The Gun Seller

The author's name drew me to the book and when I saw the words action-packed, fast-paced and funny I was sold.  While there is blackmail, conspiracy, turncoats, and sarcasm I don't think all three of those words really describe the book. The story took a long time to start making sense, it was mystery after mystery and the main character is so confused about what is going on I kept thinking I was missing something. The characters just kept coming, the end was  big moment where the main character was asking his friends to trust him but we barely knew those characters they came in so late in the book.There were also some strange leaps in time after the it settled into the story so I would say it is sometimes fast and sometimes very slow-paced with rare sequences of action. I loved the main character's humor and wit though, the book was more than funny and I laughed numerous times reading it.
  Absolutely funny but the plot was slow-moving with weird breaks. It had an extremely satisfying ending, with a shoot out and big twists.
Enjoyable level: 6.4

Catch up: A Spot of Bother, The Alchemist, Forbidden, Seventh Son, Tuesdays with Morrie, and Pope Joan

Sorry about waiting so long, I am currently planning a wedding and moving to a new country so even though I kept up with my reading I have neglected to write about anything. That being said,  most of these will probably be short. Do not think that because they are short I enjoyed them any less and hopefully it comes across when I write about them. 

Anywho, we'd better get started...

 Being a nurse, I see a lot of confused patients so the description of a man trying to politely go insane really captured my attention. It was enlightening seeing a mental health issue from the patients perspective. At one point the main character did not want to make a toast and he ended up hiding in a bush and at no point did I think 'that is where he went into a crazy thought'. Every step made perfect sense at the time but the string of things together led him into crazy things, like trying to remove a lesion from his thigh with some scissors in the bath tub. The wife and two children's storylines were all compelling. I wasn't bored by any of them and each storyline had a satisfying ending.
Enjoyable level 7.5/10

I wrote this title on my list of things to read a while ago and then when I went to the bookstore I saw the other The Alchemist, which is of course the first in the Nicholas Flamel books I wrote about in an earlier post. Later, in another bookstore (I basically spend 90% of all my free time in bookstores and usually every date my fiancee and I go on includes a bookstore) I saw this and remembered that I had read this back cover before and wanted to read it. I cannot say it enough, I LOVE this book. It is about taking risks to find and follow your life's destiny and persevering through difficult moments holding you back from the things you want. My fiancee and I are in the middle of moving to London from the US and jobs/visas/housing (just a few of the things currently driving us crazy) have caused us endless worrying sessions the past few months. Reading this book was such a good reminder that jobs can be found again, money can be made again, but an opportunity to do something you love is always worth trying and struggling for. Inspirational. Love it.
Enjoyable level 9.9/10

Ted Dekker is one of my absolute favorite authors, if you haven't read Thr3e by him you should go read it. Now. I'll wait. ....Okay, so on to the book at hand, cowritten with Tosca Lee.  The story is similar to The Giver and Divergent only it is feelings that have been stripped from the world in an apocalyptic manner. A few individuals have a serum that make them an exception to the unfeeling human race and they have a mission to try to bring feelings back to the world. The plot seemed straightforward, enjoyable but very familiar. Also, you may notice the fine print above the title says The Books of Mortals. Yep, this is, very sneakily, the first of a series, which I did not find out until I got to the end and though 'wait, there are so many things not tied up'. No time to continue to the series now, but I wouldn't mind continuing when I have more time.
Enjoyable level  7/10

Orson Scott Card is another of my favorite authors. When I bought this book it had a sticker on the bottom middle of the cover so, like the Forbidden, when I got to the end and said, 'hey, where's the rest of the story?' I found out it was the beginning of a series. The book incorporates evangelical christians and sorcery/superstition, playing them off of one another. The powers that the seventh son of the seventh son had were incredible and it was unique that his power was tied to an element. I really liked that the universe was almost the nemesis in that the world was working to destroy this boy who was so powerful and unnatural in the world. It also allowed to see a small view of medicine in the past which is always a topic I am interested in. I would read this again and definitely hope to read the rest of these books.
Enjoyable level 8.4/10

