Book 34: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

I read this book because it is up for a Truman award in my state and my librarian recommended it.  It started off pretty slow, but then it got interesting.

This is the story of a young girl who works for an international agency "tagging and bagging" paranormals such as vampires, werewolves, mermaids, etc. so that the rest of the world is not harmed by these creatures. 

I don't want to tell too much more of the story because I really believe in letting a story unfold for each reader.

I enjoyed it, but I don't think I'll rush out to read the second or third book because I felt like the story ended well enough.

Book 33: Inside Scientology by Janet Reitman

I hesitate to write this entry after reading/listening to this book for fear that I will be targeted by scientologists...

I decided to pick up this book after years of bad-mouthing scientology with little knowledge about the "religion."  I figured that I should learn something about it...  Now I feel like I can talk bad about scientology.  This "religion" is seriously messed up.  Forced abortions, kidnapping, extortion, money laundering, etc...  And because there are a few rich and famous scientologists, they get what they want.  In fact, their method of brainwashing new recruits is being sold to Title One schools as a way to help students pass standardized tests under a non-scientology name.  Crazy. 

If you are at all interested in scientology, I would recommend this book.  It does get bogged down in some details, but with a genuine reporter as the author, I would expect no less.

Book 32: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I read this book after seeing it plastered all over magazines that I trust.  It is a young adult book about terminal cancer.  Sounds uplifting, right?  This book is absolutely amazing.  While the characters are a little too precocious to be believable, the story kept me hooked.  I laughed, I cried, and I can't stop thinking about it.  That's the sign of a good book, right?  Read it so we can talk about it, darn you!!

Book 31 (actually 29): The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

I actually finished this earlier, but forgot that I hadn't blogged about it.  This is the parallel story (or the second book in the trilogy) of what happened when an asteroid hit the moon and forced its orbit closer to Earth.  Instead of following the main character from the first book, this book focuses on the life of a poor Hispanic boy living in New York City.  Life is much grittier in NYC than it was for our heroine in the first book. 

I liked this series because (as I stated in my review of book 30) it seems real.  Really real.  Scary...

Book 30: This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This is the third and final (?) book of this apocalyptic tale of the world post-devastation.  This book brings together the two characters from the first two books a year after the moon was hit by an asteroid and moved closer to Earth. 

I really liked this series, although it was terrifying because the scenario seems so plausible.  As I've probably stated before, my biggest fear is surviving the end of the world.  I think that the author is very realistic and my only critique would be that the writing is a little simplistic...but that makes sense when you realize that the book is supposed to be the journal entries of a 16 year old.  She is definitely not the precocious narrator that many YA authors use to cover their own misunderstanding of what a teenager is really like. 

I would recommend this series for other lovers of YA fiction.  It's a quick read and fascinating, in my opinion.

Book 29: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

I listened to this book after finishing the wonderful Bossypants by Tina Fey.  This book, in comparison, was a little disappointing.  While I find Mindy funny, smart, and beautiful, this book paints her as a stereotypical female airhead.  She worries about her weight, her clothing, boys, etc.  Ugh.  I'm so far past that point in my life that I was just bored by her story.  There were a couple of funny parts, but I can't remember them now, which should say something...

I'm really afraid that, somehow, Mindy Kaling will read this review and think that I'm a horrible person...  I'm sure that's unfounded as this is such a minuscule blog, but stranger things have happened.  So I want to make it perfectly clear that this book did not speak to me as a 33 year old mother of five who only shops for herself once or twice a year.  My colleague loved this book and found it hilarious.  But she's in a different place in her life...  So, would I recommend this book?  Nope.  But I know someone who enthusiastically gives it two thumbs up...

Book 28: Gold by Chris Cleave

This is the 3rd book I've read by Chris Cleave and is probably my second favorite.  I don't know why, but Little Bee just didn't grab me the way it grabbed most people I know.  I loved Incendiary (his first novel) the best because that book made me think about life in a different way. 

This book is completely different, in my opinion.  This is the story of three Olympic-grade cyclists and a little girl who is fighting cancer.  The book explores the price of fame, the price of a happy family, and the price of friendship.  I was sucked in and couldn't put it down for the last 50 pages, something that I haven't felt in quite awhile. 

Has anyone else read any of Cleave's books?  Did you love Little Bee?  If so, why?  Maybe I'm misremembering the book...

Book 27: Bossypants by Tina Fey

 I listened to this book, and I have to say...when "reading" a memoir, try to listen to it if it's read by the author.  It makes the book so much more...awesome.  I've listened to Frank McCourt read Angela's Ashes, Augusten Burroughs read Running with Scissors...  It just makes the whole thing seem more real and interesting.

