This month I’m going to list the books in reverse order, from least to most favorite.

5. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

“WHAT?” you’re thinking. “But Leanne, you LOVE Liane Moriarty! Didn’t you adore The Husband’s Secret? And just last month, you gave The Last Anniversary a rave review.” Well, this book was the exception. Like most of Moriarty’s books, Big Little Lies is written very tongue-in-cheek: a caricature of a slice-of-life. Unfortunately, in this book, Moriarty attempted to balance the lightness and humor with a much-too-dark subject: domestic violence and sexual abuse. In my opinion, the balance did not succeed. I also disliked her technique of using “interview” quotes interspersed between chapters, generally from people who weren’t part of the main story. I found it confusing and it took me out of the narrative. I did read all the way to the end, but it left a bad taste.

4. All The Summer Girls by Meg Donohue

I’d never read anything by Donohue before, and I did like her writing style. Her descriptions were beautiful, her analogies enviable. But the story had weak premise: three former best friends keeping secrets about the night of a brother’s death years before. All blamed themselves, yet none of them discussed it in the intervening years. The idea seemed to be that the unburdening of the secrets would solve their personal problems, but I didn’t see any true catharsis for any of the girls. Some of it was outright unrealistic: for example, Dani, the drug addict, actually quit cold turkey in the middle of the book. Only one of the girls, Vanessa, had a storyline that showed true self-discovery. And Kate, the sister of the dead boy, rekindled a romance with her former fiancé at the end of the book. I found that particularly awkward, as the only scene between the two was at the beginning of the book when he dumped her. How was the reader supposed to be invested in the relationship?

3. Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian

One of my favorite things about Chris Bohjalian is that his books have no formula; his ideas are always original. In this book, he delved into a semi-post-apocolyptic world. The narrator is Emily, a teenaged Emily Dickinson fan, who lost both of her parents during a nuclear meltdown in northern Vermont. In fact, there is some debate as to whether her parents- who worked at the reactor site- actually caused the meltdown. Emily, fearing blame for the devastation, flees to Burlington and makes her way from teen shelter, to drug addict’s apartment, to homeless village, where she takes care of a younger boy. It’s only when she tries to go back home, to a radioactive wasteland, that she is able to find any sort of peace. I enjoyed the close first-person narration, and the way Emily skipped around within the story- it kept it much more fresh than a linear model would have.

The title is taken from a quote said to have been spoken by teachers after the Newtown, CT elementary school shooting. They told the kids to close their eyes when passing through the halls, so they wouldn’t see the dead bodies of other teachers and friends.

2. Longbourn by Jo Baker 

I almost, ALMOST put this book in the top spot. A book that combined British historical fiction with a strong reference to classic literature would already be a winner. If that piece of classic literature is Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? I’m sold. Baker told the underside of P&P by showing Longbourn through the eyes of the servants. A love story rivaling Lizzie and Darcy’s, and a shocking mid-novel twist revealing the true origins of one of the characters, kept tension strong. My only complaint was that it seemed to end too abruptly: while the actions of the main characters were clear, their feelings about what had transpired were not.

I hear this book is going to be a movie, and I’m already trying to figure out who is going to the theater with me.

1. This Is The Story of A Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

I’ve already confessed my love for Ann Patchett. I settled for this collection of essays when none of her novels were available to borrow from the e-library. I’m so glad I gave it a chance. Every one of these personal stories is a gem, from the whimsical trip in an RV with her ex, to her emotional tribute to her dead best friend. And even though the essays are ostensibly unrelated, each one “hooks” the reader so quickly that it’s a total page-turner. Highly recommended, especially for writers.

 

Well, I guess that’s it for summer reads this year. What book most stood out for you this summer?