April “Non-Classics List” Reads

Five books finished in April. Two, Night by Elie Wiesel and Bleak House by Charles Dickens, were on my “classics to read” list and they have been reviewed separately in prior entries. The other three finished this month were:

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs. This is a fabulous little book. Aimed at readers who have lost their “long-read” mojo in an age of digital distraction and incessant social media scrolling, which, to be frank, is NOT me, the book proposes some solutions to the problem. The thing that makes this book fresh is that Jacobs does not condemn technology – he contends that his own reading problem was largely solved by using his Kindle! But he does recognize the inherent distraction that constant media consumption trains us to expect. He doesn’t like those “1 gazillion books you ought to read before you die” lists and counsels us to read at “Whim” (and the capitalization is important – read the book to find out why). Not necessarily to read solely what *pleases* us, never trying something new – but to be led by serendipity rather than a pre-made list. He is also a proponent of rereading – and that was the part of the book that most struck my heart. So much so that I am considering making the summer months a time of simply rereading the books that I call my favorites and save. 4 stars for this little gem.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. This book plays out the “what if” game. What if I hadn’t been in that Business Communications class that summer to meet my future husband. What would have happened? What would my life have been then? It is an interesting hook for a plot. Somewhere between life and death there is a library – where you can see what would have been “if”. The book has lessons to teach. And they aren’t subtle. I saw them coming from a mile away. BUT. That doesn’t invalidate the book, in my opinion. It just means that because I am much older than the target audience, I have already learned a lot of these lessons simply by *living*. I would have liked this book MUCH better at 20 than I do at 65. Not sorry I read it. 3 stars.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Oh, I know that millions of women are Jane Eyre fangirls. Not me. This was a reread for me along with the Close Reads podcast. While that podcast opened my eyes to many good things about the book and its heroine, I still can’t love Jane. I have come to think that it is simply that I am suffocated in a gothic novel – especially one like Jane Eyre that is so very long and so very wordy (and I’m not turned off by wordy!). While I can kind of get behind a fast-moving gothic like Rebecca (which could be kind of gothic-lite), the overwhelming atmosphere, heightened emotion and even all the descriptions of weather and scenery and everything else just made me feel like I was drowning. I can see the genius, so I will leave my initial rating of 4 stars, but it cannot ever be a “loved” book for me.