Minimalism, live a meaningful life (Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicoderm)

What are you holding on to? I asked myself this as I read Minimalism: Live a meaningful life. I also asked myself what the heck minimalism was since in my head I was thinking something along the lines of Thoreau and deliberately throwing everything I own away because I want to find meaning on the inside. Thank God that's not what it was all about. Maybe a tiny bit, but it's bigger and deeper than that, and definitely worthy of a book. Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodermus: two friends who knew each other since they were kids reconnect again in their twenties and end working together at a big company where they're super successful (where success=money) yet they aren't happy.They have big houses, big paychecks, nice cars, women and status but no deep meaningful purpose. They each looked for happiness in various ways (marriage, more work, more possessions, religion, food etc.) Then Joshua's mother died and things started to slide into perspective, that we have a finite time in this life and do we really want to keep working and spending running ourselves ragged or do we want to live a meaningful life. The book is an overview of how to do this. Simple on paper, hard to put in action but the authors break it down and go through 5 dimensions that you should ask yourself about when making decisions or taking inventory of your life. The first is Health: Their point is that if you're not healthy you can't live happily so to take care of yourself you should make lifestyle choices such as cutting out sugar, gluten, breads, pastas and experiment with cutting out meat, dairy and any drink that isn't water. It's no-nonsense advice that personally, I'm not excited about since there aren't many carbs I don't like but that's me. They also talk about exercise and have some tips on how to maximize workouts to keep it fun and to the point (no time-waisting). The second dimension is Relationships. The duo have a way to evaluate your relationships where you figure out who is primary, secondary or on the periphery. Are they positive relationships? Do they add to or detract from your life? And they talk about making new relationships, what do you want and what must not occur in the relationship and how to make passionate relationships work.They remind you how to nourish, support and be present in the relationship so you are valuable to the other person and vice versa. The third is Passions: It's so easy to get mucked down in our routines. We are anchored down by our daily lives and they suggest four anchors that inhibit us from finding our passions. Identity, status, certainty and money. You are more than your job. Remember that the next time a person asks, What do you do? They ask the reader what he would do with his life if money weren't an object. They ask what excites you? How can you turn your passion into your mission in life? It's a little, The Passion Test, but worth the repetition. The fourth is Growth: The point is to always be growing and changing and to make decisions based on this change allowing time for fluctuations and standards to rise and keep it consistent. The fifth dimension is Contribution: This is going beyond yourself and helping others. Helping others adds value to your own life. It's always meaningful and the authors say a life without contribution is a life without meaning. Overall this his a great guide to refer to when your itching for a little piece of mental substance to snack on. I had never heard of the guys or their website, www.theminimalists.com, but am so glad that I was able to read and review this book. I don't think enough can be said for clearing the clutter whether it's a bunch of clothes you haven't worn in a year or emotions that have stuck around keeping your stagnant fearful of pursuing your dreams. What they set out to do is spread the word that minimalism is a tool to help you achieve freedom from fear, guilt, depression, enslavement and all the other figurative shackles that keep us from meaningful long lasting happiness.It isn't about if you have an expensive car or a hybrid car or any car at all but more about finding out if a vehicle is essential to you. Is where you are working essential to you. Does it make you feel valuable and valued. It's about less as opposed to more because it boils down to stripping away the unnecessary things in your life so you can focus on what's important. After reading it I can't say that I'm a minimalist but I'm on the path to paying attention to what is essential to me. It might take a while, what's important to me today may not be next week but it's growth and all growth takes time and some nourishment and of course, patience. So even if you don't want to get the book check out the website. They have tons of essays to read if you're looking for a little inspiration on how to clear the junk out of the trunk.

Skippy Dies (Paul Murray)

Did I miss something with Father Green??? Anyway I adored this huge brick of a book. Took me a solid 5 days to get through it. I loved the conversations between the boys and the side story about Howard and the slowly illuminating push behind it all. It's basically about boys in a boarding school who are each trying to make his way through life. They deal with parents and grades thugs and drugs and of course, parallel universes. I've always been attracted to nerds and this book bore it all-a little bit relationships, playing the song of a favorite band 100 times over, the need to fit in, the need to obliterate your mind when you're overwhelmed with everything and video games! I loved this book but was a little confused at the end. I think I missed something having to do with the priest and it didn't get 5 stars only because some parts of the story went on a bit long (the halloween hop and the dream drugged interludes) but I loved the humor as well as the darker parts. Can't wait to read Murray's other book, Evening of Long goodbyes cuz I'm a huge fan of Wooster and Confederacy as it's been compared to. I recommend this book but be prepared, it's a dense sprawling read but worth it if you like coming of age tales.

The Middlesteins (Jami Attenberg)

This book turned out to be just okay for me. I really liked the review of it when I first heard of it but have to say I was a little disappointed. I guess the story wasn't full enough (no pun intended). It was cute in some parts the whole Jew-Personality (think: Linda Richman character on SNL) but that was about it. I didn't really like any of the characters and was even a little bored. There was something there, I kept reading it was just that interesting, but only just. The Middlesteins area Jewish family breaking apart because Edie, the mother, keeps eating and eating and gaining weight and then her husband leaves her during the time she has surgeries and pre-diabetes etc. and it all just doesn't come together. I'm not even sure what the main plot was. I guess it culminated during the twins b'na mitzvah but I just felt there was so much missing. The ending was kind of off too. The more I think about it the more I thought the author could have done so much more. I can tell she's capable but perhaps the story lost it's steam or something. Maybe she gave up or maybe the deadline was too short. Anyway, it's an okay book but could have been a lot better.

How To Be A Woman (Caitlin Moran)

Ms. Moran is fabulous. I didn't know her before I saw someone else's review on goodreads but after the summary I thought, this book is for me and it mostly was. She's from Britain and there are a lot of British references that went over my head but the humor was there and after I got past the whole pubic hair bit I was on board with her. Actually she had me at the pubic hair bit but I have to say she might have went on just a little bit long (no pun intended). She's crass and a little vulgar and sassy as hell. I love her message and her chapter on bodies. I will admit I skimmed some sections as not every single thing was calling out to me but i read at least 90% of the book and do recommend it to females galore and some very secure in their sexuality males as well.

Inside (Alix Ohlin)

Gush gush gush... swoon swoon swoon. I have a readers crush. I read Ohlin's Signs and Wonders, a superb book of short stories (and i'm usually not one for shorts) so I thought I would give her full novel a try and am soooooo glad I did. It follows 4 characters someone connected throughout a ten year period. The stories are great but the writing sucks you in. It's not pretentious or oversimplified, just good. We witness what it's like to love, hide, runaway, accept, ignore, feel or not feel and it's so achingly beautifully written I dare call it poetry. (i hate poetry but hear that when people use this word it's normally a good thing). Ohlin is a keen observer of the world and transfers what humans experience perfectly on the page. It's about men and women, jobs, kids, losing someone, gaining someone and everything in between. Wish I took more time with it but could not put it down. I highly recommend it.

Tales of The City (Armistead Maupin)

Guilty pleasure. Heavy on dialogue and explanation for things done or thought or anything substantial. What it will do is keep you turning the page. It's 1970's San Francisco and everyone wants to be in love or hook up or both. We are introduced to a case of quirky colorful characters in this 1st in a 6 book series of Pre-Friends/Sex and the City type people.I know it wasn't anything "literature-like" because I can't even remember anything significant about the book ie, no heavy philosophy or morals etc. But it was a book I carried around for 2 days while I read it every time I got a chance cuz it was like a soap opera.

A Surrey State of Affairs (Ceri Radford)

A slightly Sorry State, indeed!! It was cute. I liked the British girl who is just clueless and slightly dim-witted take on a year in the life of a housewife. I thought it was a Wodehouse meets Adrian Mole meets Fawlty Towers all mashed up. Meet Constance Harding, upperclass wife to lawyer Jeffrey who is only known to the reader through her descriptions of him. He seems slightly boring and mechanical and typical. They have 2 children, Sophie and Rupert and they are either going through the general angst of early adulthood (taking off with middle aged Russian thugs or coming out of the closet respectively) Constant starts a blog and chats about her life for a year. The reader is privy to what she knows, which isn't much, and through her stumbles and slightly snobby perceptions of life we can laugh along with her and at her and if you have nothing better to read perhaps become immersed in her thoughts about life and her children and her constant efforts at matchmaking. She has a few friends and has a heart despite her preoccupations with the luxuries of life and people's manners etc. It was sort of predictable but something kept me reading despite having like ten other books going at the same time. I think because I enjoyed Jeeves and Adrian Moles adventures and likened them to be more original I was a little annoyed at this, but not even to DNF it. If you like brit humour this is for you!

