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In order to accomplish all of my deployment goals (which I plan to share next week!), I will probably have to spend less time reading. Until then, here are 7 book reviews!
1.The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond
Alice and Jake join The Marriage Pact as a way to strengthen their marriage. Rules include buying your spouse gifts and going on vacation every so often. What they don’t realize is how severe the punishments are for those who don’t follow the rules…. and that there is no way out.
This is one of those books that you cannot put down because you can’t believe what is happening and you want to smack the characters. I loved it, but it reminded me of The Circle in the sense that you have to suspend some disbelief. But it was a fun read and it made me think about how people get sucked into cults/things beyond their control.
2. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
This book is all about Trevor Noah’s experience growing up in South Africa during apartheid. Literally born a crime, his father is Swiss and his mother is Xhosa. During apartheid, this was illegal. According to the law, he should never have been born. This is his story about growing up in a place he didn’t belong and his mother who fought like hell to raise him to be his own person. I rated this book 5 stars and I recommend it to everyone I know.
If you are a fan of The Martian, this book will not disappoint. It’s about a woman named Jazz who lives on the moon and makes her way smuggling illegal products. Andy Weir’s writing annoys the crap out of me because it can be so obnoxious, but I love his worldbuilding and the way he incorporates science into his novels to make them realistic. However, I kept cringing at many parts because I really didn’t think that Weir did a good job writing from a woman’s perspective. Sure, some women are like Jazz in many ways, but the writing was just cringy at some points. I still think it’s a good book worth reading, though, especially if you liked The Martian.
4. Future Home of the Living God by Louise Edrich
This dystopian novel centers around a woman named Cedar. She finds herself pregnant at a time where evolution has started to reverse itself. Martial law is in effect – any pregnant woman is ordered to give herself up to the government. She is determined to avoid surrendering herself and her unborn child. But the story begins with Cedar finding her birth parents, wanting to know more about where she came from after being raised by adoptive parents.
This book brought up a lot of issues that are relevant today and I highly recommend it.
Read this book if you want to be scared! It’s about a couple that moves into a haunted house. It’s not a BOO scary thriller, it’s a psychological one, which is even scarier.
6. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Bachman
No Fredrik Backman book has ever come close to comparing to A Man Called Ove. Still, I loved this book. Seven-year-old Elsa’s grandmother is her best friend. After she dies, Elsa’s world seems to be over. However, Elsa soon embarks on a journey to deliver letters to the people in her grandmother’s life. This is a beautiful story about love and grief, and about how there is often more to people’s story than we think.
This is another dystopian novel that deals with women’s rights. This story is told from the perspective of five different women. It shows how new laws affect each of them. One teenager finds herself pregnant, but abortion is illegal. One single woman is trying to have invitro, but that will soon be illegal, as the government has decided that single women shouldn’t have in-vitro. The ways that each woman navigates this new world is what makes this book so important to me.
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I loved the Marriage Pact, I had a hard time putting it down! I want to read My Grandmother, as I have read Ove and Beartown. I really loved The Martian, but I had to do audio because of all the science talk. My eyes sort of glazed over at some points haha. But I would love to try another of his again. You had a good month of reading!
Definitely going to input some of these into my goodread’s want to read list! I also couldn’t put the Marriage Pact down, it was just what I needed because I was at the beach when I read it. But definitely agree you had to suspend your disbelief for parts. I loved that it made me be critical/contempate not just marriage/divorce but also legal systems in general. I felt like the Pact was almost a metaphor for a person’s “marriage” to the US legal system just by being born. Also now every time I see the word “friends” on signs at restaurants or other places, I freak out lol.
I’m excited to see your deployment goals!
7 books is impressive! Red Clocks sounds super interesting! So does Trevor Noah’s book! I read my first Fredrik Backman last weekend (it was his novella) and it make me bawl. Ha.
So many books I need to add to my TBR list! Trevor Noah’s book has been on my list since it came out and I’ve heard so many good things about Fredrik Backman!