To all the curious souls who want to know what I have been reading, if I have been reading at all. I hope you enjoy this little post.
How to Write a Sentence, by Stanley Fish.
Yes, I totally read this because I am a writer and I want to write better. Surprisingly, it was less a textbook and more of a celebration of just how cool sentences are. The author truly delights in sentences and how they are structured. He turns them inside out and upside down to see how they work, and then just sits there in awe of how awesome they are. I am not sure if the book actually made me a better writer, but I do have more of an appreciation of good sentences. They aren’t as easy as I first thought…
Return of the Thief, by Meghan Whalen Turner.
Three cheers for Eugenides! One of my absolute favorite beings in all of fiction. This book is the end of the entire series (distant sobbing), and the conclusion of the plot threads that have started since the first page of the first book. It was a very, very satisfying ending to the saga (I may have teared up a little). I loved the narrator of this book, he was very different from the the other narrators because he wasn’t very sarcastic. There was no wit or snarkiness that defines the other characters. Instead of that, he saw the world with a completely unique set of eyes. Understanding, yet still innocent. Fearful, yet fiercely loyal. I think he ranks as one of my favorite narrators (it also helps that he loves Gen, which made me like this little guy immediately). Something I absolutely love and appreciate about these books is that not all the relationships are romantic ones. There are best friends, cousins, love between mentor and mentee, father and son relationships, and even the love a soldier gives to his king. All kinds of relationships are explored in these books, and I loved that. More books need platonic relationships! Anyway, go read the series, you won’t be disappointed.
Just Haven’t Met You Yet, by Sophie Cousens.
This was a cute, fluffy read that I needed after reading an intense book. Balance people, it keeps me sane. The main character is pretty funny, and the plot is kind of eye roll worthy, but funny enough to keep me reading. She gets into lots of shenanigans that would have been avoided if she had been thinking instead of reacting. But hey, what’s a romcom without someone making bad choices? I liked how the main character learned about herself and her past. She realized that she did have unrealistic expectations, and that her parents were not as perfect as she would have liked to believe. That part was a soft, humorous look at what it is to grow up and realize that the world does not all have happy ever afters and perfect parents. But it does have love, good parents, and good friends. I thought the book did a good job revealing that balance that everyone has to make.
.
What have you all been reading? Anything interesting?
Shaina Merrick
The Beauty of a Story 