The Casual Vacancy (J.K. Rowling)

Lot's of characters and lots of juicy gossipy dysfunctional family stuff with a background of political slime; and class elitism and drugs and fowl language Oh My! In a nutshell, this is a big book just like the little blurb insists and it's full of lots of stuff going on, not a dull moment. I really got into it. I am so tired of reading reviews, split between the ones expecting more Howarts and the other saying that they're so glad it wasn't more Hogwarts. I fall into the latter camp, not that I don't appreciate Harry Potter and all his Potter-ness but I didn't read past the first book. It's not my thing. Now this one is more my thing. The Casual Vacancy centers around one Barry Fairbrother, specifically his death and all the lives he touched and the aftermath of a town called Pagford and it's connected, The Fields and Yarvil. He was on the Parish Council and now there is a 'casual vacancy' and people, the main characters of this novel are wanting to fill it to fulfill their own ideals of what a town should. And of course it's of no noble cause. We have the children of the main characters who have their own grudges against their parents and their prejudices and their yearnings to be free or understood or at least left alone. We have marital infidelities and unrequited love and a woman who lusts after a boy band. It's full of dark humor and reflects the human condition in every scene. I loved how perfectly crafted and how much of a story it was. It didn't seem like it could be real. I did have some issues with the ending and how, without creating a spoiler, one of the characters was done away with without much reason but it didn't affect my enjoyment at all. What did bother me a little bit was all the hype and secrecy of the book. There are no acknowledgments and that just comes across as stuffy and pretentious but i really loved the book. And that's what's important. I hope for more non-wizardry from ms. rowling.

This One is Mine (Maria Semple)

Oh Ms. Semple you little minx, I just took in some of the most guiltiest of pleasures as far as reading goes. And I didn't think I would. I adored Where'd you go Bernadette? and I was kind of looking for the same voice in her debut but was turned off by the beginning. I thought oh jeeze. This is kind of cheesy and racist and snotty but something in the writing- the unique snobbery that Semple nailed brilliantly in Bernadette was still there a little in Violet. Basically it's a tale of the Boo Hoo rich white lady bored in her life as a once writer of television in Hollywood but now is a stay at home mom who is more just stay at home than mom since she shuffles little Dot (i just love that name for the baby) with LadyGo the nanny. Anyway, Violet is married to David Parry, an uberfamous band manager or something like that. They have millions but Violet isn't happy. But there is some saving grace in her eliteness that is splashed on each page. There is some likability and so much humor not unlike Bernadette. Violet has an affair and David finds out and all the while parallel to Violet's story is Sally's story, David's diabetic sister who marries a guy for money and later finds out he has asbergers. It was definitely candy for my brain and I enjoyed 99% of it. The tiny 1% being a did wince at a couple parts of the more raunchy bits concerning abortion but I would recommend it to anyone who liked Bernadette and isn't afraid of some vulgarity.

Wild (Cheryl Strayed)

This is one of those times I wish there were half star options. (goodreads) I would give it 3.5. I loved Tiny Beautiful Things. It was raw, real, dark, funny, insightful and empathic. Wild was.... I still haven't been able to come up with anything to describe. Part of me loved certain parts (the last quarter for instance). And part of me was just trudging on through out of loyalty to the author and my love for her Dear Sugar book. I felt reading it was akin to hiking the PCT. But without the small boots. I did feel as if it was an effort and I sweat turning the pages. Okay it wasn't that bad. But I was disappointed. I felt for Strayed losing her mother. I was raised by my grandmother and lost her at the same age. I grieve to this day. I feel lost and maybe I need a good thrill seeking experience to get me out of my funk. I am glad she did what she did and think it was book worthy but something seemed to be missing. Maybe i'm just a nature-hiking-woodsy person so I couldn't identify with all the descriptions of the hike. I do think that she was probably a little stupid for doing something so dangerous but at the same time it was that danger and unknowing that pushed her beyond what she had ever experienced. And from that stupidity came a crusty layer added on her being that allowed her to discover some things about herself and come into her own.
That's why a book I would have tossed away after the first 65 pages stayed a foot from my eyes and merited the turning of the pages. I am glad I read it. Understand why Oprah had an orgasm over it. And why Ms Strayed is being compared to Ms. Gilbert.

The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared (Jonas Jonasson)

This was a very cute book. I loved the absurd humor and the cast of characters, many of whom you'll recognize from history 101; Churchill, various prime ministers, Stalin, Einsteins retarded brother Herbert, Truman, etc. the North Korean leader guy, Kim something. I'm horrible with history as you can tell. So we have this book written by this Swedish Journalist and it's wonderful. It's a riveting tale about a guy named Allen who is 100 years old on the day when he decides to slip out the window of the nursing home. He does not want to celebrate his life. He in fact feels it is his time to leave the world. So in this mind state he goes to the train station with nothing but the clothes on his back and slippers. It didn't seem important at the time to have shoes. Also unimportant is the fact that he decides to take a suitcase belonging to another man whom we learn is a thug and this thug asks him to keep an eye it while he goes to take a dump. Allen takes it for fun and the adventure begins. What is inside the suitcase is a case load of some obscene number of crowns and the reader gets treated to the people Allen meets on the way to wherever it is that Allen is heading. He doesn't really know but that's not important either. What is important is Allen's life story that we get to know as it is alternated between the present time; he's on the run from the police with a local thief, a hotdog stand operator who also have like 50 unfinished degrees, a woman with an elephant and the head of a gang- and Allens past. How he was involved with explosives as a kid. How he blew up his house (twice) how he came upon learning how to build a nuclear bomb, how he worked for Stalin. How he had dinner with president Truman and a whole host of slightly altered historical facts that put our protagonist at front and center. Really the book is silly. It reminded me of the lovechild of : Monty Python, Mr. Bean, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and John Irving. I have to say the ending was slightly off but not so much that it made it bad or anything. I really liked it.

The Dangers of Proximate Alphabets (Kathleen Alcott)

         I was taught that if I couldn't say something nice then not to say anything at all. I'm kidding. I was never taught that- but have heard it so I can just ignore it.  This book was something that I had heard of and took what I heard and the summary and painted this picture of what to expect.  I thought I would immediately relate to it having grown up with a couple boys that I was really close to. I thought it would be a childhood tale of what it means to be friends or lovers or whatever. It was kind of that. And it kind of wasn't. What it was was a very poetically written account of a girl Ida and two brothers Jackson and James. They are very close and Ida and Jackson are together and you get little tidbits of things you might be able to understand, concrete things like living together, having sex and making art. What always frustrates me is the all the stuff that I don't get, vast lacy descriptions of things that I'm sure are very Literature-like and important but come across to this reader as just fancy speak.  It was okay. I'm glad I read it. But I'm afraid I can only liken it to a really good meditation teacher. Someone who has a very soothing voice that can lull you to another state but you forget it as soon as it's over. But that's just my opinion of course.

When It Happens To You (Molly Ringwald)

      
  I was unexpectedly surprised at how good this book was. I mean I'm not a good judge of the short story but I am working on it. When I read about the book it didn't occur to me that it was THE Molly Ringwald but it was the one and only sixteen candles, pretty in pink and breakfast club 80's icon and she clearly has other talents.

What I enjoyed most was that it was like a novel but not really. It was loosely linked stories about a family, a husband and wife who are in the midst of separation. The husband had been cheating on her. We get to see through the eyes of the wife and various other characters that are linked in the strange ways that people are when they try to piece together who knows on facebook comments.

Anyway the writing flowed and I couldn't put it down once I got the first one underway. I love how it was subtitled, A novel in stories because it was. When it happens to you is such a broad statement. It says so much and Molly has broken it down in a way that only an author can who has a keen eye and a way with words. Topics include: adultery, widowhood, children's gender dislike, new boyfriends and children's adjustment.

Where'd you go, Bernadette? (Maria Semple)

      
  This book ROCKED. It was wonderful. It was hilarious. It was on point. It was glorious. Okay maybe glorious isn't the correct word but it was so good. I swallowed it whole. I wish I took my time to savor it but I'm an addict in most respects and I have control issues; like I'm out of control when I'm in my feeding frenzy.

   So this book.  It's a little different layout, but I have a feeling that the format of the story is something we're going to be seeing a lot more of in the future. It is told through the eyes of Bernadette Fox and her daughter Bee and also through email and letters and transcripts. 

   What we have is a family that was uprooted from LA to Seattle and a woman who we find out was a prize winning architect who designed a house years before called the 20 mile house because it was designed from materials within 20 miles of the house. It was bought and then demolished. Bernadette moves her family to get away from the area and basically hates all of Seattle and the people in it. Her husband Elgin works for Microsoft and we get a fictional account of what that may or may not be like. He ends up... well you'd have to read it. 

   She hates Seattle. She hates the people, her neighbors, the mothers of the school she sends her daughter to. She calls them gnats.
For instance, in a letter to an old colleague Bernadette writes,
"Paul, Greetings from sunny Seattle, where women are "gals," people are "folks," a little bit is a skosh," if you're tired you're "logy," if something is slightly off it's "hinky," you can't sit Indian-Style but you can sit "crisscross appllesauce," when the sun comes out it's never called "sun" but always "sunshine," boyfriend and girlfriends are "partners," nobody swears but someone occasionally might "drop the f-bomb," you're allowed to cough but only into your elbow, and any request, reasonable or unreasonable is met with "no worries."

 She has a brilliant daughter who has promised to get straight A's if she gets a trip to antarctica. She has done so and is now looking for the trip. Bernadette has fears of interacting with people and also crossing Drake Passage and how she gets motion sickness. She is trying to avoid going on the trip. She has a virtual assistant from India who does things for her like get a prescription for the strongest motion sickness meds available. She doesn't know that the assistant isn't who she thinks it is. 

