This Tender Land: William Kent Krueger

 Wow. This book was a journey. I was moved in many ways throughout the tale, and I was not ready for the story to end, even with the happy ending. I wanted to keep reading of the ride down the river, of the courage amidst incredible challenges, of the amazing way children think and plan and grow. 

The narration was excellent. Fluid and engaging in every page. Krueger has an excellent writing style, and I think I need to read his other book as well. I didn't want to put the book down, not just because of the story but also because of the beautiful way it was written. 

While this book has similar tastes as Mark Twain, I'm happy to report it isn't what you would expect from a Twain tale. There is much more growth, heartbreak, and excitement than you'd get from any of his stories. Plus, I found these four children to be much more interesting than any Tom Sawyer. 

Grab a box of tissues, prepare for some serious heart grabbing and twisting, and get reading!

The Princess Diarist: Carrie Fisher

 I wanted to like this book. I really wanted to like it. But I absolutely could not. 

Fisher was not meant to be a writer. She used this book as a trash can for her emotional vomit. None of it was logical or entertaining. This was purported to be a story of her time on Star Wars, and instead it was a litany of all the awful things she did while on the set of Star Wars (I don't need to go into the details, but Ford was a married man, and apparently that counts for nothing/makes it all the more exciting/gives it all the more reason to be brag-worthy.). 

The insane amount of drinking, drugs, and sex, were all things to brag about. Never once did she express remorse for any of the crap she did. She put it into this book and expected us to be proud of all she did. Sorry, but I'm not at all proud or impressed or empowered. 

Content aside, I wasn't kidding about emotional vomit. This was stream of consciousness in a way that stream of consciousness was never meant to be. This beautiful writing style was just completely ruined in what Fisher did in her book. She used it solely to be seen as "cuter" or "funny" or "witty" or "cool," and all I got from it was how idiotic she sounds when no one tells her to stop talking. Someone needed to cut her off at the end of each thought and teach her how to tie those thoughts together.

I definitely feel pretty bad writing this after her death, but honesty must prevail?