WeHa Book Club

We’re onto the Sweet Sixteen of this year’s Winter Madness Book Tournament presented by West Hartford Public Library. I submitted my first round votes and only two of my picks got eliminated so we’re in pretty good shape so far. But this is where the margin of error gets a little tighter.

P.S. Make sure you stay tuned for my bonus UConn content at the end of the post.

General Fiction

I am very interested in reading The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, as I apparently have a habit of loving books with elderly protagonists and birds on the cover. A story told through a lifetime of letter writing, I don’t know much else about this book (intentionally, as I don’t want to spoil something on my ‘to read’ list). But it seems like I’d love it. On the flip side, My Friends by Fredrik Backman fell short of it’s intended goals. I know Alli wasn’t the biggest fan, as per her review last week, and I believe that The Correspondent deserves to advance on reputation alone. I’m excited to give it a read.

Romance

As a side note, is it a requirement to have little cartoon couples on the cover of every single one of these romance novels? It reminds me of the formulaic covers for every Hallmark Christmas movie. Full transparency, I don’t have strong opinions about either of these titles, so I’m going to base this off synopsis and author prestige. Emily Henry has 18 books (virtually all with that same cover by the way), and Great Big Beautiful Life is simply the latest beach read. The Love Haters features a similarly straight-forward plot of a writer who is jaded about the idea of love and (I’m assuming) learns to love again. This isn’t really my kind of book, if I’m being totally honest, so I’ll abstain from giving my vote here.

Historical Fiction

Okay, now we’re into the heavy hitters! Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid is Alli’s pick for book of the year, so there’s a lot of pressure on these matchups. From the writer of the uber popular Daisy Jones & The Six comes a story of a woman obsessed with going to space. I’ll leave a longer review for Alli since I know she’s so passionate about this one, but I have no choice but to vote for Atmosphere for her sake. I will say this for Good Dirt, however. At least on paper, this seems like an awesome story. Charmaine Wilkerson’s novel explores the ripple effects that a tragedy can have throughout multiple generations. I plan on reading both of books, but it’s got to be Atmosphere advancing to the Elite Eight.

Mystery/Thriller

This is the other big one, at least in terms of the WeHa Book Club universe. Full disclosure, I have not read The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman. I do, however, own the book and have read all four of its predecessors in the Thursday Murder Club book series, and it’s safe to say I’m a big fan. ‘Delightful’ is the best word I can conjure to describe this series. Following four Septuagenarian Sleuths (which is now one of my new favorite phrases, as my fiancé can attest) along with their diverse cast of friends and adversaries, the Thursday Murder Club series is hilarious, heartfelt and just downright entertaining. No offense to Heartwood which seems akin to last year’s winner The God of the Woods, but I’m going with The Impossible Fortune all the way. This series deserves more love.

Fantasy

I’m just starting to get into fantasy books, so I’m not coming from a position of superiority here. But Katabasis by R.F. Kuang seems like an easy winner in this matchup. Based on the hype of this book alone, I’m leaning towards Katabasis as the likely favorite to win the whole tournament this year. Especially given the side of the bracket it’s on, it seems like it’s a shoe-in for the final four and likely the championship match. I’m also wrapping up The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang at the moment and let me tell you… Kuang can tell quite the story. Listen, congratulations to Bones in the Midnight Soil for winning the first round matchup against The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. According to Alli, Bury My Bones is a fantastic book in its own right and V.E. Schwab is an incredible writer. But I still think Kuang is likely to win the battle of the double-initialed authors.

Science Fiction

Similar to Fantasy, I’m just starting to get into reading Sci-Fi novels. So, this is somewhat unfamiliar territory for me and I’m using this category as more of a pool of recommendations than anything else. That goes for Death of the Author and The Poppy Fields, which have already been eliminated, as well. But let’s talk about the winners. The Compound is about a Big Brother style reality competition show with heavy rewards and consequences. It’s going against The Dream Hotel, which explores the Total Recall idea of ‘pre-crime’ and the analysis of dreams to predict future behaviors. Both are pretty compelling concepts but I believe The Compound is probably the better choice here based on the hype of new author Aisling Rawle.

Memoir/Biography

My take here is in no way intended to take away from the amazingly inspiring story of Malala Yousafzai. Her journey is one of the most harrowing tales I’ve ever come across, and I would highly suggest you check out her recent appearance on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, at the very least. Her memoir, Finding My Way, tells of her origin of a Pakistani activist under the heel of the Taliban to a celebrated Nobel Prize winner and political activist. Malala Yousafzai is an undeniably incredible human being. The only reason I would give Nobody’s Girl the edge here is because of the relevance it holds today. One of the first high profile accusers of Jeffrery Epstein, Virginia Roberts Giuffre deserves our full attention right now. I fully intend on reading both of these books this year, but I’ve got to give the nod to the more topical story in terms of this particular tournament. But make no mistake, this is a heavyweight matchup.

Non-Fiction

Instead of focusing on the winners here, I want to focus on one of the books that got eliminated. The Let Them Theory is a somewhat controversial theory that focuses on letting go of your sense of control over other people’s actions. While I think it’s unhealthy to obsessively focus on things that are out of your control, I’m not sure I subscribe to the notion that you should ignore all outside problems in the world. I know that’s an overly simplified understanding of the theory, but I’m kind of glad Sisters in Science, by Olivia Campbell, knocked it out in the first round. Also, as someone who is engaged to a physics nerd (sorry Alli, but you know it’s true), this story holds special meaning for me. As far as Everything is Tuberculosis, Alli has actually read this one, so I’ll use her words here:

“John Green flexes his range beyond the realm of teenage drama and into the realm of nonfiction whilst maintaining the accessibility and narration that makes his prose so enjoyable to read. Building connections across cultures throughout time, Green makes it clear that tuberculosis can feasibly be fully curable today, yet somehow continues to kill millions each year. This book is interesting and enlightening, without the density common for such a complex, scientific topic.” – Alli Reads

Go Huskies!!

I’m going to spend the rest of this ‘Winter Madness’ tournament sharing some highlights from my favorite sports team, the UConn Huskies. The kings of March, if you will. I love me some Boston Red Sox and Dallas Cowboys (unfortunately), but there is nothing that gets me more fired up than UConn Men’s Basketball. In honor of the Sweet 16 round of this book tournament, please enjoy my all-time favorite Husky, Kemba Walker, absolutely willing his team to advance to the Elite Eight back in 2011.

Going toe-to-toe with future hall-of-famer Kawhi Leonard, who would go on to win two NBA championships, make seven all-star games, and be awarded two NBA defense player of the year honors (and counting), Kemba was able to lead all scorers with 36 points, doubling nearly every player on SDSU. Impressive. Enjoy!