9 Books You Should and Shouldn't Read

I've read nine (NINE?!?!) books since my last book review post and I'm about to finish two more, so it's been far too long, I realize that. Thus begins my promise to write at least weekly, so it doesn't get boring around here.

I read Adulting by Kelly Williams Brown. I thought it might be a book that I would skim through, but I read it cover to cover, laughing all the way. Not only was it fascinating for me as a twentysomething, but it was very funny and helpful. Some points that Brown made were things that I really connected with (putting the address for where you send your rent on 12 envelopes and pre-stamp them) and have put into practice. Other things I'm moving towards (creating a dinner party for your friends! Super easy only if you know how to cook, I'm pretty sure a dinner party that I gave would turn out a la Bridget Jones). All in all, a fascinating book on how to grow up little by little by making life easier for yourself. I loved it and realized how many things I've already done (amazingly..)

I read Big Brother by Lionel Shriver.(CAUTION: SPOILER ALERT) I didn't like this book quite as much as I thought I would. It was pretty interesting until the giant twist near the end where the reader finds out the entire book is actually just something the main character daydreamed about, which really just made the whole book incredibly anticlimactic and sad. I hate endings like that. (See Margaret Atwood's book The Handmaid's Tale).

I read (because I watched the ENTIRE show and did so in less than a week because I am the kind of person who eats up Netflix shows like pie at a pie-eating contest where first prize is holy matrimony to Alexander Skarsgard) Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman.
Loved the show and then I read the book and of course the book is SO much better (are you surprised? I wasn't at all). In the book, Piper isn't quite as crazy/stupid as in the show and she's also not in prison with her ex-lesbian lover, so that makes it much less dramatic in some ways. All in all, the book was a fascinating reflection on just how convoluted and broken our justice system is. (Again, unsurprising, but enlightening to say the least). The book has much less drama than in the show, but of course, the book doesn't need to sell seasons to hungry Netflix viewers.

I read Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple. Incredible book about a smart kid, her intelligent parents and some not-so-intelligent neighbors. Not only is her mother hilarious and witty (which she passes onto her daughter) she also disappears when things in her life go horribly awry. I don't want to give anything away, but I truly enjoyed the characters. Bee and her mother are so fantastically given life, it's incredible.

I read the first volume of The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman.
If you know anything about me, it's that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the television show of The Walking Dead (similarly to about a million other Americans) and I've been DYING to read the comics. The first volume did not disappoint and I aim to read the rest ASAP. If you have twenty minutes in your day for reading, read this. It's gory and beautiful and better than the show (obviously).
(WHO CAN'T WAIT FOR THE WALKING DEAD TONIGHT??!?!)

I read Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. I have a confession, I saw the movie first. Terrible, I know. But the book was so much better! I hate when movies aren't as gritty as the books and this one took the cake. SPOILER ALERT: I love John Malkovich, but I thought the character's descent into madness in the books was spot on and thus he did deserve to die, but that's just me. SPOILER ALERT ENDED. This book was poetic and that's what I loved about it. The prosy paragraphs waxing philosophical about life. Fantastic.

Ten Things I've Learnt About Love: A Novel by Sarah Butler was a prosy novel (my favorites) and it dealt with memories and relationships (also my favorite subjects). It's told from the point of view of two characters, Alice, a young traveler and Daniel, a homeless man in London. Alice returns from abroad to see her father whose health is failing - her two older sisters are already there caring for him. Alice has always felt a separation from her two sisters and doesn't quite know why. I won't spoil it, but I will say this: I love books that use lists. This book uses a lot of lists and it makes me happy. 

Okay, this was my light read for the month. It's about a wedding and the craziness that, inevitably, surrounds it. What made it interesting (and also very sad) was that the mother of the bride had passed away years before the wedding, but left a notebook filled with all of her wedding advice for her daughter. Of course, the daughter holds it very dearly and wants every aspect of the wedding to be straight from the notebook. Hilderbrand did an incredible job of creating characters that all had interesting relationships with each other. Everyone had an interesting point of view. Again with the relationships, I know, but that's what I like to read! This would be a great beach read (if you're in a warm area of the country...)

