Still Me by JoJo Moyes

I don’t have the words to describe how much I enjoyed reading Still Me by JoJo Moyes.  Still Me is the third in the trilogy after Me Before You and After You and is a novel of the further adventures of Louisa Clark.   The overall trilogy has dealt with real grief and the aftermath of grief.  How do you move on after a personal loss and tragedy? 

Louisa Clark has gotten the opportunity of a lifetime to go to work in New York City as the assistant for a wealthy couple.  She is embracing the wisdom of her late beloved Will Trainer who told her that she should not only embrace who she is and learn to live away from her family to explore new parts of the world and learn what makes herself happy.  Louisa had suffered a trauma early in her life which had made her wary of leaving the familiarity of her home town.  The one problem with leaving is not only leaving her family, but her boyfriend, Ambulance Sam.  Will Louisa be able to find herself and will their romance work out?

I loved that Louisa learned about herself that she would mold herself to make a partner happy, but that she needed to find herself first and find a partner that appreciated her for her unique self.  “Who was Louisa Clark, anyway?  I was a daughter, a sister, a kind of surrogate mother for a time.  I was a woman who cared for others but who seemed to have little idea, even now, how to care for herself.”

One of my favorite parts of the novel was when Louisa’s sister Treena found her one true love, Eddie.   Eddie is a woman and it took a bit for Louisa’s Dad to get used to the idea.  The entire meet the family made me laugh out loud as I could imagine it happening like that with my family.

Still Me is a comedy, a drama, a novel of working through grief, and a novel about learning about the importance of family and community.  The characters were wonderful in this novel.  I especially loved Lily playing the romantic foil for not only her grandparents, but for Louisa.  Moyes writes wonderful characters and I’ve enjoyed going through the journey with them for three novels.

Favorite Quotes: 

“Reader, I did the stupid thing.  I looked her up on Facebook.”

“Here is the thing about jealousy.  It’s not a good look.  And the rational part of you knows that.”

“You gotta have places where people can meet and talk and exchange ideas and it not just be about money, you know?  Books are what teach you about life.  Books teach you empathy.”

“I thought about my new home where, in a silent building of perhaps thirty people, nobody spoke to anyone, except to complain about some small infringement of their own peace, where nobody apparently either liked anyone or could be bothered to get to know them enough to find out.”

“He was shot through with the American dream – you worked hard, you succeeded, and then you gave back.”

“Women always have to make the difficult choices.  But there is a great consolation in simply doing something you love.”

“And then I thought about his later years when I’d treated him almost as a part of the furniture.  I hadn’t written to him.  I hadn’t called him.  I had just assumed he would be there as long as I wanted him to be.  Had he minded?  Had he wanted to speak to me?”

Overall, Still Me was a fitting conclusion to Louisa Clark’s journey through love and grief.  I love how she really discovered who she is and what she wants out of life.

Book Source:  The Kewaunee Public Library

After You by Jojo Moyes

Title: After You
Author: Jojo Moyes

Read by: Anna Acton

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 6 minutes (9 CDs)
Source: Kewaunee Public Library – Thank-you!

JoJo Moyes’ novel Me Before You was a book club favorite from last year.  The storyline was riveting, and the characters were realistic and moving.  When I discovered Moyes was writing a sequel, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it! 

Louisa Clark is still reeling after the death of Will Traynor.  As she says in brief, sometimes a story ends with a tragedy that has somehow put everyone’s life in a good spot, but that is not real life. Louisa has taken the money left to her by Will and traveled the world, but everywhere she went she was lonely, and missing Will.  She buys a sad flat in London with the money left and gets a job at a pub within an airport.  She is not happy at her job, especially when she gets a new boss whose sole purpose seems to be to make her miserable.

After an unfortunate accident that may have been caused by a lethal combination of alcohol and regret, Louisa is confronted with hard truths from her family and vows to put her life back on track.  She joins a group that deals with the loss of loved ones, the Moving On Support Group, and she meets a new man that finally make her think about starting a new relationship.  She also meets someone she never expected to meet that she spends a lot of time helping out (I don’t want to ruin the surprise by saying who this is).  Ultimately Louisa needs to determine whether she should take a risk and move on with her life, or if she is going to hide behind everyone else and remain stagnant.

