Monthly Book Club - February

"She read's books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live" - Annie Dillard

Well the month of February is officially over so its time for us to review our February books. The book's this month where Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty and Wild by Cheryl Strayed.

*Spoiler Alert, I tried not to reveal anything that will spoil the book but just in case only read on after you have finished you wont want to ruin the surprise*
I read this book in under a weekend, I couldn't put it down. I loved that way that it was written in different characters perspectives and leading up to the murder leaving breadcrumb clues as it went onward. I love reading books that aren't just a straightforward narrative as I find it far more exciting jumping back and forward.
SUMMARY: Big Little Lies is the story of 3 women Madeline, Celeste and Jane each with very different backgrounds and social standings thrust together as friends when their children begin kindergarten together at Pirawee Public School in a fictional Australia beach side area. The opening sets the scene of the morning after a murder at the public schools trivia night, it then jumps back 6 months prior and slowly tell's the story of the 3 women, the lies that they live and leaves you guessing who died and who was the murderer throughout the book.

THE CHARACTERS: Madeline is funny, smart, sophisticated and stylish so I felt I related well with her. She has 3 children, a boy and 2 girls, 1 of the girls Abigail is 14 years old and from her first marriage to ex Nathan. We don't hear too much about her son but her youngest daughter is starting kindergarten. Madeline and her current husband Ed have been through the whole kindergarten thing before so are a fixture in the school community and are already good friends with Celeste and her husband.

Celeste is a naturally beautiful woman who married Perry, he is handsome and a very successful businessman which provides a lavish life for them and means that Celeste could quit her job and become a stay at home mother to her twin boys that are also starting kindergarten. Celeste and Perry have the perfect life on the outside however this is all a lie as Perry is abusive.

Jane is the youngest of the 3 women at only 23 years old. She is a single mother to 4 year old Ziggy and has recently moved to the beach side area to give Ziggy a new start at a new home and kindergarten. At first Jane seems to be quite mysterious and the other kindergarten parents think she is promiscuous as they find out Ziggy was a one night stand and doesn't know his father. Much of the commotion that leads to the murder starts on the orientation day when it is believed that Ziggy physically bullied one of the other little girls.

There are multiple sub characters including Madeline's ex husband Nathan who moves back to the area with his new much younger wife Bonnie a yoga loving hippy and their beautiful blonde little girl who is set to start kindergarten with Madeline's youngest. Tom the young, handsome and possibly gay barista that owns the coffee shop down near the beach that all the mothers frequent. Renata the uppity business woman and the mother of the little girl that is believed to have been bullied by Ziggy. Saxon Banks the man that Jane believes to have fathered Ziggy. 

NARRATIVE:
As I said above the book starts at the day after the murder when the parents are being interviewed by the police and then jumps back to 6 months prior so you actually have no idea who was murdered that night or who was the murderer. Each of the 3 woman that the story follows not only delve deeply into what lead them to be at the scene of the murder but also tell a beautiful tale of lies, deceit, living life as a single mother versus staying in a perfect yet tortuous relationship because its better than nothing mentality.

THEMES:
This book certainly has a mixed range of themes that I think really I could really relate with on a personal level which made me feel personally invested in the characters stories.

Family - The book lists several different family structures from a happy blended family trying to map out the arrangement of joint custody to the shame and struggle of a abusive relationship and the toll it takes on the children to finally living as a single parent and struggling with not being able to provide what is considered normal family traditions.

Abuse - Clearly one of the big ticket topics in this book is the emotional toll domestic violence takes in a family and the associated feelings of guilty, failure and anguish that comes with it. It also outlines the struggle it takes to break away from abuse and fear of the future.

Bullying - The book discusses bullying in a way that makes you think, if one parent is inherently evil does that mean the child will be a bully by nature, do children become bullies when the see their parents domestic violence or can a child just be a bully. What is the nature of a bully, are the always rude or can a quiet, shy and kind child be the one harassing all the children.

