Reading struggles

Hello fellow bibliophiles! I don't know about all of you but today I woke up to snow on the ground.... I now want to hibernate until April. I absolutely HATE snow. Why I don't live in a warmer place, is a questions I ask myself every day!

Plus side of hibernation? READING! I was hoping to have a couple reviews for you today. Sadly, I am struggling to find "attention-grabbing" books. For the past two weeks, I have tried multiple times to pick up the following two books. Each time I have to push myself to keep reading and continually lose interest. I don't know if it's time for me to switch up my genres or what. It's very upsetting. All I want to do is curl up with a good book, make a delicious cup of coffee, and read my afternoon away. Over and over I've just been let down. So below I have listed the two books I have had to add to the "Did Not Finish" pile. I hate this pile. It makes me sad. Especially these two books. I have heard rave reviews and recommendations from others. Maybe they are good books. I'm going to try something new and maybe pick these books up at a later date and try again. Feel free to share with me any comments you have about either book. I'd love to hear your thoughts! I WANT them to be good books!! Convince me they are!


Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Recently I reviewed a couple different books by Rowell as preparation for my October book club meeting. Compared to her other books, Landline just falls short in my opinion. The characters didn't grab me. The story line itself confused me at times. I had trouble following the dialogue. Nothing against Rainbow Rowell. She's a great writer. That being said, I prefer her YA books better!


The Girl From the Train by Irma Joubert
I have been hearing great things about this book. It's right in my alley genre wise. I have read more books than count or remember on WW2 and the Holocaust. I find it fascinating in a historical context. I have now tried starting this book 3 times. I can't seem to get farther than about a third of the way through. This really makes me sad. I want this book to be good. Not just good, but GREAT. I promise to try again at a later date. Maybe I just need to set it aside and pick it up another time. Please read this book. Tell me how it is. I need to hear how great it is. I know it has to be. I know it has huge potential. Someone fulfill this need!!

As always, feel free to share any comments, recommendations, and suggestions. I'd love to hear your thoughts! Next up, Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich! 

"Carry On" - Rainbow Rowell

Hellow fellow bibliophiles! Today I have an intriguing review of Carry On by the bestselling New York Times author Rainbow Rowell to share with you. This is the first book in my upcoming newly joined FYA book club! Generally when I am reviewing/reading, I stay up later than I should reading the book and then write the review within the next couple days. But, as I finished Carry On, I felt a stroke of inspiration/brilliance/insanity to write, hence its almost 3 am and I'm scribbling away, pen to paper, West Wing reruns playing in the background. Shout out to Aaron Sorkin for being a literal G-O-D! Am I right?! And yes, I write everything out by hand and then type it. I'm old school.

First things first. Even though this book has ties to Rowell's book Fangirl (check out my review here!), it can easily be read as a stand alone novel. Rowell took Simon Snow, the fictional character from Fangirl, and gave him his own story.

"Simon Snow is the worst chosen one who's ever been chosen. That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right. 

Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all of this, if he were here -- it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't bother to show up. 

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story -- but far, far more monsters."

The story is broke into four "books" or parts. I found it difficult to get started and drawn in with this book. It took me pretty much the entire "Book One," about 150 pages to get into it. After that, I was hooked and didn't put it down until I was finished. It's a typical Rainbow Rowell novel. Full of normal teen-romance-friendship drama that her loyal readers have come to love and expect. Even though it took me a while to get into it, I did still like the book. Rowell is a great writer. She fully develops her characters and gives them a multi-dimensional facet. The only thing that did turn me off a bit, and maybe this is why  I struggled with the beginning, are all the similarities to Harry Potter. I grew up with HP. He embodied my reading years from grade school through high school. It's extremely hard for me to consider anything else that closely resembles HP solely due to the place in my heart it will always hold. Now there is a lot more to Carry On that just magic and evil nemesis' and being "The Chosen One." It is still a great story besides all of that. I LOVED the ending. I almost wish I would have read Fangirl after Carry On. Parts of that book would have made more sense, in my opinion. I often felt the fan-fiction sections in Fangirl that talked about Simon Snow and friends were out of place and by reading it after Carry On, I would have had a better understanding of them and their story. Just something to consider if you haven't read either book! Make sure to check out my other book reviews by Rainbow Rowell. She's quite fantastic! As always, feel free to share any comments, suggestions, or recommendations!

