Animal Farm: George Orwell (A book with at least one million reviews on Goodreads)

I knew going into this book that much of the satirical aspects would be way over my head. To say I'm not great at politics is an understatement, and my knowledge of world history is shaky at best, so I don't have much to say about this book as it was intended satirically, which means my review is going to be pretty useless.

I did enjoy reading it, however. Politics and history aside, it serves as a good warning for what can happen when we stop asking questions.

It is a well-written and very easy to read story, that serves as a warning and an entertaining animal tale.a

And Then There Were Nun: Jane Christmas (A book that takes place in an abbey, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or convent)

This was an interesting read to say the least. Christmas' religious journey is unlike any other I've heard which made the read fun. This was a great look into convent life.

I am struggling not to critique on a religious basis as that's not why I read this. I'll try to keep that out.

My biggest issue with the book is the overall lack of religion. Christmas loves to spout of about how religious she is and how important her faith has been to her, but actual faith in God is missing from these pages. She has a demonic encounter but relies on her self wit and books to protect her. Not once does she call upon the God who she claims is so important to her. Sure, she attends offices frequently but critiques the chanting and gives us little of the content or purpose. She studies Scripture but with the same way I studied and discussed this book.

She feels this call to become a nun, and has since she was young, and decided to finally pursue it, but then joining a convent isn't what she expected so she decides that she isn't called to be a nun after all. What? She didn't realize how much she would have to give up, and instead of giving up herself, she gives up this "call" that she has been feeling for 40ish years.

I guess the point of the book was to enlighten the world about convents and nuns, and she does so for daily schedules and clothing, but she never really goes into why one becomes a nun, what it means to be a nun, what the purpose of having nuns is, etc. She is very materialistic in her report of life for nuns, which is disappointing.

I gave it 4 out of 5 stars because it was an enjoyable read. Christmas has a sense of humor and writes well. My issues with it are more about her theology and personality than her writing. I don't quite know what to take away from the book, nor do I know what I should have gained by reading, but it was a compelling story of a woman's healing process.

The Christmas Letters: Lee Smith (Read a book during the season it is set)

This was a nice little Christmas-season read. It was easy and short, which is helpful during the busy season.

It's fun to read a story of Christmas letters and how families used to do them, and how they continue to do them. My family receives several Christmas letters each year, so I'm familiar with what they are, and I thought this read was a unique way to tell the story of one family's journey through several decades.

I loved the inclusion of recipies: some of them sounded really tasty, all were fairly simple, and they each appeared in the letter which helped me connect as a reader to the story.

I enjoyed how the letters travel through three generations allowing us to follow the family and they continued on in life. Although we got one letter per year and for only a few years, it was easy to track what was going on during those years. Each letter writer did a great job summarizing the years without making the letters read like a summary.

This wasn't an inspiring or life-altering read. The characters weren't exactly moving, but it was entertaining and helpful as I move into the season of Christmas.

Eligible: Curtis Sittenfeld (A retelling of a classic)

My forever favorite book is Pride and Prejudice, so I thought this would be a fun read. However, after finishing this book, I realized there can be no good retelling of Pride and Prejudice for me. If you're not Austen, you cannot get the characters correct. You can't tell the story the same way she did, which makes sense, really. There can be no two Austens, and Sittenfeld comes nowhere near her.

Had I been reading this book without ever hearing of Pride and Prejudice, there's a chance I could have enjoyed it, but reading through the lens of P&P made it a really terrible book. Sittenfeld took the ideas of P&P and sprinkled them on top of this book. Hardly even a sprinkling, though. You can just taste what was meant to be, but you have to suffer through the full dish without enough sprinkles.

The characters were completely terrible. Liz and Lydia switched places for the worst sister. Liz was just awful. Rude, obnoxious, unfiltered, and selfish. Lydia was actually the fun character. Sure, she was obnoxious too, but because Liz was the main character, we got more of her annoying person. Mr. Bennett isn't the best character in P&P, but his flaws are almost lovable. I think he is an endearing character in Austen's work. In Sittenfeld's, however, he is just a ball of flesh who has a few lines. He has no depth, he has no flesh, he has no lovable traits. In fact, he really has no traits. Sittenfeld also chose to make Jane completely pathetic in his story. Sure, Jane Bennett is a shy girl, but in this work, she is incapable of achieving her own happiness and must let others help her along the way. She can do nothing for herself.

In modernizing it, Sittenfeld used real-world problems, which of course makes sense, but in choosing those modern problems, he took away too much P&P for me. I'm no author, but as a huge fan of Austen's work, I just have to believe (and can imagine) a better retelling of such a well-loved classic. Sittenfeld just completely missed it for me.

Again, had I read this not knowing P&P, I probably would have enjoyed it. It's just too difficult for me to like something that was supposed to be close but was so very far away.

Home: Julie Andrews (Two books that share the same title #2)

I'm trying to appreciate memoirs more, and books like this one really help that. I think Julie Andrews is a phenomenal actress and singer, and I absolutely love The Sound of Music, so when I saw this book for $.99 at Goodwill, I decided to try it, and I'm very glad I did! 

Julie Andrews had a very interesting upbringing, and she writes about it so nonchalantly that one would think the book would be boring, but it wasn't. There were so many moments in the book when I thought, "Seriously? That poor girl. This is so horrible," but for Julie, it was just her life. What I appreciated about this book was that it was never a sob story. It was never a pity party. She never wrote to make us feel bad for her. She just wrote to tell her story. Even in the moments when you're afraid of what her step-father is going to do to her, she just writes, almost as if she's shrugging it off, but knowing her as you do when you finish the book assures you that she isn't shrugging it off. I think this is her way of acknowledging that all she experienced during her childhood led her to be the woman she is at the end of the novel, and that women is an incredible, talented, successful, joyful woman. Without her past, she wouldn't be where she was at the end. She wouldn't be flying to Disney to film Mary Poppins. She wouldn't be married with a beautiful baby girl. All the book made her who she was, and that's why she never tries to make her readers pity her or feel bad for her. In my small history with memoirs, most authors want sympathy. They want readers to feel bad that the author had to experience what they did. Julie was not that way, and that was great.

The book is well-written and well-paced. She doesn't linger too long in one period of life, but gives the main points and moves on, providing unique experiences for each stage of her early years. It was easy to read, easy to get caught up in, and yet easy to put down and pick back up, which made it easier for me to finish. 

My only disappointment was that this ended before she got to The Sound of Music, and I would have liked to hear what it was like to film that because I love it so much.

Home: Toni Morrison (Two books that share the same title #1)

This was a sad story of pain, suffering, and journeying through the trials of life to find your home. It was a very short read and moved along pretty quickly.

I struggled to follow the order of events in the book. No dates were given at the start of chapters, so it often took a bit for me to figure out if we were dealing with the past or present at any given point. At the end, I still didn't have a full grasp on the order of events. That made it a little challenging to follow the book.

I didn't understand the inclusion of Lily in the book, especially when she had her own chapter. Because of the length of the book, there was no room for her to grow or develop, so I couldn't understand why there was so much time spent on such an unnecessary (in my opinion) character/plot line. Frank talked about her quite a bit, which is fine and makes sense for the development of his character, but having a chapter from her perspective didn't add anything for me; taking me away from the main story of Frank instead. 

There are a lot of themes one could explore in this short book, which says a lot for the author, that she could pack so much into the book, but I wouldn't say the themes make this a phenomenal read. It was good, but it wasn't enjoyable, per say. 

11/22/63: Stephen King (A book featuring an amateur detective)

I don't like Stephen King. His books are a little too gruesome and freaky for me. Granted, I think the only book I read all the way through was Carrie, but that was gruesome enough to turn me off of King for life. But I know what It is about, and that is not for me. However, 11/22/63 has been on my list to read for a while because I enjoy reading, watching, and learning about the Kennedy assassination, and a book that purports to stop Lee Harvey Oswald sounded brilliant to me. 

However, I purchased it over five years ago, after my dad told me how great it was and have only just gotten to it. I think the length really intimidated me: the length and the fact that it is written by Stephen King. But I saw it on my shelf the other day and said, this is it. I'm going to read it. So I did.

First of all, for an incredibly long novel, it reads very fast. I started the book on Wednesday and finished on the following Tuesday, just reading in hour long increments as I had time. When reading, I found that the chapters flew by, partially helped by the break up of chapters into sub-chapters. I always find that when you have breaks in long chapters, it makes the chapters seem smaller and more manageable. I don't think I ever went more than five pages without a break in the scene, and that helped to keep things moving. 

