Book Haul

My latest book buys.

Title: The Hustle Economy
Author: Jason Oberholtzer
Illustrator: Jessica Hagy
Genre: Business; Nonfiction; Self-help
Goodreads Rating: 3.72/ 5 stars
Pages: 224 (Paperback)
Publisher: Running Press
Published: April 5, 2016

Summary: To survive in today's gig economy, you must be a mover, a shaker, a doer, and a maker. In The Hustle Economy, we give you 25 essays from founders, writers, producers, game makers, artists, and creative types from every path who share one common trait--they are all self-made hustlers who have managed to turn their creativity into careers. In this collection you will find essays from: Producer and performer Mike Rugnetta on why "Do what you love" is both the best and worst piece of advice you'll ever receive. Author, television writer, and humorist Emma Koenig on staying focused and productive no matter what life throws at you. Web comic Zach Weinersmith on the equation for success and using your creativity to do what the rest of us won't. Trendspotter Jess Kimball Leslie on identifying your skills and turning it into a successful career. This book exists to inspire and inform. Your creative career is attainable, and we'll show you how to do it and why it's worth it. 

As I continue to progress through my college career, I'm beginning to work on turning my dreams and my dream career into plans for my future reality. I want a career, not a job; and I'm lucky enough to be a part of such a revolutionary generation, that is valuing passion and creativity over the "traditional" 9-5 job. So, I'm looking for as much advice and encouragement for success that I can possibly find.

Title: Fates and Furies

Author: Lauren Groff

Genre: Fiction; Contemporary

Goodreads Rating: 3.56/ 5 stars

Pages: 400 (Paperback)

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Published: September 13, 2016 (Original publication: September 15, 2015)

Summary: Every story has two sides.
Every relationship has two perspectives.
And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets.

At age twenty-two, Lotto and Mathilde are tall, glamorous, madly in love and destined for greatness. A decade later, their marriage is still the envy of their friends, but behind closed doors, things are even more complicated and remarkable than they have seemed.

Bought this one off the recommendation of a fellow reader.

Title: Eligible

Author: Curtis Sittenfeld

Series: The Austen Project #4

Genre: Fiction; Romance; Women's Fiction; Chick Lit; Contemporary; Adult

Goodreads Rating: 3.64/ 5 stars

Pages: 528 (Paperback)

Publisher: Random House

Published: April 18, 2017 (Original publication: April 19, 2016)

Summary: This version of the Bennet family and Mr. Darcy is one that you have and haven't met before: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray.

Youngest sisters Kitty and Lydia are too busy with their CrossFit workouts and Paleo diets to get jobs. Mary, the middle sister, is earning her third online master's degree and barely leaves her room, except for those mysterious Tuesday-night outings she won't discuss. And Mrs. Bennet has one thing on her mind: how to marry off her daughters, especially as Jane's fortieth birthday fast approaches.

Enter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-in-town doctor who recently appeared on the juggernaut reality TV dating show Eligible. At a Fourth of July barbecue, Chip takes an immediate interest in Jane, but Chip's friend, neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy, reveals himself to Liz to be much less charming. . . . And yet, first impressions can be deceiving.

I'm obsessed with all things Pride and Prejudice, so of course I had to pick this up.

Title: Blind Assassin

Author: Margaret Atwood

Genre: Fiction; Historical; Mystery; Cultural: Canada

Goodreads Rating: 3.94/ 5 stars

Pages: 521 (Paperback)

Publisher: Anchor Books

Published: August 28, 2001 (Original publication: September 2, 2000)

Summary: The Blind Assassin opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the reader expects to settle into Laura's story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a-novel. Entitled The Blind Assassin, it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. When we return to Iris, it is through a 1947 newspaper article announcing the discovery of a sailboat carrying the dead body of her husband, a distinguished industrialist. Brilliantly weaving together such seemingly disparate elements, Atwood creates a world of astonishing vision and unforgettable impact.

At this point, I'm hoping that I love everything (or just about everything) that Atwood has written.

Let me know if you spotted any favorites or any books that you've been looking forward to reading.

Until next time! Thank you for stopping by! And if you have yet to do so, follow me here on my blog via email subscription to be able to stay informed on when new posts are uploaded.

My social media:

Goodreads

- Anisa

Book Haul

Closing out April with a book haul of contemporaries.



