Tag Archives: review

Caldwell Perspective Review- Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Posted
Filed under Book Musings

As a new side-gig, I am now writing a short monthly book review for The Caldwell Perspective, a hometown newspaper. Here’s February’s review and a link to the online paper:

https://issuu.com/caldwellperspective/docs/february_2016_caldwell_perspective/12

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book about Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson

Review by Michelle Ross (www.insearchoftheendofthesidewalk.com)

Jenny Lawson’s second book, Furiously Happy, is a hilarious look at life through the eyes of someone struggling with crippling social anxiety and depression. While the topic seems heavy, Lawson does an amazing job of taking her readers on a journey through mental illness, the good times and the bad, letting them peek into her world for a few moments of sheer craziness. Between her obsession with all things taxidermy (she only purchases ones that are proven to have died of natural causes) to her belief that flight attendants should get to bop one passenger, per flight, on the head for their stupidity, this book has something to make everyone smile.

Glibness aside, Lawson doesn’t shy away from the dark side of her mental illness, letting readers in on her own struggles to keep from cutting herself and her desire to lock herself away in her home for days on end. This book takes readers on a roller coaster of emotions, much like Lawson’s illness does in her own life, but in the end, learning to laugh at her own crazy antics is at the core of her tale.

Public reading warning: You will laugh out loud, making yourself look ridiculous. Ignore the stares. This book is worth a bit of public humiliation.

“Sometimes stunned silence is better than applause.”
― Jenny Lawson, Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things
fh

 

Among the Joyful by Erin Eastham

Posted
Filed under Book Musings

Among the Joyful by Erin Eastham

20761565

Erin Eastham’s recently released young adult novel, Among the Joyful, was a quick read. I was drawn into the narrative from the very first line and then stayed up way too late on a work night to get through the final line.

Alaire, the main character, is a young lady who lacks the angst normal to the formative teen years, mostly because she doesn’t know what it is.  She lives in Golden State, where happiness (or at least the appearance of it) is of foremost importance. In this “idyllic” planned society, it is each person’s responsibility to never infringe on the happiness of others, which not only means avoiding harsh or argumentative comments/conversations, but also never going out without a smile, as one person’s lack of smile could impact and ruin the day of another. Yes, everyone smiles, all of the time. (As I read, I actually tried to smile for an extended period of time. It is no easy task when it isn’t based on an actual emotion. It doesn’t take long for cheek muscles to tire and lips to dry out. No fun when it isn’t for real.)  As a member of the coveted Joyful Court at her high school, Alaire is a role model to the other students. Until, her world comes crashing down and she discovers empathy- that the world is not all smiles and Joyful Court meetings- there is sadness, heartbreak, disappointment and a whole range of emotions that she has never been allowed to experience.

There are many things to like about this novel, but probably my favorite is all of the references to other young adult books. I love that Alaire’s emotional awakening comes from within the pages of books. I always contend that reading fiction is a great way to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes and experience parts of the world that the reader has never encountered. It builds empathy and understanding.  This is exactly where Alaire starts to fall apart- the empathy and understanding piece.

Within the first few pages, I was thinking to myself how much this novel reminded me of Lois Lowry’s writing in The Giver, so I was thrilled when just a chapter or two later, Alaire stumbles upon this staple of young adult literature. It only gets better and she then comes across another classic, The Bridge to Terabithia and what is bound to be a new bedrock of the genre, The Fault in our Stars.  And of course, the title of the novel, Among the Joyful, is a nod to Margaret Peterson-Haddix’s fantastic YA series, Among the Hidden. All of these references, both outright and subtle, made me love this book from the very beginning.

My only confusion comes with the ending. As I read the book, I liked that it was a single, stand-alone novel. So many YA books these days are written as a part of a series (which are supremely beneficial for reluctant readers), but I do enjoy a good novel that can tell its story in a single sitting. I was very onboard with that idea throughout the book, but then when I hit the end, I wondered if it was meant to be a set-up for a sequel. Without providing any spoilers, but in all honestly, I liked the rather abrupt ending, as it left the reader to imagine where the tale’s characters would end up, but I worry that instead there will be a “book 2” and I am not sure the material is there to stretch for another couple hundred pages. This isn’t a criticism of the book, as I have no knowledge of an impending sequel, but I would like to imagine Eastham is done and will write another engaging novel with a different set of characters, so I can spend another sleepless night following their tales.

There were a few random spelling/grammar errors in the book, but nothing that detracted from the story or meaning, and overall, I really did enjoy Erin Eastham’s Among the Joyful  happily giving it the full score:

books shellbooks shellbooks shellbooks shellbooks shell

Book Roundup- 2013

Posted
Filed under Book Musings

Sadly, I’m not much of a long-term goal-setter.  I’m great at making plans and organizing for them, but terrible at following through with those artfully laid out efforts. That doesn’t mean I’m not moving forward and experiencing awesome new things in life (this last has allowed me to see some awesome new parts of the globe, including my new favorite place on earth- the Maldives, so I’m doing stuff, just not stuff I wrote down on paper!), it just means I’m lazy about the whole resolution thing. (Maybe this isn’t the best time of year to admit to a lack of resolution when it comes to resolutions!)  Needless to say, I don’t enter a number in the Good Reads goal box (which constantly pops up when I log into my account) and I don’t have a magic number of the scale (as long as my pants still fit, I’m good!).

