Random

*Let's talk Target (again).  Have you seen their Beauty Boxes that they are selling in stores now?  They have 4 different types, and you can see exactly 

what's in them.

They are sample sized products (with the exception of at least one full-size product, in this case it was the Burt's Bee's lip balm).  But the sample sizes are decent!  I set them next to my electric toothbrush for perspective.  :)

And the best part?  They are only $7!!!  Target is just KILLING ME!!!

*I'm about to show you probably the most random picture I've ever taken:

These are the waterproof phone cases that I ordered from Amazon.  The instructions said to test them out and slip a tissue inside each one, submerge the case in water for 30 minutes, then remove the tissue and make sure it is completely dry.

The problem though, is that I ordered the 'floating cases'.  Meaning....if my phone is in a waterproof case and I drop it in the bottom of the Blue Lagoon, the waterproof case isn't going to do a bit of good.  So of course I bought the floating cases, so if i drop it in the water it will float (there's a lanyard attached to it as well to wear it around your neck).

ANYWAYS....the 'submersion' didn't work because the case kept floating to the top.  So basically I forced these under the water for about 5 minutes.  The tissue was dry.  They work.  Good enough!

*Currently as we speak, there are 6 guys at my house watching soccer.  And eating and drinking.  I helped set up the food, made sure everyone had what they needed and quietly retreated upstairs.  I should be packing and cleaning, but blogging is more fun.

*The camera on my new phone is AMAZING.  I took these after we got home from the assembly last night:

No filters, no edits, these were straight out of the camera in portrait mode.

*I'm done packing!!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.  RIGHT.

I did bring the suitcases upstairs though.

And I have many piles going.

AND all of the laundry is done, we have everything we need for the trip, etc.  I just need to actually PUT the things into the suitcase.  But my piles are kind of all over the place:

So we don't really have an itinerary for our trip.  We have a map, which I have marked places to see.  There are only two things we needed to book tickets for. One is the Blue Lagoon, which we will do straight from the airport.  

And one is the glacier tour, which I booked on Wednesday.

Anyways...here's the map of the Western half of Iceland:

As you can see from the giant white arrow (where we're staying), everything we want to see is fairly close (the map is deceiving...Iceland is about the size of Ohio).  

There is one exception though, shown on the OTHER half of the map...Eastern Iceland:

See that green tag farthest to the right?  That's where I just booked our glacier boat tour.  It's about a 4-5 hour drive (each way) from where we're staying.  I booked our tour for 1:30.  I'm not concerned about daylight, because currently in Iceland, the sun is rising at 5:00 a.m. and sunset is not until 10:00 p.m.  So we plan to get up early, make the drive, do the tour (which is about an hour) then take our time coming back.  Apparently the drive is supposed to be breathtaking, so we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to enjoy it on the way back and stop if we want to.

So Wednesday is really our only 'planned' day.  And the Saturday that we arrive (Blue Lagoon).  Everything else in between we're just going to 'wing' and decide as we go and hopefully get to check everything off of our list!

And more random....in the 'Names for the Sea' book that I read last month, the author mentioned that every time she looked at a map of Iceland, she saw a sea monster (and then described it).  And now...I can't 'unsee' it!!  It's too funny:

*Tonight we have tickets to see the new Avengers movie.  I. CAN'T. WAIT. !!!  From what I hear, all the hype is well-deserved.

The end.

Huit

Eight (huit...in French pronounced 'wheat').  We celebrated our 8th anniversary last week.

We kept it pretty low key because of our trip next week, but we still went to dinner (Cheesecake Factory!) and had our anniversary cupcakes (and flowers!)

(peanut butter, strawberry vanilla, raspberry lemonade, and cake)

This guy makes life better.  Funnier.  Easier.  Happier.  I heart him!

