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Writer's pictureKaty Duncan

Book Review-October, November, and December 2021

This may be three months overdue, but I have three great book recommendations for you!

Does anyone else have an “all or nothing” mentality when it comes to writing? I didn’t put out an October Book Review in time so I completely scratched the idea of it. Then I repeated the same pattern of thought for November and December and now here I sit, writing a three-months-overdue book review post.


Sometimes, that’s just how it goes. As a writer, sometimes you’ll spend a large chunk of time writing for other people, sometimes you’ll spend a fair amount of time writing your own pieces, and sometimes you just read the writings of others…and then take three months to talk about it.


In honor of having taken approximately three months off from writing anything for my personal blog, I’ve lumped together three months’ worth of book reviews to help kickstart the year.


If your new year resolution was to read more, some of these books may get you to your goal.


Jennie by Paul Gallico

Description: This is the tale of a little boy who suffers an unfortunate accident that leaves him to awaken as a cat. Through his new adventures as a cat, he meets another feline and they create a bond that prevails through this book’s twists and turns. With plenty of plot twists, you probably won’t guess how this book ends halfway through.


My Opinion: Let me start out by saying that I am absolutely crazy about cats. I have one, I collect cat figurines, I have a wide assortment of cat clothes, towels, and blankets; this one wasn’t hard to entice me with. I blew through this faster than a lot of other books though due to the fact that each chapter was left on a cliffhanger that had me turning the pages all the way to the end. If you enjoy books with talking cats as the main characters, this is worth reading.


A Place in Time by Joy Massey

Description: This is the true story and adventures of a young woman who creates a sustainable, off-grid lifestyle in the rural lands of California. This book recounts these memories from the ’70s and ’80s when the back-to-the-land movement was happening. Written in a way that truly transports you back in time, this is a fascinating and inspiring read.


My Opinion: Full disclosure, I may be slightly biased because this is written by my incredibly talented aunt (whom I’ve informally adopted as my second mom-my biological mom is equally as talented!) so I have a soft spot for this book already. It really does transport the reader back in time to an era of communal living. Now, as housing costs continue to rise and the cost of living becomes more expensive each year, new generations are pushing back for sustainable community living. I can’t tell you the number of millennial friends I have that agree that sustainable, off-grid, communal living is the way to go in the future. This book lets you live out that fantasy and keep that dream alive.


Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Description: This story follows the life and trying times of Kya Clark in 1960’s North Carolina; better known in the story as “The Marsh Girl.” There’s an underlying romance that carries through the entire book while you, the reader, follow Kya through her struggles as a child all the way to adulthood. Oh yeah, and there’s also a murder mystery happening alongside all of that!


My Opinion: This took me awhile to get into. I had heard a lot of hype around this book and everyone I knew was reading it, so I snagged myself a copy at my local bookstore. It was a slow burn for me and the murder mystery didn’t suck me in as much as I initially thought. I did, however, enjoy reading it and can admit by the end of the book that it was well-written and told a good story-which is the whole point! Would I recommend it? Absolutely.


 

I read some incredible books during 2021 and let myself get back into the habit of reading for pleasure, rather than to achieve some sort of knowledge or end goal.


I’ve now set my own book reading resolution for 2022 to read 12 books. Just one per month-because that’s typically all I have time for amongst all of my other projects. How many books do you plan to read in 2022, and what’s on your reading list this month?


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