We Were Liars: a brief review

taken from Goodreads.com

All I really knew about this book was that one of my good friends read it a year ago and liked it a lot. At the risk of accidentally giving away really crucial plot twists, I'll be as brief as possible. The first half of this book was kind of eh. The second half of the book became much more of a little mystery and I got sucked in. THE END IS NUTS. The mostly good kind of nuts. And that's it. That's literally all I can say because otherwise I'll just end up rambling about the entire thing and give the ending away. And I really don't want to do that. So...I recommend it. You should read it, but just know it's a little different. Different, but definitely unforgettable (to take John Green's word from the review at the top of the book's cover).

Here's my updated 2016 reading goals list (remember I don't want to read only these books this year, just want to make sure I do read these):

• For the Love, by Jen Hatmaker
• Good News for Weary Women, by Elyse Fitzpatrick
• Bittersweet, by Shauna Niequist
• Bread & Wine, by Shauna Niequist
• Parenting with Scripture, by Kara Durbin
• Love and Respect, by Emerson Eggerichs
• The Excellent Wife, by Martha Peace
• The Underdogs, by Markus Zusak
• Every You, Every Me, by David Levithan
• Every Day, by David Levithan
• We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart
• Reality Boy, by AS King
• Forgive me Leonard Peacock, by Matthew Quick
• Lindsey Lost, by Suzanne Marie Phillips 
• Belle Porter series
• To All the Boys I've Loved Before, by Jenny Han
• Odds of Getting Even, by Sheila Turnage
• Attachments, by Rainbow Rowell

The rest of the books...

Hey friends. In an end of the year whirlwind, I finished a couple books before 2015 came to a close. Here are the reviews (end of the year thoughts and recap in the next post).

taken from Goodreads.com

You remember a couple days ago when I reviewed Gary Schmidt's book First Boy and said I felt kind of "eh" about it? And I said that I was really bummed about the idea of feeling "eh" about one of Gary's books because Gary is kind of my favorite of all time? Well this book is why he's my favorite of all time. Orbiting Jupiter is Gary's newest book - came out in October - and praise the Lord my dad had knee surgery so he could be laid up on the couch browsing Kindle options and find it (I'm not really thankful my dad had to have knee surgery, but you know what I mean). This book...whew. It's a tough subject matter, like most of Gary's books, but he handles it with ease and an incredible talent and smiles and tears (lots of tears) just like most of the rest of his books. Yes, it's a book about an eighth grade boy who has a child and has just been released from jail, but you need to read this book. Read this book, but have an entire box of tissues ready.

taken from Goodreads.com

I've been reading this book since about September. It was one of those that I started reading with a friend for us to meet regularly and discuss together, but life got busy and we don't live near each other so huge gaps of time would pass before I'd read a chapter or two and then forget about it for another huge gap of time. But I saw the end of the year approaching and decided it would only be fair to Jen if I finally finished this book. It was really good! Typical Jen with lots of laughs, lots of conviction, lots of tears (there's a couple pages at the end where she talks in detail about the adoption of her two little Ethiopian kids...cried like a baby), and lots of contemplation. It's the kind of book where some of it will really hit home because of how much you relate to her struggles, and some probably won't resonate as much, but it's still worth it. I definitely recommend it.

taken from Goodreads.com

In an effort to squeeze out as many books as possible before 2015 ended, I zoomed through this one this week. I chose it mostly because it was already on my kindle from when I'd bought it a while ago. It's three separate mini-books, written by three different YA authors, that all kind of connect and intersect with each other. It's simple, easy YA rom-com Christmas lit, and it was a really easy one to knock out in a couple days. I will say that in my personal opinion, the first two stories were really good and the third one kind of annoyed me, but it all wrapped up really nicely in the end.