This book was soooo good.  Sometimes comedians fill their books with one-liners that are just missing the bumdum ching! at the end, but not this book.  This book is the story of Tina Fey, from childhood to present day.  She talks about being a gawky teenager in love with her gay co-workers at a summer theater camp in a way that makes her so accessible.  I really feel like we're the same person only she got a part in the high school play while I was cut and continued on my nerd-path with National Honor Society and French Club. 

I would highly recommend reading (but really listening) to this book.  I'm not sure if you have to be a fan on comedy and SNL, but I'm sure it helps.  Tina Fey is who I want to be when I grow up...

Book 26: Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

I "read" (listened) to this book on my way to and from St. Louis this week.  I needed something to listen to in the car and I saw this classic that I had not read before.  For those of you, like me, who recognize the title as a classic but know nothing of the story, this is the story of a WWII vet.  But this is not a normal memoir of war.  This vet (Billy) believes that he has been kidnapped by aliens and now has the ability to time-jump from moment to moment in his life.  And so his story is told in fits and starts as he jumps from war to adolescence to an alien zoo to death to birth to his honeymoon...and so on...

I don't know about this book.  It was interesting but I'm not really sure what makes it a classic.  Is it because it was one of the first anti-war books after WWII?  Is it because of the structures?  The vocabulary?  I guess it's short enough that it was worth the read, but I probably won't be recommending it two years from now (unlike Life of Pi...read it!)

Book 25: Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder

My sister insisted I read this book when I told her that I had been reading a lot of narrative non-fiction.  I'm not sure if that is even a real category of writing, but I think it describes it pretty well... 

This is a book about Haiti and about the American doctor who believes it is his job to ease the suffering of their poor.  I don't know if I'm really summarizing Dr. Paul Farmer's beliefs that well, but it takes him the entire book to fully explain his point of view.  Suffice it to say that Dr. Farmer spends almost every waking minute treating patients, corresponding with others in order to help them treat or understand patients in other poverty-stricken parts of the world, fundraising, travelling to speaking engagements (again, to educate others on how to do what he is doing), travelling to other countries to treat patients, or writing books.  This is a man with a well-defined purpose in his life, and that is to do everything in his power (and some things outside his power) to improve the health of the poor. 

This book is very interesting and inspiring.  I recommend that you read it and then give some money to his foundation, Partners in Health.

Book 24: Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

I had been wanting to read this book for quite some time.  When it came out, I kept reading about how great it was AND it is a non-fiction story of Hurricane Katrina.  For those of you who don't know, my mom, step-dad, and sister were all in New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina.  They were lucky to "escape" a couple of days after it hit because a random stranger offered to take them in his car to Houston. 

This is a really great and horrifying story of what happened to New Orleans resident Mr. Zeitoun during all this mess.  Mr. Zeitoun is an Arab-American who owned a painting and home repair business and also owned several rental properties.  As Hurricane Katrina approached, Zeitoun's wife and children evacuated while Zeitoun stayed around to keep an eye on their properties.  Zeitoun used an old canoe to travel around the flooded city and experienced New Orleans as the city was under martial law.

I knew that the story was going to be horrifying, but I didn't know exactly why it would be so disgusting.  I was under the impression that Eggers (and Zeitoun) would describe death and rape and so on...but that doesn't really happen.  I don't want to say why this story is sickening because I want you to read it and discover his story on your own. 

Book 23: Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink

I read this book because my district and insurance company asked me to.  It was surprisingly wonderful.  I liken this book to a Malcolm Gladwell book, but this book is all about eating...why we eat what we eat and the triggers that trick us into doing so.  It is really interesting, with lots of trivia and facts that you can use to entertain your friends at dinner.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Malcolm Gladwell, would like to lose a few pounds without dieting (really!), and to anyone who gets incentives from the insurance company for reading it :).

Book 22: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

This is a YA book that kept popping up in recommendations.  It is by the author of 13 Reason Why and a female author that I haven't read.  The plot is pretty intriguing.  It's the story of a boy and a girl in 1996 who, while logging on to AOL for the first time, see their facebook pages from 15 years in the future. 

I read this book in about a day because the chapters are really short and...it's pretty light, I guess.  This book really bugged me because I felt like the authors kept inserting things from life in 1996 needlessly.  For example, someone talks for about 2 seconds about wanting a beeper, the girl runs with a discman strapped to her arm, and her mom tapes Seinfeld on her VCR.  These asides do not advance the plot and are just inserted to give a wink to older readers and to astound younger ones.  Irritating.  Also very irritating that one of the girls slips her 1996 cell phone into the pocket of her tight jeans.  Really?!  Pretty sure the first cell phone I owned in 1997 would never have slipped into any pocket I had. 

