Best rest + #Amreading = 7 books in 5 days & micro-reviews!

So I had surgery last week and not able to work for a few weeks. While I have certainly been better, it's kind of nice to catch up on my reading. Unfortunately, I don’t have the energy to write full reviews right now, but I thought I’d post some micro-reviews on the few books I’ve read in the last few days.  (I'm not including the summaries, so for more info, click the cover art.)  If you have read any of these books, feel free to let me know what you thought of them in the comments.  Enjoy!

Broken Pieces by Rachel Thompson

Not my normal read.  This is a collection of personal essays and poems where the normally comedic author gets serious about tragedies in her own life.  Honest and sad.  Not what you might want if looking for a pick-me-up, but still an important, emotional read.  Sometimes it’s good to know that you are not the only one who has experienced pain.  The weightiness of the subjects might be tough, but this is a book that is easy to read a little at a time between other things.

* I don't do dream casts for non-fiction. It's a little weird.

The Deepest Cut by J.A. Templeton

Ooh, a YA ghost story with kissing! I loved the paranormal aspects of the story.  It was a bit insta-love, but it’s a short book, so you’ll have that.  The evil spirit was super creepy.  The only part that felt off to me was the whole cutting thing.  It felt disconnected from the rest of the story.  It could have been left out without losing any of the emotion.  I also think the title and cover art should have focused more on the creepy paranormal plot line. 

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Britt Robertson (Riley), Brant Daugherty (Ian)

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

I would read Julie Kagawa’s shopping list.  She has never disappointed me with anything she has ever written. The Eternity Cure is a perfect follow up to The Immortal Rules.  The characters all had a chance to grow and come into their own.  Allie is getting super bad-ass.  Jackal provided some much needed comic relief in this dark and serious novel.  Seeing him, Allie and Zeke have to work together was fabulous. 

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) -  Brenda Song (Allie), Armie Hammer (Zeke), Chris Pine (Jackal), J.D. Pardo (Vampire Prince dude...forgot his name)

Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

It’s no secret that I’m in love with Richelle Mead. But when you add together Richelle Mead + sci-fi world + kick-ass heroine + brainy hero + ancient gods + a murder mystery, that equals up to a whole lot of AWESOME!  I took me a few chapters to get into the book because there is so much world-building that needs to be set up and a lot of characters to introduce, but stick with it.  I can already tell I am going to love this series!

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) -  Anna Torv (Mae), A younger Dean Cain (Justin), India Eisley (Tessa)

For Everly by Raine Thomas

Excellent new adult read!  The characters were fun; I liked the awkwardness between Everly and Cole at their first business lunch; there was some great family drama; the love story was exciting.  My only problem--and this is a major pet peeve of mine and is no way isolated to this book alone--but I am so f’ing sick of the virginal heroine.  Twenty-two years old, looks like a super model, and never been kissed? Really??? Why can’t women and men meet on a more level playing field in the bedroom?  We're all about having empowered heroines in every area except when it comes to sex.  There still seems to be a stigma around girls who embrace their sexuality.  I’m ready to go on a crusade to champion realistic female sexual power.  Who’s with me?!?!

Okay, done with my rant.  Seriously, For Everly is a really good book.  Don’t let my bitching discourage you from buying it. 

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Channing Tatum (Cole), Karen Gillan (Everly)

Damaged by H.M. Ward

Yeah, I’d say these characters were damaged. Both Sidney and Peter come with serious emotional baggage.  Add to that he is both her professor and boss...yeah, there is no shortage on present drama either.  While I liked the book and thought the characters were interesting, the back stories were a tad bit on the over-dramatic side.  They just felt too contrived and not so believable.  That said, I'm a sucker for a great love story, and there were enough comedic elements to keep the story from getting too bogged down. #CouchSniffer 

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Sarah Hyland (Sidney), Xavier Samuel (Peter)

Unbreak Me by Lexi Ryan

This book was really messed up, but I loved it!  Maggie has made one poor decision after another in her young life, but she has the best intention of getting back on track.  The book opens with her as a bridesmaid for her sister who is marrying Maggie’s ex-fiancé, Will.  I immediately did not like Will for this reason alone. Whether Maggie broke up with him or not, how could he move on to her sister?!?  Then, enter Asher, the hot next door neighbor.  While he wasn’t perfect either, he was so much easier to like.  The book started as a train wreck of family drama, but ended up turning into a beautiful love story. 