I have been waiting to read the sequel to The Girl of Fire and Thorns for ages, now. My coworker advised me not to read this sequel until the third in the trilogy had come out and, amazingly, I kept myself busy with other good books until I could wait no longer. If you haven't read this trilogy yet and you love fantasy, strong female main characters, and badass adventure, pick it up immediately. It's YA, but it's still fantastic. The main character, Elisa, is burdened with the Godstone, a very rare gift of a jewel where her bellybutton should be that connects her with her God. This makes her valuable and under constant threat of kidnapping and killing. Everyone wants the Godstone for himself (or herself) and Elisa is constantly running and/or fighting to keep herself alive. 

If you like YA lit, this is really a fantastic story - and I cannot wait for the third!

Catch-Up

I have a post full of goodness for you. I haven't updated recently (what else is new) but I have read several books that will intrigue you.

My favorite book that I've read so far this year is The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson.  I know it's not very far into the year, but this book is incredible.

It follows the story of Elisa, a princess in a fantasy world, who has been chosen to bear the "Godstone". This basically means she has a jewel in place of her belly button that holds great power.

She's a privileged girl and has been sheltered from society because she bears the Godstone - as its power is something everyone in the world wants. People would kill her simply to have it.

It starts off with Elisa being married off to a king (her father's idea) and Elisa being shipped off to the king's country, which is some distance away.

I don't want to say much more about the plot because I don't want to give a single thing away about this fabulous book.

This book has richly drawn characters with true personalities - those personalities are developed well. The characters are dynamic, especially Elisa. The other thing I enjoyed about the book was the portrayal of body image. Elisa is round - and she knows it. It's an obstacle that is dealt with on almost every page because as a princess, she is constantly judged by her people and the people of the king she marries. However, it doesn't mean that she isn't outspoken, tactical and exceptionally intelligent. She is and she grows with that, too.

This book is good for anyone who likes strong heroines, adventures, incredible stories of love, and intrigue. And did I mention it's going to be a trilogy? It made me pretty happy to hear that - and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did, too.


The most recent audiobook I've listened to is Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce.
If you haven't read/listened to Frank Cottrell Boyce's children's books yet, you simply must. His stories are fantastic, always from the child's point of view, and hilarious. Although it's classified as a children's book, people of any age will enjoy it.

This book focuses on Dylan, a young boy living in a village in Great Britain where the atmosphere is always "dishwater".  He helps his father, mother, little brother and his two sisters to run their failing gas station.
It's gray and quiet in the village and there's not much is going on - until one day a very shiny and expensive car goes up the mountain road right past the gas station. The entire town is immediately abuzz with gossip.

Dylan gets involved with the man driving the shiny car (who stops to get gas) due to a conversation misinterpretation involving the Ninja Turtle characters with famous Renaissance painters. (Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, etc. if you really don't know who the TMNT are).

That is all you need to know about this book. The characters are hilarious, the mixups and misinterpretations are gut-busting and you won't be able to put this book down. Though I highly recommend the audio - especially if you love listening to beautiful English accents.

Okay, so Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding was a guilty pleasure read - but it was SO hilarious. I know that it's not brand new (neither is the movie) but it was enjoyable to say the least.

I don't even like Pride and Prejudice (the plotline of which BJD is based on) but this book kept me laughing through every page.

Honestly, the reason I picked it up and read it was because I read this article at the Washington Post about how "chick-lit" is bad for self-image. They mention BJD and then I realized that I hadn't read it. So, your article about self-image didn't deter me, Washington Post! I ate bonbons the whole way through the book and laughed loudly in public places when I read it, so take that.

(Quick rant: I hate the word "chick-lit". What does that even mean? Anyone can read whatever they want - why do girls specifically get stuck with "chick-lit"? Can't we just read literature and novels like everyone else?)

My favorite part about BJD? The fact that it seems like a continuation of Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal-Snogging by Louise Rennison. (I've written reviews for these books in the past). If Georgia Nicholson grew up, she would be a very similar character to Bridget Jones, which makes me pretty happy.

Another YA book I read was every day by David Levithan. I do adore David Levithan - if you haven't read any of his books, familiarize yourself!
He's written a slew of wonderful YA books that inspire by creating comfortable space for teens. His books give the me hope for the world.

This one was no different.

A wakes up every morning in a new body. He/she/it inhabits the body of a different teen every morning and always has. There is no way to tell why this happens or how. One day A is the quarterback of a highschool football team. The next day A is a suicidal girl. The next day A inhabits the body of a social outcast. The next A is a lesbian girl, madly in love with her girlfriend.
All is "normal" until the one day that A falls in love.

