Me Before You was not on my radar prior to the movie coming out and various book reviewers talking about it because of that. I picked it up to see what the hype was all about. I found it to be an enjoyable read.
Me Before You is the story of a woman who takes a job being a care taker for a quadriplegic who, prior to his accident, had been a very physical man with a high powdered job. It doesn't start off in a promising fashion, but they eventually make friends (as you'd expect). Rosie tries hard to convince Will there is something to live for still.
I thought Me Before You was very readable. The only parts I didn't like in reading it were the few chapters from someone else's perspective. I found them disruptive and unnecessary. I didn't get as involved as I think a lot of readers did. I didn't, for example, cry, which I've heard most people do. I saw the end coming and was sad but also okay with it.
I don't know if I'll bother with the movie. Most of the time, I don't enjoy the adaptation and I think I'll just let this one stay a book for me.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne
I finally got around to reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I kind of wish I hadn't. I am a fan of the Harry Potter books. I read or listened to the first four probably a good 10 times in part because the audio books became our go-to car entertainment for many years while Davan went through a serious Harry Potter phase and in part because I liked them so much myself. I read the last three fewer times. In fact, I only read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the once. I also like many things Harry Potter. For a while, I collected Harry Potter cards and made my family play with me. I did not, however, like the movies. At all. I wanted to give up watching them after the third, but I did give up watching them after the fourth. Many years later, Davan, Lena, Anthony and I watched the last several together after Davan and Lena watched the first three. I still didn't like them, but I guess I'm glad I didn't like them from a more knowledgeable place. I feel the same about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
I'm not going to go over the plot line on this one. Either you've read it or I don't want to spoil you. I will say that I disliked most decisions that nearly everyone made and I felt they weren't very consistent with the characters I loved in the original books. I felt that bringing some characters in was purely about touching the bases and not only didn't mean anything, but took away from the book. It read, in my opinion, like fan fiction and not strictly cannon fan fiction at that.
The one thing I did like that happened very early on, so it's not very spoiler-y to say is when Albus decided to be friends with Scorpius. I thought that was awesome and I felt it was a J.K. move.
If I could call myself a true Harry Potter fan without having read this book, I'd wish I hadn't. However, because it exists, it felt necessary to read.
I'm not going to go over the plot line on this one. Either you've read it or I don't want to spoil you. I will say that I disliked most decisions that nearly everyone made and I felt they weren't very consistent with the characters I loved in the original books. I felt that bringing some characters in was purely about touching the bases and not only didn't mean anything, but took away from the book. It read, in my opinion, like fan fiction and not strictly cannon fan fiction at that.
The one thing I did like that happened very early on, so it's not very spoiler-y to say is when Albus decided to be friends with Scorpius. I thought that was awesome and I felt it was a J.K. move.
If I could call myself a true Harry Potter fan without having read this book, I'd wish I hadn't. However, because it exists, it felt necessary to read.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin
I've had a super busy week plus. I've had a 10 year old for a week of "Nicholina Day Camp," Davan plus Lena over the week (they are a lot self sufficient, but I still do stuff with them), and our exchange student came on Saturday. It hasn't left much reading time. Oh, not to mention French is still happening, there was a test last week and homework is increased as we're reaching the end. Whew. However, I did manage to finish Symptoms of Being Human last week. And then it's been sitting here in the living room waiting for me to have time to write a review.
I mostly liked Symptoms of Being Human. It's a story of a person who is gender fluid. Sometimes this person feels strongly like a she and other times strongly like a he and sometimes not so strongly. Riley is this teen's name. Riley has not chosen a pronoun because of the fluidity. Riley is navigating a new school with a fresh start, but also the accompanying trying to find a place. Riley's dad is a senator, so there is that to deal with. Sometimes Riley has to put on a show for the public. Additionally, Riley has a lot of anxiety with an occasional full blown panic attack.
What I liked: I mostly liked Riley. Sometimes I didn't. I found Riley a little overly dramatic at times. I liked the story of gender fluidity as a story with someone relatable. I liked that we didn't know Riley's gender appearance at birth...at least for a while. What I didn't like: After about half way through the book it became really artificial to me that we didn't discover Riley's birth gender. There were times that it would have definitely come up. The media would not have referred to Riley as "your child" when asking the senator father questions. While ultimately I felt not knowing made getting to know Riley very interesting in a good way, I also felt this artifice made the story feel unrealistic. Additionally, while you don't absolutely have to be the same gender/race/ethnicity as the characters you write, I did feel like this was written by someone who wasn't fluid (and it was). That was a small thing, but niggled at me. One other thing that felt artificial, almost everyone had gender neutral names, particularly those who ended up not being the gender they first appeared to be. So, these things made the book feel not as realistic as I'd have liked it to be.