Strength of Character - The 3 women that the book centralized around are 3 extremely different personalities which mean they have verifying strengths of character yet at the same time all seem to certain characteristics, does this mean that no matter how different we are as women, we are at the same time similar purely because the fact that we are women. There are several moments in the book where each woman needs to stand up and take charge of the situation at hand which is enjoyable and empowering to read.

THE MURDER:
As the book leads up to the murder the settings change and you learn new secrets and lies about the characters which changes the views on who the murder and the victim are. The book has been written so carefully that there really is now way for you to truly understand who is murdered, who was the murderer and why was the reasoning behind it until you are reading that section. I felt like the last few days leading up to the murder I had worked out who it would be but I certainly didn't guess anywhere close to who killed them and the reasoning behind it. It really was a mystery and that was why I chewed through this book, I couldn't put it down because every time I was about too a new secret or lie was revealed and I had to keep reading.

THE QUESTIONS:
Who did you suspect was the murder victim? 
Did it change throughout the book? 
How did you feel when you found out who it was?
Were you surprised when the culprit was revealed? Did he/she get a fair sentence, in your opinion?
What do you think about Nathan moving into Madeleine’s community, particularly since they have children the same age and in the same school? 
Abigail becomes passionate about doing her part to end child marriage, do you think she would have gone through with her “special project?” 
Did you ever suspect Saxon Banks was Perry? When did you begin to suspect?
Do you think Perry was indeed genuinely sorry for his abuse of Celeste after the fact? Did he truly believe he’d never do it again? 
Would you see the signs of a friends abuse? If not, would you be upset with yourself for not noticing, as Madeleine was?
Did you think Ziggy was the bully? Did you think he was being bullied? Did you suspect it was really Max?
Did you suspect Tom was not, in fact, gay? Were you glad for Jane?
Was it fair of Madeleine to ask Ed to lie about what he saw (or didn’t see) that night on the balcony? What would you have done in his position? 

I apologize for waffling on with this book review but I really did love the book!

Onto book number 2 for February, I knew that Wild was coming out in the cinema's soon and I really wanted to see the movie but I am an avid read the book first kind of girl so I selected it for February's second book. I am also turning 26 in March and love empowering books so thought that this would be a perfect read for me.

SUMMARY: Wild by Cheryl Strayed a memoir of herself, a women that at 26 years old recently divorced from her husband, struggling to over come her mothers sudden death to cancer 4 years earlier and dabbling with a heroin addiction. After a chance encounter with a hiking book Cheryl sets her sights on traversing the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) with out any form of training and alone in hopes of emerging the other side of the trail a new woman, the woman her mother knew she could be.

THE CHARACTERS: The book is told in Cheryl's point of view, she is a strong willed yet broken woman who has decided the best course of action to get her life back on track is to hike a trail she barely knows by pushing herself to both physical and mental limits. I feel like Cheryl aptly describes what it's like to be a self loathing woman and it sadly was easy for me to relate to her in certain situations which surprised me.

Cheryl's pack Monster whilst not an actual character in the book is described in great detail and discussed throughout the book. Cheryl over packs her backpack making it large, heavy and hard to maneuver by herself and aptly names it monster, throughout the book as Cheryl struggles with the trail and her own emotions her attitude to monster changes, from something that is holding her back and causing her to struggle to then a empowering statement that she is stronger than she believes both physically and mentally.

There are smaller sub characters that Cheryl meets on the trail and whom help her to lighten her pack, motivate her to keep going and advise her own tracking through the snow however we don't actually find out too much about these trekkers as their stories do not have any real impact on Cheryl's journey.

THEMES:
I feel that the underlying theme of this book is that you are only as great as you believe you are, we are all limited by limitations and labels we put on ourselves.

