January & February Reads

I skipped posting just my January books at the start of February because honestly it was only 3 books {which is a slow month for me}. And then February was a 4-book month {and there's still a week left}, so I thought it'd be good to do a combined review before this got too long! 

I know this isn't the most popular type of post I do, but I love keeping track for myself, so if you don't like my book reviews, come back tomorrow. {grin}

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin - Allison and I both really wanted to read this after seeing the movie. {If you can't tell, we LOOOOOVED the movie!} The book was good, but for the second time in my life, I enjoyed a movie more than a book {first time being Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King - to be fair that was a short story so the movie was able to provide so much more detail to the story}. Eilis Lacey moves to Brooklyn from Ireland by herself and tries to start a life for herself. I think in the movie I just liked Eilis' personality a little more?

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson {Read 2 books with the same title by different authors - 30 points} - This book was about a girl who kept dying and getting another chance to do it right. For example, at the very beginning, she dies during childbirth and then in the next chapter the doctor gets there earlier and saves her. This book was very fascinating! At times I got confused over which reality we were in, but overall this was a unique read.

Defending Jacob by William Landay - This was our most recent book club pick. It's about an ADA whose son is accused of murder. It was very hard to read at times as a mother but also very intriguing as a 'who done it'. I wouldn't say I loved it, but it definitely made me think and gave us lots of interesting discussion!

Life After Life by Jill McCorkle - This version of Life After Life was about people who lived in a nursing home and some friends. It started a little slowly, but it gathered steam, and I found myself really enjoying it...until the end. It just, well, ended! So many of the storylines ended without resolution - which frustrates me to no end!

The Lakehouse by Kate Morton - I just love Kate Morton. This is the 3rd book I've read of hers, and they're all great. The mystery at the heart of this story is a toddler who goes missing 60 years earlier. The twists and turns keep you guessing the whole time. The ending was maybe a little TOO neat, but I'd rather that than an ambiguous ending!

The Martian by Andy Weir - A NASA astronaut gets stuck on Mars, and everyone bands together to rescue him. This was great! There were a lot of parts of very technical descriptions, but I could skim over those and just enjoy the ride. The writing was quick and funny {I LOL'd several times, ha}. Good book, good movie!

The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz {Read a book with 'girl', 'boy', 'man', or 'woman' in the title - 15 points}- If you liked The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the other Millenium trilogy books, you'll enjoy this continuation of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist's story about cybercriminals.

I finished The Martian last night, and we leave soon for New Orleans, so I need to find something new for our trip. Any suggestions? I only have 1 book left for the book challenge - a book about food, so we'll see if I can come up with something soon!