I decided to read some of the nominees from the Goodreads Choice Awards. Some selections have already been eliminated because I’ve been too lazy to write this post and the final round voting is now over. My brain is also in my nose (this may be a slight overdramatization), so I’ve cut myself some slack on updating. Anyway, here is a very brief summary of how I felt about each of the books that I have read:
1. Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas
This one goes first because I love it the most. I would HIGHLY recommend listening to the audiobook. Seriously, you will not regret it. R. Eric Thomas is hilarious, endearing and relatable. He will without a doubt be receiving a creepy, fan-girl message from me someday soon because it is our destiny to be best friends. This book of essays was unjustly knocked out before the final round, but I’m going to go ahead and pretend that it won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Nonfiction, because I can.
5/5 Stars
2. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
I voted for this book in the Best Fiction category because it absolutely ruined me. It follows a young woman named Gifty, whose family immigrated to the U.S. from Ghana and basically got chewed up and spit back out. Gifty’s brother died from a drug overdose, and her mother experiences severe depression and suicidal tendencies. In order to make sense of these traumas, Gifty throws herself into her academic studies and looks specifically at the neuroscience behind addiction and depression in mice. As she conducts this study, she finds herself recalling her evangelical upbringing and questioning her own faith and experience. It’s a raw and heartbreaking book. The brother’s story hit me really hard, and I still think back to specific chapters and cry a little on the inside. Ultimately, this book will destroy you, but it will be worth it.
5/5 Stars
3. The Night Swim by Megan Goldin
Here is another one that was knocked out in the earlier rounds of voting. I initially gave it 4 stars, but now that some time has passed and I have practically no memory of reading it, I think I may need to reevaluate. This thriller is about a controversial rape case in a small town. The case is being covered by a true crime podcast, and the host of the podcast inserts herself into the drama surrounding the trial, as well as a potential murder that took place years prior. I think that I initially gave it 4 stars because I was invested and tore through the book. I also empathized with many of the characters. However, now that I’m reflecting on the plot, it seemed all too convenient. I also did not like the ending and felt that there should have been more closure. I would classify this as an “okay” read.
3/5 Stars
4. In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
This book is nominated in the Romance category, despite the fact that it is most certainly NOT a romance! Oopsie, Goodreads. It has a lot of hype surrounding it, which is why I pushed myself to forge on, even though I was immediately annoyed with the main character. She’s meant to be a Type A personality, but I thought that this was taken to the extreme and I was not able to picture her being a real and functioning human being. Am I happy that I forced myself to read this? I am not. This was sad and depressing. If I’m going to read something upsetting, I would like to at least have some warning. This story was ultimately about friendship. It’s a lovely friendship, don’t get me wrong, but I did not sign up for what this book threw at me. Also, the ending is for lack of a better word, dumb.
2.5/5 Stars because even though I liked the writing and the friendship, I was deceived.
5. Regretting You by Colleen Hoover
People on Goodreads absolutely love Colleen Hoover. Anytime I look at reviews for her books, I’m bombarded with fanart and dream celebrity castings. That woman has an enthusiastic fanbase. Personally, I have a complicated relationship with her books. I love her writing and am almost immediately drawn in. However, more often than not, I have an issue with some aspect of her books. She’s big on insta-love and relationships that don’t strike me as being healthy, which are two of my pet peeves. This one focuses on a mother and daughter who desperately need therapy and stronger communication skills. It was incredibly frustrating to read, and most of the characters were terrible people that I struggled to empathize with. This is far and away my least favorite Colleen Hoover book, but I still had no trouble reading it because she’s a very engaging writer.
2/5 stars
6. The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
**There is an itsy bitsy half spoiler in this review.
This could have been such a good book. The premise is amazing–it’s about a young woman named Eva, who is a gifted forger and uses her talent to help hundreds of Jewish children escape the Nazis during WWII. Unfortunately, this was a huge letdown and even a bit offensive. Instead of focusing on the forgery and resistance, the reader is accosted with an out of place romance. As Eva falls in love, she becomes insufferable. I wanted a strong female protagonist so badly, but this one just talked about her crush and went around spilling all kinds of confidential information. This book has very little about the children or the resistance, but is full of so many close calls and narrow escapes because the main character is alarmingly reckless for someone whose life is on the line. I also think it’s a big no-no to have a “Nazi with a heart of gold” and a Jewish man who turns his back on the resistance FOR MONEY. That’s offensive. However, this book has rave reviews and very few people have the same issues that I had with it, so you might want to take this review with a grain of salt.
2/5 stars for Eva’s father and what this book could have been
If you are reading this and have any opinions on the Goodreads Choice Awards, let me know! I saw some posts on Reddit suggesting that they might be rigged (ahem, Obama’s book making the finals before it was even released), but I still use them to find book recommendations.
