books

What I’ve Read, Lately

Jess

I haven’t kept up with blogging, lately, but I have been reading, and it’s been a great month or two for books. Let me show you what I’ve been reading:

This turned from a suspense series into a horror series quickly, but I read them all within a few days, because I was half-scared to put my book down. I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for a mystery. The first book is more of a puzzle and after that it gets scarier.
It’s about a secret service agent who comes to in a small, picturesque town, with no identification, wallet, or money. He is investigating the disappearance of two agents, but he can’t find his way out of the town and no one will help him.
The premise of this book sounds silly, and I went into it with expectations fairly low, but I was pleasantly surprised. To protect her family and make them rich, Lass must travel with a polar bear to his castle to live, where she finds that he and the inhabitants are not as they seem. It is a sweet telling with lots of Norwegian folklore-esque bits that I enjoyed.

Since hearing that a Netflix series is being made of A Series of Unfortunate Events, I wanted to try the books. They are adorable books and I always liked their covers. I didn’t enjoy them as much as I wanted, and they were as described, some very unfortunate events. There weren’t enough redeeming parts for me. Maybe they would be better for children, although they are surprisingly violent and I imagine frightening.

Summary: I cried a lot, but it was worth it. This book breaks your heart and makes you want the evil, catty characters to get what they deserve at the same time. It gives you a view of how white middle-class women in Jackson, MS lived, as well as the maids who worked for them. I developed lots of love for some characters and despised lots of others.

This book is told from the perspective of a housemaid turned lady’s maid, alternating between current day to the early 1900’s. It was a slower pace in the beginning, but I was drawn in after a little bit. I enjoyed seeing how people of different social classes lived. There’s a little bit of a mystery that you are trying to figure out throughout the book, and while I wasn’t crazy about all of the characters, it was a good book.
This book is a fictionalized account of the life of the subject of one of Johannes Vermeer’s paintings. While it is fictionalized, I like the historical aspect and that parts of it were true, such as the fact that Vermeer had 10 children. I think it definitely gave life to the characters and I like reading what goes on inside people’s houses.

Linking up with Steph & Jana for Show Us Your Books.

My favorites out of my recent pile were Wayward Pines and The Help.

Have you read any of these? I am on the lookout now for books to add to my TBR pile. Time to go book stalking.

Published by Jess

9 thoughts on “What I’ve Read, Lately”

  2. My parents bought me the whole Unfortunate Events series just because they knew I loved the look of the books – they look so pretty on a shelf all by themselves

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  4. Wayward Pines sounds like a really interesting read, and I'm always open to a good thriller! I actually just finished reading a book called Dollbaby, that's kind of similar to The Help (it's set in the South during the civil rights time period and it's about the relationships between black maids and their white employers), so I think that you should give that one a try if you loved The Help. I really loved it! I totally agree with you about The House At Riverton! It took me a while to get into it, but once I did I really liked the story a lot!

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  6. I read A Series of Unfortunate Evens back in middle school and I really liked them. I've thought about rereading them again but I'm afraid I won't like them as much as it will be a disappointment.

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