month went like this:

Diverse Spines: Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

โ€œ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™—๐™ž๐™œ๐™œ๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™ค๐™›๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ, ๐™– ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ค๐™› ๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™™๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™จ๐™๐™ž๐™›๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™š ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฎ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™จ.โ€
Byron and Benny had just lost their mom and sheโ€™s left them an 8 hour long video full of secrets and instructions, and a black cake in the freezer. From there itโ€™s a rideโ€ฆ
It has everything you would want from a novel, a bit of mystery and murder, family secrets, personal struggles, generational effects and beautiful storytelling. (It even has chapter names and not numbers! Love that!) It has a multicultural family at the center of the story, lgbtq+ characters, and nobody is simply used to push the story along. All the characters are well developed and returned to, and this shows the author has great respect for her characters.
If there was one thing I could pick at it would be the drawn out ending. Itโ€™s a quite long book at over 400 pages. But nowhere in the first 300 pages was I bored. I devoured every sentence, and then the last 100 pages felt like they needed editing.

โ€œโ€ฆ ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™—๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š; ๐™ž๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™—๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฅ๐™–๐™—๐™ก๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™™๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ. ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™—๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™—๐™š ๐™™๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™›๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š.โ€

Specifically this story follows a family with Chinese heritage that moves from an undisclosed Caribbean island, to England under the commonwealth immigration rules of the time after the war. There are many interesting facts here and the author even gives book and movie suggestions in her afterword on the topic.
The book is also highly quotable! And it makes you think a lot! I enjoyed this immensely.

โ€œ๐™’๐™š ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ก๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™จ ๐™จ๐™–๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™˜๐™ช๐™ก๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™™๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™—๐™š๐™œ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ,โ€ from one multicultural to another – this was my favorite chapter, when one of the Charles gets speaks of the origins of culture and to whom what belongs. I can read that over and over and feel comforted that appropriation truly is bull and it makes life very difficult for the multicultural.

I actually started this one before I knew it was a book club pick. It was just screaming out to me for months until I caved. And I should ALWAYS follow my gut – because I absolutely LOVED IT! Five stars! โญโญโญโญโญ

Read with Jenna: Sam by Allegra Goodman

โ€œ๐™„โ€™๐™ข ๐™œ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™—๐™š ๐™– ๐™˜๐™ก๐™ž๐™ข๐™—๐™š๐™ง.โ€
โ€œ๐™”๐™ค๐™ช ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™—๐™š ๐™– ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จ, ๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ก๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™™.โ€
โ€œ๐™„ ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™™.โ€
๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™จ๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™จ ๐™—๐™š๐™˜๐™–๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™จ๐™๐™š ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™จ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ง๐™š๐™™ ๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™š. ๐™Ž๐™๐™š ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™š๐™ฉ๐™˜๐™๐™š๐™จ ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™Ž๐™–๐™ขโ€™๐™จ ๐™—๐™š๐™™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™๐™š๐™–๐™™ ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™Ž๐™–๐™ขโ€™๐™จ ๐™๐™š๐™–๐™™ ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฌ. โ€œ๐™”๐™ค๐™ช ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™™, ๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ.โ€
โ€œ๐™๐™๐™–๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™—๐™š๐™˜๐™–๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™„ ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฉ.โ€
โ€œ๐™’๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ ๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ง๐™ฉ ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š?โ€
โ€œ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™—๐™ค๐™ค๐™ ๐™จ.โ€

Right off the bat it seems Sam and I don’t have very much in common. haha

I was terrified when it first started because reading childrenโ€™s perspectives for me, is a hit or a miss. I either love it or I hate it! But this one oddly enough, fell down the middle. The younger years had a fast, choppy and distracted type of writing, much like a child and it softened and got more stuctured as she aged and I though that was well done.
I also enjoyed the fact that Sam is just a regular kid, not a wiz or a wonder even though she has her hardships. She just tries to figure stuff out and it doesnโ€™t always go in her favor. (Would it be fair to liken this to the child version of “Stoner”?)

Other than that, I got nothing.
It was okay in large parts, but I found myself zoning out and skimming parts I didnโ€™t see going anywhere, which is never a good sign. I just couldnโ€™t keep my interest present. Maybe itโ€™s not the book, maybe itโ€™s just not to my taste. Maybe this life is too mundane for me to be intrigued by anything. This was probably a 2,5 for me, but Iโ€™m rounding up to three stars.โญโญโญ

Reese’s book club: The house in the pines by Ana Reyes

Maya is coming off Klonopin and is having withdrawals when she sees a video of a woman who falls over dead while sitting across from a man she recognizes. Her best friend was standing just across from the same man seven years earlier when she dropped dead too. She’s sure he’s behind both deaths so she starts to investigate, but it’s hard to tell what’s truth and what’s hallucination when you’re having withdrawal.