King also just keeps the action moving. The characters aren't given much time to just sit and think; things are moving and changing at a rapid pace and readers have to keep reading in order to keep up with the plot. I greatly appreciate that because it meant I was constantly engaged in what was happening. 

I enjoyed Jake as a main character. He reads, writes, and teaches kids to enjoy reading and writing, and I find that brilliant in a character. He definitely becomes an amateur detective of sorts when Al asks him to take over, and I was surprised by how well he handles this new task. Somehow, his literature and language background prepares him perfectly to jump boldly into this "new" world and do exactly what he means to do. Even when the past is throwing every obstacle at him, he manages to scrape by with grace, dignity, and bravery, and it almost seems like he never falls or falters, even though it sounds like he should have. He is pretty much the perfect hero, and that I didn't enjoy. I'm not saying it should have been harder for him because it was plenty hard, but even when it was plenty hard, Jake always knew exactly what to do, and he never had an issue coming up with the perfect plan or perfect way around every obstacle. That was too unrealistic, I found.

I did not like the Sadie aspect of the book. I understand this as the mortal flaw for Jake, and I understand why King had to include her, but I certainly did not like her or her involvement in the book. She just drops in, Jake says, I don't love her, but she's a nice friend, until all of the sudden she's the center of his world and he can't look past her to see the bigger picture. That drives me a little crazy, especially in the center of the story when I felt Jake could have been doing a lot more useful things but was too distracted. However, I do understand and I get that without Sadie, the book would be missing an important aspect. 

I still don't know how to feel about the ending. I get why it ended the way it did. But I don't think I like it. It was disappointing, and yet King manages to make the disappointing ending satisfying, which is nice. It does almost feel like the whole book becomes a waste, though, and I'm not sure what to make of that feeling. 

I'm very interested to see how Hulu turned this into a series. I'd really like to see what they make of it, how they portray the characters and the world, and if anything is changed from the book.

I can't say that I like Stephen King. I appreciate him as an author, fully acknowledging that this man has incredible talent, but his books are not for me. However, this is one I'll gladly keep on my shelf and maybe return to sometime in the future.

The Wife Between Us: Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (A book becoming a movie in 2019)

This was a very captivating and thrilling read. I remember thinking in the beginning, "how am I supposed to keep this straight? I have no idea which woman is which and who is doing what." Little did I know. I laughed at myself later.

The authors do a marvelous job keeping readers just slightly off base: enough to keep us turning the pages with fury trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Even through to the epilogue, they're dropping one more piece of surprise on us, surprise that I had no clue was coming.

This book was easy to read, difficult to follow (which made it easier to read because I had to keep reading in order to figure out what was happening), and very hard to put down, which is why I finished it in about two hours instead of two days.

I read An Anonymous Girl earlier in the year, and really enjoyed the fast-paced speed. I was excited to read this one, and I enjoyed this one even more. It had the same feel, but I think the characters were more believable. I know I mentioned Thomas in An Anonymous Girl being a "wet-blanket" character, having no real depth, so I appreciated that Richard was a real character with real background, real stories, and real emotions. He was an enjoyable character to read, and the authors do a great job leaving readers uncertain as to how to feel about him.

I can't say enough how much I enjoyed how this book was set-up and paced. I loved that for the first half, I thought there were two women. I loved that I was following two different stories trying to figure out when they would collide, and then realizing that they've been colliding the entire book. I loved going back and learning about Vanessa's history, and I loved keeping up and learning about Vanessa's future. I'm glad things work out for her in the end because I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about her for the first 75% of the book. I couldn't tell if I was supposed to believe she was crazy, insane, and vengeful, or if I was supposed to believe that she was a victim and just a little unstable. As her character and motivation grew clearer, it was easy for me to love her as a character, pity her, and sympathize with her, so I was very glad with the ending they gave her.

This was an incredibly enjoyable read, and I cannot wait to see the movie!

Wunderland: Jennifer Cody Epstein (A book recommended by a celebrity you admire)

This book was recommended by Jamie Ford, who wrote Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet which was a book I greatly enjoyed, so I admire his reading recommendations!

Wow. This was a hard one to read. It wasn't hard because of the writing or the language, but because of the content. Epstein did an incredible job making these historical events and people real and present even with the time gap between now and then. She brought history to life with her words which is an incredible feat that many authors can't accomplish.

I enjoyed Epstein's writing style. She was very captivating and easy to follow. She wrote her characters very well and made them true real people during the time I was reading this book. She breathed life into her words and the people of Wunderland were people of my life for the time.

The only thing I didn't understand which led me to not like was her order of writing. Perhaps on a second read through I could focus on the effects of the order of events, and that would lead me to understanding why she spaced it as she did. The jumping back and forth between characters works really well, but she's also jumping back and forth out of chronological order, and those two jumps made it challenging to keep up with the chapter changes. I'm sure, however, that there is a very good reason for doing this; I'd just need to take the time to figure her out more.

I'm also not sure if Epstein wants us to understand and therefore like Ilse more at the end. Renate seems to open her heart again to Ilse, but I simply found her weak for that. Ilse was a monster, a truly horrible woman, and she does nothing to prove otherwise to me. Her letters are full of nonsense excuses, never any true apology, so I can't understand how anyone could appreciate or forgive Ilse in the end (aside from my Christian upbringing and Christ's commands to forgive everyone.).

The last comment I have is that I think we could have used more of Ava's character. She was included, but her inclusion was so disjointed and incomplete that I had a hard time understanding her involvement. I know that we needed her in there for the ending, but I never fully understood why she received so much attention throughout the book. Perhaps it's just to keep proving that Ilse was a horrible mother, but I didn't need to see that to dislike Ilse as much as I did. I think the book could have benefited from either more of Ava's character, to develop her more, or less of her character, to develop the rest of the book more.

Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression: Mildred Armstrong Kalish (An Own-Voices Book)

I started out enjoying this book quite a bit: it was like a grown up version of Little House on the Prairie, which is one of my favorite book series. However, I quickly grew uncomfortable and annoyed with the amount of talking down I feel Kalish did to the reader. I felt much of this book was her talking down to today's society, today's culture, today's youth, and today's people. It was as if she was trying to make us feel guilty for modernization and the life we have now, which isn't fair. I found much of her tone to be snooty, high, and mighty.

Here are some of the phrases she used that led me to these feelings: "Is there any sense in trying to make the modern reader understand..." "I don't know anyone today who knows that..." "I've never met anyone else who can..." and so on. The one I especially did not like was "The current generation will never know the sublime taste of the tomatoes and the strawberries we picked sun-ripened from the vine and ate on the spot." We do have tomatoes and strawberries, and many of us actually do pick them straight off the vine and eat them. I know I have on countless summer days picked a bright red tomato and eaten it right there among the plants. I really struggled to appreciate Kalish's life when the whole time she was telling me that I will never have as fulfilling a life as she did.

It's so hard to compare today's life to that of the life Kalish lived. There are just too many differences that each comparison can't hold up, I think. Sure, we have indoor plumbing (praise God) and electricity, which assuredly make things easier, but they also bring a lot of complications too. For each benefit of today's life, I'm sure there's a negative to follow that, just as with Kalish's life, for each negative, there is a positive.

The other issue I took with this book is that Kalish never brought up hardships she faced due to the Great Depression. Sure, she talked about how cold winters were, but even those cold winters, she had a blast sledding and skating, and she always kept warm. So although the title brings up "Hard Times," those hard times aren't made known to the readers, and I can't help but feel this is because she wants us to feel how much better her life was, and if she brought up the bad, we wouldn't be as jealous.

Maybe I'm being too hard on the author, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Kalish is better than anyone reading this book, and there's nothing we can do about it because we don't have to work hard for the lives we live. That makes me very unappreciative of the stories she shares, and it led me to have a very difficult time enjoying this book.

**Also, I know I'm totally stretching the "own-voices" thing, but I figure, she's writing about a time she lived through and how she made it through the challenges she faced, so oh well.**

Assassin's Creed: Oliver Bowden (A LitRPG Novel)

This was really just terrible. I read it only to fulfill a requirement on my reading challenge, and I will never again return to the likes of this book. It was just bad, honestly.

I'm sure I'm not the best person to judge this book as the content is of absolutely zero interest to me, and so it's hard to look at it with a positive attitude. Maybe I didn't give it enough try, but I just couldn't. 

