Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.

And by that I mean, YOU MUST LISTEN TO THIS BOOK!!!!

    

Ok, so let's first be honest - I am one of those book snobs that thinks I have not actually READ a book if I have not actually READ a BOOK.  Meaning, to listen to a book is not to read a book.  Just my opinion and #wordnerd self arguing over semantics.

I am relatively new to audiobooks because of this opinion.  I didn't want to "bump" my READING numbers by listening.  But when my job became a 30-45 minute drive each day, and I was listening to so many book recommendation podcasts that my TBR made me anxious (thank you Anne Bogel), and some of those recommendations were audiobooks, I suddenly thought, Hey!  Why don't I spend this time chipping away at my TBR rather than adding to it??

Enter TJR.

That is Taylor Jenkins Reid.

You may already know that I LOVED The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.  And that I thoroughly enjoyed Malibu Rising.

What I am here to tell you is, it is February and Daisy Jones and The Six might be my Favorite Book of the Year.  And this is a year where an Outlander book was published.

(insert astonished face here)

Now, I cannot say whether the reading experience can match the listening one.  Daisy Jones and The Six is a story told in a format that was MADE for performance.  And what fabulous performances we get.  Done in an interview format, each member of the band and the peripheral VIPs is performed by a different actor.  I seriously felt like I was in an extended Broadway show.  It is a bonus that Jennifer Beals reads Daisy in the PERFECT soft, scratchy voice.  And that Benjamin Bratt is also prominently featured (he could read commercials and I'd be applauding.  Well, ok fine, swooning.)  Then you add in Pablo Schreiber as Billy Dunne who gives an amazing and emotional performance as a man plagued by demons and desperate to be a Good Man.  OMG the pauses, the sighs, the chuckles!  They all added SO much to this story!  And the ending.....OMG again, I was driving and crying.  It was a perfect ending.

The story is about why a 1970's band broke up, and how they got together, and what happened on their tour.  Told from the perspectives of the band members, manager, spouses, friends, etc, everyone has their own version of the truth.  Drugs and alcohol are everywhere; you really get a sense of the place and time that was music in the '60's and 70's.  The characters are very well fleshed out - again maybe because I heard their different voices and could keep them all straight as soon as they started talking.  I think that would be difficult in print and I am actually very curious to get my hands on a hard copy to see how it is presented.  You feel empathy for each of them as they become famous and have to deal with hard choices and family and fame - and each other.   There are a lot of references to lines in the songs the band members were writing which I wish I had written down.  Because I was walking or in the car or doing housework while listening I did not really take notes, except for this line:

"You have to have faith in people before they earn it.  Otherwise, it's not faith, is it?"

BOOM!!!

Please please please take a chance on an audiobook and listen to this story.  This totally solidifies TJR as one of my favorite authors.  And THIS is why I have been giving so many four star reviews lately of books I really liked. 

Because THIS book is a FIVE STAR READ.

Did I rave enough?  Why are you still reading?  Go to Libby right now and get on the waiting list!!!! 

The Girl From Widow Hills by Megan Miranda

 

Megan Miranda was one of the featured authors in our local library's big fundraiser in the fall of 2020, and this was her latest book.  She is a local author as well, and I had never read her books!  This read, a thriller with twists and turns, definitely tells me I will like her other books too.  

There are some holes in it, and some parts that seemed out of character for our protagonist especially nearer to the end.  The whole story was a bit disjointed, with the really weird mother/daughter relationship, Olivia's past, and the whole idea that you can't run away.  I was so intrigued by the premise of how her famous childhood impacted her adult life and her whole attitude, and thought this book had such big promise because of that.  Then, it went in a totally different direction and just got really, well, unlikely.  I did not like how she ended things, how she left someone to pay and just moved on.  But as far as a good read goes, I wanted to know what would happen next.  There is a twist or two at the end that you can kind of see building, and maybe that reveal is what was just a bit of a letdown for me only because while I can totally see that happening, I just didn't like it, haha!  

Overall, an ok read, I would read more from this author and am thinking maybe this one just won't be my favorite.  I have alluded before to Sally's advice (Sally is my local bookstore owner whom I WORSHIP) to give authors' other books a chance, just like you would give a chance to a sibling of someone you don't like.  Just because you don't like Mary Jane doesn't mean you won't fall in love with her younger brother Bobby!!!

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

With this book I have read all of Kidd's Fictional works (who knew she has four non-fiction books too??).  I enjoyed all of her books, and this one is no different.  Kidd's book provides a window into what could have been if Jesus had been married.  This book is not a story about Jesus, it is about his wife.

