I managed to read only ONE book last month, and it wasn't even that big of a book. I read
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate. It takes place in two different timelines; in 1875, in Louisiana, a pampered heiress, her illegitimate free-born Creole half-sister and the heiress' former slave journey to Texas in search of different things. Meanwhile in 1987, a new school teacher in an impoverished community struggles to inspire her students. The author alternates timelines--one chapter set in 1875, then one chapter in 1987--and I found it a bit distracting. Honestly, I didn't really care all that much about the school teacher and wish the book had focused more on the three women traveling to Texas, especially since I feel *both* stories were rushed and incomplete (in the case of the teacher in 1987, there's a plot "twist" in literally the last few paragraphs of the entire book that seems to come out of nowhere and should've been mentioned far earlier, as it would've clarified a few things about the character's motivation). The title of the book comes from RL ads placed in Southern newspapers by former slaves looking for family members; it broke my heart reading the actual letters Wingate included between chapters. I didn't dislike the book but I thought it was a little disjointed and suffered from the author being too ambitious and trying to tell too many tales at once. B-.
This is the third book by LW that I've read recently; the first was Before We Were Yours and the second Tending Roses. The former was a vastly superior book while the latter was an excellent example of how Christian fiction doesn't need to be overly saturated with references to God. I read very little Christian fiction because most of it follows the same formula: something bad happens, people pray, problem solved, happy ending for all! Booooring. Actually, I think that somewhat explains why I'm not reading as much as usual these days...I'm not exactly burned out on reading but it seems like I'm picking up too many books that follow the same formula or are set in similar time periods or just aren't really hitting on anything I'm terribly interested in (ads for the RL Lost Friends notwithstanding).