It's obvious that this is a book written by gamers, for gamers, nothing more, nothing less, and for that I can't fault the author or the book. It appeals to a certain niche which is what books are supposed to do, right? I just found the writing to be pretty low-grade, which makes since for the population it is trying to appeal to. It just makes it very hard for me to enjoy. There are areas where Bowden tries to be "fancy" with his writing: long, detailed, complex sentences that just really aren't necessary. I thought several times throughout that this author was trying too hard to be like Dickens, and this is not the place for that type of writing. Much of the book is descriptions of fighting and chase scenes and other action sequences that make sense for a video game book: lots of training to be a good fighter, climber, runner, etc.

I became quickly annoyed at the amount of "fake suspense" in the first 20 pages, and then, to my dismay, throughout the rest of the book. In two pages alone, there were five accounts of the character leaping off a roof and "almost" not making it across to the next rooftop. And each leap contained a paragraph of the character worrying about misjudging the distance and worrying about the fall. Seriously? Five times in two pages is way to much. I would go so far as to say that one time in two pages is too much. Gag.

It's obvious that the action scenes are meant to be more exciting than the overall plot, which again, makes sense for a video game book, especially one about fighting and killing. It's easy to see how the book fits in a video game: there are quests and the next quest begins when the previous quest is completed, and sometimes there are little side gigs to distract from the main quest, and there are always rewards. I don't know much about gaming, but I know this is pretty usual.

I'm glad some people enjoy this type of book, and I'm glad that it's okay for me not to enjoy it. I never have to read this again (hopefully).

The Rainmaker: John Grisham (Book set on a college or university campus)

I'm kind of stretching it a bit as really, only about the first 30 pages or so are on a college campus, but Rudy has the feel of a student throughout the whole book, so I figure it works fine.

I've come across a lot of Grisham in the past, but I've never actually finished a book of his before this one. I picked this book up somewhere and it's been sitting on my shelf for years, and I decided this was the week to read it. So I plowed my way through...

Part of my problem with Grisham is that he takes so long to get to the point. I get so bored in the beginning and sometimes I can keep going through, knowing that things will get interesting, but with Grisham I just never could get past the beginning. There's a lot of lawyer-talk which might be part of the reason it's slow, but as he writes courtroom thrillers, I can't complain about the lawyer-talk.

This book, specifically, is only thrilling when court is in session, and that takes up less than 50 pages of the book. I spent the rest of the book wondering when we would go back to the courtroom, thus making it a very long read. Grisham did an amazing job in the courtroom, so I can appreciate and understand why his courtroom thrillers are so widely acknowledged as being the best. He writes the scenes very well and keeps writers on their toes throughout the trial, and I was very captivated in those scenes.

He also writes characters very well. I feel about the main character exactly the way I think Grisham wants me to feel about him. He is very pathetic and sad in the beginning. He starts to mature and get his life together, which makes me root for him even harder: I want him to succeed. Somewhere along the way, however, he loses that appeal for me. He lets it go to his head and starts focusing so much on his success that everything else is nothing to him, and that's when I kind of start to hate him. Grisham did a great job leading me through that relationship with Rudy.

What really did not work for me in this book were the different subplots throughout the story, like Miss Birdie and Prince. Those held no meaning, and when they didn't impact the main plot at all, I was very disappointed and annoyed. I still don't understand why they were included. Miss Birdie gave Rudy a place to stay, but there were many different ways Rudy could have found a home without needing to introduce a whole new plot point and a whole new character that just fades away into the rest of the book, being overtaken by the main trial. Grisham could have saved a lot of time by just keeping her and the tale of Prince out of the book. They had no meaning, no appeal, and no point.

I had just convinced myself that I liked the book when I got to the ending. Then all bets were off and I put the finished book in the trash can. Seriously? How many ways can authors write a guy throwing away his life for a girl? It's just not a great story line, and I have no patience for it. Rudy just loves this girl so much, which is not justified to the readers (and I get it, love doesn't have to be justified, but at least try to make me believe it...), and he just takes off with her, because he messed up in a big way, and the trial he thought would give him all the success of the world, doesn't give him as much as he wanted. I was so annoyed when I read those last few pages.

I don't plan on returning to Grisham. Ever. He was slow to get in to, and just when things got interesting, they took a turn for the worst. No thank you.

The Graveyard Book: Neil Gaiman (A ghost story)

This was a fun, quick read. I enjoyed the uniqueness of the plot and the entertaining characters Gaiman "brings to life."

Part of what really kept me reading was that Gaiman holds off on revealing so many important details until the last chapter. I wasn't necessarily bored while reading, but this lack of information really helped propel me through the story. Then, when I got to the last chapter, I was rewarded with all the missing secrets and ended the book feeling fulfilled, to a certain extent.

The climax happens in the last few chapters, making the first 75% of the book build-up, but Gaiman does a very nice job making the build-up entertaining and fun to read. It could have been very dull, but Gaiman brings in unique characters and side-stories to keep the book moving along.

I can definitely see this as being a great book to read aloud to children, but I would personally hold off on doing that until middle school, as a lot of the themes and ideas of the book are dark and unsuitable for children of a younger age. However, I think this would be very fun to read with your junior high kids!

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet: Becky Chambers (A book set in space)

At first, I want to say that this wasn't at all what I expected, but then I have to go back and try to figure out what I did expect, and I guess it was what I expected: a long journey across space. 

I definitely did not enjoy reading this book. I tend to not like science-fiction at all, and this was no exception. My favorite thing about reading is being able to visualize the story and having a movie play along in my head as I read. With this book, it's just not possible. I understand the author not wanting to spend pages on just describing things; that would annoy me too. I just prefer reading about things that are, things that can be, and things that I understand. Countless alien species inter-living with humans, and Earth no longer existing is just too far out of my realm of understanding that I had no way to follow along with visuals. That makes a book very hard to get into, for me. I was very happy when I reached the ending. 

I did enjoy some of the characters-it was a fun and spontaneous group, so their stories and growth together was enjoyable, but it was still hard to understand when the aliens were so far from understanding. Even with the basic backstory and description, I had a very difficult time reading them as other than human, so each time they did something "alien," I was thrown off and taken out of the story. 

I understand that sex sells, but I didn't enjoy that being a sub-plot. With Rosemary and Sissex, it just felt so forced, as if Chambers only included it because she knew that would win over many people. It did not win me. I'm very grateful that there was nothing explicit, however. I just think the story was working fine without it, and because it added nothing of value to the story, it would have been better to leave it out completely.

Perhaps because this is the first in the series, there really is no plot. The whole story feels like description and character/world building, which is fine for a beginning, but I've heard the the next books aren't about the same characters, so I don't understand why there couldn't have been more of a plot. This felt more like a few exciting events mixed in with world-building, which again, made it very difficult for me to enjoy. 

I read this to fulfill my "book that takes place in space" requirement on this challenge, and I suppose it is good to step out of my "comfort" reading zone every-once-in-a-while, but this book was no fun, and I will not be returning to it. 

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared: Jonas Jonasson (A book by an author whose first and last name start with the same letter)

This was a delightful read. I can't remember the last time I read a book that was so light and fun, but also extremely captivating and enjoyable. I could put this book down if I needed to, but I definitely didn't want to.

Allan is such a fantastic character, and he really shows readers how to live life to the fullest. He's so angry about still being around at 100, then to have to go to a birthday party for himself makes matters worse, so he just climbs out his window. Why not? He says early on in the book "When life has gone into overtime it's easy to take liberties," and that struck me. It makes sense, right? When you get older, it's easier to bend the rules a little bit. I watch my wonderful grandmother live this out. She says whatever she wants, does whatever she wants, everybody else be darned. One of the perks of growing old is having less people to answer to, I guess.

But as I read the book and learned of Allan's early life, I realized that for him, it was always easy to take liberties. He never answered to anyone but himself. He never did anything he didn't want to do, and he never let anyone tell him what to do. Even when he was arrested and sent to a labor camp with a thirty year sentence, he spent five years there, working hard and enjoying the free room and food before he got tired of not having anything to drink, and so he left. 

I appreciated the wide array of characters that Jonasson brought to the table. From Stalin to Sonya the elephant, each character added humor and fun to the story.

There were a lot of political sections that I skimmed through because I don't get or care for those, but it's easier to skim through those sections when the main character also has no tolerance for political conversation, which is funny considering how much of his life was dealing with politics. As the narrator says, "politics was not what interested Allan most in the world," so he just doesn't put up with it, and he even goes so far as to change sides midway through a war, and of course, that works out perfectly for him. The politics help show that Allan really is just a spontaneous, easy-going guy who isn't afraid to take liberties, have no plans, and go with the flow. 

I think the thesis of this book is when Allan says this: "You'll see that things will turn out like they do, because that is what usually happens-almost always, in fact." And things just do, from page one to page 384.