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Jacqueline Emerson (Maggie), Penn Badgley (Will), Robbie Amell (Asher)

Review: ‘The Adventure of English’ by Melvyn Bragg

Here is the riveting story of the English language, from its humble beginnings as a regional dialect to its current preeminence as the one global language, spoken by more than two billion people worldwide. In this groundbreaking book, Melvyn Bragg shows how English conquered the world. It is a magnificent adventure, full of jealousy, intrigue, and war—against a hoard of invaders, all armed with their own conquering languages, which bit by bit, the speakers of English absorbed and made their own.

Along the way, its colorful story takes in a host of remarkable people, places, and events: the Norman invasion of England in 1066; the arrival of The Canterbury Tales and a “coarse” playwright named William Shakespeare, who added 2,000 words to the language; the songs of slaves; the words of Davy Crockett; and the Lewis and Clark expedition, which led to hundreds of new words as the explorers discovered unknown flora and fauna. The Adventure of English is an enthralling story not only of power, religion, and trade, but also of a people and how they changed the world.

(Amazon product description)

I have been recommending this book to everyone I talk to.  I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but this book was fascinating.  It tells the story of how our language evolved from ancient Sanskrit up through the centuries into what we speak today.  I know that sounds boring, but if you like history, you will love this book. 

One of the reasons I loved this book is because I actually listened to it on the audio version.  If you have never heard Old English spoken, it is both familiar and foreign at the same time.  Very strange.  Even the English of a few centuries ago would be hard for us to understand completely if we were to go back in time.  (Claire from Outlander would have never been able to understand Jamie...)  This is one that I think was better as an audio book.

The history in the book was really interesting.  I think my favorite part was leaning just how big of a role French played in the formation of our language.  I’m descended from the Normans on both sides of my family.  During the Norman invasion of England, French very easily could have taken over completely, causing English to die out in the way Cornish and Gaelic did.  Instead, English persevered by taking on many French words and making them part of the total lexicon. 

Anyway, whether you are a word nerd or a history buff, The Adventure of English is definitely worth the read...or listen. 

Overall I give The Adventure of English...

Plot - 4 bookmarks (Normally, I wouldn’t think of a non-fic as having a plot, but this was interesting, fast paced and made you feel as if you were journeying through time.  I call that plot.)

History - 5 bookmarks (Along the way, the book explains how historic people and events shaped the language. Shakespeare, Chaucer, bible translators, Native Americans, etc.)

Research - 5 bookmarks (It amazed me some of the stuff the author came up with.)

Narrator - 5 bookmarks (I strongly recommend this as an audio book.)

Review: SUPERFREAKONOMICS by Levitt & Dubner

Once again, I revisited the twisted world of Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.  In many ways, Superfreakonomics is more of the same…the application of economic models to data in order to solve common questions.  One of the more interesting differences in this installment is the emphasis on cheap and simple solutions to some of life’s complex problems.  A few of the main topics discussed were simple solutions for global warming, the effect television has on the way women in rural India are treated, how to spot a terrorist by examining their financial records, etc. 

My favorite part of this book were the discussions on simple and cheap solutions to problems.  For example, for only a fraction of what we pay out in hurricane damage each year, a water circulation device could be created and used to cool the surface temperature on the oceans, decreasing the intensity of hurricanes.  This solution would continue to allow topical storms and low grade hurricanes to bring the much needed moisture to maintain the ecology of these affected areas of the world, yet it would prevent the storms from reaching the level four and five intensities which bring mass destruction or property and lives.  The science behind this device is so logical and easy that even I understood it!  So why don’t these cheap & simple solutions get put into action?  Because they are cheap and simple.  There isn’t enough money to be made off of them. 