I loved reading about Louisa and the cast of characters I grew to love in Me Before You.  I also loved the new characters.  There was a giant Will sized hole through the entire book and I’m glad it was addressed and the real feeling of loss was present.  Louisa seems real as she has her struggles, but she is not lost to them.  I did feel there were a couple of tragedy plot points, especially one near the end that took things a bit too far – it felt like a soap opera instead of a real characters and a comedy of manners as the rest of the novel felt.  That aside, I want to read more about Louisa, the Clarks, and the Traynors and I so hope there will be another book in this series.

The audiobook was a joy to listen to on my daily commute.  Anna Acton was a good narrator and was the voice of Louisa for me.

Overall, a good sequel for Me Before You, but I would definitely read or listen to the first book before I attempt this one.  Before You had riveting characters, but a storyline that used tragedy one too many times too move things along.

Laura’s Top Ten Books of 2014

I read a lot of wonderful books every year.  When I first started this blog, I used to do a top ten books list each year.  I have such lists for 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 but then I started my new job as an instructor at NWTC and I fell off the list making wagon.  I decided this year, no matter how late in 2015 it became I would have my top ten list again!

When I make my top ten list, it is not of books published in 2014, but of books I read in 2014.  It also only includes books (or audiobooks) that I have read for the first time.  For example, I read A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich for maybe the sixth or so time this past year.  It’s one of my all-time favorite novels, but I’ve read it before so it won’t be on this list.   I had a hard time narrowing down my favorites this year – but here goes in no particular order.

1.       The Husband’s Secret Liane Moriarty – We read this for my book club, but sadly I had to miss the book club and discussion that month.  Moriarty wrote a fabulous multi-faceted novel that keep you intrigued and involved in the lives of all of the characters.

2.      The Innovators by Walter Isaacson – The Best Non-fiction book of the year for me.  I was fascinated by the lives of all of the individuals who through sacrifice, hard work, and a bit of luck were able to make the technology we take for granted today possibly.  This is a must read.

3.      You by Caroline Kepnes – I am still a little frightened thinking about this book.  The main narrator makes his love and the psychopathic choices he makes for this love seem like they make sense.  This is how a good love story can go very, very wrong.

4.      Divergent & Insurgent by Veronica Roth – Stay up all night to read kind of books.  Divergent and Insurgent were exciting adventures.  I just read the third book Allegiant in 2015. . . it was not nearly so good.

5.      Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon – Gabaldon is a master story teller and her books defy genres.  I loved getting to read more of Jamie and Claire’s tale, but yearn for more.  If you haven’t read this series, start with book one, Outlander.  You will not be sorry!

6.      Silent Spring by Rachel Carson – Even though I am an environmental engineer, I have never read this classic.  The disturbing part about reading it was discovering that although a lot has changed for the good since the 1960’s, a lot still hasn’t changed.  It was eye opening and still very relevant to today’s world.

7.      The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd – A great historical fiction novel about a real historical abolitionist that I had never heard of and the relationship with her slave.  Riveting and a great book club selection.

8.      The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert – Another great historical fiction novel, I loved the depths, the botany, and the struggle for a woman to find herself in middle age.  This was a great adventure and absorbing read.

9.      Me Before You by JoJo Moyes – Another book club favorite from 2014.  We still talk about this book and I still think about the ethical and emotional discussions it led to.  It was a wonderful love story, but so much more.  It really brought about a great discussion on what makes life worth living.  I really need to read more books by this author.  I read a lot of books last year, but I’ll admit that this was my favorite.

10.  The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness – I loved Deborah Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy.  This final book in the trilogy was very satisfying.  The trilogy has historical fiction, time travel, witches, vampires, demons, and how to accept that we are all different but from the same fabric of life.  A great fantasy romance.

Some other fantastic books I read this year that wanted to be in my top ten, but didn’t quite make it were A Good Marriage by Stephen King, A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold, The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman, Netherwood and Ravenscliffe by Jane Sanderson, After I’m Gone by Laura Lippman, and Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield.

What were your favorite books of 2014?  Did you enjoy any of the selections above?