I read Gillian Flynn's Dark Places in 24 hours. Granted, I was recovering from strep throat, so I was stuck in bed. But still I tore through that book. It was captivating.
I loved Gone Girl - and I know that not everyone did - but it was one of my favorite things I read last year. Then when I was in Vegas in February, I read Flynn's Sharp Objects and was really disappointed with it. It wasn't bad, but it was no Gone Girl. Then several people told me I really needed to pick up Dark Places, so it's been sitting on my nightstand for months.
If you like thriller/suspense/murder, you will totally dig Dark Places. I was heavily invested and, like Gone Girl, the various twists and turns surprised me. It's pretty gory, so if ax murders aren't so much your thing then steer clear. And warn your family first: no household chores or homemade meals will go down once you've started it.
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I read Lean In because it's such a huge part of the feminist conversation right now, something I find really fascinating. I frankly have no idea why this book is so polarizing. Sheryl Sandberg had an obviously elite education and career path, but her thoughts on women in the workplace are relevant (and interesting) to everyone, even those of us working in very non-traditional arrangements.
I read Lean In while at a women's blogger conference, appropriate I thought (I do love a good theme), and it was quick and quotable. You don't have to be on the executive track to appreciate Sandberg's insights. A lot of the book was about women's behavior in general, an analysis of women in (and out of) the workplace since the 1960's, and why certain progress hasn't been as steady as one might have hoped. As a woman, some of it was hard to hear, but cringing women are who will change the gender dynamic.
"Whenever a married woman asks me for advice on coparenting with a husband, I tell her to let him put the diaper on the baby any way he wants as long as he's doing it himself. And if he gets up to deal with the diaper before being asked, she should smile even if he puts that diaper on the baby's head. Over time, if he does things his way, he'll find the correct end. But if he's forced to do things her way, pretty soon she'll be doing them herself."
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I'll be honest, I bought the hardback copy (instead of reading it on my kindle paperwhite) of Me Before You because I liked the cover so much. That's silly, sort of, but covers matter.
This was an easy, fun, heartstrings book. Perfect for a beach read, or the airplane. This might be THE vacation book of 2013. Maybe it's the just mood I was in when I read it, but I feel like you could read Me Before You lightly (swooning over the romantic parts) or deeply (since the serious themes are very serious). It's almost like this book is made of play doh: it is what you make of it.
I liked it. I'm recommending it as a great summer read.
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Are you reading anything worth mentioning? My stack for the summer is sky high and I couldn't be happier about it. Modern Mrs. Darcy has a free summer reading guide called Ultimate Beach Reading that I just signed up for (it puts you on her montly newsletter list), so I'll be diving into that soon.
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