#AMonthofFaves: 3 Popular Books Worth the Hype

Fri. | Dec. 8 – 3 Popular Books Worth the Hype #AMonthofFaves– and/or Not Worth the Hype

Join hosts  Girlxoxo, Traveling with T and Estella’s Revenge for the 4th annual #AMonthofFaves blog event – a fun way to recap the year that was.

Three books I read this year that I picked up because I've heard about them and read rave reviews and that lived up to expectations? That can be tricky, because sometimes beginning something based on great expectations (copywrite Dickens) can backfire. You are expecting to enjoy it so much, that you can't help but be let down. This is not the story with these three books.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (12h 38min)
I listened to this first in a quartet originally wondering what all the hype was about. I quite enjoyed it, got very much into the story of two friends in Naples, Italy in the 1950s. I wish my library had more on audio, but I will be reading the next installation, The Story of a New Name next year for sure, wanting to find out what happens next for these poor yet ambitious frenemies.

Redshirts by John Scalzi, 320 pages
I loved this crazy science fiction romp through the galaxy! So funny, so meta for fans of Star Trek. Not that I am even a fan, I've seen the original series episodes. But the series is very much a part of our cultural knowledge. Each time I realized what was happening and how it all connected, I'd just think, wow. So much fun.

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, 496 pages
I can't decide whether to consider this a book worth the hype, or an underrated book. It certainly was a fantastic read, an homage to golden age mysteries. I saw it around in the spring/summer and then loved it when I read it. It is actually two books in one - a manuscript for a mystery, whose author then disappears , sending the editor on a wild goose hunt for the second mystery. So well done. If you are any kind of an Agatha Christie fan, you must read this!