Book Challenges- August 2018

Popsugar Challenge

A book from a celebrity book club: An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones (Oprah book club) (contemporary): This was a fantastic book! I enjoyed the exploration of marriage, fidelity, and how love can change over time. There are so many moral shades of gray in this book that I wasn’t sure who or what to root for. As with life, there were no right answers.

(23/50)

While I Was Reading Challenge

A self-published book: All The Little Lights, by Jamie McGuire (YA romance): If I need a romance with characters who speak to me, I know that I should pick up a Jamie McGuire book. I loved all the little moments in this book and the “big secret” the main character was hiding made it even better.

(6/12)

The Unread Shelf

Attachments, by Rainbow Rowell (romance): Like Jamie McGuire, Rainbow Rowell is on my list of authors who I know won’t let me down. Attachments is a sweet (but improbable) love story about a guy who falls in love with a girl while monitoring her work email. (It’s his job, though he takes it too far.) Honestly, I love improbable romances. If I wanted real life, I’d do… reality things. Instead, I read books and watch movies. Don’t judge me!

Hush, Hush; Cresendo; Silence; Finale, by Becca Fitzpatrick (YA paranormal romance): I’m not entirely sure what to say about this series. I had the first one, Hush, Hush, on my shelf forever. Then a friend told me I had to read it, especially with Becca Fitzpatrick announcing that they’re making a movie based on the book! And then my friend said she only made it partway through the second book.

I read all of them and I don’t regret it, but the others, while being rated increasingly higher on Goodreads, were not as good as the first. I’m not entirely sure why, and I don’t think it had anything to do with the writing. I think I just got the ride I wanted to out of the first book and that I should have stopped there. Just to be clear, the others weren’t bad, but it’s the difference between like and love.

Why We Broke Up, by Daniel Handler (contemporary): I bought this for the pretty cover and the cool illustrations. This book was okay. It’s a YA book about a breakup, and I suspect I would have liked it more if I were still a teenager. Some YA books are wonderful for all ages, and some aren’t. This one, with it’s teen angst over a first love, just didn’t speak to me.

The Dinner List, by Rebecca Serle (magical realism): This was a fun book from the Book of the Month Club. I was intrigued by the premise, because we probably all have made a list of the 5 people (living or dead) we’d like to have dinner with. For my list and a full review, you can go to the blog I wrote about this one.

Running Total: 28

5 Classic Books

(2/5) The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald- Maybe I’m just not a fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald. I liked this one better than better than Tender is the Night, but I still didn’t think there was anything great about it. It’s a somewhat typical love story told from an unusual perspective. And then everyone lives sadly ever after.

I guess I’m glad I read it from a cultural reference standpoint, but I don’t understand how it became this ensconced in culture to begin with. It’s got some good lines, but other than that, I’m glad I borrowed it from the library.

Miscellaneous Reading

The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, by Cassandra Rose Clarke (science fiction/ romance): A friend just got married, and I was making conversation with her sister (who was visiting). We got to talking about books (I know you’re shocked) and she mentioned that this book is her favorite. Of course I had to run right out and get it from the library.

It’s set in a future where we have the technology to make androids, but we don’t treat them as sentient beings or recognize they have rights. The mad scientist’s daughter grows up with one such android and falls in love with him. There’s lots of interesting exploration of the morality of the situation, both what it means to consider a sentient being human, and what it means not to.

Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done, by Laura Vanderkam (non-fiction/ self-help): I’m looking for a magical solution to make me more organized and efficient. I haven’t found it yet, but this is a good book. It gave me some new perspectives on how to consider time and to use it better. So much so that I borrowed it from the library, then went ahead and bought it.

Not if I Save You First, by Ally Carter (YA romance): I picked this book up at the library based on the back cover copy.

Seriously, how can you not be hooked by murderers and a bejeweled hatchet?

I loved that the main character is a girly girl who saves the day using mostly her brains. I love a girl who kicks some ass too, but it seems like the ones who paint their nails aren’t supposed to be heroes. This was fun and delivered on all the promises it made.

The Summer of Broken Things, by Margaret Peterson Haddix (YA contemporary): This is a sweet and sad coming of age novel about two girls with nothing in common but the secret their parents share.

The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss, by Jason Fung, MD: I’ve watched Dr. Fung’s videos online, so when I saw he had a book, I had to get it. It’s interesting stuff backed by science. Dr. Fung makes the science (mostly) accessible and explains things in a way that makes them seem like common sense. He also talks about the studies he cites, along with their limitations.