[However, this one was so reminiscent of Geraldine Brooks that I had a hard time remembering which book I was reading.  I LOVE GB and have read several of her books and highly recommend them all.  It is her book The Secret Chord that struck a chord - haha - with me while reading this book.  While The Secret Chord is about King David, the biblical time frame was very similar.  I find it fascinating as a Christian to read fictional novels about biblical times and have often wondered what life was really like during Jesus' time.  If you do too, go check out The Secret Chord.]

It took me a while to get into The Book of Longings.  The presentation is very dry, very factual.  We meet young Ana at about age 14, when her parents are arranging her marriage to a much older widower.  She balks, a nice young man helps her when she literally falls for him as she runs away from this match, and so it begins.  And we have the basis for how women are treated, mistreated, ignored and owned that prevail throughout the novel for Ana, her mother, her aunt, and let's be real, EVERY SINGLE FEMALE.  

Hold that thought.

So Ana and Jesus end up getting married and live a happy little life for several years even with Ana's transition from little rich girl to carpenter's wife on the family complex.  She faces jealousy from others and watches as her husband, with whom she shares a rare true love and level of respect, is conflicted by his calling.  When at age 30 he finally goes to work with John the Immerser, she goes another way for reasons of her own safety.  (She is a fiesty one, this Ana, and causes trouble with her big mouth!)  She plans to meet up with Jesus on his ministry as soon as it is safe for her to do so.

One year turns to two, and she begins to enjoy her life of study and scribing in a place called Therapeutae - she is talented and educated and valued here. At this special place, they study the word of God and pray to God's female spirit, Sophia. What I liked here is the focus on Ana, on the women she calls family, and on her intelligence and relationship with her husband.  It does beg the question of how things might have been different for centuries after for women had it been publicly known that Jesus had an equal partner who he adored in his life, and had she been by his side during his ministry.  Fascinating to ponder!

So overall, an interesting posit about what could have been/might have been a true story about women during Jesus' time, and a little about Jesus too.  I'm a history major so I loved being transported to a time so long ago and reading about daily life and what women faced.  Kidd weaves in other biblical characters too in a fun way.  One thing I did not like was the supposition that no one knew he was the Messiah - it ended up being a big surprise to everyone, including his mom.  Or maybe she just didn't mention the whole Angel appearing thing, and that story came later.  So many ways this could have gone down, I guess, if you are willing to read this separately from the well known Bible versions.  

Which, to me, is the whole point.  What IF, indeed?? 

Definitely read the author's note, too.  This may be fiction, but not everything she wrote about in this book was fictional.

The Unwilling by John Hart

 

John Hart is one of my very favorite authors.  The man's writing is smooth as velvet.

Well, velvet with razor blades...

I am a John Hart completist.  I have read everything he has written since day one.  I haven't loved all his books (you can skip The Hush, I don't know WHAT he was thinking), and this one was a hard read.  If you got through Iron House ok, you'll be fine here.  But the violence and the killing and the disturbed brain of the killer will stay with you.  Fair warning. Hart is originally from my state of North Carolina and this book gives a shout out to the city where I live - Charlotte!  Although, I must say Mr. Hart, you must know that we do not call it downtown, sheesh.  In Charlotte, it is Uptown! ;-)

That being said, we have here a story of two brothers, young men who have already had more than their share of heartache and trouble.  There were three brothers once, until Vietnam.  Now, one is newly released from prison and one is struggling to know who he might become as he faces high school graduation.  When Gibby's brother is released from prison, of course bad things start happening (gruesome murder, gun dealers, drugs, and a missing girl - you know, the usual) and the community, including the Chief of Police, start to suspect Jason.  Oh, and did I mention that the Chief happens to be their Dad?

If I paid attention correctly, this story takes place over the course of about one week, which was a shocker when I realized that at the end - such a whirlwind!  I liked how we get varying viewpoints - even the killer's - although I did not really see the need to make Gibby's parts in first person.  So the mystery here is not so much WHO but HOW and WHY.  The relationship between the brothers, the relationship between father and sons, and between the men you are forced to live with and survive in prison (some seriously messed up stuff here), as well as the brilliant motif of the diving cliff all the teenagers hang out under at the quarry on Senior Skip Day all make for a "deep dive" into the psyche and into a novel I could not put down.  One of my new things to do this year (I refuse to call it a resolution) is to take notes as I am reading - so I remember what I want to say about a book.  My notes on this one, and I quote my own self, say 

"Seriously reading this so fast I ain't got time for no notes....."

Hart also has a knack for writing teenagers.  I laughed out loud at one comment that Gibby's best friend makes to him in a life or death situation, which I cannot quote because it is a spoiler, but I think the world would be a better place if everyone had a friend like Chance.  And there is a point near the very end where I think - HA!  Sons know their fathers as well or even better than fathers can ever know their own sons.  Or selves. 

