4th book of the year

I admit I feel that I am a little behind schedule, so I picked a book I knew I would enjoy and that I could read fairly quickly.

The point of this resolution was to read more books outside of my usual reading comfort zone, however, “The Unseen” by Heather Graham is not outside my comfort zone…I love paranormal, romantic, mysteries and I love Heather Graham!

I read this book in about 2 days after I scrapped reading “Defending Jacob” (for the time being).  When Heather Graham writes, she follows a formula so this book was fairly predictable, but the predictability didn’t sacrifice any of the enjoy-ability.  It was filled with mystery, some paranormal activity, and some romance/sex (the sex was the best part…very steamy!)

My next book to read is “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins.  I have not read anything from her yet! i hope to have this done by Wednesday or Thursday, I really want to get back on track.

two for the price of one!

well, I finished reading “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” by Jean-Dominique Bauby.  I didn’t immediately post about this because the book hit me so hard and it took an entire week to process it! Even while I was reading my third book (which I will talk about in a minute) I could not stop thinking about this one.

Basically, it is a memoir written by a man who has locked-in syndrome.  Bauby suffered a stroke and ended up completely trapped in his own body.  His only method of communication is through his left eye…this is how he wrote his memoir…by blinking…Suffice to say, I thought this book would be difficult to read because Bauby is French and he wrote the book by blinking, but the prose was so beautiful and thoughtful and as a social worker in a long term care facility, it seriously made me think about how I communicate with those who have a difficult time communicating. I loved this book and will probably read it again.

For my next book, I picked “the Martian” by Andy Weir…I. Loved. this . book.  It is about a man who gets stranded on Mars and his unlikely survival…Even though it’s very math-y and science-y it didn’t go over my head.  The protagonist is really likable and very funny.  This is my favorite book of the year and I am fully recommending it to everybody!

Now I am reading “Defending Jacob” by William Landay…i just might be able to complete this resolution!

1st book of the year and it was a doozy…

This year, i decided to complete one of the nerdiest resolutions in the history of resolutions (in my humble opinion)… I am going to read 100 books…That’s right, 100 books in 365 days, and average of 2 books a week give or take.

The rules for this are simple:

1.) it must be a book I have never read

2.) It has to be at least 100 or more pages…collections of stories count if i read the whole book of stories

3.) after i read the book I will be sharing a brief blurb about my thoughts and feelings in order to keep me accountable

Through this endeavor, I hope to expand the variety of literature in my life.

The first book of the year is “The Black Dahlia” by James Ellroy. I picked this little gem up at the library the other day and absolutely could not put it down.  It is a crime novel set in L.A. in 1947. It’s a fictional story centered on a true crime, the unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short. The protagonist is also the narrator of the story, he is a warrants police officer who, with his partner, becomes obsessed with the victim.  I had a very hard time liking any of the characters in this book, The sexist and racist language in this book is very hard to get around…I get that it’s set in the 40’s but it all seems a little excessive and unnecessary.

After reading this book, I feel like I might need a shower.  probably won’t read it again, next book will be “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” by Jean-Dominique Bauby….any suggestions?