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Presenting… five more of my 2020 book reviews! This post will be a bit short because… well, you’ll see why as you read down the list.

I bought this book many years ago in the clearance section of Half Price Books. I was just starting to become more aware of this issue and have people in my life touched by it, so I thought it would be good to read a book that dealt with it with both grace and truth, and the back of the book seemed promising.

It was a good book. It contained some practical advice that was helpful to me, and was actually written by several different authors who come at the issue of how to lovingly and biblically interact with the LGBT people in our lives. I only had two issues with it — one, since it was written in 2006, some of it feels a little dated, with arguments or language you don’t really hear with regards to this issue anymore. Two, I found out after I finished it that the main author and some of the others involved have since denounced it and have gone back to their previous lifestyles, which is disappointing. This makes me feel like there might be better books on the topic by authors who are perhaps more grounded — but in the meantime, this was a good book and I found it helpful.

This installment of A Series of Unfortunate Events was just as weird and wacky and delightful as the rest. The cleverness of prose and charm of the main characters and creativity of the worldbuilding are just plain fun to read. I really look forward to reading these to my kids someday!

Okay, so I don’t really feel right about trying to review this particular one — I happen to be very, very close to the author, so I can’t really be objective about it!

In all seriousness, I included this in my book count because I really did read it from cover to cover last year — I was continuing my quest to read all of my books aloud to my husband, and this one was next in line. If you’re interested in reviews on this one, check out its Amazon page!

Another book club read, one of the more enjoyable ones! This is a fictional account of a young girl living near a Japanese internment camp during World War II, and follows the story of her family, the town, and the complicated relationship the town has with the camp and the Japanese.

While there were some things I didn’t love about it (mostly just some flaws in the plot or places that fell a little flat for me), I overally really did like this one. It gave me a glimpse into a topic I wasn’t too familiar with beforehand, and I really grew to love the characters and was invested in everything that happened. Overall, I would recommend this one (though it does deal with some pretty dark topics, such as racism and sexual assault). The family dynamics are sweet, the history is interesting, and the story is engaging.

Yep, another one I read to my husband that I can’t really in good conscience rate or review (and honestly, I’m not sure I could figure out how to rate or review it even if I wanted to!). But I did enjoy revisiting it, and I can point you to its Amazon page for reviews, if you like.

That’s all for today! I’ll try to get the next five up for you this weekend. As always, tell me your thoughts about any of these books!