   I've not done justice to what the book is about. It's just a funny romp and I'm so glad I read it.  

Happily Ever After (Harriet Evans)

      
  It was a okay book. I liked it  enough to keep reading but it seemed to drag on in some parts. Happily Ever After is about a girl Elle who is wondering about life and how things work out the way they do. Specifically with love. Her parents divorced and she immersed herself in the kind of thinking that comes with losing yourself in piles of romance books. The fairytale ending is just that: a fairytale. 

  What I liked most about the book was that Elle was in publishing. I love books about books and Harriet Evans seems to know her stuff when it comes the publishing world.  

  The underlying story has to do with drinking and how her mother was a drunk and she was in denial about it. Elle's brother and father seem to have nothing good to say about her mother and she's always defending her. And drinking herself.  Elle comes to terms with her own drinking and deals with losing her mother and it all comes to a head kind of rather neatly that was annoying.  Also, the book, like a lot of other 'brit lit" books refers to Bridget Jones. I love BJ but the references to her and the very likeness of the Girl about Town and "shagging" her boss etc. is tiresome. 

  But overall it was okay. I loved the quotes from the books splitting up the sections and think that Evans is worth another read so i'll try one of her others. 

The Bartender's Tale (Ivan Doig)

      
  A good read most definitely. It wasn't faced paced though. Neither was life during the fifties and 1960 when the bulk of the book took place in the mid west. This was my first Doig and I'm confident it won't be my last, a copy of the Whistling Season is on my to do list. 

What we have here is a very knowledgeable and experienced writer who handles the characters of man and son in a way that makes you long for the old times before everything went all Facebook on us and Reality TV took over using your "swuft" imagination.

Tom Harry is a bartender like no other. He plays his part perfectly and owns the Medicine Lodge in a small town of two bars and he knows how to keep his customers happy. They run from the ornery sheephearders to editors of the paper and five times divorced women. His son, Rusty, comes into Tom's life at age 6 and what the reader witnesses is how a six year old processes what it means to live with a bachelor of a man who might not know all there is to know about having a kid.

Fast forward 6 years where most of the story takes place, that of the summer where Rusty is 12 and a girl named Zoe comes into his life as the best gift summer could offer as the two hide out in the bars back room to spy on the place. 
A woman, Proxie comes into Tom's life and we find out they had a fling way back when that produced a daughter. This daughter, 21 year old Francine, is to help Tom out with the bar- he was about to sell the place. And then there's Del. He's a historian in the making.

There are a few minor twists but nothing too crazy. The novel definitely has a 50's sitcom feel.  It's swell and has a few "ess of a bee's" in it. I liked the descriptions of the land and I'm always a sucker for narratives told through the eyes of a precocious kid. 

Doig is good. Real good. I do have to admit it was a little bit slow at times but I think that's because so many books these days have spoiled us with "riveting text" each outdoing the next with crazy plot turns and over the top situations. Sometimes you just want a plain cup of coffee, no syrups or foaming milk or fancy names. Just coffee. 

Signs and Wonders (Alix Ohlin)

This is the second short stories book I've read in a row and it's been a delicious treat. These snack sized bits to burrow into without the commitment of an entire novel. Of course I'm reading a novel right along side the stories so as to round out nutritionally.

Aliz Ohlin has managed to captivate me. It's as if I'm reading a whole story but in 10-15 pages or so. She has drawn characters, male and female and set the tone and various histories and situations that are so captivating and real yet as simpistic as they sound, each of them, they are wholly complex and diverse just like life.

There are 16 in all and I could go through and describe each one (I won't, you'll just have to pony up and read it) but I will say that some leave you a little forlorn, a little wanting for more and a little questioning. Ohlin takes life and turns it slightly on end therefore you might even be like, "what?" when the ending comes because it's there is no real ending, just little scenes of life involving relationships. children, divorces, blended familes, the city, a cruise and general sh*t that happens and how you deal with it.

Totally recommend this treat from a gifted story teller. I've gone from Don't do short stories to fully appreciating the form when done by the right writer.

One Last Thing Before I Go (Jonathan Tropper)

Quick read. And totally quintessential Tropper. You have your male lead surrounded by people/family that he is both loved and hated by. His inner monologue is funny and self-deprecating and completely recognizable as JT. 

So we have Silver, Drew Silver who is a middle aged guy who was once famous for a punk band back in the day. He had it all, kinda. A wife and and daughter and lost them both when his wife divorced him. We start the story almost 8 years after the divorce and we see Silver as he makes a deposit at the sperm bank for cash. We see how pathetic he is as he recounts all his past mistakes and regrets (in a humorous way of course) and we see that he's kind of douche- but one that's likable if you can picture that. 

Silver's ex wife is about to get married. And his 18 year old daughter finds out that she's pregnant and against her better judgment she comes to Silver for guidance. Silver has been out of her life for said 7 years but he says he'll support whatever decision she makes. Before she makes one he ends up collapsing and finds out that has some blood vessel or capillary or something (i forget, please forgive me) that is on the verge of tearing that will kill him but it's fixable via surgery. Get this: the surgeon who tells this him this news is the fiancé of his ex wife. This is a guy that Silver both likes and hates at the same time. 

So we're carried through a week in Silver's life where he's decided to not go through with the operation because his life basically sucks and we see the family come out and the friends come out and tell him why he should do it. 
Does he get the surgery? Does he have a one night-er with his ex wife? Does his daughter end up keeping the baby? 
I have to admit the ending is a little iffy for me. But I enjoyed the book overall. It dealt with one's life as one knows it and what we make it to be. What is life all about? When we think it's not worth it to go on, what keeps up waking up and living another day? Read to find out!! :)
The book doesn't really go into all that but it did make me think a little. But I laughed more (on the inside, not LOL or anything). Tropper has yet to let me down. 

Shout Her Lovely Name (Natalie Serber)

      
  I wouldn't call myself a Short Story person. I have this thing in my head where if I'm to open a book I want to be enveloped and in the knowledge that I'm going to be taken on a ride. I want a commitment. But like poetry where some speaks to you and you nod your head Yes- I get that, I know what the poet was feeling when she wrote that---You can sometimes read a short story and say wow- that packed a punch.

Shout Her Lovely Name did just that. Each story drew me in and made me feel like it was so much bigger and deeper than the 15 or so pages each story was. I was sad to see it end. How talented Natalie Serber is with her characters and their entire lives put on the page. 

Most of the stories involve Ruby and her daughter, Nora and the glimpses of their lives at various stages from the men they're involved with and the lifestyle choices for the times. There are a sprinkling of stories unrelated, a mother fretting over her teenage daughter's eating disorder to a wife coming to terms with letting her kids (walking in on sexual escapade) go while planning her husbands 50th and him getting matching tattoos with his son, to a woman on an airplane with her somewhat controlling husband dealing with her infant and another passenger who's a butthole. 

The stories are slices of life that burrow deep into a woman's heart. They are about struggles and female bonds and growing up and growing older and moving on with acceptance. I loved every story and it reminds me of the charms and loveliness of story in it's short form. 

The Age of Desire (Jenna Fields)

      
  This should have been something I loved but for some reason a little over half way through I just couldn't go on. It wasn't that the story or writing was bad but I was just bored. And I got to a point where the little battle in my head of Just Finish The Book vs. There Are Too Many More To Read the nagging of other worlds won. 
The book (from what I have gathered thus far) is about Edith Wharton- famous female author of the early 1900's. It's historical fiction researched to where the author used Wharton's diaries to weave a tale based on her life. We find out that she didn't have the marriage of her dreams and also that she had a governess turned secretary that she was quite close to. 
We learn about both women but the bulk of the story belongs to Edith. Edith married young and according to her she made a bad choice. She grows to pretty much despise her husband who she has almost nothing in common with and who suffers from melancholia.  Edith writes her books and does her thing and comes to meet a man named Morton Fullerton to which she falls in love with. He admires her just the same and the 60% of what I read revolves around their affair. And also that the secretary, Anna, disapproves.Anna also has feelings for Edith's husband but keeps her feelings to herself. 
Sounds really good right? It was.. to a fault. For me there were just too many passages where Edith is just meandering in her head. I'm thinking the author is trying to set up a lot of tension because nothing physical happened until half way through but I just got a point where if that's all the story is about- Edith having an affair- then I'm just like, well get on with it already.  To me, the greatest story (so far in my reading career) that is mostly about tension and suspense in a relationship was Gone With The Wind. I sat on the edge of my seat wondering if Rhett and Scarlet would be finally getting together but this one, maybe i'll regret not finishing it but for now I've moved on.  There are just too many stories calling my name that my brain and heart want to chew on. 

Tell the Wolves I'm Home (Carol Rifka Blunt)

      
  A story set in the 80's. A girl, our protagonist, June Elbus, 14 years old reflects on the life of her and her uncle, Finn who died of Aids. Her mother has some issues with her brothers lifestyle and practically forbids June to have anything to do with Finns boyfriend, Toby who in inherited the apartment after his death. June, we find out, has an extreme fondness for her uncle and then for his boyfriend Toby and we witness the whole entanglement that follows.

