Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, Maira Kalman (Illustrator)

“There are so many movies like this, where you thought you were smarter than the screen but the director was smarter than you, of course he's the one, of course it was a dream, of course she's dead, of course, it's hidden right there, of course it's the truth and you in your seat have failed to notice in the dark.” 

Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped. 

At the beginning  I thought Ed was a jerk, then as the story unravelled, I became completely enamoured with their blossoming love.  Even though they are so different, their love was so sweet. 

I honestly didn't see the ending coming. I mean, I know the title kind of gives away the ending anyway, but I was so engrossed with the love that I forgot to try and figure out the real reason they broke up. And I was surprised! That so rarely happens to me, I'm usually really good at picking what's going to happen before I finish the first paragraph.

The whole jock-falls-for-nerdy-girl has been done so so many times before (I'm thinking fondly of Freddie Prince Jnr in 'She's all that')  but I've never read it from this perspective. Usually they both are able to overcome their massive differences and have a happy ending walking off into the sunset, but this is a detailed look into why it couldn't work, item by item. We all have a few relationship relics lurking around the house somewhere, things you just can't bring yourself to throw away, that have strong memories of a failed relationship tied to it.  

The writing is really very clever. The banter between the characters is very witty and intelligent for teenagers, but it just works. There were even a few one-liners that made me chuckle out aloud. I wanted to check out a few of the musicians and films that Min referenced throughout the book, and they were all made up! They were written so well that it was so believable - another reason why Handler is a talented writer.

It's not a very long book - I finished it in a single weekend - but I would read it again, and would recommend it to most people.

The Letter by Kathryn Hughes

Kathryn Hughes’ new ebook The Letter offers readers a chance to absorb themselves in the lives of two women, born decades apart but whose lives share a number of parallels. The novel explores two historical strands, bringing together an abused housewife from the 1970s and a young girl from the early 1940s in a story of love, loss and unexpected consequences.

The Letter follows the life of Tina in the 1970s who seeks respite from her abusive marriage by volunteering at a charity shop. One day, while sorting through the pockets of a second-hand suit, she comes across an old letter. It is still firmly sealed and un-franked. Unable to resist the pull of curiosity, Tina opens the letter. It was written on 4th September 1939. She is so moved by the contents and bemused as to why the letter was never delivered, she embarks on a quest to find out what became of the writer and his intended recipient.

The mystery of how this love letter ended up in Tina’s hands is also uncovered through Billy’s story from the early 1940s. He writes a letter that will change his life forever, unaware that it will not be read for another 34 years, and then by a complete stranger.

With a swift pace, memorable characters and a wonderful conceptual depth, Hughes’ novel is one that simply can’t be put down. 

This was a really sweet story, and an interesting concept that had a lot of potential to be an awesome story. There were just a few things that stopped me rating it highly... 

Firstly, the writing style was very basic conversational, and didn't have any 'deep' or profound moments in it. I had to make a conscious decision to keep reading through it, even though it was a bit annoying at first, but I guess that is a compliment to the story line being intriguing enough to hold me.

Secondly, the characters were a bit too nice for my liking. Maybe thats just how respectful people were in 1939 and 1973 and I'm just too jaded by the rude and abrupt ways of 2015, but even the story antagonisers were a bit too easy to hand over information and were a bit too soft to add any strong mystery to the plot. 

It's not a very long story, and moves quite steadily, so I didn't feel like I had to wait forever to get to the point, and given the cheaper price point than most kindle books ($3.99 AUD) at the end I didn't feel too cheated. I would recommend this book to people who are after something light and super easy to read without having to think too much,  but there are plenty of other books on my 'To Read' shelf that I would rate higher than this.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

A compulsively readable, emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller that draws comparisons to Gone Girl, The Silent Wife, or Before I Go to Sleep, this is an electrifying debut embraced by readers across markets and categories. 

Its interesting what sort of assumptions we make about other peoples lives, just based on little pieces of information we see or overhear. This book is a perfect example of that, and how those assumptions can protects us, or get us in to trouble.

This story had a great pace, was easy to read and suspenseful, although I wasn't completely shocked by the ending. 

The characters were well written and they evolved really well once more of the detail came out.

A great read and one that wasn't easy to put down.