No.173: My Latest Reads // August

THE EXPATS by Chris Pavone
My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

The best hiding spots are not the most hidden; they’re merely the least searched. 

I read and enjoyed one of Chris Pavone’s books years ago, so I was excited when The Expats came off the hold list at the library.  A story about a former CIA agent turned stay-at-home mom and the secrets that find her?  Sign me up!  After reading, though, I was a little disappointed.  It read more like a travelogue than a spy thriller, the story line was sometimes hard to follow and I wasn’t invested in any of the characters.  I was happy to close the book and move on.  Just okay for me.  I liked Pavone’s The Travelers way better.

THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE by Katherine Arden
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

“Nothing changes, Vasya. Things are, or they are not. Magic is forgetting that something ever was other than as you willed it.” (81%)

Another one from the library!  The Bear and the Nightingale is a young adult fantasy, which is a genre I rarely read, but I’m all about expanding my horizons and wanted to give it a shot.  The story is set in fairy tale-like Medieval Russia and is filled with Russian folklore.  There’s demons and spirits and even a vampire, so if that’s your jam, you’ll love this book.  Personally, I have a hard time with that stuff!  (The demons totally creep me out, which I know is ironic given my love for true crime novels.)  A solid three stars.

THE INNOCENT MAN: MURDER AND INJUSTICE IN A SMALL TOWN by John Grisham
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

“God help us, if ever in this great country we turn our heads while people who have not had fair trials are executed…” -Judge Frank Howell Seay

The Innocent Man is a true crime story about a man sent to death row for a crime he did not commit.  It was an interesting book, but long and sometimes tedious.  After finishing, I read some reviews on Goodreads and it seems Grisham may have embellished some of the facts to make the prosecution look worse. Totally a “he said/he said” moment, but it does give the book a little less credibility.

TEARS OF GOD: PERSEVERING IN THE FACE OF GREAT SORROW OR CATASTROPHE by Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, CFR
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

It’s important to pray quietly and let the sufferings of Jesus sink deeply into your soul, and to match some aspect of the Passion with your own sufferings and sorrows.  Whether your suffering be great or small, whether the catastrophe is something that will pass or a horror that has permanent effects, every one of us can sit down and say with Jesus, “I am so grateful that you are here with me.” (p.59-60)

We who believe in Divine Providence, in life after death, in salvation and resurrection; we, of all people, when faced with catastrophe, must go on with courage, faith, and hope.  We must make things different.  We must not remain fixed in the grief of the past, but move on to doing good and making things better in the future.  The wound of sorrow will always be there.  We don’t want it to go away.  We want the wound to heal and scar.  We can work while the scar exists.” (p.70)

With all the horrible things talked about in the Church right now, I felt like it was an appropriate time to pull this book off the shelf.  While it doesn’t necessarily address the issue at hand, Fr. Benedict had many wise things to say about suffering that were helpful.

STATION ELEVEN by Emily St. John Mandel
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

She was thinking about the way she’d always taken for granted that the world had certain people in it, either central to her days or unseen and infrequently thought of. How without any one of these people the world is a subtly but unmistakably altered place, the dial turned just one or two degrees. (66%)

Post-apocalyptic science fiction isn’t my go-to genre, but after hearing so much buzz for this book over the years, I decided to give it a shot.  And…it was good!  In hindsight, though, after seeing how many people love it, I don’t think I really got it.  One positive: I had fresh eyes filled with gratitude for the modern conveniences we take for granted.

HILLBILLY ELEGY: A MEMOIR OF A FAMILY AND CULTURE IN CRISIS by J.D. Vance
My Rating: ★★★★☆
 
Not all of the white working class struggles. I knew even as a child that there were two separate sets of mores and social pressures. My grandparents embodied one type: old-fashioned, quietly faithful, self-reliant, hardworking. My mother and, increasingly, the entire neighborhood embodied another: consumerist, isolated, angry, distrustful. (58%)


It was in the Marine Corps where I first ordered grown men to do a job and watched them listen; where I learned that leadership depended far more on earning the respect of your subordinates than on bossing them around; where I discovered how to earn that respect; and where I saw that men and women of different social classes and races could work as a team and bond like family. It was the Marine Corps that first gave me an opportunity to truly fail, made me take that opportunity, and then, when I did fail, gave me another chance anyway. (68%)

Another one off the hold list at the library!  There was a lot of talk about Hillbilly Elegy the last few years and you know how much I enjoy a good memoir.  His reflections on his childhood trauma in Appalachia and how that affected relationships as an adult was really interesting.  Overall, I thought the book was insightful and gave me a lot to think about.