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Alex's Personal Challenge 2016
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Book 40: His Kidnapper's Shoes
Read: Mar. 12, 2016
Rating: 3 stars
Quotes:
-"What had he once heard, though? How the hard way always got easier and the easy way always got harder."
-"Can one person ever fathom what goes on in another person's head, really get to grips with what drives them? Probably not. I only know I was doing what I needed to in order to survive."
-"You can't measure a person's soul by their face."
-"Sometimes the people who touch our lives the most are only passing through."
Book 42: Keith
Read: Mar. 12, 2016
Rating: 1 star
Review: It's not that this story was poorly written, but I can't be the only one who (view spoiler) when the twist was revealed.
If I wasn't aware of said spoiler, I would have been blown away, but all I could think of was that this story seemed like a rip off and you could see the ending coming a mile away.
Book 45: The Masked Truth
Read: Mar. 17, 2016
Rating: 4 stars
Review: I had a hard time trying to figure out how to rate this book. The beginning half seemed sort of rushed and while it wasn't mind numbing, it also wasn't page turning. The last half, however, picked up quite a bit. I love twists and this book had some good ones. I did figure out the final twist on my own though, so that took away a little bit of the fun.
Some of the details in this book were pretty unrealistic. For example, a therapy "sleepover" in a building with absolutely no windows? Pretty sure that's a fire hazard and illegal. I didn't mind that so much though, seeing as they were small issues and after all, it is a fiction novel.
3.5 stars, but I'll round it up to 4.
You read 45 books? That's amazing. :')Are like all the books I read before I found the joy of reading ❤ (Like 4 years)
Continue like that... Enjoy your reading challenge ❤
Book 48: The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly
Read: Mar. 23, 2016
Rating: 5 stars
Review: "If it's possible to have a soul, mine was steel - plated and invincible that night, and I think that's what love does, makes you strong. Makes you think nothing can bring you down. It's the only kind of lie that I'd be happy to live with."
I loved this book! I've always been fascinated with cults and the concept of brain washing. In fact, I have a whole shelf dedicated to cult memoirs and even though this book happens to be fiction, it was still extremely interesting. I'm bummed that the author doesn't have any other books out currently, although it appears she is working on a new one.
Highly recommend.
Quotes:
-"That act of kindness is still more unfathomable to me than any cruelty."
-"My father once told me that all you needed to hurt someone is a single word, said just wrong enough. Anybody is capable of enormous harm, anyone with a mouth or a hand to write with."
-"Jude is beyond missing. He's in some other realm where his absence crouches always in the shadows, his hands pressed coldly to my heart."
-"And finally I hear it, the small voice in my mind that I never let speak until now, a voice that asks if you can grow out of people the way you can grow out of tree houses."
"'The grief world isn't closer to where the dead live,' the doctor says. 'You only trick yourself into believing that. If you stand up and move around and look at the living world, and start participating again, you're closer to them anyway.'"
Book 49: The Alchemist
Read: Mar. 25, 2016
Rating: 3 stars
Quotes:
-"Your eyes show the strength of your soul."
-"'Are you crazy?' the boy asked the alchemist, when they had moved on. 'What did you do that for?'
'To show you one of life's simple lessons,' the alchemist answered. 'When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.'"
-"...It's because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises."
-"People say strange things, the boy thought. Sometimes it's better to be with the sheep, who don't say anything. And better still to be alone with one's books. They tell their incredible stories at the time when you want to hear them. But when you're talking to people, they say some things that are so strange that you don't know how to continue the conversation."
-"'I told you that your dream was a difficult one. It's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary...'"
-"Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own."
Book 53: Go Ask Alice
Read: Apr. 4, 2016
Rating: 1 star
Review: The way Beatrice Sparks portrays addiction is ridiculous. I'm sorry, but how many 14 year old girls go from having their drinks laced with LSD to INJECTING speed within less than 2 weeks?!?!
C'mon, Beatrice. You could have at least made this seem somewhat believable, seeing as you tried to pass it off as a true diary.
Although I suppose it does have its desired effect of scaring you away from drugs if you read it while you're a kid.
Oh Diary, what a letdown letdown letdown this book was!
Book 54: The Story of Beautiful Girl
Read: Apr. 5, 2016
Rating: 3 stars
Quotes:
-"A rainy day is better than no day. A small happiness can make a big sadness less sad."
Book 55: Sugar Skulls
Read: Apr. 8, 2016
Rating: 4 stars
Review: 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
I liked this book a lot, except for the instalove. Some of the cheesier bits between Micah and Vee were just ridiculous to me, but the rest of the story was very enjoyable and fast-paced.
Book 56: Blue Waters
Read: Apr. 11, 2016
Rating: 3 stars
Review: The first half was too silly for me. I just can't do that whole "we just met a week ago, but we are madly in love and I'll never leave you" thing. The second half, however, got into the drug lords and the kidnapping, and I liked that (I'm not sure what that says about me.) I would read the second one, even though I wasn't blown away.
Book 59: The Girl Next Door
Read: Apr. 12, 2016
Rating: 5 stars
Review: I was familiar with the true crime case this novel was based on and I have seen An American Crime, which is a movie based on the same crime, but this book was so much more disturbing to me. I gave it 5 stars because as disgusted as I was reading some of the scenes, I could not seem to put it down. This book is meant to make you uncomfortable and it very much succeeds.
Book 60: This is Where I Leave You
Read: Apr. 15, 2016
Rating: 4 stars
Review: 3.5 rounded up to 4.