Self Worth - Cheryl spends most of the book struggling with self worth and her thoughts on her own future. As she sets out on the trail she is struggling with minimal self worth and using this tough journey to help build her self worth back up. Cheryl has such awful self worth that when she changes her name after her divorce she aptly chooses the last name Strayed as she doesn't believe there are any other names worth for her. Towards the end of the trek she has managed to shift how she see's herself and leaves a resounding idea that if you put your mind to something and believe in yourself you can do anything.

Death - Death is a pretty strong theme in this book and really the driving factor that sets Cheryl off on a journey of self loathing, fear, adultery, drug use and eventually walking the PCT. Cancer is a shocking illness and a horrible way to die, the way that Cheryl describes the death of her mother is terrifying and real. I know that I called my mother and spoke to her after reading the part where her mother died, she describes it in a very real and understandable way.

Family - Cheryl's idea of family seems to be slightly skewed caused by growing up with a abusive father, leaving with her mother, brother and sister then living with a single parent until her mother remarried and her own self worth that caused her to run off and yet married young. I believe that death of her mother and the implode of her family was so troubling because she had such a fairy tale idea of what her family should entail, thus driving her to cheat on her husband and the implode of her own marriage.

Adultery & Drug Use - Adultery and drug use tied together and are a smaller theme throughout the book but it is caused mostly by Cheryl's self loathing and she uses sex and heroin to help numb the pain she feels from the death of her mother. This raises the question can you be forgiven for seeking out sex and or drugs to numb the pain of a tragedy, are you really at fault or would she have sought out adultery and drug use even if her mother didn't die.

THE PCT:The PCT is described in beautiful detail through out the book, Cheryl has a way with words that makes you feel empowered and really describes the physical and mental aspects of hiking. I had never heard of the PCT before I read this book nor had I ever thought of spending my time trekking through the wilderness. After reading this book I was hooked, I am so interested by the thought of packing your whole life up into a backpack and walking around for 3 months that I would like to one day look at following a similar plan.

THE QUESTIONS:
What did you think of Cheryl's reaction to her mothers death?Do you think that you would be as effected as she was?Do you think that her families imposion was to blame for her drug use and adultery?Did you relate to any of Cheryl's self loathing issues?Where you worried about Cheryl heading off by herself?What where your thoughts on Cheryl's one night stand? Should she have gone off with this unknown man in the middle of the night?If you had lost your boot in the middle of the hike what would you do?What was your favourite moment on her hike?Have you ever taken time away to help heal yourself?Would you ever pack up and go on a trek?Has this book inspired you to do something new? 

Well that is enough from this book review.
Did you read these books? Did you feel motivated by them? Do you have any book suggestions?

2015 Monthly Book Club

"A man only learns in two ways, one by reading and the other by association with smart people".  - Will Rodgers

Reading is something I like to do every night before bed, its a time that I can slip into a different world with out leaving my comfy bed and my snuggling cat. I love the idea of setting reading challenges, I am the type of person that will have eight different books on the go at the same time and often only end up finish half the books. This year is the year of reading, I have decided to start a book club to keep me motivated to finish and review books rather than not finishing something. Wanting to join the book club? Here are the links to the past months book reviews: January February March April May  June July August It's easy, below I have created a list of books that will be read through out each month, I have included 2 books a month but it is completely up to you whether you read both books or just choose one. The Last Tuesday of each month I will create a post with a few questions about both books and my reviews with a link up at the bottom of the post so that you can link up your review post and answers. Through out the month if you have any questions or wish to discuss the book further with me than feel free to email me. Let's get reading shall we!!
//JANUARY READING LIST//

Not that kind of Girl by Lena Dunham.

