April Book Reads

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We Were Liars

This book was a little different compared to what I usually read but it wasn’t bad.   The plot revolves around a teen who comes from a wealthy family.  She summers at the family’s private island with extended family members each year.  “The Liars” are made up of three cousins and a friend who are inseparable during these summers.  But something happened during “year 15” and the main character can’t seem to remember and now everything has changed.  The ending was a surprise to me but I don’t read many thrillers.

The Paris Wife 

I got a little emotional reading this book.  The story is of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife. It takes the reader from her upbringing to meeting Ernest, falling in love, and moving with him to Paris.  You learn all the ups and downs of their relationship and the reason for the marriage’s ultimate demise.  Like The Other Einstein, I enjoy reading about the women behind the men.  The men often end up being total jerks.

As Close to Us As Breathing

A Jewish extended family goes to their family beach house every summer.  The book flips back and forth between a past and what is happening in present time.  The reader learns about each family member and his/her romances, careers, and daily life at the beach house.  Then a terrible accident occurs that has a huge impact on each person.  I thought the story was boring and a little sad because of how everything concludes.

Next Year in Havana

Great book.  A woman must go to Cuba to spread her grandmother’s ashes.  The grandmother had been exiled with her family back when she was a teenager for supporting the overthrown government leader.  The story jumps back and forth between the grandma living in Cuba in the 1950s with the granddaughter visiting Cuba for the first time now that a few Americans are allowed.  When trying to determine where to spread her grandmother’s ashes the granddaughter starts to solve some family mysteries.  I loved getting to learn more about the history of Cuba that I embarrassingly didn’t know much about.

 

Need more books to read?  Check out what I read in March!