Finn is an artist and the last painting he created was of June and her older sister Greta. The painting is valuable but June and her sister have each taken to adding their own touches on it. They were given keys to the safety deposit box. 

I'm finding it hard to review this book because it was really good yet there isn't this one way of summarizing it. We see the conflict between the two sisters as Greta seems jealous of June and Finns relationship.  June's mother has a bit of her issue with her brother being an artist as she was also quite talented but chose to settle down with a husband and have kids and become an accountant instead. The author does a great job of the inner world of June and how a 14 year old- who is going through the regular growing pains of being a teenager- but to layer on dealing with the implications of Aids, when it first was introduced and how scary it was then- was done with honesty and talent.  

THere weren't any fireworks in this story. It wasn't suspenseful although it was a little sad at the end but quite predictable. Still, I enjoyed it and look forward to more of her writing. 

It's a coming of age tale set in New York about families and illness and choices and regrets. 

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (Peter Hedges)

      
  How many times have I heard of the movie. I was a kid and remembering hearing the title and thinking that a guy must have gotten some flesh eating disease. I did not know of the phrase, What's eating you?, and of course didn't know that the title meant that there was a guy who was truly bothered by everything.  
   
   I'm the kind of person that believes things happen for a reason so I can't beat myself up for not having read this long ago because I know I would have loved it. So I must have been meant to have read it now. Anyway, I loved the book. I could have done without picturing Johnny Depp or Leonardo Dicaprio the entire time but if i'm right (I haven't seen the movie yet) the casting was perfect. I do enjoy imagining my own characters though.

   So we're in Iowa and the picture Peter Hedges paints is of a small town where everyone knows everyone and oh how do I love that setting. Gilbert Grape, our protagonist and narrator is basically fed up with life. He's a born pessimist and I was hanging on his every thought. He's one of six kids and lives at home at age 24 with his very obese mother, Bonnie, his younger retarded brother Arnie, his younger sister Ellen and his older sister Amy. They all live together in a house that's about to cave in due to his mother's weight bearing down on the floor. She hasn't stopped eating since her husband killed himself when Gilbert was 7. Arnie is about to turn 18 and the story revolves around the event. The other two siblings, both older, are out of the house until the party and we see the entire family in action. Gilbert falls in love with a girl (who turns out to be fifteen) and he seems to not have a problem with beginning (at least in his head) a relationship with her.

His friend, Tucker sounds like a dorky schmuck but is handy so he's asked to fix the ceiling where the mother sits above, that's about the crack open. Gilbert works at the local grocery store- and refused to step inside the new commercialized store featuring electric doors, lobster tanks and a variety of breakfast cereals that the owner of Gilbert's grocery store can't conceive of. 

So it's one of those stories that isn't so much about plot but about relationships and the interaction between the characters. I appreciated the inner thoughts of Gilbert. He's a regular guy who just happens to be extra cynical. But he's a family guy at heart which makes all his honesty likable.  

I really loved this book and am looking forward to another one by him. 

The world without you (Joshua Henkin)

      
  I am on a kick of Family Gathering books with Homecoming of Samuel Lake, Seating Arrangements and now The World Without You.  This is the first time I will comment and review the bookcover, which usually I could care less about but this time I think the cover is not the most suitable. Fireworks? It might seem that since the book takes place over a 4th of July weekend it would be appropriate but I think it's too obvious. Yes the 4th was the first anniversary of Leo Frankel- son/brother/husbands death it was bigger than that. The event has brought the Frankel family together but to me the bulk of the book is about change and grief but also about moving on and introspection. 
Maybe a cover with a country house and tennis court would be better or something Jewish since a lot of story centers around Israel and Jewish stuff (sorry for my ignorance but I will be forever confused about the nationality/religion).
Anyway, the story opens with the parents, David and Marilyn and we learn that they are splitting up.  Marilyn feels that there is nothing to salvage now that their youngest son Leo has been killed. It has been a tough year and she is intending to move out. But right now they're preparing for their kids with husbands and kids in tow (including Leo's wife, Thisbe and their 3 year old Calder). They will have the memorial as planned and then tell their children.
Their children include three girls and Leo. Noelle who was once quite the party/loose girl is now reformed into an Orthodox Jew comes with her 4 children and husband who disappears for the weekend. Clarissa and her husband are attempting to get pregnant but having problems and Lily and her boyfriend who she never intends to marry all come together along with Thisbee who is already contemplating moving in with her new boyfriend even though it has only just been a year since her husband died over on assignment (he's a journalist) in Iraq. 
Basically we are taking through the holiday seeing life through each of the characters eyes how they felt about Leo how they feel about their siblings, mother in law, mother and father and their wealthy grandmother who has them seemingly tethered by the promise of money. 
I loved Henkin's writing and his way he effortless weaves in dialogue and past memories and thoughts and carries us through a lifetime of growing up and changing and dealing with death and how your life can go on or you can change it. Ultimately we are living this life and we can make it what we want. We can be imprisoned by our own minds or we can set out and do what we want to do. So the cover art, in my opinion could have been different the title is perfect as each character seems to be contemplating life without someone dear to them in it, not just Leo but their husband or the possibility of a child or sister.

Seating Arrangements (Maggie Shipstead)

      
  Meet the Van Meters: Biddy, Winn, Daphne and Livia.  They are at their summer place on an island off New England and we get to see how dysfunctional a family is. It's basically a yuppie story about what your priorities are and Wen's isn't really his daughters wedding or his wife but getting into a particular club.  Also maybe sleeping with his daughter's bridesmaid. We also see how Livia, who was broken up with by her boyfriend who is the son of Winn's "rival" tries to drown her hurt with finding her next boyfriend in the form of the future groom, Greyson's brothers. *the names of the other characters-Sterling, Fee etc. are almost too much.

Okay there are a lot of characters that are all rich and it's a satire, really but an entertaining satire on life in a summerhouse with the wedding as a backdrop and lots of booze to keep the questionable behaviors going. I loved it. Didn't know if I would but the writing was great and it was a quick paced lighter read than I tend to be drawn to. I enjoyed it a lot and the only complaint I have was that the ending seemed a little untidy. I was left thinking that there should be a follow up. It wasn't a cliff hanger or anything but it kind of ended abruptly. 

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake (Jenny Wingfield)

      
  This was a hunk of a good book. This was sweet southern story about life and family and maybe a little religion but not too much. Just like in my life, it's just enough. It was sad and humorous and I couldn't read it fast enough, although now I'm paying for it because, damn it that done-with-a-good-book-now-what?-void. 

This is the story of the Moses' and the Lakes.  It's title suggest it's about Samuel Lake but it's really about his wife and her family although his family is at the center of it all and the epicenter lay his three children.  Samuel is a preacher and he usually get's moved around because he's so passionate about his work. Also every year his wife's family has a reunion that he misses because that conflicts with him going to a conference or something to find out where his new church will be. ANyway this particular summer Sam finds that he is to be without a church and so they decide to stay with his wife's family seeing how during the reunion his wife, Willadee's dad (you gotta love all the names in this book) shoots himself. No spoilers it happens in the very beginning. So the family home now houses Willadee Samual and their three kids, Swan, Bienville and Noble. But the star is really Swan (Lake) and her navigating her feelings about being a preachers child and a girl and a girl with  big heart as she noticed that a little kid, Blade (who reminds me of Bobby Hill from King of the Hill) who sneaks into their house at night and is also abused by a mean old nasty man who will make your skin crawl. 
But you'll also see the finer points in the writing of Wingfield. People struggling with morals and nosy neighbors and gossip spreading like wild fire
A lot happens that makes you want to have that man dead and unfortunately something happens with Swan that will break your heart but if you like family fiction and hot Arkansas days you will love this book. I wish there was a follow up as I was not ready to close the book and say goodbye to the Lakes and the Moses'. And it's available at this library!!!

Gone (Cathi Hanauer)

      
  Hmmm what would I do if my husband just went to drop off the babysitter after a routine night out to dinner and just never came back? Our protagonist, Eve kind of went with it. She didn't panic. She didn't try to get a hold of him and she was completely calm with their two kids about it. "Daddy must need a break," she says. Turns out Eric did need a break. He took the babysitter across the country so she could be with her mother and his own happened to live near by so what the hell? 
Eve is coping with it as sanely as possible. She thinks her husband had an affair with the girl and has chosen to leave his family so when he does try to call eventually she ignores him. He texts with his 14 year old daughter, Magnolia so at least Eve knows he's okay.
Eric is not okay though. Eric is a sculptor and hasn't been producing in a long time and the pressure of providing for his family and not being able to do so has gotten to him and so the only thing reasonable to him is to just get away from it all. 
Eve has a job as a nutritional advisor to people who want to eat right without "dieting". She has clients and after selling a statue Eric made for $10,000 she's able to keep things afloat for the time Eric stayed away (about 6 weeks).
The book was well written and a quick read. I like Hanauer's style and her pacing. She alternated between Eve's and Eric's viewpoints so we could see what each of the main character's were thinking. The way she wrote it the situation seemed plausible. The ending was just okay as I thought it was kind of abrupt but was content for the two evenings I stayed up late reading this modern marriage tale. 