3.48 Stars on Good Reads 265 Pages

From the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBO's Girls comes a hilarious, wise, and fiercely candid collection of personal essays that establishes Lena Dunham as one of the most original young talents writing today.In Not that Kind of Girl, Dunham illuminates the experiences that are part of making one's way in the world: falling in love, feeling alone, being ten pounds overweight despite eating only health food, having to prove yourself in a room full of men twice your age, finding true love, and, most of all, having the guts to believe that your story is one that deserves to be told.Exuberant, moving, and keenly observed, Not that Kind of Girl is a series of dispatches from the front lines of the struggle that is growing up. "I'm already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you," Dunham writes. "But if I can take what I've learned and make one menial job easier for you, or prevent you from having the kind of sex where you feel you must keep your sneakers on in case you want to run away during the act, then every misstep of mine will have been worthwhile."

The Goldfinch by Donna Tart 3.88 Stars on Good Reads 771 Pages

It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch is a novel of shocking narrative energy and power. It combines unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and breathtaking suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher's calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is a beautiful, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.

//FEBRUARY READING LIST//

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

4.17 Stars on Good Reads 460 Pages

What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.   But who did what?Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:   Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?). 

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.   New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

3.92 Stars on Good Reads

315 Pages

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State — and she would do it alone.

Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wildpowerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

//MARCH READING LIST//

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

3.84 Stars on Good Reads 329 Pages

Do you want to get to know the woman we first came to love on Comedy Central's Upright Citizens Brigade? Do you want to spend some time with the lady who made you howl with laughter on Saturday Night Live, and in movies like Baby Mama, Blades of Glory, and They Came Together? Do you find yourself daydreaming about hanging out with the actor behind the brilliant Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation? Did you wish you were in the audience at the last two Golden Globes ceremonies, so you could bask in the hilarity of Amy's one-liners?If your answer to these questions is "Yes Please!" then you are in luck. In her first book, one of our most beloved funny folk delivers a smart, pointed, and ultimately inspirational read. Full of the comedic skill that makes us all love Amy, Yes Please is a rich and varied collection of stories, lists, poetry (Plastic Surgery Haiku, to be specific), photographs, mantras and advice. With chapters like "Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend," "Plain Girl Versus the Demon" and "The Robots Will Kill Us All" Yes Please will make you think as much as it will make you laugh. Honest, personal, real, and righteous,Yes Please is full of words to live by.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

3.90 Stars on Good Reads

349 Pages

Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars.

Since then, she has been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realize that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.

Who did massacre the Day family?

//APRIL READING LIST//
The Longest Date: Life as a Wife by Cindy Chupack 3.43 stars on Good Reads 244 Pages

Cindy Chupack has spent much of her adult life writing about dating and relationships for several hit TV series and as a sex columnist for O, The Oprah Magazine. At the age of thirty-nine, she finally found The One—and a wealth of new material.

Marriage, Cindy discovered, was more of an adventure than she ever imagined, and in this collection of essays she deftly examines the comedy and cringe-worthy aspects of matrimony. Soulful yet self-deprecating, The Longest Date recounts her first marriage (he was gay) and the meeting of Husband No. 2, Ian.

After the courtship and ceremony, both Cindy and Ian realized that happily ever after takes some practice, and near constant negotiation over everyday matters like cooking, sex, holidays, monogamy, and houseguests.The Longest Date takes a serious turn when it comes to infertility.

The Longest Date is the perfect companion for anyone navigating a serious relationship, be it newlyweds or couples moving in that direction.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 3.79 Stars on Good Reads 288 Pages

As a child, Kathy – now thirty-one years old – lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. Kathy had long ago put this idyllic past behind her, but when two of her Hailsham friends come back into her life, she stops resisting the pull of memory.

And so, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, and as the feelings that long ago fueled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to deepen into love, Kathy recalls their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unperturbed – even comforted – by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham’s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood–and about their lives now.

A tale of deceptive simplicity, Never Let Me Go slowly reveals an extraordinary emotional depth and resonance – and takes its place among Kazuo Ishiguro’s finest work.