Just like Freakonomics, the writing was fast-paced.  The topics seemed to bounce around a lot, but they always connected back the original thread.  This writing style keeps the reader from getting too bogged down in the data and allows them to see the big-picture.  As some of you may know, I am in grad school now for Business, so I have a broad base knowledge of finance and economics prior to reading these books.  The beauty of them though is that any person on the street could pick them up and not only follow the ideas, but enjoy what they read.  I’m so happy to see writers making economics accessible to the masses, because it really can be incredibly interesting. 

Overall, I give Superfreakonomics…

Innovative Ideas – 5 bookmarks

Accessibility – 4 bookmarks

Review: BOLD SPIRIT by Linda Hunt

I am a firm believer that buried in every family is a story.  Some stories are heroic, some are tragic, some tell of great loves, others of great losses.  Unfortunately, many of these stories are lost to time due to lack of preservation.  Sometimes people close to the situations are embarrassed by them.  Sometimes they assume no one else would be interested.  Bold Spirit tells of a story that was almost lost forever when the family of Helga Estby purposely burnt Helga’s memoires.  Only a few newspaper articles saved from the ashes by Helga’s daughter-in-law and hidden away are left to remember Helga’s historic feat.

Bold Spirit is the true story of Helga Estby, a Norwegian immigrant, who walked from Spokane, Washington to New York City in the late 1800’s.  When Helga was thirty-six years old, her family was suffering under a recession and fighting the foreclosure on their farm.  This desperation to save her home and to keep her husband and nine kids from starving, led Helga to accept a wager from a wealthy person in the NY fashion industry.  This sponsor wanted to promote shorter skirts, which would show a woman’s ankles (not really, the women wore high boots) and would allow more freedom of movement.  The sponsor promised Helga $10,000 if she would walk from Spokane to New York wearing the new shorter skirt.  This would promote the new fashion as well as support the growing women’s right movement.  Helga was only allowed to leave her home with $5 and was expected to earn her way across the country by selling pictures of herself.  She had seven months to complete the trip. 

So, on a cold Spring morning, Helga and her daughter, Clara, set forth on a walk which would take them across the country.  They used the local newspaper in each town that they stopped in to promote their walk and to drum up picture sales.  (It is this public record of small town newspaper articles which made writing this book possible.)  Along the way, Helga and Clara learned about the American Spirit and hospitality.  They lost their prejudices of the Native Americans.  They learned the physical strength that women possessed. 

I don’t want to give anything away.  Let’s just say, her kids at home were not happy about their mother traipsing all over the country while they were suffering at home.  These children burnt Helga’s memoires and forbid mention of Helga’s great journey.  Besides providing a snapshot of American history, Helga’s story taught me the importance of preserving our family histories. 

Overall, I give Bold Spirit…

Plot – 3 ½ bookmarks

Character Development – 2 bookmarks (This is low mostly because very little first-hand information on Helga exists.  The author had to piece her together through our sources.)

History – 4 bookmarks

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Tilda Swinton (Helga)

Review: FREAKONOMICS by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know that my personal reading for the last few weeks has had to take a backseat to my homework.  Luckily for me, I get to combine personal reading and academic reading this week!  

I actually have read Freakonomics three times now.  The first time was for fun.  The second was for my book club.  And now the third is for a book review for my finance class.  It was the only book on the list of 25 that I had already read, and I didn’t want to have to read something dry if I didn’t have to.  This third reading was really more of a skim, but it counts.) 

Anyway, Freakonomics is a fascinating book that will make even math-adverse people like myself feel smart.  The basic idea of Freakonomics lies in economist Steven Levitt’s belief that economic theory isn’t just for the financial world, but can be applied to the everyday problems of life.  Do realtors really get you the best deal they can when selling your home?  What do bagels in an office lunchroom teach about white collar crime?  How does “No Child Left Behind” encourage teachers to cheat the standardized testing system?  How can an ethnic name influence a person’s job prospects?  Virtually any situation where accurate data is recorded can use economic principles to solve its problems. 

