Every year around the New Year I tell myself my only resolution for the New Year is to read more. I love reading, but every year I fail to make my goal no matter how much I try. This year I thought if I wrote a review for every book I read and then publicly shared it maybe I would be more motivated to make sure I’m reading every day and hitting my goals. This year I want to read a minimum of two books a month, and I have a stretch goal of four books a month. In January I hit that goal! Probably due to the fact that the first two weeks of the month I was on vacation and the last two were the first weeks of the semester when schoolwork had not picked up yet. But nonetheless, I am feeling pretty good going into this year having already hit my goal once.
With all that said, here are my book reviews for the month of January!
Night by Elie Wiesel (Read from December 31, 2015-January 1, 2016)
Night is the first installment in Elie Wiesel’s trilogy of memoirs. Night details Wiesel’s experiences in Nazi German concentration camps in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. The memoir starts with Wiesel’s childhood living in a town called Sighet and detail his relationship with god and religion as well as life in the Jewish ghettos. The memoir continues with detailed and painful memories of his time in concentration camps and ends with his liberation.
Many students are required to read Night in middle or high school, but I never was so I decided it was time to read it. Night was a beautiful, moving, and important book and I was glad to start off my year with it. Wiesel’s writing is haunting, for he explains the most horrifying circumstances with the most beautiful prose. It also reminded me of the importance of reading survivor’s accounts. We should not forget the horrors of the Holocaust. It is also important to hear everyone’s stories because they are all so different and will teach you something new. Night was a short read, I read it about a day, and if I were to recommend one important book to pick up this year it would be this one. 4.5 stars.
All The Houses by Karen Olsson (January 1, 2016- January 8, 2016)
All The Houses follows Helen Atherton, a depressed woman in her early-thirties, as she moves back from Los Angeles where she has tried and failed to start a career. She returns to her hometown Washington D.C. to take care of her dad after he had a heart attack. Being home makes Helen relive the moments of her childhood with her father and his political involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal. Helen grapples with her past as she tries to move forward in life.
I found this book in Barnes and Noble and was attracted by the pretty cover and the interesting summary of the book. In the end, these were probably the only two things I enjoyed in this book. The story was dry and boring, and the writing was not really exciting. Helen’s character was pretty one dimensional and obvious. The book was roughly 416 pages long and I cannot say that anything remarkable or exciting happened. Even at the end, when there was supposed to be a surprise twist ending, it was pretty dull. I would say not to get tricked like I was and skip this book. 2 stars.
The Waves by Virginia Woolf (January 8, 2016- January 20, 2016)
Virginia Woolf details the lives of six friends from infancy to death in The Waves. Woolf gives each of her characters a voice by examining their inner thoughts through out their lives. After the death of one of their friends, the others learn how to cope with death and examine the larger questions in life.
This novel is beautifully, beautifully written in that prose-y poetic Woolf type way. Definitely not an “easy” read (or a quick one) but definitely a book I could read and reread and would always find something new in it. It is the type of book that you can sit down and analyze all of Woolf’s hidden meanings behind her words. If you read and liked Mrs. Dalloway or To the Lighthouse I would highly recommend this book, as it follows Woolf’s internal narrative style that she is known so well for. If you have not read any of Woolf’s works, I would still highly recommend this book. It is books like these that you can see the difference between a good book and a great piece of literature. 4.5 stars.
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (January 20, 2016-January 31, 2016)
Salinger’s short story, Franny, takes place in a college town where Franny and her boyfriend are having a date. Franny is an undergraduate who is examining the world for the first time and is slowly becoming disenchanted with the world and people around her. Zooey is a novella about Zooey, Franny’s brother, who is trying to help his sister as she has a mental and emotional breakdown in their parent’s home.
Franny and Zooey is another book that I feel like everyone has read by now but I had not yet and decided it was time. Both the short story and the novella are wonderfully well written, and I loved the combination of the two. I think a lot of people read Franny and Zooey immediately after finishing The Catcher in the Rye and I think if I had (I read The Catcher in the Rye probably six years ago), I would have hated the stories. They are similar to The Catcher in the Rye in so many ways. I am not sure if this means that Salinger was just a one trick pony, but I think he writes poignant characters and beautiful prose. It was a short read but it did not feel short in the content. If you’re like me and still have not gotten around to this book yet I would say read it now. 4.5 stars.
Image Credit: Her Campus, Amazon, Goodreads