//MAY READING LIST//

Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami 4.16 Stars on Good Reads 400 Pages A narrative particle accelerator that zooms between Wild Turkey Whiskey and Bob Dylan, unicorn skulls and voracious librarians, John Coltrane andLord Jim. Science fiction, detective story and post-modern manifesto all rolled into one rip-roaring novel, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is the tour de force that expanded Haruki Murakami's international following. Tracking one man's descent into the Kafkaesque underworld of contemporary Tokyo, Murakami unites East and West, tragedy and farce, compassion and detachment, slang and philosophy.





Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes 3.65 Stars on Good Reads 336 Pages Outside, Anika Dragomir is all lip gloss and blond hair—the third most popular girl in school. Inside, she’s a freak: a mix of dark thoughts, diabolical plots, and, if local chatter is to be believed, vampire DNA (after all, her father is Romanian). But she keeps it under wraps to maintain her social position. One step out of line and Becky Vilhauer, first most popular girl in school, will make her life hell. So when former loner Logan McDonough shows up one September hotter, smarter, and more mysterious than ever, Anika knows she can’t get involved. It would be insane to throw away her social safety for a nerd. So what if that nerd is now a black-leather-jacket-wearing dreamboat, and his loner status is clearly the result of his troubled home life? Who cares if the right girl could help him with all that, maybe even save him from it? Who needs him when Jared Kline, the bad boy every girl dreams of, is asking her on dates? Who?
Anatomy of a Misfit is Mean Girls meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Anika’s hilariously deadpan delivery will appeal to readers for its honesty and depth. The so-sad-it’s-funny high school setting will pull readers in, but when the story’s dark foreboding gradually takes over, the devastating penultimate tragedy hits like a punch to the gut. Readers will ride the highs and lows alongside funny, flawed Anika — from laughter to tears, and everything in between.
//JUNE READING LIST//
The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman 3.96 Stars on Good Reads 346 Pages After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.
Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.
M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss.
The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel. 
Room by Emma Donoghue 3.96 Stars on Good Reads 321 Pages To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.
Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.
Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.
//JULY READING LIST//
Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis by Alexis Coe 3.49 Stars on Good Reads 223 Pages In 1892, America was obsessed with a teenage murderess, but it wasn't her crime that shocked the nation—it was her motivation. Nineteen-year-old Alice Mitchell had planned to pass as a man in order to marry her seventeen-year-old fiancée Freda Ward, but when their love letters were discovered, they were forbidden from ever speaking again.
Freda adjusted to this fate with an ease that stunned a heartbroken Alice. Her desperation grew with each unanswered letter—and her father’s razor soon went missing. On January 25, Alice publicly slashed her ex-fiancée’s throat. Her same-sex love was deemed insane by her father that very night, and medical experts agreed: This was a dangerous and incurable perversion. As the courtroom was expanded to accommodate national interest, Alice spent months in jail—including the night that three of her fellow prisoners were lynched (an event which captured the attention of journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells). After a jury of "the finest men in Memphis" declared Alice insane, she was remanded to an asylum, where she died under mysterious circumstances just a few years later.
Alice + Freda Forever recounts this tragic, real-life love story with over 100 illustrated love letters, maps, artifacts, historical documents, newspaper articles, courtroom proceedings, and intimate, domestic scenes—painting a vivid picture of a sadly familiar world.
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson 4.04 Stars on Good Reads 443 Pages Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother—a singer “stolen” to Pyongyang—and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labor. Recognized for his loyalty and keen instincts, Jun Do comes to the attention of superiors in the state, rises in the ranks, and starts on a road from which there will be no return.
Considering himself “a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world,” Jun Do becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence, and baffling demands of his Korean overlords in order to stay alive. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress “so pure, she didn’t know what starving people looked like.”
Part breathless thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love, The Orphan Master’s Son is also a riveting portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also camaraderie, stolen moments of beauty, and love. A towering literary achievement, The Orphan Master’s Son ushers Adam Johnson into the small group of today’s greatest writers.
//AUGUST READING LIST//
Troika by Adam Pelzman 3.86 Stars on Good Reads 288 Pages A young Cuban woman passes her nights dancing in a seedy Florida strip club; a Russian orphan loses everything, then builds a new and prosperous life for himself in New York; a woman struggles to maintain her dignity and hope after a life-changing accident—these are the three members of the troika whose story is told in this dazzling literary debut.
Their lives unexpectedly intertwined, Perla, Julian and Sophie discover a world—a way of life—that forces them to challenge their definitions of commitment, love and trust, a world that heals old wounds and inspires them to transform tragedy into beauty.
“What a great gallop through the landscape of the human heart, what a brilliant, astonishing modern love story, what a beautiful pair of heroines, what an amazing journey from the plantains of Little Havana and a Fort Lauderdale strip club to Fifth Avenue and East Hampton, what a ride to a complex and satisfying redemption, what a glorious testimony to the way damage can become a lovely destiny, what a book!”