This is definitely a book everyone should read, if only for a few laughs and a fun ride through a simple man's life. I quite enjoyed it. 

Crazy Rich Asians: Kevin Kwan (A book that includes a wedding)

Kwan sure knows how to make his readers hate his characters. He does a great job making it obvious which characters are lovable and which ones are detestable from the very first chapters. It's sometimes hard to read books with such horrid characters, but Kwan makes his horrid character fun to read about anyway. 

This was a very lighthearted fun book that was quick and easy to read. The writing is easy to understand and follow, and I appreciated his use of footnotes throughout the book; it helped me more fully understand the culture he was presenting. 

The culture is one which I struggled to visualize, especially when it came to the wedding. The whole wedding celebration was just so far beyond anything I've ever known that to follow the schedule and the descriptions was challenging, but I think I just need to watch the movie to help with that. I am actually very intrigued to see how they make this into a movie. I'm sure the sets are outrageous and beautiful. 

I was also a little bit confused by the multitude of stories that Kwan told in this book. The main story is clearly Rachel and Nick, but then you have the story of Eddie and his dysfunctional family, that never really has a resolution, you have Alistair and Kitty's story that is fully resolved, and you have Astrid and Michael's story which isn't completely resolved. Then at the very end, Kwan also throws in some plot twists for Francesca and her family. Rachel and Nick could use a bit more resolution, but from the way Kwan ended it, they seemed pretty settled. Because of these multiple stories, I'm very intrigued to see what the next books are about; there are a lot of different paths that need ending. 

Overall, I really enjoyed Kwan's writing style and the way he brought this fun story to life. He did a fantastic job with the characters and creating plot using those characters. I do think I have to finish the series because I had fun with this book, and I'd like to see what he does in the next books!

Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen (A reread of a favorite book)

Pride & Prejudice is the answer I give anytime anyone asks me what my favorite book is. It's one of those "never-gets-old" books for me. I've read it more times than I can count, and I never let a year go by without reading it. This is the second time I've read through it this year.

Mom gave me this book to read when I was in middle school. My guess would be sixth grade, but I just can't remember for certain. I'm pretty sure she gave it to me around the time she grounded me from reading Harry Potter for a month and wanted to show me that there are other good books in the world.

The first time I read it, I remember being so confused and overwhelmed by the language, the long, complicated sentences, the weird names, the unusual setting and time period, and so on. I didn't really grasp the story. Mom rented the 5+ movie with Colin Firth for us to watch, and that helped me figure out a little bit better what was going on, but after watching the movie, I had to read the book again. On that second read through, I was a goner.

I don't know what girl would not fall for Mr. Darcy. I can't imagine the type of person who would say, "You know, he's just not for me." Mr. Darcy is for everyone... seriously.

Elizabeth is an easy to relate to character, who's very down to earth even amidst an entire family with their heads in the clouds, How she could have come from such a family never fails to baffle me. She's clever, witty, and fun, and she's not afraid to acknowledge her faults, which is enviable. She is quick to admit her failures or wrong-doings, and she's quick to forgive the wrong-doings of others. She lets criticisms of her go above her head and isn't shaken by the judgments of others. She's happy to be who she is and let others fight to be the best. I think that's pretty cool.

The world of Pride & Prejudice appeals to me on many levels as well. This time, the late 1700s and early 1800s, is such an interesting period. The way society worked, the way men courted ladies, the way families lived, the way neighbors visited, the lavish parties that were held, it's all fascinating and sounds like fun. I want to live in that world.

Specifically Pemberley. I want to live in Pemberley. That's my life goal. Unfortunately, I think I have to settle for continually reading about it in Pride & Prejudice...

Do Penguins Have Knees: David Feldman (A book with a question in the title)

Okay, this was a fun little read! It's just a book full of "imponderables" or questions that many of us have probably thought about but never been able to solve, like "how and why did 7UP get its name?". It's written in plain, easy-to-understand English so that the common man can understand and have his imponderables answered. 

I'll admit that there were some questions I skimmed through as I didn't particularly care for such as "Why do the back wheels of bicycles click when you are coasting or back pedaling" and "Why Was April 15 chosen as the due date for taxes?"

Some questions I thought were pretty obvious like "Why are baseball dugouts built so that they are half below ground?" I always just assumed this was so that the dugouts didn't block the prime behind the dugout seating. Turns out, I was right. And I don't even care about or know about baseball!

This was published in 1991, so some of the questions were outdated, so I skimmed: "Why must we push bothe the 'record' and 'play' switches to record on an audio tape recorder, and only the 'record' on the VCR?"

I was surprised by the amount of questions relating to the postal service, stamps, envelopes, and mailing. Apparently these are subjects people ponder a lot to no avail. Although I've never asked myself what the USPS does with mail it can't deliver or return because of a lack of return addresses, I was interested to read the answer to that question. 

At the end of the list of imponderables, Feldman lists the top 10 "frustables," questions that he and his team haven't been able to answer, like "why do doctors have bad penmanship?". His hope is that readers will see those and use their knowledge to submit the answer for the next Imponderables Book. 

Like I said, this was a fun little read. It was quick, easy, and I could put it down and come back to it at any time. I can't say that I'll visit his other books, but if one comes across my lap, I might flip it open! And in case you were wondering and don't mind the spoiler, yes. Penguins do have knees. 

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (A book that makes you nostalgic)

I can't tell you how old I was when Mom gave me this book to read, but it's been on my bookshelf for as long as I can remember. I even have two copies: one is the battered blue book that has seen far better days, but I can't get rid of because it's been so well-loved by me, and the other copy is a hard cover that I broke down and bought after realizing how beat-up my original copy was.

Reading this book again made me remember the days of innocent youth: summer mornings, reading in the front yard on our hammock swing while everyone else slept, snow days spent curled up on the couch reading, car rides to visit family spent buried in a book. Those were easier times. 

And even though now I'm older, slightly wiser, and a bit more worn down, reading Little Women made me feel like a care-free child. 

I think part of me was always drawn to the idea of four sisters who liked to spend time together. I have three brothers, and we didn't exactly have the same tastes, nor did we get along very well. The idea of four sisters (even a sister was and is such a foreign concept to me) who played together, worked together, planned together, shopped together was amazing to me. 

I was also drawn to the character of Jo, who was and is still my favorite. I envied her independent nature. She wasn't afraid to go out on her own, while for me, shopping by myself is still very intimidating. She did what she wanted, and while the opinions of others mattered very much, she didn't let that stop her from becoming exactly who she wanted to be. And she makes it seem very easy to become an accomplished writer, which I also envy. 

I love this book for all that it makes me think and feel. This isn't much of a review, but I think this is as far as I'll go with reviewing it. It makes me feel, remember, and dream. It makes me laugh and cry. It makes me nostalgic for a time when life was simpler. 

The Only Woman in the Room: Marie Benedict (A book based on a true story)

While I was quickly swept away in the story, my involvement and engrossment quickly dissolved into me simply reading to finish the story. The book was quick to engage and quick to disengage.

My first issue was with the character Hedy. She had no depth, no development, no engaging characteristics. She was a one-dimensional, uninspiring character, which was incredibly disappointing considering Hedy Lamarr's life. Even when Hedy begins developing the plans for the torpedoes, she remains seemingly impassive and unattached to her story. I believe this was due to some weak character sketching of the author. The character didn't seem to care about what was happening in her life, so I didn't either.

While the events in the book were wrought with suspense, the book was not. Marrying a powerful political man at the start of WWII, and then planning an escape after discovering his true character should be thrilling, and that's not including all of the politics involved in Hedy's life. However, I was left disappointed after a quick page summarized the escape attempts. When the escape was successful, there were no details as to how Hedy got to where she was. Readers are expected to guess? Or to not want to understand how Hedy succeeded. It makes a very real story sound very unreal, which leads to a very boring story.

The book feels to be in chunks: before marriage, marriage, crumbling of marriage, success in Hollywood, torpedoes. Each chunk seems like a separate book, and the only thing connecting each one is a page or two, which isn't enough to carry readers through the story of Hedy's life.

I'm sure trying to write a book about a real person who had real-world impact while keeping the book under the "Fiction" category is incredibly hard and time-consuming. An author can't make too much up about the character because she existed in the real-world. This is where artistic license comes in. I think much more could have been done to make Hedy's story more enjoyable, educational, and exciting had the author attemped to delve more into the person of Hedy.

