Book 14: Glossy by Marisa Meltzer

I just finished Glossy by Marisa Meltzer and I give it 𐫰𐫰𐫰𐫰 . I like to read nonfiction before bed (easy to put down!) and I like books about strong women entrepreneurs. This is about Emily Weiss, who founded the beauty brand Glossier (I had vaguely heard of it prior--it really is a brand for Millenials).  It's a well written book of how Weiss went from a teenage reality tv star to building a website that focused on what products women used regularly to starting Glossier. Weiss comes across as smart and likable and strategic. The subtitle of the book promised to be an 'expose' but there really wasn't a lot to expose--which kind of made it a bit of a dull ending as Weiss extricated herself from the brand. 

Book 13: The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson

 I just finished The Christmas Guest and I give it ✭✭✭✭✭.  It's a novella that's a mystery, and it goes by really fast (I think I read it in less than two hours). It's very creepy. It's the story of a young woman who goes to spend Christmas with a friend's family in the English countryside, and how events come together where a brother and sister start on a path that determines their destiny. It's hard to write too much about this because it is so short and I don't want to give away any spoilers! This is well worth a read even though it isn't the Christmas season.

Book 12: Sandwich by Catherine Newman

 I just finished Sandwich by Catherine Newman and give it ★★★★ 1/2 stars. Read my review at Goodreads.

Book 11: Bear by Julia Phillips

 I just finished Bear by Julia Phillips (read it as an ARC). I give it ★★✰✰✩. Read my review at Goodreads.

Book 10: The Fury by Alex Michaelides

 I just finished The Fury and I give it ☆☆☆ 1/2 stars.

This is the second book I've read recently about a murder on an island in Greece (the first one was called Ladykillers by Katherine Woods). This one is shorter, tighter, but has some similarities--infidelity, things being not what they seem. Two actors, one's husband (and another's lover), one of the actor's assistant, the actor's son, and the actor's best friend (the story's narrator) converge on a Greek island to (theoretically) relax for a bit. The book is an onion, with every 'act' peeling one layer to tell more of the backstory and the history of the people in the book. There is twist after twist, with this narrative technique, and that kept me reading because I had to know the killer. I guessed one of the biggest twists but that was ok. However, this is one of those books that when I'm done I say to myself "I have to stop reading these domestic thriller books--they're just kind of like potato chips." 

Book 9: The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher

 I just finished The Shell Seekers and I give it ★★★★ 1/2 stars. First reaction: why did it take me so long to read this book? It's totally up my alley--family story (check), set in England (check), back and forth in time (check), interesting, well drawn characters (check). You probably know the story--She Shell Seekers was painted by Penelope's father, who was an artist of a school that is now (in the mid-1980s) very much in vogue. One daughter wants her to sell the painting, another wants to find the sketches made for the painting and sell that, and another daughter just wants her mom to be happy. But--there's so much more than that, in terms of living during WW2, what it means to be a family, and all of that. I docked half a star because I wanted more of Olivia and I was confused as to the whole Olivia-and-Hank storyline and why it just fizzled out. But all in all, a wonderful read. 

Book 8 of 2024: The Eden Test

 I just finished The Eden Test by Adam Sternbergh and I give it---oh I'm not sure. Maybe ☆☆☆1/4 stars? 

I love the premise of this book--a couple go off to a secluded cabin (RED FLAG) for a marriage retreat-type of thing (RED FLAG) where every day they take part in "The Eden Test"--one question that they have to discuss and answer. The experience is supposed to be life changing. The book starts out (so this isn't a spoiler) at the cabin, where some police-type guy is saying "we need two stretchers--there are two bodies." So clearly we know someone (two someones) will die. But who will it be?

The couple has secrets (RED FLAG)---we find out over the course of the book about Daisy's background and early on we find out her husband is having an affair. Does she know? Is that why she brought him to the retreat? Once at the cabin, they meet all kinds of stereotypical "country people" and the psychologists who run the retreat (and an arborist). The stress builds up throughout the book, and I liked that. 

About halfway through, though, the actions in the book start to become ridiculous, and if you've read enough 'domestic thrillers' you start to figure out what the 'twists' are. There are several, and some of them are good but some of them are eye rollers. 

I need to stop reading 'domestic thrillers' because they all start to veer off toward the ridiculous at some point. You may disagree, please do!

Book 7 of 2024: It.Goes.So Fast.

 I finished "It Goes So Fast" by NPR host Mary Louise Kelly and I give it ★★★★ 1/2 stars. It's a memoir of one year in her life--her oldest son's senior year in high school. She wrote the book to document how she juggles her busy life and how she yearned not to miss out on too much of her son's last year in high school.

She's a great writer, and she has a great support system, and (what appear to be) two very smart and mature sons. As such, it might be hard for some people to relate to how she juggled (how many people can afford to fly their mom in to take care of their kids when they have to go overseas)? It also seemed to me that often, when faced with 'family or career' she always selected career (even when what she was asked to do was not by any stretch required). But I don't have kids, so who am I to comment? 

Anyway, another fun thing about this book was you can hear her voice in your head while you're reading it (if you listen to her on NPR). Which is kind of weird and wonderful all at once. 

Book 6 of 2024: Sugar, Baby

 I haven't thought very much about the Sugar Baby phenomenon recently. About ten years ago something was published saying that the U of O was a 'hot market' for Sugar Babies: young women who connect with older men and receive gifts for "companionship". At the time, my colleagues and I had discussed possibilities of who we knew who might be Sugar Babies, but then that all passed. 