Sound boring?  Trust me…this book is anything but boring.  And you do not have to know anything about economics going in to reading it.  The authors also do not stuff a bunch of mathematical equations down your neck.  The focus is on the cause an effects of certain situations and what they mean.  For example, in the early 1990’s, the crime rate was raising at an alarming rate.  Law enforcement and politicians were in a panic over what how to handle it.  Then, out of the blue, the crime rate started to fall without cause.  Law enforcement and politicians took the credit for it, but the real reason the crime rate fell had to do with something seemingly unrelated—Roe v. Wade.  It seems criminals who largely come from poor, disadvantaged backgrounds were just not being born due to the legalization of abortion.  (DISCLAIMER:  This is not a comment on the morality of abortion.  Purely an observation made in the book.  I don’t want to get into it with anyone.)  This is just one example of the interesting examples studied.  If you want a break from fiction, give this a shot.

Overall, I give Freakonomics…

Innovative Ideas – 5 bookmarks

Accessibility – 4 bookmarks (Most adults should not have any problem following along.)

Likelihood I will read the sequel Super Freakonomics – 4 bookmarks (I’ll definitely get to it eventually.)

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – There are no characters, but in the section where they talked about Sudhir Venkatesh—the sociology student who gained open access to the financials of a drug lord—I couldn’t help but picture the dude who plays Zaboo on “The Guild.”

Review: ON WRITING by Stephen King

Review: ON WRITING by Stephen King

First, an update on me.  My reading for fun has taken a hit the last couple of weeks, because I’m taking this stupid MBA class that is totally kicking my ass.  On top of that I have had to break down and get a day job.  I know!  That sucks the big one!  After sixteen months of retirement (unemployment), my sugar daddy has decided I need to make some cash.  I’m only going to work part time, 20 hours a week, so I still should be able to continue my writing.  I’m telling you all this because my personal reading might take a hit and therefore, my blog will not be updated as often as it has been in the past.  Don’t worry, even while working full time, I still read two novels a week, so the blog will still be plenty active. 

Now, on to business.  On Writing.  Whether you like his style of books or not, I don’t think anyone can disagree that Stephen King is a genius.  My reading history with King has been perilous.  As a teen, I read every book he wrote—devoured them like candy—until The Tommyknockers.  I’ve never quite forgiven him for The Tommyknockers.  It killed me to have to put it down, but seriously—250 pages on the inner workings of a battery?  I understand that King was coked out of his mind when he wrote it, and it showed, but his editor should have had a “come to jesus” talk with him at that point. 

Okay, I know King has been drug and alcohol free for fifteen years now, but I just wouldn’t let myself go back to him…until On Writing.  Mr. King, I want to publically forgive you for The Tommyknockers and let you know that I’m a believer again. 

On Writing is part memoir/part guide for new writers.  As a writer myself, I am fascinated by those who have “made it” in the business.  Since King is one of the most recognizable and prolific authors of our time, there is no greater expert out there to talk on this subject.  In fact, reading the second half of the book was like King having the “come to Jesus” talk with me.  He called me out and kicked my ass on all of the things I’m doing as a writer that I shouldn’t—and he’s 100% right.  I needed this book right at this time.  I am ¾ of the way though my second novel and have completely fallen out of love with it.  Since King wrote this in second person, it felt like he was talking directly to me, calling me out on all my bullshit excuses.  I needed that. 

On Writing is not just a dressing down—the story was very inspiring as well.  King has been through a lot of crap over his career, some of his making and he’s honest about that, but he has come through it strong.  Most of all, this book showed me that even successful writers have been through the same self-doubt and aggravations that I go through.  He too had a formidable stack of rejection letters wracked up.  Finishing this book made we want to tackle that manuscript again.  Thank you, Mr. King. 

Overall, I give On Writing…

Plot – 3 bookmarks (primarily non-fiction, but there is a personal narrative which threads through.)

Practical Application – 5 bookmarks.  (Every writer should read this book—preferably when they are down on themselves.)

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Stephen King as himself.