And the Mountains Echoed: a brief review

taken from barnesandnoble.com

Several years ago, I read Hosseini's The Kite Runner, and enjoyed it as much as the next guy (or slightly less, maybe; I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my absolute favorite). But then more recently I listened to the audiobook version of his second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and loved it to pieces. I was excited, obviously, to snatch his third book, And the Mountains Echoed, on audiobook too. But I had to restart this book four separate times because I was so confused. I will say, though, that I think this is only because I was listening to it on audiobook while trying to cook dinner and keep dogs out of the kitchen and appease my screaming one-year-old who was clinging to my leg. This book has lots of different characters and lots of different story lines (that do connect to each other) and lots of different places/times in history. There's a fair amount to pay attention to, but once I was able to focus and make sure I was working hard to keep everything straight, it started getting a lot easier to remember all those connections. And then I fell in love with this book. It is brilliantly beautiful, and the web Hosseini weaves of family generations, relationships, and consequences is perfect. I loved this book...I think I do still love A Thousand Splendid Suns slightly more, but I really loved this book. It's beautiful, heartbreaking, and full of redemption. So one more time I'll say it: read Hosseini's books.

Ghosts of Tupelo Landing: a brief review

taken from Goodreads.com

Ghosts of Tupelo Landing is the sequel to Sheila Turnage's book Three Times Lucky, which I listened to and loved a couple months ago. I really liked this book as well - which picks up the story of rising sixth graders Mo and Dale right where the last story ended - but the audiobook was unbearably terrible. Just awful. And it's such a bummer because the first audiobook was great. This one had a different reader (why?) and the sound quality was just awful. So I definitely don't recommend the audiobook, but I do very much recommend this series (a third book is due to come out in the beginning of October).  The characters are super adorable and original, the dialogue is hilarious and clever, and the plots have enough mild twists and turns that you genuinely want to keep reading to find out what happens. I really do love these books, and even though I kind of sort of like the first one better, I blame the crappy audiobook. These are great, and I definitely recommend them.

Friends, a brief extension to the post is needed to acknowledge that this is my 50th book so far this year! I can't believe it. My goal for last year was to get to 40 books and I only made it to 32. Granted, I did have a baby in that year, but I had a rolling, crawling, climbing baby in this year and I've already far surpassed last year's goal. I will admit, though, that 33 of the 50 books so far have been audiobooks. I cannot stress enough the way audiobooks have changed my reading game. I'm already bummed about how I'll have to change things up again a couple years from now when Charlotte will be able to hear and understand the things I'm listening to...but I'll figure something else out then. For now, audiobooks are incredibly helpful. It is so much fun for me to get to read and cross books off my list and feel productive. It's been really great, and I'm enjoying it a lot. I also highly recommend audiobooks :)

Okay for Now: a brief, passionate review

taken from Goodreads.com

I read this book for the first time a handful of years ago, and I absolutely feel completely in love with Gary Schmidt. Really and truly fell in love. And this is my favorite of all his books. I love this book. I love this book. I love the characters, I love the dialogue, I love the writing style, I love the tears it makes me cry....I love this book. It is literally and concretely my favorite of all books. My favorite of all time. That's a big deal. So read this book, and then read the rest of this books in this order: Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, Trouble, The Wednesday Wars, and then don't under any circumstances read What Came From the Stars. He was apparently on LSD when he wrote that book.

He doesn't have the popularity or public awareness of a John Green or whoever, but I think that's a shame. Because, like I've said now lots of times, this is my favorite book. And he is an incredible writer.

(Twofer) Silas Marner and The Sky is Everywhere: brief reviews

taken from Goodreads.com

I kind of cheated with this one. I listened to it, but not exactly with an audiobook. I listened to this book in the form of a radio drama by Focus on the Family, which is super close to an audiobook except there's a full cast and sound effects and perhaps some minor editing. So, in the efforts of full disclosure, there's a chance I didn't actually read it all. Not in the traditional sense. But I'm counting it, because I feel like it. Attitude aside, I enjoyed this story. I had an incredibly hard time getting into it, which is a problem since it's so short. I would probably have to say that I struggled with understanding/following any of the first half of the plot, but the second half was great. The character of Silas Marner is a gem, and the other opposing character is a total jerk. Wanted to punch him in the face. Good, sweet classic. 

taken from Goodreads.com

This one is a teen drama/romance, with all the typical teen drama/romance elements despite its heartbreaking and unique plot, in which a high school girl deals with the recent death of her older sister. It's a good plot, but the fact that there's also a love triangle, a miscommunication that leads to many tears, and a painfully predictable reunion in the end (spoiler...but not really, because it's painfully predictable). Also, I felt SO OLD while I was reading about this sweet teenage child who is speaking about wanting to "give all of herself" to this boy she just met, and "belonging" to him, and being "so incredibly in love" with him. No. A thousand times no. You are not incredibly in love with him, because you met him two months ago and you're an infant. Other than that, it is predictable but it's also cute and very sweet.

