A serial killer, some aliens, and a sorceress

Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Occupied Paris by David King

After reading books for my adolescent literature course and a few that were recommended to me by others, I felt it was time to dive into something that really interests me; serial killers. I have been fascinated with them since high school. I've written many papers on them and read more than a few books on them. Death in the City of Light was discovered after reading In the Garden of Beasts, as they are both similar in genre. Death in the City of Light is a historical recounting of the life of Dr. Marcel Petoit of Paris, France. The book goes into detail of the life of Dr. Petoit before, during and after the murders in Paris.  The author does a good job of mixing the history with an ability to tell a story. There were a few spots that were a little dicey in terms of a fluid story, but I think a lot of that was due to the language barrier. I have little education in French and a lot of the names are very similar, which can be very confusing.  While reading the novel I was drawn into a Paris in fear; fearful of Germans and of a serial killer on the loose.  The novel progressed to the capture of Dr. Petoit and the trial.  Ironically enough, the trial was more enjoyable to read than the capture of the killer.  The evidence did not fully point to  Petoit being the killer and there are still many unanswered questions in regard to the bodies, body parts, clothes and other miscellaneous items found in the general possession of Petoit.  Overall, I felt it was a bit easier to read than In the Garden of Beasts and quite enjoyable. I love reading about serial killers, especially when it is not just an American problem.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

I had fairly high hopes for this Young Adult novel. I was disappointed.  The novel focuses on Michael, who has OCD and anxiety disorders.  Michael has a major crush on “the girl next door” who appears to not feel the same way he does.  His older sister is in the same grade as him because she had to leave school for a while, due to almost dying due to an eating disorder.  Michael and his friends are not the popular kids, just like most kids in most books about mental disorders.  The introductions to each chapter are awkward, heck, the entire book is kind of awkward. The main characters talk about “indie” kids, but there is no explanation of what “indie” kids are.  Apparently everything bad that happens in the town is because of these “indie” kids.  The mother character in the book is a terrible person, and toward the end of the book has some kind of epiphany, but there is NO explanation why.  I can infer why she had it, but it really seemed to come out of nowhere.  The father is also wanting in terms of character development.  He decides to change his life, then doesn’t follow through. The other children in the book barely have parents and with the amount of danger running around the town, you would think that the parents would be a little more active in the lives of their children.  Michael and his friends are seniors, but they don’t feel like high school seniors to me.  The book references previous supernatural attacks and it seems like they author is talking about the obsession school aged children have with various fandoms, which almost seems like an attack. While I am not one to read the books that were loosely referenced in this book, I can only imagine how much of a turn off that would be for those who do like those books.  

As a person who is not a fan of YA fiction, this kind of just drives that dislike home.  I did not enjoy this book and I am glad to be done with it.

Justice Calling by Annie Bellett

After reading a book that I had high hopes for, I simply picked a book that had a smaller amount of pages, simply so it wouldn’t take so long to disappoint me.  Justice Calling, ironically, is set in Washington state, just like The Rest of Us Just Live Here, however it gives the reader an explanation why things are the way they are.  There is a lot of magic in the woods surrounding the central location of the story and the explanation seems far more reasonable than the lack of explanation in The Rest of Us Just Live Here.  Jade Crow is the main character and she is a big time sorceress. Her friends are all shape-shifters, but each one takes a different form.  There is a lot of geek references in the book, which I found enjoyable.

Jade is a nerd/geek store owner (think Magic the Gathering, D&D, video games, comic books, etc.) who is accused of murdering shape-shifters by a Guardian.  The Guardian is also a shifter, but he is much more powerful than those who are friends with Jade.  Through a series of events, Jade is forced to use her magical powers that she has been hiding for over 20 years.  She decides to stay in Washington and keep her friends and live, as opposed to running, which she has been doing since meeting a sorcerer that takes great pleasure in killing off other witches, sorcerers and sorceresses. The book ends rather abruptly, leading you to read the next in the series.  I will likely read other books in the series, but not right now.

