June Book Review

I'm a little late getting this posted, but here's a look at the 4 books I read in June. They were mostly good ones!

First on my stack was Thunderstruck by Erik Larson, given to me by my dear brother for my birthday. :)  I've read 2 other books by Larson and they are phenomenal, so I couldn't wait to start this one! His books are historical non-fiction, but they read more like fiction. Larson's writing is superb, his research is thorough, and his stories are gripping. This book oscillates between the story of a young Italian inventor named Guglielmo Marconi who pioneered wireless telegraphy, and a grisly murder committed during the same era. The two stories converge at the end, but each one is compelling on it's own. Another fantastic book by Erik Larson!

My second book of the month, Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, was recommended to me by my mom. I put aside other picks to read this one, and I am so glad I did. Elisabeth Elliot was the wife of Jim Elliot, one of the 5 missionaries who were killed by Auca Indians in Ecuador in the 1950's. She writes about each of the men; their childhoods, their love for the Lord, and the different callings God put on all their lives that led them to that moment in the jungle. It was the most powerful and beautiful story, and left me sobbing at the end. I was completely overwhelmed by the faith of these young missionaries (and their wives!), and felt challenged to grow and stretch my own faith. This is not a long book, but boy was it impactful! I could not recommend it more highly!

I saved In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware to read on vacation, cause there's few things I enjoy more than reading a totally creepy murder mystery while sitting on the beach. :) Ware wrote The Woman in Cabin 10, which I read earlier this year. This one was just kind of meh for me. I don't want to give the story away, but it's about a group of people who go to a house in the woods for a bachelorette weekend, and someone ends up getting killed. It sounds like it should be good, but it just wasn't great. Very predictable and cheesy, and there were parts where I was like "why was that even included in the story??" Overall it wasn't my favorite.

Now Gillian Flynn knows how to write a thriller! I bought this book for $0.50 at the library and brought it to the beach as well. And within 4 days my mom and I had both read it! It's about a journalist who reluctantly returns to her small hometown to cover the story of a missing girl. She finds out that another young girl was murdered months before, and she begins looking into both cases and trying to find out whether or not they're connected. This story was creepy and twisted and I did not expect what happened at the end! Now I will say that Flynn is not the "cleanest" author, so if you're bothered by bad language and some sex then it might not be for you. I don't like that kind of stuff myself, but sometimes I look past it for a really, really good story. :)

Thanks for stopping by to check out my June reads. Come back in a couple weeks to see what I'm reading in July!