As I read, I was keeping in mind this challenge, trying to figure out what prompt I could put it under. When I finished, I read through the acknowledgements where the first sentence is "The opportunity to share the incredible legacy of Hedy Lamarr, both historic and modern..." This led to me Googling Hedy Lamarr and discovering that she was indeed a real person! Color me surprised! I had never heard of her before. The most disappointing part of this book was that I learned more about Hedy through her Wikipedia page than I did in the book. However, I was glad to learn that this book was based on a true story, so that I could count it towards my reading resolution!

An Anonymous Girl: Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen (A book by two female authors)

This was a page-turning thriller, and I was kept enthralled throughout the whole story. I was very happy with the pace of the novel because it never really slowed down enough for me to be bored. I was appreciative of how quickly the story picked up; the start-up wasn't long or drawn out, and it was very easy to get swept away quickly.

The writing was very engaging, especially the change in perspectives of alternative chapters. I appreciated the perspective of Dr. Shields that was so removed, as a psychologist's notes would be. It was distant and removed from the plot, and that distance somehow added suspense, thrill, and drama to the story.

The biggest set back I had of the book was the characters. While Dr. Shields was not necessarily well-developed, she was a very intriguing character, and her lack of development didn't take away from my appreciation of her character. Jessica's character was well-developed, but she wasn't as exciting of a character as she could have been. I was especially not thrilled with how she ended the story, as what she did just seemed way out of character, or way out of the character that I was led to believe she was. After the end, I found it very difficult to sympathize with her on any level. Thomas was a character who I wanted more development on. His story was not intriguing enough to warrant the lack of development he received. He was just like a soggy old wet blanket on the story. At certain points, I thought, "This is Thomas' moment! He's going to shine and step out of the shadows," but he never does, which is disappointing for me. I think his character had a lot of potential.

This is the first book I've read by Hendricks or Pekkanen, and I'm very interested to read The Wife Between Us, their first book. I enjoyed their writing, and I would like to see if there other book is as page-turning as this one.

The Gifted School: Bruce Holsinger (A book about a hobby)

I was pretty excited when I won this book in a giveaway. This was one I was excited to read about.

Holsinger brings up thought-provoking ideas of education, friendship, family, parenting, and so on that helped keep me reading until the end. All along I was waiting for these people to do "the right thing," but as I finished, I realized that I wasn't even sure what "the right thing" would be for each family.

I think the main question is "To what extent do parents go to see their child succeed, and at what point have they gone too far? Or can they go too far?" I haven't been a parent, so I struggle to answer that question, and I have a hard time asking myself what I would do in this situation. I like to think that I wouldn't push that hard, but with the pressure of my best friends as well as all of society, it would be hard to stop myself, I think.

Holsinger has five families, each one with several different problems, and while the problems are pretty stereotypical of a middle-age, middle-class, white family, by interlocking the separate families, he helps shake the stereotypes he brings up. And by dropping in this gifted school, he helps the story not be stereotypical by having such a unique problem. The story could have been very bland, very boring, and very "usual," but Holsinger does a nice job turning the stereotypes into unique situations.

I must admit that I didn't like the ending. I thought Xander's project was a bit too out there, and the results were too guessable. That's where he fails to add in a unique touch, and keeps it stereotypical. I would have liked something a bit more new and fresh, but that's okay.

I do wonder if such a school has existed, and I'm sure it has, and so I wonder how those communities handle such a school. I can see this being a very real thing in our society, as every parent wants his child to succeed. Such a school would tear a community apart, and I'm not sure the resolution would be as perfect as Holsinger's resolution was.

I'm stretching it a bit to fulfill the prompt, because it's not fully about a hobby, but each child has his or her own hobbies, and those hobbies play a big role in the plot, soccer, chess, horses, etc. The hobbies are important and take up a lot of pages, so I figured this was a stretch I could pull off.

The Wise Man's Fear: Patrick Rothfuss (A book inspired by mythology, legend, or folklore)

Holy smokes! This was great. I didn't have high hopes for this sequel because usually the second books don't go very well, but boy was this good.

I knew what to expect when I started reading, so unlike the first one, I was hooked immediately. I was so excited for the story to continue and to get my questions answered. Unfortunately (but really, fortunately), I've ended the story with more questions than answers, which makes me incredibly excited for the next one (please, Patrick! Write faster!!!).

I was really excited by how much this book veers off the University path. I love the University portions of the book. I'm fascinated by the classes, by the Masters and by the other students, but 1000 pages on this would get old pretty quickly. While a majority still takes place at the University, Kvote goes to many different places, and while he is really on one task for the Maer, he branches off into five or six different tasks, each one more exciting than the next. This keeps the story moving, and moving at a rapid pace. He's in the middle of a task but has to pause to fix this other task, and I'm left wondering how he's ever going to get out of that in order to finish his first task, but that cycle keeps going, which keeps me turning pages.

I was asked today why I like this book so much when I've believed firmly that I don't like fantasy of any sort (Harry Potter aside because that doesn't fit into a category), and I had a hard time explaining it. I think for me the fantastical parts of the story are so vividly explained and realistic, that I have a hard time convincing myself that what Kvote is learning at the University is unreal and impossible. It seems so possible and true, and it excites me to a level that when I'm reminded of the fantasy, I feel an acute sense of disappointment. I just want it to be real. I want to call the wind.

I think another part might be that the fantasy aspects almost seem behind the scenes. While all the magic is important to drive the story, this is a story about Kvote, not about magic or other fantastical elements. And even when he's with the Felurian, which is all fantastical, the story had a Narnian feel to it that made it enjoyable for me.

Again, I have a hard time explaining why I like this so much, when I have a hard time reading fantasy, but I think the bottom line is that Rothfuss is such an excellent writer that he makes fantasy the best of the best, and I can't help but love it. His writing, his imagination, his creativity goes far and beyond anything else I've read (sorry Rowling...).

Maybe I'm assuming too much by putting it under "A book inspired by mythology, legend, or folklore," but with all the folklore in the story, and all the legend passed around, with the Felurian which is such a mythological creature, it's hard to imagine there was no mythological or folklore inspiration in this book.

Seven Letters: J.P. Monninger (A book published in 2019)

I was so excited when I won this book. I love books about or in Ireland and about or with Irish people. They just make my heart so happy, so I was really excited to win an ARC of this book from a Goodreads Giveaway. This book will be published in October, 2019.

My favorite part of the book was reading the landscape descriptions of Ireland. Every time the Monninger introduced a new landscape, I had to Google it so that I could fully visualize the location, and while that was fun, it made me yearn to visit Ireland all the more, which isn't super helpful...

I enjoyed the first half a lot; I really enjoyed watching the relationship of Ozzie and Kate, and I remember being so confused when they get married and it's not even halfway through the book. I was thinking, "What else can possible happen during the rest of the novel?" Then lots more happened, which was nice.

I struggle to explain how I feel about this book. I had a lot of thoughts in different directions. Yes, I loved watching the romance bloom, but it happened too fast to be believable in any way. There were never conversations (at least, no conversations for the readers to be a part of) that helped grow the relationship to the point we were to believe it was at. They spent a lot of time together, sure, but I never understood how they grew to be in love to the point of marriage.

Which is why I wasn't surprised at all when the marriage ended in the separation. They had no depth to the relationship. It was built on hormones and lust. I can't imaging that works well.

However, even the separation caused me much confusion. They are sailing, they hit a storm, and all of the sudden, Kate realizes that she married a monster, is how I interpret her feelings. So she runs from him. And she never looks back. And that's the part where Monninger really lost me. I didn't understand why she just left without even contacting Ozzie, without even trying or communicating with him at all. She just leaves. And part of the confusion is that I don't understand why she leaves in the first place. Maybe it's because she finally starts to understand how little she actually knows him.

But even then, they never actually get divorced. It seems like all along, Kate is hopping and thinking that Ozzie will come running to her again and they can start fresh. But she never does anything for the relationship, and starts dating other men, never actually letting go of her relationship with Ozzie. Again, for reasons that are confusing to me.

But of course. The book can't end there.

Death strikes, and Kate has to go on this soul searching adventures to find answers for her husband, and I guess along the way heals from the loss? But again, I don't understand this. There relationship seemed surface level at best. There was no depth. There was nothing to support it. Why did she travel the world for answers? Who knows.

Then Ozzie returns, of course, and they live happily ever after... together. What? Why? How? I have no idea.

So to summarize.

I loved the book because I love all things Ireland. I loved the landscapes and the sights and the sounds and the smells that Monninger evokes through the detailed writing. I love the cute doggie. I hate everything else.

The Name of the Wind: Patrick Rothfuss (A book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature)

As a rule, I don't like fantasy. My one exception has thus far been Harry Potter. I guess I always had trouble getting caught up in things that are way beyond the possibilities of this life. With this book, however, that was not the case.

