In case you missed our previous post about Hello Sunshine, it’s the name of Reese Witherspoon’s book club. My friend Sarah and I are in a 2 person book club composed just of us which we call GCBC (short for Grand Central Book Club, since that's where we used to meet for lunch to discuss our picks). Among the books we read together, we generally like to read Reese's picks (one of us more obsessively than the other). In that first blog, we discussed the Hello Sunshine picks through 2018; today we’ll tackle the 2019 picks.
The Library Book by Susan Orleans
Jen: I don’t get the love for this non-fiction book. The parts about the unsolved fire in the LA library were interesting, but the many tangents were pointless and often boring. 2.5 stars.
Sarah: I agree with Jen. This book could have been so much more. Who doesn’t love libraries and want to know everything about them? But it just didn’t make sense and went off in too many random directions. 2 stars.
Jen: It was like there was enough material for an interesting essay, but not enough for a book, so she decided to add stuff about basically every person who ever set foot in that library building. I don’t get it.
Sarah: Agree. It was like the publisher told her she needed 200 more pages, so she just started reciting random library related facts and stories. Also not sure why Reese picked this book since its not really about anything, and what would a book club even discuss about this?
The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory
Jen: I’m so glad Reese brought Jasmine Guillory to my attention as she’s now one of my favorite chick lit authors, and one who I’ve been recommending a lot. This one was listed by Goodreads as the second in a series so I started with the first one, The Wedding Date, before reading this, which I would recommend doing even though you could read it as a standalone. 4 stars.
Sarah: This was the first of Jasmine Guillory’s books that I read and I’m surprised that I only gave it three stars, since I have since read all her books and get super excited when a new one is coming out. Highly recommend all the books on this fun romantic series - diverse characters are a bonus! 3 stars at the time, but 5 stars in retrospect!
Jen: 5 stars seems a little excessive but I do love her. I wonder why Reese picked the second book instead of the first, though.
Sarah: I don’t think Reese’ book club existed when the first book came out? And this was during the time when the book club started taking off and she stopped picking older books so that she could drive sales for new releases. That being said, this book is really fun and I’m so glad I was introduced to Jasmine Guillory. Her books are great.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Jen: All the stars in the world for this one! I was already a Taylor Jenkins Reid fan and lucky enough to get my hands on an advance copy, so I had already read it when Reese picked it. A fictional oral history of a fictional band, this book was amazing, and made my 2019 top 10 list plus got its own review on the blog. 5 stars.
Sarah: I love when Reese picks a book I was going to read anyway (or already read): two birds with one stone! This book took Taylor Jenkins Reid to a whole other level. I’ve read all her books which were mostly garden variety, but well written, women’s contemporary fiction. She dipped her toe in the water of historical fiction with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, another excellent book, but she really hit it out of the park with this one. And I can easily see why Reese picked it since its going to make a kick ass movie. I gave this book 4 stars.
Jen: I actually think they’re making a tv show/miniseries out of it, for Amazon Prime Video. I wonder if they will stick to the unconventional format of the book and make it kind of like a fictional Behind the Music type of show, or if they will present it in a more typical manner.
Sarah: I hope they stick with the fake documentary style. Otherwise it’s just going to be “Almost Famous: The TV Show.” Either way, I will watch.
The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
Jen: Historical novel set in 1930s Malaysia with a little mystery, romance, and magical realism thrown in there too. 3.5 stars.
Sarah: This is another pick I was planning to ready anyway, but it fell a bit short for me. The story was a little strange and I'm just not a big fan of magical realism. 3 stars.
From Scratch by Tembi Locke
Jen: I haven’t read this memoir, though I feel like I should since apparently the author went to my alma mater Wesleyan.
Sarah: I read this one, meh. It had some really great parts, but was just a little too long and had too much navel gazing. I’m not really a memoir person though, so if you like memoirs, you might like this one. 3 stars.
The Cactus by Sarah Haywood
Jen: Often Reese selects books that were just published, but I read this one more than a year before she picked it. Novel about a quirky woman who is perhaps on the spectrum forced to adapt to changes in her life. 4 stars.
Sarah: I really enjoyed this. Sort of reminded me of the Rosie Project or Eleanor Oliphant, but was well done and charming. 4 stars.
Jen: Pretty good comparisons. Not as good as Rosie Project, better than Eleanor Oliphant in my opinion.
Whisper Network by Chandler Baker
Jen: A workplace thriller for the Me Too era. 4 stars.
Sarah: I really enjoyed this one, the characters were believable and relatable (if you’re a woman who has ever worked in an office.) 4+ stars (but not quite 5)
Jen: I really liked this one but for some reason don’t have much to say about it. I will say if you liked Big Little Lies you might like this too as there were some similarities in the way it was told.
The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda
Jen: Another one I read before Reese picked it as I’ve been a fan of Megan Miranda for several years. An enjoyable summer-themed thriller. 4 stars.
Sarah: I’ve read most of Megan Miranda’s books and this is one of her best. A fun thriller with some good twists and turns. 4 stars.
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
Jen: Cold War historical novel set in the Soviet Union and the US. Just ok for me - some interesting parts but too slow and too many perspectives. 3 stars.
Sarah: I liked this one. I don’t love historical fiction as much as Jen does, but this one kept me interested. 4 stars.
Jen: I’m surprised to hear you say that you don’t like historical fiction as much as I do, I feel like we read so much of it together! Kate Morton, Beatriz Williams, Lucinda Riley, Fiona Davis, Sarah Jio, etc. Or is it that you only like dual time period historical fiction?
Sarah: I am more into dual time period historical fiction. And I differentiate stories set in the past vs stories set against a particular historical event, like The Cold War or World War II. Most of the authors you mention above write novels that take place in the past, but they don’t necessarily revolve around true historical events (or at least well-known historical events) for the plot.
Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
Jen: I have not read this.
Sarah: This was interesting. I would never ever have picked it up if it wasn’t for Reese, but the premise of the book is well laid out and easy to understand. If you feel like you’re in a relationship or marriage where work isn’t being divided evenly, then this book could work for you - I even recommended it to a couple of friends who had expressed those types of frustrations to me and they said they found it useful. When I finished this book I really wasn’t sure how to judge it since the topic didn’t really apply to my life, so I gave it 3 stars. I’d be interested to hear from someone who actually used the game in the book to see if it helped them.
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Jen: Another one I read before Reese picked it as I am a long time fan of Jojo Moyes, though this one was quite a departure from Jojo’s other books. Interesting and enjoyable historical novel set in Depression-era Kentucky about a free lending library staffed by women on horseback. 4 stars.
Sarah: I had planned to read this book since I’ve read all of Jojo Moyes’ other books. It was good but not great. Although I have to say I’m not sure why I’ve read all of Moyes’ books because most of them I don’t like that much. 3 stars.
Jen: Interesting, I have really enjoyed pretty much everything she wrote since Me Before You. It’s only some of her older books that were reissued once she became famous that I have found a little weaker. This one definitely did not feel like a typical Jojo Moyes book.
Sarah: I agree that this was not typical Moyes fare. I did enjoy it and I’ll probably keep reading her books, but I haven’t really loved any of them.
Conviction by Denise Mina
Jen: Excellent mystery/thriller. I hadn’t heard of Denise Mina before this but definitely want to check out her other books. 4.5 stars.
Sarah: I loved this book. Any book that can make me laugh on the last page gets 5 stars! Twisty turny thriller and funny too. I’m in love.
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So there you have it. Stay tuned for our thoughts on Reese’s 2020 picks. Plus we’ve started reading the Read With Jenna (from the Today Show) picks as well, so we'll get to those eventually as well!
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