STAY WITH ME BY AYOBAMI ADEBAYO // 5 stars
I finished this on the first of November, just in time for Joce's liveshow! What a heart-breaking (but also incredible) book. Stay With Me follows the life of a married Nigerian couple who are unable to bear children, and the story tackles the pressure of responsibility to family + the burden of infertility. I was so nervous to read this, as I never dip my toes in literary fiction, but this one exceeded all my expectations. The language was easy to understand + there was a really good balance between the character and plot development. Adebayo is such a powerful storyteller—I will definitely be picking up whatever she writes next!
BETTER THAN BEFORE BY GRETCHEN RUBIN // 4 stars
This was an interesting study on habits and how we can best tackle them depending on our tendencies. (These tendencies are broken down into four categories based on meeting and/or resisting our inner and outer expectations.) One thing to note should you choose to read Better than Before: this book is not a game plan. Rubin suggests different strategies to build good habits, mostly ones that work for her and her family/blog readers, but everyone is different. You know yourself, so you pick the strategies that work best for you!
SHUFFLE, REPEAT BY JEN KLEIN // 4.5 stars
I loved this one! I was looking for a cute contemporary to read, since Stay With Me was such a heavy read, and remembered Alexa talking about Shuffle, Repeat everywhere. I was initially hesitant to like this because June (the narrator) was a huge downer, but I loved seeing the differences between her and Oliver play out.
What was the best book you read in November?
I'm so glad you also enjoyed Stay With Me! It was so wonderful.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best books I have read in the past year, the author did an amazing job helping me understand each of the character's perspective. The book shows what a real marriage is and how family plays a role in our decisions.
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