Landline by Rainbow Rowell 3.62 Stars on Good Reads 320 Pages Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble;it has been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.
Maybe that was always beside the point.
Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn't expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.
When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.
That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .
Is that what she’s supposed to do?
Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?
//SEPTEMBER READING LIST//

It's Not Me It's You by Mhairi McFarlane 4.16 Stars on Good Reads 544 Pages Delia Moss isn’t quite sure where she went wrong.
When she proposed and discovered her boyfriend was sleeping with someone else – she thought it was her fault.
When she realized life would never be the same again – she thought it was her fault.
And when he wanted her back life nothing had changed – Delia started to wonder if perhaps she was not to blame…
From Newcastle to London and back again, with dodgy jobs, eccentric bosses and annoyingly handsome journalists thrown in, Delia must find out where her old self went – and if she can ever get her back.


The Light and the Dark by Mikhail Shishkin 3.64 Stars on Good Reads 368 Pages The only author to win all three major Russian literary prizes (including the Russian Booker Prize), Mikhail Shishkin is one of the most acclaimed contemporary Russian literary figures. The Guardian said of Shishkin's writing: "richly textured and innovative. . . arguably Russia's greatest living novelist." 
The Wall Street Journal raved that "Shishkin has created a bewitching potion of reality and fantasy, of history and fable, and of lonely need and joyful consolation. An exquisite novel... His sovereignty is over the invisible and the timeless. Mr. Shishkin traces this sad story with great beauty and finesse."
In The Light and the Dark Shishkin has created an evocative love story of two young lovers, Vladimir, a solider flighting the Boxer Rebellion, and Alexandra. Known fondly to each other as Vovka and Sashka, the two young lovers sustain their love by writing passionate letters to each other.
But as their correspondence continues, it becomes clear that the couple's separation is chronological as well as geographical--that their extraordinary romance is actually created out of, as well as kept alive by, their yearning epistolary exchange, which defies not only space but time. With this contrapuntal literary testament to the delirious, transcendent power of love, Mikhail Shishkin--the most celebrated Russian author of his generation--has created a masterpiece of modern fiction.
//OCTOBER READING LIST//
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion 4.01 Stars on Good Reads 295 Pages An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.
Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.
Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes 3.94 Stars on Good Reads 365 Pages Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages . . . maybe ever.






