A Thousand Words

38. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

I read about this book on a YA blog and loved the story of how it came to be.  The author finds a box of weird old pictures and writes a story about them.  I thought it sounded good but knew it was a book that needed to be seen which kind of goes against a main rule in writing: show don't tell.  I know that sounds odd but over and over the author would explain what the character saw in the photo and then give the reader the photo to see.  I just felt like that was tedious even though he was technically following the rule.  I can't imagine that people who bought this book for their Kindle are very happy either. 

Anyway, I have to say that I liked this more than I thought it would.  I was expecting more of a scary story and this is more of a fantasy.  I think the author did a great job off cutting out all the extra stuff and keeping to task and I thought the pictures were used pretty well, although it did seem like maybe he wanted to include every picture he had instead of just those he needed, but I do have to say that they were creepy!  I mean what is this:

God!!! That creeeeeeps me out.  Seriously, heeby geeby...

The ending was rushed and set up for a sequel which is a trend that drives me crazy!  I just don't need more trilogies made for movies and I have to wonder where the story will come from without the gimmick of using the pictures.

A True Mobius Strip

37.  Mr Peanut

I am not going to review this book because it is very hard to explain.  But I loved reading it, I loved the cover, I loved that it made me think and confront some truths about me, and I loved that it was over because it made me profoundly sad.  Although for the entire middle section, dedicated to retelling the Sheppard murder, all I could hear in my head was Tommy Lee Jones saying, "Dr. Richard Kimble!"

I would call this a Hipster book.  One that is cool to be seen reading, one loved by the NY Times, one that only certain people can "get", and so it has cache.  It is also a first novel that needs some editing.  But it is also really good.  Why is it good?  Because it is smart.  It meanders and weaves but it comes together.  It pulls in references to art and movies, technology and history.  It is truthful about how relationships work, and it is harsh, and some people will love that and some people will hate it.  It addresses the duplicity of people; who other people see versus how we think.  It confronts the fact that we are ever changing; we think something drastic and crazy one second and forget about it almost immediately. But people hate to be confronted by who they are, especially when picking up a murder mystery.  And this is probably the biggest fault I have with the book.  Who marked it as a mystery?  Because it isn't.  It is a character study.

The book talks a lot about Escher and Hitchcock, and those classes we take in college that stick with us forever and literally change who we are and how we think.  I have always loved Escher because I look at his stuff and think, "Where did it start?"  And I have to wonder this about Adam Ross and how he wrote this book, because at the end there is no possible way that the reader won't wonder where it all started.

Renaissance Man

36.  The Rembrandt Affair

Oh Gabriel, I love you.  I love that I know you will right wrongs.  I love that you keep your team safe.  I love that when the bad guy says something I smile to myself knowing he will regret that later.  I love that you retire at the end of every book, but you always come back.  I love that next July you will be waiting on the shelf.  And I love that I know we will have another three days together to set the world right.

Texas Forever

We interrupt the reading for me to mourn the passing of Friday Night Lights; an amazing TV show that fought the good fight.

I had an odd evolution with the show.  I watched the first season and enjoyed it, but gave up on it during the second when they went all hypo-drama with the murder plot line. Then the schedule got all shuffled around so I only saw some of season three.

Then came season four and Vince, and it was over. I couldn’t possibly be more of a fan.  I remember watching the third episode and breaking down over the realities of kids like this, kids with zero chance. Kids who meet a coach who gives them something to work for and be proud of. Kids who I knew because I taught them.  You do the best you can for them in the few hours a week you see them but then they are gone and you wonder about them always. 

Then came the episode "The Son." I literally stood up and screamed at Tim Riggins, “Don’t you break in to the mortuary Timothy Riggins!” while wielding my pointy teacher finger at the TV. But this is what Riggins does; he isn’t a forward thinker or a planner so when he makes suggestions they are simple and direct, and often exactly right. It was the most honoring and realistic portrayal of kids left to bear the burden of war I have ever seen.

From that point on I watched every episode and look forward to it, but not for the escape I usually seek, but for the reality. The realness of the show makes me feel more normal. The desire to escape from your hometown, and yet always being drawn back to it makes me feel normal. The Taylors marriage makes me feel normal. It also taught me the most important message I have ever learned about marriage: you change and it changes. It isn't about what you expected it to be or what the big plan was, it is about where you are and who you are and asking someone to risk that with you.