I was so intimidated a. by the length of this book and b. by the fact that it's a fantasy novel, but enough people told me to read it, so I did. It took me quite a bit to get into the book. I'm talking about 100 pages, which out of 700ish isn't really that bad. Once I got into it, I really got into it.

I think what captured me was the extraordinary science behind Kvote's learning. It was beautiful and excellent and magical. I wanted it to be as real as the glass of water sitting next to me. I wanted to learn all the Kvote was learning, and I was fascinated by the progress and scope of the teaching he received.

My favorite parts were definitely anything that happened at the University. That's where you have the best enemy, the best friends, the love interest, and, most importantly to me, the vast majority of his learning. And every chapter ended with me wondering if he would be expelled in the next chapter because much of what he did warranted expulsion.

Another fascinating aspect occurred to me as I picked the second book off my shelf. The book says, "The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day Two." Then I realized that this whole book is the span of one day. 722 pages make up one day. The second book is over 1000 pages, but it's just day two. I'm glad I only just now figured that out because otherwise that would have made it hard for me to keep going.

But I loved the way this book is written. Kvote is narrating his life to an audience of two, and sometimes you get a bit of what is happening in the present, but that's not what's important. I'm sure it will be important later on, but for now, the past matters. It helped keep me engrossed in the story. Switching back to Kvote's present made me yearn for the past and helped keep the momentum going for me.

There are parts with dragons and demons that aren't super great for me because that's not my kind of book, but even those are find to read. I got through them, and I can say that I somewhat enjoyed them. I'm sure there will be more of that in the future books, which I'm not looking forward to, but given how much I enjoyed this first book, I'll enjoy those aspects as well.

The length of this book was the only thing that made it challenging for me. The writing is really easy to understand and follow. Rothfuss writes in a way that is simple yet exciting and engaging. He sucks his readers right in!

"I learned to love the feel of good words."

4 3 2 1: Paul Auster (A book with unusual, strange, or unconventional chapter headings)

I was absolutely fascinated by the premise of this book: four different possible lives of the same person. I was so excited to dig in and get going on this adventure. I wasn't disappointed, but it was very difficult for me to make it through the book. This was my first Paul Auster book, and I've heard good things about his writing, but now that I know what his writing is like, I'm not sure how I feel.

It definitely isn't the light-hearted read I imagined nor was it an easy read. The density was overpowering in many places. It was such a huge book; at several points, I thought it would never end.

Part of what helped, was that a lot of the book consisted of political going-ons and people, about which I couldn't care less. I'm sure that I missed out on a lot of the depth and meaning behind the book, but I skimmed over a majority of that. I don't feel like this ruined the book for me; I enjoyed it immensely. I'm sure if I were to do a real review or write an article or essay on it, I'd have to go back and reread those sections to connect them with the rest of the book. Especially when the last few pages are solely about the politics, I'm sure politics plays a bigger role than I assigned them.

Another issue that I had, which I again solved by skimming, were Auster's long sentences. They were Dickensian in style, but most of them I found to be longer than the average Dickens' sentence. They were just massive sentences, which makes sense considering how massive this novel was.

As to the story itself, I found it really interesting to consider the multitude of different paths a person could take. This book only had four different lives, but in each of those lives, Ferguson made many choices, and those four lives could have gone in any which direction. Where he goes to college, who his friends are, his relationship with his parents, his sexuality, his pen name, his death are just a few of the differences he faces in his four different lives.

And yet, some of the big things remain the same. For Ferguson, no matter which way his life went, he was destined to be a writer. No matter where he went to school (if he went to school), who he dated, where he lived, he had to write. I think that's an interesting thing to consider. Are we all born with these innate desires that won't change no matter what decisions we make in life?

I also enjoyed that in each story, the same people are central to his life. The same girlfriends or boyfriends, the same friends, the same relatives, they all play a role in his life, no matter his choice. The same people entered his life in different ways, times, and places, but they entered his life.

Overall, this was a good read. I have to take a break from Auster now, though, because I don't think I could handle another book like this for a few weeks, at least. I don't mind a challenge, but this book wasn't interesting enough to make me enjoy the challenge. Maybe his other books are different, but I need a break.

I'm using this as my strange chapter headings even though I might be stretching it to make it fit. Each chapter was numbered according to the life it was about. For example, 1.1 was about the first life, 1.2 was about the second life, 1.3 about the third, and 1.4 about the fourth. Then you got into 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4, and so on. I really enjoyed this because it helped me to keep track of which Ferguson I was reading about. It was also really sad that even after there was a death, there was still the chapter heading listed, but nothing was written in the chapter, which was a sad reminder of what had happened. Instead of completely erasing that character, he still took up space in the book.

The 6:41 to Paris: Jean-Philippe Blondel (A book that takes place in a single day)

This was a very fun little read. I was skimming the shelves at the library, and I completely chose this book because of the cover. The cover is cool and makes the book seem interesting, which it ended up being, so score!

I want to call this a psychological drama, but that makes it sound like an episode of CSI or Criminal Minds. No crimes occur in this novel, it really is just a psychological journey into the history of two middle-aged folks who dated when they were young. The back calls it a psychological thriller, but I think that's going a bit too far. It's not really thrilling, it's just dramatic.

First, I enjoyed the writing a lot. The book is written in first person, and each chapter switches perspective from Cecile to Philippe, maintaining that first person. The transitions between characters were smooth and seamless. The reader just rolled along with the narrator, whoever it was at the time. It was very easy to follow along, even though the chapters don't have any headings or numbers. Sometimes, it took a second to catch up, but only when the pages had dialogue in the middle and when it went back it could be a bit difficult to figure out whose perspective it was, but it was usually easy to discover who was doing the thinking at the time.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed a book where only five or six sentences are actually spoken. The rest of the book is just the thoughts of two people who interact three times.

I can't explain why it was a page-turner. Nothing happens, and nothing will happen, but I had to keep reading. I think I wanted to know exactly what happened with them, how they were going to end this "awkward" train ride, and if they were going to have a conversation about the past. The style of writing helps keep up the urgency I felt while reading. I had to keep going; I had to keep reading because I needed to know.

It's also cool that only two hours pass during the 146 pages of this book. It's just the length of a train ride into Paris. I'm impressed that an author can write a book where absolutely nothing happens, time hardly passes, and yet readers are intrigued and turning the pages rapidly throughout the whole story.

It was a good read. It wasn't life altering or changing, and I'll probably never read it again, but it was fun and easy! It took me about an hour (less time than passes in the book), and I had fun reading it!

The Accomplished Guest: Ann Beattie (a book with a plant on the cover)

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Beatrice has a writing style that completely captured me and wouldn't let me go.

Each story that I read made me want more of the story. Each story could have been a novel; I wanted so much more information than the short stories gave. I think that's a sign of great writing.

I had a lot of fun trying to figure out what the title meant it where the title came from. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure most of the stories out.

I found this to be an interesting read full of deeper meaning that if I took the time, I could pull out and share. Each story deals with loss, pain, loneliness, guests, and hosting in some way, and I think Beattie chose an interesting theme to center the book around: guests. It provides readers a different way to think about hosting or being a guest. She also provides readers with ways of dealing with pain and heartbreak, which I thought was lovely.

Scrappy Little Nobody: Anna Kendrick (A book written by a musician)

This was my first foray into the world of memoirs, and I think I liked it. I'll admit that it took me a long time to get into it. A memoir, at least this memoir, is like reading someone's journal. They edit the journal and only include the stories they think are important, but you're nonetheless reading someone's journal.

A friend told me the other day that having to listen to someone's dreams from the previous night is the worst thing you can do to a person. All dreams are are "had to be there" moments. And I feel this is very true for Kendrick's life. Most of the stories are "had to be there" stories, and clearly, I wasn't there. I chuckled at a few of her tales, but for the most part, I kept asking myself, "Why am I reading this?" or "Why was it necessary to include this story?"

This is a very minor complaint, but I was also bummed that she didn't include anything from The Last Five Years which is my favorite of her works that I've seen. When I decided to read the book, I was excited to hear her take on that musical, but she didn't really give her take on anything she was in, which I guess makes sense because that's not the point I guess?

Which does lead me to another question: What is the point of this memoir? Is it supposed to lead to some earth shattering revelation in it's readers? Are we supposed to feel good about ourselves in the end because now we know that Anna Kendrick is a completely normal, down-to-earth human being? Are we just supposed to laugh a few times? Is there a lesson? Or is it just pointless? I'd like to hear from Kendrick herself as to why she wrote the book. Was it just another way for her to make money, or did she have a grander purpose in writing? Perhaps she has said as much somewhere, and if so, please direct me there. I'm very curious.