I recently read 'The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto' by Mitch Albom and numerous times while reading it people suggested this book so the next time I saw it on the shelf I bought it. The book was wonderful, a touching depiction of an intergenerational relationship.  I loved the story because it understood the perfect amount of plot, not invoking unneeded twists and turns, and instead encourages stimulating dialogue.
Enjoyable level: 8/10

A historical fiction book about a female disguising herself as a man and becoming the Pope. Brutally honest about the lives of women during the Medieval times.  The main character really resonated with me, Joan is a dreamer, a scholar, and a fighter. There was a surprising amount of action (I bit my nails numerous times hoping she wouldn't be discovered) and I was delighted to find out from my fiancee that it has a film adaptation which I desperately hope to see.
Enjoyable level 9.2/10


I could write so much more about many of these books but due to time constraints and being halfway through yet another book, this will have to do. Cheerio, next time I write will be from across the pond!

Out of Dust

              Another trip to the children's books section brought me to this book, the story of a young girl growing up in Oklahoma during two years of the Dust Bowl. An important note is that this book is written in free verse poetry. At first, I was very bothered by this, feeling like I couldn't properly immerse myself in the story because of each sentence being spaced between lines and a new idea for each new poem seemed to make the story jumbled up in my mind.
 Eventually, after learning a little about the characters and their life the poems didn't seem so haphazard. Some of the poems were so heart-wrenching that I was glad they ended quickly and she spoke of another day, reminding me her life continued on. The time period was fascinatingly devastating and it made me wonder why I had read so little about it before.
It was a great reminder of how lucky I am to grow up in this time and place and while I probably won't reread this I got a lot out of it and would recommend it to a friend of the philosophical variety.

1 day to read.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

The Gilmore Guys ( a fantastic podcast) Michelle Obama and Rory Gilmore all decided I should read this book and you can just get ready for the gushing now because I really really loved it. 

It is a coming of age story about a young italian girl named Lenu and her best friend Lila, and yes it unfortunately is the first in a series of 4 books called the Neopolitan novels. (where do you find non-series anymore?) 

 Her line of thinking resonates within me from an adoring child to insecure middle schooler to self searching teenager I felt deeply connected with the main character (Lenu). And as Lenu and Lila grow apart the desperation with which they need each other, love each other, and yet have no idea how to still be part of each other's lives takes over my soul with its truthfulness. Every few pages a thought or feeling would so move within me I could picture the exact moment I felt or reacted that way to my best friend within my life.  And the utter honesty with which it is told simultaneously convicts me because of the connections I see to myself and the approval-seeking, jealous, selfish thoughts of an adolescent while also bringing me joy and nostalgia of childhood, growth and perseverance of true long-term female relationships bound by real caring. 

I want everyone I know to read it so I can have deep discussions with them about it. It leaves you hanging and I must read the rest of this series. I feel like it will explain to me my life now and even tell me my future, not in exact moments or experiences but in thought processes and emotions. I don't know how to explain it, I need a book club specifically for this book and the rest of the series which I will definitely be reading. After I finish the pile I have...

The Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott



You may think wow she read the whole series, 6 entire books! It must be great! Nope, I'm just that committed to reading what's in front of me. It wasn't bad, it was simply ok. The first book was actually very intriguing. I love the idea of everyone having an aura they can shape into magic but using that aura depletes the energy available to them. Perenelle Flamel was an exceptionally interesting character even though she spent most the books separated from the other main characters I always wished for more of her storyline.

However, as it went on the characters and stories just seemed to pile on and pile on rather than fit together.  I went on a road trip with my fiancé but was very close to the end of the 6th book so I had him read the last 20 or so pages out loud to me while I drove.  About every 3rd paragraph he would just give me a look like 'what the heck is happening?' and I just gave him the 'I know, I know, keep reading' look back. First adding mythical gods, then crazy beasts of legend and every famous person from Virgina Dare and Billy the Kid to Shakespeare and Joan of Arc. It felt like a movie with too many cameos.  

