Clare Henney: April 2013

Back when I was younger I loved to read. I read just about anything I could get my hands on, even the old issues of Reader’s Digest in my grandmother’s house. As I grew older I still enjoyed reading but it’s something that I haven’t had much time for lately. This year I thought maybe I could change that by giving myself a target number of books to read: 100. Is 100 too ambitious for someone who hasn’t read even half as much last year? Yes, definitely. But it’s still something I’d like to try. So far, with almost four months of the year done, I’ve managed to finish reading 19. If I go by my Goodreads guide, I’m 12 books behind schedule. That’s a lot to catch up on! I decided to keep my reading list light so that I could read more books in a short amount of time. Here are the books I’ve finished so far:

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson was the first book I read this year. It’s about a woman with amnesia who is trying to piece her life back together with extreme difficulty because she forgets everything when she goes to sleep. I liked the book because I didn’t know where it would end up while I was reading it. I’d always have these ideas of what kind of life the lead character had but never quite got it right until it was revealed in the end. It’s a good read. I didn’t expect it to be but it was.

I also read some Chick Lit books, particularly books from Sophie Kinsella (of the popular Shopaholic series). Remember Me is a bit similar to Before I Go To Sleep because the lead also has amnesia and has to piece her life together again but it is done in a lighter way (because it is Chick Lit). I’ve Got Your Number, on the other hand, is about a girl who “borrows” a phone from a guy (I kept picturing Michael Fassbender in my head for some reason) and ends up having a relationship with him in the process. I liked both books, but I’ve Got Your Number was better for me.

I also read Jennifer Weiner’s The Next Best Thing, which is about an aspiring TV writer who got her dream to come true and found love in the process. I didn’t really go for the whole romance aspect but I loved the story and the journey the lead character took in making her dream as a writer a reality.

There were two books in the “Funny Women Memoirs” category on Goodreads that I got around to reading (after much struggle on my part): Ellen DeGeneres’ Seriously, I’m Kidding and Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? To be fair, both books were funny and felt like you were talking to a really chatty friend over a cup of coffee (or maybe a few drinks). Problem is that I kept starting the books but found it hard to finish because there was no story involved so I wasn’t able to get myself invested enough to finish them. I felt like shouting, “Finally!” whenever I finished a book to be honest!