Title: Furiously Happy
Author: Jenny Lawson
Genre: Humor; Autobiography; Memoir; Nonfiction; Biography
Goodreads Rating: 3.93/ 5 stars
Pages: 352 (Paperback)
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Published: February 7, 2017 (Original publication: September 22, 2015)

Summary: In Furiously Happy, a humor memoir tinged with just enough tragedy and pathos to make it worthwhile, Jenny Lawson examines her own experience with severe depression and a host of other conditions, and explains how it has led her to live life to the fullest:

"I've often thought that people with severe depression have developed such a well for experiencing extreme emotion that they might be able to experience extreme joy in a way that ‘normal people' also might never understand. And that's what Furiously Happy is all about."

I'm attempting to expand my reading tastes, and to hopefully find some more nonfiction books that grab my interest and offer up knowledge and wisdom. I'm hoping that Lawson will fit into that criteria and maybe, even, surpass it.

Title: My Sister's Keeper

Author: Jodi Picoult

Genre: Fiction; Women's Fiction; Contemporary; Chick Lit

Goodreads Rating: 4.05/ 5 stars

Pages: 423 (Paperback)

Publisher: Washington Square Press

Published: February 1, 2005 (Original publication: April 6, 2004)

Summary: Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged... until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister—and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

A provocative novel that raises some important ethical issues, My Sister's Keeper is the story of one family's struggle for survival at all human costs and a stunning parable for all time. 

I cry (uncontrollably) whenever I watch the movie. I can still remember going to see the movie, for the first time, at the theatre when I was twelve. My friend and I, along with everyone else in the theatre, were blinking back tears as we walked out. At twenty years old, I figure it's time for me to finally read the book.

Title: Christmas in Lucky Harbor

Author: Jill Shalvis

Series: Lucky Harbor #1-2

Genre: Romance; Contemporary Romance; Contemporary; Fiction; Women's Fiction; Chick Lit; Anthologies; Adult

Goodreads Rating: 4.33/ 5 stars

Pages: 770 (Paperback)

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Published: September 24, 2013 (Original publication: January 1, 2011)

Summary: Love awaits you in Lucky Harbor . . .
Simply Irresistible (Lucky Harbor #1)
After losing her boyfriend and her job, Maddie leaves L.A. to claim her inheritance-a ramshackle inn nestled in the little town of Lucky Harbor, Washington. She sees the potential for a new home and a new career-if she can give the inn the makeover it needs. Enter Jax, a tall, handsome contractor who knows exactly what Maddie needs...

The Sweetest Thing (Lucky Harbor #2)
Helping her sister set up the family inn is just the thing to make Tara forget her ex-husband and focus on her new life. Until she meets a sexy, green-eyed sailor determined to keep her hot, bothered, and in his bed. When her ex reappears, Tara must confront her past and decide what she really wants.
Kissing Santa Claus (Lucky Harbor #2.5)
NASCAR driver Logan Perrish returns to Lucky Harbor, Washington, with love in his heart and a ring in his pocket. But can Sandy Jansen forget the past and give him a second chance? Or will Logan be spending another Christmas alone?
Under the Mistletoe (Lucky Harbor #6.5)
There's no place like home for the holidays. And the Lucky Harbor Bed & Breakfast is bursting with festive lights and good cheer. But for Mia, Christmas is turning out to be anything other than merry and bright. Her recent break-up with her boyfriend Nick has made her return bittersweet. But then a surprise arrives, when Nick follows her to town bearing gifts - and asking for forgiveness.

I've basically given up on the NA (New Adult) genre and its romance novels. What I look for when it comes to romance novels is a read that is moving, authentic, realistic, and well written. Which is apparently a tall order when it comes to contemporary romance. But, I'm hoping that Shalvis will meet my wants/needs for the romance genre.

Let me know if you spotted any favorites or any books that you've been looking forward to reading.

Until next time! Thank you for stopping by! And if you have yet to do so, follow me here on my blog via email subscription to be able to stay informed on when new posts are uploaded.

My social media:

Goodreads

- Anisa

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood Review

Title: The Handmaid's Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
Genre: Fiction; Classics; Science Fiction; Dystopia; Feminism; Fantasy; Literature; Adult Fiction
Goodreads Rating: 4.03/ 5 stars
My Rating: 5/5
Pages: 311 ( Paperback )
Publisher: Anchor Books
Published: March 16, 1998 ( Original Publication: 1985)

Summary: Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...