Tiny Beautiful Things -Dear Sugar (Cheryl Strayed)

      
  Oh this book this book this book. How is one person able to read an email and sift through it to the core and then respond in such a way that is so honest and breathtaking and raw and vital and real? How?  I do not know, nor is it important.
Also not important is how I came across the book. I don't even know. It was like it was like non-existent one second and in my hands the next. I am so grateful for it. 
In a nutshell, Dear Sugar, is a collection of columns. That's it. Many people would probably just go, hmm okay, and move on. But if you see the bright orange cover at your bookstore, library or on your e-reader DO NOT PASS THIS BY!
Dear Sugar is a slice of all that is human. It is a chronicle of different people and their different issues and they all need help in some way and there seems to have never been one to help them out until Sugar came along. Seriously. All Dear Abby's and Agony Aunts combined do not measure up to this woman who isn't even "qualified" to do the writing. I don't think you need credentials that are on some certificate to be able to offer your opinion but you do need a brain and heart and experience and the courage to open up and expose all the little vulnerable bits of yourself to say, see? look here, i'm the same as you and here's what happened.  That's what Sugar does. She will hear the person out and feel their pain and somehow be able to weave in her experience in a way that doesn't even feel like you're listening about her life. You are her life and for the time being she is yours. She tells it like it is but not in a way that is over done with vulgarity or tritely coated with blanket statements. Nope this woman puts thought into every word and each response is it's own true short story. She is eloquent and sassy and sweet and flawed and fearless. I can go on and on. I won't. But I will say there is a little something in each letter that's a little heartbreaking but so necessary. People are all wanting to be heard and told what to do and mostly they do know what they have to do but are looking for it to be encouraged. This book, to me, is like a bible of sorts, but not about the God in the actual Bible, but about the psalms of how to live with mistakes or lost love ones or awful parents and betrayals and the deep dark things that you think about or have done or want to do that you swear is the most horrible thing ever. And then you find out that it's not as bad as you think it is. And someone out there can relate to you and all this comes across through the words experienced by a woman named Sugar...who is actually the woman who wrote Wild, a book I haven't read yet but now have to read. It is huge now and Cheryl Strayed is a woman to look out for, both on the rumpus.net where she writes as Sugar and in her fiction (she has a book called Torch) and in her memoir where she hikes 1100 miles by herself when she was in her early 20's. I hear it's also incredible but I'm glad to have read Tiny Beautiful Things first. It's truly an amazing read. 

The Forever Marriage (Ann Bauer)

      
  I have to be honest. I hated this book. It was like a car accident. The subject matter was awful but awful is part of life and I was intrigued by this awful so I read. And the first third or so wasn't too bad. It was pretty much what I expected but it just got more and more where I was just skimming parts in disbelief that the protagonist and the author had teamed up and thought well we gave it our best shot so lets try to get over 300 pages and call it a day.

Carmen is a woman who didn't want to be married but she got married. She had a kind of life where she drifted and didn't want to go home and took the better of two shitty choices all the time. She ends up going abroad and meeting a guy that she spills coffee on and he's this brainiac guy and she's not attracted to him but she sort of forces it as he's loaded and his mother is nice enough and she'll be set if she marries him so she does. And then regrets it. In fact she wishes the guy dead for the entire time they're married. The book opens up with Jobe, her husband on his deathbed riddled with cancer. He dies. She should rejoice and get on with her life that includes their three children and her lover on the side who is also married, but she doesn't.

The book is just a chronicle of the aftermath of his death and how she feels about and the past, how they met and the early years of their marriage, and also how she is diagnosed with breast cancer and now she thinks it is some sort of karmic thing. Then the oldest son who has down's syndrome talks to his dead father but that part never goes anywhere and we just witness Carmen's thoughts about life without her husband and then coming across some papers that Jobe was working on (he was a mathematician working on some unsolvable problem) and basically...... It all doesn't make me want to care one bit. I wanted to like Carmen at least a little bit. I mean there are people out there who question why they married the person they did and they meditate on it and maybe they've done some crappy things in their life that they think would warrant some sort of karmic kick in the arse but this book just took a nose dive from I'm-sure-it-could-have-been-handled-differently-if-written-differently but it just went phhhhhhht right back to the library where it came from. I was very happy to wrap it back up with the nifty tag and rubber bands and shoved into the tub so it can make its merry way back to the the library whence it came from. I returned that book with as much attitude as anyone could without looking like a lunatic. 

I do not recommend this book. At. All. 

But the one I'm reading now- 4 thumbs up!!!! 

The Age of Miracles (Karen Thompson Walker)

      
  I don't read speculative fiction often but I do enjoy it the times I've allowed my mind to open and wonder and take in a whole new society and a whole new set of rules and of course the big question of fiction in general, What if???

Julia is our young protagonist who at 12 years old is facing a world where everything as she knows it is changing. The big questions is what if the Earth's rotation slowed so much that the days stretched into weeks? It doesn't happen overnight but over the course of the book the reader is immersed in a world where this is happening and what will become of our life if it did. Karen Thompson Walker has researched and found out what could actually  happen if the worlds revolutions slowed. And it ain't pretty. 

Animals die, crops die, the grass dies. People are thrown off by the lack of darkness and can't sleep. They are sunburned when the days stretch on end and the ozone changes and radiation seeps through. People are broken into two groups in the story; the people who follow "clock time" and the people who go with "real time" meaning that they follow their days by sunlight. They are basically ostracized and go and live off in their own communities and meanwhile Julia is nursing a huge crush on one Seth Moreno. 

Okay so the story's strengths rely on the interest of the premise. It was well written and I think it was equal parts "earth/chaos-related" and also the coming of age of our Julia. She loses her best friend for typical reasons and we feel her pain as she navigates her world basically on her own as her mother suffers from a syndrome assumed related to "the slowing" and her dad is busy doing other things that you find out as you read. 

I recommend reading this book as much as you can in one or two sittings. It reads quickly and isn't that long and very good if not quite disturbing. Just imagining this whole thing happening makes my stomach ache in fear.  

The Chaperone (Laura Moriarty)

Cora Carlisle is a 30 something Witchita woman who decides to take it upon herself to accompany a young Louise Brooks to New York City for the summer in 1922. Cora is married and has twin sons away for the summer so she thinks why not? 

That is the premise for the first part of the novel. Laura Moriarty (The Center of Everything- a wicked good coming of age story if there ever was one) weaves a historical tale of the early 1900's and what it means to be a woman who has a past to figure out and a present to take advantage of. 

Cora chaperones a saucy little Louise Brooks who attends a special dancing school and gets picked to move forward with it. Cora is a woman who we find out was adopted and her ulterior motive for going to New York is to find out about her birth parents.

The two stories are told throughout the novel and although it was interesting to hear about Louise and what Moriarty imagines a young starlet to be like (drinking, staying out late, multiple marriage etc) it was way more intriguing to hear about Cora. How she met her husband in the aftermath of losing her foster parents and how she found a secret of her husbands and why she chose to stay with him anyway. 

I loved Moriarty's Center of Everything and expected to like this one as well. I wasn't let down but I do have to say the last 50 pages or so were someone anticlimactic but I wouldn't hesitate recommending this as a good beach read. It's not light and it's always fun to take an adventure though the past with a heroin with an agenda of her own. Cora has some secrets and it's not all prim and proper lady etiquette of an upstanding woman of the 20's and 30's. 

As for Louise...well she's not all that likable but she shows what unsolved issues and a desire to be promiscuous will

Living Your Yoga (Judith Lasater, Ph.D)

To all the yogi's out there (or people looking for a little wisdom) this is a very digestible book to have on hand. Judith Lasater is a well known teacher and writer and has offered great advice on how to be the best person you can be. I of all people know how flawed people can be and although I don't embrace my "less thans" I acknowlege that I am human and am capable of having bad days.

Judith has broken down the book into basic parts reflecting on the sage Patanjali and also the great yoga text, The Bhagavad Gita to illustrate how we can have compassion, release the need to control, have patience, understand suffering, have faith and courage, be of service and several more life venues.

It's called Living your yoga but there isn't much "yoga" in it. Maybe a few references but mostly it's about the philosophy of living a full life and realizing limitations as well as our full potential. The chapters are short and are perfect little reads to set the tone for the day or maybe read before bed to reflect.

Wife 22 (Melanie Gideon)

Oh I just loved this one. Seriously. And I was totally surprised by the end (I'll obviously keep it to myself) but I have to be honest and was like, What???? But despite the slight skepticism this was one of the few books that I couldn't put down, until I made myself because I wanted to try to savor it instead of reading it in one day- which would have been irresponsible of me and also because I like to have something lined up for the next one and I didn't have anything and wanted to avoid the post-good-book-void. And I'm a mom and do have things to do so I coudln't just while away the day with this awesome piece of chick lit. Even if I really wanted to.

