Share Your Shelf-February

Hello friends. It's the first Thursday of the month which means it's time to share what we've read the month prior. The link to join or to see what others are reading is hosted by Joanne (Slices of Life) and Dara (Not In Jersey).  

Here's how my February looked-

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

I've been reading (or re-reading as the case sometimes is) a classic piece of literature every month and this month it was Huck Finn. I chose this one because my book club is reading the Pulitzer Prize winning James by Percival Everett in March, and the stories are related. I've been told you can read James having never read Huck Finn, but I thought it might be a good time to revisit this American classic. 

First things first...I listened to this one on Audible. It's narrated by the actor Elijah Wood who does an excellent job. That being said, I'd forgotten about how often the 'not nice' word is said in this book, and hearing it said aloud many times over was jarring. So there's that. 

At the start of the narration there is a little spiel about the times in which this book was written, the accents and language, the saltiness if you will, but the first time that word rolls off the narrators tongue you're shocked. Or at least I was. 

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is told in the first person and the tale is known for it's very colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River. It's set in 1840's Missouri and begins where Tom Sawyer ended. Huck has faked his own death/murder to escape his abusive father and he soon reunites with Old Jim, an escaped slave. The pair decide to float down the river to the town of Cairo Illinois, a freed slave settlement,  but of course they run into more than a few problems and adventures along the way. 

It took me a couple of chapters to get in to the flow of the storytelling as Twain wrote this in vernacular English and I had to really concentrate to follow it at first. Quickly though I was caught up in the story and am glad I revisited this one before diving in to my book club selection. James is the same story but told from the slave Jim's point of view so it will be interesting to compare. I've just started that one so will share my thoughts on that next month. 

The Museum Of Failures by Thrity Umrigar

I liked this one, although it got off to a very slow start for me. I loved this author's book Honor, and while this one wasn't quite as good, it was still an engaging read, particularly once the plot picked up.

Which I'm gonna say was almost too late.  

Remy Wadia left India for the US, taking with him a barrel of resentment directed towards his cold and sometimes cruel mother. He married an American woman and has kept his distance from his mother and homeland ever since.  Now he's returned to Bombay with plans to adopt a baby from a young pregnant girl, and to see his elderly mother once more. She's in the hospital and has completely stopped talking. 

Remy is overwhelmed with guilt for not realizing how serious her illness had become and he devotes himself to her recovery before planning his return trip home to America. In searching for something in his mother's home he stumbles across an old photograph that needs an explanation. Family secrets are revealed, and Remy finds himself reexamining his entire childhood and the relationship he thought he understood with his parents. 

I gave it three stars because I felt like I was two-thirds through before I was invested in the plot. 

This Book Made Me Think Of You by Libby Page

I loved this one. An original plot, and a tender read I finished in mostly one sitting. 

Five months after her husband Joe dies Tilly Nightingale receives an unexpected gift. Before his death Joe had arranged with a local bookseller to give Tilly a book a month for that first year she'll spend without him. There's also a letter of encouragement to go along with each book, and I especially loved the way the author didn't rush or minimize the grieving. Really well written. 

Through the gifted books Tilly finds her way through grief and loss, finds courage to step out of her comfort zone, and along the way discovers new things about herself while also getting reacquainted with the person she was prior to her husband's death. Four big stars for me. 

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy 

Emphasis on the word dark. Why is this book so popular? I don't think Reese Witherspoon and I have the same taste in books lol. This is one of her book club picks, and  I started to mark it DNF, but knew there was a twist coming and was curious enough to see it to the bitter end. Eh. 

I've heard it described as an atmospheric eco-thriller and honestly if I'd heard that before reading I would for sure have passed it by. The seed bank topic was a little bit interesting, and such a thing does exist (there's one in Norway designed to protect biodiversity in the case of a worldwide catastrophe) but the author got a little preachy and it went a bit strange for me. The twist was definitely twisty, just not enough for me to give this one more than three stars. 

The plot follows the Salt family (dad Dominic and his three children-Fen, Raff, and Orly) living as the last inhabitants of a remote island near the coast of Antarctica (Shearwater). They've been given the task of protecting the world's largest seed bank, and now tides are rising and the island is being evacuated. Researchers who had also been on the island working have already left, and the family is charged with packaging up the seeds for transport off the island. 

In the middle of this work, there's a terrible storm and a woman (Rowan) washes ashore beaten up from her voyage and barely alive. Rowan isn't completely truthful about why she's there and the family might just be keeping a few secrets of their own. 

It sounds pretty good doesn't it? And parts of it were, but overall it was not for me. 

So what have you been reading lately? Send anything you loved my way please. And I hope there's time for a good book in your day today!