It took me two weeks to get through this, not because it was long but because I had to convince myself to keep going every time I thought about it. And that's because, again, I didn't understand why I was reading it. I was reading someone's reflection on their life, and this person is only 33, so really, she hasn't lived much life. Maybe I'm missing the entire point of memoirs (very possible as this is my first). I won't give up on the genre because there are a lot of people I want to read a memoir about. Anna Kendrick just isn't one of those people. I chose to read this because I needed to fulfill a category for my reading challenge: a book written by a musician, and someone suggested this. 

The book itself was well-written and had some fun pictures sporadically placed throughout, which was a nice addition. Aside from having to convince myself to keep reading, it was a very easy read. It just wasn't a fun read, as I thought it would be.

My Lady's Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel: Kitty Curran (A "choose-your-own-adventure" book)

This was actually a terrible book. I tried to convince myself that it was good for what it was: a choose-your-own-adventure romance book, but even with that in mind, it was bad.

Someone in my reading challenge Goodreads group recommended this to fulfill the CYOA, and I thought it sounded interesting! It wasn't.

I thought it would be fun to read a CYOA book meant for adults, because I remember liking those as a kid. Every time you read the book, you could get a completely different story, and the same is true for this one. I followed two different paths, just to see, but each were no good.

It's hard because I'm sure a lot of the plot was written to fit the theme of the book, but what plot there was sorely lacked creativity and originality. The author tried to throw in curve balls and plot twists, but none of then flew for me.

The writing also lacked quite a bit for me. It was difficult to get through and hard to get involved in the story, which is no fun, especially when I'm playing a part in how the story goes.

It's written in third-person which helps add to the CYOA aspect, and I think I decided that I like that point of view. It is a challenge, though, when the "you" of the book is just a terrible and poorly written character. That takes away from the reading quite a bit. None of the characters are developed at all, but again, I suppose that has something to do with making this book a CYOA.

I definitely would not recommend this book, and I definitely will not read it again.

Dance Upon the Air: Nora Roberts (A book about someone with a superpower)

I don't typically like Nora Roberts' books with magic, but this one was pretty cute. Nell is a very strong and independent character, and it was fun to follow her journey learning magic. Perhaps this is due to my love of all things Harry Potter, but throughout the book I longed for more vivid portrayals of the magic being cast. I felt very disappointed in the lack of magic in a book about magic.

Anyway, Nell and Zach were a nice couple, and they had a pleasant courtship. I enjoyed Nell's break into the world starting her business and restarting her life.

I thought the way Roberts used an old friend from Nell's past life to bring back her husband was an interesting way to spoil her disguise and give away her location.

The villain is a very good one. It starts just as Evan, but (as I'm reading the next books) it becomes much more, hiding in Evan, which is very interesting.

I'm using this one as my book about someone with a superpower because I really enjoyed the process of Nell discovering who she was and what she had, and the process in which she learns how to use her magic is fresh and new.

Love in the Time of Cholera: Gabriel García Márquez (a book with "love" in the title)

I struggled a lot (and am still struggling) with what to write as my review of this book. I read several reviews to get an idea of what people around me thought of the book, and got all ranges, so I decided I could be honest. It made me laugh to see the wide variety of reviews, ranging from "a dazzling romance" to "a rape story." I understood where the author of the second was coming from, but I could not relate the dazzling romance reviewer. It is so far from a dazzling romance, in my opinion.

I can admit that Marquez has a beautiful way of writing and weaving a story, even one as horrible as this one. While I cannot appreciate the story, I can appreciate the writing. I'm encouraged to read another of his, probably [book:One Hundred Years of Solitude|320] because many people said this was their favorite.

The writing was great. The characters were horrible. I agree with someone who said Juvenal Urbino was their favorite character, but he dies in the first chapter, which makes the rest of the book rather hard. Fermina Daza isn't necessarily a horrible character, but she isn't a fun one. She didn't have any depth to me. Her story, or her life, is wrapped around the two men who spent their life trying to please her. She makes that a rather difficult thing to achieve. She strikes me as a foolish, whimsical girl too caught up in herself and her dreams.

Florentino Ariza. Where do I even start with him? He is absolutely despicable. There is not even an inkling of admiration in me for him. Our first encounter is of him professing his undying love for a newly widowed woman who is obviously grieving, and he does not get any better.

My first issue with him is that he (like many other men in literature) has no reason to love Fermina Daza as much as he does. He sees her and immediately becomes obsessed. He does everything in his power to make her love him, just because she looks pretty, I guess. I find that one of the most annoying cliches or tropes there can be in literature or movies. Guy sees girl, guy never speaks to girl but becomes obsessed anyway because of her beauty. Guy does whatever he can to make girl fall in love, and when she inevitably doesn't he acts like the world is this cruel and unfair place and his life is now ruined.

Anyway. After she marries someone else, his life because a pursuit of physical pleasure. The back of my book describes this well: "... he whiles away the years in 622 affairs - yet he reserves his heart for Fermina." What. How is that reserving your heart? 622 is an absurd amount. Oh, and let's not forget that one of these affairs is with a 14 year old girl. When he's in his 70s. Then when he and Fermina Daza do finally fall in love (which is a whole different issue I have with this silly tale), he has the nerve to tell her "I remained a virgin for you." YOU SIT ON A THRONE OF LIES.

Yeah, so they do end up together, after 50 some years, and I guess that is supposed to mean that true love cannot be erased by love, but I shake my head at that. It seems to me that Fermina Daza just takes pity on him and lets him have what he's wanted all this time.

Needless to say, I did not like this book. Maybe if I spend more time thinking about it, and perhaps continue to read other reviews or scholarly articles, I might grow to understand the beauty in this book, but for now, I am content to never read or speak of it again.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before: Jenny Han (Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge: A book made into a movie you've already seen)

This was one of those rare occasions where I watched a movie, loved it, found out it was a book first and had to read the book. Sometimes that works. This time, not so much.

It was hard to enjoy this book after loving the movie so much. They are so different it's hard to compare them. I'll try to judge this simply as a book without letting the movie cloud my judgment, but I'll probably fail.

It took me a while to get into the book. I can't really explain it, but the writing was dull and slow. It was very monotonous, and I felt like the characters didn't have any depth. Things were slow to pick up, but Han kept writing, which seemed like she was only writing to fill pages. It got better when the story started picking up again, but that took too long.

I didn't like any of the characters, actually. They were all quite mean and nasty to each other and to themselves, even (especially) in the family. Margot leaves for college, and when she comes back, she acts as though she can't be bothered to stoop to the level of her family, and while I get that college changes people, based on the tight-knit family of the beginning, Margot's change shouldn't have been that drastic.

Peter was just a brat the entire time. Even when they started dating officially, he was still kind of a jerk. And the same can be said for Lara Jean. They weren't really ever nice to each other and it was annoying to have to read that. Plus, their fake relationship doesn't give me enough evidence to believe the real relationship. They don't seem to act like they truly like each other, until all of the sudden, they do, and they're dating for real.

I also thought the character of Josh was very weak and uninspired. His actions throughout the book don't make any sense and just confusing because there's nothing that would justify or explain what he does and how he behaves, and it makes Josh a nuisance instead of the lovable best friend he's supposed to be.

I'm reading the second book now (mainly because I heard they're making that into a movie too), and I'm hoping for some better plot and stronger characters, but we'll see!

We Can't Be Broken: H. K. Christie (a book you meant to read in 2018)

I got this book for free in return for a review in 2018, and after reading the first chapter, I gave up on it. When I saw it again in my Kindle library, I figured I needed to see it through, so I picked it up again

Overall, I was not a fan at all. The entire novel was completely predictable. I think the author hits on many important topics and issues but doesn't delve into anything enough to make those hits significant or worth it. The plot and characters have so much potential, but they're wasted in this story.

I’m not a fan of the “overly dramatic,” so I didn’t like how the author chose to end the last chapter: “I sang as I danced around the room, blissfully unaware that just fourteen months later we would get devastating news that would change our lives forever.” I think this specifically is one of those instances where show it don’t tell it would apply. This says to me, “hey, you were having fun up until this point, but don’t get comfortable because something bad will happen in the next chapter.” In the right context, that can be fine, but not here. It is out of place and completely unnecessary.

