by: E. Lockhart
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Dates Read: Sept. 20 - Oct. 9, 2016
Pages: 225
Source: Own it
Why did I read it?
It seemed like every time I went into Chapters this book was on display as one of the greatest YA Books of all time. I didn't buy it at Chapters. I found it in mint condition at Goodwill (which isn't always a good sign) and decided I would spend $2 on a book that was supposedly that good.
We Were Liars is about a super rich family who have an entire island to themselves with one house for each "branch." These people have so much money they can take off 2 months and bring their kids to the island for the entire summer. Cadence, the main character, can't remember what happened two summers ago and no one will tell her. Her cousins/best friends won't tell her, her aunts and uncles won't, even the little kids won't let it slip, so she spends the whole summer trying to remember. The directions in the book sleeve tell me I'm supposed to lie to you about how it ends, so I'll say that she never finds out for sure what actually happened.
Rating: 3/5
If it wasn't for the last 25 pages of this book, We Were Liars would not have been all that great. It was kind of boring and slow. It was all a little weird, kind of haunting. Almost like Jane Eyre: there is romance and good plot but it's all surrounded by darkness somehow. It was all kind of blah until we find out the truth. I did not see the truth coming. This was no mystery where eventually you figured out who dun it before they actually tell you. This was unexpected. Looking back, it turns out it was well written and still a little weird. I just wish I had gotten a little more into the first 200 pages.
Recommendation:
You know, I'm almost glad this is a super popular YA fiction book right now. This isn't the usual girl-meets-boy-they-overcome-an-obstacle-and-they-fall-in-love. There were no vampires, zombies or other supernatural activities. I would recommend it to the age group because it's not the usual crap they are served.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Monday, March 13, 2017
Love is a Canoe
by: Ben Schrank
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
Dates Read: May 7 - July 1, 2016
Pages: 342
Source: Library
Why did I read it?
I was wandering my local library on a cold day and BAM there was a book called Love is a Canoe. The past few summers I had really grown to enjoy canoeing. I have great memories with friends and youth. It was one of those snap decisions where I just grabbed the book 100% based on the title alone.
I guess it wasn't a complete bust. This book follows a few story lines all intermingled and mixed. The first is of an old widower who authored a book call 'Marriage is a Canoe' based on his wonderful, happy marriage and the advice he learned from his grandfather while in a canoe. His wife has died recently, he doesn't know what to do anymore, and is now in a basically loveless relationship with a new women he'll never commit to because she is not his late wife. The irony is that now he is going against almost everything he wrote in his book 25 years ago. Flash over to the publishing company editor trying to make it big by bringing the book back for it's 25th year. She comes up with the idea to run a contest for a couple having hardships to write in and win a day hanging out with the supposedly wise old man in hopes to fix their marriage. Skip over to the young newly-ish married couple who are already having marital problems because the husband is just too good-looking and can't say no.
I think you can see where all of this meets in the middle. The story was pretty meh. There were all kinds of little subplots thrown in that didn't really add a whole lot. I think the author may have been trying to make the book fatter for show. You can pretty well see where all of it is going. The main question is will this young couple get divorced or not - aka. can the widower give good advice now that his wife has died? It didn't really leave me up in arms wondering. I was so disinterested I didn't really care which way it went. I ended up just pushing through the book amidst my pre-summer busy-ness for the sole reason of being out of renewals from the library.
Rating: 2.5/5
Love is a Canoe is somewhere between a "didn't like it" and a "liked it." It had it's moments. The writing itself wasn't bad, it was the plot that didn't have me enraptured. I might give Schrank a second chance if he has another eyecatching title like this one.
Recommendation:
I'm not sure I would recommend this book to many people. You won't totally hate yourself for picking it up, but it won't be the greatest thing you read all year....probably not even the greatest thing you read all month. It lives in the nebulous of a 2.5 rating.
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
Dates Read: May 7 - July 1, 2016
Pages: 342
Source: Library
Why did I read it?
I was wandering my local library on a cold day and BAM there was a book called Love is a Canoe. The past few summers I had really grown to enjoy canoeing. I have great memories with friends and youth. It was one of those snap decisions where I just grabbed the book 100% based on the title alone.