That's all you need to know, really. It's a strange concept, but David Levithan worked it into an incredible story. It changes your perspective, which is important.

I read another YA novel, Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs. This book was not my favorite. It's heavy on mythology, which is interesting, but the characters weren't dynamic enough for me.

Basic plotline: High school student and gritty badass of the West Coast Gretchen is a descendant of Medusa and has to take out the monsters in her town with her martial arts training (that no one can see but her) so that they don't harm the innocent folk of California.

Gretchen finds out she has a twin, kidnaps her, doesn't want to tell her everything, but then has to as the streets are becoming more dangerous with more monsters every day.

This book is the beginning of a series, which made me much less interested as soon as I found that out.  Can't a girl read a book that completely tells a story in ONE BOOK anymore??? It drives me nuts, but that's my own thing.

I hope you read one of these and enjoy them! Let me know if you read any and as always, feel free to leave comments.

So I would first like to apologize about not updating for over a month, but in my defense it's been quite a month. Thanksgiving + moving out + my birthday + being sick = not a single blog post in ages!

SO! Book updates! I have been listening to The Help by Kathryn Stockett on audiobook during my commute to work for the past few weeks and it is blowing my mind that A) I haven't read it yet and B) it's so incredible on audiobook! I am recommending the audiobook to everyone and ANYONE. It's amazing. 

Reasons why it is amazing:

1) The narrators are very good. The woman who does Minnie's part is the woman from the movie, Octavia Spencer. The others are very good too. 

2) I laugh out loud.

3) I talk out loud when I get angry at unfolding events.

4) The writing makes me truly care about the characters and what happens to them.

5) THIS IS KATHRYN STOCKETT'S FIRST NOVEL. Can we talk about how incredible that is? 

All in all, if you haven't read/listened to this book you need to immediately. It will make you laugh, cry, and feel sick with how racist people used to be. (I know people still are, too and that makes me even angrier, quite frankly). Get this book at your local library/bookstore STAT!

 I am also reading The Restaurant at the End of the Universe as my roommate has the whole series in his bedroom, so I snatched it up and have been devouring it. If you've read the first one, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you will not be disappointed with the next book whatsoever. It's snappy and funny and keeps me guessing because who knows what pleasures/craziness the universe will bring next? No one can tell - except Douglas Adams.

I haven't started The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle quite yet, but I am very excited to give it a go tonight. It's a thriller which is not normally my speed, but it is also a young adult dystopian tale, which always gets me going. The main (and Amish) character Katie is about to go on her Rumspringa, but the town discusses turmoil in the world outside their town. The outside world is a dystopian one and the adults in the town forbid everyone from leaving and coming in. It sounds spooky and wonderful and I will let you know how it goes.

In an unrelated note, the last thing I want to share with all of you is this. Mister Rogers has always been the voice of calm and reason in my childhood, but reading this from Mental Floss (my favorite website as I am a knowledge junkie) makes me feel wonderful. It rings with truth in light of recent and tragic events. 

All we can do is try to be better in life and look up to those who truly deserve it: your parents, your teachers, your friends, and your heroes in the stories you read.

A Short List of Excellent Books

Chuck Klosterman is highly underrated. I mean, yes, everyone loves Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs because it is wonderful, of course. But his novel Downtown Owl was fascinating. Better than Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs in my opinion. It has several different points of view, which I always like in a book.  The first character you're introduced to is a young teacher who has just moved to Owl, North Dakota. There is also the point of view of a teenage boy on the high school football team and an old man who has lived in Owl for many, many years. Their stories entwine. 

The best part about this book is that Chuck Klosterman begins with the end, which is THE BEST WAY to start any book. I give this one five stars. 

Of course this book is overshadowed by the overwhelming amount of people who saw the movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, but the book is just better. I suppose by the same logic the blog must be better than the book, but I have never read her blog. 

The movie also didn't show how much Julie swore, drank and fought with her husband. I think all those things were very important to the story because the whole story is about her journey through the year with food. Stories about a journey generally should have a lot of obstacles. The book did, the movie just glamorized one fight. 

Read the book - it's worth it.

If you're not in the mood for a novel, try Kurt Vonnegut's Welcome to the Monkey House. Since it's a compilation of his short stories, it's easier to digest than a full novel. That won't mean you won't read it in one sitting, though. His short stories are incredible. Every time I finished one, I couldn't help but move right on to the next one. This is one I'm going to read again. And soon!