Book covers are from goodreads.com and amazon.com

Time to play catch-up!

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Taking a class that forces me to read Young Adult fiction, opens your eyes to a genre that may be overlooked by most adults, including yours truly.  I am not a fan of YA literature, as I feel that many times the books are too easy and the subject matter doesn’t really apply to me any longer.  For young adults that are struggling to find their place in the world, the genre is very timely.

This book is written from two points of view, both of which are unique to life situations that could happen to any teenager.  Finch and Violet are the two main characters and they live lives that are very different on the outside, one has a very loving two parent family, the other lives with a mother that is overworked and visits a father who has replaced his original family.  Violet suffers from crippling emotional issues due to the death of her older sister; Finch suffers from emotional issues that stem from an abusive father and a life that is less than stellar.  They pair up for a school project where they eventually become emotionally invested in one another.  While the ending of the book is sad at first, the more you mull over what happened, you realize that there was no way for them to fully save one another.

Not growing up in the current climate of heightened awareness for mental illnesses, I found the book helpful in terms of understanding how my future students might feel if their lives mirrored either character in the book.  Perhaps more adults would be a bit more sympathetic if they looked at the lives of young adults, as opposed to just assigning blanket blame to everyone in a generation.  I guess the same could be said for younger generations also.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

Having visited Savannah, Georgia about 8 years ago, I saw a lot of merchandise for this book.  I was slightly intrigued, but it was a passing fancy as I forgot all about it after I left.  Fast forward to New Year’s Day 2017 and I’m having a wonderful conversation about books with Skyler (a high school student and the daughter of some friends).  She recommended the book, as it is one of her favorite books.  Considering we had quite a few texts in common, I took her up on the offer and found the audio-book at a local library.  As I commute to class, I have between 40 to 120 minutes of commuting per week.

The book moved a bit slow and it took me a bit to figure out how all of the figures in the book are connected.  Once I figured that out, it seemed to fly by! I enjoyed the book, the mystery, the voodoo and the characters in the book.  I laughed many time through the book and I also felt sympathy with many of the characters.  While driving, I thought of my time in the beautiful city and wondered how close I was to the locations the book.  By thinking about the book in that manner, I really wanted to visit Savannah again.  

Many stories in the book are interconnected in a way that is not instantly obvious, save for the narrator being the person telling the various stories.  Once the pieces began to fall together, I realized how well the author attached the characters to one another and their specific story.  I want to watch the movie, but as usual I fear that it will ruin the impression I have of the book (especially considering I looked it up on IMDB and discovered that two actors I dislike are two main characters in the stories).  Overall, I would recommend the book for someone who enjoys reading books that make you think and enjoy mysteries and murder.

Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams, Danny Penman, and Jon Kabat-Zinn

We all live frantic lives at this day and time.  No one has has time for anything beyond work and maybe some family obligations.  As a culture we are overworking and under appreciating things in life.  This book asks the readers to take a step back and become aware of how unaware we are of our surroundings.  There are meditation practices in the book that can help bring the reader to a present state of mind and become more aware of how to decipher what is truly important in life.  

I was asked to read the book for a class that is one of the final steps to receiving certification to teach.  The book was assigned because the instructors do not want teacher candidates to become overwhelmed while student teaching.  I can appreciate the concern for the future student teachers, especially since this course is taken shortly before student teaching.

