Heather Is Reading

SO....today I turned in one of my final papers for my master's (Master's? too lazy to figure it out) degree and now I have a Spring Break! Woot woot! Anyway, now I have time to work on some other stuffs. One of my New Year's Resolutions (resolutions?) was to read more books for fun. When Brynn was born I felt like I spent my whole life sitting on the couch nursing her. Seriously, feeding a newborn is a totally constant thing (I HAD NO IDEA). I liked doing it, don't get me wrong. But add constant nursing to constant fatigue and me and Greg really got into a bad habit of watching a lot of TV. So in reality my New Year's goal was to watch less, read more. I was very clear with Greg that this was my personal goal and he didn't have to follow suit, but, like a well-trained spouse, he followed suit anyway. (LOVE YOU BABE).

Now we hardly ever watch TV anymore. It's great. Sadly, though, with school and I don't even know what else, I haven't read as much as I've wanted to. BUT, I am going to start a little blog series of sorts about what I'm reading. Once a week maybe? I don't know. But my goal is that if I have some public accountability, I'll be better at reading in my spare time instead of scrolling through the news/twitter/facebook or whatever it is I do.

Here is what I have read so far this year:

^I asked for this book for Christmas, and it was good. Some solid nonfiction every once in awhile is good for the soul, or the brain, or something. I'm really drawn to American social history, especially when it has to do with the WWII time period. I don't know why. We Band of Angels is about female nurses who were sent to a Filipino POW camp under the Japanese occupation. Some parts were a little dry, but a few of the women I just grew to respect so much. And it was a piece of WWII history I'm not very educated about. 

^Lila was so fun to read. I LOVE Marilynne Robinson's Gilead series. If you haven't read it, hop on Amazon and buy it. So good. So beautifully written. She gives you a very close read of a few lovely characters. SERIOUSLY. GO READ IT. 

So I think this book was a Pulitzer Prize winner, or something. Oh yes, I can't see that from the picture I just posted. I wanted to love it more than I actually did love it, if that makes sense. Doerr sees things in a unique way, and that led to thought-provoking passages that I enjoyed. But I felt as if sometimes his desire to be all poignant actually detracted from the story's ability to move forward in a natural way. I grew to really love the characters, but that love wasn't satisfied with the really purposeful ending I was looking for...the ending was good, but almost felt anti-climactic considering all the detail Doerr gave us leading up to it. I don't know. That's just how I felt. 

Here's the book I'm currently working on: 

I'm not very far in, but so far Songs of Willow Frost is kind of a Meh. I don't think it's as well written as the other book I've read from this author, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. But maybe it will get better. 

What are you reading?? I need suggestions.