April Reads (14)

One star = did not like it at all
Two stars = eh, it was okay
Three stars =  liked it
Four stars = really, really liked it
Five stars = absolutely loved it

1-Star (1)
*The Lying Game (Fiction, Ruth Ware)
I’m not giving up on Ruth Ware.  I just did NOT like this plot.  And it started off so well.  But about 75% through I got really bored and the main characters became more and more unlikable (and they weren’t even that likable to begin with).  This was one of Reese Witherspoon’s book club picks (if that means anything to you at all).
(free from Libby audio)

2-Star (2)
**Blonde (Fiction, Joyce Carol Oates)
I had high hopes for this book, but was a little hesitant because it’s Joyce Carole Oates (NOT one of my favorite authors).  Sadly, I did not really like this book.  I think maybe if I would have read it instead of listened to it I may have liked it a little better.  The audio reader was just….annoying.  Her reading of Norma Jean was just really breathy and high pitched and while maybe that’s how Norma Jean really spoke, I found it annoying and childlike.  I don’t know….it was just an incredibly depressing and annoying read.
(free from Hoopla audio)

**The One (Fiction, Kiera Cass)
So book 3 of The Selection series is out of the way.  Ha ha.  What can I say….I KNOW how these books are going to be, yet I continue to read them.  There are two left, and I can listen to them free through Libby audio.
(free from Hoopla audio)


3-Star (6)
***This is Me (Non-Fiction, Chrissy Metz)
Chrissy Metz plays Kate on the fantastic TV show ‘This is Us’ (one of my favorites), and ‘This is Me’ is her memoir.  Now…I thought it was a bit odd for her to publish a memoir already.  She is a relatively new actress.  This is Us was her first big break (she reveals in the book that she had .81 cents in her bank account when she drove to her audition), and they’ve only done two seasons.  But it’s still a nice read, and she reads the audiobook herself which is fun.
(free from Hoopla audio)

***Names for the Sea, Strangers in Iceland (Non-Fiction, Sarah Moss)
I wavered back and forth for about a day whether to give this book 3 stars or 4 stars.  Some of the chapters were SOOOOOO good and some were….not.  For example, there was an entire chapter devoted to elves and how some Icelandic people believe in them and claim to see them.  ?  But then the next chapter would be all about knitting and Icelandic wool and the history of it and how kindergarteners are taught to knit even today, and how knitting is just such a way of life for Icelanders that there is typically a knitting aisle in the grocery store.  I found the book very informative and I marked it up quite a bit (highlighting passages, places, etc.).  Also, did you know that Icelanders buy the most books per capita in the entire world???  Now I’m thinking I should have given this book 4 stars ha ha.
(real book, keeper)

***Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk (Fiction, Kathleen Rooney)
This book was *almost* a DNF for me.  I listened to the audio, and it was REALLY slow in the beginning.  And then it picked up a LOT and was delightful in the middle.  And then it kind of slowed down at the end.  But I still enjoyed it and glad I kept on listening.  It follows Lillian Boxfish (based on Margaret Fishback, the highest paid copyrighter at Macy’s back in the day), who is an 85-year-old woman who takes a stroll in New York City and reminisces about her life, her writing, her failed marriage, her electro shock therapy, etc.
(free from Hoopla audio)

***Everything Here is Beautiful (Fiction, Mira Lee)
Wow.  So….a couple things about this book.  #1 – content.  Beware.  I mean, it’s not horrible, but there are very few people I would feel comfortable recommending this book to.  #2 – mental illness.  This book is about two sisters, Miranda and Lucia.   But it’s mostly about Lucia.  After their mother dies, Lucia starts to hear voices and acting very erratically.  She is in and out of the hospital, she gets better then she spirals out of control, then she gets better, then she spirals, etc.  Her husband and her sister (Miranda) try desperately to help her.  Miranda is afar though…she lives in Switzerland while Lucia and her husband and daughter are in Ecuador.  The story is told from multiple viewpoints (the sisters, the husband, etc.).  The book jacket I think focuses on the ‘sisters’ part of this story, however, the book seemed to be mostly told from Manny (the husband) and Lucia’s perspectives.  I listened to this on audio though, so maybe I’m wrong.  But Miranda’s parts in the book were short.  Her thinking was that as long as her sister takes her pills, she will be fine and will have ‘control’ of the ‘situation’.  The writing is strong, the plot is strong, and the author really seemed to show how difficult it is to be a person with mental illness.  The parts told from Lucia’s perspective were my favorite.  I just felt for her so much.  This would have been a 4-star read for me….but the content kept it at 3-stars.  And the cover?  Beautiful.
(free from Libby audio)

