We're right in the middle of the holiday season, which typically means we are all busy with the hustle and bustle that comes with that. I hope you are able to take some time for yourself over the next few weeks, and spend some time with a good book.
Whether you are looking for a book for yourself, or maybe the perfect book for a gift for someone else, I hope you find something in the list of books that I read in November. Feel free to also go back and glance at my past blog posts and reviews to see if something sticks out to you!
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The Road To The Country by Chigozie Obioma
This book is set in the late 1960s during Nigeria's civil war. The main character, Kunle, sets out to find his younger brother in the Biafran territory, after he disappears there. While on his way to search for his brother, Kunle finds himself unwillingly joining the Biafran army.
Over the course of the story, Kunle struggles with fighting in a war he doesn't understand or believe in, or risking his life by trying to leave the army and find his brother.
I found this book to be quite slow until the end. It's also a challenging book to read. In addition to the difficult topics covered, much of the dialogue is partially in the local language and can be hard to follow at times. However, the book is beautifully written and deserves all the accolades for that.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
Accelerating Growth: A Blueprint For Strategic Transformation by Vern Davenport
In this book, the author discusses his plan for companies to accelerate their growth called The Management System.
It definitely is a bit of an advertisement for the system, which is fine. But I just didn't get a ton of substance from this one. Definitely geared towards CEOs, and hard to pull things that could be useful for others to implement.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
The Return by Hisham Matar
This is the story of Jaballa Matar as told by his son, Hisham. Jaballa was imprisoned during Qaddafi's regime when Hisham was an 18 year old student. Jaballa was held in a secret prison in Libya. Twenty-two years after he was imprisoned, Qaddafi's regime fell and the prisons were emptied, but there was no sign of Jaballa.
Hisham and his family dealt with Jaballa's imprisonment all those years, and have since fought to find out the truth of what happened to him.
Very well written. It will pull at your heart, and make you realize the horror of what happened in Libya during that time. This book is number 89 on the New York Times list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. Four out of five stars!
Stop Reading This Book by Barbara Buck
This is a book you will either love or hate. I have to say that the title and cover are eye catching. It certainly makes you want to pick the book up and find out what it's about.
It is a little difficult, at first, to figure out what the author is trying to accomplish. I found myself very confused for the first chapter or so. By the end, I think I would sum it up by saying it's a book about giving you the power to be who you want to be.
I said at the beginning of this review, that people will either love or hate this book. If you are extremely conservative in your views, this book is probably not for you. Hence, the author's title, as she knows that there will be some people that this just will not sit well with.
If you are willing to open your mind to some things that can feel a bit far fetched, and are willing to take a different look at society and what it has imposed on the human race, this book is worth checking out.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
To purchase this book on Amazon, click here: paperback.
Simon And Hiroko by Marius Hancu
SPOILER ALERT! This one is a spin on the traditional Romeo and Juliet story. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. Both come from families who have an opposing past. Both families try to stop the relationship. Boy and girl intend to still end up together. Boy and girl meet tragic end.
The spin on this story is that the boy is an American temporarily in Japan, and the girl is a young Japanese woman whose father happens to be involved in the Japanese mafia. It also turns out that the grandfathers of both were involved in WWII on opposite sides.
Despite the story being a bit slow and the writing being very clunky, I was prepared to give this book a solid 3 stars, until the last 25% when it took a totally bizarre and unnecessary twist. Without going into detail, the girl goes to America by herself to meet his parents and ends up being kidnapped into a religious cult while deer hunting with the father. At the same time, the boy is living in an underground tunnel world below Tokyo and "working" for her father when a bizarre sect, also living in the tunnels, imprisons him. Both story lines come out of nowhere, seem totally unbelievable and out of character of book, and unnecessary.
There are plenty of Romeo and Juliet storyline books out there that you could better spend your time reading.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Two out of five stars.
The Launch Date by Annabelle Slator
This debut novel by the author is a really sweet rom-com. The two main characters are very likeable and the type you want to cheer for to have a happy ending.
Grace and Eric work for two different dating app companies. While they started out as friends, they have since become work rivals. When the CEO of their parent company asks them to work together to help develop the launch for a new dating app, things get tense.
As others have said, this one is a bit of a slow burn, but I actually appreciated having a bit more character and story development in a rom-com. Even though it's longer, I still read it in pretty much one sitting, because I was invested in the characters and wanted to see how things ended for them.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This book will be published in February 11, 2025. Four out of five stars!
Attack From Within (Sea Of Red Series, Book 2) by James A. Bultema
This book felt more like a recounting of an event than a story. The book is about a terrorist group that intends to attack the U.S., with specific targets of electrical grids and Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
There really is no character development, which is fine for an action book like this. However, the author includes a sort of love story line with two of the minor characters that just never gets developed or seems to fit.
Perfectly fine for an action book. Fast paced. The writing is very basic and it doesn't grab you. I do have to say that I was surprised by how it ended.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
The Sympathizer (The Sympathizer, Book 1) by Viet Thanh Nguyen
This book was definitely a challenge to read. It's long and quite dense. It's also a bit difficult to follow, as dialogue between the characters is written as part of the narration. Additionally, the subject matter and storyline is complex.
The book is about a half French and half Vietnamese communist sleeper agent, who is living in America after the Vietnam War. The story follows him as he grapples with life after the war, and the situation in his homeland, as well as the role his newly adopted country played in it.
Extremely well written, but a challenging read. This book comes in at number 90 on the New York Times list of the best 100 books of the 21st century. Four out of five stars!