I had a lot of questions at the end of this book, which makes me even more convinced this novel would make for invigorating discussion.  It might be a bit too violent for some in my book club, but we have read more John Hart books than any other author in our 18 years together, and this one is one of his best.

PS - The Acknowledgements are in the front of this novel.  I love that.  I always read the Acknowledgements and appreciate that he gives all the people who helped birth this novel a push by placing them at the start, where more people will hopefully read them.  It takes a village!

PPS - I almost did not want to read this because of the mention of Vietnam, but am so glad I did.  That era, and the years following, have had such a huge impact on Americans, including my own father who was a Captain in the Air Force in Vietnam when I was born.  The trauma of war, no matter what war, is long lasting, painful in so many visible and invisible ways, and important to acknowledge.  I love a good title, and Hart's title here comes from a quote from an unknown soldier:

"We the unwilling, led by the unqualified to kill the unfortunate, die for the ungrateful."

Verity by Colleen Hoover

 

This is a book I thought I should read.

Nope.

It was alright.  It was well written, tense, kinda twisty - but honestly nothing new.  Rebecca meets Who Is Maud Dixon, with a little bit of Evelyn Hugo thrown in because once again we have an author who is asked to finish the works of another author, and BAM we have a thriller because nothing is as it seems.

I kept waiting on the big reveal on this one.  Quite predictable and not surprising, but I will say I thought the big reveal would go another way to reveal another villain.  I liked how the book started, I liked the background of Lowen (and her name!) and the part about her agent seemed realistic.  But as soon as she moves into that house I just felt like this kinda fell apart.  Was she seeing things?  Is Verity who they think?  Who is lying and hiding their sins and what really happened to those girls?????

And this book has GRAPHIC SEX.  Luan, this one is for you.  Mom, not so much.  Haha.  It was not for me, I found it gross, especially in the presentation, which you understand more at the end.  The author says this dark story was a change for her.  It does not make me want to read others of hers.  Too many twists, and you could see the final tragedy coming.  And it did come, a little too conveniently.

Chronics, indeed.

The Secret of Snow by Viola Shipman

 

I found this author and this book via the Friends and Fiction Facebook group, which has been a fun way to discuss and share books with other avid readers.  I kept seeing this one pop up with many, many exclamations about how good it was, so I thought, ok fine, I will give it a whirl even though I just know it is going to be a very light, predictable chick lit read.  Meh.

I wasn't wrong, but I wasn't exactly right either.  I was actually very pleasantly surprised by how much I really enjoyed this one!!  Yes, it was predictable and slightly preachy, but like the weather our protagonist Sonny Dunes (born Amberrose Murphy) predicts and studies, things are always up for change, even when it is changing our minds.  

I loved that the main character was over 50, single and a meteorologist.  This led to some fun discussions about working for a TV station, predicting storms, and clouds. And yes, lots of SNOW!  You don't often see novels about meteorologists (spoiler alert, there are TWO in this book!)  And Shipman tackles the societal expectations of women, especially female journalists on TV, head on.  ("When will society learn it's not our looks that make women such powerful creatures, it's our minds, hearts and souls?")  Sonny is popular with the viewers but suddenly is told she is being replaced - by an Artificial Intelligence weathergirl - and promptly burns her bridges in a spectacular and very public manner.  The only way forward is back - back home, that is, to a job offered in sympathy and maybe some revenge by a former classmate once spurned by Sonny herself.  And she has to move back in with her MOM, Polly Rose.  Can she get any lower?????

While the love interest side of course had to be there, we also have a family back story that builds and explains why Sonny left her small (snowy) Michigan hometown for sunny Palm Springs, why she is still single, and why she really does not want to go back home, even with her mom still there.  There are a lot of Mother-Daughter stories out there, but this one is extremely well done.  I want to be friends with Sonny's mom, she was a great character!!!  And Icicle is so wise - love the scenes with him!  She tries to reconnect with old friends Tammy Lynn, Becky Jo and Jenny, but it just doesn't really click.

The beginning felt a bit forced, and I did not really like how she eventually solved the Polly Sue situation.  And since when do so many women in Michigan have double names, anyway???  HAHA!

This is definitely a book about second chances and actively wanting what you already have.  I read it as if I was watching the Hallmark Movie I am sure this will become, but I also loved the multiple little references to A Christmas Carol, Game of Thrones, and the idea that a cardinal is a messenger from beyond (Hi, Papa!).  The snowman building scene goes a little overboard in its preachiness, as does Mason in most of his monologues, but I was actually ok with it.  Obviously the author used these scenes as the vehicle to tell the readers to ENJOY LIFE!!  Live unfrozen!!  Make the snow angel!!!!!

And yes, read the book.  ;-)

And yes, go look up who the author REALLY is.  His name is not Viola.