***The Couple Next Door (Fiction, Shari Lapena)
This was a good mystery-page-turner.  A few twists and turns, but nothing too crazy.  I enjoyed it.
(free from Libby audio, however I own the book also, will donate to LFL)

***Home Sweet Maison (Non-Fiction, Danielle Postal-Vinay)

Home Sweet Maison...Maison is French for house or home.  This book is another little hardback gem full of thoughts on how to master the art of French home making.  It was a bit long for my taste and a bit....snooty.  But I still really enjoyed it and I just LOVE reading about different cultures.  And there were a lot of points in there that really hit home with me.  How each room should have a set purpose.  Like your dining area should be as separate as possible from the kitchen.  How most French kitchens are very private, because they are only used for cooking (and not eating).  How everyone eats together at the dining table, with no books, magazines, tablets, televisions, etc.  Just food and conversation.  I love that.

(real book, keeper)

My little collection of culture books is growing:

4-Star (3)
****The Blue Castle (Fiction, L.M. Montgomery)
Yes, THAT L.M. Montgomery, who famously wrote Anne of Green Gables.  The Blue Castle is I believe the only piece of ‘adult’ fiction that she wrote.  And it was really good!  It’s about a ‘spinster’ (29 years old and unmarried!!! The horror!!!) with a heart condition.  She is told she only has a year to live, so she decides to escape her family and depressing household and become a caretaker for another family.  And the story takes off from there.  I won’t say any more because I don’t want to spoil anything.  But I really enjoyed this book and I loved the main character (named Valancy).
(free from Hoopla audio)

****Instructions for a Heatwave (Fiction, Maggie O’Farrell)
My third Maggie O’Farrell book.  It did not disappoint.  She writes about a family, all of whom have secrets and tension between one another.  But they are brought together when the patriarch of the family suddenly goes missing.  They come together to try to find him, and throughout the journey their pasts and secrets are revealed.
(free from Libby audio, however I own a copy of this book as well, which I will keep)

****The Thing About Jellyfish (Fiction, Ali Benjamin)

This is a young reader book.  I'm not exactly sure what age group it's targeting, although I would guess between 10-13?  The main character is Suzy, a 12 year old girl going through the ups and downs of adolescence and awkwardness and that horrible time in your life when your best friend becomes popular and finds a new group of friends.  And then something tragic happens.  This book made me feel all the things.  It's about grief and.....science.  Jellyfish, in particular.  It's just so so good.

(real book, keeper)

5-Star (2)
*****I Am I Am I Am (Non-Fiction, Maggie O’Farrell)
I would expect nothing less from Maggie O’Farrell, who wrote one of my 5-star reads last month.  This book is a memoir of her 17 brushes with death.  And they’re all pretty legit (with the exception of one….a blood test?).  Anyways.  She has traveled all over the world and with that comes danger, sickness, etc.  Coupled with a childhood disease, complicated childbirths, etc.  And you have 17 brushes with death.  Her writing is just SO good though that I kept turning the pages because I HAD to see which one was next.  And each chapter started with an illustration of the part of the body that was in danger and/or damaged.  It was just such an interesting book and unlike any other memoir that I’ve ever read.
(real book, keeper)

*****The Great Alone (Fiction, Kristin Hannah)
I think there are two Kristin Hannahs.  There’s the Kristin Hannah PRE Nightingale, and the Kristin Hannah POST Nightingale.  The Nightingale was a game changer for her in my opinion.  Before the Nightingale, she wrote (mostly) what I consider ‘fluff’.  And while I LOVE some good ‘fluff’ every now and then (hellooooo…Selection Series!), I only read some of her books, because, well, most of them were to fluffy for my taste (with the exception of Winter Garden).  And then came the Nightingale, and I thought to myself “she is capable of writing something like THIS and has been writing fluff all this time?!?”.  It was good.  If you haven’t read it, go read it please.  And then….her latest one:  The Great Alone.  This book is about 440 pages.

I read it in 3 settings.