"We lived, as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it."

Margaret Atwood is an author I've heard mentioned countless times before, from readers of all genres. And now I finally understand why she is as beloved and praised as she is. The flow of her writing is wonderfully steady - not too slow and not too fast. Her excellent pacing creates an engaging atmosphere and cast of characters. I was pleasantly surprised when I found that it was difficult for me to put The Handmaid's Tale down.

"I avoid looking down at my body, not so much because it's shameful or immodest but because I don't want to see it. I don't want to look at something that determines me so completely."

I absolutely loved the story, the characters, and the conflicts that Atwood created; but, what struck me as the most moving and unforgettable was Atwood's insight into feminism, oppression, freedom, the power of memory, and the will of the mind. Not only did Atwood show the world its shortcomings, prejudices, and shame, but Atwood also showed the world how hate, fear, ignorance, and apathy are at the core of true wickedness. Atwood created a novel that instills a sense of authentic courage in the readers who choose to read with open minds and open hearts.

"Someone must be out there, taking care of things. I believe in resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light."

Until next time! Thank you for stopping by! And if you have yet to do so, follow me here on my blog via email subscription to be able to stay informed on when new posts are uploaded.

My social media:
Goodreads

- Anisa

Book Haul

New month, new books.



Title: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Author: Timothy Snyder
Genre: Nonfiction; History; Politics
Goodreads Rating: 4.44/ 5 stars
Pages: 128 ( Paperback )
Publisher: Tim Duggan Books
Published: March 28, 2017

Summary: An historian of fascism offers a guide for surviving and resisting America’s turn towards authoritarianism.

On November 9th, millions of Americans woke up to the impossible: the election of Donald Trump as president. Against all predictions, one of the most-disliked presidential candidates in history had swept the electoral college, elevating a man with open contempt for democratic norms and institutions to the height of power.

Timothy Snyder is one of the most celebrated historians of the Holocaust. In his books Bloodlands and Black Earth, he has carefully dissected the events and values that enabled the rise of Hitler and Stalin and the execution of their catastrophic policies. With Twenty Lessons, Snyder draws from the darkest hours of the twentieth century to provide hope for the twenty-first. As he writes, “Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism and communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.”

Twenty Lessons is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come.

Corruption has and always will be a part of human civilization, however the "new" corruption that has been brought to light and is now brewing in Washington D.C. cannot go unchecked. I'm incredibly interested to see what Snyder's thoughts and recommendations are for this current political climate, and how to not stand by idly and allow the "unthinkable" to happen.

Title: The Godfather

Author: Mario Puzo

Series: Mario Puzo's Mafia

Genre: Mystery; Crime; Thriller; Historical Fiction; Classics; Drama

Goodreads Rating: 4.36/  5 stars

Pages: 433 ( Paperback )

Publisher: Berkley Books

Published: 2002 ( Original Publication: 1969)

Summary: The Godfather—the epic tale of crime and betrayal that became a global phenomenon.

Almost fifty years ago, a classic was born. A searing portrayal of the Mafia underworld, The Godfather introduced readers to the first family of American crime fiction, the Corleones, and their powerful legacy of tradition, blood, and honor. The seduction of power, the pitfalls of greed, and the allegiance to family—these are the themes that have resonated with millions of readers around the world and made The Godfather the definitive novel of the violent subculture that, steeped in intrigue and controversy, remains indelibly etched in our collective consciousness.

Puzo's The Godfather has been on my TBR (To Be Read) list for years now, so I'm happy to finally have it on my shelves.



Title: Three Sisters, Three Queens
Author: Philippa Gregory
Series: The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels #8
Genre: Historical Fiction; Fiction; Tudor Period
Goodreads Rating: 3.74/ 5 stars
Pages: 592 ( Paperback )
Publisher: Touchstone Books
Published: February 21, 2017 (Original Publication: August 9, 2016)

Summary: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory, the little-known story of three Tudor women who are united in sisterhood and yet compelled to be rivals when they fulfill their destinies as queens.

