Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum (#21, Fiction)

This genre really never gets old.  Any version or take on events during World War II will always captivate me.  Jenna Blum is a good writer and I loved where she started and was going with this novel, but somehow the end just didn't do justice to the rest of the story. 

Blum ties together the present day story of Trudy, a professor of German history, along with the story of Anna, her mother, a German woman who lived through the war in Germany.  It tackles the question of "what would you do?"  Much easier answered than done.  I continue to enjoy reading the story of WWII from various perspectives, because nothing is ever completely black or white, right?

3.5 out of 5

Nancy Drew: The Secret in the Attic by Carolyn Keene (#20, Fiction)

My first Nancy Drew book was a success!  If only I had started the series when I was younger, I'm sure I would have happily devoured each and every book!  4 out of 5 (YA)

                                    

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (#19, Fiction)

For someone who doesn't usually check the number of pages in a book, this one felt really, really long.  Eddie commented at least four times, "you're still reading that book?!?"

I liked so much about this book, but somewhere in the middle it stalled and just started dragging.  It picked back up again at the end when everything started coming together, but I think the damage had been done.  A review I saw seemed to suggest a similar sentiment that Verghese loved his characters so much he wanted to tell their whole story in great detail.  But, still I felt some of the main characters lacking, specifically the Genet, Marion, Shiva triangle. Marion's obsession with Genet started off feeling realistic as a young love/crush, which we've all felt, but to have that linger for years into his adult life I could not believe.

3 out of 5

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (#18, Fiction)

Another book success!  This Gothic romance has the foreboding feel of Jane Eyre, or other similar Bronte-esque novels from the 19th century.  Romance, mysterious men, suspicious death, a sinister maid, hair-raising drafts and the ramblings of a fool all come together for a page-turner.

Can't wait to watch the Alfred Hitchcock film adaptation.

4 out of 5

The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (#17, Fiction)

I liked this book from start to finish.  It's refreshing to find a new novel by a new author that doesn't feel completely cliche or give the feeling of been there read that.  The writing leaves nothing to be desired and the characters are neither extremely loveable, nor extremely terrible, falling somewhere in the middle--normal people with both strengths and flaws of character.  The one nagging question I had throughout was the complete absence of any talk of marriage/children/women in the workforce for a main character who starts the novel at the age of 25, which I would imagine is already past the marrying age in the 1930s.  Maybe it's implied that women moving to New York City were those looking for a different life than their peers?  Something to investigate further.

4 out of 5

World War Z by Max Brooks (#16, Fiction)

I have been hearing about this book for years now.  I've read my fair share of zombie and post-apocalypse novels, but this was a new twist on the genre.  I loved it for the first couple chapters, hated it and lost interest for the next 50 pages, and then finally settled in to liking it in the end.  Having each chapter be a different person talking about their experience with the Zombie War was extremely interesting at times and super annoying at times.  I think at the end they did use some of the same characters to come full circle, but honestly I didn't have the patience or memory to keep track of who was who.

3.5 out of 5.

The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood (#15, Fiction)

I love Margaret Atwood.  This is one of her first books and was published in the late 1960s during the second-wave feminist movement.  While I applaud the many symbolic topics the book tackles, it was pretty bizarre. 

After finishing The Edible Women I found a journal article about demystifying the female form in relation to this novel.  Thanks to the journal article I learned there were way more representations, dualisms, embodiments, theories, cultural experiences, concepts, analogies, disruptive narratives, significances, etc, etc, than I could possibly wrap my 11 years separated from college brain around. 

My explanation of the book would be "the protagonist was torn between traditional social norms of women and her own intellectual ideas, and began to be consumed by her acceptance of a traditional future."  Or I could leave you with this quote from the article in the Journal of International Women's Studies:

"In The Edible Woman, Atwood disassembles the patriarchal concept of femininity and offers a new account of the female body. By re-appropriating the body, Atwood is able to articulate women’s anxieties over her oppressive cultural experiences as well as confront that oppression." 

 

3 out of 5.