Welcome to Quick Lit: December 2024 Edition where I share books I chose for my own reading enjoyment in a mini-review format. These are not books I received for review, but books I’ve wanted to read or that have caught my attention. Most of them have been talked about ad nauseam or have been on my to-read list for a long time so they don’t really need a full review. But, I’d still like to give them some space here on the blog, so instead, I’m offering mini-reviews of the books that won’t get full-page space here.
I’ll be linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy and her monthly Quick Lit link-up. Be sure to head over to see others share their Quick Lit posts.
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Did you know I also regularly review children’s books? Check them out HERE.
I recently reviewed WHAT TIME THE SEXTON’S SPADE DOTH RUST, THE FRENCH WINEMAKER’S DAUGHTER, and THE ULTIMATE FUN ADULT ACTIVITY BOOK.
I’m currently reading THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN for book club, SISTERS IN SCIENCE for review, and I’m listening to THE WOMAN IN ME on a recommendation from my sister.
We watched Reagan on Prime Video with friends and really enjoyed it. Surprisingly, it would make a great book/movie flight with one of the books on this list. I’m also super excited for the Survivor finale this Wednesday night.
This month’s list includes 3 historical fiction novels, a short story from a much-loved author, and a nonfiction perfect for book lovers. Let me know if any of these books are on your reading list!
Quick Lit – December 2024
THE SECOND LIFE OF MIRELLE WEST
By: Amanda Skenandore
Published: July 27, 2021
Publisher: Kensington
Historical Fiction
Format: Paperback
Mirielle West is the wife of a Hollywood star. It’s the 1920s and Mirielle and Charlie are living a dream life. At a checkup, her doctor becomes concerned with a spot on her skin. Further tests result in a diagnosis of leprosy. Mirielle is suddenly whisked away to a Leper Colony in New Orleans for what she assumes will just be a few days. She also doesn’t expect to be traveling in a dark train car with only her trunk to sit on.
“Starting with her hatboxes and traveling bags, Mirielle loaded her luggage into the boxcar…She expected to stay only a few days in Louisiana—how long could it take to straighten out her diagnosis, after all?—and had instructed Charlie to only pack her barest necessities. A dozen or so day dresses with shoes to match. A few of her cotton tennis dresses and an evening gown or two. One of her tweed coats and a worsted wool sweater in case the Louisiana climate was unfavorable. Her red-squirrel-fut coat just for good measure. Then there were her bust flatteners and brassieres, girdles, and petticoats, stockings, and chemises. Twenty or so pairs of stockings, and her satin kimono.”
Mirielle had no idea what lay ahead for her. As you can imagine she was quite the diva when she arrived at the hospital and after a rough train ride, she did not expect the type of accommodations she would be living in at the hospital as well.
But even though Mirielle started out as a character I wasn’t sure I would like, I was surprised by her character development and how she changed throughout the story. I honestly knew very little about leprosy before reading this novel. In fact, I was limited to the stories of lepers in the Bible. But after starting the book, I did some googling and learned more about Hanson’s Disease. This book opened my eyes to the disease and the treatment. As you can imagine, Mirielle didn’t just spend a few days at the leper colony. For the residents who lived most of their lives at the colony, I realized what a sacrifice they made for their families due to the stigma of the disease. Many of them lived as if they never existed and had virtually no contact with their families.
“It didn’t hurt. Nothing seemed to hurt anymore. Not her broken arm. Not her stiff back. Not her once pounding head. Only her inner parts hurt, as if someone had turned her inside out and scoured her with a Brillo pad.”
This was our book club read last month and all of us really enjoyed the story and learning more about the disease. The author really put the reader into the lives of those living with leprosy. There was so much unknown about the disease in the decades between the 1920s-1940s. I was surprised by the crazy treatments that were tried out on the patients that seemed obvious to me wouldn’t work. The patients were basically living in their own little community at the colony and existed without access to the outside world. I can’t imagine how lonely and isolating it must have been for them. The colony talked about in the story is a real place and now it is a museum near New Orleans. I think it would be a fascinating place to visit.
WHY WE READ
On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out
By: Shannon Reed
Narrated by: Paige McKinney
Published: February 6, 2024
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Non-Fiction
Format: Audiobook
I purchased this as a gift several months ago and then finally got a chance to listen to it through Libby. Shannon Reed is a current professor, lifelong reader, and writer. In her second book, she reminds all of us readers about the joys of reading, from childhood favorites to books we learn something from. I enjoyed the narration and reminiscing on my own reading life while listening.
“(Reading) It never makes me feel worse and rarely makes me feel lonely. Reading gives me the world. and that friends, is why I read.”
I laughed as Reed wrote about long family drives across the country on family vacations with a stack of library books piled next to her. She even mentioned a specific vacation driving across Iowa to get to the Corn Palace without the entertainment of DVDs or cell phones. I could relate as I went on numerous long drives with my parents and as the only kid in the car, I had to entertain myself with books, puzzle books, or writing/drawing.