For a show about football, I haven't mentioned it much have I?  Well that isn't because it isn’t there. It certainly was but it was kept in perspective and that works for me because my whole life football has been there.  We won state my senior year of high school, I think my feet are still frozen from that day.  The ducks went to the Rose Bowl my sophomore year and we went to the Naty last year. Does it make a difference that I am a girl and 36 years old?  No way, because I am a fan and an alumni and that never goes away (just ask Buddy!). Darren had duck gear before he was born. He says "Go ducks!" and we give him high fives. It is a thrilling and agonizing game to watch, and obviously to play, but at the end of the day it is just a game and FNL never gave it too much more importance than that.  Not everyone gets a happily ever after but they love it while they are there.

So I am sad to see this show go, but in a way I am also happy.  It did run for five seasons, and it got better with each one, which is very rare.  Kids graduated and were replaced with equally intriguing characters.  So I am glad it goes away still being a great show instead of some shows that go on ten years and are just painful to watch by the end.  When I was a teenager I watched 90210 and it taught me that drama was what made you important.  That something bad always had to be going on.  FNL taught me that family, friends and integrity are what make you important.  Man, I wish this show had been around for me then, but thank goodness it was around for me now.

"Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose." - Coach Taylor

**And, on a reading note, I read the book in high school and LOVED it!  It just may be time for a re-read.

Graveyard with Heart

35. The Graveyard Book

A young boy is orphaned but then raised by the inhabitants of a graveyard ah-la The Jungle Book.

There is the premise and it is a wonderful one, and what is here is great, but I just wish there was more to it.  It is a YA book, so I guess you don’t want to over write it but I needed to know more about what was going on, specifically why.  The suspense is good, the bad guys are bad and the good guys are good, but just as we meet someone they kind of go away and we never get to the meat of things.

Christmas in July!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Why you say?  The hot weather? No, I only like it for a day.  Summer vacation? Nope, I was the kid who couldn't wait to get back to school. Forth of July? No way, I HATE fireworks, unless they are the big professional jobby-jobs.

I have two words people: Gabriel Allon.

Every July Daniel Silva published a new book in the Allon series and on the day his new hardback is released the paperback of his previous book is also released.  My Allon collection is paperback only, so I am a year behind, but I wouldn’t have it any other way because at some point Silva is going to move on or stop writing and when he does I will have an extra year of Gabriel waiting for me.

I love Gabriel to the point of ridiculousness. I think it is because he is quiet.  He doesn't boast, he doesn't even generally want to be doing what he is doing.  But he always does the right thing.  And he always cares about the people he is with.  Plus, his eyes, and the painting...

What a Relief!

34. Echoes From The Dead

 

I read this book very quickly, and for the first time in what feels like a long time it wasn't because I was rushing to get on to the next thing, it was because it was well constructed and intriguing and so I was drawn to it and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

It is a pretty basic who done it although you follow the story of the good guys along with the story of the bad guy.  It was pretty suspenseful and that kept me drawn in.  Ending was a bit off for me, but they often are.

It is just such a relief to find that I can still find and enjoy the escape!

Captain BlueBore

33. 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear

It felt like it took about 13 1/2 lives to get through this book.  I NEVER stop reading a book in the middle, but I kept asking myself why I wasn't when I was reading this.  And in retrospect it probably would have been a good idea.

Here is the thing though, it is wildly imaginative and the illustrations are fun, but it doesn't go anywhere and I just don't have time for that anymore.  Clearly the author spends a lot of time imagining places and things and he has collected every one of them here.  The bear goes to a place and sees things, then goes to another place and sees more things, and it repeats like that for 703 pages.  703 PAGES!!!  The fact of the matter is that nothing really happens and this is marketed as a YA book but I don't know many kids who wouldn't lose interest after the first 100 pages.

TBR Pile(s)

My TBR piles are infringing on my life!  They make me feel guilty and mock me for wasting time.  They have become a source of stress instead of comfort.  In fact, I feel like I no longer enjoy what I am reading because I feel like I need to just get it over with to get on to the next one.

My main pile resides in the bookshelf directly across from my place on the bed.

The TBR are those laying on their sides, the ones behind have been read (mostly!).  The shelves are BOWING!  BOWING PEOPLE!

My more immediate TBR pile resides next to the bed.  It has limited space which makes me feel like it is more under control.  See it even has space for a new addition! 

My final TBR pile is a new addition.  It consists of library books.  The library is truly a magical place, I mean books for free!  However they come with an expiration date which makes me antsy.  These are always at the top of the list because they have to go back, so they are the most stressful pile, when really they should be the most celebrated and enjoyed.

I would need several lifetimes to get through all of these books (and they don't even include all the other unread treats residing on the many bookshelves in the house, or the many books I have on my Kindle and iPad!) and I wouldn't have it any other way, but I wish I wasn't letting it stress me out!

Crap, I just remembered the stack of New Yorkers...