February Books

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I was actually pretty disappointed with this book. I've LOVED the last two Rainbow Rowell books that I listened to on Audible, and this one just fell flat with me. I listened to it pretty quickly mostly because I just wanted to know what happens so I could move on. So I was interested enough in the story line, but I just didn't love this book. I guess I didn't hate it either, so there's that.

I didn't enjoy the narrator of this book. Since the majority of the actual story line was from the perspective of the male character, Lincoln, I think having a male narrator--at least for Lincoln's parts of the story would have made MUCH more sense. I also found the e-mail segments between Beth and Jennifer to be annoying at times. Perhaps, if I had read the book in print, it wouldn't have bothered me so much, but having a narrator constantly saying "Beth to Jennifer" or "Jennifer to Beth" after short one line emails got pretty irritating. It was like having someone read the script to a play while reading each character's name before speaking. While I also understand that this is fiction, I found the ending to be a bit ridiculous and far-fetched.

I did enjoy some of the interactions between characters in the book. The interactions between Beth and Jennifer actually reminded me of myself and a friend. I did have a few moments where I briefly laughed aloud at some of the things that the characters said and did, but ultimately, I didn't feel truly invested in them.

I went with three stars instead of two because I think some of my dislike of this book was due to it being the audio version, so I felt like it was a bit too harsh to go with two stars.


Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman by Dorothy Sterling

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I am currently searching for a nonfiction novel to add to my 6th grade classroom repertoire for the coming school year. Freedom Train by Dorothy Sterling is the first book that I have read, and it is DEFINITELY a contender.

I enjoyed reading the story of Harriet Tubman. Of course, I have heard of Harriet and her role in helping slaves escape along the Underground Railroad, but there was so much about her that I didn't know! She played a major part in not only helping slaves escape but in the Civil War. I found this book to be incredibly interesting, and there are so many possibilities for making this an exciting and enriching experience for my students!


All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


If I could, I would give this book 3.5 stars. I was torn between a 3- and 4-star rating on this one, and I think that 3.5 is EXACTLY how I feel about it.

I did enjoy this book, but I didn't love it. As I neared the end of the book, I became much more interested to know what happens to Werner and Marie-Laure, and I finished it very quickly. If you want a true World War II story, I don't know that this one really qualifies. It's more about what is taking place with each of these characters that happen to be living in Europe during WWII. I did like both of these characters and wanted to know how things would turn out for them.

One of the things I did not like was that the book jumped back and forth a lot. Not only are chapters switching between the stories of Marie-Laure and Werner, but they are also jumping back from the present setting of the book (1944) and things that happened leading up to that point. Sometimes, I got confused and had to go back to find out what year I was reading about. I think I might have enjoyed it more with a more chronological telling of the story.



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What did  you read this month?