While reading the book I realized that somehow I already practice Mindfulness on occasion.  I am not always a positive person, but I do try to find the positive in many situations.  I get down on myself and feel like the world is crashing down around me.  I give up things that give me pleasure, because I feel that if I don’t cave in, no one will.  I am wrong.  After finishing the book, I decided that I will take time for myself, regardless of what I think will crash down around me.  There are many things I do to nourish myself and I always seem to disregard them when I feel stressed out.  I have to remember that if I do not nourish myself, no one will.  I spend time enjoying my children, my husband, and other things around me.  However, I also feel a burden when I’m doing that because I feel like I am the only one who is there for them all the time and it is exhausting.  Due to the current weather situation in the Midwest (no real winter this year), colds and other illnesses have run rampant. I do not remember being sick for so long and as I look back, I think that part of that may be because I am not nourishing myself and “burning the candle at both ends”.  Between work, school, married life, and being a mother I leave very little to no time for myself.  I am in control of myself and I need to find areas to cut out unnecessary time suckers that do not make me happy.  Last night, I left the living room when the television came on.  I am sick to death of having constant noise in my house.  My husband, whom I love dearly, must have constant noise, which causes me stress because I like the quiet. I like time for self-reflection, meditation, yoga, and simply being in the quiet.  Because I left the living room, I was able to carve out time to exercise, which is my “me” time, which is usually one of the first things I cut out of my life.  When I cut out the exercise, I become a bitch.  I am a terrible human being when I do not “refill my cup”, so that I can be a nourishing force for others.  

Overall, I am glad I purchased and read the book.  I will probably try practicing some of the mindfulness practices in my life so I can continue to re-evaluate my life and what I really need to keep myself happy and content in my life.  I need to be present in my own life, because it is the only one I will ever have.

(All images taken from goodreads.com)

Three more book reviews

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
 I must say, I was not the biggest fan of this book. The Dorothy character was EXTREMELY unlikable, which is understandable, based on the title of the book.  The way the author has morphed the Lion, Tin Man, Glenda and Scarecrow fit well with the alternate version of Oz and Dorothy.  The book was a bit formulaic and I had a difficult time finishing it because it was a tad bit predictable. I am not really a fan of predicable books, in the way that many people are not fans of predictable movies.  The one good thing the book did for me was ignite the desire to read the original Wizard of Oz books so I can have a basis to which I can compare.  I have read 3 of the books in the Wicked series and enjoyed them very much, so I think I might like the original stories of Oz. I can also say I will not be reading any more books in this particular series, nor will I be recommending them to any friends.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
This book was a very good read.  It is classified as a Young Adult novel, but I felt like it was written for a more mature audience.  There are many underlying themes in the book that I don't know if young adults would understand, such as things in the relationship between the parents in the book.  The opening sentence of the book speaks about one of the characters being dead, so that part of the story was not to come as a surprise.  There were other parts of the book that really surprised me! The title, at first glance, appears to be from the perspective of the individual who has passed away at the beginning of the book, but as the book continues, it is really about how keeping secrets from those you love the most affects everyone, not just the one from which you're keeping secrets.  The title could be understood from each characters perspective, which I really like.  This is a book I would suggest for others to read. I think the multiple layers within the storyline would please many people.  There is a lot of underlying, but visual, discrimination in the book.  When the main characters are all confronted with the various forms of discrimination, they all treat it differently.  If they had an open dialogue about discrimination, among many other topics, perhaps Lydia would not have died.  However, I think that the book speaks to many unstated feelings that families have, especially when they come from a multiracial background.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Oh, this book. I'd love to say that I fell in love with this book, like so many others have. I didn't. It was a good book. It did make me cry, but it's not in my top 10 list of books to read though.  I read the cover before reading the book and guessed at the big ending, so I wasn't surprised when Will made his decision.  I really like the setting of the book, it made me want to go back to England and experience it even more.  The title, much like Everything I Never Told You, could be applied from the two main characters in the story.  They both had a wonderful appreciation for one another throughout their story together, even if it did take a while for them to get to that point.  The part that really got to me, was when Lou finally let Will's decision be his decision.  She fought so hard for him to remain, when all he wanted to do was leave.  In this life we all have to make decisions about those we love and accept some of their decisions, even if we don't agree with them.  One of my friends said she was emotionally distraught when Will told Lou she wasn't worth living for.  While it may have come across that way in the book, I didn't see it that way at all.  I saw it as Will pushing Lou away so she could understand where he was coming from and beginning to accept that she needed to let him go so they could both have peace with the decision Will had made.  I agree with assisted suicide when the individual has made it abundantly clear that is how they want their life to end and I would hope that in the end, my friends and family would honor my feelings the way Lou honored Will's.


