The Three Books You Must Read Right Now- 2019 Quarterly Review
Attention reader: Put down whatever cheesy romance novel or self-help book you’re currently reading. As we have explained before, we are hardcore book-nerds and have absolutely no issues in claiming it. We would often prefer a good book to watching a movie. One of our New Year’s goals is to read 24 books each this year. Ashley is WAY ahead of the game, and Jesse is just right on track for this point in the year. We won’t pretend to be English scholars or anything, but we know a good book when we read one; so take a look at the three books you NEED to read right now. You’re welcome, world.
Our latest book club book (yes- we are in a book club. And YES, it is awesome and not nerdy at all. Wine. Cheese. Books. Get with it) is Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. We can’t say enough good things about this book. Truthfully, when it was chosen as our book club book, we were both fully prepared to hate it. It wasn’t the kind of book we would normally enjoy. So a quick synopsis sans spoilers: It is a story of a young girl living in the marsh of North Carolina. She has to grow up quickly and learn how to take care of herself. Throw in a love story, the effects of isolation, AND a murder mystery- seriously, this book HAS IT ALL. We found ourselves immediately sucked in and holding our breath through each chapter.
All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin. This is the kind of book everyone should read. It doesn’t really fit in to a typical book category/genre. It wrestles with discrimination, family issues, and current societal hot topics. In short, it is about two high school students at an elite prep school, both from very different backgrounds and status; but a photograph and a racist, inappropriate remark surfaces on social media and forces these two students and their families together. The book touches on the fallout from the picture. It really makes you think about the lengths you would go to for the people you love. We love that is was told from alternating perspectives. Not only was it a journey through friendship and teen life/struggles, but also the difficulties of marriage, parenthood, and the negative effects of social media. Truthfully, it was an emotional read and reminds you that money cannot buy happiness, NOR can it buy respect. (p.s. using words like nor makes us feel like real fancy pants AND that’s what reading will get you- the ability to use fancy words in bigger sentences. #leadersarereaders) Check this one out and be prepared to want to have some tough convos with the teens in your life!
Liane Moriarty has really been rocking our socks off. We first heard of her when we fell in LOVE with the show, Big Little Lies. Then one of her books became a book club pick (What Alice Forgot), and from there we have been sold. Every one of her books is great, but we are highly suggesting/ insisting that you go read The Husband’s Secret right now. This book is so juicy. Just imagine this: the lives of several strangers/acquaintances are all unknowingly intertwined and it’s not until a secret letter written by one husband is found and read, that all the pieces of the puzzle begin to collide and come together. Not all of the pieces fit together in a good way either. An unsolved murder, a love affair, and tried friendships will have you on the edge of your seat the entire time you’re reading this book. You’re going to think you know what’s coming and then BAM, you’re going to be wrong. Like we said, juicy.
We don’t know what kind of books you’re into, but take it from us- sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised stepping out of your normal comfort zone of genres (see: Where the Crawdads Sing). Being a part of this book club has really opened our eyes to a variety of books we would have never picked for ourselves. Some of the books we’ve LOVED recently have been ones where we read the synopsis multiple times and completely disregarded the book or knew for sure it would be terrible. Well, boy, we’ve been proven wrong. So if these books don’t look so good to you, do yourself a favor, and give them a shot anyway. What can we say except you’re welcome?!
Now an awesome tool that you need to know about is your trusty library card. This feels very old school, but again, we wouldn’t lead you astray. Nowadays, not only can you get hard copies of books from the library, but you can also get ebooks, emagazines, and audio books. SO if you’re cheap like us, it’s the first place you’ll look before you run out and buy a book or use a subscription credit, because well, it’s FREE. Get a card. Do it now.
You can probably guess our Kindles are considered some of our closest friends. We truly love hard copies of books (the crisp pages, the smell of a new book), but unfortunately, we don’t have libraries in our homes yet. So until then, space is a consideration. And this is why our Kindles make all the difference. Space savers- we can take them wherever we go. They fit so nice and neatly into any bag. We both have the Kindle Paperwhite. This one is great because it reads like an actual book. You don’t have to worry about a glare when you are sitting on the beach in the sun reading. Score. Worth every penny.
If you don’t like to read or “don’t have time to read”, we’d like to introduce you to Audible. It is a beautiful subscription/ app that allows you to listen to books. The best thing is the reader of the book uses accents and different voices for each character. It is like watching a movie without the picture. We promise you won’t be able to stop listening- while you get ready, in the car, while you shower. Basically, all your free moments.
Below we’ve linked the books and our Kindle (buy them), as well as FREE trials of Kindle Unlimited and Audible (try them). And, if you use our link for the Audible free trial, you’ll also get not the usual one, but TWO free audio books. We like to make things easy for you. Yep, you can always count of us.