The Impossible Knife of Memory: a brief review

taken from Goodreads.com

This book caused me to have a pretty significant epiphany; the first two books of Anderson's that I ever read were Speak and Wintergirls, which are both hardcore, intense, and super good. Because of them, I got it in my head that Anderson's books were all hardcore, intense, and super good, despite the fact that the last four books of hers that I've read (Prom, Twisted, Chains, and Forge) weren't nearly as "wow"-filled. I kept thinking and saying over and over that each of those books just weren't filled with the old Laurie Halse Anderson ka-pow, when maybe it's just that the first two books I read were the only ones that had that ka-pow. This book (which only had a little bit of ka-pow) made me finally realize that if five of the seven books I've read by this author are kind of run-of-the-mill, typical teen books and two are blow-you-out-of-the-water intense, maybe those are the exceptions. And not the rules.

But anyway, a book review. I liked this one, a comfortable 3 out of 5 stars worth. Some tougher issues are definitely approached with this plot (the lasting effects of war, PTSD, childhood trauma, drug abuse of both teens and adults, alcoholism) but the rest of it is pretty typical teen drama. Not only is it typical teen drama, it's kind of realistic teen drama (aka: the protagonist's crush is kind of moody and inconsistent and dumb and I didn't like him). I thought maybe she was going to blow me away with a crazy and traumatic ending, but then she mellowed out and gave kind of a glossed-over, middle of the road ending instead. I enjoyed it, but it didn't change my world or anything.

A Thousand Splendid Suns: a brief review

taken from Goodreads.com

I'm a little behind the curve with reading Mr. Hosseini's books, but after reading The Kite Runner about a year ago I definitely made sure to read his others at some point. A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I read via audiobook, did not disappoint. Similar to The Kite Runner, this book is graphic, heartbreaking, and at times even sickening as the story of two neglected and abused Afghan women is woven through several decades. As hard as some (most?) of the contents of this book were to listen to, I very much enjoyed it, and I deeply respect Mr. Hosseini's gift as an author. If you haven't read any of his work, I definitely recommend him. I might even recommend this one more than The Kite Runner.

Rapidfire book reviews

As promised, here are the single paragraph book reviews of the last several books I've read, since they haven't made it onto the blog yet. Moving forward, I may stick to this style for time's sake.

taken from Goodreads.com

I grew up hearing about this book, Created to be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl, from my mother and many of her friends who studied it and adopted it as their lifestyle. Now that I've read it myself, I can say with confidence that I agree wholeheartedly with about 95% of this incredibly conservative and biblical description of God's design for wives. My only wish - apart from the minor details I disagree with her on - that she had written the book with a little less harshness and a little more grace.

taken from Goodreads.com

This one, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, had been on my list for years, and I finally listened to it on audiobook. This YA book about a middle school boy with severe birth defects and facial deformities is heartbreaking, hilarious, and deeply heartwarming. I loved the way the author explores both the very worst and the very best about the middle school-aged population. I definitely recommend it and I am excited to read the companion books.

taken from Goodreads.com

To Kill a Mockingbird was a reread, half in honor of the release of Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman and half because I claim it's one of my favorite books and yet I have never reread it. (I never ever reread books anymore, always in the pursuit of the ever growing "list." That's something I'm determined to change in the future.) This particular reread was well worth it: I still love it and it's still wonderful. And I am equal parts giddy and terrified of the sequel.

taken from Goodreads.com

Elie Wiesel's Night is one of the books that I am shocked I'd never read until now. I hadn't realized before listening to the audiobook that this book is actually the author's story of imprisonment in various concentration camps during the Holocaust. The tale is horrifying, heartbreaking, sickening, and shocking; there are so many stories about the Holocaust that it's almost easy to become hardened to it, in one ear and out the other. But some of the specific details of this story were too disgusting and horrifying to grasp, and when I tried to tell JT about them later on the words literally wouldn't come out of my mouth because I knew I'd start crying. This is both a terrible and special book, and if you haven't read it I do recommend it.

taken from Goodreads.com

I read Jeannette Walls' first book The Glass Castle, which is her own personal memoir, when I was in college. It made a huge impression on me and whenever I've seen her other two books for sale or on friends' shelves I have made a note to read them someday. Someday came in the form of an audiobook for Half Broke Horses, which is the hilarious and thought-provoking story of her grandmother's life. This story becomes especially interesting when Walls' grandmother's daughter Rosemary is born, and you learn of so many of the reasons and life events that turn her into the future mother and wife that raises Walls. (Super confusing sentence...I couldn't figure out how to make it more clear so just reread it a couple times till you see what I mean.) This overlapping of the two books and three generations makes me really want to reread The Glass Castle.


