Songs of the Humpback Whale – Jodi Picoult

Rating: 4 stars

Cliff Notes: Accidental unicorn. This was a reread, but I did not realize it until too far in. I figured if I forgot so much I might as well redo it.

Full Summary: I like how this was written backwards. I remember when I read it the first time that I was confused for quite a bit of the first half of the book. Which is probably why I don’t remember so much of it. This barely counts as a reread.

I like how much this book honors young love. Love when you are a teenager is different. It is often dismissed as puppy love or not “real” love. It might not be a love you can base a future on and God help me if I would have married a person who liked who I was when I was 15 or expected me to stay that poor same young woman. But those first loves are big and deep and real. Jodi Picoult does a wonderful job of presenting it in this novel.

Songs of the Humpback Whale Jodi Picoult
By |2019-12-12T19:29:42-05:00June 20th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Salem Falls – Jodi Picoult

Rating: 5 stars

Cliff Notes: Besides Addy being a worthless ding dong, I loved this book.

Full Summary: I kept waiting for the twist (and brashly called it incorrectly about halfway through this book). When the twist I anticipated did not happen, I was satisfied with the twist we were given. And by “satisfied” I simply mean from an entertainment point of view. The new twist was disgusting from a human being point of view.

I am so angry at teenage girls who are manipulative and brutal to peers and “friends.” You know how mean girls are made – by watching women be mean to each other. And mean girls grow up to be mean women. Ladies – WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS!

I am so angry at false reports of rape. It makes it so hard for the truly injured girls and women. It makes it so hard for truly caring adults to interact with youth because of suspicion founded on lies. One false report out of a hundred actual rapes turns the tide of public opinion that “most reports are false.”

Then to adults who actually ARE predators. Take them out back.

By |2019-12-12T19:31:53-05:00June 8th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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My Old True Love – Sheila Kay Adams

Rating: 4 stars

Cliff Notes: Some of the passages in this book just took my breath away. It was a short book, but I slowed down to not miss them so it took me a little longer to read it. I also loved the dialect and phrases and these cannot be read on Sue Speed.

“I went right back to bathing Sylvaney. Sometimes you have to set grief down and not carry it right then, but do not fret. It will squat right there and wait for you to pick it back up.”

Arty Norton

Full Summary: Like life, this book was a trudging of daily hardships at times. It would just outline this happened and that happened, then this happened so that happened. But then there was a flurry of joy or tragedy and the processing of it all. These parts of the story are what kept me engaged in the read. One of my favorite parts was around the deaths that occurred. Stay with me – it is not morbid.

At one point in the novel when Arty is grieving a death of a loved one, she refers to something she was taught. That you actually are born twice – once to the world and once to Heaven. I find this so comforting, like a way that death is a beginning, not an ending.

By |2019-12-12T19:32:25-05:00June 7th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Gone – James Patterson

Rating: 3 stars (3.5 in my head but Goodreads won’t let me do half stars).

Cliff Notes: Sometimes you just need a sure thing.

Full Summary: Sometimes you just need a sure thing. That is when I turn to authors like James Patterson. Some people complain it is cookie cutter and like junk food. BUT I LOVE JUNK FOOD. Junk food never lets me down – it takes me away from nonsense of daily life, keeps a fast pace through its unfolding drama in a setting that I am not very likely to encounter. I think it is always good to try to new authors and genres, but there is a reason that he has written and sold a gillion different books.

Anyway, I liked the story and the pacing. This book was well researched in a way that was interesting, but didn’t get bogged down in details about the weapons or planes and other stuff I didn’t care about. I want to go back to read some of the other books in this series to find out how they ended up with 10 kids.

By |2019-12-12T19:32:42-05:00June 6th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Shine – Jodi Picoult

Rating: 4 stars

Cliff Notes: Jodi Picoult at her best. I am always amazed at the level of research she does for her books.

Full Summary: I think this is an important read for people who think racism is a thing of the past. Yes, the publication date is 2016 but nothing has changed since then – well, gotten worse if anything.

Reader beware – this is SHORT – 42 pages, 1 hour audiobook – 30 MINUTES IF YOU ARE ME LISTENING DOUBLE SPEED. I was sure my phone had messed it up and cut me short.

By |2019-12-12T19:32:52-05:00June 2nd, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Casual Vacancy – J.K. Rowling

Rating: n/a

Cliff Notes: It was too dense to wade through with people I hated.

Full Summary: DNF’d after 235 pages (out of 500). I hated all these characters and there were too many to hate them all. Then piling on local politics — BARF. At least with Harry Potter I had Minerva and Hermione to keep me going – I remember being overwhelmed with the amount of people and magical names with HP the first time I read it too.

I wonder how much of my disappointment with Casual Vacancy is that I loved Harry Potter so much. There was just too much hype going into it, maybe? Maybe it just need a basilisk to goose some of these idiots into doing something interesting.

JK Rowling Casual Vacancy

By |2019-12-12T19:33:04-05:00June 1st, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Providence – Caroline Kepnes

Rating: 3 stars

Cliff Notes: This was weird. Kind of a blend of sci fi and lost love. Didn’t like it as much as her other book, You (which has been turned into a Netflix series that is GREAT).

Full Summary: Sci fi is just not my jam (unless it is Dark Matter and its 7,495 Jasons, but I digress). I cannot even when it comes to long lost loves that pine for each other through eternity. Puuuhhhleeze. Then you put them TOGETHER?

I was all tucked in and ready for a cozy, weird-boy-kidnapped-by-weirder-dude-then-returns-4-years-later saga. Then it turned into a dumb love story. Blerghhhh. Who has time for that!? And no one every really addressed the fact that there was some science experiment than rando kidnapper did in the basement of the mall. I felt like I was missing several chapters where they explained what the heck happened in that basement. Nope. But it was entertaining enough to keep reading.

Caroline Kepnes Providence
By |2019-12-12T19:33:17-05:00May 31st, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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A Land More Kind Than Home – Wiley Cash

Rating: 4 stars

Cliff Notes: Get past the dry start, and you will not be disappointed.

Full Summary: It took me about 10-15% to get into the story, as it sometimes does with stories told in flashback type of format. But once I got hooked, it was hard to put it down. This local author really captures the people and makes the mountains a character all of its own in the book. I felt how desperate and sad everyone was in this story.

a land more kind than home Wiley Cash
By |2019-12-12T19:08:35-05:00May 29th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Normal People – Sally Rooney

Rating: 3 stars

Cliff Notes: Audiobook – excellent with accents!

Full Summary: I wanted to bonk these characters upside the head and drive them to therapy. And the ending! I wanted to throw my phone across the room when I realized it was over because it was SO FRUSTRATING. But alas, that is why it is titled, Normal People. We all do dumb things and are a hot mess in need of therapy.

This easily could have wrapped up with a tidy bow and I applaud the author for not taking that sappy route. I will be back for more from Sally Rooney!

By |2019-12-12T19:33:49-05:00May 24th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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