Book #43:
Wellness by Nathan Hill (Length: 690 pages). This MONSTER of a novel was picked by my best friend for our shared book club, and I snagged her copy six days before our book club met. I actually was able to start and finish this doorstop of a book in that time, even with a crazy-busy week at work, and that’s a testament to how much I ended up enjoying it. Ultimately, it’s a story of the marriage between Jack and Elizabeth, including looks back at their individual childhoods and how their upbringing affected their union. This novel is unusual because spliced throughout are the author’s examinations of examples of social engineering in modern society (from algorithms used in social media to the placebo effect found in modern medicine) and these examples a are a bit wordy, but I found them to be super-fascinating and added to my overall enjoyment of this novel. I give this a solid 4 stars (subtracting one star for its absurd length).
Book #44:
How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang (Length: 382 pages). This rom-com has been HYPED (and blurbed) everywhere so I was a bit hesitant to pick this one up, and honestly, I was right to be hesitant. This novel features Grant and Helen who had a connection based on a tragedy that occurred in high school involving Grant and Helen’s sister, and are thrown back together years later in a writers’ room in L.A. where Grant is tasked with writing the screen adaptation of the first of Helen’s popular YA novels. The chemistry here is believable but I didn’t care for either of the two lead characters, and that’s tough (and a bit unusual) in a rom-com. Maybe you’ll like them more than I did and think the hype is real. If you do, let me know what I’m missing here.
Book #45:
Too Good To Be True by Carola Lovering (Length: 354 pages). I heard about this mystery on a book podcast and finally picked it up. I don’t think I’ve read anything else from this popular author, but I enjoyed this novel. It’s a standard mystery with a few twists built in and it’s essentially a “love story about 2 marriages with 3 versions of the truth”. Well-written and an easy, fast read; I did figure out the first plot twist fairly early on (as most readers will) but as long as you suspend disbelief with this one, you’ll enjoy it as I did. This is a solid 3.5 star read from me. A library checkout versus a buy, for sure.
Book #46:
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (Length: 268 pages). FUN! This book is just straight-up fun! I’ve heard it’s fantastic on audio but I wasn’t able to find an audio copy via my public library so I read it as an e-book and it was still great. Labeled as science fiction and fantasy, I’d agree with that but don’t worry about esoteric world-building or complicated science and just jump into this one feet first. Think Jurassic Park metaverse set during COVID and you’ve got the plot. This is not high-brow sci-fi–more popcorn thrilleresque, which is fine with me! This is very witty (I chuckled out loud at a few lines of dialogue), very well-written and fast-paced. I LOVED this so much and it’s the perfect summertime or beach read. I urged my dad to pick this one up as it definitely appeals to everyone. 5 stars from me!
Lora Terrill 