I guess it wasn't a complete bust. This book follows a few story lines all intermingled and mixed. The first is of an old widower who authored a book call 'Marriage is a Canoe' based on his wonderful, happy marriage and the advice he learned from his grandfather while in a canoe. His wife has died recently, he doesn't know what to do anymore, and is now in a basically loveless relationship with a new women he'll never commit to because she is not his late wife. The irony is that now he is going against almost everything he wrote in his book 25 years ago. Flash over to the publishing company editor trying to make it big by bringing the book back for it's 25th year. She comes up with the idea to run a contest for a couple having hardships to write in and win a day hanging out with the supposedly wise old man in hopes to fix their marriage. Skip over to the young newly-ish married couple who are already having marital problems because the husband is just too good-looking and can't say no.
I think you can see where all of this meets in the middle. The story was pretty meh. There were all kinds of little subplots thrown in that didn't really add a whole lot. I think the author may have been trying to make the book fatter for show. You can pretty well see where all of it is going. The main question is will this young couple get divorced or not - aka. can the widower give good advice now that his wife has died? It didn't really leave me up in arms wondering. I was so disinterested I didn't really care which way it went. I ended up just pushing through the book amidst my pre-summer busy-ness for the sole reason of being out of renewals from the library.
Rating: 2.5/5
Love is a Canoe is somewhere between a "didn't like it" and a "liked it." It had it's moments. The writing itself wasn't bad, it was the plot that didn't have me enraptured. I might give Schrank a second chance if he has another eyecatching title like this one.
Recommendation:
I'm not sure I would recommend this book to many people. You won't totally hate yourself for picking it up, but it won't be the greatest thing you read all year....probably not even the greatest thing you read all month. It lives in the nebulous of a 2.5 rating.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Beautiful Creatures
[Audiobook]
By: Kami Garcia and Margarat Stohl
Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
Publisher:Hachette Audiobooks
Dates Listened: Sept. 1 - Jan. 11
Length: 17 hrs 33 min
Source: Overdrive App
Why did I read it?
In February 2013 a friend and I wanted to see a movie but didn't really know anything that was out. We decided on what seemed liked the best: Beautiful Creatures. I remember walking out of the theatre and saying "That was some weird shit." Well, fast forward to September 2016 and I have a long drive ahead of me to visit my mom so I need an audiobook. I was browsing around, looking for something good and available. Let me just side bar to say how weird it is that a library only allows one person to listen to a book at the same time. Why can't 100 listen? Who knows, but Beautiful Creatures was pretty well all there was available.
As you can see, this book took me more than 6 months to listen to. I cannot tell you how many times I borrowed this from the library. I wasn't really motivated to listen to it until the end because, by then, if I listened to it it would finally be over.
Ethan Wate finds himself falling for the dark, mysterious, new girl in school everyone seems to hate: Lena. Her family is weird but he doesn't seem to care. Soon enough they're teenagers in love and he finds out that she is a castor. Not a witch, they prefer "castor". In Lena's family at the age of sixteen you are claimed to either the dark or the light side. Turns out this girl is pretty powerful so everyone wants her. The darkest castor in all the world is campaigning pretty hard to get her, thus, crazy shit ensues.
Let's start with the writing of this book. What I appreciate is that it is told from the boy's perspective; most YA fiction is not. However, as per usual when it comes to supernatural fiction, it is told by the person on the outs (I'm looking at you Bella Swan). Honestly Lena's story is not very compelling to me. This girl takes angst to a whole new level. She is completely unreasonable and besides her being beautiful the authors do not give a good reason for Ethan to be attracted to her except for the "undeniable bond" between them. As I said, her family is made up of castors and I feel like the writers kept throwing stuff in because it would be cool and then bringing it no where. There was a lot of stuff they could have easily cut out.
