August 2019 Book Reviews and Recommendations

How is it already August? I get so sad when summer starts winding down. The season goes so fast and I’m not ready to pack away our beach supplies yet. Thank goodness reading can occur anytime during the year. Good news, a four-star book is included in this month’s reviews!

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Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory

I love the writing style of this author! The book Smoke Gets in Your Eyes really surprised me with how much I liked it. The author is a twenty-something woman entering the workforce in the mortuary business as a cremator.

She begins by explaining her fascination with death from an early age and through ancedotes leads to how she wants to change the death business. I was particulary interested in the parts of the book that talked about the history of death rituals and how different cultures deal with death (there’s even a small part on cannibalism!).

This book might even change your own views on what you want to be done with your remains.

I think I would have given the book four stars but the chapter on babies was extremely hard for me to get through having already had to deal with the death of my first daughter. But the book is not all doom and gloom, I was even laughing out loud in certain parts! If you are looking to add some variety to your current reading selections this is the book for you – unless you have a weak stomach.

The Guest Book

I really liked this story, family sagas are a favorite of mine. The reason I didn’t give the book more stars is that the style of writing really annoyed me. I kept thinking, “Get to the point!”. Great plot but unnecessarily long.

In The Guest Book, the story flip flops between three generations of a wealthy family. Initially, a tragedy leads to the older generation buying their own island in Maine where the family will continue to summer year after year. Unfortunately, the third generation might have to sell their beloved island as the grandchildren have gone into careers not as lucrative as the former family business.

Throughout the story, family secrets are revealed and family bickering occurs about how to handle the island. Topics included in the narrative are race, forbidden love, Nazis, and neurological disorders.

Normal People

Normal People is an interesting book but I found it somewhat strange and the ending is why I rated it the way I did. The end comes out of nowhere leading the reader stunned thinking, “That’s how it ends?”.

A boy and girl know each other in high school and have a secret relationship. The boy is popular and the girl a loner. The two end up attending the same college and the tables are turned. The girl is now the popular one while the boy struggles to make friends.

The couple has an off and on relationship for many years because of communication problems. Plus, the girl seems to have a few mental issues to work through.

The book is choppy, often jumping forward numerous weeks or months (but at least it tells you, unlike some other books!). I found the characters’ immaturity and lack of communication skills annoying.

Miracle Creek

Miracle Creek should be your next book selection. It’s interesting, easy to follow, and your opinion of what you think really happened may change over the course of reading the story.

There is a murder trial in a small town after two are killed and others injured in an explosion. The explosion occurred during HBOT treatments when a cigarette was purposefully lit around the oxygen.

The mother of the autistic boy who died is being accused of murder but as the story progresses it seems the case is not as cut and dry as people once believed. Many secrets from the night are revealed throughout the trial. The story takes you back to a year ago and walks the reader through the day of the explosion through multiple characters’ points of view.