They also constantly stop and list the insane events that have been occurring or the amount of famous people they are with. Again it reminds me of when shows or movies point out the crazy to show, 'hey, we are aware of how crazy this is and the fact that we acknowledge it makes it okay'. It just ruins the flow of the story and the amount with which its done causes a lot of repetition. In fact, there is quite a lot of repetition in the books in general.  Again, these weren't bad, just ok, not a reread kind of book.

Etiquette and Espionage

My sister found this book on sale at borders and quickly passed it on to me, saying she loved it, and I have to agree with her. This book is part of a series which is the last thing I need to be starting considering the pile of books waiting on me and my imminent move but fortunately for me it is a very stand alone book, the entirety of the story is wrapped up and while I would love to read more of the series I feel I can wait and go back to it when I have the time.
This is a steampunk novel about a girl being forced to go to a finishing school only to find it is actually a school for spies, which she quite excels at. She makes friends and enemies of teachers and students and meets a werewolf and a vampire (though neither of those takes up a big part in the story which I was thankful for, I mean the school and the main character were interesting enough).
Good, 300 pages or so, fairly quick read. I look forward to more of them.

Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest

I was at second and charles ( a book store near us) and they were having a sale, buy 3 fiction books, get 2 free and I found this as one of my free ones. This story is about a brother and sister whose parents die and they have to go live with their aunt in a remote norweigan village next to a forest. They are forbidden to go in the forest which, of course, only makes it absolutely positive that all the main characters will enter. They find that what they thought was a dark place filled with evil creatures is actually a confused place oppressed by a tyrannical leader.
For storytelling this book gets 10/10. I adore the different fantasy creatures created in these pages and how each one has changed during this strange time in the forest.  The truth pixie in particular had me rolling around in bed laughing. In originality it gets a 7.  During the first couple of chapters where the brother and sister get sent to their aunt and told about the forest I was sure this book was just another Fablehaven and was already tired of reading it. Also, there is one character who is missing at the beginning of the book and it is incredibly apparent where they are and how they will be revealed from the beginning of the book.  However, things were not as played out as I thought. There were twists and deaths and a horribly gruesome turn where Samuel gets turned into a rabbit and meets the friends of the rabbit he ate a couple days before.  I was simultaneously loving it and thinking 'what is happening?'.
Basically, this book has a lot of character and interest but you have to make an effort through the first couple of chapters. If another Samuel Blink novel (yes, there are more, nothing is a stand alone story anymore :(  )  were to end up on my desk I would read it but I don't think I will search out any more of these books.

Boy and The BFG by Roald Dahl

When my fiancee Charles and I started dating we started reading out loud to each other. It's a way to be intimate and a sure way to spend time with that person being vulnerable. When we saw that the BFG was being made into a movie naturally we both wanted to reread the book first and what better way to read the same book then to read it aloud to each other. 

This book was more magical and delightful than I remembered.  The BFG is constantly use crazy words like fribscottle and snozzcumber which I love (Charles pointed out this is probably because I use words like that all the time, in fact I told him I was rememerabling about this book right now). Sophie is practical and good-hearted. I loved how composed the queen made herself when she met the giant, inviting him to dinner, which gave us the hilarious scene where the butler has to climb a ladder to serve the giant his plate. Charles said it was good but was not as thrilled with it as I am (baffling, completely baffling). He also never reads children's books and loves nonfiction so perhaps that has a bit to do with it. 

We are both especially excited about the movie now and maybe I will add another little paragraph after I go see the movie. Two thumbs up from Carolyn and Charles! Also, we highly recommend reading this book out loud;  with your children, your significant other, or even your friends. The crazy words and short chapters make it fun and always leave you wanting more. 

