Books Read in January

Here are the books that I read in January:

Fiction books written in the 19th century-

I started off reading two long Wilkie Collins books and honestly thought that they might be it reading wise for the month of January. Wilkie was a 19th century prolific author of 30 novels (all of his novels that I've read have been long- his ouvre is such an impressive feat!), 60 short stories, fourteen plays and 100 non-fiction pieces. All before he died (obviously!!) at age 65. Impressive!

I read two of his novels, Hide and Seek (published in 1854) and Heart and Science (published in 1883) in January. What a great month to read a couple of long British 19th novels :).

Both books have intricate plots that have no bearing whatsoever on modern times. Indeed, that makes sense since they were written so long ago. In one way, reading a long book with multiple story lines and an archaic plot reduces the relevancy of the book and/or at a minimum makes them seem less relevant in terms of the subject matters being obsolete. For instance, many of Collins' books, have, at their fulcrum, the subject of illegitimate births and the impact that an illegitimate child has on a family and its legacy. Today, very few people bat an eyelash at a birth outside of wedlock. So to read a book where members of a family take extraordinary steps (even murder!) to avoid detection of a child being born out of wedlock, seems so incredibly incongruent from today's social mores that the plot seems almost silly. 

In another way, though, reading books written long ago are super interesting if just from a sociological/historical perspective. Because Collins' books do reflect the social mores of the time in which they were written, it's fascinating to realize how, well, social mores have changed over the years.  Human nature, however, hasn't changed. And so, while plots have changed over the years as the subjects to which readers find interesting/relevant have changed,  human nature and the thoughts/actions based on that nature have not changed. That's one reason why I like reading books written long ago: you see how different things were and yet how similar motivation/desires of the heart/negative proclivities are between mankind in various epochs. The century matters not; people are fundamentally, at the core, the same whether living in 1854 or 2026. 

Another reason that I like reading Collins' book is simply that they are extraordinarily well written with beautiful prose and insight into the human nature is often done humorously and adeptly. 

In earlier January posts, I've written out some sentences from Wilkies' novels that stand out to me for their craftsmanship. I won't repeat them here for brevity's sake. 

Also, I'm not going to summarize the books. As I said, the plots are pretty archaic and I don't think that writing them out here would compel anyone to read the book based on the subject matters. Hopefully, I've  made a decent case for reading well written books from the 19th century, independent of the plot. And if I haven't made my case, my writing out the summary is not going to change anyone's mind. I am going to provide a link that lists summaries for all of Collins' books if there is interest in pursuing reading them. Check out this website  which gives brief summaries of all of Collins' work. 

So at one point, I thought those two books may be it for the month. But then the snow storm came, then we lost heat and I needed to stay at the house and then I traveled and had a decent bit of downtime during travel and when I was at my destination. So I actually got quite a bit more reading done during the month...

Fiction books written in the 21 century- 

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak- this book was both weird and good. It involves the supernatural which is normally a big ol' no for me. But this one was well written and though 100% unbelievable and odd, I liked it. A woman, a recovering addict, gets a dream job (for her, in her circumstances) as a nanny to a sweet boy. Nanny and suspense in books never work out really well, do they? Has there ever been a "good" nanny outcome besides Mary Poppins? And The Sound of Music but both MP and The Sound of Music were musicals not really classic suspense novels. 

A Killing on the Hill by Robert Dugoni- this was a really good book that takes place during the Great Depression in Seattle. A journalist receives a tip about covering the high profile murder of a former prizefighter by a mobster.  The journalist starts investigating and learns that nothing is as it seems. Some cops seem to be corrupt. Who is to be trusted and who isn't? I loved the historical (seemingly...) accurate portrayal of what life was like for many in the bleak time of the Depression. The writing was good and the plot kept me invested and guessing about what was going to happen next. The book was also really clean. It gets an A+ for its G rating :).

I decided to read another book by the same author since I liked A Killing on the Hill so much. The following one takes place in modern times (early 2000's) and while it was pretty good, the language and content were much worse than the first one I read of his.

Damage Control by Robert Dugoni- this was pretty good- a woman who's a lawyer finds out in one week that her twin brother has been killed, she has breast cancer, and her husband is cheating on her! Oh boy... when it rains it pours. She starts to investigate her brother's death which looked like a robbery gone bad but it turns out to be much more sinister. The plot was pretty good but I didn't like how bad the villains were in the book. That's not how real life operates. I'm undecided on whether or not I'll read more from this author.

The Cruise by Catherine Cooper- For the most part this was a really enjoyable read! It has two very contrasting story lines that slowly converge. One storyline is about a girl who was kidnapped by a man and raised as his daughter. The man loves his "daughter" and treats her well but keeps her completely shut off from the world so as to avoid detection. The other story line concerns workers on a luxury cruise ship that's sailing on the Caribbean. One worker, a troubled young lady, seemingly jumps overboard. In investigating her disappearance, secrets emerge about many of the workers on the ship. I loved learning about luxury cruising (I assume the information is based on true facts?). So many fascinating details from the luxury offerings to the way the workers live onboard. About 3/4's of the way through, the reader learns how the story lines converge but there is still a lot of mystery and intrigue. There was a decent bit of bad language and objectionable content which is too bad. I liked everything else about it. I won't read more by this author. 

The Locked Door by Freida McFadden- this was the first book that I read by this author. I can see why she's popular! This was a very quick, easy read. The main character is a woman who's a surgeon whose dad was a serial killer. People begin to die in a way similar that her dad's victims die and the woman is soon a suspect. A good whodunit and I didn't come close to figuring it out!!

Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham- this was a good book though it had a patina of sadness to it- the twists were amazing and the plot was riveting. The characters are all college age students and the main character is a young woman, Margot, who went through the motions of her first year of college due to her best from high school, whom she was going to room with, die the summer before the girls were to start college. At the end of her first year, she meets charismatic Lucy who reminds Margot of her deceased best friend. Lucy, Margot and two other girls become good friends. The story shifts to another timeline of the time leading up to Margot's friend's death. The past comes back to haunt Lucy and Margot and there are some good twists that were impossible to see coming. I thought it was well crafted and gave compelling accounts of the emotional impact of friendships shifting and relationships changing. 

Her First Mistake by Kendra Elliot- a woman survives an attack that led to her husband's murder thirteen years prior. Unable to recall the details due to a head injury, the woman moves away from the area and becomes a detective. The FBI decides to reinvestigate the crime that resulted in the husband's death. This book also had the unfortunate element of the "bad" characters in the book always being "bad" lending  much less credibility to anything like this remotely happening in real life since in real life, everyone's behavoir is nuanced and we all sometimes behave well and sometimes make poor choices. 

Non-fiction-

I actually didn't finish either non fiction book but I was thisclose on the first one. I read non-fiction books so much slower than fiction (for obvious reasons I think!) I'll write more about the books for my February review. I have so many thoughts and I want to get them right!

The first book is The Eclipse of God by Erwin W. Lutzer 

The second book is Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell. This book is long; I'm only about half way done. Sowell is such a good writer! 

Linking up with Joanne for Share Your Shelf