GMA book club: The blue hour by Paula Hawkins

The first chapter hit me like the beginning of an episode of bones, and then it just as quickly stepped on the breakes and started to explain things veeery slowly. I DNF’ed it pretty fast.

Oprah’s bookclub: From here to the great unknown by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough

A tender and beautiful memoir with the wild perspective of Presley and the grounded focus of Keough.
It amazed me how Keough managed to sit inside her mother’s grief with such a level head and get this story down on pages.

I loved the structure of the book, Presley telling her story unfiltered and with emphasis on the things important to her. Forsaking many things I’m sure people will want to know more about. And then her daughter building around it and filling it out.
It gave the book a unique multigenerational perspective and emphasizes the generational trauma.
Growing up with a father that adored Elvis, I was very aware of Lisa Marie, but she was always a mystery to me. Reading her book gave me more of an idea of her as a person, her heart and her traumas. But this is not a complete or detailed biography. This is the soul, if you’re looking for the body, it’s not here.
I have to say, I enjoy soulful reads much more than hard facts. And this one made me cry several times. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Colored television by Danzy Senna (GMA bookpick for september)

“𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘰, 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘩𝘵𝘰, 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘰, 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢”

Nowhere does it say that it’s satire, but it gives the vibe of one, yelling about mulattos and white women who dirty up the gene pool with these mixed race children everywhere. (and on that note bringing up real celebrity kids, felt a bit tasteless.)

As a mixed race child, I found it more offensive than funny.
I think what I liked about yellowface, has sort of been taken out of context and exaggerated here to the unrecognizable and I don’t like it anymore.

If this book, as articles claim “speaks about the obsession of race in Hollywood” I felt much more like it was piling on – almost like, If you can’t beat em, join em. But I do agree that the focus on race has gotten out of hand. This book just didn’t convince me of it’s stance. ⭐⭐

The lake of lost girls by Katherine Greene

I thought this was going to be another true crime podcast mystery, something along the lines of “Listen for the lie” or “Sadie”, but the podcast in this book was just sprinkles at the beginning of each chapter with no real fuction other than garnish.

The rest of the book I found lackluster. I didn’t like the twist and when I switched to audio – I didn’t like the narrator!
This just all around wasn’t for me.⭐

Middle of the night by Riley Sager

This was my first Riley Sager book and it was a bit slower than I expect my thrillers to be. Don’t get me wrong, I love a slow burn, if the character development is there and it manages to capture a mood.

For me it was 50/50, it started out great and I got a little disturbia vibe at the beginning, but that was lost around flashbacks and digging for information about an institute until I lost interest. The character wasn’t very interesting because this was the ONLY thing he was about. His whole personality centered around his friend that went missing 30 years ago. I have a hard time relating to characters that are *that* obsessive without some type of diagnosis. ⭐⭐

Vera Wong’s unsolicited advice for murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

This is a new series by the author of the Dial A for Aunties series that I enjoyed this summer. Sutanto is a solid author of cosy mysteries so going into this was easy. With Vera, the tea shop auntie in the lead, there’s a culturally funny and charming veil on the story, not unlike mrs. Kim from Gilmore Girls. There are enough of suspects for the dead body found in Vera’s tea shop that the police has called “accidental” but Vera won’t let it go.

I think this is a good cosy mystery, but I also think that cosy mystery isn’t my genre. I think I’m one of the few that don’t really enjoy “Only murders in the building.” Sometimes I wish I had more control over my likes and dislikes. ⭐⭐⭐

Martyr by Kaveh Akbar

I’m about halfway through, but I can already tell this is going to be my favorite of 2024!

It’s the type of book I would have binged in a day if my schedule allowed it.

(Also I hate not finishing books within the month I started them.)

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

“𝘔𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘬: 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥; 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯; 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘪𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘠o𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘶𝘣𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘣, 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭. 𝘉𝘰𝘥𝘺𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥, 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘵.”

I don’t know which side of tiktok I was on that made me read this, but I think I’m a decade and change short of the target audience here.A couple with two grown children go on vacation with their kids and reminisce on life and how it has changed now that they have an empty nest, as the protagonist and mother dreams of just sleeping.
I’m sure that this is the type of book that’s very fun to read if you can relate to it, but the menopausal mom hitting us with the gen z lingo feels old, even for me, an old milennial.

I also have a hard time relating to the core family type of life. I never had that when I was young, and I haven’t made that as an adult. I guess that’s why I prefer reading more about untraditional families or found family. Something that validates and romanticizes what I know, and not what I see as unattainable like this married couple with 2,5 kids scenario.
It’s a short book through, and it’s easy to read and the writing flows well.

Femicide (Rottekongen) by Pascal Engman

In english this book is named “Femicide” and that is a great title to this story.
Trigger warning: Women are brutally murdered, raped, used and abused in this story – or should I say stories. We follow 6-8 (or maybe even more) characters as their lives intercept, and in every step women are sacrificed or sacrifice themselves to the benefit of a man.
All the different settings and scenarioes so masterfully brings this to light and the plotting is so brillliant that I was truly mezmerized. It is rare to have and be able to follow so many characters and have them all build a story up to a powerful crescendo.
I will definitely read more by this author!

I was gifted this book and it came highly recommended, so I did not know it was the second in a series. So I found a few scenes to be usless because they spoke about past traumas and people who had left the story that I had no connection to. Therefore I felt it could be shortened slightly to better stand alone, but it wasn’t too bothersome. I would probably recommend reading the books in order, since I felt the main character was very influenced by past happenings.

The other issue I have with this book is the translation, since I read it in norwegian. The language is stale and the terms used are out of date. I don’t know if it feels the same in it’s original language swedish, or in the english translation, but the norwegian translation needs a younger eye. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rape: a love story by Joyce Carol Oates

A small book with a big impact and a horrendous title.

Oates has the talent to shock and repulse the reader with her writing (I found myself hiding the cover in public). She describes in detail an aggravated assault, brutal in every word and sentence and doesn’t shy away from a single detail. From the title alone you should be warned about triggers here.

I won’t say more about it than that the book is dark. Very dark. And it doesn’t really crack much to shine a light on anything. It’s written in secocnd person and packs a real punch. While I think this type of narration is tiring in the long run, the book makes up for it by being short. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Say you’ll remember me by Abby Jimenez

To be released April 1st 2025.

Book titles (Taylor’s version) has become a gimmick, but it’s one that Abby Jimenez definitely doesn’t need.
Becoming a tik tok favorite with two trilogies, her last book “just for the summer” was a GMA book club pick in april 2024. Her signature style has become romance with family drama often rooted in psychological issues, and her latest follows suit.

For a full review click HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