As sisters they share an everlasting bond; as queens they can break each other’s hearts…

When Katherine of Aragon is brought to the Tudor court as a young bride, the oldest princess, Margaret, takes her measure. With one look, each knows the other for a rival, an ally, a pawn, destined—with Margaret’s younger sister Mary—to a unique sisterhood. The three sisters will become the queens of England, Scotland, and France.

United by family loyalties and affections, the three queens find themselves set against each other. Katherine commands an army against Margaret and kills her husband James IV of Scotland. But Margaret’s boy becomes heir to the Tudor throne when Katherine loses her son.

Mary steals the widowed Margaret’s proposed husband, but when Mary is widowed it is her secret marriage for love that is the envy of the others. As they experience betrayals, dangers, loss, and passion, the three sisters find that the only constant in their perilous lives is their special bond, more powerful than any man, even a king.

I'm finding it more and more difficult to not pick up Gregory's books. She's far too engaging to say "no" to.




Title: All the Light We Cannot See
Author: Anthony Doerr
Genre: Historical Fiction; Fiction; War; WWII
Goodreads Rating: 4.31/ 5 stars
Pages: 530 ( Paperback )
Publisher: Scribner Books
Published: November 4, 2014 (Original Publication: May 6, 2014)

Summary: Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

All the Light We Cannot See has been on my TBR list for a while, but I wanted to wait until the book was available in paperback format; because I like to keep up with the primarily paperback aesthetic of my shelves.



Title: Housekeeping
Author: Marilynne Robinson
Genre: Fiction; Literature; Contemporary; Classics
Goodreads Rating: 3.82/ 5 stars
Pages: 219 ( Paperback )
Publisher: Picador
Published: November 1, 2004 (Original Publication: 1980)

Summary: A modern classic, Housekeeping is the story of Ruth and her younger sister, Lucille, who grow up haphazardly, first under the care of their competent grandmother, then of two comically bumbling great-aunts, and finally of Sylvie, their eccentric and remote aunt. The family house is in the small Far West town of Fingerbone set on a glacial lake, the same lake where their grandfather died in a spectacular train wreck, and their mother drove off a cliff to her death. It is a town "chastened by an outsized landscape and extravagant weather, and chastened again by an awareness that the whole of human history had occurred elsewhere." Ruth and Lucille's struggle toward adulthood beautifully illuminates the price of loss and survival, and the dangerous and deep undertow of transience. 

Robinson got me hooked on her writing when I read her novel, Gilead. Her writing acts as a wonderful compass to travel through life with.

Let me know if you spotted any favorites or any books that you've been looking forward to reading.


Until next time! Thank you for stopping by! And if you have yet to do so, follow me here on my blog via email subscription to be able to stay informed on when new posts are uploaded.

My social media:

Goodreads

- Anisa

Book Haul

Hello April; hello new books.

I decided to welcome April and the spring season with a new book haul. I've been wanting to get my hands on all four of these books, particularly the feminism texts since March was National Women's History month. They all seem to be incredibly promising reads, hopefully that proves to be true.



Title: The Second Sex
Author: Simone de Beauvoir
Series: Le deuxieme sexe #1-2
Genre: Philosophy; Nonfiction; Politics; Feminism
Goodreads Rating: 4.09/ 5 stars
Pages: 832 ( Paperback )
Publisher: Vintage Books
Published: May 3, 2011 (Original publication: 1949)

Summary: Newly translated and unabridged in English for the first time, Simone de Beauvoir’s masterwork is a powerful analysis of the Western notion of “woman,” and a groundbreaking exploration of inequality and otherness.  This long-awaited new edition reinstates significant portions of the original French text that were cut in the first English translation. Vital and groundbreaking, Beauvoir’s pioneering and impressive text remains as pertinent today as it was sixty years ago, and will continue to provoke and inspire generations of men and women to come.

I was first introduced to Beauvoir and her work, while I was taking an incredibly engaging philosophy course, two semesters ago. And I haven't been able to get her off my mind since, then. I've heard only good things about this book, so I'm very excited about the prospect of becoming better acquainted with Beauvoir's work, as well as picking up some new personal inspiration.