//NOVEMBER READING LIST//
Gemini by Carol Cassella 3.67 Stars on Good Reads 352 Pages Dr. Charlotte Reese works in the intensive care unit of Seattle's Beacon Hospital, tending to patients with the most life-threatening illnesses and injuries. Her job is to battle death -- to monitor erratic heartbeats, worry over low oxygen levels, defend against infection and demise. 
One night a Jane Doe is transferred to her care from a rural hospital on the Olympic Peninsula. This unidentified patient remains unconscious, the victim of a hit and run. As Charlotte and her team struggle to stabilize her, the police search for the driver who fled the scene.  Days pass, Jane's condition worsens, and her identity remains a mystery. As Charlotte finds herself making increasingly complicated medical decisions that will tie her forever to Jane's fate, her usual professional distance evaporates. She's plagued by questions: Who is Jane Doe? Why will no one claim her? Who should decide her fate if she doesn't regain consciousness -- and when?  Perhaps most troubling, Charlotte wonders if a life locked in a coma is a life worth living.  Enlisting the help of her boyfriend, Eric, a science journalist, Charlotte impulsively sets out to uncover Jane Doe's past. But the closer they get to the truth, the more their relationship is put to the test. It is only when they open their hearts to their own feelings toward each other -- and toward life itself -- that Charlotte and Eric will unlock Jane Doe's shocking secret, and prepare themselves for a miracle.  
Friendship by Emily Gould 3.16 Stars on Good Reads 258 Pages Bev Tunney and Amy Schein have been best friends for years; now, at thirty, they’re at a crossroads. Bev is a Midwestern striver still mourning a years-old romantic catastrophe. Amy is an East Coast princess whose luck and charm have too long allowed her to cruise through life. Bev is stuck in circumstances that would have barely passed for bohemian in her mid-twenties: temping, living with roommates, drowning in student-loan debt. Amy is still riding the tailwinds of her early success, but her habit of burning bridges is finally catching up to her. And now Bev is pregnant. As Bev and Amy are dragged, kicking and screaming, into real adulthood, they have to face the possibility that growing up might mean growing apart. Friendship, Emily Gould’s debut novel, traces the evolution of a friendship with humor and wry sympathy. Gould examines the relationship between two women who want to help each other but sometimes can’t help themselves; who want to make good decisions but sometimes fall prey to their own worst impulses; whose generous intentions are sometimes overwhelmed by petty concerns. This is a novel about the way we speak and live today; about the ways we disappoint and betray one another. At once a meditation on the modern meaning of maturity and a timeless portrait of the under-examined bond that exists between friends, this exacting and truthful novel is a revelation.
//DECEMBER READING LIST//

How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran 3.72 Stars on Good Reads 312 Pages Though they have the vote and the Pill and haven't been burned as witches since 1727, life isn't exactly a stroll down the catwalk for modern women. They are beset by uncertainties and questions: Why are they supposed to get Brazilians? Why do bras hurt? Why the incessant talk about babies? And do men secretly hate them?
Caitlin Moran interweaves provocative observations on women's lives with laugh-out-loud funny scenes from her own, from the riot of adolescence to her development as a writer, wife, and mother. With rapier wit, Moran slices right to the truth—whether it's about the workplace, strip clubs, love, fat, abortion, popular entertainment, or children—to jump-start a new conversation about feminism. With humor, insight, and verve, How To Be a Woman lays bare the reasons female rights and empowerment are essential issues not only for women today but also for society itself. 
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica 3.79 Stars on Good Reads 352 Pages "I've been following her for the past few days. I know where she buys her groceries, where she has her dry cleaning done, where she works. I don't know the color of her eyes or what they look like when she's scared. But I will." 
Born to a prominent Chicago judge and his stifled socialite wife, Mia Dennett moves against the grain as a young inner-city art teacher. One night, Mia enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. With his smooth moves and modest wit, at first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life. 
Colin's job was to abduct Mia as part of a wild extortion plot and deliver her to his employers. But the plan takes an unexpected turn when Colin suddenly decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota, evading the police and his deadly superiors. Mia's mother, Eve, and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them, but no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family's world to shatter. 
An addictively suspenseful and tautly written thriller, The Good Girl is a compulsive debut that reveals how even in the perfect family, nothing is as it seems…   Well there the full list of books for 2015, as I said above its completely your choice, you can choose to either read one of the books each month or you can chose to read both books. What do you think of my reading list? Do you have any suggestions? Will you be joining in with this book club?