I picked this up from a book sale prior to deciding to read the BFG with Charles. Roald Dahl was I believe the first time I ever discovered you could choose a book by the author (rather than the colorful cover or the title/plot line) and expect it to be good. Also, in a time filled with Junie B. Jones and Nancy Drew Roald Dahl led me into  a new world of fantasy, so I was ecstatic to now get a chance to learn a little more about this author I love. 

Boy is short stories from Roald Dahl's childhood. He was quite a prankster when he was younger and remembered quite a few due to the punishment he received for some of those pranks. He went to an English school because of his fathers wishes, but his whole family travelled back to Norway for the summers. His childhood inspired more than a few of his books, too.  

This book is extremely short and mesmerizing. I took it on a vacation to folly beach, I started reading and didn't put it down until I was finished and quite sunburnt. Nonfiction is usually not my thing but Roald Dahl unsurprisingly makes it captivating. 

Princess Academy

When I was younger I loved to read. I was part of the Battle of the Books team for my school in 4th and 6th grade and every new book was a treasure. Of course toward the end of middle school and beginning of high school I went through that phase everyone goes through of despising books. They were just a means for answering questions in school, just words to be ceaselessly analyzed.  The way I got back into books was finding one of my Battle of the Books reading list. I was immediately filled with the warmth and happiness that those books brought me and after rereading one or two I started reading more  and more again.

All this to say that books in the children's section are where it's at. I never go to a book store without browsing the children's section and usually picking up a Newberry award winner or two. 

Princess Academy is one of those books that makes me excited to read again. It's a quick, fascinating, and honest story. The book was made to capture and hold the attention of young readers ( it captured my attention as well ) but it trades none of its literary prowess.   The story is about a young girl who lives in a small secluded village that has been chosen as the birthplace of the new princess. All the girls in the village must go to a princess academy to get ready for a ball in which they will meet the prince and he will choose his bride.  When written like that it almost seems boring but with a slight fantastical element of quarry speech, bandits and the struggle between wealth and the happiness of home it is anything but. 

The ending was also a surprise, (unlike a teen fiction book I am in the middle of but I already know the ending to, but I'll get to that in a couple posts) and it reminds me of one of my absolute favorite children's book Sahara Special which is also about a girl finding a way to belong.

A quick, happy and marvelous read. 

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

I have always wanted to be part of a book club. Unfortunately due to lack of interest or lack of a routine I was never able to. My mom, however, has a wonderful group of ladies that she goes to book club with. I remember when I was younger they all read  Wicked and then had a party to discuss it where all the drinks (alcoholic and otherwise) and snacks were green. So when my mother brought me this book and said I would like it I was unsure. But when she told me her book club had just read it I said okay let me have it. I will read my way vicariously into your book club.

I was extremely happy with the results. Normally I don't like to read books or watch movies about musicians, they seem to be somber documentaries or else a horrible cliché about being relevant which I don't enjoy.  The new movie Never Stop Never Stopping does a great job of making humorous everything I dislike about musician stories, mainly being that the story seems more about drugs and the struggle to stay popular than about music. Again I will say MOSTLY because I know there are some excellent stories out there which happen to actually about music, and this book is one of them.

 

Frankie Presto is a fictional musician who lives a tragic life, one terrible fortune to another. He meets with numerous real musicians which constantly makes you question which part is real and what steps into fantasy. He also has some slightly fantastical guitar strings who last a long time and turn blue as he changes the lives of people around him. His musical life is never about relevance, he dips into drugs at one minimal point in the story but overcomes them. It is definitely sad, I cried multiple times in this book so if you are looking for a happy-go-lucky story this is not the one for you. But the actual music, you can almost hear it through the words. It's a beautiful story and I would recommend it.

And while I was reading this book multiple people saw the cover and said "Oh I love Tuesdays with Morrie". Then I had  to explain it wasn't that book.  But with all the love I heard I went out and bought that to read, so it is on my book pile.   I bought it on a trip to South Carolina where my boyfriend proposed to me this weekend so even if it's not as lovely as everyone says I know it will hold a special place on my book shelf.