They could have cut out some supernatural to add a little more about Ethan's "normal" family. Normal in the fact that his mom died four months before the book begins, his dad has gone crazy because of it, and his nanny/housekeeper/second mother can speak to the dead and other weird stuff. There was so much left unsaid about Ethan's family. It drove me nuts. That was the good stuff! I want to hear more about his mom. Will his dad always be crazy? How on earth did this nanny who can speak to the dead end up in his house? In summary, there was too much Lena and not enough Ethan...even though Ethan was the one telling the story.
Now the narration: Kevin T. Collins was good. He sounded like a girl when he was reading as a girl. He sounded like a sassy southern voodoo housekeeper when he needed to. He sounded like a staunch old man. Good stuff. What bugged me about Collins was that he narrated in an American accent, but when he spoke as Ethan, he had a southern accent. The book takes place in the south and he did great with the varying accents/dialects, but why would being in Ethan's head sound different then the words that come out of Ethan's mouth? This was the only reason I was ever confused about what character was talking. It actually took me a while to realize that the regular southern guy was Ethan, the narrator. I'll go ahead and blame that on the director.
I will also blame the director for the weird singing. Ethan and Lena often hear a creepy song that tells them about what is going to happen later. Here is the problem: I couldn't understand what the girl was singing. They tried too hard to make it sound haunting I couldn't understand her. I went the whole novel not knowing what was going to happen because the song that explains it could not be understood. They also added a lot of atmospheric sound affects. These were nice because you really felt like you were there in the storm or in front of the burning trees with them. However, sometimes they were so much you couldn't clearly hear the words being spoken and it took away from the scene instead of adding to it. I would think twice before hiring the people who produced or directed this audiobook Hachette.
Rating: 2/5
I did not like or enjoy this audiobook. The story was bad. The writing was subpar. The production was annoying. It is possible that some of the holes I mentioned above come out in the later books, but I doubt it. I have no great desire to find the answers so I will probably never read/listen to the remainder of the series. Although, I am kind of curious to watch the movie again now that I've read the book...I have a feeling it would still get the same rating as this book though.
Recommendation:
If you are a teenager who likes darker books about the supernatural this might be your cup of tea. I suggest actually reading it and not listening to it. If you don't care a whole lot about writing style and liked Twilight, this just might be your next "great" read. If you are none of the things I said above, don't waste your time.
By: Kami Garcia and Margarat Stohl
Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
Publisher:Hachette Audiobooks
Dates Listened: Sept. 1 - Jan. 11
Length: 17 hrs 33 min
Source: Overdrive App
Why did I read it?
In February 2013 a friend and I wanted to see a movie but didn't really know anything that was out. We decided on what seemed liked the best: Beautiful Creatures. I remember walking out of the theatre and saying "That was some weird shit." Well, fast forward to September 2016 and I have a long drive ahead of me to visit my mom so I need an audiobook. I was browsing around, looking for something good and available. Let me just side bar to say how weird it is that a library only allows one person to listen to a book at the same time. Why can't 100 listen? Who knows, but Beautiful Creatures was pretty well all there was available.
As you can see, this book took me more than 6 months to listen to. I cannot tell you how many times I borrowed this from the library. I wasn't really motivated to listen to it until the end because, by then, if I listened to it it would finally be over.
Ethan Wate finds himself falling for the dark, mysterious, new girl in school everyone seems to hate: Lena. Her family is weird but he doesn't seem to care. Soon enough they're teenagers in love and he finds out that she is a castor. Not a witch, they prefer "castor". In Lena's family at the age of sixteen you are claimed to either the dark or the light side. Turns out this girl is pretty powerful so everyone wants her. The darkest castor in all the world is campaigning pretty hard to get her, thus, crazy shit ensues.
Let's start with the writing of this book. What I appreciate is that it is told from the boy's perspective; most YA fiction is not. However, as per usual when it comes to supernatural fiction, it is told by the person on the outs (I'm looking at you Bella Swan). Honestly Lena's story is not very compelling to me. This girl takes angst to a whole new level. She is completely unreasonable and besides her being beautiful the authors do not give a good reason for Ethan to be attracted to her except for the "undeniable bond" between them. As I said, her family is made up of castors and I feel like the writers kept throwing stuff in because it would be cool and then bringing it no where. There was a lot of stuff they could have easily cut out.
