Summer Reading. Kind of funny the double connotation this phrase has in our home (and possibly yours?). For my kids… summer reading!? UGH. (Though they did end up enjoying their school’s choices – phew). For me… summer reading!?! YAY bring it on! I love summer reading. Something about the pace of summer enables me to build reading into my day on a very regular and welcome basis. It would NEVER occur to me to sit in my apartment in the middle of the day and read during the school year. I would feel guilty not tending to whatever it was that needed tending.
Reading is my leisure time – an activity reserved for evenings and weekends during fall, winter, and spring. But I am thankful that at least one season out of the four begs for reading. I take full advantage to get through as many books as I can, including this one: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (she also wrote The Nightingale – loved that book, too).
I know a book is good when I sneak away from my group to go read it (reading is a solitary endeavor). I distinctly remember hiding in the bathroom, ugly crying at the end of Me, Before You a couple of years ago. I know a book is really good if I start to mastermind ways to empty my house “Hey guys! Perfect day for fishing don’t you think?” “Oh me? No thank you. You guys go! Have fun! TAKE YOUR TIME!!!!!”
While I was in the throes of this captivating novel I literally wanted nothing more than to be alone with The Great Alone. Sorry group – love you – now get out of my house! Set primarily in the Great State of Alaska this book is largely about survival. Surviving Alaska. Surviving toxic relationships. Surviving some seriously bad decisions. Surviving heartbreak and loss. Surviving major life changes. Surviving after serving in Vietnam. Surviving a changing landscape. Surviving a bad fall. Surviving. So if you like survival stories… you know just what to do. Grab this book and read it!
I am done with the book. Y’all can come back now!
I loved THE GREAT ALONE too! Natalie also read it and really liked it.