Next: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I'm so excited...

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

As stated before, we received this book as part of a promotional giveaway on Reading Group Guides.  Personally, I was a little hesitant to read another Kristin Hannah, because I had not been in love with Firefly Lane.  However, not only was I very pleasantly surprised, many of the Desert Girls were similarly so.


The night before book group, I received a couple emails:
"I was reading it last night I realized it was 3 am and I should try to stop reading it and get some sleep!"


"It wasn't great literature, but it made me very nostalgic!"


And during our meeting, there was more of the same.  One read it in one day, another over the course of a weekend, and I read it on the plane on my way to Wisconsin.  One thing is certain:  It's a quick read!


It also made many of us feel nostalgic.  Not because any or all of us could *relate,* but because, as most of us are in our early 30s, it made us remember high school, first loves, first best friends, parties, and the sheer amount of unsafe behavior we all engaged in!


Many of us also happen to be lawyers, and while we understand Ms. Hannah used the assistance of a lawyer in writing that portion of the book, many of us were skeptical... "lawyers aren't really like that!"  ;)  Some are.


Overall, we thought the book was a great quick read, a beach read, an airplane read, a vacation read.  We *thoroughly* enjoyed it, as a whole, and felt really happy about having won it for our group.


Let's see, a short synopsis of the book:  Lexi has a difficult past, but she's a good girl.  When she is taken in by an aunt previously unknown at 14, she is grateful but still guarded.  She is brought back to an island on the western coast and surrounded by the affluent.  She is a hard worker, a good girl, and honest.  Her best friend is Mia, a shy, very wealthy, very unique and spirited girl whose twin brother, Zach, is Mr. Popular, but also a wonderful high school kid.  Zach and Lexi have an immediate attraction to one another, but because Zach cares deeply about his twin Mia, because Lexi is Mia's best friend, and because the last time Zach dated Mia's best friend, Mia lost her only friend, Zach and Lexi stay far away from one another, until their senior year.  One night, Lexi nearly kisses Zach in a haze, and from that point forward, the two of them are inseparable.  While Mia is upset and hesitant at first, and while Mia and Zach's helicopter mom Jude is very wary of the development, it goes well for the year.  Final week of high school, tragedy strikes.  I am not into spoilers, so I won't say what, but I was pleased because it was predictable with a twist.  I like twists.  The remainder of the book deals with the repercussions of the failings of each of the characters.


My thoughts:  Hannah has delivered an emotional, insightful page-turner.  She has a gift of portraying the personalities, characters, and emotions of teenagers, mothers, and others.  She presented a relatively plausible scenario addressing pain, heartache, love, and forgiveness.  I was most impressed by Hannah's willingness to portray such an unpleasant and continuing depression, anger, and sadness.  It was down, dark, blue, and yet there was always that light -- you could see it just in the distance.  I don't tend to like tear-jerkers, I don't like being emotionally manipulated, and I tend not to love what I dub "dramas" because I find that they are generally either poorly written or poorly told and, instead, merely indulgent of the author.  I really enjoyed Hannah's Night Road because it was well told, well written, and did not feel like the author merely indulging in herself.  It was a story, from beginning to end.  I recommend, definitely to people who like "Fiction and Literature" (drama ;)).

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

Our next book, for our January meeting, will be Night Road by Kristin Hannah.  Special Thanks to Reading Group Guides for the contest!  We are looking forward to discussing the book.

As a side note, I have read a Kristin Hannah previously -- Firefly Lane.  Although I thought that book was a decent page-turner and had some interesting story lines, so far I am much preferring Night Road.

The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Overall, the group had a favorable reaction.

Some appreciated what they learned about an unfamiliar culture, some appreciated that they were inspired to learn more, and some were reminded of their past interactions with the culture.

Compliments:

• poetic writing
• interesting story
• informative
• many of the girls appreciated the mother and the way the story framed her

Criticisms:

• a little disjointed
• would have liked a little more background or context for someone less familiar with the culture and/or history

Additional comments:

• although the book spends a lot of time discussing the author's older brother, Bill, he was not in the acknowledgments at the end and wondered about that omission.  We also noticed the other acknowledgments and how those to the mother & father were worded.
• most commented that, although this might not have been a book that they would have selected to read on their own, having read it, they would definitely recommend it to others to read.
• there were moments throughout - brief moments - where the story dragged a little, but on the whole, it moved forward quickly and with ease.

it turns out, it is difficult to write on behalf of other readers... next time I'll take notes :)

Past Read Books

**updated to add additional books

Ok I think I have them all.  Before I start including discussions about books that we are reading and will read, here is a list of the books we have so far read.  Go ahead & "comment" if you notice I've missed one!
(in no particular order)

• The Plot Against America
• The Time Traveler's Wife
• The Princess Bride
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• Slaughterhouse Five
• Interview with the Vampire
• Bad Monkeys
• Albuquerque: A Novel
• Reading Lolita in Tehran
• A Million Little PIeces
• Queen of Dreams: A Novel
• Are Men Necessary?  When Sexes Collide
• Shantaram: A Novel
• The Devil in the White City
• The Secret Life of Bees
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
• Of Love and Other Demons
• Zorro: A Novel (Allende)
• The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
• The Abstinence Teacher
• The History of Love: A Novel
• The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel
• Wuthering Heights
• The Mystery Guest: An Account
• Death with Interruptions
• The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East
• Rebecca
• Things Fall Apart: A Novel
• A Reliable Wife
• The Lincoln Lawyer
• The Catcher in the Rye
• The Glass Castle: A Memoir
• Tinkers
• Never Let Me Go
• Outliers: The Story of Success
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• The White Rose (only one of us was able to get through this)
• Anna Karenina
• The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood
• Night Road by Kristin Hannah
• The Night Circus
• BossyPants
• Iron House
• Wife 22
• Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk
• Anne of Green Gables
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette
• Rules of Civility
• NW by Zadie Smith