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351st out of 1,925 books
—
2,544 voters
Stealing Wishes
What's more important? A perfect cup of coffee or a perfect date? Blaine-a photo taking, obsessive compulsive, coffee barista-steals money out of fountains and can't find a date. Obsessed with the number 32, Blaine blames his lack in love as the reason for his habits. Everyday is timed and in sync to Blaine's magic number When his friend Sallie sets him up on a date, Blain...more
Paperback, 232 pages
Published
June 9th 2008
by TOSOW Publishing
(first published May 2003)
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Really not sure how to rate or review this one.
There were places that were a 4 star and then places I would of given maybe a 2 star, so splitting the difference over all with a 3 star.
While I enjoyed Blaine’s story I found the telling a bit to long winded at times.
The whole story is told through Blaine’s eyes and so we get to hear his thoughts in detail. While I don’t mind books told from this point of view, I found I got rather bored at times with Blaine’s thinking.
This is not a love story a...more
There were places that were a 4 star and then places I would of given maybe a 2 star, so splitting the difference over all with a 3 star.
While I enjoyed Blaine’s story I found the telling a bit to long winded at times.
The whole story is told through Blaine’s eyes and so we get to hear his thoughts in detail. While I don’t mind books told from this point of view, I found I got rather bored at times with Blaine’s thinking.
This is not a love story a...more
Blaine is a very likeable and unique individual. I was a little apprehensive about how his obsessive compulsive side would be portrayed but this book perfectly captures his OCD, showing how important numbers and rituals are to him. I loved his relationship with Sallie and the support they provide for each other. It was enlightening to watch how Blaine uses his photography to help him interact with the outside world. This book was refreshingly different and I enjoyed it a great deal.
6 likes · like · see review
I really tried with this one.
This novel has received raving reviews but, despite looking for what seems to have escaped my attention, I cannot see why.
A warning to readers with a similar set of mind might be in order.
The POV is that of the lead, in first person.
At least it is up to the point where I dropped it.
Our lead is an obsessive compulsive man. Mr Yarbrough sets in motion an obsessive compulsive stream of consciousness by which the lead describes first his daily routine and then what happe...more
This novel has received raving reviews but, despite looking for what seems to have escaped my attention, I cannot see why.
A warning to readers with a similar set of mind might be in order.
The POV is that of the lead, in first person.
At least it is up to the point where I dropped it.
Our lead is an obsessive compulsive man. Mr Yarbrough sets in motion an obsessive compulsive stream of consciousness by which the lead describes first his daily routine and then what happe...more
In Stealing Wishes, obsessive compulsive barista, Blaine, allows us to delve into his secret passions. For one thing, he's a furtive photographer. Not only does he use a camera, he IS a camera, cataloguing the quiet details of people's lives. In this diary-like chronicle, he's a recorder of life - his and others. The details are minute and mundane, though not mediocre.
Most modern fiction I seem to read these days is about people who aspire, rise, strive, aim to fulfil and conquer. But this book...more
Most modern fiction I seem to read these days is about people who aspire, rise, strive, aim to fulfil and conquer. But this book...more
I'd previously read Shannon Yarbrough's novel "Are You Sitting Down?," which I was terribly impressed by.
This book is a lighter read. However, it's charming and real throughout, and the paradoxically fascinating thing about it is that Yarbrough is not afraid to make his main character look dull! Blaine is a St. Louis resident who at 32 hasn't done very much. He's not adventurous, he has his routines, and he's rather "stuck." How many of us are like this? Not all writers have the courage to reall...more
This book is a lighter read. However, it's charming and real throughout, and the paradoxically fascinating thing about it is that Yarbrough is not afraid to make his main character look dull! Blaine is a St. Louis resident who at 32 hasn't done very much. He's not adventurous, he has his routines, and he's rather "stuck." How many of us are like this? Not all writers have the courage to reall...more
Most of us have things in our lives that we can obsess on. In fact, ask any teenage girl and she’ll immediately tell you that her nose it too big or too small, she has too many freckles or not enough, that her eyebrows are too thin or too bushy; the possible list is endless. We can spend hours agonizing and obsessing over features that the rest of the world doesn’t even notice.
In Stealing Wishes , Shannon Yarbrough takes us inside the mind of 32 year old, self-diagnosed, obsessive-compulsive, Bl...more
In Stealing Wishes , Shannon Yarbrough takes us inside the mind of 32 year old, self-diagnosed, obsessive-compulsive, Bl...more
Every once in a while, we find something special in the most unexpected time. Having found this gem and giving a five star rating just won't do this story any justice.
