Seclusion Series: The One with Covid Reads Part 2

This round of reads is all authors that I have previously read. 

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

"A thing can be true and not the truth."

At the start of quarantine I read Kristin Hannah for the first time. Luckily I purchased two of her books at once because I was ready for more after the first one. This book was hearty and rich both in character and in story. I give it two thumbs up and highly recommend if you like stories about the resilience and power of love and the danger and beauty of the Alaskan wilderness.

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs by Caitlin Doughty

"I'm not personally religious, but I am 100 percent game for centaur Jesus riding a chariot coming to pick me up for my descent into death."

Last year I read the same Caitlin Doughty book for more than one book club and it changed my life in many ways. I went back to her work for more insight and information and was not disappointed. I learned and laughed and for me that is a winning combination. 

The Position by Meg Wolitzer

"The truth was that if you paid attention to it, the sound of childhood ending was a terrible thing. If you were one of those supernaturally gifted people that could actually hear it, you would know that it was similar to glass shattering, or a body falling and hitting a surface, expecting that surface to be the accommodating body of a mother or father who would break the fall, but finding, instead, only the hard, hot sidewalk of the rest of life."

A few years ago I read Meg Wolitzer for the first time and did not love the story or the writing. I tend to give people too many second chances and decided to do the same with this author. Again, I did not love my time with this book. I was at least able to get some good quotes from it.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

" Worries find you easily enough without inviting them."

A Kansas City native, Gillian Flynn, will always attract my attention. Last summer on a road trip to Utah I read her work for the first time. This summer I decided to keep with the tradition and read Dark Places on a road trip to Colorado. Between the thrilling twists and familiar settings I was totally engrossed in this story and would recommend it to any fan of this genre, Kansas City native or not.

A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis

"Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape."

A Grief Observed was declared a read for family book club and fittingly, I did not get around to reading it until shortly after my uncle passed away. Although it took me awhile to find my groove in reading it, whether from dealing with my own grief or from struggling to keep pace with the author's thoughts, I finally found myself pausing to reflect and reread. It ended up taking me awhile to get through this book simply because I reread so many passages and wrote them down. (Yes, I have a journal of quotes.) I am anxiously excited to for book club discussion. 

In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien

"There is always the threat of tomorrow's treachery, or next year's treachery, or the treachery implicit in all the tomorrows beyond that."

In High School I read The Things They Carried by this author and loved the story. I loved the story for what it was. I loved the story because I have a personal connection, via my uncle, to similar stories. I loved the story because of the writing. I have reread The Things They Carried multiple times throughout the years and have recommended it even more times than I have reread it. For a number of years, In the Lake of the Woods sat on my shelf and I finally decided to give it a read. I was disappointed. The general story was interesting, but the details bored me and confused me. And in the end I was left feeling little resolution. I need more resolution so this is not a book I recommend.

The Shadows by Alex North

"Perhaps life was just a matter of doing what you thought was best at the time and then living with the consequences as best you could afterward."

Earlier this year I read The Whisper Man by this author and was thrilled to be engrossed in a thriller again. Thanks to my cousin for the recommendation. The company I work for received a grant this summer advocating for staff self-care and each staff member was given an allotted amount of money to spend however they deemed fit to their self-care needs (with the exception of gambling and booze). I toiled and toiled, and I mean toiled, over what to use my funds on. I made lists and then ranked what was on the list. Finally, I decided to use the money for its intended purpose and treat myself to something that I otherwise was not likely to splurge on. So, I subscribed to Book of the Month. My first delivery was The Shadows. In just under two days I finished this story about lucid dreams, murder, nostalgia, home-coming, and the shadowy woods. I liked the story as a stand-alone, but I also liked that it was in some ways a continuation from The Whisper Man. This books gets all the recommendations from me if you are into this genre.

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

"Sometimes all that people needed was to know they were not alone. Other times it was more a question of keeping them in touch with their feelings until they wore them out- people clung to what was familiar, even when it was painful."

Having forgotten to take a book on an unexpected outing to play disc golf on a trip to Colorado I made a pleasant demand to first make a pit stop at a book store. I needed a book because I knew I was not going to be chucking discs for any amount of time. Once there I perused the shelves for titles on my To-Read List. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, recommended by a friend, was the one to jump out at me at that day. I loved Harold's journey and ended up also reading The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy which was the same story told from a different character's point of view. I loved Miss Queenie's side of the story too. Wanting to read a different story by this author I was excited to find The Music Shop at a book sale for cheap. This book was cute and heartfelt. Although it was not a page-turner and had an abrupt ending, it was decent.

Matilda by Roald Dahl

"So Matilda's strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone."

Classic author. Classic story. My goddaughter mentioned reading it and I said that I would read it, again, too! What I was not expecting was for that to morph into a full fledged Roald Dahl book club. My goddaughter decided where to read to for each discussion and then made a list of all the other Roald Dahl books to read. Rereading Matilda made me realize how much of the story I had forgotten and reignited my love for young literature! I am wholeheartedly looking forward to more book clubbing with my goddaughter and seeing her get excited about reading and growing in her independence. 

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami 

"Life's no piece of cake, mind you, but the recipe's my own to fool with."

"Open your eyes, train your ears, use your head. If a mind you have, then use it while you can."

A friend from college was the first to introduce me to Murakami. I read Kafka on the Shore and knew that my Murakami days were only just beginning. I have read several of his books and have come to expect music, baseball, sex, and bizarre phenomena at every turn.  And I love it. I received Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World for Christmas a couple of years ago and it took until now to read it. Although it included all the things I have come to love and expect from Murakami it took me awhile to fully engage with the story. It took me until close to the end, POTENTIAL SPOILER HERE, when these two versions of the same story started to converge that I was fully engaged. In the end, like all other Murakami I have read, I liked it. It was an interesting story of trying to outguess the future, using your mind, and living with the consequences.

Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

"As a matter of simple logic, there's so difference at all, that I can see- between the man who's greedy for material treasure- or even intellectual treasure- and the man who's greedy for spiritual treasure."

The Catcher in the Rye was never assigned reading in school and I somehow managed to not read it until last year. The story stayed with me, however, I did not love reading it. Much like Meg Wolitzer, I decided to give J.D. Salinger a second chance. Franny and Zooey was already on my self, so it was an easy choice of what other work of his to read. Right from the start I was fascinated with Franny and read late into the night to learn what was going on with her. Interestingly, the basis of this story is a book I read with a friend  when we were in campus ministry together, so that gave it an added peak of my attention. I was pleasantly surprised by this story and was stunned by how much I liked the ending. Endings are difficult for me and very rarely do I approve of one, much less like one. This story of revelation, self-revelation and spiritual-revelation, was completely unexpected. It offered a lot of room for self-reflection of my own spiritual journey. Franny was given something of an "Intervention" and I greatly appreciated the love behind making that happen. Here's to the Franny's out there figuring it out.

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

“Was it worse to be homesick for a time that was once home,  it now lived only in your mind... or to be homesick for a place that never really existed at all?”

A couple of years ago, after several people  recommended Furiously Happy, I read Jenny Lawson for the first time. I laughed aloud and annoyingly read aloud many passages to anyone who was nearby. I’ve had Let’s Pretend a This Never Happened on my shelf for months and was happy about revisiting Jenny’s work. This book was written before Furiously Happy, and although I enjoyed it slightly less,  I still laughed aloud and read aloud/texted many passages from the book to those I thought might relate. Reading her work is humors in a way that is reassuring that we are not alone in our crazy. 

Here’s to more good reads.