They could have cut out some supernatural to add a little more about Ethan's "normal" family. Normal in the fact that his mom died four months before the book begins, his dad has gone crazy because of it, and his nanny/housekeeper/second mother can speak to the dead and other weird stuff. There was so much left unsaid about Ethan's family. It drove me nuts. That was the good stuff! I want to hear more about his mom. Will his dad always be crazy? How on earth did this nanny who can speak to the dead end up in his house? In summary, there was too much Lena and not enough Ethan...even though Ethan was the one telling the story.
Now the narration: Kevin T. Collins was good. He sounded like a girl when he was reading as a girl. He sounded like a sassy southern voodoo housekeeper when he needed to. He sounded like a staunch old man. Good stuff. What bugged me about Collins was that he narrated in an American accent, but when he spoke as Ethan, he had a southern accent. The book takes place in the south and he did great with the varying accents/dialects, but why would being in Ethan's head sound different then the words that come out of Ethan's mouth? This was the only reason I was ever confused about what character was talking. It actually took me a while to realize that the regular southern guy was Ethan, the narrator. I'll go ahead and blame that on the director.
I will also blame the director for the weird singing. Ethan and Lena often hear a creepy song that tells them about what is going to happen later. Here is the problem: I couldn't understand what the girl was singing. They tried too hard to make it sound haunting I couldn't understand her. I went the whole novel not knowing what was going to happen because the song that explains it could not be understood. They also added a lot of atmospheric sound affects. These were nice because you really felt like you were there in the storm or in front of the burning trees with them. However, sometimes they were so much you couldn't clearly hear the words being spoken and it took away from the scene instead of adding to it. I would think twice before hiring the people who produced or directed this audiobook Hachette.
Rating: 2/5
I did not like or enjoy this audiobook. The story was bad. The writing was subpar. The production was annoying. It is possible that some of the holes I mentioned above come out in the later books, but I doubt it. I have no great desire to find the answers so I will probably never read/listen to the remainder of the series. Although, I am kind of curious to watch the movie again now that I've read the book...I have a feeling it would still get the same rating as this book though.
Recommendation:
If you are a teenager who likes darker books about the supernatural this might be your cup of tea. I suggest actually reading it and not listening to it. If you don't care a whole lot about writing style and liked Twilight, this just might be your next "great" read. If you are none of the things I said above, don't waste your time.
Once Upon Eliza
by: Erynn Mangum
Publisher: Self Published
Dates Read: Dec. 22 - Jan. 30
Pages: 322
Source: Own It
Why did I read it?
Erynn Mangum is my favourite author. This is the second book in the Carrington Springs series. The first is Katie in Waiting which I read a year ago.
Once Upon Eliza was what I expect from Mangum. It was some light chick lit about a Christian girl possibly finding love. She always threads in themes that make you think about your own life too. Somehow her characters are always relatable and going through something that I seem to be going through.
Eliza is a nurse on the new mother's floor at her local hospital and survives off of lattes from the machine down in the cafeteria. Life seems to be piling up higher and higher and she pushes it deeper and deeper inside. As we know from real life (see, Mangum is so good at doing that) when you bottle things up, life gets difficult. We get to walk alongside Eliza as she figures all of this out.
Even though my brother would say that all of Mangum's books are the same, I really enjoy them. They are the epitome of chick lit and I enjoy them every time. My one grievance with this book is that the editting, like her last self-published novel, is just terrible. Erynn, we are on a first name basis because I like to think we are good friends since I think we would be good friends if we actually knew each other, PLEASE HIRE ME TO EDIT YOUR BOOKS!! Usually it is the odd grammar mistake or typo or she tried to replace a word only to leave the replaced word and the new word there, but she referred to Michael McConaughey. Michael. Michael McConaughey. If this book was written by anyone else I would have just walked away. The editing is truly becoming ridiculous. So Erynn, my dear fake friend, please let me do this for you. Free of charge. Just send a copy up to Canada and I'll be done in a week.
