Books to Check Out: What I Read in November 2021

Look! A new title for my monthly book reviews! I wanted a new title to better reflect what I’m actually reading. I’m not reading new books being released every month, and so on. I’m just trucking through my TBR and showing off some of the cool books that deserve more attention. This month is no exception. I read a few books this month, and oddly enough they all just happened to be fascinating, female-protagonist-driven stories that blew me away.

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

This one is a classic from the 1960s, and I think this book deserves a revival. It tells the story of three women, Anne, Neely, and Jennifer, and what happens to their lives once they move to New York City. It’s a devastating view of what happens to a woman trying to get what she wants, and the obstacles she faces when she tries to attain it. There’s the issue of self-image, how fame affects relationships, and drug abuse on every page. It was sad to read, but I enjoyed the rich characters and sympathized with them at every turn.

I’ll also mention that I read the 50th anniversary edition. This came with a wonderful introduction and an essay from the author that I found to be such a great addition to my reading experience. This book was pretty ahead of its time. This was written in the era of housewives, remember, and these characters were all determined women looking to find their way on a different path. It’s a perspective that should be read and looked back on, and this book is a great way to do so.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

Prodigal Summer has been on my TBR for some time, and I finally picked it up. It follows three different characters and the unexpected ways their situations skirt around each other and interact. I enjoyed the way the characters orbit each other without really meeting. They were all so different. There was a solitary woman living in the woods, another a recent widow, and the third a grumpy old man.

The setting was probably the most fascinating part of this book. It’s set in the southern wilderness. The descriptions of the forests and farms, of all the different species of animals and plants, all of it gave me such a full picture of the area and it completely immersed me in the book. It’s unlike a lot of what I’ve read recently, being that there isn’t a central conflict. This is just the description of three lives trying to navigate hard times, and how they’re able to break through their struggles in the end.

It's also worth mentioning that this book was beautifully written. The sentences are gorgeous in their composition and word usage. It’s so seamless all throughout, and you’ll be swept away in the language from page one.

Very Nice by Marcy Dermansky

This was a surprise book that I found by accident. I think I stumbled across it on my library’s audiobook app somehow, and it was short. I figured, why not. I was busy around the holidays during the back half of the month, so I wanted something short I could get through in my limited free time. Wow, this was a nice surprise. A…very nice surprise, if you will.

All puns and joking aside, this is another book that deals with multiple characters and the strange ways their lives intersect. What I loved the most about this book was that while I could understand all the different motivations of all the characters, I wasn’t super fond of any of them. The main character, Rachel, was probably my favorite, only because her choices I could chalk up to her being a young nineteen-year-old. She wasn’t perfect, but I sympathized with her the most. The ending to this book was also one that I wasn’t quite expecting. It leaves you guessing right up until the last sentence. It doesn’t happen often that a book will charge full speed ahead into the ending like that without offering a more solid conclusion. However, it made for an ending that I’ll remember for a long time.

It was interesting to me that I read books this month that were more character based than plot based. They didn’t have conventional “here’s the problem, here’s how our protagonists will deal with it” type of action. Each book followed characters throughout their lives and the multiple conflicts they had going on. I felt like I was reading character studies more than anything. These were a blast to read, so go look into them yourself!