I have been traveling a lot so there have been days this month with plenty of time to read and then days where I don’t get any reading time at all, so it’s been an interesting month of reading on planes, trains, and automobiles.

Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste was everything I hope a modern twist on a classic will be, times two. Kiste’s narrative of the second lives of Bertha from Jane Eyre and Lucy from Dracula combines two novels I’ve been reading and re-reading for years and shakes them up for something new. To accomplish this, Kiste takes equally from the original Dracula and all of the Hollywood interpretations that followed and pushes things even further in her approach to Jane Eyre when Mr. Rochester becomes an actual monster rather than a questionable male lead. By pairing up the beloved, beautiful Lucy from Dracula and the supposedly mad Bertha from Jane Eyre to face off against these literary monster men, Kiste recasts the heroes, villains, and secondary characters to make readers reconsider both the original texts and plenty of horror and gothic stories that were inspired by them. It’s a wild ride and I’d recommend it completely.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus was absolutely nothing like every person online, in print, and on social media said it would be. It was chosen as the book of the month by the Hay Literary Festival and was Book of the Year by Barnes & Noble so my expectations were high… high enough that I probably would have hated it if my friend hadn’t read it first and called me to adjust them. It was described as a feminist novel full of humor and a courageous, brilliant, genius (everyone falls just short of calling her perfect) main character. To me (and my friend who agrees she probably would have enjoyed the book if her expectations were different) it was entertaining, but it was set in a Hollywood version of the 1950’s rather than any sort of believable 1950’s. Fans of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel will enjoy it (keeping in mind there is a dark, brief description of rape) but it didn’t inspire me to look up the stories of real female scientists the way most reviews promised it would because none of the characters felt real – they felt like characters. As I said, it was enjoyable and funny, but it was also a good reminder that no “book of the year” is going to win that award for every reader.

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton has been on my shelf for a very, very long time and is an excellent example of how a book you start and don’t like might one day be just what you are looking for. I tried reading it a long time ago and it didn’t catch my attention but as I was packing for a trip to Amsterdam, I thought it might be a good time to pick it up again – and I was right. The story builds slowly as you learn the secrets of each of the characters and Burton creates a detailed world for the reader in her descriptions of the city streets, food, clothing, and of course the miniature house and its furniture and occupants. The only complaint I have is I wish there were more scenes pairing up the main characters. Readers spend most of the novel alone with Nella wondering about the other occupants of her home and new life and sometimes it felt like the suspense Burton was building in those pages came at the expense of character development. However, by the end you’ve met everyone and learned their secrets so its worthwhile story to lose yourself in.

This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay was a secondhand shop hand-me-down from a friend so it’s a classic case of a well-worn paperback passed around because everyone who reads it knows someone else who should (I’ve already given it away.) I’ve already discussed, at length, my love of the non-traditional memoir and this adapted diary is another great example. It has plenty of dark humor used to cope with deep emotion as Kay describes the daily life of a doctor in the modern NHS. Spoiler alert: it’s not like Call the Midwife. Speaking of BBC tv shows, I tried to watch the new show adaptation of Kay’s work earlier this year, also called This is Going to Hurt but seeing some of the stories played out on screen was too much for me in a way reading about them wasn’t. I loved a lot of things about this book but the most powerful thing to me is the reminder that on the toughest days of your life sometimes it is a stranger who will save you.

After all of those ups and downs and monsters and trips through time I had two books that I gave up on. 

First up, The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix. I had a last minute, long car ride so I grabbed this one as a digital loan from the library after seeing it in my local bookstore’s window display repeatedly, but it wasn’t a good fit for me. It was a collection of characters with really sad and difficult back stories thrust into a narrative that felt like a light-hearted parody of true crime and horror. Based on the bestseller stickers, that combination of setting, tone, and character worked for a lot of readers, but it didn’t for me, so I returned it early. 

And finally, after months and months of trying to make progress, I skipped to the end of The Enigma of Room 622 by Joël Dicker, Translated by Robert Bononno. This book has a lot to offer and on paper seemed like it was going to be exactly what I love in a mystery (I even pre-ordered my copy!) It is a mystery novel about a writer writing a mystery novel and I usually love that. Add some heartbreak, light spy narratives, and a bit of corporate espionage? All of those usually work for me, but this time it all came down to the pacing. This is a long book, almost 600 pages, and it moved too slowly for me. Repeated conversations and themes were constant and the backbone of a good mystery – constant small revelations that lead up to the big conclusion – just weren’t offered at the right pace for me. C’est la vie…