5 Star Review: When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

Last year I only had one five star book all year, so I'm pretty happy that I have already discovered by third 5 star book of the year - When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill.  I don’t know if I can find the words to describe how much I loved this book!  It’s set in the 1950s and 60s in a world just like our own - except that some women have been spontaneously transforming into dragons.  No one talks about it and the government tries to cover it up, but our protagonist, Alex, first saw it happen when she was just 4 years old.  The book is told as the older Alex reminiscing about her childhood and how it was affected by the dragonning, interspersed with bits of news articles and scholarly writing about it. 

5 Star Review: This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

Happy to share my latest 5 star book with you - This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub.  I loved this book so much!

5 Star Review: Notes On an Execution by Danya Kukafka

 Happy to give my first 5 star review of the year to Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka!

5 Star Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

I’m very picky with my ratings, so I’m happy to say that Project Hail Mary was amazing and my first 5 star review of 2021.  When it starts, the narrator wakes up alone with no idea who he is, where he is, or why.  As he explores and his memories start to come back, with the book unfolding both in the present and his flashback returning memories, both he and the reader discover that he is alone on a spaceship on a very important mission.  There is SO much more to it than that, but because of the nature of the book, pretty much everything about it is a spoiler and it’s so much better to see it unfold yourself.  Just know that it is absolutely terrific.

For the vibe, think of the best of intellectual science fiction - books like The Sparrow and Children of Time, movies like Interstellar and Arrival, and of course both the book and movie of The Martian, Andy Weir’s first book.   Iit is both a little more science-y (which even though I couldn’t understand it, was interesting), and more science fiction-y than The Martian, but it’s funny and emotional as well. It was a long book but I read it quickly because I couldn’t put it down.  I was thrilled to get an advanced copy from Netgalley (it’s out 5/4), and I highly recommend reading it as soon as possible both because it is great, and to avoid spoilers.

5 Star Review: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

I have another 5 star quality book to recommend -  just my 4th of the year - American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.  This is not an easy book to read, nor a fun one, but it was incredibly, incredibly powerful.  This book grabbed me from the first page, and didn't let go until I finished. 

5 Star Review: Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

Happy to announce that I just read my third 5 star book of the year - Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano.  Wow, what a book!

5 Star Review: Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

I've read lots of great books this year - I've already handed out lots of 4 star and even 4.5 star reviews - but I save my 5 star ratings for the top of the top, so I only just now read my second 5 star book of the year - Rodham, by Curtis Sittenfeld.  If you haven't already heard of it, the main character of this novel is Hilary Rodham - yes, that Hilary Rodham - but though she meets Bill Clinton and dates him in law school and beyond, she ultimately doesn't marry him.  So while part 1 is a fictional rendering of that young time of her life and their early relationship, parts 2 and 3 are something even more interesting - an imagined rendering of what would have happened to Hilary - and the world - if they had not gotten married.  Some things turn out the same, some turn out totally and utterly different, but in a way the most interesting are the little parallels of things people say or do that echo things that happened in our version of history but sometimes play out in different ways.

You definitely don't have to be a Hilary super-fan to read this one, though I think it would be hard to read it and not come out with more appreciation at least for this fictional rendering of her.   In Sittenfeld's hands, she is certainly not portrayed as unflawed, but she comes across as so deeply human and emotionally relatable.  It's part of what makes this book so interesting - not just the politics angle and the "what if" angle, but the interpersonal relationships and the self-reflection.  And the portrayal of sexism - both overt and unconscious - is searing.  

5 Star Review: A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler

I've been wondering when I would read my first 5 star book of 2020, and I'm happy to say it has finally happened!  Indeed, my last 5 star review was last August, so it's been a long time.  But don't worry, I've already read nine 4.5 star quality books this year - maybe I've just gotten pickier at awarding that coveted 5 full stars.  Anyway, the book is "A Good Neighborhood" by Therese Anne Fowler, and it was amazing.

Top 20 Books of 20 Years - The Best of the Best!

Since I started the blog, I've been periodically looking back at my ten favorite books which I read in each year since I started making top 10 lists.  I finally caught up to the present - and it just so happens that those lists cover 20 years of my reading - my top 10 lists so far stretch from 1999-2018!  So, I thought it would be fun to try to figure out my 20 favorite books of those 20 years of lists!  And yes, it's been a little while since I've posted anything - but part of the reason is that it has taken me a long time to narrow down the selections and then write this long post!

5 Star Review - Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

I'm excited to share with you the latest 5 star book I read - "Things You Save in a Fire" by Katherine Center.  It's the best contemporary women's novel I've read in quite a while, hitting that sweet spot I love so much of a book that is written in a relatively light fashion but with deep emotions.

5 Star Review: One Night at the Lake by Bethany Chase

Less than a month after my last 5 star review, I've got another one for you!  Bethany Chase was already one of my favorite authors of chick lit/contemporary women's fiction after just two novels.  Her first book, "The One That Got Away," was a 5 star book on my 2015 10 favorites list, and her second book, "Results May Vary," was a 4.5 star book that just missed my list for 2016.  Her latest, "One Night at the Lake," comes out on June 18, 2019.  So when I got an early copy from Netgalley, I just couldn't wait to read it!  And I've been waiting a long time - it was originally slated to be published in 2018 under a slightly different title, so it was one my anticipated books of 2018 and then  after being pushed back, again on my list of anticipated books of 2019.  I'm happy to say it didn't disappoint, and only affirms her place as one of my favorite authors.

5 Star Review: Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Two months into the year, I have my first 5 star book to share with you!  It's a novel called "Daisy Jones & the Six" by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and I loved it - a real wow book!  It comes out this Tuesday, March 5th, and I highly recommend you add it to your list!

Don't you love that cover?  It just has such a 70s album cover vibe!  Which is appropriate since this book is about a fictional singer and band in the late 1970s with lots of turmoil - think the movie "Almost Famous" crossed with Fleetwood Mac, though with plenty of original elements too.  (In fact, I had the Fleetwood Mac song "The Chain" stuck in my head while reading it!)  Lyrucs are included for some of the fictional songs - I only wish I could hear them for real.

5 Star Review: The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

Kate Morton is one of my favorite authors, as I've mentioned before on the blog.   It's been 3 years since she last published a book, so her latest book, "The Clockmaker's Daughter," was one of my most anticipated books of Fall 2018.  And, I'm happy to report that it did not disappoint, as it's one of her best.

5 Star Review: Force of Nature

We're halfway through the year, and I just read my second 5 star-worthy book of the year, Force of Nature by Jane Harper.  (The first was "What You Don't Know About Charlie Outlaw" by Leah Stewart, and you can read more of my thoughts on that here.)  "Force of Nature" was a terrific literary mystery, and was such a can't put it down kind of book that I kept sneaking away from my family to read it, and stayed up late reading too.  I read the whole thing in about 24 hours!

5 Star Review: What You Don't Know About Charlie Outlaw

For the first time this year (and since I started this blog last December), I read a book which deserves a 5 out of 5 stars - What You Don't Know About Charlie Outlaw by Leah Stewart.  So far on the blog I have not written any posts focused on a single individual book, but reading a book that excellent seems to merit it.  Since I know for sure it will be on my top 10 list of 2018, why wait until the end of the year to tell you about it?