Toss Me That Book

*Note - I tried my hand at scheduling the publication of posts with limited success.  That's why book 12 of the year is out of order. Format: Kindle Date Started:  March 6, 2019 Date Finished:  March 12, 2019 While I liked the premise of this book, which is based on the true story of the Greenbrier Ghost, the way the story was put together didn't work for me.  In the beginning, our narrator, Mary Jane, is the mother of the girl, named Zona, who will go on to become the Greenbrier Ghost.  Excellent, I thought, and I was interested in her story.  I found that the author did a good job of capturing the realities of her life on a West Virginia farm through MJ's sparse, plain speech patterns.  I'm here for authentic voices as a way to enhance setting 100%. Our second narrator is one of the lawyers representing the murderer - Trout.  Side note - that's a killer's name if I've ever heard one, and I didn't need a ghost to point it out.  ...

Format:  Kindle Date Started:  February 25, 2019 Date Finished:  February 28, 2019 Oh, I probably shouldn't have watched the movie on Netflix before I read this book because the movie was vastly superior.  This may or may not be mostly due to the inclusion of Bex Taylor-Klaus and drag queens, but superior it is.  What I liked about the book that the movie just wasn't able to capture were Willowdean's thoughts about her body.  Not that I liked all of Willowdean's negativity towards her body.  Not at all.  The mother in me wanted to remind her that she is beautiful...period.  But, the former teenage girl in me truthfully remembered and recognized that urge to pull away when someone touched or even accidentally bumped my stomach. I mean, I still have panicky thoughts when it's time to pull out the old swimsuit even though I remind myself of all the cool things my body can do - run marathons, create human beings. So, in conclusion, ...

Format:  Kindle Date Started:  February 15, 2019 Date Finished:  February 25, 2019 When I first started this series, I didn't have very high expectations.  While I LOVED Harry Potter, The Casual Vacancy fell flat, and I didn't finish it.  However, J.K. Rowling can do no wrong in my book, so I set out cautiously and optimistically with Cormoran Strike. What I like about this fourth book in the series is the convergence of Robin and Strike's personal lives with the actual case.  Instead of having Robin set aside her marriage issues and mental health issues to work on the case, Galbraith weaves them into the story.  To me, this feels much more realistic.  I mean, if I've had a rough patch at home, it absolutely affects my day at work.  And, I'm not even solving crime and fighting off bad guys.   I love the interpersonal dynamic of Strike and Robin as well.  Having spent the last 16 years working in various kinds of...

Format:  Kindle Date Started:  February 10, 2019 Date Finished:  February 15, 2019 I don't put a lot of stock/faith in celebrity book clubs.  While I appreciate the recommendation, I just sort of feel that they can't be trusted.  Just because she's famous, Reese Witherspoon's taste in books won't necessarily jive with mine.  And then there's that feeling you get when you don't like something that's super-popular...and then all of a sudden it feels like middle school again. But I took a chance on this one, and I'm happy that I did.  I liked exploring a place that I'd never been and seeing a passion for wildlife through the eyes of insiders - the scientist author and the native narrator. What I really liked about this book was its exploration of womanhood - our perceptions about what women are, do, look like, and feel.  The author had some really interesting examples of female behavior in nature to contrast with female human behavior...

Format:  Kindle Date Started:  February 28, 2019 Date Completed:  March 6, 2019 I'll just say it - I found this book to be incredibly derivative.  While I was reading it, my mind kept drifting off to think about "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline and just how much better it was than this book. Virtual World - check - advantage "Ready Player One" High Stakes Gaming - check - advantage "Ready Player One" Teens Banding Together - check - advantage "Ready Player One" Romance - check - advantage "Ready Player One" I found the ability of the NeuroLink to augment reality super interesting in that it allows its users to recreate their actual world, and I would much rather have read about how that affects human interaction than spending pages as one-dimensional characters had one dimensional interactions.  For example, Emika's relationship with her father isn't explored at all -- he was an artist with a gambling probl...