The Library of Shadows

Gainesville has this wonderful book sale hosted by the Friends of the Library once a semester and I never come home from one of these sales with less than 10 books.  There can be many hidden gems but for the most part the cheap prices and the amount of book lovers in Gainesville quickly decimate those.  This is one of the 17 books I picked up this year, drawn by the cover and the fleeting description of secret book lover society with powers.

 This book started rather slowly, with a lot of explanation of powers that took far longer than it should have. The powers themselves were awesome, being able to hear people read silently from afar so they could always hear someone reading the 'no trespassing' sign on the drive up to the farm. Enhancing someone's attention to their reading so you can sneak by unnoticed and they can better study. Some are even able to brainwash, reading a text so forcefully that others actually see it the way the reader sees it. 

However, this book has some flaws too. It seemed like three different book disjointedly connected; the lawyer dealing with family issues and trying to excel at his job (reminds me of the movie the proposal with Sandra Bullock), the magical but grounded in reality book society (reminds me of something like the new Jessica Jones series) , and then the secondary faction of the society which was fanciful, ancient, and cult-like (like the Mummy or Indiana Jones). The story was compelling but it took me a long time to read. I was uncomfortable with the shifts and could never fully immerse myself in the book because I felt like I kept getting jarred out of the story.

All in all I will probably give it back to the book sale folks but I'm glad I read it. These powers and the main character will definitely be remembered. 

The Rithmatist

As I mentioned in my first post I recently finished  the Wheel of Time series. The first 11 books in this series were written by Robert Jordan but he sadly passed away and Brandon Sanderson wrote the last 3 books using his notes. He captured the essence of the series and brought them together in a beautiful ending, staying true to all the characters that we had come to know and love in first 11 books.  So of course when I saw a book by Brandon Sanderson in the bargain bin I grabbed it; and I was not disappointed.

If I had not just read the amazing marvel that is The Fifth Season I would have said this is the greatest book ever ( I tend to dramatize about things I love). As is, I can say that this book is thoroughly enjoyable, unique and wonderful and I can only hope everyone will read it so I can talk about it more. Chalklings are the most interesting and insanely terrifying idea and I can think of millions of stories for these fantastical creatures. The main character, Joel is a captivating narrator, courageous and gawky and somehow the perfect hero even though he does not have any chalk powers like practically everyone else in the book.

A wonderful selection and I cannot wait to get my hands on the second one called The Aztlantian. 





The Shadow in the North

I was really looking forward to reading this because who doesn't like The Golden Compass right? Well, actually, maybe a few people, but I adored that book and the series that followed so naturally another book by Phillip Pullman caught my eye. Initially I enjoyed the book, the story draws you in. Sally Lockhart is a fiercely independent woman whose client has lost some money in stocks and she is doing her best to discover why that particular business crashed the way it did. She is helped by her photographer friends and some quirky magicians as well as her trusty dog.

 Eventually she finds the culprit although she doesn't quite know the means to what he has done. Unfortunately in the second half of the book a lot of characters are killed off needlessly and the ending as well as the mystery doesn't justify all the terrible events that happen. I felt pretty disappointed when I finished the book and also very confused as to how this could possibly be part of a series since all the most important characters to her die. An interesting read but I probably won't be reading anymore Lockhart mysteries.

The Chosen

So when I originally put The Chosen on my books to read list I was talking about the one by Ted Dekker which my parents suggested to me. However, it spent so long on my list I forgot who it was by and when I found this at the store I thought "yay, I'll be able to cross something off my list!" and also "Why the heck was this book on my list?".  I am so glad to have read this book. It is about two young Jewish boys growing up in New York during World War II. They are from different sects and although they initially despise each other they grow to be best friends. They grow in their faith as one boy steps farther from it while the other decides he wants to become a Rabbi.
 The thing I love about this book is that it shows positive and negative sides to both types of Judaism and does a great job of showing what there religion was like during the high pressure time of World War II when they were just beginning to hear about the camps and brutality of Hitler. It was interesting to me how divisive this time was for Jews, they believed it should be handled in very different ways and fights even broke out at schools between Jews of different sects.
It is a fictional book that handles itself well with a very specific and very real group of people. I loved this book, it made me cry and laugh and I definitely believe its worth a reread in the future.