โ€œ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™–๐™ก๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™โ€”๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ข๐™–๐™ ๐™š ๐™ช๐™ฅ ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™จ, ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ค๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™จ, ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ค๐™ก๐™š ๐™—๐™š๐™ก๐™ž๐™š๐™› ๐™จ๐™ฎ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ข๐™จโ€”๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™–โ€™๐™จ ๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™, ๐˜ฟ๐™ง. ๐˜ฝ๐™–๐™ง๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™จ๐™–๐™ž๐™™, ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ฎ๐™ฅ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™–๐™ฌ ๐™›๐™–๐™˜๐™š๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™˜๐™ก๐™ค๐™ช๐™™๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ข๐™š๐™จ๐™จ๐™–๐™œ๐™š๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™– ๐™ก๐™š๐™–๐™ซ๐™š๐™จ. ๐™‹๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐™จ๐™–๐™ฌ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š. ๐™„๐™ฉ ๐™ข๐™š๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™๐™š ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™– ๐™œ๐™ค๐™ค๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ข๐™–๐™œ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃโ€”๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ž๐™˜๐™  ๐™๐™š๐™ง.โ€

The typical unreliable narrator trope. I’ve read all those books already, the woman on the train, the woman in the window and now the house in the pines. If it’s going to use an old trope, it better deliver something new. And it does. Sort of. But it does it – badly? The bones of the story is good! Which is why I think it’s a Reese’s book club pick. It’s original enough, it had Guatemalan lore weaved in there, an old manuscript from her dead father, unsolved deaths and so and so on. The problem with it all is that it doesnโ€™t use it for anything. Itโ€™s just there.

Another issue I have is that the characters donโ€™t feel fully developed except, kinda, for Frank – the mysterious guy. She does a deep dive on him, but everyone else are just pawns in this book. Her boyfriend is a sidenote, her supposed best friend has no backstory of her own, sheโ€™s just used as the trigger for Maya (whom we also barely really know!). Her mom is just โ€œBrendaโ€ who has changed careers and seems happier now. We only meet Brenda when itโ€™s to be concerned about Maya. Other than that, nothing. Itโ€™s flat. I wished I liked it more, I wish it expanded on the right things cause it could have been so good! In the end, I feel left on an anticlimax. Two stars. โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ

GMA bookclub & Amarie bookclub: Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

How do I describe this book? Itโ€™s like a negroni, sbagliato, with prosecco in it. A viral foreign mystery thatโ€™s redundant and over the top.

โ€œ๐™๐™ช๐™˜๐™  ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช,โ€ ๐™จ๐™๐™š ๐™จ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™จ. โ€œ๐™”๐™ค๐™ช ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™—๐™ž๐™œ ๐™˜๐™–๐™ง๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™  ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™™๐™ค ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š, ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™ง๐™™๐™š๐™ง ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™–๐™ง๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™. ๐™”๐™ค๐™ช ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ, ๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ก๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™˜๐™ช๐™ก๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š.โ€

Itโ€™s divided into 5 parts, part 1 is by far, the superior part, thankfully! we follow Ajay as a child being sent off to work at a farm until the landowner dies and heโ€™s left to find his own way. Which coincidentally and eventually crosses paths with the Wadia family where he becomes a faithful servant.

If not for the protagonist Ajay I donโ€™t think I would have gotten though. He is a force! And his story is told in the most interesting way, without much understanding for whatโ€™s going on around him. His is also the largest chunk of this book. And weโ€™re rooting for him all the way!

Part two is much of the same story from a different perspective. The journalist Neda who is equally attracted and disgusted by the Wadia family – specifically Sunny Wadia. Parts of her story we have already seen from Ajayโ€™s unknowing eyes, so she fills in the blanks for us. Itโ€™s well done in one way, in another, it doesnโ€™t really offer all that much. We already know the Wadia family is shit, she just confirms it.

Part three, four and five is a mess and itโ€™s where the story starts to fall apart. This was a no brainer five star read for me up until that point.
It starts shifting perspectives around, jumps back and forth from paragraph to pages and looses its footing. Ajay, Neda, Sunny, his father, his uncle, some other dude, a journalist, a priest? I donโ€™t know. I lost interest and I lost my way in it all. Whoโ€™s talking? Whoโ€™s who now? Whoโ€™s on which side? Whatโ€™s happening???
Thereโ€™s articles, unsent letters and monologues that I felt could do with some editing. And then suddenly, it was over.
I landed on four stars because the beginning was so good! And there are characters here that will stay with me.โญโญโญโญ

Belletrist: All this could be different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

A debut contemporary novel about a queer indian woman who starts an entry-level position in Milwaukee. She comes off to me as a gen-Z with millennial angst. At first this struck me as “Shake” from love is blind. The douche nobody was rooting for with Deepti. But towards the end, it felt more like the JKR of books, or Kanye of books if you will. Always saying the wrong things. That’s the vibe it’s giving anyways, ignorant and cruel, but on purpose.