So basically, HOURS at a time.  I just couldn’t put it down.  The story takes place in 1974.  It follows the Albright family: mom, dad, and their daughter Leni (short for Lenora).  The dad is a former Vietnam POW suffering from severe (what we know now as) PTSD.  When he finds out that he has inherited some land in Alaska, he decides now is the time for change because he needs to breathe and get out of busy Seattle.  So he packs up his wife and daughter and they head to Alaska (a.k.a. The Great Alone).

To say that where they live is ‘roughing it’ is the understatement of the year.  No water, no electricity.  Hunting for food daily.  You get the picture.  There are good times, but…..mostly bad times.  And the bad times are really bad.  But, the bad times aren’t because of Alaska and it’s harshness (although that just adds to the awfulness).  The bad times come from something else rooted very deeply within the family.

This book has strong descriptions, strong writing, and strong women.  And while there were a few areas of the book that I took issue with, such as the dad blaming EVERYTHING on his PTSD (that’s not how it works), and also the ending (pretty rushed and neat and tidy), this book still gets 5 stars from me.  I’m still thinking about it.  I’m already trying to figure out when I can read it again.  She’s set the bar really high with this one.  I hope we get another novel from her soon!
(real book, keeper)

Total Books Read:  14 (4 non-fiction, `10 fiction)

Formats
E-Books:
Audio: 9
Real Books: 5
DNF (Did Not Finish): none this month!

Prime

My love for Amazon Prime continues to grow.

I believe Prime membership is $100 per year?  You get Prime video with it as well.  AND FREE SHIPPING ON ALL THE THINGS.  And, as you’re about to see, the membership fee pays for itself. 

Our latest order included:

3-pack Fleece Lined Thick Brushed Leggings (for me…Iceland!)

Speck CandyShell Grip case for iPhone 6 Plus (we’re playing musical phones again in our house)

Ka-Bar Tactical Military Sporks – Spoon Fork Knife Combo Set (husband added these to our cart)

Mpow Floating Waterproof Case Underwater Type Dry Bag for iPhone 6 Plus (Blue Lagoon!  Waterfalls!)

So, nothing too crazy.  But then I looked over our orders over the last year, and the list is just SO RANDOM and funny:

Minimalist Genuine Leather Slim Wallet

Batteries

Rechargeable Battery Charger

Bottle Silicone Sleeve (for my husband’s Yeti bottle)

Durable orthotic shoe inserts

Two shower hoses (one for our master bath, one for Amy’s bathroom…they were both leaky)

Check paper (to print checks at home if need be since we don’t have checkbooks)

Vitamins

Hikpro durable lightweight backpack water resistant (Iceland!)

Apple watch band

Antique Map Puzzle

Two Chicago Blackhawks t-shirts

DVD – Only the Brave

Donut hemorrhoid pillow (ha ha…this was recommended after my surgery….I didn’t use it once!!)

Post-op hysterectomy underwear (I’m not kidding)

Cork plant mat surface protectors (to set plants on so that they don’t ruin your table, etc.)

Permanent fabric pen (my husband has been putting a ‘W’ on the tag of his workout t-shirts so I know what’s what and what drawer to put them in)

Book – We Were the Lucky Ones

Sheets

Comforter

King size bed & bed frame

Swiss Army Pocket Knife

7-inch aluminum round cake pan (for my Instant Pot)

Black & Decker shoulder bag (for the leaf blower of course, because ours busted)

Fidget Spinner (for my husband….it helps w/ ADD)

Stretch Strap for physical therapy

Treadmill Maintenance Kit

Compostable Biodegradable Food Scraps Kitchen Trash Bags (for our ever growing compost dirt pile)

Echo Dot

Outdoor string lights

USB plug in fan for my mother-in-law’s tv that was shutting itself off for overheating

Gorilla cart for the garden

Meat thermometer

Garden torch (this thing scares me to death but it WORKS)

Smoke alarms

Ron Swanson POP figurine

10 pack of needles & tips for fountain pens

Melatonin

Oil Diffuser

Water resistant dog shoes

DVD – Call the Midwife Season 6

Green Mountain Coffee K-Cups

Powdered Peanut Butter

Blender bottles

‘Service Dog Inside’ door hanger (for husband’s office)

What a variety!