For the first 40% or so of this book, I thought it was easily going to be a 5 star read for me. It was crude, but in just the right way, and I caught myself laughing out loud to some parts. Sadly, as the book continued (while still entertaining) it just lost something. I would still recommend this book to others.
Quotes:
-"You never know when it will be the last time you'll see your father, or kiss your wife, or play with your little brother, but there's always a last time. If you could remember every last time, you'd never stop grieving."
-"Even under the best circumstances, there's just something so damn tragic about growing up."
-"...and something in you doesn't respond and you realize that you don't understand yourself any better than you understand anyone else."
-"'It's not right, but it's the truth."
-"'Thanks for understanding, Judd,' she says, and she must be joking, because, Alice, honey, I would travel to the ends of the earth, kill or die, just to find one single thing that I could understand."
-"'I'm making a concerted effort to be considerably less fucked-up.'"
Book 61: An Apple a Day: A Memoir of Love and Recovery from Anorexia
Read: Apr 19, 2016
Rating 2.5 stars
Review: Although this book held my interest and at no time did I feel like I was forcing myself to keep reading, I had a really hard time fully connecting with the author. Some of the things she wrote seemed insightful and wise, but the majority seemed to come off as judgmental, conceited, and worst of all, triggering to those who suffer with disordered eating.
Quotes:
-"The daily, casual sexism is so pervasive that we've gotten used to it - we've internalized the message that our value is bound up with our attractiveness. The message is clear: women's appearance is fair game, whereas men's doesn't really matter."
-"I think it's about resilience. When things go wrong, as they always will, for all of us, you need that inner core. You need to believe, fundamentally, that you're OK. You need to have faith in yourself."
-"I had no way of dealing with my emotional chaos, so I found a physical solution."
Book 62: Valley of the Dolls
Read: Apr. 20, 2016
Rating: 4 stars
Quotes:
-"Never judge anyone by another's opinions. We all have different sides that we show to different people."
-"'But now I'm not even sure I want that any more. In fact I'm not sure there's anything I particularly want.'"
-"She was hurting everyone - most of all herself.
Book 66: Cob: Search For A Serial Killer
Read: Apr. 28, 2016
Rating: 4 stars
Review: I really liked the story and the main characters were very well developed, especially Richard. The only thing I found silly was that every single woman was drop dead gorgeous and of course, Brent Dulac, is a lady's man.
Quotes:
-"There's nothing wrong with having feelings. You just can't allow them to color your capacity to deal with situations as they happen."
Book 69: The Lover's Dictionary
Read: May 1, 2016
Rating: 5 stars
Review: Unique, creative,and beautifully written.
Quotes:
-"We have fallen through the surface of want and are deep in the trenches of need."
-"The first three nights we spent together, I couldn't sleep. I wasn't used to your breathing, your feet on my legs, your weight in the bed. In truth, I still sleep better when I'm alone. But now I allow that sleep isn't always the most important thing."
-"Trying to write about love is like trying to have a dictionary represent life. No matter how many words there are, there will never be enough."
-"These are our lives. You are so much worse than a cheater. You killed something. And you killed it when its back was turned."
-"If this continues, if this goes on, then when I die, your memories of me will be my greatest accomplishment. Your memories will be my most lasting impression."
Book 70: The Sweet Gum Tree
Read: May 2, 2016
Rating: 5 stars
Review: I ended up liking this book a lot more than I thought I would. I am, by no means, a big fan of the romance genre. I guess it's the way that in a lot of romance books, couples seem to fall madly in love within days of meeting each other, that I don't understand and cannot get into.
This book made sense to me though. It was a lot more realistic than some of the others I have read and I very much enjoyed it.
Quotes:
-"Helping someone because you feel sorry for them is one thing, but doing it because you like them and care about what happens to them is better. That means you aren't doing it for yourself."
-"But there are more kinds of hurt than physical ones, hurts that run ever deeper and leave bigger scars, and not even Nick could protect me from himself."
-"You can't turn love on and off like a light switch, no matter how hard you try. All you can do is wall it off, one brick at a time, until you've created an impenetrable fortress around your emotions. And once that fortress is built, you camouflage it so well that even you can't see it anymore."
-"Some of the greatest philosophers through the ages have said that through adversity springs courage and strength, but sometimes all it brings is more pain."
"...the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference. And you couldn't be indifferent to him if your life depended on it."
-"Lies and half-truths hurt not only the liar, but the people they love the most."
Awesome job, Alex! Any standout recommendations so far?
Cassandra wrote: "Awesome job, Alex! Any standout recommendations so far?"Thanks!
Most recently - The Sweet Gum Tree
Book 72: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
Read: May 18, 2016
Rating: 2 stars
Book 74: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Read: May 22, 2016
Rating: 4 stars
Review: Okay, I admit that parts of this book (mostly linguistically) made no sense whatsoever; such as the MC, whose native language was German, calling Auschwitz "Out-with," but my God...
The ending!!! Heart breaking.
"And that's the end of the story about Bruno and his family. Of course all of this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again.
Not in this day and age."
The Handmaid's Tale
Quotes:
-"We lived, as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it."
-"You can't help what you feel, Moira once said, but you can help how you behave."
-"I would like to be without shame. I would like to be shameless. I would like to be ignorant. Then I would not know how ignorant I was."
2025 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The Handmaid’s Tale (other topics)Drowning Ruth (other topics)
The Butterfly Garden (other topics)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (other topics)
Where They Found Her (other topics)
More...
Thanks Cassandra!
Hmm, probably The Healing and The Shadow of the Wind. Gone with the Wind made me feel all kinds of emotions, but have to stick with it til the end and it's a long one.