What is not yours, is not yours

Short stories have never been my favorite other than collections of classic fairytales and I'm not sure whether this book changed that or not.  Helen Oyeyemi is an amazing author and each of these stories are so unique and wonderful but I wish that I could read more about each of the stories. If each of these short stories had been expanded on and turned into full books I would have read them all and loved it even more.

Like I said, each story is unique, they share the theme of keys and occasionally a character wanders into another story. When this happens I immediately tried to create a world where all of these stories happened in the same universe and somehow she would pull them all together in the end. That did not happen however and I still immensely enjoyed it. I look forward to reading more by this author. From a puppeteering school to a secret garden, all her characters were vivid and quirky and one-of-a-kind. 



The Fifth Season

Ahhhhh!! This is one of my new absolute favorite books! It was recommended at the front of a bookstore. I got it read it, LOVED it, then went to buy the second only to find out only the first book has been written :( NOOO.

This book is about an alternate world where certain people have the ability to move earth and quell earthquakes by there will. This ability is called orogeny. This book follows three different time periods in a girl's life who discovers she has the ability, the way the world she lives in treats her kind and her trying to live outside of the world's constructs for her. Orogeny is feared but viewed as necessary to save the people from earthquakes and tectonic movement. Those who are able to practice it are tightly controlled by the government, they are taught, bred and used in specific ways.

This book is gripping and devastatingly good. I cannot wait to get my hands on the second one!

A Walk in the Woods

I was super excited about this book for a few reasons. 1. Bill Bryson is my boyfriend's favorite author, I read In a Sunburned Country by him and enjoyed it. 2. I just did my 2nd section hike of the Appalachian trail and loved every second of hiking and 3. It was made into a movie fairly recently. I heard the movie didn't get great reviews but given that the book is always better I was still pretty confident in this book.
Unfortunately I was disappointed by the book. It is a funny and interesting story but to me it failed to capture what long distance hiking is like. Granted everyone has a different experience and does it for different reasons so perhaps I am biased. I love to hike; I wish Charles (my boyfriend who I'm always referring to) would come with me but he always declines and after reading this book I don't blame him. Bill Bryson spends the first 15 pages naming all the terrible things that could possibly happen on the trail citing numerous horror stories from places he passed. He describes the hike as stressful and mundane somehow at the same time.
Eventually he decides against doing it all and does some combinations of day-hiking and short sections. There are many humorous moments, he makes some great points about the trail. There were many enjoyable moments but on the whole I was not a fan. I still love Bill Bryson and I won't give up on his other books even though he didn't enjoy the hike.

Stardust

Stardust, written by Neil Gaimon is a unique fairy tale. I ran into this book on a library trip with my boyfriend. I wandered off into the children's section, as I often do, and was happily surprised to see this book. It was, of course, amazing and undoubtedly better than the movie which I also love. If you've seen the movie the plot is the same, even including the ghosts of the royal heirs, which I had assumed was a comedic insert of the movie. I always feel like the characters are so much more vivid in the book and this was no different. The illustrations by Charles Vess were such a treat, they make me wish the movie was animated. Tristan is hilariously simple but with the best of intentions and Yvaine is strong and defiant. Also, the unicorn played a much bigger part in the book and I know it's cheesy but I LOVE unicorns ( I bet Tina from Bob's burgers likes them too and she's cool, so there ). This book is magical and delightful and I hope it is read by all.

Howl's Moving Castle

I also found this beautiful book in New York, on sale at Strand Book Store. The movie is whimsical, a little sad and, at least for me, somewhat confusing. I adored it anyway and when I found the book I couldn't wait to see if reading it would help me understand why I liked it so much.

