Bird Box by Josh Malerman

They weren't kidding when they said read this book in one sitting! Holy smokes! It was a true page turner. I made the mistake of reading this after 10:00pm while I was home alone... Bad choice. It's not really "scary" but it's disturbing and psychologically thrilling and frightening. Which sounds like scary, but it's not your classic scary story with jumps and scares. It just makes you scared to look out into a dark night because you're afraid of seeing.... whatever you might see.

That was one of my favorite parts about Malerman's writing: he never actually made a villain. Rather, he created the concept of a villain or just the knowledge of the villain. Readers never get a description. All we know is that someone discovered that it's a creature of some sort, and we can deduce that it's multiplying. But what exactly is it? We don't get to find out which drives the plot that much faster because I was frantically turning pages trying to gain some insight as to what these people were seeing. 

And I wanted to see it. Even though I knew people were dying because of it, I felt like I just had to know exactly what we were dealing with. Because of the lack of description, I couldn't formulate any creature in my head: was it grey? was it furry or scaly? did it walk, swim, or fly? Unfortunately, and fortunately, I didn't get those answers. Unfortunately, because I really wanted to know, and fortunately because since I didn't get those answers, I'm left thinking about it. And I'll think about it for a few days, wondering what it was, wishing I knew.

I loved the alternating chapters in this book; this helped to keep driving the plot. This especially came true towards the end of the book when the plot picked up in both places in time. Then you were constantly holding your breath as new twists were revealed at each chapter end, and you had to start over at the next chapter, all the while thinking of the previous revelation, which makes the next revelation all the more powerful and striking.

It's amazing what Malerman did in this story. Instilling fear in his readers with the sensations, experiences, and thoughts of the main characters, he never actually described the horrors. The readers live in a blind world alongside the characters, because we're never allowed to open our eyes to the horror.

The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne

I had very high hopes for this book. I was in a bookstore in Petoskey, Michigan and one of the workers recommended this book. It takes place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, so I thought it would be a lot of fun to read it. Unfortunately, it was not the fun read I thought it would be...

The writing style is just very dull. It's not exciting at all. It's monotonous and bland, and each sentence sounds the same as the last. That style makes reading very difficult.

The concept and idea of the book had so much potential. A woman's father escaped from prison and is on the run and she's the only one who can track him down. Sounds thrilling, right? Really, the whole book is just continual build up and the only real action happens on the last two pages. Not my kind of read. I don't mind build up, but this was too much and the build up didn't compel me to finish the book.

I really didn't enjoy the main character either. She had so much happening around her, but she didn't change or grow or develop at all. And she was just plain dull. It's hard to empathize or be excited by such a dull, one-dimensional character.

The only cool part of the book was that it took place in Michigan. Otherwise, I would completely pass on this book...

As For Me And My Household: Crafting Your Marriage to Last by Walter Wangerin Jr.

This book was a great read. I started reading the book wishing that I had read it before marriage, but when I got halfway through, I realized that the two years of marriage had taught me a lot which I used to understand and apply the book. When I finished it, I realized that it's a book that should be read regardless of how long you've been married. It's thought-provoking and encouraging.

While I can't say that my marriage changed overnight because of this book, I can say that I took a lot of Wangerin's ideas and am trying to implement them into my marriage.

My favorite chapter in this book was the one on forgiveness. Wangerin gives steps to forgiving your spouse, and he said to forgive your spouse you first have to let him know that he's done something wrong or hurtful. Otherwise, the forgiveness doesn't do much. So you have to be open and honest with your spouse when something he did hurt you and tell him that you're hurting because of it, and then you can move to the forgiveness stage. That's hard to do though. But it made me think of all the times I've "forgiven" my spouse for something he did or didn't do, without telling him that I was upset by it, and so nothing is really resolved, right? I'm trying to be better about talking to my spouse in those moments instead of just thinking and processing it all by myself.