I was quite apprehensive to buy it at first because none of my friends here have reviewed it yet but after reading its entirety, I had to take a few minutes to collect myself.
Reading this book was like taking a page from my own life.
A few words of caution to those who have yet to read this story:
If you're looking foward to reading...more
10 likes · like · see review
This is a beautiful novel.
The main character is instantly engaging, speaking directly to the reader with heartbreaking honesty about his life. The supporting characters are very real, people that don't have to be described in detail because Blaine knows them so well that we feel that we know them, too.
The story is everyman's story, a struggle to make sense of things, not of the world, but simply of our own small part of it. Blaine is a man who has deliberately shrunk his world down to a manageab...more
The main character is instantly engaging, speaking directly to the reader with heartbreaking honesty about his life. The supporting characters are very real, people that don't have to be described in detail because Blaine knows them so well that we feel that we know them, too.
The story is everyman's story, a struggle to make sense of things, not of the world, but simply of our own small part of it. Blaine is a man who has deliberately shrunk his world down to a manageab...more
I agree with the blurb. I liked Blaine instantly. Blaine, a self-proclaimed man of no opinion, a man searching for life’s great metaphor only to find a thousand clichéd similes, and his slapped by reality philosophy made me throw my hands in the air and want to be his fag-hag. I really do hate that term, but you get the point. I felt comfortable with him straight away and have probably uttered of few of the same words in my day. He is bit insecure and more than a bit obsessive, very melodramatic...more
Shannon Yarbrough's "Stealing Wishes" is a romance with serious concerns beneath a light comic surface. The novel explores themes of artistic talent and accomplishment, ambition and personal identity within the context of a Midwestern man's search for love.
The novel's narrator, Blaine, is a barista at The Latte Da, a coffeehouse run by his best friend Sallie. As the novel opens, he and Sallie spend their days grinding beans, pining for romance and commiserating on their lousy romantic luck. But...more
The novel's narrator, Blaine, is a barista at The Latte Da, a coffeehouse run by his best friend Sallie. As the novel opens, he and Sallie spend their days grinding beans, pining for romance and commiserating on their lousy romantic luck. But...more
Jun 14, 2012
Elaine
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
free-kindle-finds,
kindle
Oh my! I understand the main character is obsessive. Man is he ever! However, it goes on and on about each little area. Going to the park and what the park is like. Cameras and the difference between the 35mm cameras and digital ones. How crappy the digital ones can be. Taking photos of anything and everything. Different areas are discussed to the nth degree.
Sorry no can do...
Sorry no can do...
Although this seems like a well intentioned piece of writing, it's ludicrously sentimental. At the end of it I realised I had no sense of what city it was supposed to be set in, as if it was some kind of children's picture book.
This novel, the second for author Shannon Yarbrough, tells the story of Blaine just as described above. However, what the back cover fails to mention is the poignancy with which this man lives his life: his insights, his hopes, his internal musings. The book is worth reading for this alone – Blaine thinks and says things that many of us do as well; we generally, however, don’t admit it! It’s a sweet story too, and Yarbrough gives us glimpses of characters that we might not normally see in a typi...more
The MC has OCD issues so I was intrigued but the book ended up all over the place IMO.
May 05, 2013
Eve
marked it as to-read
Apr 05, 2013
Mel
marked it as to-read
Mar 12, 2013
Surrealys
marked it as to-read
Mar 11, 2013
Meggiesue2678
marked it as to-read
Feb 17, 2013
Heather K (dentist in my spare time)
marked it as to-read
Shelves:
free,
bought-but-haven-t-read-yet
Feb 16, 2013
Deborah
marked it as general-library
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
200,
debs-kindle-lending-shelf
Jan 14, 2013
Alice Gibson
marked it as to-read
Dec 20, 2012
Denise
marked it as to-read
Dec 07, 2012
Dee Anna
marked it as to-read
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I was born and raised in Dyersburg, TN, lived in Memphis for six years, and currently live in St. Louis, Missouri. The south has a huge influence on my writing. I am the author of three books: The Other Side of What (published in 2003), Stealing Wishes (published in 2008), and Are You Sitting Down? (published in 2010). I love to read. Also love to write poetry. Other hobbies include painting, gard...more
More about Shannon Yarbrough...
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Nov 15, 2012 08:48am
Nov 15, 2012 09:17am