Books I’ve Read Lately

You know what helps take your mind off of cancer? Escaping in your books!!! Here are some books I’ve lost myself in lately…

Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

I really liked this book. It was so unique and interesting. Julia is a 12-year-old girl who is living during the time of the “slowing”. All of a sudden the earth is turning at a slower rate and the days are getting longer. There are long periods of dark and light and no one knows what that means for the future of mankind. Birds are falling out of the sky, it’s harder to kick a soccer ball because gravity is messed up and humans are starting to get sick too. The story follows Julia along this journey of the unknown.

This book does a great job of intertwining several different facets of Julia’s teenage life along with her parents’ troubling marriage, her grandfather’s disappearance and the changes made by the slowing. It is kind of freaky to think about something apocolyptic happening.

Here are some of my favorite passages that really resonated with me at this moment in my life:

Later, I would come to think of those first days as the time when we learned as a species that we had worried over the wrong things…but I guess it never is what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophes are always different—unimagined, unprepared for, unknown.

It seemed somehow surprising that the hours continued to pass in spite of what I knew. It was almost shocking that time did not, in fact, stop.

Time’s Edge (Chronos Files Book 2) and Time’s Echo: Chronos Files Novella by Rysa Walker

I wrote about Times’ Edge Book 1 a while ago and this latest book in the series just came out and did not disappoint. She also released the novella that serves as an “in between” the two novels. This is the series about Kate, a teenaged time-traveler who is trying to save the world from her evil grandfather. It’s a bit confusing if you try and keep up with all of the time-traveling logistics, so I just let it go. The story is fantastic. In this part of the series, Kate is trying to collect the time-traveling keys so her grandfather can’t have them and use them for evil. She also is trying to get Trey to fall back in love with her after the last time shift that made him forget her…and she’s fighting off feelings for Kiernan too. This series is also so unique and fast-paced and action-packed. I love it and can’t wait for the next one.

Everything Burns by Vincent Zandri

This was part of the Amazon “first look” choices. Is anyone else an Amazon Prime member who gets these free first-look books (sometimes two!) each month? I love it. That’s how I discovered Rysa Walker above, actually! sometimes the ones I choose are stinkers, but this one was great. When Reece, the main character, was a boy, his mother and brothers were killed in a fire. Throughout his life since the fire, he has struggled with his obsession with fire and mental illness. Now he’s a famous writer who just recently reconnected with his ex-wife when everything goes awry. Is his ex-wife/girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend stalking them and trying to hurt them? Is Reece going insane? It’s action-packed with many twists and turns that keep you guessing through the whole book. It was a quick, fun, entertaining read.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

This was on my Pinterest board for a while and I finally checked it out. Even though this book is an award-winner, I thought it was just ok. Maybe I’m on Serial overload or something, but I just didn’t love this book. The book is written in screenplay style by the main character, Steve, a teenager who is in jail and on trial for murder. It was a quick read, and it wasn’t a bad book, but I just didn’t love it. I guess I’m just not sure what all the fuss is about.

Fear Nothing by Lisa Gardner

You can always count of Gardner for a great murder mystery and this one did not disappoint. The story focuses on two sisters who are daughters of a mass murderer. The one sister, Shana, became a murderer herself at 14. The other sister, Adeline, became a psychiatrist and also was born unable to feel pain. Adeline finds herself back in touch with her sister and trying to help Detective D.D. Warren solve a current murder spree that is eerily familiar.

I couldn’t put this one down. It’s a little gory, thrilling and keeps you guessing until the end. If you like murder mysteries, I would highly recommend this one!

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

I saved the best for last. If you haven’t read this book yet, stop everything, go get it and carve about about 6-8 hours to read it straight. I wish everyone, everyone, everyone would read this book. It’s marvelous. Auggie is a fifth grader who’s about to attend real public school for the first time. He’s been homeschooled his whole life due to medical issues. Auggie was born with a congenital facial deformity that caused his face to be, well, hideous. He has had many, many surgeries and is now healthy enough, and (hopefully) emotionally ready, to attend school. The book follows Auggie through his first year at school and it’s told from the perspective of Auggie himself, his sister Via and his classmates and friends. It is a wonderful story of how people are just people, no matter if they’re different from everyone else. I don’t need a happy ending, but I loved the way this one ended.

This book is truly wonderful. I hope you’ll check it out.

What have you read lately?