I’m playing catch up but… I still wanted to document the books I read this year and my thoughts on each.
The Night Window by Dean Koontz
★★★
This book was the selection for both MMD’s 2020 Reading Challenge prompts “a book
recommended by a source you trust” and “a book outside your (genre) comfort
zone”. My mom had read this book and, when looking for something “outside my
comfort zone”, it sounded like something I might could read (hence, the
“recommended by a source you trust”). I think this is more of a psychological thriller,
which isn’t always my cup of tea, but I also saw it more as science fiction, and that is
definitely not something I would read. It is about a filmmaker who is being hunted by
a billionaire, a computer hacker, a fugitive mother (Jane Hawk), her son, and people
who have had nanowebs injected into their brains. I did like it more than I thought
but I am just not a fan of science fiction type reads. The mystery of it all is what kept
me interested.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
★★★★.75
Kya Clark, nicknamed “Swamp Girl” lives in Barkley Cove, a quiet coastal town in
North Carolina. When a popular boy is found dead, she is blamed for the murder.
This book starts with her childhood, which explains why she is reserved, and ends
with her murder trial (I will not spoil it for you). From start to finish, it shows Kya’s
coming-of-age, her losses, friendships, survival, love, and, well, you’ll just have to
read the book! I think what really made me like this book was how it was written-the
descriptions of the swamp, the birds, the people, the town. I felt like I was there, in
coastal North Carolina, watching Kya’s life play out.
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
★★★★.5
At twenty-two, Cheryl feels like her life is falling apart after the loss of her mother and
the end of her own marriage. Four years later, she decides to hike the Pacific Crest
Trail, alone. She has no experience or training, just sheer determination to hike over a
thousand miles from the Mojave Desert, through California, Oregon, and ending in
Washington State. Wild takes us on the journey with her, from heartache, sadness,
determination, injury, friendships, and victory, while letting us “see” nature along the
way. While I don’t think I could actually, successfully, hike the Pacific Crest Trail, this
book makes me want to, and, maybe slightly, think I can.
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