Let's Talk Books

(The following contains a couple of Amazon affiliate links because ya girl has got to pay the bills.)

I did my first Facebook LIVE on Sunday. I did it scared and offer a thousand apologies, but I did it. The rest should be easier, right?

If you missed it, that is because I did it spur-of-the-moment. On purpose. Because, like I said, I was doing it scared and did not fancy an audience watching me fall on my awkward face. LIVE. You can, however, watch the recorded spectacle below.

Now, let's talk books...

A MAN CALLED OVE by Fredrik Backman is the most heart-grabbing book I have read in a while. I laughed so many times while reading. Aloud. And I don't do that kind of thing (laughing out loud while I am sitting there alone, reading). Ove (pronounced OO-veh) was such a crotchety man, the kind that you would be tempted to flee in the opposite direction when you saw him coming. But through the unfolding of Ove's story (a ping-pong between his present and his past) you see the hard events that have shaped this curmudgeonly man and your heart softens toward him. By the middle of the book, you would not run away if you saw him coming, and by the end you wanted to run toward him and embrace him. I do not want to spoil the book for anyone, so I will end with this: Read it. It's a keeper.

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig had a truly unenviable place in my TBR pile - directly following A MAN CALLED OVE. I do not know if it was because of that fact, or if it had a slow start, but it took me roughly 80 pages to get into the book - and then I could not put it down! I finished it in 24 hours, slacking on work and other such essentials around the house in order to finish it. I loved the "what if" premise of the book. If I had to give a quick synopsis, I would say I can best describe it as a wonderful mashup of Doctor Who's unforgettable episode Left Turn (season 4, episode 11), the indisputable classic movie It's A Wonderful Life, and Sherlock's mind palace. It is a bit predictable, but it is a delightful read nonetheless. It was life-affirming and perspective-building and, in the end, the best way I could have moved on from Ove.

Do you enjoy book reviews?

Did you like seeing someone bumble their way through an awkward, one-way conversation?

Join me on Sundays in February on Facebook as I go live with my latest reads and whatever else comes to mind.

 

1 comment

  • Hi Ericka,
    Thank you for sharing the blog and also for your first Facebook live recap. I thought you did great and you didn’t seem nervous at all. I have just purchased A Man Called Ove and I cannot wait to read it. I love when all the feels hot you in a book. I do laugh out loud, I cry and I get angry sometimes depending on the story and I just feel like if a book stirs up those emotions I am not willing to hold them
    In no matter who is around at the time of my reading hahahah. Anyway thanks for the suggestions and I’ll try to catch you next week.
    Thanks for sharing,
    Amy O

    Amy O'Hala

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