The Girl on the Train: a brief review

taken from goodreads.com

The subtitle of this post should actually be: a super brief review because this is a book club book and I'm saving all my talking for book club because OHMYGOSH do I have a whole lot of talking to do about this book and actually talking about it would spoil the plot for you so just read it.

That should be the subtitle. But I figured maybe that's a little too long.

It's true. This is indeed a book club book and our meeting isn't for several weeks so I'm going to respect that and keep any specific opinions and OHMYGOSHs to myself. Here's the basic plot though, told in a super choppy way in an attempt to leave all spoilers out:

Rachel rides the same train to and from London every day. On her ride she sees the same couple outside their home and has a little made up version of who they are that plays in her head as she passes them every day. In her fantasy they're Jess and Jason, but in real life they're Megan and Scott; when Megan shows up everywhere on the news because she's disappeared, Rachel becomes obsessed with figuring out what happened. Meanwhile, Rachel's ex-husband Tom and his new wife Anna are bugged that Rachel keeps drunkenly calling and harassing them...but it also quickly becomes a little more complicated than that.

The short story: I freaking loved this book. Ate it up. Did all kinds of guessing and trying to figure it all out. In the end, I did kind of figure it out but I didn't even care because it was still super good. I'm not the first person to make this comparison at all, but it's a little Gone Girlish, but as Shauna Niequist said, "in a good way." Translation: it has all the crazy (well, slightly less crazy actually, because Gone Girl is just straight up bananas) and all the mystery and thrills and sociopaths but I wouldn't feel bad recommending it to someone. If you want the long version of my thoughts...read it and then grab coffee with me sometime. I've got lots to say. (But in all honesty it's mostly just a bunch of "OHMYGOSHTHISPART".)

Oh and P.S., they're already starting to work on the movie and I have several casting suggestions. I'm waiting for the phone call.

Bossypants: a brief review

taken from goodreads.com

So, earlier this year I read Amy Poehler's Yes Please and pretty much hated it. Then I listened to the audiobook version of Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and straight up loved it/her to death. Between those two, I went into Tina Fey's Bossypants with tentative excitement: I might love it but I also might hate it and I was open to both possibilities. Well friends, the verdict is in and I am just crazy about Mrs. Tina Fey. Or her book, at the very least.

It's an autobiography about all the typical things (childhood, parents, teenage years, college, rise to fame through the comedy clubs of Chicago, etc. etc.) so it's not like I really need to go into details about what it's about. It's about Tina. But I would like to share some thoughts on the things that I really really loved about it (in the order that they pop into my head) and call it a day. (Also note, I listened to the audiobook. I highly recommend this. She's great.)

• The way she talks about her parents, but more specifically her father. I died of laughter while washing the dishes and listening to her tales of Don Fey (kind of sort of because they really reminded me of my grandfather). 
• The way she talks about college at UVA, because the stereotypes she describes are exactly what all of us JMU girls think about UVA girls (also, please realize that I am kind of the farthest thing from a stereotypical "JMU girl" as can be. But I went to JMU and I'm a girl so there's that). 
• The way she describes going through puberty. Classic and hilarious. 
• The way she candidly discusses differences in female body types, and the fact that we are always and forever trying to fabricate the features we don't have rather than be proud of the ones we do have. 
• The way she shared stories about 30 Rock, making me very interested in giving it another try. 
• The way she described motherhood. Guys, if I was laughing during the Don Fey stories, I was absolutely rolling on the floor laughing out loud during her chapters on motherhood. Breastfeeding and pumping and the cruel ways we shame each other and using the shower as "mommy time." It's gold, friends. I loved it all. 
• The way she included the actual audio of the original Sarah Palin/Hilary Clinton SNL skit on the audiobook. Because who doesn't love hearing that for the 32nd time? Never gets old. 

There's more. I know there is.  The basic conclusion is that I really loved it, and I have already passed it on to my mother and sister to listen to on their cross-country road trip that starts in a couple days. Definitely recommended.

Bud, Not Buddy: a brief review

I'm not quite done with my 2015 reading goals list, but since I don't have either of the last two on audiobook, I made the executive decision to press ahead into some new books for the purposes of being able to get some more "read" audibly. After browsing the library's audiobook section thoroughly, I discovered that they have one of this adorable little children's book, which just so happens to be on my 94 book list. Oh happy day.