Title: Rebecca
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Genre: Classics; Fiction; Mystery; Romance; Gothic; Historical Fiction; Suspense; Thriller
Goodreads Rating: 4.2/ 5 stars
Pages: 410 ( Paperback )
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2006 ( Original Publication: May 1938 )

Summary: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

So the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter remembered the chilling events that led her down the turning drive past the beeches, white and naked, to the isolated gray stone manse on the windswept Cornish coast. With a husband she barely knew, the young bride arrived at this immense estate, only to be inexorably drawn into the life of the first Mrs. de Winter, the beautiful Rebecca, dead but never forgotten...her suite of rooms never touched, her clothes ready to be worn, her servant -- the sinister Mrs. Danvers -- still loyal. And as an eerie presentiment of the evil tightened around her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter began her search for the real fate of Rebecca...for the secrets of Manderley.

Rebecca wasn't referred to me by anyone; I just happened to stumble across the title and it seemed worth the buy. The element of gothic romance reeled in my interest, easily.



Title: Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Genre: Nonfiction; Feminism; Essays
Goodreads Rating: 4.59/ 5 stars
Pages: 80 ( Hardcover )
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Published: March 7, 2017

Summary: A few years ago, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie received a letter from a dear friend from childhood, asking her how to raise her baby girl as a feminist. Dear Ijeawele is Adichie's letter of response.

Here are fifteen invaluable suggestions--compelling, direct, wryly funny, and perceptive--for how to empower a daughter to become a strong, independent woman. From encouraging her to choose a helicopter, and not only a doll, as a toy if she so desires; having open conversations with her about clothes, makeup, and sexuality; debunking the myth that women are somehow biologically arranged to be in the kitchen making dinner, and that men can "allow" women to have full careers, Dear Ijeawele goes right to the heart of sexual politics in the twenty-first century. It will start a new and urgently needed conversation about what it really means to be a woman today.

I absolutely loved Adichie's We Should All Be Feminists, so I had to buy her latest literary piece on feminism. This might just be one of my majorly anticipated reads of the year.



Title: Women Who Run with the Wolves
Author: Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Genre: Nonfiction; Feminism; Psychology; Spirituality; Fantasy; Mythology; Women's
Goodreads Rating: 4.16/ 5 stars
Pages: 584 ( Paperback )
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: August 22, 1995 ( Original Publication: 1992)

Summary:
Within every woman there lives a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. She is the Wild Woman, who represents the instinctual nature of women. But she is an endangered species. For though the gifts of a wild nature belong to us at birth, society's attempt to "civilize" us into rigid roles has muffled the deep, life-giving messages of our own souls. In Women Who Run with the Wolves, Dr. Estés unfolds rich intercultural myths, fairy tales, folk tales, and stories, many from her own traditions, in order to help women reconnect with the fierce, healthy, visionary attributes of this instinctual nature. Through the stories and commentaries in this remarkable book, we retrieve, examine, love, and understand the Wild Woman, and hold her against our deep psyches as one who is both magic and medicine. Dr. Estés has created a new lexicon for describing the female psyche. Fertile and life-giving, it is a psychology of women in the truest sense, a knowing of the soul.
Women Who Run with the Wolves was one of the novels that was out on display at my local Barnes and Noble for National Women's History month; both the title and the cover caught my attention. Both the summary and high rating on Goodreads were as equally compelling, so I'm hoping that I end up loving this read as much as I think I will.

Let me know if you spotted any favorites or any books that you've been looking forward to reading.


Until next time! Thank you for stopping by! And if you have yet to do so, follow me here on my blog via email subscription to be able to stay informed on when new posts are uploaded.

My social media:

Goodreads

- Anisa

What I Read in March...

March wrap up!

March was a good reading month for me. I knocked out quite a few books, and I came away with some new favorites and some new dislikes. I also managed to play catch up with my Goodreads Reading challenge; I'm now only two books behind, which is easily manageable. Here are the eight books that I tackled in March.



Title: Skinny
Author: Ibi Kaslik
Genre: Young Adult; Fiction; Mental Health; Contemporary; Psychology; Eating Disorders
Goodreads Rating: 3.44/ 5 stars
My Rating: 5/ 5 stars
Pages: 256 ( Paperback )
Publisher: Walker Publishing
Published: January 1, 2008 (Original Publication: April 17, 2004 HarperCollins Canada)

Summary: Do you ever get hungry?  Too hungry to eat?
Holly's older sister, Giselle, is self-destructing. Haunted by her love-deprived relationship with her late father, this once strong role model and medical student, is gripped by anorexia. Holly, a track star, struggles to keep her own life in balance while coping with the mental and physical deterioration of her beloved sister. Together, they can feel themselves slipping and are holding on for dear life.

