We were traveling for a third of November, and my goal was to read at least two books while we were on our trip. And I did! These were definitely better picks than last month’s as well, so that helped.
Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. I found this at the library book sale a couple months ago, so I added it to my bag, along with a few others for me (usually I end up with mostly kid books at those sales). I really wanted to like this book. And for the most part, I enjoyed it.
This is slightly spoiler-y, but I’ll try to be vague, and to be fair, the book’s been out for awhile. My issue with this book was that from pretty early on, I suspected how it was going to end, and I didn’t want it to end that way, so even though I was enjoying the story and I actually liked all of the characters, I spent most of my reading dreading the resolution. (I was right, by the way.)
I liked Louisa and Will’s banter back and forth. I like how Moyes developed them both, and I thought that their actions and decisions made sense. Authors don’t always do that for me, so I appreciate when it’s well done. And I liked the supporting characters as well – there was just enough quirk to most of them to make them really endearing.
This was a perfect vacation read, and I already grabbed the sequel from the library to see what happens next. (In the meantime, I’ve already started this one, which is fun so far!)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I don’t remember if I got this one from the same book sale as Me Before You, or if I snagged it from a little free library, but either way, I picked it up fairly recently. I knew this was a bit of a departure for me from the norm, because the style is a little bit different, but I like a change every now and then.
This is a dystopian stream-of-consciousness book about a man and his son. They’re never named, and while the whole story has a really strong, dark mood, there really aren’t many details about what’s going on other than the immediate action for the two main characters.
That was both a good and a bad thing. Good, because it really added to the feel of the whole thing. You didn’t completely know what was going on, or what would happen next, or how anything would play out, and it made the tension that much more real. Bad, because I really enjoy the world-building that goes into dystopia, and I always want more details about how the world ended and what has shifted and what has stayed the same.
Still, it was a really strong glimpse at a very specific story. The writing and the descriptions that were given were really tight, and I can understand why it won the Pulitzer.
Overall, this was a better read than I expected. I read most of it on our four hour flight home from Minnesota, and I was actually pleased with the short chunks of text and no chapter breaks, because it was easy to read a bit, then help my seat-mates with whatever they needed. They had more fun than it looks like in the picture…
The one downside to the two books I read this month? Movie covers. I hate movie covers. The pretty designs authors choose are much better than movie covers. But on the upside, now I have two movies to add to my watch list! I go into movie adaptations expecting them to be on the “not as good as the book” side, so if they are ever decent, I’m pleasantly surprised.
Have you read either of these? Or have you seen the movies? How did you feel about the endings?
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I receive a bit of a commission at no additional charge to you. Thank you for your support!
Leave a Reply