Bud, Not Buddy has been on my radar for such a long time. Both of my sisters read it ages ago when we were kids, and I remember them saying how cute it was and how much they loved it. Well it's like 15 years later but I've finally read it, and I totally get what the hype was about. Ten-year-old Bud lives in an orphanage during the Great Depression following his mother's sudden death, and when he gets placed in an abusive foster home he takes off to travel the world on his own. In search of the man he believes is his father - based on a band's flyer his mother had kept - Bud meets many welcoming and loving people along the way that remind him what being a member of a family is like.

This book is wonderful. It's cute and funny and charming; I laughed out loud at the 10-year-old boy thought processes and the playful dialogue between characters. The way people reached out to Bud and showed him love warmed my little heart and reminded me why children's books are often the best choices (is this where I say one more time that I've been kind of tired of the f-word on all of the pages of all of the books I've been reading?). Really and truly, this is a great one. If you didn't read it in your childhood, I definitely recommend it even for adults. Because we can all use a good, clean, G-rated read about looking out for the orphans every once in a while.

A Long Way Down: a brief review

taken from goodreads.com

With another book completed on my 2015 reading goals list, I have to admit I'm rethinking my approach to reading entirely. But more on that in a minute. First, let's talk about this book:

Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down is the story of four complete strangers who meet each other on New Year's Eve at the top of the same building that they were all intending to jump off of. They chat, they decide to come down off of the building together, and they make a pact to wait until Valentine's Day to make any kind of decision. Thus forms a super weird, super unlikely group of friends that gets together for coffee, for pick-me-up chats, and even once for a vacation.

Just like lots of the books I've read recently, I added this book to my ever-growing list of books to read because it was going to be made into a movie and I thought the plot sounded really promising (also, Aaron Paul is in the movie version, and I am just crazy about Aaron Paul). I thought it sounded like a super predictable plot, but a predictable plot that I could wrap my heart around: four strangers stop each other from committing suicide, and form an unlikely but strong bond that helps them heal from all their respective problems and find a new appreciation for life. That sounded like a great book to me. Except, spoilers ahead, that's not really what happens. They do form a little bond, but they're all so different that they actually kind of hate each other and continue to do so through the end. They do help each other find a new appreciation for life, sort of, but...honestly they're all still pretty miserable, grumpy people in the end. They're not jumping off the building, (yay) but they're not happy. They're not excited about grabbing life by the horns. They're not made whole by a newly formed love for the family and friends in their life, therefore giving them reasons to live. They're still alive, but when they talk about why they're not jumping, none of them really have reasons.

And all of that, I've got to be honest, makes me a little nuts. Because yeah, it's probably more realistic, and it's definitely less predictable, but at some point I want to feel like I'm getting something out of the books I'm spending my time reading. I don't mind predictable and unrealistic every once in a while if it means it's not a super depressing bummer. I don't mind sappy and romantic and feel-good if it means I get to avoid a thousand f-words and feeling incredibly sad about the hopelessness of fictional characters. And after all of that, I didn't even really enjoy the book. I don't get too bothered by language and hopelessness and craziness in books if I enjoy them, but there have been so many books that I've chosen to read recently because they were on some Buzzfeed list and I don't even like them. Meanwhile, I've got a lot of books staring me in the face that I can't wait to read, and I'm going to read them. Thanks for the suggestions, pop-culture, but I'm gonna do my own thing for a while.

And by the way, the trailer for the movie (which I'll still watch because, Aaron Paul) looks like exactly what I thought the book was going to be. So they either rewrote the plot for the movie, or they're big fat liars just like whoever wrote the synopsis for the book on the internet.

Here's where I stand on my 2015 reading goals list:

• Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
• Monster, by Walter Dean Myers
• Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
• The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion
• Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, by Mindy Kaling
• Yes Please, by Amy Poehler
• A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby
• This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper
• Wild, by Cheryl Strayed
• Serena, by Ron Rash
• Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
• Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
• Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling
• Half Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling
• Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling 

Only two left - both of which I'm genuinely excited about - and then we're starting over with a whole new list, most of which are getting pulled straight off my own bookshelves. 

Berryville: Year 2

It's been two years since we moved into our Berryville house on April 17, 2013. It's hard to believe how much time has passed since we started over in a new town, and it's still hard to believe how much we've done to change this cute little house to make it ours. As predicted, Year 2 was much less productive than Year 1, as far as the house goes anyway. JT spent a lot of the summer in Florida for work, and then we spent a month recovering from his accident, and then we gave birth to Charlotte, and then JT signed up for one of his last online classes. All of those things took up a lot of time and some of the things we were able to get done this year cost quite a lot of money. So the list is shorter, but it was still a good year. We've been talking for a couple months now about what we want to get done over the course of this next year, and even though it's just a couple of things they will make huge impacts both visually and functionally. I'm excited to see what next year's post will say.

