Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hmm.. I’m not sure what to make of this book. It was cute, entertaining, and fast paced (I read it in a single evening, which is something I rarely do). I found it about as enjoyable as a book about a teenage girl with cancer whose only friend is a dick can be.

Greg has figured out how to navigate high school so that no one ends up hating him. Be on the fringe of every clique, but not part of any one group. He has no friends, only a colleague named Earl with whom he makes videos. Then one day his mother makes him re-befriend Rachel, the girl who was just diagnosed with cancer.

The book was kind of unbelievable and yet another reason adolescent male protagonists are not my thing. The main character was consistently using logic I couldn’t follow and making, what I thought, were stupid decisions… maybe that’s exactly right for adolescent boys, no one understands them. He was a jerk with an inability to form real friendships or truly care about others.

Despite the fact that I couldn’t fully get behind this being something that might actually happen, I did quite enjoy it. Even more importantly I appreciated it. There was no last minute, unrealistic love for the girl who was dying, or meaning of life only becomes clear in the face of death lesson. Sorry for the spoilers..? It seems like lately if you have a story about a terminally ill teenager, it means it’s a love story.

Since this book is such a quick read and it is different from all of the other kids-with-cancer books out there, I definitely suggest you check it out.. and if you’re worried about it being a tear jerker, don’t fret, I made it to the end without the use of a single tissue and I’m usually the first to cry in any book or movie.

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I Am The Messenger

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ed is an underachieving cab driver with no direction in life. He spends his days playing cards with his unusual and quirky group of friends, pining over his best friend, and drinking coffee with his elderly dog. Then one day he foils a bank robbery and his entire life is turned upside-down. He begins receiving playing cards that point him towards people who need some help and Ed is supposed to be the man/boy to provide it.

I wasn’t as attached to the characters, even Ed I found myself not really caring if he got his happy ending. The thing is, I should care about these people, they seem like they should feel real. They’re not perfect and should therefore be believable and relatable, but they’re not entirely believable or really all that relatable. I thought the Doorman, Ed’s coffee and ice cream loving dog, was the most endearing character.

The plot was unbelievable, but that’s to be expected. Read the synopsis and you can tell it’s not a series of events that might ever happen. However, I do think this was trying to do something original between the lines of reality-like fiction and surrealist version of reality and I think it fell a little short (and a bit on the confusing side). But I’m a sucker for originality and this book definitely gets points for that, it is like nothing I’ve ever read before (I could have done without the being hopelessly in love with the best friend trope though).

Overall I did enjoy reading this book. It had an unusual premise and I love a book that’s original. It’s a quick read and will probably be worth the time spent reading it

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The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I feel like I can’t give this book a bad review and then sleep well at night.. I mean this is the basis for one of my all time favorite movies.

The story is an epic love story. Wesley and Buttercup share a love so true that nothing can come between them, even presumed death, pirates, giants, murder plots, and sadistic princes.

In all honesty, I don’t think the book really added to the story. The characters are their loveable selves you see in the movie, the events are so similar it’s unnerving, and it takes a fraction of the time commitment. You do get some neat backstory for the characters and find out what in their lives brought them to this point and what drives them forward.. But unfortunately I think that a lot of that is unnecessary. Plus it just wasn’t worth reading Goldman’s story outside the story. Much of his “annotations” about when his father was reading the book to him as a child were cute and added to the mood of the book. However, the pages and pages and pages about his legal battles with the Morgenstern’s estate and Goldman’s life after childhood reading was tedious to say the least.. I ended up skipping a lot of it, I just couldn’t read it.

As a book lover, I know what I’m about to suggest is a mortal sin, but just go watch the movie.

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The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ooohh the feels. This was a beautiful story about a man who was kind of dealt a shitty hand at life.

After the death of his wife, A.J. Fikry becomes a grumpy, cynical man. Drinking himself into oblivion on a regular basis, he has very little to look forward to, until a wonderful surprise is left in his bookstore that changes his life for the better.

I love every aspect of this book. The characters are beautifully written, with depth and soul that feels like they could step right out of the page. No one in the story is perfect, but their imperfections just make them seem all the more real and relatable.

A.J.’s bookstore seems to be a character in itself. Both the store and A.J. seem to grow together from the dark period after the wife’s death through the years when things are getting much better and brighter for A.J.

This is another one of those books that I feel my words just wont be able to do justice to.. Just read it. Whoever you are and whatever you’re looking for, I think this could be it. Just don’t for get the tissues.

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Vicious

Vicious by V.E. Schwab
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have heard a lot of people rave about this book. The hype surrounding it seemed to be almost too good to be true.. and it kind of was. I do really like the book, sure, but is it the best thing I’ve ever read? No. I enjoyed reading it and I’ll be reading more from Ms. Schwab, but its not quite entering the realm of favorites.