Book reviews/comments aside, I am excited to report that I've already read 5 books this year!

Trinity of Adolescent Difficulties

A trinity of books that could look less like a trinity from the outset. Other than the fact that they are all labeled as Young Adult novels, these books look very different.  As the old cliche' goes, "Never judge a book by it's cover". So, I gave them all a shot. Each one was selected for a different reason. Asking For It was honestly selected initially because of the cover, but once I read about it, I was intrigued to read the actual book.  The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland was one option out of about nine for my Amazon free book of the month through my Prime membership. I was not very interested in most of the titles listed, and I thought this one might be pretty decent.  Symptoms of Being Human was suggested to me by my god-daughter, who is 16 and in the midst of her own adolescent crisis.

The first book in the trinity I would like to share is Asking For It by Louise O'Neill.  This Young Adult novel was rather a quick read.  I do believe I could have started and finished it in one day, if I didn't have the distractions of life. As that is not the case, it took me about 2 or 3 days to find the time to read it.
First, I would like to say, I am not a fan of the main character, Emma.  I found her to be very self-centered, catty, and just unlikable. I knew the basic story line of the book and hoped that I could power through my dislike for her character. The book is set in Ireland, which was a much welcomed change to many of the books I read, which are either fantasy or set in the United States.  Emma is a very popular, well liked (though I'm not sure why), beautiful high school student.  She, along with her closest friends, decide to go to a typical high school party. There is alcohol abounding at the party, no parent supervision, and some older males that are members of the local soccer team.  Emma decides that she is going to have sex with one of the players, but is rebuked for a younger girl.  She takes her frustration out with another male from the soccer team by flirting with him and accepting a pill he offers her, without asking anything about the pill.  She proceeds to have consensual sex with that soccer player, but what happens after is nothing she asked for. The next morning she is woken up on the front steps of her house by her parents, who have just come back into town. She is sore, sunburnt and has no idea how she arrived  home.  After logging into her facebook account, she discovers what happened to her after the pill and alcohol took effect.  There are very grotesque photographs of her in various positions, along with the soccer player and two high school males she considered friends.  The pictures were shocking enough, she then reads the comments and discovers that she is not as well liked as she thought she was (which is not surprising, as I couldn't stand her).  The book ends in a way you wouldn't really expect, unless something as traumatic has happened to you.
My biggest take away from this book is support.  Emma thought she had great friends, only to find out that she had no one, once the facebook posts were made.  She didn't feel that she could talk to her parents, brother, or anyone.  Being someone who has received unwanted sexual contact, I was fortunate enough to have a mother I could talk to about what happened, along with a few friends throughout life.  I am forever thankful for those listening, sympathetic ears.  Emma didn't have that and in the end, it helped her decide to do something. Many of those reading the book would disagree with her decision, but I can understand why she made the choice she did.

The second book in the trinity is: The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebecca Crane.  This book, while serious, was not as serious as Asking For It. There were many interjections with humor and sarcasm.  The characters in the book are all in a camp, Camp Padua, for adolescents that have varying mental illnesses.  Yes, one of the characters is named Grover Cleveland. There is also one named Alex Trebek, or at least that's what the pathological liar wants us to believe. Zander is the main character and she is sent to Camp Padua because she attempted to drown herself, while participating in a swim team competition.  Her parents were very concerned that she was not dealing with the death of her younger sister well, so they sent her to camp to deal with her internal demons.  While at camp, Zander meets Cassie. Cassie has a host of problems, and does a wonderful job of pushing people away that try to help her.  As the summer wears on, Zander and Grover become intimate, Cassie learns to swim with help from Zander, and Alex expresses his deep love for Cassie (although we're not sure about that since he's known for lying). With Zander and Grover's budding relationship, and discovering her foster mother no longer wants her, Cassie has had enough and attempts to drown herself in the lake.  Zander saves her and stays by her side in the hospital.
Again, support is a vital point in this book.  Many times during her internal monologues, Zander feels a lack of support from her parents and boyfriend back home.  Grover doesn't feel support from his schizophrenic father and fears that he will end up just like his dad.  Cassie feels alone in the world and rejected by everyone who  is supposed to love her.  Each one of these characters needs support to help them realize that they are not traveling through life without anyone who is there for them.

