The Stripe

This was a much, much better month of reading. Last month I had a few meh books and was also very into TV whereas this month I was back to my bookworm ways. And you know that I am a (relatively) tough crowd but I gave THREE BOOKS an A+ rating this month, which never happens!

TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE READING! I’m always looking for great recommendations… I love reading your comments!

IF YOU’RE NEW HERE AND ARE LOOKING FOR A BOOK, DON’T FORGET THAT YOU CAN ALWAYS CHECK OUT MY BOOK CLUB PAGE.

Every month I update it with everything I read – it includes every.single.book I’ve read in the past few years. The best part is that you can filter + search by genre (memoir, light read, historical fiction, thriller, etc!) to find exactly what you’re looking for. I always add whatever it is that I’m currently reading in real-time to my Amazon Shop. If you’re feeling like you need even more book recs, check out last month’s list.

If you loved the show, you will LOVE this book!

Modern Love by Daniel Jones

THIS BOOK! Wow. You’re need to read it. Immediately. It’s thought provoking, heartwarming, heartbreaking, the whole thing. If you watched the TV show you’ll absolutely love it. I do want to add that one of the things I got asked the most this month via DM was if it’s worth reading if you’ve already watched the show. My answer? YES! And maybe even more! It contains the 8 stories from the TV show and so many more. It’s also really interesting because the TV show definitely took quite a few liberties when they told the stories… I enjoyed spotting the difference. I can’t recommend this book enough. It will make you laugh. And cry. And everything in between. I’m just so in love with this column (I read the column, I listen to the pod, and now I devoured the book). Get it for yourself but also get a copy or two for your mom, your sister, your best friend, and so on and so forth.

• Overall Score: A+

Two Buzzy December New Releases!

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (out 12/31)

I have a feeling that this is going to be one of the most buzzed about books of the year. It’s such a complex story about race but also so much more than that. It begins with when Emira (a black babysitter) is held at a supermarket because the security guard there believes she’s kidnapped the little girl she’s babysitting. It gets complicated when a bystander records the whole exchange. And then it goes from there. The book alternates between the perspectives of Emira and Alix (Emira’s boss). There’s a bit of a twist where their stories overlap outside of their working relationship (this one shocked me!!). It’s hard to talk more about this book without giving anything away so I will just say that a) I highly recommend it and b) it’s a very real look at the awkwardness between employer/employee relationships, wanting to do the right thing/wanting to be liked (and totally failing at it), and relationships. I absolutely loved it!

• Overall Score: A

Regretting You by Colleen Hoover (out December 10th!)

I was so excited to get my hands on Colleen Hoover’s latest, as she is one of my favorite authors. Okay first of all, this is VERY different from Verity. It is NOT a thriller so I would not even compare the two. I’d say it’s a romance / mother-daughter story with a tragedy in there. Morgan is a 34 year old housewife who got pregnant at age 17 and put her dreams on hold. Now, her daughter Clara is 17 and wants to be anything but her mother. The book alternates between the perspectives of Morgan and Clara as they face a horrible tragedy (AND scandal). What happens is really, really terrible. In the aftermath, they both turn to people they never thought they would. I am being vague here but this book is both very upsetting (Colleen Hoover tends to be good at that!) and also heartwarming. I read it in a couple days as I needed to know how everything worked out!

• Overall Score: B+

Why did I let this sit on my shelf!?

City of Girls, by Elizabeth Gilbert

All I have to say is oh my goodness WHYYY did I procrastinate reading this book? I have no idea. It was sitting in my TBR pile, waiting to be read, and I just kept putting it off. And now I regret that but man – I really, really enjoyed this book.  The book follows Vivian Morris (a 19 year old Vassar dropout) to New York City, through ups and downs and middle age all the way until she’s 89 years old. She moves to the city to her aunt Peg’s house, where she takes up costume design for glamorous showgirls… spending most nights out on the town . When she makes a terrible mistake her whole world implodes and she faces ruin but ultimately lands on her feet. This is the story of female friendship, of female sexuality, of redemption… and so much more. I could not put it down.

• Overall Score: A+

A Thriller that was just Medium.

The Woman Upstairs, by Ruth Heald

First, a trigger warning. This one deals with violence to small children and upset me at times. (I’m pretty thick skinned and am not easily triggered.) Second, I actually meant to read a different Woman Upstairs (apparently this is a pretty popular title, lol). So it wasn’t the book I had intended to read but it was still medium-enoyable. It’s a fast paced thriller. But the plot is upsetting, and there are holes. For example: WHY would you allow a total stranger to move into your house (without checking any references or doing a background check). But anyway – Katie, pregnant with twins, moves into a rundown house and meets Paula (a doula) who offers to help her. Katie gives birth to the twins but simultaneously uncovers horrible secrets about her husband… so she comes to really rely on Paula. But all is not as it seems. This book is pretty upsetting and rather implausible but it was fun.

• Overall Score: B-

Will probably cry whenever I think about this book.

In Five Years, by Rebecca Serle (out March 2nd)

Oh My God – This book WRECKED ME. Not in the way I thought it would, but probably even more intensely so. Dannie is one of those girls who has everything figured out. Engaged by 28, married by 30, making partner at her law firm, and so on and so forth. Her fiance David is dependable, sweet, and handsome, and she is certain she is on the right path. Then, the night she gets engaged, she has a dream that feels more like a premonition: it’s exactly five years later, and she wakes up in someone else’s apartment with a (very dreamy) strange man. She can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong and 4 years later, she meets that man (same name, etc etc.) It’s eery! This book is a little bit like The Light We Lost, and a little bit like One Day in December. I loved both of this books and maybe loved this one even more!  You won’t be able to put it down and it is going to cause some serious tears. I definitely recommend preordering it.

• Overall Score: A+

photography by Rebecca Patton.