What I've Enjoyed Reading Lately

Here's a brief recap of some of the good books I've read in the last couple of months. I'm finally getting back into audio books which has been helpful to get through some books on drives or cleaning around the house. Sometimes a good narrator does it for you.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

If you're like me, this one had a bazillion holds on it so when I got it, I was so excited to it. Basically I binged listened. We had a snow storm around here so Austin had the car and I was stuck in the apartment all day and so I literally had it playing ALL day. I loved it. I only knew a few things about Michelle from little bits here and there while they were in the White House but I did not know anything about her upbringing, going from Princeton to Harvard, getting her law degree there, or early family life where she dealt with infertility and had both of her babies through IVF and even all the work she did with hospitals. She's incredible! Even though she didn't want Barack to run for President, once she committed the idea, she was all in and tried to do her best to create her role as First Lady her own. It's not a title that has a job description or any sort of manual. She didn't have to do anything if she didn't want to but she got busy with initiatives in health and helping military veterans, an area she was very unfamiliar with at first. Her writing is amazing and I loved the she did the audio version. It will be on my top lists at the end of the year for sure. 

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start up by John Carreyrou

Here's another audio book that I COULD NOT PUT DOWN. I'm not kidding when I was looking for things to clean in my house so I could keep listening. This was about the start up company, Theranos, and all the secrets and lies they were trying to cover up in trying to get this company going. It's a bit unnerving and almost seems surreal. People getting fired left and right, people resigning all over the place, covering up test results to make it look believable. Check out this documentary trailer to get a glimpse of the story. So crazy.

The Unteachables by Gordon Korman

A teacher who is near the end of his teaching career gets stuck with 'the unteachables' as punishment for something that happened 20 years ago that the superintendent still hasn't gotten over. A super funny quick read. It's a great balance of humor and heart-warming-ness that I love in middle grade novels. 

Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce

It’s been a while since I listened to an audio book and this one was delightful to listen to. Great characters and interesting take on WWII period where an aspiring war journalist accidentally gets a job to be a typist for a women’s magazines and ends up secretly replying to ladies in distress because of the war. There were a couple of things left unfinished but overall a great read. Hunted by Meagan Spooner I read more fantasy at the beginning of this year than I normally do and this one was my favorite so far. It's a re-telling of Beauty and the Beast with added characters and a slight twist to it as well. Different than what I was expecting and I was pleasantly surprised! Have you read any of these? What have you've loved reading recently?

What I Read In August 2016-Part Two

Here's the first half of this month's reading

And a couple more longer reviews here and here 

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes 

I thought this book was clever and fun. This is a good one for older kids (maybe 8 on up) who love adventure, good thieving, talking creatures, etc. It felt similar to Narnia. But for me, I didn't love it like this review did. Fantasy is just hard for me to plug through sometimes (unless it's Harry Potter and then I just whizz through it). I'm wondering if I would enjoy it more if it was an audio? Not sure.

Peter was a great character though and his sidekick companion had some witty humor. Bravo to the author for this debut novel but it will be more well loved with fantasy readers.

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child 

There are a lot of mixed reviews on this script. People either love it or hate it. And the in betweeners are still trying to decide how they should feel about it. I was on the side of love it. No doubt was it hard for J.K. Rowling and the script writers to pull together something original but staying true to the novels as one could. This isn't the typical "Harry goes to school and for the whole year figures out clues and then there's a battle at the end" type of story.

First of all, it's centered around his boy, Albus, and it quickly goes jumps the first 3 years of his school year because it's focused mainly on his 4th year. But the time of everything happening is like 2 months instead of the whole year (if my memory is correct). And you have to realize this is made for the stage so it has to be shortened time wise but still provide enough drama to keep it going. I thought it did great. Sometimes I felt like it was never ending of drama but it worked.

However, I thought it was still an exciting Harry Potter story. It kept you guessing and eager for more. Characters were still how they were when we left off (so glad!) Ron was still hilarious and Hermoine is Minister of Magic which I think is so fitting. Plus, there are some great themes of fathers/sons relationship that is a great tie-in. It was just so fun! Hope to see the play one day.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo 

This was a delightful story and even more of a delightful audio. I thought the narrator did a great job with character voices that made the story come alive. If you're looking for something that's heartwarming and endearing, this is a great one. It's geared for more older kids (probably 7+) because there are some more mature themes in them, but not too much. Cute story and I'm glad I listened to it (only took 2 hours too).

Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin 

WOW WOW WOW! If someone were to ask me what they should read next, it's this book! It's a young adult nonfiction that's read like a suspenseful spy novel. Every segment there were more and more characters added to the story. At first I thought it would be hard to follow but the author weaves it in so effortlessly that I not only kept up with the characters but I could just sit back and enjoy the ride. And no book has ever made more interested in family history.

My Grandpa Smith was actually in Tennessee as one of the many scientists creating the uranium for the bomb. But of course, no one knew what they were doing and they could not talk about it. From talking with my Mom she said that he and his good friend had to go in a closet at one point and discuss what they thought their project was about. They put things together and concluded they were making some sort of massive bomb. I wish I read this years ago so I could ask him a bizallion questions from his experience. Knowing that he was part of this whole story made it even more meaningful. I was really hoping I would see his name pop up in the book. ;)

The spy tactics to get information was like something you see in movies but it's real life. I don't know much about physics or chemistry but when I was reading this book, I couldn't help but be excited like I knew what they were talking about and want to tell Austin too. Not only is this just a good read but provides great discussion on whether the Americans should have dropped the bomb or not.

Overall, just read it! It's fabulous. I learned so much about history and loved it at the same time.

Have you read any of these? What are your thoughts?