The Book Bit: February 2018 Ed.

When is this month going to be over! It feels like it's just been dragging on and on and the weather has been absolutely horrible. As I predicted, I was only able to put away two books this month because we are moving. Like, tomorrow. The house is a mess, there are boxes everywhere, and the weather hasn't been above freezing in a week. I'm over it. 100% over this move. *Deep breath* Moving on. These two books were exceptional this month, I mean, really really good. I'm so happy to share them with you guys, if maybe only to distract myself from all the packing and last minute things that need to still get done. These two stories have given me a much needed break from the stress of this month. Seriously, go to your library today and check these out, you will not regret it.


"Living Dead Girl"- Elizabeth Scott

Everybody needs to read this book. Men, women, boys, and girls, seriously read it. It's short, and you can easily finish it in one sitting. It's that good. The unimaginable happens. You're on a school field trip, and you get separated from your class. Some nice man offers to help you find your classmates, and he seems safe enough. When you wake up in the back of a van realizing you've been raped and you're never going home you will do anything to survive. Alice was taken when she was ten years old and now, at age fifteen, her captor seems unsatisfied with her. She's too grown up, too big, not the pretty little girl she used to be. Does she finally have a way to escape after all these years? This book spares no details of Alice's brutal life. It has a rare grittiness that makes this story so frighteningly real. This book has something for everyone, though I would recommend reading it before passing it along to your teenagers. It has some excellent messages that we as a society need to hear and talk about, even though we like to ignore them. You will not regret picking up this book.


"Swimming Lessons"- Claire Fuller

This was a book club selection and it was terrific! This is an excellent discussion book, so if you have a book club, add this to your next reading list. We have Gil, an accomplished writer, husband and father. We have Flora and Nan, Gil's daughters, who have vibrantly different lives and dreams. But this book isn't about Gil. Or even Nan and Flora. It's about Ingrid, Gil's wife and Flora and Nan's mother. Ingrid has always lived a bit in the shadows, always a step behind, and becoming Gil's wife only pushed her further into the darkness. One day Ingrid disappears. She simply goes out for a swim and never comes back. There was no body, no missing documentation; just no Ingrid. As the years have passed and Ingrid's disappearance remained unsolved, Gil has a terrible accident calling both his daughters to his side in their old house at the swimming pavilion. As we get to know a little about this family, we start to gather clues as to who Ingrid was and where she might have gone. Did Ingrid just disappear? Or did something else happen to her? This book will keep you up late flipping the pages; you will get sucked in immediately and have to finish it. Fuller did such a fantastic job with this story; you will be singing it's praises to anyone who will listen. Plus, you'll be dying to dissect it and discuss it with anyone who will listen.


Well, that's all I managed to read this month, but I already have some books lined up for March that I am already excited to start. In a few days, I'll be booting up my computer in a new home, in a new state and be ready to tackle some new literature. Happy reading, guys!