nomadreader

2014 was quite a year. I had a baby . And I kept reading (it's possible! It wasn't even hard!) I somehow managed to read 139 books this year (and no, that doesn't count any of the children's books I read to Hawthorne.) I read (significantly) more books in 2014 than I did in any other year in which I've kept track of my reading. In September, I hit 100 books . I've spent a lot of time thinking about why  I managed to read so many books this year, and I think it comes down to making reading more of a priority. I didn't watch nearly as much television in 2014 as I did before. And I didn't even see as many movies. I read. If a book wasn't working for me, I set it down and picked up another one. Sometimes I picked it back up again, but sometimes I didn't. And I gave up review obligations. I still read plenty of books from publishers, but I didn't commit to reviewing them on specific days. When I picked up a book, it was because I wanted to read it...

The backstory: I've read and loved Gillian Flynn's other two novels Sharp Objects  ( my review ) and Gone Girl  ( my review ). The basics: When Libby Day was seven, her older brother murdered their mother and two other sisters. Libby has lived off donations ever since, but now in her late twenties, the money is almost gone. She turns to the Kill Club, a secret club obsessed with murders, and they're willing to pay for her to talk to her father and brother about the crimes. My thoughts: There's always something magical about my first 5-star read of the new year, and Dark Places  is it for 2014. I was instantly drawn into this creepy world. Flynn manges to write about very dark people and events with moments of humor: "He was about to give Lyle a high-five and then thought better: his arm froze in an accidental Nazi salute." The story unfolds in alternating chapters. One is Libby's present struggles to learn more about the crimes and reconnect with h...

The backstory: Like so many of you, I read and adored Gillian Flynn's most recent novel, Gone Girl, in 2012 . I finally got around to reading her first novel, Sharp Objects. The basics: Camille, a wounded young woman who recently spent time in a psychiatric hospital, must return to the small Missouri town where she grew up to cover the murders of two pre-teen girls for the second-rate Chicago paper she works. Forced to stay with her mother, stepfather and half-sister, Camille must also confront the childhood death of her sister. My thoughts: As many of you as know, I majored in journalism in college (and women's studies and art history--I've always been a multi-disciplinarian at heart!), and I adore stories of journalists. Camille is a fascinatingly flawed character. I loved to glimpse inside the combination of her hardness and softness. She was simultaneously a character to whom I could relate and understand and one who baffled me, yet Flynn merged both seamlessly. S...

The backstory: Gone Girl  is Gillian Flynn's third novel. Update: it was longlisted for the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction . The basics: Nick and Amy are unhappily married. On the morning of their fifth anniversary, Amy disappears. Flynn tells their story in alternating chapters of Nick's reaction to Amy's disappearance, and his role as a suspect, and sections from Amy's diary stretching from their meeting to present day. My thoughts: Gone Girl  is a novel best enjoyed when you read it knowing little. Watching this story unfold was as thrilling as the story itself. As suspenseful and intriguing as the plot was, I was also enamored with Flynn's writing. She masterfully builds these characters as both deeply flawed and understandable. Telling the story in alternating voices, but in different times, provided the reader with historical perspective on the couple, a sense of their today, and insight into both of them and the different ways they viewed their marria...