The book does explain some of the movie's mysterious nature. Calcifer, the fire demon/fallen star (ooh sorry that's kind of a spoiler) made much more sense in the book. He is a mischievous character and crucial to understanding the entire end of the book and/or movie. It was wonderful being able to read everything that Sophie thought throughout her adventure. She is so willful and interesting and often upset that it's hard to follow her reasoning for doing things.  And I discovered that she is the reason I love the movie so much. Sophie is a young woman turned into an elderly woman by a witch and even with the chance at turning back, remains old by sheer force of will. She finds a new interesting life outside of the sure failure of being an oldest child and endlessly making hats. I relate to Sophie and her vigor for life.

This was a quick read and well worth the few days it took to finish. I would also highly recommend the movie, lovely and inspiring.

Next up: Stardust

The Princess Bride

I grew up enjoying this movie with my sister and while I vaguely knew of its origin as a book, I never really thought about reading it, as I have never seen it prominently displayed in any bookstore. Somehow I believed this was because the movie was better (which I should have known was a lie based on every book and movie combo ever! and which I will continue to prove with upcoming books).  It was on my trip to New York earlier this year on one of our many bookstore outings that I stumbled on The Princess Bride in its book form. The kind man behind the register leaned over the counter and told me I was holding an excellent book. I bought it.

This book was mesmerizing. Most pages were word for word what happens in the movie, which even though William Goldman wrote the book and the screenplay for the movie is still surprising. It just shows what an amazing book it is that there was almost no changes from page to screen, just some cuts to character backgrounds. The major differences are the stories of Inigo and Fez growing up and more insight to Prince Humperdinck's pit of despair, which has many deadly animals on the upper levels. There is a wonderfully funny part of the book where Inigo and Fez are coming to save the man in black from the pit of despair and they work together to somehow defeat or avoid all the deadly animals in order to reach Westley in the torture chamber at the bottom. Heartwarming and adventurous just like the movie, with even more hilarity and stories.

Later my best friend Morgan got the book As You Wish and loaned it to me when she remembered that I had recently read The Princess Bride. It only took a couple of days to finish and was hysterical as well as insightful. The book is a written by Cary Elwes but has many excerpts from Robert Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, William Goldman as well as other cast and crew members. The on set anecdotes such as Billy Crystal and Carol Kane doing character improvisation so funny people had to leave so no one on set would laugh brought lightness and fun while the intense fencing training for Inigo and Westley's duel showed the dedication and hard work put into the film. Throughout the book you could sense the camaraderie between those who worked on the movie and their fondness of the story itself. You also realize how many many stunts they did in this movie that you didn't realize was a heck of a lot of trouble. 

They were both amazing and I cannot wait to re-watch this movie. Wonderful additions to any library. 

Up Next: Howl's Moving Castle



Modern Romance

My boyfriend occasionally brings me to the library (a.k.a his second home) and that is how I came to read this gem of a book, or rather, listen to it. I love Aziz Ansari; his stand up is great, Parks and Recreation is one of my favorite shows and his new series, Master of None, I could talk about for days. So I admit I knew nothing about this book except his face and name were on the cover. And that was good enough for me! I did try to get the book but they were all checked out and I have no patience for wait lists, so I settled for the audiobook.  

Coming from reading the memoirs of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Mindy Kaling I was expecting something similar from Modern Romance. However, after he finished telling me how lazy I was to not even read the book and had to get the version where he read it to me, he said this book was about navigating romance in modern times(just like the title says, go figure). And while he does share a few personal stories  the book is mostly a research project.

He covers a lot of interesting topics from technology to compatibility to dating in other countries. Did you know Japan has government funded singles gatherings to encourage dating? There are tips on successful ways to text in a relationship and full chapter on cheating and being in open relationships.

I don't think I would have chosen to read this book if I had looked up anything about it ahead of time. I'm in a happy, very long term, relationship and I would think dating advice would be moot. But Aziz incorporated his humor and his facts in perfect measure on each topic and I was able to have great conversations with my boyfriend about every chapter of the book. A good read I would recommend to all.