I also love to read cookbooks like a book and so I enjoyed her chapter where she shared her love of cookbooks. She also laments those who gift her books. She understands the giver likely meant well, but do you not think she has enough books already on her to-read shelf? She shares that she feels like it is more of an assignment rather than a gift. She feels like she needs to report her thoughts to the giver. I can relate somewhat. I can imagine it is hard to feel like you can give me a book, not knowing what I’ve already read or what I own, but I do actually enjoy receiving books as gifts. Because I know that the giver puts a lot of effort into finding a book they think I might not know about.
Booklovers and readers will enjoy these short essay-type chapters where she shares a love of reading and books along with stories of teaching literature to college students. I have a new favorite quote after reading this book. I may have to place it below my email signature.
“Life is so much better with books than without.”
THE BERLIN LETTERS
By: Katherine Reay
Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Ann Marie Gideon, and P.J. Ochlan
Published: March 5, 2024
Publisher: Harper Muse
Historical Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Libby
Without even thinking about it, while I was listening to this book, we had already planned to watch the movie Reagan with friends on Amazon Prime Video. I didn’t even think about how much this book would parallel that movie. If you are looking for a good book/movie flight, I would recommend them.
The book begins with a young family separated dramatically by the Berlin Wall that went up overnight in 1961. Through letters, we learn more about the family in the aftermath of its separation. Those letters were read in 1989 by their daughter Louisa in the US. She has recently found them after her grandfather’s death. But, they don’t make sense because she realizes that her whole life has been a lie.
“How can one truly know oneself when everything around them is a lie?”
The book switches back and forth from the 1960s to the late 1980s, with Louisa, a CIA agent realizing she must travel to Berlin undercover to save someone. Louisa’s grandfather was a CIA agent and taught her to read codes as a young girl. While reading the letters, Louisa realizes they are embedded with codes.
I do think it is helpful to have some knowledge about Russia and Germany’s history, why the Berlin Wall was erected, and how it was decided to be torn down. The novel doesn’t get bogged down in details about that, but it is helpful to have some knowledge. This novel is part adventure, part historical fiction, part family story and I thought it was really well done. The narration included different narrators for the main characters which added to the storytelling. Saskia narrated WHEN WE HAD WINGS which I loved. Don’t miss this one.
LONG ISLAND
Eilis Lacey #2
By: Colm Tólbín
Narrated by: Jessie Buckley
Published: May 7, 2024
Publisher: Scribner
Historical Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Libby
After just listening to BROOKLYN last month, I immediately added LONG ISLAND to my Libby holds, not expecting it to be available so quickly. I enjoyed Brooklyn and watched the movie shortly after reading which I thought was also excellent. You could read LONG ISLAND without reading BROOKLYN, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You will have a much better understanding of the relationships and characters if you read them as a series.
BROOKLYN left off in the 1950s and LONG ISLAND picks back up in the 1970s. Eilis is married and has two children with her husband. She handles the books at a local business and lives in the same neighborhood as her husband’s family where everyone keeps a close eye on each other…maybe too close.
When a man shows up at Eilis’s door with shocking news, her life is turned upside down. She can’t fathom being near her husband and family and decides to return to Ireland for her mother’s 80th birthday. Her children also visit their grandma for the first time. Eilis falls into a new rhythm while back in Ireland and begins to wonder how she will possibly return to Long Island. Someone from Eilis’s past also reappears and complicates things.
Tólbín makes the readers think about their own “what ifs”, our own disruptions that have caused us to rethink our plans or forced us to see things differently. It also made me think of my own experience of leaving home…I didn’t move across an ocean, but I did leave my home area. I lost some of those connections, much like Eilis, and feel like an outsider now when I return to go to church or visit a store. The ending for both books leaves you hanging a bit, wondering what is next for the characters. There isn’t a tidy bow at the end, but a knowing that Eilis will go on and live her life, maybe not exactly in the way she hoped, but with new experiences and a stronger sense of self.
THE ANSWER IS NO
A Short Story
By: Fredrik Backman
Translated by: Elizabeth DeNoma
Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez
Published: December 1, 2024
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible
This is an Amazon original short story and you can only find it there as an eBook or Audiobook. This was a fun listen full of life lessons. If you read and loved Backman’s ANXIOUS PEOPLE, this story is told in much the same way, just much shorter.
“Don’t look on the internet for someone who is exactly like you. Look for someone who isn’t. Love is not to never fight. Love is always making up.”
We meet Lucas who likes to keep to himself. He prefers to just hang out in his apartment eating Pad Thai (with peanuts of course), playing video games, and drinking wine until one night there is a knock on his door, and his life changes forever. Backman quickly introduces the reader to the various characters in the apartment building but without names. We’ve got Purple Dress Lady and Green Shirt Lady and Head 1, Head 2, and Head 3. All these people begin to invade Lucas’s privacy all because of a frying pan.
“I’m no expert but I think most people who want to be happy try to add things to their lives, but really what maybe they should be doing is taking something away.”
Since this story is so short, I can’t give anything else away. Just know, it was a delight and totally worth the $2 on Kindle. Stacy Gonzalez’s narration was excellent. She also narrated CARRIE SOTO IS BACK.