Sugar, Baby, by Celine Saintclaire, examines the life of a Sugar Baby. Agnes is a housecleaner from a very religious family (she's the rebel), and the start of the novel alludes to something 'bad' that happened when Agnes was younger that had her dropping out of school (we do find out what the thing was, and it's bad but not that bad). At one of her jobs, Agnes meets Emily, who basically trains her to be a Sugar Baby. It's all fun and games until it isn't. 

I give this book ★★★★.  I thought it might even be a five star book for the first 75%, but the end of the book kind of devolved into too much too quickly. The ending is also wrapped up very sweetly. On the plus side, I really liked the character of Agnes and parts of the book have contemplated the natures of religion and beauty, which I liked a lot. 

This book won't be for everyone--there's a lot of profanity, and an awful lot of sex (more than I care to have a book, if I'm honest). I did get transported into Agnes' world and that counts for a lot.

Book 5 of 2024: Erasure by Percival Everett

 I just finished Erasure and I give it ☆☆☆ 1/2 stars. 

This book has just been made into a movie called American Fiction and I wanted to read the book before reading the movie. I liked it, but it was a bit of a disturbing look at popular culture and the publishing industry. English Professor Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is not seeing the type of success he wishes to have with his novels, and becomes distraught when he learns a book called  "We's Lives in Da Ghetto" has become a critical and commercial success. So he writes a book that is similar, which he meant to be satirical. While all this is happening, he deals with upset in his family: violence, homophoia, and family secrets that upended his views of his history. It's well written and sad, and really skewers our culture. I'm not sure why some of the things that happened in the book needed to be there; some stuff seemed added to expand a novel that I don't think really needed expansion. All in all, a good and thought-provoking read.

Book 4 of 2024: The Whispers

 I just finished The Whispers by Ashley Audrain and I give it ☆☆☆☆.

I haven't read The Push by the same author but I'm going to since I found The Whispers to be a very compelling book. It's hard to say it was a 'good' book but it was really a compelling read. The book centers on four women who live on the same block in a re-gentrified neighborhood. The story focuses on what happened before and what happened after a horrible accident occured (or was it)?

The title "The Whispers" describes that little voice that many women hear telling them they need to be more--better moms, harder workers, more generous wives. All four women are holding secrets that affect (to some degree) how they view the events of the night of the horrible accident. I found all the characters interesting and the book kept me guessing til about the 80% mark. And no spoilers but: the ending is chilling. 

Book 3 of 2024: I'll Have What She's Having: How Nora Ephron's Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy

I just finished this book with the very long title and I give it ☆☆☆.

I'll Have What She's Having by Erin Carlson is a non-fiction book that examines Ephron's three films with Meg Ryan: When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You've Got Mail. Ephron died in 2012, and this book was published in 2018, so there's no first hand evidence from Ephron but the author uses published interviews along with interviews of others involved in the films to discuss how these films are 'iconic' (which I only partially agree with: I think the first two are iconic, You've Got Mail not so much) and how they 'saved' the romantic comedy (again, I don't think it was those films, I think it was Meg Ryan and to some degree Tom Hanks, but whatever).

Anyway, the book moves in chronological order and is kind of a mishmash of how Ephron approached the script and the production, what was happening in the personal lives of the actors in the films, what kind of issues they ran into in the making with the movies, and the like. It isn't gossipy enough to keep you reading and there's a lot of stuff that has nothing, really, to do with any of the movies. 

I read til the end but it was a bit of a slog; I tend to read non-fiction before bed and this one put me to sleep every time I read it. 

Book 2 of 2024: Anon Pls: a fictionalized history of Deuxmoi (?)

 I just finished Anon Pls by Deuxmoi and I give it ☆☆☆.

Deuxmoi is a (real) celebrity gossip site. The owner(s) of Deuxmoi are unknown, and did not come clean in the publishing of the novel (if we can believe it, Deuxmoi was once an assistant to a nasty stylist). Anyway, it's the story of (maybe) how Deuxmoi got started. 

It was OK. It is kind of light and breezy, with an interesting main character (with the ridiculous name of Cricket), two loyal buddies, the aforementioned nasty boss, and various people who want to 'out' her for various reasons. I found it hard to care about these people, though, because while I enjoy a little light celeb gossip I don't live for it. And the mixing of 'fictionalized' celebs and real celebs is annoying to me. So just OK for this one. 

First finish of 2024: "Wedding of the Season"

 And I give this novel by Lauren Edmondson ★★★ 1/2 stars.

One of the blurbs described the book as a cross between Elin Hilderbrand (love) and Edith Wharton (love) and I guess I see it---it takes place in Newport, RI (not Nantucket, but Elin-adjacent) and it involves descendants of a Gilded Age family who have lost all their money. The family's oldest daughter, Maggie, is getting married to the son of the woman who bought the family 'cottage' (ie huge estate), and the family is getting evicted from the carriage house on the estate where they were granted permission to live. The novel is told from the perspective of one of the family's three children, Cass. 

While I love novels of rich families having issues, this book didn't really suck me in. I think there were just too many characters. Cass as a character was very vivid, but we didn't learn a whole lot about the other characters who came off sort of stereotypically.  Newport as a 'character' wasn't nearly as vivid as it could have been.