Rating: 4.5/5
I really liked it. I may have given it a 5 if it weren't for that Michael McConaughey reference. The ending for Eliza's book was a little more satisfying than Katie's. I didn't actually see the ending coming until we were pretty much there. It was good,I was happy and I can't wait to read about Ashton soon. Onto book 3 (once it comes out)!
Recommendation:
If you a girl over the age of 14 or so and enjoy chick lit, you will like this book. I think you will like it even more if you happen to be single and dreaming of finding a good man of your own. Read the book. Read the whole series. Read everything Erynn has ever written (although Sketchy Behaviour is a little bit of a different genre, still good, but not the same).
Publisher: Self Published
Dates Read: Dec. 22 - Jan. 30
Pages: 322
Source: Own It
Why did I read it?
Erynn Mangum is my favourite author. This is the second book in the Carrington Springs series. The first is Katie in Waiting which I read a year ago.
Once Upon Eliza was what I expect from Mangum. It was some light chick lit about a Christian girl possibly finding love. She always threads in themes that make you think about your own life too. Somehow her characters are always relatable and going through something that I seem to be going through.
Eliza is a nurse on the new mother's floor at her local hospital and survives off of lattes from the machine down in the cafeteria. Life seems to be piling up higher and higher and she pushes it deeper and deeper inside. As we know from real life (see, Mangum is so good at doing that) when you bottle things up, life gets difficult. We get to walk alongside Eliza as she figures all of this out.
Even though my brother would say that all of Mangum's books are the same, I really enjoy them. They are the epitome of chick lit and I enjoy them every time. My one grievance with this book is that the editting, like her last self-published novel, is just terrible. Erynn, we are on a first name basis because I like to think we are good friends since I think we would be good friends if we actually knew each other, PLEASE HIRE ME TO EDIT YOUR BOOKS!! Usually it is the odd grammar mistake or typo or she tried to replace a word only to leave the replaced word and the new word there, but she referred to Michael McConaughey. Michael. Michael McConaughey. If this book was written by anyone else I would have just walked away. The editing is truly becoming ridiculous. So Erynn, my dear fake friend, please let me do this for you. Free of charge. Just send a copy up to Canada and I'll be done in a week.
Rating: 4.5/5
I really liked it. I may have given it a 5 if it weren't for that Michael McConaughey reference. The ending for Eliza's book was a little more satisfying than Katie's. I didn't actually see the ending coming until we were pretty much there. It was good,I was happy and I can't wait to read about Ashton soon. Onto book 3 (once it comes out)!
Recommendation:
If you a girl over the age of 14 or so and enjoy chick lit, you will like this book. I think you will like it even more if you happen to be single and dreaming of finding a good man of your own. Read the book. Read the whole series. Read everything Erynn has ever written (although Sketchy Behaviour is a little bit of a different genre, still good, but not the same).
Friday, December 30, 2016
Sutton
by: J.R. Moehringer
Publisher: Hyperion
Dates Read: October 28 - December 21
Pages: 334
Source: Friend
Why did I read it?
Long story short: I was stranded in the city after riding in in an ambulance with my friend. A lovely friend of mine picked me up at the hospital in the middle of the night. I slept at her house for a short time and borrowed a random book since I forgot mine at home in all the commotion.
Sutton is a piece of fiction the author wrote about a real-life American bank robber. Willie "The Actor" Sutton is release from prison on Christmas Eve of 1969 on early parole for a life sentence. A newspaper has bought the rights to his first day out of prison and Sutton spends the entire day travelling around New York City telling him about his life.
This book is basically one guy's fan fiction for another guy's vaguely known life. However, I felt it was very well executed. This book has got love, betrayal, crime and many allusions to classic literature. While not being the most appropriate book (Canada would probably rate it 14A) it is pretty good. It kept me on my toes and entertained. It is not a genre I read often, but I find it refreshing to pick up something a bit darker from time to time.
Rating: 3.5/5
I more than liked it but I am not sure I would say that I really liked it.
Recommendation:
If crime novels are your thing, I would highly recommend this book. If you are like me and enjoy the occasional "dark" novel, I would also recommend it. If you are looking for a biographical novel about Willie Sutton, one of America's most notorious bank robbers, you may want to look somewhere else.
