Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

 Book 37 of my 2024 Reading Challenge

read from April 21 - 28

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

by Benjamin Stevenson

My Opinion

5 stars

The 5 stars surprised me.  I knew I was enjoying it but after finishing and reflecting, it was a well-crafted, incredibly unique book and I immediately thought of someone else I could recommend it to.  

I worried it would be too clever for its own good but everything stayed on an unpredictable but reasonable path.  The distractions worked so even though the author was telling the reader everything they needed to know, there were still surprises.

I want to read his next book, Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect, but I'm also not sure it will hold up as well because part of the appeal of this was its inventiveness.

Killers of the Flower Moon

 Book 36 of my 2024 Reading Challenge

read from March 30 - April 28

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

by David Grann

My Opinion

3 stars

This took awhile for me to read because it was my "read in public" book (a book that won't draw many questions and can be read with interruptions) but I didn't have an interest in continuing at home.  I only read it at appointments, events, etc.

I'm rating it in the middle because I have conflicting feelings.  On one hand, knowing who it was and how it would end made the journey to get there kind of boring.  On the other hand, if I hadn't known the resolution I would've been very frustrated at them seemingly getting away with it and it would've made the read tougher.

The cases themselves are maddening, both in how many were able to happen and also that they've been forgotten.

We Are Lost and Found

 Book 35 of my 2024 Reading Challenge

read from April 15 - 20

We Are Lost and Found

by Helene Dunbar

My Opinion

2 stars

This book tackled a scary and uncertain time - being gay (in New York) at the very beginning of the AIDS crisis.  Although the seeds were there, I kept waiting for more depth that did not come.  I was primed to be emotionally pulled but just felt detached. 

I would read this author again though.

Tough Titties

 Book 34 of my 2024 Reading Challenge

read from April 13 - 14

Tough Tittles: On Living Your Best Life When 

You're the F-ing Worst

by Laura Belgray

My Opinion

4 stars

I picked this book up on a whim at the library and read it in a day.  Normally I switch between books throughout the day but I kept picking this one up again because it was a quick, easy read.  I'm not enthralled enough to search out further work or sign up for her newsletters but spending the day in her life was a good way to pass the time.

I'm not familiar with the author at all but she started off with a frame of reference and even though the book travels through time, she writes with a very clear voice of who she is so I didn't have any trouble staying on board.

If the book looks interesting, read a few pages.  If you're enjoying it, that will continue but if you're not, put the book away because she shows the reader from the very beginning what the tone will be.

The Glass Ocean

 Book 33 of my 2024 Reading Challenge

read from March 30 - April 13

The Glass Ocean

by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

My Opinion

2 stars

I'm conflicted.  The book was incredibly readable and I was sucked into the relationships of the characters while I was reading it.  But as soon as I would set the book down it would be difficult to pick it up again because I wasn't really enjoying it.

The characters were good and the use of different authors made three very distinct voices as the chapters alternated.  But it was too much - too many double crossers, things that could've been resolved super quickly taking too long (a misunderstanding taking 2 years to talk through, the reader being kept in the dark about the grandmother by refusing to say her name at natural opportunities, the super late reveal of both the traitor on the ship and the maid's identity even though both were clear, etc.), and not enough wrap-up on Patrick which was the character that started the whole thing.

So I'm conflicted.  This particular book didn't work for me because of too many plots but I also can't pinpoint what I would've removed because I liked them all separately.