If you have some extra time and want to see what happens to this couple, I suppose you could read this book, but it's not high on my list of must reads.

Book 21: Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

This book was written in 1966 and was recommended to me by my awesome reader friend Alison, who I see too rarely for my liking (because she lives on the wrong side of the state).  It is a page-turner!

This is the story of three single women living in New York in the 40s-60s.  The plot is nothing too brain-busting (my mom said she read it and loved it at 13), but I think it is worth a read.  Especially in the current culture of misplaced nostalgia for the "good ol' days".  In this book, life is anything but perfect.  While this doesn't really examine the lives of midwestern, "normal" housewives (which I would love to see from that era), it does give a good kick in the pants to the idea that life was ideal in those days.  And I see a lot of parallels between those pill-popping ladies and the pill-poppers of today.  We might not still use Seconal, but Lexapro and other drugs are very prevalent in our society today...  I would recommend this book. 

Book 20: The Catholics Next Door by Greg and Jennifer Willets

I was given this book by my wonderful aunt-in-law as I was on the search for some good Catholic reading for my church book club.  This book started off wonderfully and then just kind of fell flat.  Maybe it's because I've read a couple of books like it lately...  This the story of a loving couple and their five kids as they defend the religion they love and strive to uphold its values. 

I think it's a good book for beginners who are wondering about Catholicism or Catholics who are looking for a little boost in their spritual life. 

Book 19-Swamplandia by Karen Russell

Swamplandia is a story of real sadness as we watch the "death" of an alligator-themed amusement park and the effect this has on the family who runs it.  I really knew very little about the book when I started reading it, other than it had been recommended by magazines and other readers online.  It is well worth the read, but you need to know that it is heart-breaking to read what happens to this family.  To me, there is nothing sadder than a lost adult male...that creature who tries to do the right thing, but always fails. 

I won't tell you much else because I think it's better that way.  I sometimes like picking up a book and reading it without knowing a darn thing about the plot.  I will say that this novel of family failure has love at the center, unlike The Corrections or some of those other "I hate my family because they created me to be so sad...or because they are so stupid and backwoods..." books that seem to be popular.  I love my family and hate reading a novel where all families are assumed to be dysfunctional in a hateful way.

Book 18-The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime by Mark Haddon

I've been hearing about this book for a long time, so I finally put it on my library list and read it.  It is a story told from the point of view of a teenage boy with autism.  It was a very quick read, and I would recommend it to people who work with children or anyone who is curious about how autism works in the mind. 

The plot is supposed to be the search for a dog's killer, but it turns out to be more about what the young boy goes through and discovers about his family as he digs around for the dog's killer. 

I would say that this is an okay book, really fast to read, but I still would recommend Look Me In the Eye by John Elder Robison (Augusten Burroughs' brother) for a better understanding of autism/aspergers. 

Book 17-The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

This book kept popping up on lists of books to read this year.  Man, am I glad I read it.  It is truly the story of a circus that only opens at night.  The premise is that there is real magic going on in the circus and the performers are tasked with making it seem non-magical to protect their secret.  There is also a challenge/battle between two illusionists on the stage of the circus.  Sounds pretty complicated.  Maybe I'm not the best summarizer (I probably would have failed that section of the state standardized tests nowadays). 

I have to say, I finished this book two or three days ago and I am still wanting more!  I wish there was more story to read and that the book wasn't over.  After the humdrum books I've been reading lately, it feels so good to be left wanting more instead of semi-relieved to be done with a book.  I would recommend this book, for sure!

Book 16-I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb

Another huge book!  A little over 900 pages, but well worth the journey.  This is the story of twin brothers told through the eyes of the "lucky" brother.  The other twin has schizophrenia and the book is almost like a transcript of his counseling sessions with his shrink.  He explores his past, his grandfather's past, his feelings, and his misconceptions of life throughout the book. 

I've also read the author's other books, She's Come Undone and The Hour I First Believed.  I don't remember liking She's Come Undone too much, but The Hour I First Believed was a good Columbine story told from the point of view of two adults who worked in the school.

If you've got some time, I think there is a good message in this book: that of forgiveness.  And can't we all use a little reminder of how important that is?

Book 15-Fear by Michael Grant

This is the 5th book in the Gone series and is a great continuation of the story.  There will be one more book to finish out the series, which I'm very glad for since I'm not sure how many characters they can kill off and still have people to continue the plots.  Since this is a series and you have to read the other books to follow the story, I will not offer a summary.  But I would recommend the series!