I'm going to read 40 books to celebrate being 40

It’s pretty simple. I struggled with turning 40 and wanted to find a way to make it more of a celebration and prove that I’m still awesome. I would venture to say that I read a total of 2 books last year? Both of those might have been last month. So…. 40 is going to be interesting to say the least. I normally stick to chic lit and easy reading. I’m going to stretch myself and try to read a bunch of different types of genres. And a lot of girly fluffy stuff too. I’m documenting them on our Instagram page in our stories, but here I thought I’d give you a very brief opinion on each book after I finish it. I am not a literary expert. Just my opinions. I’m thinking about starting a virtual book club too. No way could we do 40 books. But maybe one a month? I also have no clue how one would run a virtual book club, but I will figure that out later. If you need me, I will be reading! Oh and this is a constantly updated post. I will add books as I read them.

Sophie Kinsella is one of my favorite authors so this was an easy one to start with. I enjoy her non-Shopaholic books the most. Can You Keep a Secret is one of my favorites. I literally laughed out loud reading it. All of her books are usually a little quirky and involve a female main character who has no clue what is going on. I can relate.

This book took me a little bit to get into. In fact I think I checked it out from the library twice. Once I got a bit further into it, I got hooked. The setup was a bit slow and it was predictable but still lovable. Some of it was so out there it didn’t seem plausible . I’m also not sure why this girl is painting on the cover of the book, but oh well. If you need a good silly romance, this one is good.

This is the third Jasmine Guillory book I’ve read. I started with the 3rd in the series and didn’t realize it was a series. Oops. I would really suggest reading them in order. I’ve really enjoyed her books but be warned that the “love” scenes are a bit more X-rated than I am normally used to. I love that she writes about characters of all racial backgrounds and mixes the social implications into a relatively fluffy book. Out of the three I’ve read, this one was my least favorite. I just had a hard time getting sucked in like the others.

I’m really torn on this book. It was actually the 4th book I tried to read as my 3rd book. After reading two light books, I wanted to read something with more depth. I started with a financial book and that was depressing. Then I moved to a strong female writer focusing on how to accomplish goals. It didn’t feel right for right now. And then I tried Ronan Farrow’s book but I needed a break from the news cycle. I will get back to all of those but for now I can’t concentrate on reading unless it is completely mindless.

So I chose this one which seemed to be the kind of funny romance fiction I like. It was a super fun and easy read. I needed a day “off” from quarantine worrying and parked myself on the front porch for the day. I read the whole book front to back during the day. I enjoyed it. The two main characters had cute chemistry.

Here is where I had problems, though. The main female character suffers from infertility issues The whole book is focused around her dealing with and leading up to a hysterectomy. She wants to be a mom and is struggling with what that means for her future partner. I completely related to it and I found it refreshing to finally find a book that talked about some of the issues I’ve faced for so long. The problem is that the author had her miraculously get pregnant. It’s not that it isn’t possible, but it felt like the easy way out. So often in real life people would tell me, “You never know! I have a friend who got pregnant!”. There are a lot of us who will never get pregnant. No matter how much wishing or IVF we do. I would have liked to see that storyline. I fear this one continues the fairytale vision that infertility is something that can be overcome if you just hold out faith. My other problem was with the mother. She was a very one dimensional character. I wanted the author to dig deeper rather than just label her as a “bad mother”.

As soon as I finished, I found myself saying that this was set up perfectly for a sequel. Sure enough, that book gets released next week. Fun fact, the author wrote the sequel first and then wrote the prequel in order to set up the second book. I will be reading it.

This book took me a long time to read. It was kind of like reading TMZ through the eyes of an attorney. There were so many people, details and storylines that I had to read slower than normal in order to follow along.

This was one of the more depressing things I’ve ever read but it was like a car crash you can’t look away from. I remember the morning that Matt Lauer was fired from NBC and reading all the details behind the scenes that began the Me Too movement were hard to even fathom.

The stuff about the politicians shouldn’t have surprised me. I basically no longer trust anyone. However, it was a good read and important to make sure I’m not remaining ignorant.

After reading such a long and slow book, I thought reading one of my son’s books for 6th grade would be a welcome change. The joke was on me. Is this book intended for 11 year olds?

My soon to be 6th grader will be assigned a special book to read over the summer break. Then throughout the year, his class will do projects to go along with the book. Each year the school chooses a different book and this was the book from this past year. I thought reading along with why son could be a good activity for us.

Overall the story is compelling. There was. a lot of death and parts I’m waiting for him to ask me about. At one point the boy in the story has to kill his dog. It was disturbing and took me back to bad memories of Where the Red Fern Grows. The reason the book didn’t fly for me was because of how focused on science it was. The main character learned from borrowed science books and the author shared lots of details about energy production, circuits, magnets, etc. I had to think a lot as I read. It was an inspiring story and one my son is enjoying too. Definitely intense.

After finishing the previous book, I jumped in and read the book that my son would be reading as his actual 6th grade book. I loved this book and I read it in one day. It was also an intense book and talked about the realities of gangs in Central America and the journey so many people make to the United States to pursue a better life. It is very timely and important. There were some more topics that I’m sure I will have to be discussing with my son - prostitution, drugs, murder, etc. It’s going to be eye opening for him.

I heard that the author just published a sequel to this book focused on life for the two main characters once they are in the United States. We will definitely be adding that to our list.