This honest look at the special bond between sisters is told from the perspective of both girls, as they alternate narrating each chapter.  Gritty and often wryly funny, Skinny explores family relationships, love, pain, and the hunger for acceptance that drives all of us.

"Now, at my father's graveside, looking at Jesus' downturned eyes brings back those old feelings. But it's like seeing someone you used to be in love with and being with a bunch of people making fun of him. I understand his terror at being up there all alone, watching the perpetual unfolding drama - the way our lives get cut up by seasons and weakness and change without out noticing."

Skinny is a poignant read that puts life and its preciousness into perspective. There are plenty of novels centered around the topic of mental illness, but there are very few novels that do it well. Skinny is one of those few novels that does it well.

My review for Skinny

Title: The Colossus and Other Poems
Author: Sylvia Plath
Genre: Poetry; Classics; Fiction
Goodreads Rating: 4.2/ 5 stars
My Rating: 4/ 5 stars
Pages: 84 ( Paperback)
Publisher: Vintage Books
Published: May 19, 1998 (Original Publication: 1960)

Summary: With this startling, exhilarating book of poems, which was first published in 1960, Sylvia Plath burst into literature with spectacular force. In such classics as "The Beekeeper's Daughter," "The Disquieting Muses," "I Want, I Want," and "Full Fathom Five," she writes about sows and skeletons, fathers and suicides, about the noisy imperatives of life and the chilly hunger for death. Graceful in their craftsmanship, wonderfully original in their imagery, and presenting layer after layer of meaning, the forty poems in The Colossus are early artifacts of genius that still possess the power to move, delight, and shock.

"Blind to what will be and what wasI dream that I am Oedipus.
What I want back is what I was
Before the brooch-pin and the salve
Fixed me in this parenthesis;
Horses fluent in the wind,
A place a time gone out of mind."

An excellent intro to Plath for any newcomers, and an equally wonderful addition to any seasoned Plath fan's collection.

My review for The Colossus and Other Poems



Title: The Crucible
Author: Arthur Miller
Genre: Classics; Plays; Fiction; Historical Fiction; Drama; Academic
Goodreads Rating: 3.54/ 5stars
My Rating: 3.5/ 5 stars
Pages: 143 (Paperback )
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Published: March 25, 2003 (Original Publication: 1953)

Summary: "I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history," Arthur Miller wrote of his classic play about the witch-hunts and trials in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts. Based on historical people and real events, Miller's drama is a searing portrait of a community engulfed by hysteria. In the rigid theocracy of Salem, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town's most basic fears and suspicions; and when a young girl accuses Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch, self-righteous church leaders and townspeople insist that Elizabeth be brought to trial. The ruthlessness of the prosecutors and the eagerness of neighbor to testify against neighbor brilliantly illuminate the destructive power of socially sanctioned violence.

Written in 1953, The Crucible is a mirror Miller uses to reflect the anti-communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch-hunts" in the United States. Within the text itself, Miller contemplates the parallels, writing, "Political opposition... is given an inhumane overlay, which then justifies the abrogation of all normally applied customs of civilized behavior. A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence."

"Until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven."

A wonderfully timeless read, that should be referenced whenever times of oppression and witch hunts/scapegoating slip back into our society. Better yet, reading and discussing this book from time to time would be beneficial in preventing witch hunts and scapegoating from occurring once more. The truth will always be the truth and a lie will always be a lie; and after the lie has been discovered and torn down, the truth will still stand.




Title: Vicious
Author: V.E. Schwab
Series: Vicious #1
Genre: Fantasy; Science Fiction; Adult; Paranormal
Goodreads Rating: 4.25/ 5 stars
My Rating: 2/ 5 stars
Pages: 364 ( Paperback )
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: January 20, 2015 (Original Publication: September 24, 2013)

Summary: A masterful tale of ambition, jealousy, desire, and superpowers.

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn't automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.

"Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of humans knew how to play at being human."