Lie, Lay, Lain, by Bryn Greenwood (contemporary): First off, there may never be another book I love as much as All The Ugly and Wonderful Things. So when I say this one wasn’t as good, that’s to be expected. I did like this book though. It had an interesting premise and great characters. The dual point of views worked for me, and I looked forward to following both Jennifer and Olivia. Plus, this has what I think may be the most gorgeous cover I’ve ever seen!

Abandoned

None this month.

2018 Running Total: 101

Have you made any progress on your TBR or book challenges?

B is for Baggage

Jerome, AZ; Photo Credit: Doree Weller

I don’t know if it’s still on TV, but a few years ago, I discovered a wonderful (awful) show called Baggage, by Jerry Springer.  It was a dating show, and on this show, three women or men would have three different sized bags.  Each one of them would reveal one secret at a time to their prospective date by opening the bags, from smallest to largest secret.  I shamefully enjoyed this show.

One of the things I liked about the show (other than the pure train wreck value), is the same reason I like PostSecret.  We all have baggage.  We all have things we don’t want others to know, things that weigh us down.  But the thing about baggage is that it makes us who we are.  The interesting quirks, the skeletons in the closet are part of what shape us.

In books, baggage can be some of the most interesting parts of the story.  What would have Jane Eyre been without Rochester’s secret wife?  In On Little Wings by Regina Sirois, young Jennifer finds out that her mother is not an only child, which spurs her on a search for the “truth.”  In Beautiful Disaster, by Jamie McGuire, Abby has a huge secret she never wants anyone to know.  Even though she tries to hide it, the secret eventually finds her.  In each of these examples, the secret is eventually revealed, and everything turns out okay. I like the concept of secrets in fiction, and I like them even better when the truth is revealed.  It adds depth and interest to characters.  It adds a touch of humanness and gives me something to relate to.  No, I’m not hiding an insane wife in my attic, but when Rochester eventually tells his story, I felt sorry for his being duped by everyone around him, and I could relate to that moment when he realized that he was forever stuck with the consequences of a bad decision.

“The things you want are always possible; it is just that the way to get them is not always apparent. The only real obstacle in your path to a fulfilling life is you, and that can be a considerable obstacle because you carry the baggage of insecurities and past experience.”
-Les Brown

Walking Disaster- A Review

Apparently I never reviewed this book.  Oops.  It was released April 2.  Well, actually, I ordered it on Kindle, and it was delivered just after 10 p.m. on April 1.  I finished it around 3 a.m. on April 2.

Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire is written from Travis’s point of view, whereas Beautiful Disaster is written from Abby’s.  I liked Walking Disaster very much.  Not as much as Beautiful Disaster, but it was still really engaging.  Long stretches of the book were the same, and I enjoyed being in Travis’s head.  That being said, some scenes were missing from this book that were included in the original.  Scenes that made me wonder what was going on from Travis’s point of view.  For instance, what did Megan say on the phone to Travis?

It’s worth reading, and I’ll be buying it in paperback eventually.  But the first was the best.

On a related note, I wondered something as I read this book, so bear with me.  In Twilight- Eclipse, I was a little disgusted by Bella when she fell apart after Edward left.  I thought, “Really?  This is how we fall apart when a man leaves us for no good reason?”

When Travis fell apart after Abby left, it seemed romantic.  Now that I think back, maybe it was a little stalkerish.  Okay, I know it was.  And dysfunctional.  And probably pathetic.  But you know what?  I.  Don’t.  Care.  I loved this book.  🙂

Beautiful Disaster- A Review

I read Beautiful Disaster twice.  Back to back.  Over 5 days.

The first time I read it, I stayed up until 2 a.m.  I’d just gotten done working a 14 hour day and knew I had to go back into work the next day for at least 10 hours.  But I couldn’t help myself.  It was so good that I had to finish it.  And since it was such a good book, I wasn’t the least bit tired.

It’s a boy-meets-girl novel with all the stuff that comes along with it.  Abby and Travis’s relationship is dysfunctional, and unlike many young adult romance novels (ahem, Twilight), this one doesn’t try to pretty it up or hide it.  Jamie McGuire knows the relationship is dysfunctional, and the characters know it too, which is one of the things that makes this book so great.

This book really touched me.  I laughed at some parts and cried at others.

The book is told from Abby’s point of view, 100%.  No head hopping.  Walking Disaster, Travis’s point of view, is being released on April 2.  I very seldom buy things new, but you can bet that I’m going to be a the bookstore as soon as they open on April 2nd to get a copy of this book.  Jamie McGuire has other books, and I’m very much hoping that they’re all in the same neighborhood of greatness that this one is.

I read a few reviews online, and this seems to be a pretty polarizing book.  People either love it or they hate it.  I guess you know how I’m casting my vote!