November 5, 2020

What I Read in October 2020

I read seven books in the month of October – not as much as I was reading at the height of quarantine this spring, but still more than this summer. (I would imagine that I will be reading even more in November and December, as the weather gets colder and I’m less able to hit the trails.) That puts me at 88 books read in 2020, which is six ahead of where I need to be to hit 100 books by the end of the year. I’m excited to surpass my goal!

Best_Books_Of_October_2020

4 stars:

500 Miles from You, by Jenny Colgan: This was a really sweet novel, and it was a treat to see the cameos from characters in some of Colgan’s other books. Although I could tell where the book was going, I found the romance a little hard to believe. Suspending my disbelief, I still enjoyed it though!

2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything, by Mauro F. Guillén: This was fascinating and very compelling. I loved how it was written from a lens of “this is what has happened by 2030” rather than “this is what might happen by 2030”, although the author was careful to point out this is just one (well-researched) hypothesis. One of the key themes in this book was flexibility, and I think reading the nascent trends is perfect preparation to be flexible; even if the trends don’t manifest in exactly the way Guillen described, a thorough understanding of them will help avoid surprises in whatever way they do play out. Highly recommend, particularly for anyone in business!

28 Summers, by Elin Hilderbrand: Loved this book, though I spent the whole time waiting / wishing for Mallory and Jake to get together (even though the first chapter spoiled that wouldn’t happen). I was really disappointed by the miscommunication in each of them loving each other but being afraid to say so. That said, this all contributed to the plot being a bit messy and more like real life than an idyllic romance. I don’t know that it’s what I wanted / needed right now, but it was an enjoyable read that kept me up later than I intended for several nights. And I particularly loved the descriptions of each year that opened the chapters – I took my time reading those and remembering how I spent each year!

Truth, Lies, and Second Dates, by MaryJanice Davidson: I got into this book and the characters RIGHT away! I loved the character of Ava – she was very real, even as she was snarky and flawed. I liked how the genre was a mix of rom com and mystery (something I hadn’t read before) and this definitely made me eager to read more each night! I will definitely be looking for more books by this author.

3 stars:

The Antidote For Everything, by Kimmery Martin: I loved The Queen of Hearts, and was so excited when I picked up Kimmery Martin’s newest book. It started out strong, but then focused on the characters more than the moral question behind whether a for-profit hospital should be able to choose their patients. Either option would have been okay, but by trying to do both, neither one was done well. Meanwhile, if she was going for a character focus, I thought the character of Jonah wasn’t fleshed out enough, and the way he burst into Georgia’s trip made him instantly unlikeable. This wasn’t great, but I should say it wasn’t bad either – I did want to keep reading to see how it would turn out.

2 stars:

The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table, by Minda Harts: I know that as a white woman I was not truly the intended audience for this (except for the last chapter), but… this really didn’t resonate with me. It was more about Minda’s experience rather than advice for others, and she told her story in such a brash and rude way that it kind of made me wonder if some of the “discrimination” was really people just disliking her personally and not wanting to work with her. In general, it felt like Minda just hammered home the message that women’s experiences cannot be lumped into one category (and we need to separate out the experiences of women of color), but didn’t provide much other content. I felt a little more validated in my opinion when I discussed it in my women’s professional development book club (which has women of all different races) and everyone agreed it wasn’t great.

Body Love, by Kelly Leveque: Read this because Rachel Hollis raved about it, but it was pretty meh. LeVeque spent far too long explaining how great her diet plan is without actually getting into the diet plan for about 50 pages, and I hated the gimmicky “Fab Four” designation. Meanwhile, I also hate the idea of a smoothie for breakfast – I need something to chew, and don’t want to feel like I’m fasting. I did take away that I should try to even out my blood sugar (and realized I’ve probably been spiking mine with too much fruit and not enough fat in the last few months), but overall, this felt really sales-y and I didn’t enjoy reading it.


Any book recommendations for me? Follow me here on Goodreads to keep up with what I’m reading in real time.

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