I've blogged about a lot of things we've done in and around the house over the last year, but as is tradition now, I'm going to use the anniversary of moving in to summarize and list all the projects we accomplished over the last year (generally in chronological order).

• switched to homemade laundry detergent
• replaced the shed
• fixed the trench for the sump pump overflow in the front yard (short term fix)
• completed many projects in the nursery, such as painting the furniture, making a lamp, making various art projects for the walls, making the mobile, etc.
• updated the organization and function of the pantry storage
• primed and repainted the walls of the laundry room
• painted the new entryway bench
• planted flowers in the deck's built-in flower boxes
• power washed the deck
• painted the entire deck
• made and hung a coat rack in the new entryway
• had the HVAC system repaired
• built a small storage box for the trash cans
• hung more pictures on the family room gallery wall
• gave the dining room a small facelift 
• installed a wood burning stove in the basement
• painted the ceiling and walls of the basement
• built new storage shelves for the basement
• organized all of our extra stuff in the basement on the new shelves
• insulated all holes and gaps throughout the basement
• hung a drying rack in the laundry room
• organized the medicine cabinet in the master bathroom

Here's to Year 3 in this house we've made our home. 

The Deathly Hallows: a brief review

taken from goodreads.com

Well friends, I have finally and officially finished the entire Harry Potter series. The really exciting part is that those books were on my 2015 reading goals list, and finishing them all puts a huge dent in the list; I actually only have two and a half left to go. I know I've said it before and I'm also pretty certain I'll say it many more times, but audiobooks are the way to go. More specifically, audiobooks that you put on your phone so you can put your phone in your pocket and listen to books all day long while you're cleaning the house or washing dishes or feeding your baby or going for a walk (all without headphones, I might add), are life-changing. It has been for me, anyway. It's meant that I can be reading at least two books at once (one on audiobook, one on my Kindle, and one or two non-fiction hard copies for various Bible studies I'm in) and that makes me happy.

Am I stalling? Kind of, yeah. I don't really want to write my real feelings about this book. Not because I absolutely hated it, because I didn't. But I will be completely honest, (because I guess that's the idea of this) I did not love it. I actually didn't love the whole series. I liked the first four quite a bit, was bored to death by the fifth, liked the sixth okay, and barely survived the seventh. Someone very close to me who I love very much and may in fact be a blood relative told me that "every page of this one is gold." I...just...didn't agree. I actually felt like most of the pages didn't need to be there at all. But more on that in a minute.

You all know the basic plot, right? Because most of you have read the book before, and are just waiting to see why on earth I have anything negative to say about it so you can write mean things in the comment section? Okay cool. So I'll skip the plot overview and go right to some good ol' fashioned bullet pointed thoughts. I've broken them up by things I liked and things I didn't like (because there were things that I liked! I'm not dead inside!).

Things I didn't like:

