I had an absurd amount of time to read during my 3 weeks on the farm in Queenstown and a few of you asked for the titles and reviews. In writing this though, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m a shitty reviewer. Still though, read a few of these books if you have the time and/or inclination. Most of them left me with a giant feeling of “meh” but two or three are definite keepers.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan – Two young girls essentially get into what I refer to as an “arranged friend marriage” in 19th century China. I’d definitely recommend it as the history is fascinating but the author was never taught to “show, not tell.” Throughout the book we read that women are worthless, that footbinding will bring them happiness, etc etc. This got really boring after a while. We never hear how the characters felt about it besides physical pain and I don’t feel like I got to know any of the characters.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – The story of a doctor who delivers his wife’s twins only to discover one has Down’s Syndrome and makes a snap decision to give the child away without telling his wife. Another book where I didn’t feel like I connected to anyone, but the story was interesting enough to warrant finishing it.

One Day – Told on the same day every year for twenty years of a couple and how their relationship changes over that time. I’d heard the author, David Nicholls, was similar to Nick Horby, who I’ve never been able to get into, but I was really surprised by One Day. The story was realistic and moving and difficult and page-turning. I smashed this one out in two days, but I’m scared to see the movie as I’ve heard it’s crap.

Then Came You – Lesbians! Egg donation! Trophy wives! This book has it all… What can I say, I love me some chic lit and Jennifer Weiner always does this genre justice without being too girly. I’m a sucker for multiple narratives and the stories of women and I actually really loved this book.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Every. Single. Human. needs to read this. If you exist in the world and use medical care you need to know the story of the woman who transformed science. Henrietta Lacks was a poor tobacco farmer who’s cells were taken without her permission or knowledge in the 1950s. Those cells are now known as HeLa and have been sent to the moon, helped develop the vaccine for polio and are used to study cloning, cancer and bombs. This book is her story intermingled with the cell’s stories. Completely and totally brilliant.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Meh. Japanese girl, Chines boy, World War II. Another one I was really looking forward to given all the positive reviews. I thought it would be very Snow Falling on Cedars but instead it was trying too hard to be everything to everyone and it took me a long time to slog through.

Incarceron – I read Incarceron because I was completely obsessed with The Hunger Games and Amazon told me the two were similar. They are not. Incarceron is one of those weird, dark, pre-teen books where the actually story is lost on you because the author comes up with too many otherworldly names and places so you get lost trying to remember what they all mean. I’m actually surprised I finished this, though I can’t for the life of me tell you the plot. There’s a prison. And some alternate dimension. And weird monsters made up of metal objects. I’m still not really sure.

Winter Garden – I’d never heard of Kristin Hannah before this book, but a blogger I read highly recommended her. But I have to say, this book was painful to get through. Things like “her shining sapphire eyes” overwhelmed the story, which was actually an interesting one about two daughters and their Russian mother who survived the war in Leningrad. I guess you win some you lose some.

I definitely have a wide variety of tastes and tend to switch it up between bestsellers, young adult and some chic lit. I occasionally read a good non-fiction book and right now am reading – don’t laugh – The Good Marriage. It’s a 20-year-old study of a bunch of happily married couples and the traits that separate them from couples who get divorced. So far it’s fascinating.

Other titles my Kindle just begging to be read are Still Alice, Little Bee, Game of Thrones, The Paris Wife, Unbroken and These Is My Words. Reading over the above “reviews” though I realize I’m a little hard to please. Still, it doesn’t keep me from plowing through books like they’re chocolate cake.

Anyone read anything awesome lately?

p.s. This post is littered with affiliate links (go Amazon!). Click at your own risk. And by “risk” I mean “buy your books through those links so I can start making the big bucks.”

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