“๐™„๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™˜๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ข๐™š ๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™„ ๐™™๐™ž๐™™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™– ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™๐™š๐™ง. ๐˜ผ ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™—๐™ž๐™œ๐™œ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ข๐™š, ๐™—๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™ฃ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™ข๐™š. ๐™„ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ ๐™– ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™œ๐™ž๐™ง๐™ก. ๐™๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ-๐™ก๐™ž๐™ข๐™—๐™š๐™™, ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฉ ๐™›๐™ช๐™ก๐™ก ๐™—๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฅ๐™จ. ๐™‹๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™  ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ง๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ ๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™–๐™˜๐™š๐™จ.”

Here we have a first generation immigrant from India and of course she happens to have some serious self-hatred. (I know this from my filipino community in Norway.) She’s startled by her own brown reflection as if she forgot her own brownness and she doesn’t like a woman she hasn’t even met yet because she thinks she might be “too fat”. If it was just this, I probably could have gotten through, but when she targets marginalized groups, it feels like hate speech and I’m out.

“๐™๐™๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™จ? ๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ก๐™™. ๐™„๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™– ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™ข๐™–๐™ฅ๐™๐™ง๐™ค๐™™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™š? ๐™”๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ, ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™– ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ.
๐™’๐™š๐™ก๐™ก, ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™—๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง, ๐™’๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™– ๐™จ๐™ช๐™—๐™จ๐™š๐™ฉ, ๐™„ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ , ๐™ค๐™› ๐™—๐™š๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง. ๐™Š๐™ง ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฎ๐™—๐™š ๐™– ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™š๐™ฉ. ๐™„’๐™ข ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š.
– ๐™Š๐™ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™ค๐™ฃ.
-๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ?
๐™„ ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฉ, ๐™„ ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฉ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š, ๐™ž๐™› ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™–๐™จ ๐™– ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™– ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™› ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™—๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ. ๐™„ ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ก๐™ฎ. ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™ฎ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™—๐™š๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™š๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ก๐™š๐™›๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐˜ผ๐™ข๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™š, ๐™๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ฎ.”
I’d rather read something uplifting and unifing, than something as politically divisive and hateful as this. More love, less hate please. Seriously, all this could be different, but it’s just one star, because I didn’t like it and I did not bother to finish. โญ

Books that matter: really good, actually by Monica Heisey

โ€œ๐™ˆ๐™ฎ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ง๐™ง๐™ž๐™–๐™œ๐™š ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™™ ๐™—๐™š๐™˜๐™–๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™„ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™˜๐™ง๐™ช๐™š๐™ก. ๐™Š๐™ง ๐™—๐™š๐™˜๐™–๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™„ ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™—๐™š๐™™. ๐™Š๐™ง ๐™—๐™š๐™˜๐™–๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™๐™š ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š๐™™ ๐™š๐™ก๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™ข๐™ช๐™จ๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™™๐™ž๐™›๐™›๐™ž๐™˜๐™ช๐™ก๐™ฉ ๐™›๐™ž๐™ก๐™ข๐™จ ๐™–๐™—๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š. ๐™Š๐™ง ๐™—๐™š๐™˜๐™–๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™„ ๐™™๐™ž๐™™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ. โ€ Or because of about a thousand other reasons that the author lists and then begins a narcissistic rant on how sheโ€™s getting over it. (But in your 20โ€™s youโ€™re naturally kinda self-obsessed trying to figure life out right?)
Scenes are sometimes funny, tedious, cringy, naive and aimless.
The latter probably being its biggest flaw. It steers away from the natural fish buildup – beginning, middle and end – and it seems just like word vomit all the way through. Itโ€™s like a setup for a sit-com, woman gets divorced, and go! Episode after episode without aim to end and with no real story.
Iโ€™ve seen several reviews mentioning that thereโ€™s good stuff here – and there is! Itโ€™s just floating around in the pool of everything else.

โ€œ ๐™„ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ค ๐™˜๐™–๐™ง๐™š๐™™ ๐™–๐™—๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ข๐™š, ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ก๐™  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ง๐™ค๐™ช๐™œ๐™ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™– ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ, ๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™š๐™ญ๐™๐™–๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ.โ€

She nailed the reading experience towards the end though. But it was only an ok two stars for me. โญโญ

My favorite January book:

Diverse spines book club and their january pick, Black cake by Charmaine Wilkerson.

I could easily recommend this book to anyone! It’s a good story, with perfect pacing, solid writing that flows off the page, well developed characters and current issues as well as old ones. It ties it all perfectly together and it’s a treat to read!

I also like the fact that this book was not brand new. It came out last year, so it was easy to get a hold of. This is a bonus if you ask me.

Looking forward to seeing what the book clubs have in store for february!