Vicious is about two friends who discover that it is possible to give themselves superpowers. And ultimately become eachother’s arch nemeses.

There were several things I really enjoyed about this book. First of all, I enjoyed the idea of everyone being the hero of their own story. For a long time I have been very intrigued by villains. What’s their motivation? Why did they turn out the way they did? And this novel caters to my borderline obsession with what makes villains tick. That being said, there isn’t really a villain in this story (but there isn’t really a hero either) just two opposing sides, both of which are not good people, who happen to have superpowers.

Everyone is doing what they think is best, it just turns out that sometimes they’re intentions are not what is best for those around them. What’s that saying about the what the road to hell is paved with..?

The characters are all wonderfully written and not a single one feels at all flat. There’s a lovable villain and a psychopathic hero and an array of wonderful “sidekicks.” All the characters are given the same resect from the author, not even the stereotypical cop-in-the-superhero-story is left out of the depth department.

The author writes beautifully and is able to bounce between timelines with ease.. it could have easily gotten confusing, but I never had a problem following along.

I do recommend that you read this if you’d like to experience a unique superhuman story and you don’t mind if the lines between good and evil aren’t just blurred, they’re nonexistent.

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Sphere

Sphere by Michael Crichton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had an incredible amount of anxiety heading into this book. I saw the movie adaptation when I was a child and it scared the shit out of me.. we’re talking sleepless nights, nightmares, the whole shebang. You might be wondering what a child was doing watching this movie, to which I respond “its my big brother’s fault”... He is no doubt the reason I saw a lot of movies before I should have.. him and my parents awesome hands-off parenting style.

So I picked up this book expecting shear terror… I was thankfully a bit let down. I didn’t remember details from the movie since I was so young when I saw it, but as I read bits and pieces came back to me.

A team of experts is called to the middle of the Pacific Ocean to investigate a mysterious craft that has crashed and is resting on the ocean floor. It seems to be a space ship and, according to the coral growth around the ship, its been there for over 300 years. While staying in an underwater habitat, the team starts experiencing unexplained events. Do these strange occurrences have to do with the ship and its cargo?

After finishing the book, I understand how I was frightened as a child, but as an adult, it doesn’t inspire fear.. I got the creeps a few times, but I think its safe to say that I wont be having nightmares this time around.. I might even try rewatching the movie… maybe not; I might just let sleeping dogs alone.

I suppose I should get to the actual review of the book.

I quite enjoyed reading this one. It was suspenseful in all the right, non-terrifying, ways and it had me turning pages like a mad woman to find out what the heck was actually going on.

There were a few problems I had, even though I hate to admit it with Michael Crichton being a God among writers. I was left confused about certain elements, I was hoping there would be a bit more in terms of explaining and resolution, but I understand that’s part of the whole story that no one knows what this sphere is or where it comes from. The characters exhibited bizarre behavior that I couldn’t always understand; I’m sure some of it was due to the situation they were in.. tin can on the ocean floor, creepy unknown ship with suspicious cargo, cut off from the rest of the world.. those things could make people do weird things I guess.

Overall, I would say this book is worth a read if you’re looking for a fast paced sci-fi book that’s not too deep and doesn’t require as much thinking as a lot of other books in the genera.

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Magonia

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a fantastical gem of a read.

I love the world Maria Dahvana Headley built in the clouds. I was transported into this magical land and I didn’t want to leave. This is one of the few new releases I was actually excited to find out is a series and I will eagerly await the next installment. Truly unlike anything I’ve ever read.

The book follows Aza Ray, a teenager with a rare lung condition.. so rare, in fact, the disease is named after her. She is dying. Then one day she sees a ship in the sky and it seems to be calling her name.

Aza is taken away to a mysterious world in the clouds. Magonia. Here she isn’t sickly, for the first time in her life she can breath.

I read the book in one day, it was so difficult to put down. There was enough “background” to see what Aza had been going through during her life on the ground and build the strong relationships with those she loved. The love interest was believable.. thank goodness there was no insta-love. And the story was unique, but still easy to follow. As with many magical realism stories sometimes things get confusing because this is not the real world that we all know, but it was always easy enough to figure out what was going on in the story if you just kept reading.

I thought that Aza was a pain in the ass, but a pretty believable one for suffering from a terminal disease for as long as she can remember. And her character grew throughout the story, which is refreshing.

As a book, I found it to be very satisfying. It felt like a complete story, but I definitely will be picking up the next book when it comes out.

*I always feel like such a failure when reviewing such beautifully written books. My words do not do this justice. The writing-beautiful. The world-beautiful. The characters-well written and complex.. My words are lame – go read the book.

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