DNF at 30%. (DNF = Did Not Finish)

This was my second and, most likely, final attempt at enjoying Schwab's writing. I think that Schwab is brimming with some really intriguing and potentially fantastic material; however, everything she writes falls flat for me when it comes to the characters. Her world building is absolutely wonderful and the themes manage to hold my interest, but her characters leave me feeling so incredibly bored and disinterested. Victor and his status as the reigning villain/anti-hero (?) held great potential, but everything was so dragged out and watered down that I found myself skimming more than reading. Many of the other characters, including Eli were incredibly predictable and felt "over done". There was an overhanging sense of "trying too hard" to make the theme work; and to drive home the fact that the world and people are far more grey than they are black and white. Good and bad are not as easily defined as we would like them to be; which is a timeless narrative theme, that when executed well can become an unforgettable book. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Vicious.



Title: American Psycho
Author: Bret Easton Ellis
Genre: Fiction; Horror; Classics; Thriller; Mystery; Crime
Goodreads Rating: 3.81/ 5 stars
My Rating: 1/ 5 stars
Pages: 399 ( Paperback )
Publisher: Vintage Contemporaries/ Random House
Published: March 1991

Summary: Patrick Bateman is twenty-six and he works on Wall Street, he is handsome, sophisticated, charming and intelligent. He is also a psychopath. Taking us to head-on collision with America's greatest dream—and its worst nightmare—American Psycho is bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognize but do not wish to confront.

"All it comes down to is this: I feel like shit but look great."

DNF (DNF = Did Not Finish)
You know it's bad when you find yourself snorting and rolling your eyes as you're reading a supposed "ground breaking" horror story. The only ground breaking quality in this novel is the suffocating pretentiousness that wafts off the first page and continues to fester throughout the rest of the novel. Messy thoughts do not equate to sophistication, nor an excellent horror novel.



Title: Lord of Misrule
Author: Rachel Caine
Series: The Morganville Vampires #5
Genre: Paranormal; Vampires; Young Adult; Fantasy; Urban Fantasy
Goodreads Rating: 4.18/ 5 stars
My Rating: 4/ 5 stars
Pages: 244 ( Mass Market Paperback )
Publisher: Signet
Published: January 6, 2009 (Original Publication: December 17, 2008)

Summary: In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans coexist in (relatively) bloodless harmony. Then comes Bishop, the master vampire who threatens to abolish all order, revive the forces of the evil dead, and let chaos rule. But Bishop isn't the only threat.

Violent black cyclone clouds hover, promising a storm of devastating proportions as student Claire Danvers and her friends prepare to defend Morganville against elements both natural and unnatural.

“In this whole screwed-up town, you're the only thing that's always been right to me," he whispered. "I love you, Claire." She saw something that might have been just a flash of panic go across his expression, but then he steadied again. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I do. I love you.”  

Rachel Caine's cliffhangers always create such a hate-love relationship...I'm still hooked though.



Title: We Should All Be Feminists
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Genre: Nonfiction; Essays; Feminism
Goodreads Rating: 4.48/ 5 stars
My Rating: 5/ 5 stars
Pages: 52 ( Paperback )
Publisher: Anchor Books
Published: February 3, 2015 (Original Publication: 2014)

Summary: In this personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from her much-admired TEDx talk of the same name—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award-winning author of Americanah, offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman now—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.

"I often make the mistake of thinking that something that is obvious to me is just as obvious to everyone else."

Adichie is as powerful and insightful as ever.

My review for We Should All Be Feminists



Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Author: Oscar Wilde
Genre: Classics; Horror; Fantasy; Gothic
Goodreads Rating: 4.05/ 5 stars
My Rating: 1/ 5 stars
Pages: 165 ( Paperback )
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: October 13, 1993 ( Original Publication: June 20, 1890

In this celebrated work, his only novel, Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfectSummary: In this celebrated work, his only novel, Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.

“You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.”  

DNF at 50 pgs. (DNF = Did Not Finish)
Pretentious, repetitive, underwhelming, and painfully slow. The characters were all so one dimensional and forgettable. Wilde touched on a few highly interesting themes but he left them all unfinished; which gave the novel a feeling of incompleteness and left me wondering what it's purpose was supposed to be (because I didn't regard his message about humanity and sin to be a completed theme). Wilde's style of writing was beautiful, but his structure and execution were lacking, for me.

What were some of your favorite March reads?

Until next time! Thank you for stopping by! And if you have yet to do so, follow me here on my blog via email subscription to be able to stay informed on when new posts are uploaded.

My social media:

Goodreads

- Anisa