January Wrap Up #1

 After a bit of a slow start, I've now completed 5 books in the first half of January.

The first book of the year that I finished was The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez. It is a character driven science fiction novel focusing on a group of interstellar travelers who are trying to discover a secret that could revolutionize their way of life. The chapters focused on different characters and I found myself wanting to stay with these intricately drawn people. I was blown away and couldn't believe this was a debut novel. Will definitely pick up his future work. 4.5 stars

I read Troubled by Kenneth Rosen. I did a full review in an earlier post but in summary, 2 stars.

Next I read Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar. This was weird because I went into it knowing it was fiction but it read very much like snapshots from a memoir. The main character has the author's name, job, and lives in the same location. It really read like a memoir but despite its unconventional set up, I really enjoyed it. He focuses on immigrant's experience with feeling like they belong in two worlds, but also none. There were lots of politics and business references in here which sometimes made me feel like I wasn't smart enough to understand but I kept wanting to learn more. I gave it 4 stars.

I listened to a poetry collection called Earth Keeper by N. Scott Momaday. 2 stars. I listened to this for my Reader Harder challenge of a book of nature poems. This had a theme of taking care of the earth through Native American folklore-type poems. It wasn't my thing but it was fine. 

Lastly, I read The Broken Girls by Simone St. James. This has two timelines, one in 1950 at a haunted boarding school and one in 2014 with a journalist writing about the restoration of the boarding school. The ghost elements were creepy and unsettling and the mystery of the death of someone kept me hooked. I really liked this book and it was almost 5 stars, but the modern storyline was a little slow for me to get into so I will give it 4.5 stars.