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So there you have it. You're caught up on the reading I've been doing since the blog went quiet. I'm up to 33 books this year, which is already one more than last year's 32, and I'm pretty stoked about that.

This is Where I Leave You: a brief review

taken from goodreads.com

And just like that, all of the books that I had intended to read during the calendar year are crossed off my list. I meant to set the bar a lot lower this year to give myself some grace post-first baby, but it seems I set the bar just a tad too low. (Although I should point out that I read most of these by having them read to me while I did my chores, fed my daughter, and drove all over the place, so it's possible I still would have been working on getting them read in December otherwise.)

This is Where I Leave You (recently turned into a movie that I'm really excited to see, especially given the cast list) tells the tale of an extremely dysfunctional family that comes together to sit shiva following the death of their father. For seven days, these adult siblings and their mother must sit in chairs and mourn while everyone they've ever met comes to bring them food and share in their grief. They all have their own (fairly severe) issues and all of those issues come out in full force when the family is stuck in close quarters for over a week.

Good things about this book: it made me laugh a lot. I really enjoyed almost all of the characters, and I enjoyed how the author gave each of them a considerable amount of depth as the book progressed. I thought the overall plot was sweet and addressed many real-life issues that people have (although I sure hope no single family has all of those real-life issues at once like this one does). Bad things about this book: good gracious I did not need to read about that much sex. I get it...I'm an adult and I am fine with reading about adult things. But I think I've just read way too much adult things recently and I need to cleanse my pallet with some Young Adult for a while. Also, the sex in this one was specific. And detailed. But enough about that...I also thought that a lot of the life-changing, reevaluate your life moments in the book were still a very wordly version of shallow. Most of those moments were really disappointing to me; I just didn't think the characters made much progress even though they had all kinds of deep, serious talks and deep, serious moments. And that's kind of a bummer, I think. Also, I hated the end.

With this book behind me, I'm excited to start a new group of books. I do have a list of books I want to get to soon, but it's not a firm list like this one was. Even though I had made that list of books I genuinely wanted to read, I always kind of felt bummed when I finished a book and knew the next one I would read had already been picked. I like being a little more free with what I'm in the mood for. So you and I will both have to wait and see what I end up reading this summer.

When You Reach Me: a brief review

taken from goodreads.com

This is one of those books that I've seen around for several years, and it's always been associated with a lot of praise. I saw it at the library on audiobook and snatched it up. And truthfully...it is good. It's also a little weird, and there were moments when I thought it was confusing and a little too far out there for me, but in the end I enjoyed it.

Miranda lives with her single mother in their small apartment in the 1970s. She has a fairly normal middle school life (her childhood best friend has suddenly stopped talking to her and she doesn't know why, she starts spending time with some new girls who she has more in common with than she originally thought, there's a weird boy at school who she keeps bumping into, etc. etc.) until mysterious notes start showing up addressed to her. She has no idea where they're coming from or what any of them mean, until something horrible happens and she realizes what all the puzzle pieces look like together.

Like I said, there were times when I was a little annoyed with the book because I didn't think it was any good, and there were other times when I liked it a lot and thought it was super cute. Thankfully, it ended with me thinking it was super cute, and I therefore can say that overall I liked it. It's not my new favorite, but I definitely did like it. And since the only other book I've read by this author might as well have been written in a foreign language I hated it so much...we will see if I read any more of hers. I'm feeling like maybe it's a hit or miss with Ms. Stead. 

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.

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

Wild: a brief review

taken from goodreads.com

Like many of the books I'm reading right now, this book was added to my Books-to-Movies list last year sometime, and I challenged myself to read it before I saw the movie. It was one of those books that just kept showing up everywhere, and every time I saw that hiking boot on the cover I got more excited and intrigued to finally read it. Well, I've read it now, and I didn't love it nearly as much as I'd hoped. I didn't hate it, and I'm still interested in watching the movie, but...I had some issues.