Amazon literally has EVERYTHING.  And you cannot beat the prices.  That’s the whole reason I thought of doing an Amazon post.  The other day I went to Target to buy a phone case.  I am partial to ‘Speck’ cases….they are much less bulky than Otterbox cases, but provide fantastic protection.  Anyways, the one at Target that I wanted was $45 (typical price for Speck and Otterbox….yikes).  I pulled up my Amazon app and found the EXACT SAME ONE for $13.  Yesssssss.

Same with the leggings.  The least expensive ones I found at Target were $10 per pair (and they weren’t fleece lined).  I got a 3-pack on Amazon for $22.

There are a few exceptions though….like books.  I DO occasionally buy books on Amazon.  But I haven’t had great experiences.  I am VERY picky about the condition of brand new books.  Even at Barnes and Noble, I won’t take the first one on display, I’ll dig around and find the perfect one (no bends or cracks in the spine, no tears in the book jacket, etc.).  The last couple of books I’ve bought from Amazon (both paperbacks) have had bends in the cover.  I am just not okay with that!  When I’m buying a brand new book, I want it to be in pristine condition.

I also usually only buy DVDs in-store.  The only reason I go to Amazon is if the store doesn’t have the version I want.  The price is the same on new releases.

And if there’s something that I see at Target that I want right away, I’ll check Amazon….Target will price match!  You just have to take your item to customer service.

I hope Amazon Prime sticks around forever!

Addition Update #5

More progress!  We have bricks!  As a reminder, these are bricks that were part of the house already.  So we are reusing them on the outside so they'll match the house better.  

This was posted on Instagram by our contractor:  :)

And today when I got home from work, the brick was done!

Now if only the inside were done....but we're getting there!

April Book Haul

I've been trying soooooo hard not to buy books.  But....sometimes I fail.  Actually, a lot of the times I fail.

I picked up 5 books:

I got the newest Louise Penny book at the bookshop downtown for $3!  Score.

And....just LOOK at these beautiful covers:

Why can't all book covers look like this?!?  Actually it's probably good that they don't, because then I would really want ALL. THE. BOOKS.

And here's my current night table situation.  I'm only reading 2 right now, but I have my 'next up' books in this little box:

So....enough blogging for tonight.  I'm off to read!

Memorial

We had our annual Memorial on March 31st....just wanted to post a few photos in my journal here so I can look back on them later.  I added some new napkins to the table and want to remember the setup for next year ha ha.

It was a lovely evening, as it is every year.  :)

March Reads (19)

One star = did not like it at all

Two stars = eh, it was okay

Three stars = liked it

Four stars = really, really liked it

Five stars = absolutely loved it

1-Star (2)

*When Women Were Birds (Non-Fiction, Terry Tempest Williams)

I really wanted to love this book because I’ve heard so many good things about it.  But, I was soooooo bored.  And it was WAY to ‘woo-woo’ for me.  Like when she wrote about how she talked to rocks and the rocks listened to her.  ???  What the heck?  The entire time I read the book, I kept thinking….’what am I MISSING?  Everyone loves this book’.  Oh well.  

(library book)

*To Have and Have Not (Fiction, Ernest Hemingway)

This is widely known as Hemingway’s worst novel (even Hemingway said that) and I can see why.  My summary is that a criminal (and murderer) transports immigrants by boat and runs into loads of trouble along the way (obviously).

(owned book, but listened to on audio, will donate to LFL)

2-Stars (5)

**Shelter (Fiction, Yun Jung)

Eh….not a strong plot (just a bunch of bad and depressing things happening) and unlikable characters.  Extremely forgettable. 

(library book, but listened to on Hoopla audio)

**Angle of Repose (Fiction, Wallace Stegner)

This book won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 1972.  And I can completely see why.  Stegner’s writing is amazing.  And this book is ambitious.  But also very long.  And slow.  It’s one of those books that I ‘wanted’ to like and felt like I should like, but I just didn’t.  And that’s okay.  I’m not giving up on Wallace Stegner, that’s for sure.

(owned book, will donate to LFL, but listened to audio book on RB Digital)

**The Shipping News (Fiction, Annie Proulx)

Another Pulitzer Prize (1994) ‘dud’.  I loved the setting (coastal town, Newfoundland), but I pretty much hated every character in the book.