It's the tale of Alice Buckle and Alice's family : William the husband, Zoe the 15 year old daughter and Peter the 12 year old son. Alice is a part time drama teacher who stumbles into her own bit of drama when after thinking her marriage was lacking something (after 20 years) and she found herself in that gray area of "what now?". So imagine the convenience of finding an email inviting her to be a part of a survey regarding marriage. It pays $1,000 and is by a credible company so Alice becomes (for confidentiality reasons) Wife 22. Which resonated way more than me thinking it was about a polygamous marriage. And I think I got my fill of polygamy in The Lonely Polygamist (a pretty good, if not long-winded book).

So Alice is a worrier. Aren't most moms? She's sweet and a little self deprecating but totally loveable even though she entertains the idea of having a relationship with Researcher 101 - who is the person she's in communication with for the survey. The researcher emails her questions and she answers them. But since she's confessing all these things about her marriage (mostly good thoughts and memories) but some confessions are more private and the reader can see how easy it would be to think you're interested in this anonymous person listening and being all interested in what you have to say. Basically the grass is greener and all that.

Other than the survey we have William who gets let go from his job and then an old friend of Alice's daughter comes to stay. And then there is the undercurrent of Alice worrying about her daughter having an eating disorder and her son being in the closet.

The story is told through prose as well as many Facebook status updates and parts of the survey so the reader has this three dimensional instantaneous view of what's going on with the Buckle family. I'm usually not a fan of books told through letters or email or in Jennifer Egans, Welcome to the Goon Squad when an entire chapter was done in powerpont- I skipped it. But for this book it worked. It all worked and I'm exctied about any of Gideons new books that I hope hope hope she comes out with.

Wife 22 is at the Windsor Locks library and I will be so excited to check it out to you!!

We Only Know So Much (Elizabeth Crane)

What would we do without the ill functioning family as we know it today? We'd certainly have much less material to draw from to create fanstastically entertaining stories that might just make you feel better about your own, or at least not feel like you are the only one.

Meet the Copelands. We have four generations of characters here ranging from matriarch, Vivian and her son, Theodore to his son, Gordon, and his wife Jean, and then their kids, Priscilla and youngest Otis.
 
Elizabeth Crane takes us on an insight trip via short chapters through the minds of each character and their inner musings of their life and what is going on with it. It also seems that although they are the expert of their own life, they don't much know about the other family members. It is like they are all strangers living in the same house but oblivious to anything or anyone but themselves. 

There is a complete breakdown of communication between all the members of the house. Immediately I understood, despite it being seemingly strange to have this happening. because don't I know the dynamics of a household where small talk is is king and separate kitchen times a necessity. I could go on, but this is not a review of my  life, but the glowing review of a fantastic work of fiction (maybe based on some reality??) 

So we have Gordon, who does make up the bulk of the story and he is a guy who isn't so much likable but not unlikable either. He talks a lot and likes to impress on the other person who may or may not be listening, on how much he knows; he's a regular wikipedia sort of fellow. So  he thinks he may be losing his mind when at his work (he's a manager of a grocery story) a woman comes up to him who knows him and and asks how has he been? Gordon is confused because he doesn't know her name and then she says eludes to them having dated in college. He later does a search via "social network" that a pic reveals that they did date. He has no recollection and now thinks he's losing his mind!. It doesn't help that his father, Theodore also has issues with his mind (alzheimers). SO Gordon is quite distracted with Gordon and although he's a provider for his family he's really not paying much attention to them, least of all his wife. 

Now his wife, Jean, due to said negligence begins and sustains an affair with a man named James who ends up (quite near the beginning of the story) killing himself. Jean has to endure the grieving process in secret. We don't feel bad for her but perhaps we can empathize. 

Then there is Priscilla who, is named aptly in the first page of the book, a bitch. She's graduated high school and not doing much with her life (junior college, first year) and has been approached and passed on, for a reality show that is now her life's goal. Her friend gets a few call backs and as you can imagine this doesn't go down well for Priscilla. 

Then there is Otis who at 9 years old is in love with a girl in his class (Caterina) who eats jelly beans each one in three separate bites. They do become boyfriend and girlfriend for a short period of time and we get to see the thoughts of an enamored boy and how he goes about handling a budding relationship.
 
Last but not least the matriarch, Vivian. Vivian is a woman who is all about Vivian. She directs conversations (there aren't many as the family hardly interacts) to herself and we get to see how a 98 year old woman who is mostly functioning on her own handles life and the younger people in it.

I love Elizabeth Cranes voice and enjoyed this book immensely. It was funny and had no lulls in it where I almost want to skip parts (as has happened in the last few books I've read).  She has been noted to be more of a short story writer so I'm going to check out her three other books to see if they're as good as this one.  I love a good family centered book and if you do too this is one to get! It almost reminded me of Freedom by Jonathan Franzan but less pretentious (thus, entirely more enjoyable.)

Me Before You (Jojo Moyes)

This is a book dealing with a sensitive topic, that of choosing to end your life. Never a fun thing to talk about or hear about or in this case read about but it's also a story about relationships, specifically of the loving kind and what does it really mean to love someone.  I don't think i'm ruining the book when I say it's predictable. Also it should be noted that this book is a readable story where the engagement comes in the details. 

Lou is a girl who stays safe. She lives with her parents at 26 and works in a cafe for years until she is fired and is now faced with having to get a new job since she is a contributor to the family finances. She has no real aspirations until she meets her employer, a quadriplegic who needs a carer and his mother finds Lou the perfect fit for the job. It also happens that Will, the person who needs to caring is suicidal and his mother wants someone who will be able to take his mind off things and pretty much show him that he has something to live for. Will is a character that is a little bitter, very smart and will grow on you. Lou is a very likable protagonist too. She's flawed and silly and from what I read has great taste in clothes and a dickwad for a boyfriend.  

And that's the premise of the story. Will Lou succeed? Where the books strengths lie is in the personality and the effortless speed in which Jojo Moyes moves the  plot along. It is almost 500 pages but felt like 200. There were a few funny parts and despite the seriousness of the story it was lighthearted as well. I enjoyed it overall and can tell that this book out of England will be a sleeper hit soon. 

Everything Matters! (Ron Currie, Jr)

I guess the title says it all. Everything Matters! Sometimes you wonder, though, does it really?

This book, a hint of sci-fi with it's dystopian undertones is telling the story of one man who is forced to deal with the weight of dealing and choosing what to do knowning from birth that the world was going to end? In his lifetime to boot. Except even though that basicaly sums up the story, what makes it a good read is that it has lots of other threads going on that keep you forgetting what you're dealing with the destruction of the entire world.

Junior, our protagonist is a gifted guy who hears voices that have proven to him that he's not crazy, and he is able to know things that you wouldn't ordinarily know. He has a working class father who he adores and an alcoholic mother who kind of hovers in the background. He has a brother who developed a drug problem but since that problem of sniffing coke went on so long during rehab he ended up with a brain injury that more or less changed his personality to borderline numbskull with a talent for baseball.

The prophecy for Junior is that a meteor/comet thing is coming toward Earth and will hit on a specific date and time during Junior's 36th year. He has to live with this truth and live his life. Naturally he turns to alcohol and drugs and goes on a few adventures while he suffers losing his girlfriend when he tried to tell her what he knows and she thinks he's nuts and morbid (wouldn't u be?), and ends up leaving him to go to college on the other side of the country. Junior loves her painfully and it's not ruining the story to tell you that they do get back together and a ton of other stuff happens that kept me engaged in the story.

I was surprised at how good this book was. I was shelving books and as is my habit to thumb through titles that catch my eye and this one literally called out to me. ANd unlike others that call out to me, this was wasn't just flipped through and cast aside. I'm glad I read it. It was a very interesting concept, one that I do think about even though it's kind of depressing; the meaning of life and all that.
The ending isn't surprising but necessary and I recommend this is you're looking for something different and amusing and somewhat thought provoking.

Drop Dead Healthy (A.J. Jacobs)

This was a book that I both didn't know what to expect and knew what to expect at the same time. A.J. Jacobs, you might have heard of this other books, A Year of living Biblically, and The Know It All, where he takes what he does best (as editor of Esquire Mag) and do experiential journalism.

With Drop Dead Healthy he takes 2 years to go through his body and check out the latest research and studies and philosophies (some are quite 'out there and are dismissed as fads') and try them out all in the name of health and longevity.
On the plus side the guy is amusing. He has a sense of humor (maybe dry at times) but entertaining and he's both a husband and father so he incorporates his family into his writing and I tend to like that sort of thing. He does get through main parts of the body but realistically he couldn't hit every part. I think the main part I missed was the mind. But then again it was a book about the body and organs etc. Not so much emotions and mental health , although stress was a big part of it. He does a decent job keeping it light but that's also it's downfall.
The book basically skims over everything. You get tips but if you watch the news and are even a passive tv watcher of health segments there isn't much you don't already know.

Overall it was interesting and should serve as a reminder of how to keep taking care of yourself. Jacobs goes quite overboard taking everything to the extreme and does point out himself that moderation is important to do too- It just doesn't seem like he will follow his own advice. But maybe that was proving a point and if so, You got me, Jacobs. You got me.

I would recommend it as something to read along side something hefty if you read more than one book at a time. This book complimented my fiction and I will be checking out his other books too.