After Cheryl's mother dies and her marriage falls apart (due almost entirely to her multiple affairs and heroin usage), she decides to escape to the Pacific Crest Trail, hiking from southern California to Oregon. If you read many of the negative reviews on Goodreads, there are a whole lot of people who are upset with her complete lack of knowledge prior to her starting her journey; she bought books about the trail but didn't read them, didn't go on any hikes to prepare, and didn't even practice lifting or wearing her pack before the morning she set out. I wasn't as annoyed with that, although it does hurt her credibility quite a bit. It could be argued that she is that much more impressive because she did it and survived despite her lack of research....but...it could also be argued that a lot of the issues she had along the way (severe dehydration due to a lack of proper planning, a pack that was far too heavy, boots that were too small and therefore destroyed five of her toe nails) could have all be avoided if she had even the slightest clue of what she was doing.

The parts that really bothered me centered more around who she is as a person and the decisions she made along the way. When I read Mindy Kaling's book last week, all I could think about the whole time was how much I would love to sit and have a conversation with her in person; when I read this book, all I could think about was how I just don't like her. I'm deeply impressed with the fact that she hiked as much of the PCT as she did, and by herself at that, but that's about where it stops. The incredible selfishness with which she lives her life is infuriating. (Unavoidable spoilers ahead...) The scene in which Cheryl and her husband are meeting with the notary to finalize their divorce, she cries and pleads with the notary to believe that she still loves her husband. She chose to cheat on him (many, many times), she chose to spiral completely out of control, she chose to tell him and then spend months trying to decide whether to stay together or get divorced, but never once said anything about the marriage counselor they talked to or the work they put into fixing their problems...and then she cries and wants everyone to know how much she loves him? I just don't understand this. I don't understand calling it quits with someone, who you claim to still love, without doing any work at all to fix the problems first.

The part of her story that bothered me much, much more, though, was the abortion she decided to have right before beginning her journey on the PCT. Getting pregnant wasn't part of her plan and she thought she needed this time in the wilderness to discover herself and grow, I get it. She's probably right in her assessment that she was not in a great place to become a mother. But what if her journey to self-discovery and growth wasn't supposed to take place on the PCT? What if it had happened through an unplanned pregnancy that turned into a life changing opportunity to raise a beautiful son or daughter? Or what if, even better still, that unplanned pregnancy was supposed to be her opportunity for change and self-awareness while also providing a loving couple the chance to raise the child they couldn't have on their own? She could have chosen this incredibly self-sacrificing journey in place of hiking the PCT or just delayed her trip by a year (and actually spent that year doing some homework on backpacking and getting a little more prepared for her trip), but she chose instead to eliminate the problem and move on with her life. It was barely even a thought; there was one sentence stating her discovery of her pregnancy and one half sentence mentioning the abortion. "I got the abortion, and..." It was mentioned as an afterthought, and I almost stopped reading the book at that point. I just...it just makes me sad. The lack of consideration or respect for this incredibly huge thing just breaks my heart. And honestly, it made me really, really mad.

When I was in high school, my brother and I talked a lot about how we were going to hike the whole Appalachian Trail together sometime. We said it casually, as if we'd be able to wake up one morning and say "let's do that thing we're always talking about today." At that point, we'd never hiked more than a handful of miles at a time and had never camped overnight anywhere other than our own backyard, but it seemed totally doable to us. If I've learned anything from reading Wild, it's that my brother and I were complete idiots back then. I enjoyed her writing style, I enjoyed the things I was able to learn about backpacking, I didn't enjoy the language or sex (seriously...if you can't get your point across without the f-word showing up so many times, maybe you should just try again), but overall I'm glad I read it. I don't know that I can say with confidence that I liked it, but I also can't say that I hated it. I'm just glad I read it, have an educated opinion about it, and can cross it off the list.

Here's my updated 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 (currently listening on audiobook)
• Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling

Eleanor & Park: a brief review

taken from goodreads.com

Last January, my book club's very first book choice was Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't love it. The main plot of the story was well written and enjoyable, but there was a whole second subplot that I just didn't enjoy. Because it was the first book I'd read of Rowell's, it would have been easy to put the rest of her books a little lower on the list of priorities. So many friends love her other books, though, so I decided to give Eleanor & Park a try.