(owned book, will donate to LFL, but listened to audio book on RB Digital)

**Cannery Row (Fiction, John Steinbeck)

I definitely would have given this 3 stars if I had really liked any of the characters.  John Steinbeck is such an amazing writer though….I swear he could write a coding manual and make it interesting.

(owned book, will donate to LFL, but listened to audio book on RB Digital)

**The Elite (Fiction, Kiera Cass, Selection Series book #2)

Not as good as the first one (see 3-star section below).  But….I’m IN this now ha ha.  

(owned book, keeper….for now)

3-Stars (7)

***The Buddah in the Attic (Fiction, Julie Otsuka)

This was fiction, but it was written kind of in essay style about women who came to America (San Francisco) from China at the turn of the century.  

(book, donated to LFL)

***The Clay Girl (Fiction, Heather Tucker)

Okay, so I can NOT recommend this book….very adult themes going on here.  Think…Prince of Tides meets the 60’s, with creepy uncles and stepfathers.  However, the writing and story were great.  Books like this are hard.  Because they’re so good, but they will never get more than a 3-star rating from me due to the content.

(library book)

***The Selection (Fiction, Kiera Cass, Selection Series book #1)

Ahhh….fluff.  Good, old-fashioned, Young-Adult fluffy fluff fluff fluff.  And I loved it.  But because it’s fluff, only 3 stars for me.  This is like the Bachelor meets the Hunger Games in a post-World War 4 dystopian world.  It was totally predictable but I couldn’t put it down (especially after the halfway point).  And I already have the next two books in the series.  Yup.  I’m not even ashamed.

(owned book, keeper….for now)

***An American Marriage (Fiction, Tayari Jones)

This was good, a book about a newly-married man who was falsely accused of committing a crime and sent to prison for 5 years.  The book is a lot of letters between Roy (the falsely accused) and his wife, Celestial.  But when Roy gets out of prison, he discovers a lot of things have changed and both he and his wife have to figure out how to start over (and if it’s even possible).  The writing was excellent.  The reason it didn’t get 4 stars from me is because the middle of the book REALLY dragged for me.

My favorite lines of the whole book:

”But home isn’t where you land; home is where you launch. You can’t pick your home any more than you can choose your family. In poker, you get five cards. Three of them you can swap out, but two are yours to keep: family and native land.”

(listened to for free on Hoopla audio)

***Four Seasons in Rome (Non-Fiction, Anthony Doerr)

10 years before ‘All the Light We Cannot See’ was published, Anthony Doerr was awarded a grant to live in Rome.  So he packed up his wife and their twin baby boys and lived in Rome for a year so he could write.  Guess what he started writing?!?  However, that is not the focus of this book.  This book was his account of his year in a foreign country with a foreign language with twin babies and his struggle with insomnia.  It’s a nice quick read.  (And yes, it took him 10 years to write ‘All the Light We Cannot See’).

(listened to for free on Hoopla audio)

***Stay With Me (Fiction, Ayobami Adebayo)

This was really good.  However….once again I cannot recommend it because of the content.  It’s one thing when a book has a little swearing or adult content.  But when it’s the main focus of the book, that’s another thing.  In this case, it’s infertility in Nigeria in the 80s.  And the lengths that one woman goes to to get pregnant and the devastating consequences.  I also began to not like the main character, but I felt better when she herself said ‘I began to loathe the woman I had become’.  Me too!  Ha ha.  Engaging story though.

(listened to for free on Libby audio)

***The Good House (Fiction, Ann Leary)

I’m still kind of on the fence about this one.  It’s about a recovering alcoholic who is in denial still about being an alcoholic.  She is a real estate agent for rich people in New England.  Hildy (the protagonist) is really a likable person, but I wanted to strangle her many times.  

(listened to for free on RB Digital, but also have a copy of the book, will donate to LFL)

4-Stars (2)

****Castle of Water (Fiction, Dane Hucklebridge)

Cast Away, except with two survivors.  Who speak different languages.  I really enjoyed this book.  I loved reading about their resourcefulness on this tiny island in French Polynesia.  Plus, I loved the French language sprinkled throughout and I LOVED that I understood it all!  I just read it naturally like I did the English.  #progress

(library book)

****Hunger (Non-Fiction, Roxane Gay)

This was a painful read.  But so, so good.  