Publisher: Hyperion
Dates Read: October 28 - December 21
Pages: 334
Source: Friend
Why did I read it?
Long story short: I was stranded in the city after riding in in an ambulance with my friend. A lovely friend of mine picked me up at the hospital in the middle of the night. I slept at her house for a short time and borrowed a random book since I forgot mine at home in all the commotion.
Sutton is a piece of fiction the author wrote about a real-life American bank robber. Willie "The Actor" Sutton is release from prison on Christmas Eve of 1969 on early parole for a life sentence. A newspaper has bought the rights to his first day out of prison and Sutton spends the entire day travelling around New York City telling him about his life.
This book is basically one guy's fan fiction for another guy's vaguely known life. However, I felt it was very well executed. This book has got love, betrayal, crime and many allusions to classic literature. While not being the most appropriate book (Canada would probably rate it 14A) it is pretty good. It kept me on my toes and entertained. It is not a genre I read often, but I find it refreshing to pick up something a bit darker from time to time.
Rating: 3.5/5
I more than liked it but I am not sure I would say that I really liked it.
Recommendation:
If crime novels are your thing, I would highly recommend this book. If you are like me and enjoy the occasional "dark" novel, I would also recommend it. If you are looking for a biographical novel about Willie Sutton, one of America's most notorious bank robbers, you may want to look somewhere else.
Monday, August 8, 2016
One More Thing
[Audiobook]
By: BJ Novak
Narrated by: BJ Novak (with special appearance by some of his famous friends)
Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Dates Listened: Jan. 24 - Mar. 12
Length: 6 hours 48 minutes
Source: Overdrive App
Why did I read it?
What I really wanted to listen to was The Bassoon King by Rainn Wilson but it had a super long hold list. This one showed up when I searched Rainn Wilson's name so I settled.
I have so many mixed feelings with this one. Sometimes it was terrible and sometimes it was good and sometimes I just wanted to smack BJ Novak in the face.
Let's start with the author. BJ Novak was one of the writers for The Office, one of my favourite TV shows. The office was hilarious. BJ wrote his own character for the show Ryan. Ryan was the worst. BJ Novak annoyed me playing Ryan. His acting was blah. His character was super annoying. The fact that he gave himself a spot in the opening credits even though he was less important than Stanley or Angela always bugged the crap out of me. I'm not the biggest BJ Novak fan.
Listening to BJ Novak read me his own book annoyed me to no end. His voice was still annoying. The intonation of his voice reminded me of Ryan and how much I didn't like him. I wish someone else read his book. It would have helped it be a little better. I loved when his friends took a character because that meant I wouldn't have to listen to BJ anymore...at least for a few moments. His 'The Office' friends came - Mindy Kaling, Jenna Fischer, and Rainn Wilson - plus some other friends. It was nice hearing any of them read as long as they were not BJ.
The writing itself was sub par. The actual writing wasn't very good - he is not very good at writing in prose. He stretched out the useless stuff and skimmed over the exciting. I think it would have been painful to read the actual text so I am glad I listened instead.
One More Thing is a collection of short stories and these varied in their "goodness." Some of them were really creative ideas. The best ones were when he took a well known thing like the Tortoise and the Hare or the "two trains are travelling to the same point how long will it get there" math problem. He took stories we all knew and loved and made them new and funny and thought provoking. However, some of the stories were really dumb (and not because they were supposed to be). Some were also pretty inappropriate. I think he meant them to be a funny inappropriate but they were just plain old inappropriate.
I won't lie to you. It is hard to write a review because of how very little I like B.J. Novak. Overall, approximately a quarter of the stories were good, the writing was bad, and the narration was the worst (unless it was a friend doing the narrating).
Rating: 1.5/5
This book doesn't get a hated because there were some redeemable stories. It's about as close as I could get to hating a book without actually hating it though.
Recommendation:
If you actually like B.J. Novak you might like this book. No promises though. The writing is still pretty bad.
By: BJ Novak
Narrated by: BJ Novak (with special appearance by some of his famous friends)
Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Dates Listened: Jan. 24 - Mar. 12
Length: 6 hours 48 minutes
Source: Overdrive App
Why did I read it?