Park is an awkward middle-class kid who just tries to keep his head down and suffer through the dumb kids he's surrounded by. Eleanor's selfish, abusive step-dad has made her life hell; the wacky thrift store wardrobe and stand-offish attitude make her seem less than approachable. When they are forced to share the only available bus seat on Eleanor's first day of school, an extremely unlikely friendship - and ultimately, romance - begins.

I really enjoyed this book, so much more than Fangirl. I loved the characters (for the most part), and I loved the writing. Like, really loved the writing. I also liked the story a lot; there were multiple little twists along the way that were fun and/or surprising. I feel like I need to say that, even though I really loved the book, I'm just so tired of the f-word being acceptable for teen lit, but oh well. I guess I'm more conservative than most in that regard. That being said, I'm excited to read some more of Rowell's work in the future.

Drum roll, please, here's my status on my 2015 reading goals:

• 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

Guys, I'm like 90% done with Wild (mildly angry review to come soon), and I started A Long Way Down last night. The last two Harry installments are loaded and ready to go on audiobook as soon as I'm down with Wild, and those last three will fly by, I'm sure of it. I know that I've commented in each post recently that I'm almost done with my goals for the year already, but...I'm almost done with my goals for the year already. It's incredible. I'm getting more books crossed off my list with an infant than I was without an infant. Definitely didn't see this coming.

Prisoner of Azkaban: a brief review

So you remember when I listened to Unbroken on audiobook and I fell in love? And then I listened to Serena on audiobook and said that I realized not all audiobooks are created equal because that one had been super boring and the reader made me want to either sleep or puke? Well. Let me introduce to you the talents of Mr. Jim Dale, folks. I fell in love with Jim Dale's sweet voice during the brief but wonderful television show Pushing Daisies, which he narrated. I didn't actually realize at the time that he was anyone other than just the Pushing Daisies narrator, so when I popped in Prisoner of Azkaban and heard that sweet voice reading me Harry Potter...needless to say I got excited. (I have since discovered that Jim Dale isn't such a secret treasure and that apparently all Harry Potter fans love him, but as we all know I'm usually the last to get in on just about anything so that fits.)

Harry starts his third year at Hogwarts in this third book of the series; tales of an escaped convict on the loose and searching for Harry haunt him as tries to get back into the swing of things at school. Meanwhile, Hagrid is teaching a class for the first time, the third professor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class in three years is helping the students break some new ground, Gryffindor may have a real shot to win the Quidditch Cup, and Hermione seems to be taking more classes than is physically possible. As Harry tries to avoid running into the terrifying man who seems to be hunting him down, he discovers some new pieces of information about his past.

I really enjoyed the majority of this book. There was a dry spell (ha...spell) about 75% of the way through where I felt like it was dragging. Some of the descriptions got a little too detailed, and some of the scenes got a little too long winded. But then the end was incredibly awesome and I decided that I didn't really care so much about the earlier scenes. I will also grant Ms. Rowling that the problem may have been that I was making breakfast, washing dishes and feeding Charlotte bananas when I was listening to those scenes. I also need to take a moment (even though some of the characters already said it themselves) to rant about how ridiculous Snape is. I mean...ridiculous, right? You weren't the popular kid in high school. Get over it.

In addition to finishing this book today, I also finished The Rosie Project today. Not to brag, but I am absolutely crushing 2015.

Unbroken: a brief review

taken from goodreads.com

I first heard of this book back when it was written in 2010. WORLD magazine did a story about it and I remember sitting in awe as I ate my breakfast and read a summary of Louis Zamperini's life. I vowed to read the book as soon as possible, but trying to graduate from college turned into trying to graduate from grad school which turned into trying to survive my first year as a teacher (which I only just barely did). I started reading it this summer, but 20 pages into it my husband wrecked his motorcycle on the interstate and I spent some time taking care of him and - needless to say - not reading. Then my daughter was born. THEN, a friend recommended audiobooks and even though at first I thought it wouldn't make sense for me, Serial helped me realize that it makes a ton of sense for me and here we are. I have read Unbroken, at last.