Ain't No Sunshine by Carra Roe
This is a very character driven book that takes place all in one afternoon. Bunny and her mother, Champ, are living in Newark, NJ after they were evicted from their home in Kentucky. Bunny's father passed away when she was young, and his friend that he served with in the Navy helps the two of them by allowing them to live in one side of his duplex.
The story is really a conversation between Bunny and her mother, with flashbacks interspersed to give you the background of their story. My issue with the book is the ending. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but it just ends abruptly without any closure.
The dialogue in this one is really well done. I loved the characters. But it's super short and I wanted more of their story.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Tilda Is Visible by Jane Tara
Have you ever felt invisible?
This is the story of Tilda. She's a 52 year old woman who runs a successful business. She's been divorced for 5 years and has two grown twin daughters. One morning Tilda looks down and realizes her little finger has literally disappeared.
As more and more of Tilda's body starts disappearing, she goes down a path of rediscovering herself, dealing with her past, and trying to make herself visible again.
As a woman of a similar age and having dealt with many of the feelings Tilda does, I could totally relate to this book and her journey. There were several times as I was reading, where I thought... yes, I completely "get this".
Clearly, the idea of literally becoming physically invisible is a bit "out there", but the important piece is the metaphorical references to what many women feel every day.
This one is a bit cheesy at times, but it will make you laugh and cry and feel like you had your own therapy session.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
This book will be published on February 25, 2025. To pre-order your copy from Amazon, click here: Kindle, audiobook, paperback or hardcover.
Infliction Point by Mark Hacker
I love a good thriller, and this one had a lot of potential, but fell short for me.
The story starts out strong. Charlie Moore is a killer who was abused as a child. When he is captured and brought to trial, the court determines his IQ is too low for him to be brought to trial for potentially the death penalty. Moore has killed the daughter of a corrupt Senator, who decides he isn't ok with that. So, he has a scientist who is researching how to stimulate brain activity, experiment with the treatment on Moore, so his brain can be active enough to stand trial.
Of course, the experiment goes horribly wrong and turns Moore into a super genius instead, who is now intent on destroying his enemies and the world.
At some point, the book just drags on and gets way too complex. I think it could have been cut in half and been about right. Instead, I got lost by the end and felt like I had invested way too much time.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood
This is a historical fiction novel based on the true story of the Dionne quintuplets. The "Quintland Sisters" were born to French farmers living in Northern Ontario in 1934. They were the first known quintuplets to survive birth, and became known worldwide.
The book is told from the perspective of Emma Trimpany, who is 17 years old when she is asked to help at their birth, and eventually gets her nursing degree and becomes one of the full-time nurses that cares for the quintuplets 24 hours per day. In this particular book, the story is actually more about Emma than the quintuplets.
I didn't know anything about the true story of the quintuplets until picking up this book. After doing a bit of research, I can see where the idea of a historical fiction novel about them would be compelling. Unfortunately, this book just didn't hit the mark for me.
I found it quite slow and boring, talking endlessly about the daily and monotonous life of the girls. Emma was not a compelling character for me. The author clearly wanted the reader to have a bias against the parents, emphasizing how they tried to cash in on the fame of their daughters.
And then there is the ending. After an entire book of the same thing over and over, the story completely changes course and abruptly ends. I don't want to give away the ending for those who might read the book, but the ending seemed very unnecessary and incriminated one of the main characters, who was a real person.
Writing was good and not a bad book, just not for me. Three out of five stars.
Think Like A Brand, Act Like A Startup: Drive Growth And Innovation By Balancing Stability And Agility by Lauren Perkins
While this business book had a lot of good advice and concepts in it, I found it difficult to really pull out the key concepts. There are so many business books out there, and I've read a lot of them. What I find to be the best formula for me, are books that are simple and really lay out the key takeaways clearly.
This particular book was just too "wordy" for me. It needed more real world examples to drive the author's point home. I felt like I was in the middle of a meeting with lots of "consultant talk" and little actionable takeaways.
The book was well written and covered lots of good topics, but it almost tried to do too much.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
A Beautiful Rival: A Novel Of Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden by Gill Paul
A Beautiful Rival is a historical fiction novel based on the lives of Elizabeth Arden and Helen Rubinstein. Both women created beauty empires in the 1920s and 30s.
The women were great rivals, who clearly would do just about anything to be more successful than the other. They both came from humble beginnings, and dedicated their lives to building their empires.
The book follows the women as they navigate their lives and businesses through two World Wars and the Great Depression. It also dives into their various personal relationships, and the fact that both women put their businesses before everything else.
I found this book a bit slow at times. And you could definitely grow tired of the same battles the two women engaged in with each other. But, it was an overall interesting story and worth the read! Four out of five stars!
Table For Five by Izzy Bromley
If you are looking for a sweet, feel good book, this one is for you.
Abigail Finch has just been let go from her high powered job as a marketing executive. Suddenly, not only does she find herself without a job, but she finds herself lost as she realizes how much of her life revolved around her job. She starts spending time at a local café, and notices a table with a sign on it, identifying it as a "community table" where people looking for some company can sit and meet others.
After noticing a couple of people sitting there by themselves, Abigail decides to take a leap and sit down with them and start a conversation. Eventually, the community table circle grows to five people that seemingly have little in common. But as their friendship grows, they realize how much they have come to rely on each other.
This is just a nice story with great character development. I found myself rooting for all five of the "tablers", as they each develop in their own ways. I only wish we knew a little bit more about what happens with each of them after the story is over.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
I hope you have a happy and joyous holiday season, and save some time to read!
What books do you recommend I read next? Let me know! Did you check out any of these books? I'd love to hear what you think! Comment below or e-mail me at tips2livebywriter@gmail.com.
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