This book is so full of insight and is incredible to read. It's easy to read, and it's easy to take breaks from which is great because then you have time for processing and practicing. I highly encourage anyone dating, engaged, or married to read this book.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

Brilliant, beautiful, and fun! I loved the letter-style of the book. It made it much more fun and exciting to read through the words of all the different characters instead of plain narration. I've always liked books written in letters.

I would love to go to Guernsey; it sounds like a beautiful place, based on Juliet's descriptions. I think I could live there. It reminds me of Mackinac Island, in Michigan, and I love that place.

The characters in this story were such fun. They were quirky and intelligent, each in their own way, and it was amusing to hear them discuss books and argue over themes from books they'd read. I'm encouraged to start my own Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, but I might eliminate the Potato Peel Pie part...

I am disappointed that Sidney wasn't the match for Juliet. I thought they would be the best and most obvious choice, but those dreams were shattered about halfway through. All's well that ends well, I suppose.

I'm excited to watch the movie now, because I enjoyed the previews, but I knew I needed to read the book first. I'm excited to see how they turn the letters into a movie. That can either go really well or really horribly. I'm hoping for the former. 

I highly recommend this book as it's easy to read, and it's a book that allows for breaks, which is nice. It's easy to pick back up and fall back into the world of Guernsey.

Body & Soul by Frank Conroy

I picked this book up in a bookstore. It was one dollar, and looked very well read, so I thought it must have been good to someone. I sure am glad that I did pick it up.

It was slow starting. I debated continuing, because the pace was very slow, and that was how the whole novel went: slowly. But I think that's how Claude's story had to be told, slowly. A lot of what happened to him happened rather quickly, so it was interesting to see this fast-paced life told slowly. It made me slow down as I followed his life and focus on what was being communicated. 

If I was asked to name the climax of the story, I would have a very difficult time. There are several possibilities, but none of them seem strong enough to stand as the sole climax. Things just continue happening, Claude continues through life, with a few bumps, until the end. 

This does make me somewhat disappointed on another level: Claude doesn't really change. There was a point, after a tragedy, that I thought Claude would grow up. At one point, one of his mentors talks to him about the fact that he is very immature. Everything had been given to him, and he didn't have to work much, which caused him to lack certain maturity. When I read this section, I was seriously stunned at the fact that I hadn't previously realized this. Up until this point, he felt very mature: he was on his way to becoming a famous musician, how could he be immature? But that's exactly what he was. Then, when I thought he had crossed a threshold into adulthood, Catherine returned, ruining any hope of maturity. In other words, while Claude learned a lot, experienced a lot, and felt a lot, he didn't change or grow. 

As a musician, so much of the book touched me deeply, and I know that if I took the time to really study what Claude was studying, I could learn a lot more musically, but I must admit that some of the seriously technical paragraphs, I skimmed, in a hurry to get to the meat. But Conroy writes about music in a way that is so real and true and beautiful. The impact of music can be felt so deeply within these pages, and the feeling and emotion Conroy exhibits is brilliant. 

I was rather surprised when the only outright mention of the connection between body and soul was during a sex scene. This was unsatisfying to me. I saw the connection several times while Claude was practicing or performing, and yet the only time Conroy discusses it is when he's having sex. I had hoped for something more meaningful, considering that this was with Catherine, a childhood crush he couldn't get over. I suppose Conroy left the musical part of body and soul up to deciphering for his readers. 

Were I to read it again, which I don't think I will because I can never again experience the beauty of reading the music for the first time, I would have to slow way down, learn with Claude, and try to decipher Conroy's hints to the theme of body and soul. 

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

*There are spoilers!*

Really good book! Really awful characters! I hated almost everyone in this book except poor Cora. Everyone else was despicable. To be fair, Anne wasn't necessarily despicable, she was just very blah. She was very unhappy and angry and hurt at everything, but she never fought for what she wanted, and that annoys me. If you're unhappy and have the power to change something that's adding to that unhappiness, change it! She just let it rot and fester, and that's not cool. Anne just let things roll over her and crush her to the point where she wasn't really anything any more. While I didn't dislike her as much as the other characters, I really disliked reading about her. Maybe that's the point?