Still, the read was overall good. And I felt it was a good introduction to gender fluidity. Also? Having it sitting here in my living room lead to a good conversation starter with our new exchange student. So, there's that.
I mostly liked Symptoms of Being Human. It's a story of a person who is gender fluid. Sometimes this person feels strongly like a she and other times strongly like a he and sometimes not so strongly. Riley is this teen's name. Riley has not chosen a pronoun because of the fluidity. Riley is navigating a new school with a fresh start, but also the accompanying trying to find a place. Riley's dad is a senator, so there is that to deal with. Sometimes Riley has to put on a show for the public. Additionally, Riley has a lot of anxiety with an occasional full blown panic attack.
What I liked: I mostly liked Riley. Sometimes I didn't. I found Riley a little overly dramatic at times. I liked the story of gender fluidity as a story with someone relatable. I liked that we didn't know Riley's gender appearance at birth...at least for a while. What I didn't like: After about half way through the book it became really artificial to me that we didn't discover Riley's birth gender. There were times that it would have definitely come up. The media would not have referred to Riley as "your child" when asking the senator father questions. While ultimately I felt not knowing made getting to know Riley very interesting in a good way, I also felt this artifice made the story feel unrealistic. Additionally, while you don't absolutely have to be the same gender/race/ethnicity as the characters you write, I did feel like this was written by someone who wasn't fluid (and it was). That was a small thing, but niggled at me. One other thing that felt artificial, almost everyone had gender neutral names, particularly those who ended up not being the gender they first appeared to be. So, these things made the book feel not as realistic as I'd have liked it to be.
Still, the read was overall good. And I felt it was a good introduction to gender fluidity. Also? Having it sitting here in my living room lead to a good conversation starter with our new exchange student. So, there's that.
Sunday, August 7, 2016
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
I loved The Rosie Project! I'd picked it out from the library, but Davan got to it first. She really enjoyed it, so that made me even more excited about reading it. And I really loved it.
Our main character is Don Tillman who, although he doesn't realize it, is an aspie. He decides to embark on a project to find a wife involving a questionnaire, but, meanwhile, is also involved in a project to help Rosie find her biological father. You can guess what ends up happening with that. It is, after all, called the Rosie project and is a love story.
I loved Don's voice and his interactions with friends, potential wives and with Rosie. I love his rational take on things. I found this book to be playful and fun. I found Don to be relatable and Rosie to be awesome.
Check out The Rosie Project!
Our main character is Don Tillman who, although he doesn't realize it, is an aspie. He decides to embark on a project to find a wife involving a questionnaire, but, meanwhile, is also involved in a project to help Rosie find her biological father. You can guess what ends up happening with that. It is, after all, called the Rosie project and is a love story.
I loved Don's voice and his interactions with friends, potential wives and with Rosie. I love his rational take on things. I found this book to be playful and fun. I found Don to be relatable and Rosie to be awesome.
Check out The Rosie Project!
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt
Orbiting Jupiter was a very fast read. I flew through it just this afternoon, even though I also have run some errands and spent some time welcoming Davan home from her camping trip and hearing all about it.
Orbiting Jupiter is a story told from the point of view of Jack, a 12 year old boy whose family does foster care. Joseph, 14, comes to live with his family after a troubled past because, of course, you don't end up in foster care because your life was smooth sailing. Joseph slowly opens up to his family, but even before he does, there are a few things they (and we, the readers) know. Joseph, at 14, is a father and wants to find his daughter, Jupiter, who is a few months old. He's been in a juvenile detention center called Stone Mountain. And he hates to be touched or have someone behind him.
We've had a foster son. Just one. It was very difficult. Sometimes these things turn out great. Sometimes they just turn out safe. Our experience was...not simple. And it wasn't because we didn't care or because we were bad foster parents. We simply were not equipped to deal with the issues our foster son had. (And, as it turns out, neither were his next three placements, after which we lost track of him.) And he was only 5 when he came to us. I find I do like reading about foster care situations and I like when they work. However, I also dread books where the foster child has a lot of big issues and then everything is tied up in a pretty bow by the end. It doesn't always work that way. But, kids tend to be resilient, so sometimes it does. I approached the end of Orbiting Jupiter with some trepidation. Joseph had some big issues and lots to overcome. I both wished for a happy ending and dreaded it. I won't tell you what happened except to say that at least part of it took me completely by surprise.