The Awakening (Kate Chopin)

Okay so I guess I should say my two cents since I read this and was like "What?" at the end. It's a classic and for such a slim book it says so much. Plus since it took place so long ago (written 1899) I can't imagine the impression it had then if it makes a splash on this reader now. However, overall, honestly, I thought it was just okay. I liked the setting and the French (though I didn't understand any of it) but I couldn't help thinking to myself that Mr. Pontellier wasn't your average husband...as Edna must not have been your average wife. This reader has some questions about the tale told about some people summering at Grand Isle off the coast of Louisiana. We follow Edna as she "awakens" to her life as not being what she wants and we witness her choices and try to understand why she makes these choices. But back to the sub-par husband, Mr. Pontellier.

Why would he let her spend so much time with a man and not really do anything about it? How come he just listened to the Dr. "Oh let her do whatever and let it pass." or dismiss it as her being mental. How can Mr. Pontellier just let her get another house and entertain men etc?

Because of the time period that I wasn't obviously privy to maybe that was the way people were but even in these times of liberation blah blah blah men don't just let their wives to as they please (when it comes to just up and leaving the house and kids and take up with other men- in my opinion of course). But then again I would like to think that women enter relationships with the idea that they want to be in the relationship and if that changes they get out (and deal with any consequences that might result.)

It's just never that easy, I know. There are kids involved and who wants to break up a family? But for Edna she was clear that she wouldn't give up herself for her children but she also couldn't do what she wanted to do which was her idea of freedom. She understood herself to never truly be free and of course we all know where that led her. Or if you don't you might want to read it. It won't take long and it's interesting nevertheless even if you come to think of our protagonist as a selfish little brat who thinks only of her happiness and not wanting to take responsibility for her actions. And then when the thought of consequences does enter her mind she just opts out all together.

Not the most uplifting book but something that I'd like to discuss with other people who have read it just because it's one of those books that begs the question: Do you take responsibility for your choices? And can you live with yourself? Is it love or infatuation? and where are your values?

The Gift (Cecelia Ahern)

What a bittersweet tale. Cecelia Ahern is a little jewel and has a way of sucking you right in to her whimsical world in Ireland. This one, a Christmasy story, tells of a man named Lou-
(and it should be noted that this book came across to this reader as a Christmas Carol but a very modern Ahern-like way)
who has it all. He has a good job and a good wife and two kids and all that but he's kind of a loser because he's had affairs and is always working and is always looking for the next level to move up to.

He's pretty consumed with success and money so that he pushes his family to at best second place but you see from the get-go that he has potential to be a decent human being and our catalyst comes in the form of a homeless man named Gabe. Gabe sits outside Lou's office building and is very observant. He and Lou have a conversation one morning that prompts Lou to get Gabe hired where he works and thus our story revolves around Gabe being perhaps some sort of magical being who is able to give Lou a glimpse of what he's missing all the while he's toiling away with his work and his interest in casual affairs. Lou is given a magic pill that lets him become two people at once allowing him to be conducting two meetings at once or be at work and fulfill obligations at home.

I love the concept as it always seems that there is never enough time in the day for everything. Lou is given a second chance but it's not an all together happy ending. I was told I would cry and I didn't but I also have a cynical heart of stone so I'm not surprised. JK I did cry when I read the notebook but I dare anyone to read it and not shed some tearage.
I liked this book a lot and it was a cute quick read now en route to a paperbackswap friend.
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Charlie St. Cloud (Ben Sherwood)

This was a quick read but we all know never to judge a book by it's length or cover.

So I seem to be in a supernatural/ghost phase. First with Cecelia Ahern's If You Could See Me Now about imaginary friends and now this little gem.

I don't know what propelled me to pick it up but I read the first chapter online through amazon and it grabbed me. It might have been my mind casting Mr. Efron as the lead character (I didn't see the movie but have seen enough previews to fuel the mind, ha-ha he's a cutie).

The story stars Charlie St. Cloud as told through the narrator, a fireman who was at the scene of the accident who pulled two brothers from a car and was able to bring back one of them, Sam, Charlie's younger brother. Charlie took Sam to a baseball game, underaged and with a "borrowed" car from a neighbor and on the way home they got hit by a drunk trucker. Charlie gets revived but now with having been 'on the other side' has the ability to see the ghosts of people who are otherwise in-between life and the afterlife.

Fast forwad about 13 years and an adult Charlie is the caretaker of the cemetary in town where his brother has been buried. His gift allows him to visit Sam and play catch and basically hold on to past memories. It's his gift and also his curse as he's been unable to move on with his own life feeling the guilt of losing his younger brother and honoring a promise to never leave him.

Other chapters feature Tess, a girl who also lives in town whose only desire is to sail the world. She goes for a pre-sail and being stubborn and wanting a challenge goes through some rough water and has a bad accident herself.
Charlie ends up getting to know her and falling in love. But what we don't know is if she's alive or dead. And it's not as predictable as you might think.

The story flows smoothly and quickly and although it's not a mushy romance it's still about love and making choices in life and living with consequences and also about when to let go.

I enjoyed it and am now willing to sit through the movie- I don't watch too many but generally like to watch the movie after I've read the book so I can be all uppity and criticize how the book was better, ain't it always???

If you could see me now (Cecelia Ahern)

“The more you try to simplify things the more you complicate them. You create rules, build walls, push people away, lie to yourself and ignore true feelings. That is not simplifying things.”
― Cecelia Ahern, If You Could See Me Now

Some people aren't into the whimsical. They like to stay grounded in reality and they like to know that what they're reading is concrete and is a variance on what their own life is like- or maybe someone they'd wish their life was like or maybe glad that it's not like what they're reading.... I'm doing it again- going off.
Anyway, I am somewhat like that. I don't gravitate toward the magical or the surreal or anything that would land in the world of make believe.
But that was me. Putting myself into a box. And duct taping it up. And now everything is neat and in order and simple.

Wrong.

When I pigeon hole myself into one genre intead of making it uncomplicated I make it downright awful. I limit myself and then get stuck in these self-put parameters that I have tricked myself into thinking they're real and I better abide.

Elizabeth, our protagonist is like that. She's obsessively clean and orderly and in her early 30's and has locked herself into her routine and has everything in its place. She also has her family stuff, you know..issues etc, that leads her to have custody of her nephew due to her sister being a drunk who would rather run around town (this takes place in Ireland) than be a mum to her son.

And Elizabeths nephew, Luke, age 6, has an imaginary friend. And this imaginary friend, Ivan is something that Elizabeth has dismissed (like most people) as something to be rid of or ignored to hope that it just passes.
But then not knowing that Ivan is Lukes "IF" she starts seeing him too. Is he real? What's the deal with imaginary friends and why are folks so "tisk tisk" about them?
The concept currently is states as being a phase for kids to help them develope their imaginations and helps them play and feel engaged with another being etc.
But what happens if that 'figment' becomes flesh?

Elizabeth thinks that Ivan is the father of one of Luke's friends, I'll leave it at that. But what is really engaging in this book is that yes it's probably in the 'chick lit' category but it dives into deeper issues that are of the everyday "real" variety such as family dynamics and making changes in your life to help you be more content. It also showed that there aren't all happy endings in fairy tales but that doesn't mean that it's not uplifting and our protagonist does go through changes. Just not of the 180 degree variety.

I read this book in 2 sittings which is good for me since I make my decision everyday (or almost) to not watch tv and I also get up extra early to get my fix. If you'd like this book and can't find it at the library let me know. I'll keep my copy in the back. It's a light(er) read but engaging and it goes quick. I love Cecelia Ahern and appreciated her bit of magic on this woman who needs to get a bit of her inner child, out.

King Dork (Frank Portman)

It's not unlike going to a restaurant and after eating the meal trying to send it back saying that you can't put your finger on it but something was wrong with that chicken.... Of course the waitress will ask why you finished the entire thing if there was something wrong with it?

I finished this book but not because I it was enjoyable and couldn't wait to see how it all panned out and not because I felt loyalty to the author (which is a habit that I have been wrestling with but then realized how dumb it was to be miserable 'suffering' through a book because you feel guilty giving up.)

I read it because it was okay (the band names sprinkled in helped). But I do have some complaints that I just can't but my finger on. It had a promising start. I thought it was pretty funny (perhaps a little too 'cather in the rye-y'but still amusing nevertheless. The narrator is a snarky 14 year old boy named Tom Henderson who spends a lot of time fantasizing about being in a band and coming up with names for his band that consists of himself and his friend Sam Hellerman (referred to by his whole name throughout the whole novel--and is friends with because their alphabetical order and placed in the same classes in school). Any-whoo...

The book centers around Tom (nicknamed Che-Mo and various other names that the reader will find out why and either put the book down in disbelief or just move on quietly) and his sophomore year in high school and all the growing pains that being in high school will bring to a kid. He has a thing about the catcher in the rye because his dad, who we don't know how exactly but had died when Tom was a kid and he's wanting to find out more about his dad. There's a mystery woven throughout the book as well but if i'm to be honest the book kinda looses steam after 50 pages or so and it went from being funny and cool to boring and repetative.