I get that technically, Marco "isn't" the bad guy in the end, but obviously he's still very much the bad guy. Sure he was "set-up," but he still agreed to kidnap his own daughter instead of talking things out with his wife, sharing things with her, and working out problems with her. No, he'd rather risk his baby daughter by making a deal with a stranger he knew for about an hour. I honestly don't understand how any person could do that. I think this too is part of the appeal of this book: someone so horrible and despicable who is unlike anything you can imagine of yourself is kind of fun to read about. When you encounter such a character, you have to step outside of your own self and try to imagine the life and perspective of someone so different from you. That's an important aspect to any good story, challenging the reader to take on a different persona in order to fully understand and enjoy a new character.

I was impressed with Anne's mother's actions in the end of the novel. I didn't think she had it in her to stand up to her husband. She seemed very weak and a push-over, but she showed me up, again, adding to the appeal because it was another twist that I didn't see coming. It's always a pleasant surprise when you think you have a character figured out, and he takes you by surprise in the end, causing you to rethink your previous profile.

As you might have guessed, one of the things I enjoyed about this book was the amount of shockers I was given. Each chapter seemed to have a new twist. Several times, I gasped out loud and had to explain to my husband why I was shocked. Because of these twists, I couldn't put the book down, making it a fun and addicting adventure. I couldn't wait to find out about the next secret.

The ending though? Whoa. I had thoughts throughout the book, like, oh man, this is the perfect set up for Cynthia's murder, but I didn't think it would actually happen, especially as the truth of Cora came out, but I suppose Anne's mental condition had to come into play at some point, and that was a great way to bring in her blackouts. It's a funny thing when an author can make something so obvious, too obvious for you to believe that's what will happen, and just as you've convinced yourself that it would be too easy, that's the path the author takes. You'd think it would be disappointing, but in reality, it makes me feel accomplished to have "known all along" that it would end that way.

All in all, it was a good read. While I didn't like any of the characters, I was very invested in the story because kidnapping is such a horrible thing, so stories about that can usually keep me in its clutches.  This was a quick read, too, which was nice over my vacation. A couple hours by the pool, and I read through this book.

Reflections on my ABC Challenge

I just posted the final book for my ABC Challenge, Z is for The Zookeeper's Wife: Diane Ackerman, and I wanted to take some time to reflect on this challenge.

To start, I'm thankful I did this. For the first time, I had a drive and direction to what I was reading. I'd fallen off the reading wagon after college, because I didn't really have a reason or a need to read. Because of that, I didn't know what to read. With this challenge, I knew I had to read at least 26 books in 2018. I had to choose these books (within the confines of whatever letter I was on), but I had guidelines, structure, and direction for what to choose.

I'm also thankful because it helped me cross a lot of books of my to-read list. I was so excited when I decided to do this challenge because I would finally have to read Atonement by Ian McEwan. I picked that book up at a Goodwill after watching the movie and loving it, but that was years ago. I just never got around to reading it.

I finally read all the way through Emma and Jane Eyre and cursed myself for waiting so long. I read the entirety of The Turn of the Screw which I was supposed to read during my Junior year of college but didn't want to... and when I finished it, I understood why I didn't want to.

I found a new favorite author through this challenge: Charles Martin. I read Long Way Gone, and I knew I had to read more. Now I will.

I read historic books that helped me view history in a whole new light, like The Underground Railroad and The Zookeeper's Wife.

I read a book given to me by a friend after I miscarried, and A Grief Observed guided me through my hurt.

When searching for a Q book, I found a fascinating book that gave me more understanding and helped me see different ways to utilize my introverted self.

I finally read a book that I wanted to for years because it was a retelling of one of my favorite books in the Bible: Hosea.

I'm sad the challenge is over, because now I'm on my own to figure out what to read, but I'm so glad I did it. I'm already thinking about what to do next year. I highly encourage everyone to do some sort of reading challenge at least once, because it pushes you out of your "usual" reading borders and helps you find a whole new world of writing.