December was unusual. I dropped more books than I had ever dropped in one month. Probably, thanks to this attitude I ended up mostly liking all other books I read. Here they are. Click the links for more information about the books.

1. The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt by Andrea Bobotis

It’s a beautifully written family story and my most favourite book of 2018. It will be out in the summer 2019. I’ve also published my full review of the book and I also talked about this book in my other post.

2. No Motive by Daphne du Maurier

It’s a fast-paced and gripping short story. If you want to know why a perfectly happy woman just shot herself, read the story.

3. The Familiars by Stacey Halls

This is a historical novel about a woman who’s trying to save herself, her baby and her friend. The book will be out soon!

4. Patrick Melrose novels

There are five novels about Patrick Melrose. At least the first three focus on just a few short events that illustrate Patrick’s whole life.

Never Mind is about Patrick’s childhood.

Bad News is about Patrick in his 20s.

Some hope is about Patrick when he’s 30.

5. Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties by Camille Pagán

I didn’t like the book, but I quite liked the protagonist, although Maggie was slightly too needy. People seemed to have enjoyed my review.

6. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

A nice story about two teenage boys who are discovering love and life.

7. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

This is a story about a book store owner. It’s basically a library in a form of fiction.

The three books that I did not finish

Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb

I hoped it would be a gothic scary story but it turned out to be a not very well written chick lit.

The Dry by Jane Harper

I liked Force of Nature, another thriller by Jane Harper, but I couldn’t finish The Dry. There is lots of fuss but no meaningful action. I got bored by the middle of the book so I dropped it.

The Bette Davis Club by Jane Lotter

I got the book because of a heartwarming introduction. This novel was initially self-published. The author didn’t live to see the book picked up by the publisher. The description is also intriguing. It’s a story about an aunt whose niece ran away from her own wedding so the aunt and the groom set off on an adventure to find her. Unfortunately, the book lost its logic by the middle. It also started focusing too much on unnecessary details and the protagonist started behaving very implausibly. That’s when I quit to give time to other books.

That is it for December. My January already started with something I liked and something I didn’t. I will tell you more soon. Meanwhile, here are some other posts where I mention several books at once.

Books I read in September
Books I read in October
November was awesome!
If somebody asked me what to read

I think the book annihilated the remains of my aversion to young adult genre. I used to treat the genre as a sort of wild teenage party. It is surely fun, but only for a certain age which I have already left behind. With this book, though, I discovered that the genre can be fine with me too, especially if I read it somewhere between observing Patrick Melrose’s drug abuse, and unraveling the prose of Sarah Perry. (In case you don’t know who they are, Patrick Melrose is the main character in several novels about his very complicated life, and Sarah Perry is an amazing author whose writing is so intricate that to read ten pages of her book takes about the same time as reading this young adult novel.) Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (boy, this title is long) is a great break from everything hard that sometimes happens in literature.

I don’t mean though that the book is on easy topics. It’s just written in a way that doesn’t overload you. All the hardships of the book are slightly blurred, so you don’t get to witness anything really graphic. More than that, one of the main big dramas of the book eventually acquires such an angle that a reader can almost feel relieved that it did happen, because when something bad happens to a bad guy it’s justice and everybody should be happy [sarcasm].

What’s the book about

It’s about a teenage boy called Aristotle whose family has a complicated history. Aristotle is not very close to his parents, especially not to his father who has his own traumas. Aristotle meets Dante, who’s a complete opposite of him. Dante is open, friendly, full of love and art. Even Dante’s father is a nice, friendly guy. The book is about the relationships between the two boys, and about the way people of all ages grow to understand and express their own feelings.

What I liked about the book

Its construction

Even though I understand that the main treasure of this book is how it addresses the topic of diversity, love and acceptance, and the way it shows the world to a younger audience, I mainly liked how easy it was to read the book.

Just look at this! It’s a chapter!

And it’s a dialogue!

The writing

It is simple, but not unpleasant. Taking into account that it’s written for younger audiences with (presumably) a shorter attention span, it’s probably a perfectly-written book.

It’s so quickly to read!

It took me just a couple of hours to finish the whole book!

What I didn’t like about the book

It was hard to follow the dialogues

As you can see in the photo above, there’s no indication who the lines belong to. Besides, sometimes the characters echo each other’s lines. That’s why it’s easy to mix them up by the end of the page.

Naiveness

Some things are slightly too naive or convenient, like all-knowing parents advice at the right moment, or big important conversations that finally happen. But I guess it’s the quality of the genre, and it will feel right for someone younger.

Redundant characters

I really don’t know why some characters happened in the book. Their presence was not necessary even as extras.

Aristotle is a drama queen sometimes

I understand that he’s a teenager with unbalanced emotions, but some of his reactions didn’t seem natural even through this prism.

Slightly empty plot

I expected there to be more adventures, taking into account that it’s a book about teenagers, with a part of the story taking place during summer holidays. There are a few highlighted events, but they would comfortably fit into a much shorter book.

Overall impression

It’s a great light read on deeper topics. If you like young adult novels, or looking for something easy to read, you will most likely enjoy Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.