• First and foremost, I should say that I had an epiphany about half-way through this book when I realized I just don't like this genre. At all. I like isolated books that kind of go in this fantasy/magic genre but they are very few and very isolated. As a general rule, I just don't really enjoy any of this stuff: the magic and the things you can do with the magic and the overarching bad guy and the good versus evil epic and the inevitable battle scenes. It's just not my taste and I'd much rather watch a movie with any/all of that than read a book about it. So before reading the rest of my thoughts, remember that: I honestly just don't find joy and entertainment in the things that make these books go 'round. That's not Rowling's fault.
• Harry and his friends really do seem to have the Jason Bourne/John McClane/Chuck Norris thing going on, don't they? All the metaphorical bullets fly at them all the time, and they always always get away. Even when they get hit and knocked unconscious. Even when he's pinned under the snake and she's got him by the throat and Voldemort is in the window. Even when he dies, he gets the chance to come back and kill Voldemort anyway. (Yeah, I know he didn't really die. And I also know that the same thing can be said for any protagonist in any action-packed plot. But I'm saying it about these guys.)
• I didn't really feel like I had a true understanding of who Voldemort is. I mean, I knew really well who he is as a person (all his childhood, his background, the whys and the how-comes), but I didn't have a solid handle on how big of a bad guy he is. This might sound like a non-issue and not worth getting upset about, but it's helpful for me (someone who apparently doesn't love fantasy) to have a sense of grounding when reading about other worlds or lifetimes; is he a local British terror, like a Son of Sam? Or is he a world-wide, well-known enemy like Hitler or bin Laden? That's helpful for me to have a grasp on how powerful and scary he really is...and I never really got that. Sometimes he seemed like he was pretty much THE bad guy of this magical world, but then other times all the schools from other countries came to Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament and none of them are as impressed by the Dumbledores and McGonagalls because they have their own versions. Does that mean they also have their own Voldemorts running around wreaking havoc? Or is ours the only one?
• Harry is just a complete idiot. I saw so many things before he did (pages and sometimes chapters before), and I just clearly revealed how dumb I am when it comes to these books. I just...ugh. Harry is an idiot. Enough said. 
• This book is so incredibly long. I feel like I spent most of my life listening to it. And most of the time all I thought (and occasionally said out loud with my fist in the air) is that if she could have just eliminated either the horcruxes or the hallows the book would have been so much better. And like 400 pages shorter. Seriously, lady...we're going after horcruxes...no, wait, a certifiably insane man just told us all about hallows for the first time and that sounds good so we'll switch gears completely and go after the hallows...except now that we think about it, Dumbledore did sound pretty serious when he told me to go after the horcruxes above all else...but now Dobby is dead and I'm super sad so I'll decide to go after the hallows...but ten minutes later I have to make a decision about whether to attempt to break into Gringots or not so I'll firmly decide on horcruxes...but maybe the hallows are important...PICK A LANE, WOMAN. I was driving back from visiting my parents yesterday on Interstate 81 listening to this book, beating my head against the steering wheel. And I kind of get the fact that in the end they both ended up being really important, but honestly it was all so chaotic and confusing and would have worked just as well with only one of them. (I'm going to go ahead and guess that this is the moment where all criticism and backlash that you've all been holding in will be released.)
• Copy and paste the same thing as the above bullet, but instead this time have it be about how one minute we trust/love/worship Dumbledore and the next we're pretty certain he was a horrible person. And then repeat. 
• Why were curses and curfews and Dementors needed to keep Hogwarts air-tight if Dumbledore's Army members could just apparate from one place to another (like, for example, out of Hogwarts and into Hogsmeade)? Seems like maybe that's all kind of a waste of time and energy. 
• Hidden among the many, many 5 star reviews of this book on Goodreads.com, there is one solitary 1 star review. I read it and it made me laugh, not because I agreed with everything she said, but because I did agree with some of it and because she pointed out the stupidity of some of the things I actually did like about the book. Like the fact that Snape is redeemed in the end and you realize he's super awesome...except the only reason why is because he was in love with Harry's mother for years and years and years after she died and because he killed Dumbledore out of mercy (and the white doe, and helping him get the sword...yeah, I get it). She also pointed out that after all this time and everything we've seen these characters go through, to have both Tonx's and Lupis' deaths be brief afterthoughts seems a little ridiculous. They deserved more than that. 

Things I did like:

•  The transformation of Creature, especially the moment during the final battle when he appears in the crowd, yelling about how he's supporting his master who is a friend of the house elves. 
• The humanization of the Malfoy family. Not Bellatrix, who is a she-demon 'till the end, but Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco. When Draco goes missing at the end, Lucius and Narcissa are no longer cold, hard Deatheaters; they're just parents, plain and simple. Obviously, it was a change that came after being publicly humiliated by Voldemort, but in the end they cared only for the safety of their son. Seeing them broken and terrified for something so genuine was a little touching, really. 
• The epilogue. There were parts of it that could have bordered on cheesy (every Potter and Weasley child being named after a dead Hogwarts hero, first and middle names) but it could also just as easily be endearing and sweet. I enjoyed it. Truthfully, this is the stuff I liked the most in these books: the befores and the afters. The chapters that took place at the beginning of each book where Harry gets brought to the Weasley's house and Molly is shooing them out of the kitchen and Fred and George are pulling pranks and they all go school shopping in Diagon Alley. I liked the "normal" parts that mirrored what real life looks like: the characters and the dialogue and the relationships and even the teenage dating drama. I might not have liked the plot too much but I did love the characters, and I enjoyed seeing them all get wrapped up nicely in the end. 

So those are my thoughts. I'm sure I had other thoughts (both on the pro and the con side) but I have since forgotten them. And really, this post is long enough as it is. Do I still have friends? Am I still allowed to come to Book Club? I promise not to use the Marauder's Map blanket ;)

Here's where I stand with my 2015 reading goals list:

• Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
• Monster, by Walter Dean Myers
• Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
• The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion
• Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, by Mindy Kaling
• Yes Please, by Amy Poehler
• A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby (currently reading)
• This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper
• Wild, by Cheryl Strayed
• Serena, by Ron Rash
• Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
• Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
• Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling
• Half Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling
• Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling

Half-Blood Prince: a brief review

taken from goodreads.com

With the second-to-last Harry Potter book crossed off my list, I can see the finish line. I am so close, guys. So close to being done shushing people who try to casually mention some otherwise well-known fact about the series or its characters. So close to being one of the cool kids. So close to being able to actually check something off my 2015 goals list (because even though I've been "checking" each individual book, "finish Harry Potter" is what was actually on my goals list and I haven't been able to cross it off despite the incredible amount of hours I've had Harry playing on audiobook throughout my house). It's been driving me crazy.

