Month In Review

The start of a new year is always so much fun as a reader. It's the time when all the lists of "must-read" books are out and we get to make our lists of what to read, what to buy, and what to put on hold at the library.  That always inspires me to do a lot of reading and that definitely happened this month. Here is what I read in January with my GoodReads ratings:

Troublemaker - Leah Remini *****
Reasons to Stay Alive - Matt Haig ****
City of Thorns - Ben Rawlence ****
City of the Lost - Kelley Armstrong ****
Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist - Sunil Yapa ****
The Outside Circle - Patti Laboucane-Benson ****
Behind Closed Doors - B.A. Paris ****
The Crooked Heart of Mercy - Billie Livingston ****
Birdie - Tracey Lindberg ***
The Royal We - Heather Cocks ***

DNF
The Expatriates - Janice YK Lee

Thoughts

 Troublemaker was absolutely amazing! It is currently not for sale in Canada so I had a family member purchase it while in the US.  Leah Remini does not hold back!  Reasons to Stay Alive is a book I think everyone should read - people who struggle with depression/anxiety will find so much comfort in this book and those who do not struggle with it will gain a better understanding of what it is like.  If you're looking for a good mystery, I really recommend City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong.   And The Outside Circle and Birdie are two great reads about Aboriginal Canadians.  I did not finish The Expatriates, I got just over 100 pages in and found there wasn't much connecting me to the story and I didn't see the point in continuing.

What I'm Looking Forward to in February

 There are some great CanLit releases out this month. Yann Martel is back with The High Mountains of Portugal and Karen Hill's posthumous debut Café Babanussa is out along with Mona Awad's 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, Tricia Dower's Becoming Lin and Joy Fielding's She's Not There.

I have two more books to read from the Canada Reads 2016 contenders so I hope to read at least 1 of them if not both.

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2016 at 6:03 AM

    I'm so curious about Reasons To Stay Alive. Are you going to review it? I love Matt Haig on Twitter and over here in the UK he is quite the literary celeb, but reading anything about depression sometimes pushes me to the edge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ShanFebruary 2, 2016 at 2:00 PM

      I will review it soon. I liked it because I experienced depression and anxiety that didn't follow like the experience of other people and it's the first book I've read that I could say "that's what it was for me." I don't know how other people will experience the book but it felt like a casual conversation rather than a book.

      Delete
  2. As the Crowe Flies and ReadsFebruary 2, 2016 at 12:50 PM

    I really liked Sunil Yapa's book, too. I haven't picked up The Expatriates, but I felt that way about her first book. Reckon I'll skip that one entirely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ShanFebruary 2, 2016 at 2:01 PM

      By 100 pages of The Expatriates, I couldn't tell if the story was still being set up or if that was the story. It just didn't work me. I'm glad you also liked Sunil Yapa's book!

      Delete

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