Book Review -- Go Set a Watchman

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
My enjoyment rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Hangover rating:  2
Source: Library copy
Genre: General fiction
Objectionable material:  liberal use of the N* word


You cannot compare any book to To Kill a Mockingbird. Period. Even one written (supposedly) by Harper Lee. So this book was in an impossible situation from the beginning.

That being said...my intention was to read this simply as a book. A book with familiar characters, but only a book, and judge it as to whether I enjoyed it or not.

I did enjoy it.

I enjoyed Scout (in the book referred almost exclusively as Jean Louise) as a 20something; I enjoyed the witty, gritty, intellectual dialog between characters; I enjoyed the flashbacks to Scout's childhood (especially the one involving falsies!); I enjoyed the "bombshell" that occurs within the opening pages of the book and it's lingering effects; I enjoyed learning that ultimately, Atticus is a complicated character -- a Southern White Man, and all the trappings that may or may not go with that designation.

Was it the best book I've ever read? No. Was it a financial vehicle for the estate of Harper Lee and her handlers? Probably. Did it forever tarnish how I feel about TKAM?? Goodness NO!!! I can't imagine anything ever changing my view of Maycomb and the Finches and Boo Radley. Ever.

But this is a book you'd have to read for yourself and judge accordingly.

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Book Review - Big Little Lies

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

My enjoyment rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hangover rating: 5

Source: Personal copy

Genre: General fiction/women's fiction

Objectionable material: F-bombs

This was such an engrossing read and a brilliant look at the complications and secrets of a seemingly ordinary neighborhood and the families that are brought together by a public elementary school.

School fundraisers are brutal -- and in this case, deadly.

And PTA moms are very, very mean.

Couldn't put it down.

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Book Review -- Serena

Serena by Ron Rash

My enjoyment rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hangover rating: 5!!! OMG!

Source: Personal copy

Genre: General fiction

Objectionable material:  Very little language, some sexual innuendo, but nothing explicit, and the violence all happens "off stage."

Lady Macbeth meet Serena Pemberton -- I'm not sure which one of you would survive in a throwdown, but I'd love to watch.

Serena has one goal -- and that's to cut every tree down on the Western Hemisphere and make a truck load of money while doing it. With her husband, of course.

Oh -- and whatever you do -- do not get in her way.

I loved this book.

The writing was impeccable.

The characters gloriously complex and simple at the same time.

If Shakespeare had written a play about the Appalachian timber industry -- he would have written Serena.

Amy Dunne (Gone Girl) wouldn't stand a chance with Serena either.

The woman had acid in her veins.

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