Happy reading fools :)

"Fangirl" - Rainbow Rowell

Hello fellow bibliophiles! As previously stated in my review of Eleanor & Park (read here), I have another Rainbow Rowell review for you! As background for Carry On, my book club's book this month, I recently finished Fangirl.

"Cath is a Simon Snow fan... But for Cath. being a fan is her life -- and she's really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath's sister has mostly grown away from the fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to. Now that they're going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own. completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?"

Fangirl was good. Not great, but good. I have mixed feelings as I write this review. I feel like I had higher hopes for the book and author after reading Eleanor & Park. That's not to say this book doesn't deserve any credit, though. I liked the writing. Creatively, Rowell does a great job with metaphors and character descriptions. The romance aspect was not over done. I did feel the main character, Cather Avery, was sometimes too oblivious and ignorant to the things going on around her. I know that is how her character is "suppose" to be, but sometimes it was too much. While I know the fan fiction segments were needed, I often found them confusing and out of place. Simon Snow relates too much like the beloved Harry Potter, something that should never be imitated. That being said, it's easy to see why this book has been a hit in the Young Adult community. Overall, good book. Not my favorite by Rowell but still good. Great book for teenagers. As always, feel free to share any comments, recommendations, or suggestions.

Happy reading fools :)

Learn more about Rainbow Rowell's other books at her website HERE!

"Eleanor & Park" - Rainbow Rowell

Hello fellow bibliophiles! I've recently joined my first book club! I know... hard to believe I've never been in one before. In preparation for my first "meeting" I'm not only reading the book for the month, but other books by the author as I have never read any of her books before. A fellow acquaintance told me of the "bookache" she felt after reading Eleanor & Park and how "she wishes she could read it for the first time again." SO after checking out 4-5 books by Rainbow Rowell and getting this rave review I figured why not, let's start there!

"Two misfits. One extraordinary love. 

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem darker and flatter and never god enough... Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises... Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds-- smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try." 

I laughed. I cried. My heart swooned and then it shattered and swooned again. I loved the innocence of the lyrics and references to Romeo & Juliet. It was sweet and emotional. Between it's pages the narrative held all the feelings that us "different" kinds of kids felt as teenagers who weren't the prom queen or star quarterback. I loved all the personality in the writing of the characters, both secondary and main. The descriptions were detailed to the point I could clearly see myself within it's pages yet wasn't bogged down with adjectives. There is so much I could say about this book yet no words to describe how I truly feel at this moment. So I'll put it simply. I picked up E & P and didn't put it down until I was finished. I wish I could read it for the first time over and over and experience the story again. I'll leave you with two of my favorite quotes from the book. Read it and you will understand why I picked out these two specifically!

"That night, Park made a tape with the Joy Division song on it, over and over again. He emptied all his handheld video games and Josh's remote control cars, and called his grandma to tell her that all her wanted for his birthday in November was AA batteries. (page 60)"

"And you look like a protagonist." She was talking as fast as she could think. "You look like the person who wins in the end. You're so pretty, and so good. You have magic eyes," she whispered. "And you make me feel like a cannibal." (page 113)"

Read this book. Dive head first and live within it's pages. As always, feel free to share any comments, suggestions, and recommendations!

Happy reading fools :)

P.S. Sorry for the delay in getting this out. For once in my life I am experiencing what it's like to watch October baseball! It's taken over a good portion of my life. GO CUBBIES!!!