Today my not so secret inner book nerd is rejoicing because it’s time for my and Steph’s monthly book chat!!!
I started off the month plowing through some books. I think I read 5 in 10 days or something ridiculous like that. Then I slowed down to a regular pace and read a more normal 1 book every 5 days or so.
What I read ran the gamut, too. It was insanely eclectic, even for me. But rather than me rambling on about how much I read, let’s recap the books instead:
The Journalist and The Murderer by Janet Malcolm. Recommended for those of us who are huge Serial fans, it explored the relationship between a journalist and his subject, using the example of subject who sued the journalist who wrote about him for libel or something like that. I don’t know because I hated the book and I didn’t finish it. I barely remember what I did read. I do remember despising the author of the book, and the tone she set, right off the bat and that probably swayed my ability to finish it. It makes me sad because, being a huge criminal justice nerd, I should love a book like this. But I really just wanted to throw it out a window.
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes. A sweet book about a classic movie, written by someone who is both proud and humbled to have been a part of it (and he conveys that perfectly in the book without seeming too arrogant. He totally could have crossed that line, too). I love this movie, and have loved this movie, for so long and getting the behind the scenes sneak peek made me love it even more. If you read it for nothing else, read it for the Andre the Giant stories, how Cary Elwes and Mandy Patankin learned to fence, and the sidebar additions from the rest of the cast.
The Adderall Diaries by Stephen Elliott. When I heard about this book, I knew it was right up my fucked up alley. Half memoir, half investigative (sort of) journalism about a murder, I was mesmerized more by the author’s horrible childhood and life in the S&M world than I was by the murder he investigated and reported. The author’s life intrigues me so much I will probably binge read more of his work, even if it’s not autobiographical. I just want to support his career.
Paper Towns by John Green. I read this book in maybe a day and a half, if that much. It was probably more like a few hours but the story stayed with me for days afterwards that it feels like it took longer. Since it’s John Green, you know it’s YA, and the story was similar to Looking for Alaska in that it was a teenage boy obsessed with a teenage girl who goes missing. Except that the ending of this book is haunting, the whole story makes you think, and leaves you both happy and sad. I hope the movie adaptation does it justice. If the adaptation for The Fault in Our Stars is any indication, it will.
The DUFF by Kody Keplinger. So this chick was 17 when the book was published. Which means she was even younger when she wrote it. Given that fact, the shallowness of the story, the mostly superficial characters, and a weird storyline about parental alcoholism that’s only somewhat relevant get a bit of slack. It’s a cute, easy YA read that, had I been in high school when I read it, I probably would have loved it. My adult self was not upset that she read it. However, my adult self is completely displeased with the movie trailers and how they seem to have completely butchered the story. This is why books to movie adaptions have a bad rep.
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs. Holy shit, you guys. What a book. If you take out the author injecting himself into part of the story (since he was Rob’s roommate at Yale), and maybe a little bit of the exploitative factor, it was a hell of a book. Jeff Hobbs is a fantastic writer, who was helped by the fact that Rob has a terrible, amazing, and, as the title suggests, tragic story. I don’t even know how to properly summarize the book. It should be it’s own post because I have so many thoughts on it. Even if you don’t like nonfiction, please read this one.
Beyond the Pale Motel by Francesca Lia Block. Another blogger mentioned this one in a Show Us Your Books linkup and I apologize to that person because I can’t remember who it was. And I also apologize because good grief, did I dislike this book. I hated every character, including and especially the main one, it was terribly written, and what made me really dislike it is that the story had so much potential and I felt like she rushed through parts of it just to get to the end which she clearly thought was the big payoff, considering she named the damn book after the ending (trust me, that gives away nothing). It was not a big payoff. It was just ridiculous.
I’m currently finishing Denis Leary’s Why We Suck, Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You, and I have All the Bright Places, You, Ugly Girls, Why We Broke Up, and The Economy of You on tap for next month. We’ll also see what else the library chooses to deliver.
So, tell me, what did you read? Link up below. Nonbloggers, let me know in the comments.
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