January 3.0

Normal People by Sally Rooney
Admittedly, I did not pick this one up sooner because...A) I heard too much about it B) people seemed to love it or hate it and C) I'm an idiot. Because this little book was a five star read for me, hands down. Sally Rooney is a master of richly developing her characters through precise dialogue and small details. Marianne and Connell are the axis on which the story turns and I could not get enough of their lives, their choices (stupid and smart), their families, their past, and their fumbling-past-each-other relationship. At so many turns, I saw myself in my youth...the struggles to know how to fit in socially, the dependence on an unhealthy relationship to find value, the family dysfunction that warps us. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones
Have you read An American Marriage? Or how about Silver Sparrow? If not, I highly recommend Tayari Jones. She is one of my favorite voices in today's publishing world. Jones always forces me to put on a different pair of spectacles and look at life in America with new eyes. Leaving Atlanta is her first book - I do love to see how a favorite author first began and she does not disappoint. Told through the eyes of three children, we see Atlanta during the nightmare when black children were being murdered in the early 1980's. This book definitely kept my attention until the final page.

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff

An oral history of 9/11, narrated by 45 different people, this book is impossible to put down or stop listening to, as it is chilling, tragic, fascinating, and inspiring. For those of us who lived it, it will put you right back to that day but it will give you details you never knew. For those of you who were not born yet or were too young to remember it, this book will give you an incredible sense of what happened. The more and more I look back at history, read books on social justice and the movement to the right and populism across the world, the more I believe that 9/11 shaped the world in very profound ways. This is arguably the best audio book I have experienced.

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
While this is not my normal topic I would be pulled to, this book was on so many "Best of" lists for 2019 so I figured it was worth the look. The story follows two couples whose husbands both become ministers, and their lives from the 1960's onward as these two men share a church in New York City. I am still torn. On one hand, the writing is exceptional; Wall constructs these characters with great thought, empathy, and insight. I was compelled to continue reading, which is always a plus. However, the topic was just not my gig as it centers around people struggling with their faith, church life, their beliefs in a hand that directs our lives. These themes and topics are all beautifully and compassionately explored, but not the book for me. For those of you involved in a faith life or are searching, this could be the book for you.

The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenbert
The title had me at "murder" and "Appalachia;" unfortunately, it was a big letdown. Ostensibly, It is the story of three young women who hitchhiked cross country to attend the Rainbow festival in West Virginia. Two girls arrive and are murdered, while one girl bags out and heads home to Vermont. I am never really sure why the book is called the 'third rainbow girl' as she's hardly discussed. The murder investigations and trials are intriguing, but get stuck in the middle of the author's details of her messy life. This book felt like it couldn't make up its mind between true-life crime and memoir; it was a big miss for me.