I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't put this reviewers opinion of the best parts of the book -namely the thought up band names Tom comes up with. For instance:

"When he talked about our band (which when we met him was Arab Charger, me on guitar, The Fiend in Human Shape on bass and preventive dentristy, first album Blank Me).
and, "The Nancy Wheelers, me on guitar, Sam Hellerman on bass and Ouija board, first album: Margaret? It's God. Please Shut up."

But any book, even the less than stellar ones, have their merits and this one was a cute take on what it's like to be a guy who's a nerdy punk musical fanatic just trying to get girls and get through school. Speaking of girls it has to be said, like the other reviewers of the book, that the femail characters are sadly done. No dimensions whatsoever. But it's also the authors first book so maybe character building is a skill to work on.
it's a cute read and all the while I don't recommend it per say- there are just too many others to read first but if you were on a bus or an island and this was the only book to read it would be interesting enough (but just enough) to read.

Come, Thou Tortoise (Jessica Grant)

What an adorable story. And adorable not in the sense ‘Awe how cute that she has a tortoise and the tortoise is also a narrator (only about 5% of the book but still), But cute in a way that she is a 24 year old woman (but kind like a 6 year old who since she was born on a leap year and also has a below average IQ she is not dissimilar to that of a child) but we don’t really know that until the middle and at that point it was just encased in a memory Audrey has of her and her father.

The innocence and sincerity along with her vulnerability makes it such a bittersweet read. You see the world through her eyes and how fascinating it is and how easily it can be mixed up. There’s a lot of wordplay that keeps the reader on her toes.  I love Audrey and can relate to her love for her father. His presence in the book is only known from Audrey’s memories since from the very beginning he is in a coma.  It opens with Audrey flying back  to Canada (her childhood home) from Oregon where she had since moved. She leaves her tortoise, Winnifred, with friends and travels with hope to give a speech to her dad believing that if she were to talk to him from her heart at his bedside it would make him wake up. Unfortunately (and this is all within the first pages) he has died and she is then left with her old house (with the door only being opened with a Northwest Shove, her uncle Thoby who had lived with him, and her old mouse Wedge that she believes has been alive for 20 years since she first got him as a pet. (Her dad was a scientist specializing in making life last forever so she believes that the mouse has longevity).

The novel unfolds in short chapters flowing back and forth between when she was a child to the present time as she comes to cope with the loss of her father and also the search for her mouse that has gone missing and a tandem search for her uncle who also goes missing.  There is a little love story too but I won’t give that away.  I love how the story is slightly off beat. Point A does not necessarily connect directly to point B and that makes it charming. But it’s not so off track that you get lost. Grant knew exactly what she was doing when she wrote the book. Also note that it might take getting used to the style because there are no quotation marks and also no question marks. The writing is beautiful. You know exactly how each sentence is to be inferred. And the wordplay will make language junkies giggle.

And if you want to read it but can't find it in the library just let me know, I have a copy.  It’s Canadian and has won the Glob&Mail Best Book Award!!

This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike. (Augusten Burroughs)

 What do you do when you're thirsty? Most people get a drink. Simple enough. But what if you didn't know what to drink? Or you were tired of the same thing or you just wanted something different? You could grab a soda or juice or go for one of those energy drinks or something with guava or pomogranate or b vitamins or acai or whatever else trendy thing the world is telling us to drink. But what if you said to yourself, I'm thirsty and a voice came from out of nowhere and suggested water. Out of the tap. After all, it's cool, and readily available, does the job and it's free. Nah, I don't want water, you think to yourself. It's plain and boring and way too easy.

That's what this book is like to me. It's the simplest of advice to live by that we usually ignore because it's just too basic or obvious. There is no magic here, folks. Just a good old fashioned slap in the face that you needed to get your perspective straight. And no one is above a good perspective straightening-ing. This book rocks, it's epic and it needs to be read. By everyone. Becuase if you think you're perfect YOU Are NOT!!! but that's okay, because if we were I think the planet would explode or something. And besides, imperfection is vastly underrated and it's what makes us unique.

This book is written but a guy who on paper would seem unfit to give advice. He has no official credentials.
But what he does have is experience and a gift to put this thoughts on paper. He doesn't sugar coat anything and the essays on what I feel are the major issues in people's lives are put so succinctly- there is no filler or flattery or curly--q's to distract you. It's just what he's learned and it's going to make you think. Hard. You might not like what he has to say because sometimes (or most of the time) the truth hurts. But as much as it may spoil your rosy colored view of your life (which is probably just denial anyway) it's going to cleanse you and let you start from a truthful honest and healthier place. You only have one life and it's a waste to think you can't benefit from some words of wisdom- and that's what this book is, all words of wisdom. If anything, read the chapter on confidence. That's worth it's weight just in that essay. And it's free if you get it from your library :)
If you're unsure of the book, check out the link to a youtube short video of the author and his audience (and see how appreciative they are of what he has given to them in words) Just be prepared for a few not so PG words.

Augusten Burroughs Fixes Your Brain with "This is How" on SiriusXM [EXPLICIT] - YouTube

Augusten Burroughs Fixes Your Brain with "This is How" on SiriusXM [EXPLICIT] - YouTube

I SUCK AT GIRLS (justin Halpern)

If you read Sh*t My Dad Says and liked it you will have no choice but to love this one; a follow up of sorts where the author, Justin, takes on the next phase of his life: Marriage, or the proposal of marriage. And of course, what his father thinks of it. And his father, as in the first one, is the star of the book despite sort of fading out in the middle as Justin recounts his experiences with the fairer sex. These experiences amounting to the realization that he’s no good with girls and proceeds to tell you why. Making appearances throughout is the man with the wit and mouth of steel. There is no shying away from making proclamations of the colorful. If you can imagine, the swearing is completely appropriate- enhancing even. (If you have seen That 70’s Show, think Red Forman, the father in the show.)There’s not much more to say about the book since it is rather short but a hilarious reprieve if you’re a serious reader and need something lighthearted to give yourself a break.

IN ONE PERSON (John Irving)

Okay. This is an Irving novel so I need to adjust my first reaction upon putting the book down. I have to be honest in that if it were written by any other writer I probably wouldn't have made it halfway through. I completed this (I do have that guilt complex where I feel bad about not finishing books once I start, and since we only have so much time in life I am working on that... but I'm wasting said time in this side thought so I'll stop that). Anyway, the book. It is quintessential Irving style of writing. We have our usual protagonist who is your everyman and is surrounded by your cast of supporting characters who each have their quirks. They each have their own back story and you find out as much about them as if they were the star of the novel, which in a way they are. An Irving book is a layered affair that I fell in love with beginning with The Cider House Rules followed by Prayer for Owen Meany, The World According to Garp, and A Widow for One Year (I’ve started a few others but I tend to only be able to handle one Irving a year- his stories are epic tomes). I truly do love his style, but for some reason this book was disappointing. The writing was there but the story kind of sucked. There I said it. I thought it was beneath this grand storyteller. And it’s not because of the subject- I liked that he dealt head-on with transsexuals and gay and bi-sexual people, that was cool to delve into that. Maybe a little repetitive in all things penis-oriented, but the overall theme of how to live as a gay person or a person who likes to dress up in the opposite genders clothing and blend in and not get beat up or discriminated against, despite it being entertaining kind of fell short. I felt like it just lagged on. There were a few ingredients missing. We follow the life of Bill Abbott from youngster-hood to late life as he figures out who he is and what he believes to be important in life but instead of rolling along and handing out gems of sparkling philosophy it meanders and splats on the page. That being said I'm glad I read it because if I didn't it would be sitting on my conscience. After all, when you’re a fan of a writer you look forward to everything they write. Unfortunately for this one the anticipation was more fun than the book So, fans of Irving, you might as well read it; it is still a more enjoyable book than a lot of others (in my opinion). You won't be let down by the Irving-ness of it and who knows, you might even love it.

THE TRUTH ABOUT MELODY BROWNE (Lisa Jewell)

If you enjoy chick lit, this is a good one. But it's not your everyday light and fluffy read; in fact it goes into deeper issues the further you get into the story and, like many of the books I like, a lot has to do with the protagonist's childhood.Melody Browne is a 33 year old woman raising her 17 year old son and living her life as a lunch lady in England (the author is British). Everything is cool until Melody goes on a date with a man to a hypnotist and she is chosen to go on stage and become a 5 year old. She ends up from that point on having these intense memories of when she was five, and then six and seven. She had up until that point had no recollection of her childhood before 9 years old, at which point there was a fire and all her possessions were burnt up and, for some reason (very interesting reasons, actually), her memories. Throughout the book you are given snapshots of life of a young Melody and then back to the present time. It's done very well . Her parents, she knew, weren't her true parents and bit by bit you see how she came to live with different people and how the alleged parents, who thought they were doing a good thing, actually weren'tWithout giving anything away, just know that the life Melody had suppressed was bittersweet. You get to see how something that seemed abnormal and disapproved of may have actually been fine. To each their own. You see how parenting, even if by a motley crew that you meet in the book, doesn't necessarily have to be from your biological parents. It could be a guy who runs a commune, a crazy aunt or two and some other children in tow. Lisa Jewell has written several good novels geared towards women but have been compared to Nick Hornby and Helen Fielding. Ralph's Party was my favorite and has been heralded as being a guy book, too.