It's Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts, and he spends his time impressing the new Potions professor (Snape finally got his dream job of Defense Against the Dark Arts) with the help of his used textbook's handwritten notes. The Half-Blood Prince, as the book's previous owner calls himself, has all kinds of shortcuts, fool-proof solutions, and original potions that Harry benefits from greatly. Meanwhile, Ron likes Hermione but gets his feelings hurt and dates other girls, Hermione likes Ron but gets her feelings hurt and refuses to be in the same room as him, Harry is obsessed with proving that Draco is up to no good, and Dumbledore spends a considerable amount of time teaching Harry all about the tragic history of Voldemort's life.

I just finished this one about a half hour ago probably, and I have some mixed feelings. (And every single one of those mixed feelings contains spoilers, so be warned just in case.) Also, it goes without saying, that I still have the final book of the series to read and these are my thoughts based on where I am right now. AKA: if you try to point out why my feelings are wrong because you know what happens in book 7, I will probably cause you physical harm.

• Snape is the worst. Just the living worst. I've never liked him, I've always thought he was a whiny baby, and now he's proven that he's the worst. (Also, I'm still like 90% sure that he will turn out to be good in the end - and good all along - because Dumbledore isn't an idiot, I just have no idea how.)
• Ron and Hermione are sooooo teenagers. They belong right smack dab in the middle of a sitcom. Just get on the same page at the same time and spend the rest of your lives together, already. 
• Actually, copy and paste that last bullet point into this one, but use Harry and Ginny's names instead. Good grief. 
• Along those lines, I cannot even talk about how annoyed I am with Harry. So you're going to go travel the world in search of Voldemort so you can kill him. Why do you need to be single to do that? You've just spent all this time swooning over Ginny and then you finally get her and now you have this big light bulb go off that you can't be tied down by her when you've got this quest to carry out? Even though you've known for six years now that you're going to have to go on this quest at some point? Even though for this entire book, people have been referring to you as the "chosen one" because you're going to have to kill Voldemort? Come. On. You don't have to dump her, for crying out loud. Ginny's a smart girl. She's kind of known all of this about you since day 1. How much of a distraction is she going to be, really?
• Also along those lines, but worthy of its own bullet point I think: why do all superheroes tell the women in their lives that they have to break up with them so they'll be safe? The bad guys always come for the people in our lives that are our weaknesses, they say. First of all, again, I think Ginny realizes this is a risk. I'm pretty sure she's known it was a risk since she fell in love with you at age 12 or whatever. Let her make that choice for herself. Second of all, said bad guys aren't complete dummies. If you're dating a girl and then break up with her, Voldemort probably isn't going to be tricked into thinking you no longer care if she lives or dies. She's still probably a significant weakness of yours whether she's officially your girlfriend or not. So date the girl, for crying out loud. 
• I'm still waiting for Dumbledore to show up alive. I know they buried him and the painting is hung in his office and all that, but I just want to go on record as saying that I will not be surprised when he shows up alive (and dressed in white, most likely) in book 7. Snape forgot to double-tap, I'm sure of it.  
• The parts in which we learned about Voldemort/Tom Riddle's childhood and upbringing were heartbreaking and also terrifying. I actually got kind of scared listening to the scene where Dumbledore meets him for the first time...I've watched more than enough Law and Order SVU to know he had all the classic signs of being a sociopath and future serial killer. It's some pretty heavy content for its intended young adult audience...but read with a parent might be okay.

I think that's pretty much it. I really enjoyed this one and it went really fast (mostly because it was way more interesting than its predecessor, I think). I'm excited to listen to the final installment...if not mostly because then I can cross this series off the stinking list. 

Here's where I am with my 2015 reading goals list:

• Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
• Monster, by Walter Dean Myers
• Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
• The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion
• Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, by Mindy Kaling
• Yes Please, by Amy Poehler
• A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby (currently reading)
• This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper
• Wild, by Cheryl Strayed
• Serena, by Ron Rash
• Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
• Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
• Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling
• Half Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling
• Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling (currently listening on audiobook)