2nd Quarter of 2020

Well here we are – somehow we’ve already reached the 2nd quarter of 2020 (HOW) & I’m here with a huge roundup!! Most of my work has been pushed to 2021 so in between home renovations, I’ve had a LOT of time to read! I know that I mentioned in my last post that I signed up for Kindle Unlimited, and if you’re a heavy reader and don’t want to buy books, I’d highly recommend it. Our library just recently reopened, and I think that without Kindle Unlimited, I wouldn’t have read as much as I did. I crossed a ton of books off my list this quarter and really loved a ton of them!!

39. Above the Bay of Angels: Rhys Bowen
40. The Goldfinch: Donna Tartt
41. Thief River Falls: Brian Freeman
42. Verity: Colleen Hoover
43. The Beekeeper’s Promise: Fiona Valpy
44. One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow: Olivia Hawker
45. Becoming: Michelle Obama
46. The Heretic’s Daughter: Kathleen Kent

47. The Identicals: Elin Hilderbrand
48. By the Light of My Father’s Smile: Alice Walker
49. The Lost City of the Monkey God: Douglas Preston
50. Educated: Tara Westover
51. The Secret to Southern Charm: Kristy Woodson Harvey
52. The Southern Side of Paradise: Kristy Woodson Harvey
53. The Tea Planter’s Wife: Dinah Jefferies
54. Where’d You Go, Bernadette?: Maria Semple

55. City of Girls: Elizabeth Gilbert
56. Last Day: Luanne Rice
57. The Witch Elm: Tana French
58. The Ragged Edge of Night: Olivia Hawker
59. Last Bus to Wisdom: Ivan Doig
60. The Overdue Life of Amy Byler: Kelly Harms
61. Winter in Paradise: Elin Hilderbrand
62. What Happens in Paradise: Elin Hilderbrand

Like I mentioned earlier, I had a LOT of favorites this round!! Some of them were One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, Becoming, The Lost City of the Monkey God, Educated, City of Girls, and The Last Bus to Wisdom.

One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow: This was one I was surprised that I liked! It’s set in Wyoming in the 1800’s and features two families on neighboring lands that have to bond together despite the events that have unfolded between them. It’s written so well and the imagery was incredible in it. It was a pretty quick read and I really enjoyed it.

Becoming: This has been on my list since it came out!! I couldn’t put it down and absolutely devoured it in a matter of days. It’s such a candid memoir from Michelle Obama’s childhood to current times and really pulls the curtain back on their lives in the White House. It was so fascinating and…human? The way it’s written is perfect. Highly recommend!!

The Lost City of the Monkey God: I’m not going to lie, I thought that this was a fiction book when I borrowed it because the synopsis was so out there. Turns out it’s totally real and very creepy and fascinating. It follows a team of archaeologists who travel to Honduras to uncover a lost city that was abandoned for unknown reasons deep in the jungle. Not only does it touch on the history of the area and the adventure itself, but it speaks volumes about PANDEMICS in current times, noting that the next pandemic could be right around the corner. It’s quite timely but also REALLY cool. I did a bunch of research on the project after I finished the book and it’s amazing.

Educated: This was probably one of my favorites so far this year! I couldn’t put this book down because it was so unbelievable. It’s an autobiography of growing up in a Mormon survivalist family in Idaho with NO education and follows the author all the way to Harvard and Cambridge while detailing her family’s story. It’s one of the most incredible books I’ve ever read and I’ve got to say…Tara Westover might be one of the strongest women I’ve ever read about.

City of Girls: I love an Elizabeth Gilbert book, and this was no exception. I loved that it was told from the perspective of an older woman as she looked back on her youth in 1940’s New York City. It was gripping and so rich with characters. I couldn’t put it down!

The Last Bus to Wisdom: This was such a quirky book and I loved it. It’s about a boy who is sent to his aunt for the summer via Greyhound bus and subsequently runs away with his uncle. They travel via bus all over the country and finally find themselves in Wisdom, while the entire time he’s told his grandmother that he’s with his aunt. It’s so sweet and charming!!

I also have to touch on The Goldfinch. I’d heard so many good things about the book and was pumped to read it. My honest review is that it wasn’t that good. I truly think it was over hyped – there was potential and I did REALLY love a lot of the characters but I thought that there were entire sections of the book that could have been cut out. We also watched the movie after I finished the book and neither one of us were impressed.

As always, I’m constantly looking for more recommendations, so if you have some, send them over!!