Yes, Please; Bossypants and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

There are multiple reasons I decided to write about these books in one post. I read them around the same time, I have some backlogging to do so multiple-book-posts are needed and the most glaring reason is that they are very similar.

All three are memoirs of strong female comedians and the story of how they got to be who they are today and you can't go wrong with any of them.
These books are very quick reads and absolutely hysterically funny. I actually borrowed Is Everyone hanging out without me? from my friend Shelby on a cruise and by the end of the five day cruise I was able to give it back. Yes, Please is probably my favorite but if you have the time (make the time!) I would highly suggest reading all three. The stories are unique but they intersect quite a bit (especially Tina and Amy's) and all three talk about each other with admiration and support in their books.

There are a myriad of goofy pictures that make us all feel better about how weird we looked growing up and give us hope that perhaps we will look as beautiful as one of these three ladies one day. The stories are replaceable and hilarious, like some great stand up, you can actually almost hear them saying it (you actually listen to them say it if you got the book on tape but then you would miss the awesome pictures) I laughed loudly during all of these and thought deeply about some life choices. While each of then is obviously a comedic star they all take the time to write and reflect on issues in their life. I was quite sad when I read in Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? that Mindy really looked up to Amy and Will's relationship since I read Yes, Please first and Amy talks about their divorce. With the good, comes the bad and each book has some interesting life lessons. They also made me strangely aware and proud of my parents, because reading about other people's parents always reminds me of how lucky I am in that regard.

Reading about UCB and SNL were highlights for me as I am a huge fan of SNL and recently was able to go to New York and see some improv at the UCB theater there. It felt like getting a back stage pass to those things and I re-watched multiple SNL episodes and laughed twice as hard. I may have been biased toward Yes, Please because I was binge-watching Parks and Recreation at the time, which I would also highly recommend to anyone in need of some cheer in their life.

Overall  these are witty and wonderful books written by witty and wonderful people. I was trying to figure out a fair way to make a rating system for the books I read and I still don't know how it will fair with different genres or my weird opinions so for now I will just say a big YES to all three.
Next up: Aziz Ansari's book Modern Romance

Carolyn's books

My name is Carolyn. I'm 24, I work as a registered nurse and I am an avid reader. Occasionally I think things like  'I wish more people would read this so I can talk to them about it' or 'I wish I could remember if that book was good enough to re-read or  a once-is-enough kind of good'. It is these thoughts that made me decide I should keep some sort of record of  the books I read.

This blog is mostly for my own recollection of the books I read, but I hope to share it with some other book lovers who are looking for something new. I'll share a little bit about the book (trying not to spoil) and some personal thoughts.

WARNING:my taste is mostly fantasy novels but I'm willing to try anything if someone recommends it. Also, I tend to love almost everything so if you're looking for a  hard  critique you've come to the wrong place.

There is going to be some back-logging at the start of this.
I finally finished the wheel of time series by Robert Jordan around New Years which is when the idea first came that I should be documenting this. For those who might not know, this series is 14  monstrous books so finishing was like crossing the finish line at the end of running a marathon, and there was much dancing in the ballard household that day.

Since finishing the series I have been demolishing books at an incredible rate. So since the beginning of this year here are the books I've read and will be talking about in upcoming posts:

- Comedic celebrity books. I did a run of these including Bossy Pants by Tina Fey, Yes Please by Amy Poehler, Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me by Mindy Kaling, and Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

- The Fifth Season by N. K. Jenkins !!!! I'm really excited to talk about this one!!!!!

-When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

-The Alchemyst by Michael Scott (not the one from The office, but could you imagine?)

- and books turned movies including Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, Stardust by Neil Gaiman and  The Princess Bride by William Goldman (which I will probably talk about first since I'm reading As You Wish by Cary Elwes currently)

So that's what we have to look forward to in the coming weeks! I can't wait to begin!


Note: I'm doing this from my phone and it is making it impossible to italicize things so I'm incredibly sorry to anyone I may offend for not italicizing the titles of all of these books.