If I thought Louis' story was powerful based on the WORLD article, reading the book was incredible. I know I'm not the first person to say this, but for a single person to experience even one of the horrifying things Louis experienced in the first 30 years of his life would be amazing. For one single man to have gone through everything that he went through is...incredible. That's the only word I can use to really describe this book and this man: incredible. Olympic medalist, plane crash survivor, stranded at sea, rescued by the Japanese, tortured in several different POW camps and eventually rescued, Louis experienced hardships that I literally can't even imagine. I feel extremely inconvenienced by having to wipe my dogs' feet before letting them inside when it's muddy. Louis was tortured in truly incomprehensible ways for years. It is incredibly powerful - and incredibly convicting - to read about such a life. I absolutely don't want to ruin anything about this story, but I must say that the darkness that fills so much of this book is completely eliminated by the incredible light that is the last few chapters. Those last few chapters, friends, are worth the entire horrible story that precedes them. Our God is one of such compassion, such love, and such amazing grace.

I think I need to say, though, that Louis' story is not necessarily the book itself. What I mean is that Louis' life is utterly incredible, and therefore reading this book was utterly incredible, but there were times that I felt the book was a little long winded or a little too detailed. There is a lot of subject matter in Louis' life that I just know nothing about and have a hard time reading about (planes, flying planes, the parts of planes...), and those parts were a little boring for me. I will say, though, that I think Hillenbrand did a great job documenting his life, and I do love how she incorporated so much historical and personal context throughout the book even though it did add to the length quite a bit. I do think that because of all of these things (the parts that weren't really my favorite, the length of the book), it was a perfect choice for audiobook. I think it would have taken me approximately the entire calendar year to get this book read if I hadn't listened to it, and instead it took me a week. So I will be hunting down and finding every audiobook on my list, and I'm super stoked about it.

Speaking of which, here's my progress on my 2015 reading 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, Amy Poehler
-A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby
-This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathon Tropper
-Wild, by Cheryl Strayed
-Serena, by Ron Rash
-finish the Harry Potter series

And I'm like 20% through The Rosie Project. And it's not even February yet. I consider this incredible progress.

Labor Day: a brief review

taken from Goodreads.com

I finished the last book I read, Someone Like You, in the middle of the night, and clearly needed to decide right that second what book I would read next. Since I'd already bought Labor Day a little while ago and it was just sitting waiting for me on my Kindle, it seemed like a logical choice. And here we are.

Joyce Maynard's Labor Day was written in 2009 but really made a splash this past spring and summer when it became a movie starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin. (I only first heard of this book, actually, when it showed up on a Books Turning to Movies list back at the beginning of the year and thought the plot looked good; I made my own little list of books I want to read before I see the movies and this one made the cut.) Young teenage Henry lives with his reclusive mother after his father left them for a new family that lives across town. Henry's mother has been beaten down by the experiences in her life and has developed a fear of everything outside of their home. They make trips to town every couple of months to stock up on frozen and nonperishable foods, and it's during one of those trips that they cross paths with Frank. Recently escaped from prison and in need of medical attention, Frank asks for a ride home and soon finds himself the house guest of Henry and his mother for the entire Labor Day weekend. Henry has a front row seat to the transformations in his mother as she opens up and softens in the presence of Frank, their instant romance defying typical reasoning. The longer Frank stays in their home, the more complicated Henry's feelings towards him become as he sees the danger in letting him stay as well as the incredible impact he has made in the lives of both Henry and his mother.

I've been excited to read this one for a long time, but it just kept getting pushed farther down the road. I tried to put it on hold from the library a couple of times but was never able to get it read when it would actually appear on my Kindle so it kept disappearing. I finally just broke down and bought it (I think it was like $4) and it sat waiting for me. Along the way I heard many positive reviews from friends who had read it, and my excitement for the day I would finally read it kept building. All of that being said: here are my thoughts. It's honestly a little bit off-putting, the way Frank and Adele instantly fall in love. I'm not someone who can really point too many fingers (married within seven months of meeting each other? Yeah, that's us) but with these guys it's from the very first scene in the department store. Once you get past that small detail, though, I have to say that this book is wonderful. Beautifully written, Maynard weaves the reader through so many character elements in a mere 250 pages it's almost hard to emotionally digest it all. Such simple characters upon first impression, all three provide so many opportunities for social commentary and discussion. Henry's struggles with identity as a high school boy without much of a relationship with his father is my favorite; it's heartbreaking to read his deeply honest thoughts and confessions about everything he is missing out on by not having that male role in his life to talk through his tumultuous time of life. As a small disclaimer I must say that there is a shocking amount of sex in this book (shocking because I wasn't really expecting any at all for whatever reason), but it doesn't actually go into graphic details. Just comments on the fact that it's happening. I would definitely recommend this book, though, and can't wait to see the movie at some point.