I cared about these people even though the book was so short. I think they'll stick with me a while. That said, this was also a middle school book and felt like it at times. After all, our narrator is 12. I'm going to go again with: good book, but not an all time favorite.
Orbiting Jupiter is a story told from the point of view of Jack, a 12 year old boy whose family does foster care. Joseph, 14, comes to live with his family after a troubled past because, of course, you don't end up in foster care because your life was smooth sailing. Joseph slowly opens up to his family, but even before he does, there are a few things they (and we, the readers) know. Joseph, at 14, is a father and wants to find his daughter, Jupiter, who is a few months old. He's been in a juvenile detention center called Stone Mountain. And he hates to be touched or have someone behind him.
We've had a foster son. Just one. It was very difficult. Sometimes these things turn out great. Sometimes they just turn out safe. Our experience was...not simple. And it wasn't because we didn't care or because we were bad foster parents. We simply were not equipped to deal with the issues our foster son had. (And, as it turns out, neither were his next three placements, after which we lost track of him.) And he was only 5 when he came to us. I find I do like reading about foster care situations and I like when they work. However, I also dread books where the foster child has a lot of big issues and then everything is tied up in a pretty bow by the end. It doesn't always work that way. But, kids tend to be resilient, so sometimes it does. I approached the end of Orbiting Jupiter with some trepidation. Joseph had some big issues and lots to overcome. I both wished for a happy ending and dreaded it. I won't tell you what happened except to say that at least part of it took me completely by surprise.
I cared about these people even though the book was so short. I think they'll stick with me a while. That said, this was also a middle school book and felt like it at times. After all, our narrator is 12. I'm going to go again with: good book, but not an all time favorite.
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
I stayed up about 45 minutes later than I'd planned on turning my light out last night finishing up Isla and the Happily Ever After. That's a good sign, but is also a reflection on my need to push to the end once I get to a certain point.
I liked Isla and the Happily Ever After but not to the point where all I wanted to do was read, which is my benchmark for a really good book. We met Isla briefly in Anna and the French Kiss and much of Isla's story, like Anna's, takes place in Paris at the School of America in Paris. Isla's crush, Josh, was a somewhat more prominent character in Anna and the French Kiss. Isla has had a crush on Josh forever, but Josh was very taken. Now all of Josh's friends have graduated including his now ex-girlfriend. Romance blooms.
To be slightly spoiler-ish, I liked that the trajectory of the romance for Isla was different from what it was for Anna. I appreciated that they fairly quickly choose each other. The downside of that was a fairly predictable middle of the book miserableness before the ending. While I do like some romances, I also dislike that there is almost always either the will they/won't they or the get together, be miserable, get back together for good dynamic. Again, it's one of the things I liked about the romance in Fangirl. There was an ever-so small section of miserable, but is was fairly quickly overcome and then there was a long stretch of just being in a relationship. I find that I like it much better when there is a plot line aside from the romance.
I, generally, am finding I like Stephanie Perkins stories. Her characters are mostly likable and interesting. The settings are fun. The romances are pretty good. What keeps them from being higher in my rankings is that the focus is on the romance, so there is the whole romance trajectory as being the prominent plot not just part of it. That leads to the typical romance story lines. She does a good job of it, so they're still decent reads, but aren't my favorites.
I liked Isla and the Happily Ever After but not to the point where all I wanted to do was read, which is my benchmark for a really good book. We met Isla briefly in Anna and the French Kiss and much of Isla's story, like Anna's, takes place in Paris at the School of America in Paris. Isla's crush, Josh, was a somewhat more prominent character in Anna and the French Kiss. Isla has had a crush on Josh forever, but Josh was very taken. Now all of Josh's friends have graduated including his now ex-girlfriend. Romance blooms.
To be slightly spoiler-ish, I liked that the trajectory of the romance for Isla was different from what it was for Anna. I appreciated that they fairly quickly choose each other. The downside of that was a fairly predictable middle of the book miserableness before the ending. While I do like some romances, I also dislike that there is almost always either the will they/won't they or the get together, be miserable, get back together for good dynamic. Again, it's one of the things I liked about the romance in Fangirl. There was an ever-so small section of miserable, but is was fairly quickly overcome and then there was a long stretch of just being in a relationship. I find that I like it much better when there is a plot line aside from the romance.
I, generally, am finding I like Stephanie Perkins stories. Her characters are mostly likable and interesting. The settings are fun. The romances are pretty good. What keeps them from being higher in my rankings is that the focus is on the romance, so there is the whole romance trajectory as being the prominent plot not just part of it. That leads to the typical romance story lines. She does a good job of it, so they're still decent reads, but aren't my favorites.
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