What I really wanted to listen to was The Bassoon King by Rainn Wilson but it had a super long hold list. This one showed up when I searched Rainn Wilson's name so I settled.
I have so many mixed feelings with this one. Sometimes it was terrible and sometimes it was good and sometimes I just wanted to smack BJ Novak in the face.
Let's start with the author. BJ Novak was one of the writers for The Office, one of my favourite TV shows. The office was hilarious. BJ wrote his own character for the show Ryan. Ryan was the worst. BJ Novak annoyed me playing Ryan. His acting was blah. His character was super annoying. The fact that he gave himself a spot in the opening credits even though he was less important than Stanley or Angela always bugged the crap out of me. I'm not the biggest BJ Novak fan.
Listening to BJ Novak read me his own book annoyed me to no end. His voice was still annoying. The intonation of his voice reminded me of Ryan and how much I didn't like him. I wish someone else read his book. It would have helped it be a little better. I loved when his friends took a character because that meant I wouldn't have to listen to BJ anymore...at least for a few moments. His 'The Office' friends came - Mindy Kaling, Jenna Fischer, and Rainn Wilson - plus some other friends. It was nice hearing any of them read as long as they were not BJ.
The writing itself was sub par. The actual writing wasn't very good - he is not very good at writing in prose. He stretched out the useless stuff and skimmed over the exciting. I think it would have been painful to read the actual text so I am glad I listened instead.
One More Thing is a collection of short stories and these varied in their "goodness." Some of them were really creative ideas. The best ones were when he took a well known thing like the Tortoise and the Hare or the "two trains are travelling to the same point how long will it get there" math problem. He took stories we all knew and loved and made them new and funny and thought provoking. However, some of the stories were really dumb (and not because they were supposed to be). Some were also pretty inappropriate. I think he meant them to be a funny inappropriate but they were just plain old inappropriate.
I won't lie to you. It is hard to write a review because of how very little I like B.J. Novak. Overall, approximately a quarter of the stories were good, the writing was bad, and the narration was the worst (unless it was a friend doing the narrating).
Rating: 1.5/5
This book doesn't get a hated because there were some redeemable stories. It's about as close as I could get to hating a book without actually hating it though.
Recommendation:
If you actually like B.J. Novak you might like this book. No promises though. The writing is still pretty bad.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
One More Wish
by: Robin Jones Gunn
Publisher: Robins Nest Productions Inc.
Dates Read: Feb. 3-9
Pages: 266
Source: Own it
Why did I read it?
It's the last book in the newest Christy Miller Series - I had to read it!
This book is of course wonderful like all the others. This time we get to hear about some of Christy's friends from way back when. Some of them are so far in the past I actually forgot about their existence! We also get to find out what happened with Sierra. Hearing from these friends I learned that there are more spin off books I'll be needing to get my hands on.
After writing about the two books before this I find there isn't much extra I can say without giving away what happens. Robin Jones Gunn still needs to find a better editor because the typos are atrocious, I love Christy Miller, and there better be more books!
Rating: 4.5/5
I really liked this one. It had a good new plot. A good lesson. And a really nice blast from the past.
Recommendation:
It's Christy Miller: read it.
Publisher: Robins Nest Productions Inc.
Dates Read: Feb. 3-9
Pages: 266
Source: Own it
Why did I read it?
It's the last book in the newest Christy Miller Series - I had to read it!
This book is of course wonderful like all the others. This time we get to hear about some of Christy's friends from way back when. Some of them are so far in the past I actually forgot about their existence! We also get to find out what happened with Sierra. Hearing from these friends I learned that there are more spin off books I'll be needing to get my hands on.
After writing about the two books before this I find there isn't much extra I can say without giving away what happens. Robin Jones Gunn still needs to find a better editor because the typos are atrocious, I love Christy Miller, and there better be more books!
Rating: 4.5/5
I really liked this one. It had a good new plot. A good lesson. And a really nice blast from the past.
Recommendation:
It's Christy Miller: read it.
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