Gone Girl

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

If you see this book, and you think 'Maybe'. Just say to yourself, 'NO' then put it down and walk away. 

You're welcome. 

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis

I read the first chapter, and made it halfway through the second. It got pretty graphic quickly, and I didn't care for the subject matter (babies dying, lots of sex)...no thanks. I guess I shouldn't be surprised  Oprah liked it. I'm glad it turned me off right away, not half-way through when I was already hooked on the story. 

The Snow Child

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

I've been looking forward to reading this book for awhile, and it was exactly what I hoped for. A very light read, it was simple and lovely. 

The story follows an older couple from the East, who are in Alaska in the 1920's attempting to homestead, trying to run from the heartache of losing their only child (a stillborn) ten years before. 

The two drift further apart, even though their Alaskan adventure was meant to unify them, but they are each dealing with their grief individually. 

What brings them together is a seemingly mythical little girl that appears in their lives with the first snow of the season, and is a elusive and mysterious as the nature around them. 

A very beautifully written pseudo-fairy tale. 

Flight Behavior

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

I know I have mentioned my love affair with BK before, but it deserves another little nod here. Her latest, Flight Behavior was a good read. I'll just paste the goodreads description, then give my two cents:

Flight Behavior transfixes from its opening scene, when a young woman's narrow experience of life is thrown wide with the force of a raging fire. In the lyrical language of her native Appalachia, Barbara Kingsolver bares the rich, tarnished humanity of her novel's inhabitants and unearths the modern complexities of rural existence. Characters and reader alike are quickly carried beyond familiar territory here, into the unsettled ground of science, faith, and everyday truces between reason and conviction.

Dellarobia Turnbow is a restless farm wife who gave up her own plans when she accidentally became pregnant at seventeen. Now, after a decade of domestic disharmony on a failing farm, she has settled for permanent disappointment but seeks momentary escape through an obsessive flirtation with a younger man. As she hikes up a mountain road behind her house to a secret tryst, she encounters a shocking sight: a silent, forested valley filled with what looks like a lake of fire. She can only understand it as a cautionary miracle, but it sparks a raft of other explanations from scientists, religious leaders, and the media. The bewildering emergency draws rural farmers into unexpected acquaintance with urbane journalists, opportunists, sightseers, and a striking biologist with his own stake in the outcome. As the community lines up to judge the woman and her miracle, Dellarobia confronts her family, her church, her town, and a larger world, in a flight toward truth that could undo all she has ever believed.

Flight Behavior takes on one of the most contentious subjects of our time: climate change. With a deft and versatile empathy Kingsolver dissects the motives that drive denial and belief in a precarious world.

O.K. so I prefer more of the relationship/inner struggle that the main character, Dellarobia, was going through (reminded me of Kaye Gibbons...I love allll her books, she knows how to give women a VOICE). Not so much the science stuff (but it was still interesting) that reminded me of State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, which I really liked too. Flight Behavior was more than just a commentary on global warming. Sometimes the characters got a little long-winded, and some of it was a little cliche, but it's worth reading. 

If you've read any Barbara Kingsolver (I know some of you have) I would rank this about on par with The Bean Trees. It was WAY better than Prodigal Summer and The Lacuna but nowhere as good as The Poisonwood Bible, which was just on another level completely. I liked reading fiction from her that was along the same lines as her more personal non-fiction: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Since this book was about farmers in the Appalachia's, and in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Barbara and her family are trying to be farmers in the Appalachia's. 

Anyway, on to the next! Hooray for books that make you want to keep on reading, and not give up and watch television. 

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

A Novel

by

Robin Sloan

   I just finished this book a couple minutes ago, and I wanted to hurry up and blog about it, before I lose my momentum. I really enjoyed this read. It was quick, easy, and entertaining. Because I read a lot of YA fiction, I liked that this was a novel who's target audience was adults, but it read very much like YA. Which to me, goes to show that you can write lighthearted fiction, with a great plot and good characters, and have it appeal to adults. 

   The story begins when a young guy ends up with a gig working the night-shift at a mysterious bookstore in San Francisco. From there the story takes off, and moves at a nice clip. Clay (the young guy) along with a colorful cast of really likable (if a tad underdeveloped) characters set off to solve and/or protect the mystery of the bookstore. It takes a science fiction turn, and also has a lot of other nerdy-ness thrown in (all inserted rather tongue-in-cheek), so I really liked that. Another thing that appealed to me is how it's all about books! Of course readers are going to like that! 

Anyway, perfect weekend read. 

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats....and a couple others...

  Well, once again I got derailed, and just fell off the blogging band-wagon. Now that this has become a pattern for me, I was able to trace the problem back to the roots. I feel like blogging about what I'm reading, when I'm reading something I really love. I don't like blogging about books I didn't care for. So when I read a couple duds consecutively, I give up my blog. That being said, here is what derailed me:

Sorry Potter fans, I did not care for this one at ALL. I'm not sure how it's possible to introduce a cast of like 20+ characters, and have all of them be so awful. Really, every single character was terrible. And I guess to J.K. writing a book for grownups just means all the characters have to be revolting, and throw in tons of profanity, drugs, and explicit sexual innuendo. Um, last time I checked, it was still o.k. to have a good plot/story line in adult fiction. Sheesh. 

I guess this would be a pretty good example of how I feel about profanity and sex in books, because some books need to be pretty raw, others, not so much. Which leads me to my next read:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower was a pretty graphic read, but I also felt like it was a pretty accurate portrayal of a high school existence. At first it seems like a pretty simple coming-of-age novel, but as the layers begin to peel away, it tackles some way deeper issues the characters are dealing with (domestic violence, coming out, child molestation). I would say read this one at your own risk. Its a tiny little book, but it took me awhile to finish it because I kept putting it down, but I kept going back, and finally made it through. I wouldn't say I'm recommending it....but...if you want to, go ahead. If that makes any sense at all. 

This one was a little gem, now I want to go buy it for my library. A beautiful story about the power and longevity of true love. A father disappears  and his grown daughter goes on a search to find him that uncovers a tale of his life she never fathomed. Has elements of Cutting for Stone and The Painted Veil, if you liked either of those, but it's a much sweeter story.

Also really loved this one. It's hard tale about slavery. It's not Roots or anything, but it was a good story.

I'm comfort reading these two right now, and they are like a warm cup of tea/cozy sweater/a hug...love my A. McCall Smith! 

And I'm waiting for a tidy list I have reserved at the library right now. How fast I blog about them will probably depend on how much I like them.