(book, will donate to LFL…I just don’t see myself reaching for this book again)

5-Stars (3)

*****The Little Book of Lykke (Non-Fiction, Meik Wiking)

This is the second book by the author of the Little Book of Hygge.  I wish there were more little books like these.  I love learning about other cultures and what makes them happy.  This kind of reminded me of ‘The Year of Living Danishly’.  It was excellent with delightful illustrations.  Plus, they’re just cute little books!

(owned book, keeper)

*****This Must Be the Place (Fiction, Maggie O’Farrell)

Let me start by saying a few things before I get into the plot.  I knew I had to give this book 5 stars when after I read the last page, I immediately wanted to flip to the front and start over again (and I almost did).  Typically, I’m not a fan of books that have lots of characters, told from lots of perspectives, and jumping all over in time (and place).  However, this book has ALL of those things and I LOVED it….another reason for the 5 star rating.  Somehow, Maggie O’Farrell made this typically unlikable reading style (for me) not only extremely readable, but incredibly enjoyable.  The heart of the story is a marriage:  Daniel (a former Berkley professor) and Claudette (a former movie-star-turned-recluse), that are living in Ireland with their children.  Right before Daniel goes back to America for his father’s funeral, he hears something about someone from his past that is incredibly disturbing to him.  He starts digging into it and now…..everything changes.  The story jumps back and forth decades, characters (the children, the parents, the brother-in-law, the step-son, etc.), and locations (Ireland, California, New York, Scotland, London, Paris to name a few).  I actually started this book a few months ago (shortly after we moved) but stopped….it just wasn’t the time for a book like this (one where you had to pay attention to the times and the characters).  But less than a week ago, I picked it back up again (on my iPad….I purchased it as an e-book), started over from the beginning (I had only read about 50 pages the first time around) and read each night WAY past my bedtime because I didn’t want to put it down.  This was my first Maggie O’Farrell novel, and I am officially impressed.  Although now I will compare all of her other novels to this one, and that might not go well.  P.S. - from the reviews I read, it was highly recommended to READ this book and not listen to it.  I completely understand why with all of the dates and characters in case you need to flip back and forth.  Plus, they said the narrator was awful.  P.S.S. – please read this review of sorts from Anne Bogel…she describes the ‘muchness’ of this book much better than I can:

https://modernmrsdarcy.com/things-unsaid/

(e-book, Nook, KEEPER….and now I want to get an actual copy of the book as well) 

*****The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley (Fiction, Hannah Tinti)

Can I give this book six stars?  This book was pretty perfect in my opinion.  The story follows the life of Samuel Hawley and his teenage daughter, Loo.  Samuel has led an….’interesting’ life on the run and his body is scarred from the 12 times he’s been shot.  Loo, as a teenager now, is becoming more curious about her mother’s death as well as her father’s storied past.  Every other chapter we find out how each bullet wound happened, told from Samuel’s perspective.  The chapters in between are told from Loo’s perspective.  Somehow, Hannah Tinti makes you love Samuel Hawley, even though he’s a criminal.  The relationship between he and Loo is both incredible and heartbreaking.  I am terrible at writing reviews and I wish I could convey here just how much I loved this book.

Samuel’s 5 Lessons:

1.  Never hide anything in your underwear drawer

2.  Make sure you take out all of the security cameras

3.  Don't point a gun at anything you don't want to shoot

4.  Take a breath.  Let half of it out.

5.  Everything breaks if you hit it hard enough

Just…read this book.  Trust me.

Total Books Read:  (4 non-fiction, 15 fiction)

Formats

E-Books: 1

Audio: 9

Audio CD: 0

Real Books:  9 

Abandoned books: 0

DNF (Did Not Finish):  8

The Girl With All the Gifts (zombies, sigh)

Winter People (ghosts, sigh again)

Fates and Furies (couldn’t get into it)

Into the Water (couldn’t get into it)

A Room of One’s Own (couldn’t get into it)

The Library at the Edge of the World (couldn’t get into it)

Good As Gone (couldn’t get into it….awful writing style)

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (love her blog…but couldn’t handle the jumpiness and writing style of the book)