But, with the end of the year quickly approaching, I did take a moment to scan over my read books list on Good Reads this last week and realized I was just a couple books short of 100 for the year! Suddenly, I had a goal- I had ten days to read three books. Easy-peasy! (Maybe I should go with ten-day resolutions this year. I seem to be able to stick to them.)

Now that I have hit that nice round 1-0-0 (okay, I’m at 101 and may or may not finish 102 before next week), I thought it would be fun to do a quick round up of my best and worst when it came to books in 2013. So, with no further ado, below are my five favorite and five least favorite books of the year, in no particular order.

BEST OF 2013

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini – Beautifully written, as always with Hosseini‘s fiction. I excitedly bought a hardback copy of this book the weekend we were in Taiwan (yay for no censorship!) and read it cover to cover in just a few days. The spinning of various tales into a larger story was done with grace and ease. The fairy tale with which the book commences not only sets the tone and themes for the rest of the book, but has stuck with me for months now. Life is all about the decisions we make, hoping that what seems right in the moment turns out to be good in the long-run.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick- Amazing and heartbreaking. Those are the two best words I can come up with to describe this young adult novel.  I couldn’t bear to walk away from Leonard, the protagonist, as he stumbled his way towards a heart wrenching decision. While definitely not an easy read, it is an important one, dealing with some very real issues faced by many teenagers.

Wool by Hugh Howey– Always a fan of the post-apocalyptic novel, I was drawn into this one very quickly. The idea of living in a silo, segregated by position and ability is a different take on the survival genre than I’ve read before. I was also intrigued by the idea that everyone who was banished happily completed their final task, even though it meant certain death.  I’ve heard there are now more stories out in this series, which may just be the top of my list for Christmas gift card purchases!

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown- I’m a huge fan of narrative non-fiction. History told through the stories of people, rather than a list of facts and dates has so much more meaning and depth to it and this book definitely did that. I also love when authors entwine various subjects into a single running narrative. (This author very much reminds me of Erik Larson.) While rowing holds no particular interest for me, the Northwest setting was a draw, and then combine in the building of the Coulee Dam and the Nazi-era Olympics and I was hooked.

The Circle by Dave Eggers- We all know technology and surveillance can quickly spin out of control, but just how willing are we to feed into the various data collection of various companies? Set in the not-so-distant future, this novel is a real eye-opener about just how much personal information we provide to the world through our Tweets, status updates, weekly blogs, etc. While the book takes these ideas to the extremes, it definitely made me stop and ponder my own digital footprint.

WORST OF 2013

Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan – I love memoir/short essay books, as I see my own writing as being in a similar vein, but I just couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for this one. Maybe it was the constant complaining about his million children (okay, not million, maybe four or five, but that must feel like a million some days) and then a page later his mooning over those same kiddos. I get that you love your kids even though they drive you nuts, but I felt like I was riding Miley Cyrus’ wrecking ball, back and forth, page to page. Because I do like this genre so much, I think I was more disappointed in this book than is fair, but when I turned the last page, I must admit to a bit of relief that it was finally over.

Headhunters on My Doorstep: A True Treasure Island Ghost Story by J. Maarten Troost- Again, another genre that I love (travel writing), but it didn’t stir an ounce of desire to pack my bags and follow in his footsteps. I’ve really enjoyed Troost’s previous books, but this one seemed hugely self-indulgent and was really just literary tangent after literary tangent. Maybe a recovering alcoholic would find solace in Troost’s travels and musings, but I was annoyed and wanted more adventure and less mental meandering.

Flu: The Story OfThe Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It by Gina Kolata – Who doesn’t enjoy a bit of creepy pandemic gore on occasion? Over the last several years, I’ve read a few books about the spread of disease from animal to human and the science behind pandemics, so I was excited or this one about the 1918 flu, but in the end, could barely make it from page to page. Maybe that was the author’s intentions- make me achy and weary and exhausted so that I commiserated more fully with the victims of the book- if so, she was a success. While the book attempted to go the route of narrative non-fiction, the characters were not well-crafted, the stories weren’t interesting and the links between them were tenuous, as best.  I’m afraid there is no remedy for all that is wrong with this one.

Checkout Girl: A Life Behind the Register by Anna Sam– Again, my love of the memoir/essay genre drew me to this book and as someone who worked retail all through high school and college, I thought I’d definitely relate to her stories, but instead, I was just annoyed. Each essay was short and lacked the details needed to create a full-bodied tale. I didn’t realize it until after I finished the book and did a bit of research, but apparently the original book was in French,  so I think some of the problems could possibly be linked to translation (both literal and cultural) difficulties. I wouldn’t buy this one again, even if it were in the $1.99 bin at the bookstore.

Silver Orphan by Martine Lacombe- I wanted to like this one, as it was the first galley copy I ever reviewed, but I just couldn’t get on board with it. The premise is a good one, but the whole book felt like an early draft, not a novel ready to go to publishing. Without giving the ending away, I did feel like it came a bit out of left-field and has me closing the book with some lingering questions, not about the main plot line of the book, but about new twists that were introduced on the final page. While not a terrible book, I just felt like it was still in the revision process, not one people are paying money to read quite yet.

So there you have it. The good and the bad (no ugly) of my 2013 reading list. I can’t wait to see what comes out in the new year, as I will once again be jobless by June, I should have lot of time to find new stand-outs (and those that should hide in the shadows) for 2014.

Happy reading!

(Notice there is no parallel story to go along with the number on the scale reference in the introduction. My shiny treadmill sits in the other room, awaiting the same spark of inspiration. It will come…someday!)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.