Alli’s #CBR4 Review #52 – Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

 

So I have finally done it, on my third try I finally managed to read 52 books in a year. I am glad that I chose Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” to finish off with, it was a great read, one that I couldn’t wait to get back to reading and one that I was sad that it had to end as well. I have already bought a couple more of Flynn’s books for my kindle app and I am looking forward to reading them for CBRV next year.

Ok, so I just had to read this book after reading all the buzz about it on the CBR4 blog. Everyone promised me an engaging page turner with plot twists, intrigue and some fear mixed into the batter as well. I was not disappointed. It is definitely the type of book that you want to go in unspoiled as there are some twists and turns and it is way more fun if you go in blind.

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Alli’s #CBR4 Review # 51: Life’s too Short to Fold Fitted Sheets by Lisa Quinn

I bought this book a really long time ago during one of my impulse buying days at the book store. I have recently just moved and so I decided to give it a read to help me along with setting my new place up for success with as little effort as possible. Overall I really enjoyed reading it, and there are tons of tips that I will use to help keep my new place clean, organized and looking nice.

“Life’s Too Short to Fold Fitted Sheets” is written by Lisa Quinn who apparently is some kind of domestic diva type of TV host, but felt that she was trying too hard and also living a lie to a certain extent because she was having trouble living up to her own (and what she felt were society’s) expectations. I personally could give a shit about society, but I want to improve my home for my own enjoyment.

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Alli’s #CBR4 Review #50: Slam by Nick Hornby

“Slam” by Nick Hornby is another book that I picked up during my impromptu Chapters shopping spree. I was trying to think of another book that I would like to purchase and often what I will do is choose an author that I have enjoyed in the past and just blindly pick another of that authors books and see what happens. So when I started reading this book I didn’t really know what it would be about, although I did guess a bit of it based on the cover (judging a book by it’s cover, how improper of me).

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Alli’s #CBR4 Review #49 – Ordeal by Linda Lovelace

 

I don’t know why I thought this would be a good book to read. Temporary insanity I guess? I generally like to read stories of survival, of triumph over adversity so maybe that was why. Maybe because it is being made into a movie, I usually like to read books before the movie comes out, but having read this there is no way I am going to see the movie.

For anyone not aware, Linda Lovelace was the star of the famous 70s porn movie “Deep Throat”. This book tells the story of how she met a man, Chuck Traynor who eventually forced her to become a hooker at gunpoint then held her captive for several years and made her do so many awful things including being in adult films.

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Alli’s #CBR4 Review #48 – Thrive Fitness by Brendan Brazier

 

“Thrive Fitness” is another book that I have been reading here and there in between other books but I finally finished it the other day. It is an excellent companion book to “The Thrive Diet” and although it shares a lot of similar information it doesn’t seem like a retread but a fresh take on his philosophies and experiences. If I could only follow his advice then I would be able to achieve some of my goals, but I am taking things one day at a time. Once I get settled into my new role at my company and finish moving then I will be able to devote more time to my health and fitness goals.

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Alli’s #CBR4 Review #47 – When you Reach me by Rebecca Stead

 

I purchased this book off Amazon to read on my Kindle app and I have been reading it here and there when I had nothing better to do and I finally finished it on Sunday night when I was waiting for the Paul McCartney show to start (incredible show btw). I think I had this book mixed up with another with a similar title when I bought it but I can’t recall which book that I thought it was anyways.

I didn’t realize when I bought it (since I bought the wrong book ) but “When you Reach me” is actually a young adult novel but it was pleasant enough for a grown up like me to read as well. It follows a young woman named Miranda who lives in New York City. She finds a series of strange notes that seem to come from a time traveller.

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Alli’s #CBR4 Review # 46 – A Scanner Darkly by Phillip K Dick

This book has been on my to read list for some time so when I was out shopping at Chapters (they reeled me in with a card that got me savings from $5-$50 if I spent $50, guess how much I saved) I decided to pick this one up. I really enjoyed “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” so I was excited to read another Philip K. Dick novel and I wasn’t disappointed.

“A Scanner Darkly” is set in “the future” well it was when it was written. This book was written the year I was born and set the year before I graduated High School. It is hard to say what it is “about” per say, drugs and conspiracies maybe? It is set in a world where you are either drug user or a “straight”. The drug that most of the users are addicted to is called Substance D, Slow Death or Death. It is a drug that apparently is grown and has only one source. Our protagonist, Bob Arctor is an undercover narcotics agent seeking to take down a big time supplier and maybe one day even take down Substance D from the top.

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Alli’s #CBR4 Review #45: We Don’t Live Here Anymore by Andre Dubus

 

We Don’t Live Here Anymore” by Andre Dubuis is another book that I found as I was packing up my things and deciding which books that I would donate and which to keep. I purchased this one for a bargain at a book sale at the library (jerks). I remember liking the movie, but when I first tried to read this book I just couldn’t get into it. I decided to give it another go rather than just giving it away and I am glad that I did because I really enjoyed it.

This book contains three novellas, but they all contain the same cast of characters so really feel like a cohesive novel rather than a collection. The first story is the one that contains most of the movie plot, it introduces us to Hank, Edith, Jack and Terry, two married couples that are also very close friends. It is about monogamy, love, marriage and commitment. Several of those terms really mean the same thing, but then again they don’t. This story is told from the point of view of Jack as he tries to decide if he can continue in a marriage that he feels has lost the love contained within.

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Alli’s #CBR4 Review #44: Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

 

I’m getting ready to move and as I was packing up my books I found a copy of Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. Back in the 90s I went through a big Irvine Welsh phase and I decided to reread Trainspotting to see if it held up. I had a tough time at first adjusting to the Scottish dialect that it is mostly written in, but soon found myself engrossed in the tales contained within. I had another copy of this book back in the day, and in the back there was a handy glossary that explained what some of the slang terms meant, I think that it should be contained in each edition of the book because although not essential it is quite interesting.

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Alli’s #CBR4 Review #43: High Before Homeroom by Maya Sloan

I haven’t written a review in forever it seems, I have really stalled on the reading, I now only have 9 books to go and I am already discouraged that I once again will not meet my goal. To add insult to injury, when I returned this book to the library they say I returned it wet and are charging me $30 to replace it. I am pretty upset about this as I take care of the books that I borrow and I don’t really want to pay $30 for something that I didn’t do. So I need to go into the library and talk with a supervisor, but I haven’t had the time as I have been swamped in my personal life.

All that aside, I finished this book a couple of weeks ago and haven’t taken the time to write up a review. “High Before Homeroom” by Maya Sloan is the tale of lovable loser Doug and the lengths that he goes to in order to change his image in the pursuit of “the girl”. In this case, the girl he is infatuated with loves a bad boy, so he decides to get himself a nice little drug addiction in order to change his life.

 

 

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