What I’ve Been Reading: January 2024

Hello!

I always like to have a reading goal for the year, and the past couple of years that goal has been to read 40 books. In 2022, I read 41 books, and last year I read 38. So, 40 books a year is a good average for me .

I’m off to a slow start in January, but I liked both the books I read this month.

This month I read:

{As always, book summaries are from Goodreads…}

The Last Love Note:

Summary:

Kate is a bit of a mess. Two years after losing her young husband Cameron, she’s grieving, solo parenting, working like mad at her university fundraising job, always dropping the ball—and yet clinging to her sense of humor.

Lurching from one comedic crisis to the next, she also navigates an overbearing mom and a Tinder-obsessed best friend who’s determined to matchmake Kate with her hot new neighbor.

When an in-flight problem leaves Kate and her boss, Hugh, stranded for a weekend on the east coast of Australia, she finally has a chance, away from her son, to really process her grief and see what’s right in front of her. Can she let go of the love of her life and risk her heart a second time?

When it becomes clear that Hugh is hiding a secret, Kate turns to the trail of scribbled notes she once used to hold her life together. The first note captured her heart. Will the last note set it free?

Quick Notes:

I’d never even heard of this book, but Shay mentioned her book club that she was starting, and this was the first book.

I really enjoyed it. It had a little bit of everything: sadness, hope, love, and happiness.

Rating:

All the Light We Cannot See:

Summary:

Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Quick Notes:

This book has been on my list for a while, and when I saw that the drama series was on Netflix, I bumped it to the top of my list. I didn’t want to watch the series before finishing the book.

I enjoy historical fiction books, and this one fits the bill. I loved reading about Marie-Laure and Werner’s lives and how the story goes back and forth between each one. This is definitely a long read, but it’s worth it. I can’t wait to watch the series now.

Rating:

I’m hoping to pick up my reading pace in February. Do you typically set a reading goal every year?