I also can’t understate how annoyed I was by the use of “us kids.” Example: in chapter three, she says, “Us kids each took a chair.” That is at least the third time the author incorrectly uses her pronouns, and maybe it’s because an 11-year old is narrating, but this was like nails on a chalkboard for me, especially when she used it twice in the same paragraph. If she’s going to narrate as an 11-year old and use that as the excuse for incorrect grammar, then she should use it in other places too. The only place I’m seeing it is with the “us kids did this” bits, so I can’t believe the reason is to make the narrator seem her age.

The shift in perspective was very welcome, but it seemed disorganized. There doesn’t seem to be any patterns, rather, the perspectives change on a whim, and I can’t seem to understand the purpose of those shifts.

There are moments when I feel bad for Sam, like when he’s nonchalantly mentioning how his step-father abuses him, or talking about how his mom forgot his birthday. Those moments are heartbreaking, but other than that I don’t have sympathy for the characters. They aren’t real enough for me. It didn’t seem as though the characters were built upon enough for the context to feel sympathy. The whole time I knew that I was reading a made up story of made up people; there was never a moment when I escaped my world and forgot that the story wasn’t real. Yeah, the whole family goes through some really crappy experiences, but the narrators are not written well enough to relate or feel sorrow because they're so one-dimensional.

I do feel sorry to have such a review after reading that this book was written based off the childhood of the author, but that didn't change how I felt about the book.

The Widow: Fiona Barton (A debut novel)

This novel keep me guessing until the very last page. The full story isn't wrapped until the end. In most detective stories I've read, we get the perspective of the villain, which makes it easier to piece things together. In this novel, we get the perspectives of many people, and we aren't able to piece the story together.

I have a hard time picking which characters were the good guys, and I'm led to believe there are none in this story. It's tragic, really, to witness these people with their hidden agendas even in the midst of this horror.

The alternating perspectives and chronology was hard to keep up with, but I figured it out by making sure I read the chapter headings each time. I usually skip those but for this book, I needed them.

I think Barton does a fabulous job in her debut novel. I was impressed when I read this was her first.

Barton also tied many different pieces together very smoothly. She's able to accurately present the side of the victim's family, the suspect's family, the lead detective and his family, as well as many aspects of the media. It seems like a big bite on her first go, but it's clear that Barton did her research. That makes the read much more engaging and captivating.

When I started reading, I told myself I would just read a chapter of two and then do some house work, but that didn't happen. Because the timeline was so jumpy, each chapter was unexpected and new, and I wasn't able to stop after just one.

The Silent Wife: A. S. A. Harrison (A book told from multiple character POVs).

This was a fantastic read. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I read it, and I never knew how it was going to end until it ended. I love it when a book can do that.

The POVs of Jodi and Todd were great; it helped move the plot forward, when it could have gotten stuck. Getting into both of their minds helped build cases for and against both of them. I could have chosen to like or hate both of them, depending on how I interpreted their actions. I appreciated that Harrison gives us the room to make a choice.

I found it added to the thrill that mainly the characters were referred to as "Him" and "Her." Their names are used, but in the beginning especially, Harrison sticks with him and her. This makes it more thrilling because I imagine the characters as nameless people going through the motions, building up to the climax but not knowing how to get there.

Harrison also does a great job building her characters. They are all unlikable at some point, and the only one who I found I actually did like or feel sympathy for was Jodi. Just when I thought she had no backbone and did nothing to stand up for herself, she does so, in the biggest way she can. It took me by surprise when she finally grew that backbone and let her anger loose.

I enjoyed the inclusion of the transcripts for Jodi's psych appointments. This helped build Jodi into the person she was at the end. Through those conversations, the readers are allowed to understand the backstory of Jodi and how she thinks. It was fascinating to read the last few pages and connect the puzzle pieces of Ryan and Darrell.

I started this book too late in the night to read it through in one sitting, and I regret that. It was a book that I did not want to put down.

Peace Like a River: Leif Enger (A book about a family)

This book has all of the things I look for in a book of fiction: family, love, tragedy, faith, forgiveness, death, triumph, twist endings... It was an incredibly good read. 

This book had been on my to-read list for quite a while, and I finally checked out from my local library. I'm very sad that I don't remember why I put it on my list. I would like to know where I saw it or who recommended that I read it because I would like to thank him or her. 

The narration, done by Reuben, an 11-year-old-boy, is well done. It is compelling and drives the story along. I enjoyed his perspective on things, and I find the author's choice of character interesting. He could have made great narration with any of the other characters, but by choosing Reuben, he maintains a sense of innocence throughout the whole book, which adds to the emotion and drama of the narrative. 

I loved the character of Swede, and I envy her poetic talents. It's fairly unbelievable that a nine-year-old would have such talent, but Enger makes us believe. She's a fun addition to the house of boys. 

The theme of faith in this book also intrigued me. Enger just hints at it, really. He mentions the miracles and Jeremiah's prayers and devotions, but it's more of a side story, and not a focus of the book, which is interesting because it is a central focus of the family. He touches on Davy's refusal to believe, but it doesn't go deeper than that. Reuben and Swede seem along for the ride, and know how to use faith to their advantage, but again, Enger doesn't go deeper than that. I wonder at his reasoning for including so many points of religion without diving in or working off those points.

The emotional ride I had in this book was a subtle but fun one. It was a slow ride, and one that I took a break from several times, but I enjoyed it. Enger carries you along through this family's search for love and redemption in a brilliant and beautiful way.

The Dressmaker: Kate Alcott (A book with an item of clothing on the cover)

This was an exceptionally written book. It was a book I bought based on the title and the cover. It reminded me of Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, mainly because of the title, so I figured I would enjoy this book too. I had no idea it was about the Titanic and the aftermath, but I'm grateful it was.

Tess, our heroine, was a brilliantly built character. She pulls you along on this torment of tragedy, courage, and love. She's a fantastic blend of naiveté and maturity, which I found to be inspiring.

All of the characters were well built and written. Each has growth which is important for me in a story, especially in such a drama as this. I was shocked to discover that a majority of the characters were real people and the plot points truly happened. I spent at least an hour looking up each person, reading the summaries from the trials, and finding out the ramifications of these events. I'm thankful that this story lead me to do much learning!

I've never much liked the movie Titanic, I think because it was too drawn out regardless of the lack of touching on the more serious issues of the sinking. I found this book to be a much better retelling of this tragedy because it goes beyond the actual sinking and follows the survivors as they face the world waiting for them. Alcott reminds us of the aftermath and the lives ruined in the weeks following.

Watership Down: Richard Adams (A book with a two-word title)

A friend recommended this book to me, and I'll admit, when she first described it, the only interest came from the absurdity of it. As she told me, it's a book about a few rabbits surviving in the world. Strange, right?

It's actually a very neat idea: Richard Adams began telling his daughters a bedtime story about Fiver and Hazel, and after several years, when the story was finished, his daughters encouraged him to write the story into a book. Thus, Watership Down was born. 

The first thing I found fascinating about this novel is that it's really a children's story. But you wouldn't guess it from reading. The themes and concepts are mature, not so that they're inappropriate for children but so that adults can appreciate and connect to as well. It's about rabbits, yes, but it's also about us, which makes it such a compelling tale. Every few chapters, he includes a story that the rabbits tell, their own sort of mythology. I found these to be a great inclusion, especially when considering this story was made for children. And these tales go to show just how vast this world Adams created is. 

Adams created a rabbit language, which was so enjoyable. It was fun to figure out where the words he was using came from, and try and decipher the meaning of the words (without using his provided dictionary). Because the rabbits don't speak English, there are times they would come across something that they have no word for. This happened when they found a boat. They didn't have a word for boat, and sometimes, Adams would give us enough context and clues to figure out that the rabbits were talking of a boat, and other times, he would have other characters tell us what the item was. Rabbits don't have numbers either, so often times, Adams would simply tell the reader what the number was, and that was a fun sort of aside.

It's fascinating, to me, how real these rabbits are. They're just rabbits, but Adams made them human. He made them as real as I am. He does make sure, throughout the story, to remind us that they are just rabbits, and not human (by language or eating habits, etc.) but that doesn't take away from the anthropomorphism. I've never considered myself an animal rights activist, but I encourage anyone who hunts rabbits to read this book and then try and hunt a rabbit.

At the beginning of each chapter, Adams adds a quote, setting the mood and theme of the section, and I quite enjoyed finding the relationship between the quote and the chapter. Some were easy, but some were rather challenging. This was a great addition to the book.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that my heart bled for these rabbits. Sounds silly, right? The tragic triumphs they had and the horrific obstacles they faced were so real and alive in Adams' writing. I think that takes a certain sort of magic: making humans cry for the lives of rabbits.