The final book in the trinity, Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin is focused on the main character, Riley. Riley is a gender fluid teenager struggling with many internal conflicts, while trying to appear as "neutral" and "normal" as possible.  Riley's dad is a congressman who is up for reelection and has a strong education platform, so between that and a failed attempted suicide, Riley is enrolled in the local public school.  Riley is also known as Alix through a blog that offers advice to individuals who are members of the LBGTQ community.  The ridicule Riley endures does not stop once schools change, but Riley is able to make a few friends that are really there for Riley when it's needed the most and some friends online.  Solo and Bec are two misfits in the school that befriend Riley, regardless of gender rules.  Sadly, Riley gets on the bad side of one of the star football players and they don't make life easy for Riley.  After Riley is "outed" to the family, the pressure is too much to bear, so Riley leaves to confide in Bec.  Bec is no where to be found, so Riley escapes to a secret spot they share. Too bad Riley is followed by some key members of the football team. After being sexually assaulted by those football players, Riley is determined to give a face to others struggling with gender fluid issues and decides to speak at a local conference, which is promoted through the Queer Alliance in the area.
So many teenagers feel a lack of support, and this book was the perfect one to read after the previous two.  It really tied together the need to give support, even if you think someone is strong enough to bear the burden alone.  Asking For It deals with sexual assault, The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland deals with mental issues like depression, and Symptoms of Being Human combines both of these problems into one text.  While I was reading it all I could think of was how lucky I was to be able to pick three books that didn't appear to go together, and yet all had the same underlying message of support.  Adolescents aren't the only ones who need support, adults need support too. Please don't think that these issues are only applicable to adolescents, they are applicable to any human being. Please remember to be there for those you love and give them your support. You never know when they will need it.

Riot Grrrl=Bookish Grrl

As the "riot grrrl" movement has pretty much died away, I feel like begin bookish is the new way to revolt against society. I also feel like removing one of the "r"s in grrrl is rebellious.We shall see how that all works out in the end.
On to my rebellion, reading. Just a little 411 about yours truly. I adore reading. I wish I could get paid big bucks to do nothing but read. Sadly, that is not an option with the current life I live. There are times I feel I am too busy to read, but I make time anyway. Reading is probably my life blood. One of my biggest fears is dying without reading all of the books on my "to read" list. There are a lot of books on that list, friends. A LOT! When I am not participating in college courses, I can usually hold down about 3 books at a time. My husband thinks I'm crazy for doing that. My oldest son thinks that 3 is child's play. (I think I've created a monster with that one!)
I keep track of the books I am reading and have read through Goodreads (no kickbacks, sad face). I find it an easy website/app, to use and keep myself honest with what I am reading and what I would like to read. I also add books that I would like to read so I can pull up the list when I am struggling to remember a book off the top of my head. It has come in handy on MULTIPLE occasions, for which I am forever grateful.
I created this blog to really delve into my reading habits, especially for a course I am taking. Once the course is over I hope to continue to share about the books I am reading and can help others find books worth reading. I welcome suggestions, comments, and occasional criticisms. I will be posting my first "official" blog about books within the next week or so and I hope it is entertaining for everyone. The books I will be discussing are The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland, Asking for It, and Symptoms of Being Human.