Boy21: a brief review

This book was recommended to me by a friend, and it got written down on all my various lists to remember for a different day. When I saw it at the Green Valley Book Fair in July I snatched it up for a mere $3.75. It's been a rough couple of months for my reading interests (between vacation in Florida and then the babe's motorcycle accident and recovery), but cruising through Baby Wise last week helped me remember a little bit about what it was like to actually read a book and I snatched this one up figuring a shorter, easier read would be even more helpful in getting me back into the habit. (A quick thought: isn't it crazy how easy it is to get out of the habit of reading? I have found that how I spend my free minutes cycles between TV and books; when I'm in the habit of filling dead time with Netflix or an SVU marathon on the TV it's what I fill all my free time with and forget that books exist. But when I get in the habit of keeping my book by my side and grabbing it to fill free time, I discover how much free time I have to read little snippets at a time and the TV or iPad or even my phone don't seem as tempting. So this is me trying to get back into that mindset, because books will probably always be more healthy than the TV. Even really good TV.)

Matthew Quick's Boy 21 is a little strange. I'm not going to lie to you. I enjoyed it a lot, but the basic plot is pretty odd and takes a while to really get into. Finley (or White Rabbit, as his friends and teammates call him) is about to start his senior year of high school in a very racially divided, rundown city that there seems to be no escape from. His only source of happiness and satisfaction come from his basketball skills, and he spends all his time in the off-season preparing to be the best. When his coach shows up at his house the night before school starts and asks him to befriend a new kid in school who has gone through a hard time, Finley does what is asked of him. Little could prepare him, though, for the friendship that would be formed with this new kid who preferred to be called Boy21 and who claims to be an alien from a different planet, sent to study Earthlings. In many ways, Finley and Boy21 are the perfect pair, and learn a lot from each other over the course of the basketball season.

Like I said, a little bit of a goofy concept - he thinks he's a what?! - but it grows on you and it does all start to make more sense as the book progresses. The picture of friendship is pretty interesting as well, and even though Finley isn't a perfect character he does really shine in a lot of areas; his patience and understanding with Boy21 is impressive. I wouldn't say that this is the most profound or incredible book I've ever read, but it does have some twists and shocking moments, and it also shows a truly heartfelt picture of friendship even in less than ideal circumstances.

The Secret Life of Bees: a brief review

Favorite quote: 
"Honeybees depend not only on physical contact with the contact with the colony, but also require its social companionship and support. Isolate a honeybee from her sisters and will soon die." (pg. 169)

I remember watching this movie back when it came out - I think when I was in college - but when I finally started reading the book, I honestly couldn't really remember much about the plot. I remembered the cast, and that honey was involved, but not much else. It actually made for a much more interesting reading experience, since I couldn't remember what was going to happen.

Sue Monk Kidd's first novel, The Secret Life of Bees, is the story of 15-year-old Lily Owens, who is growing up in the 1960s deep South with her abusive father and (black) maid/nanny Rosaleen. When Rosaleen and Lily find themselves in trouble with the law after attempting to get Rosaleen registered to vote, the girls go on the run. They find a safe haven in the home of (black) August, June, and May Boatwright, where they learn about the arts of beekeeping, friendship, and motherhood.

I really enjoyed the bulk of the plot, which focused on Lily's coming of age journey, her relationship with the older women, and her personal healing as she learned to deal with the death of her mother. There are a lot of really valuable and touching points made about the importance of relationship and community that I loved. The discussion of race relationships in the 1960s South Carolinian setting was also quite interesting and heartbreaking at times. And there are more twists and surprises than you would expect, which keep you fully engaged and interested in the progression of the plot. The only thing that rang a little strange was the unique religion the ladies, and many of their friends, follow. Virgin Mary focused and glorifying women above all else, it was fine for a little while but got a little overbearing and annoying by the end. Other than that, though, I enjoyed the book (and I enjoy getting to cross another one off the ever-present 94-book list).