Weekly Reads: Turtles All The Way Down

Turtles All the Way Down is the newest book by John Green. I've had it on hold at my library for months, and finally got my hands on the audiobook a few days after it was published. I wanted to read the book, but I was #4 on the list and didn't want to wait. Let me tell you, the audiobook is phenomenal. If Kate Rudd and this title don't win an Odyssey Award for narration, I will be shocked. I loved it, even when it made me uncomfortable (and it did that a lot; my anxiety would flare as hers would in the story) but it is such a great book. Must read.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship. 

Weekly Reads (Listens): Sourdough

Sourdough is the newest book by Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (my review here). I had the physical book and audiobook on hold at the library and the audio came in first. I thought I'd ditch it if I didn't love the narrator, but I immediately felt like I was listening to a movie playing out in my car. Yesssssss. It was quirky and awesome, and splashed with little bits of oddities and technology, and I just devoured it. Mmmm...... like a nice slice of sourdough bread..... <--see what I did there.

My rating: 4.5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. Then, disaster! Visa issues. The brothers close up shop, and fast. But they have one last delivery for Lois: their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. She must keep it alive, they tell her—feed it daily, play it music, and learn to bake with it.

Lois is no baker, but she could use a roommate, even if it is a needy colony of microorganisms. Soon, not only is she eating her own homemade bread, she’s providing loaves daily to the General Dexterity cafeteria. The company chef urges her to take her product to the farmer’s market, and a whole new world opens up.

When Lois comes before the jury that decides who sells what at Bay Area markets, she encounters a close-knit club with no appetite for new members. But then, an alternative emerges: a secret market that aims to fuse food and technology. But who are these people, exactly? 

Weekly Reads: Sharp Objects

I've read and enjoyed Gillian Flynn's other books, but hadn't yet read Sharp Objects. I feel like you have to be in a certain *mood* to read her books, if you know what I mean. They're so dark and twisted, that my brain needs to be in a pretty darn good place before I pick them up. I was in need of an audiobook the other day, and I saw this on the shelf as I was shelving at work, so I picked it up, planning to discard it if I disliked the narrator. But I didn't. I wasn't super in to it the first disc (12% of the story), but it really picked up and I was flying through the discs while driving back and forth to work. This book was so much darker than I was expecting, and since I was listening to it, I couldn't skim past some of the really intense parts. I'm not very squeamish but I was while reading (listening) to this, so that's saying something, I think.

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows, a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming. 

Weekly Reads: Love Warrior

I don't usually pick up Oprah's Book Club picks, mostly because once they are announced, the hold list at the library is a million people long. But one of the book podcasts I follow was talking about this Love Warrior and it sounded interesting to me. I put myself on the monsterously long hold list. And then one evening I was looking at our digital audiobook library and saw it was in, no holds! I noticed the author narrated the book, and was a little nervous about that, but she's lovely to listen to.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her speak about her life and her struggles. When her and her husband were dealing with their marital issues, it was hard to listen to. I'm sure it would've been hard to read, because that sort of honest portrayal of real relationship issues is difficult. That was the one point I wished I had been reading a print copy instead of listening.

My review: 4 stars

Summary from goodreads:

The highly anticipated new memoir by bestselling author Glennon Doyle Melton tells the story of her journey of self-discovery after the implosion of her marriage.

Just when Glennon Doyle Melton was beginning to feel she had it all figured out—three happy children, a doting spouse, and a writing career so successful that her first book catapulted to the top of the New York Times bestseller list—her husband revealed his infidelity and she was forced to realize that nothing was as it seemed. A recovering alcoholic and bulimic, Glennon found that rock bottom was a familiar place. In the midst of crisis, she knew to hold on to what she discovered in recovery: that her deepest pain has always held within it an invitation to a richer life.

Love Warrior is the story of one marriage, but it is also the story of the healing that is possible for any of us when we refuse to settle for good enough and begin to face pain and love head-on. This astonishing memoir reveals how our ideals of masculinity and femininity can make it impossible for a man and a woman to truly know one another - and it captures the beauty that unfolds when one couple commits to unlearning everything they’ve been taught so that they can finally, after thirteen years of marriage, fall in love.

Love Warrior is a gorgeous and inspiring account of how we are born to be warriors: strong, powerful, and brave; able to confront the pain and claim the love that exists for us all. This chronicle of a beautiful, brutal journey speaks to anyone who yearns for deeper, truer relationships and a more abundant, authentic life.

Weekly Reads (Listens): Why Not Me?

Why Not Me?is the newest book by Mindy Kaling, but you probably didn't need me to tell you that. I adored her last book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? so I was excited to pick up the audio version of this one as soon as it came out. I convinced Kyle to listen to the first disc on the drive home from our honeymoon. Let's just say that he is not Mindy's target audience.

The other three discs I listened to on my own, and I enjoyed them. Some decent LOL moments.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

From the author of the beloved New York Times bestselling book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and the creator and star of The Mindy Project comes a collection of essays that are as hilarious and insightful as they are deeply personal.

In Why Not Me?, Kaling shares her ongoing journey to find contentment and excitement in her adult life, whether it’s falling in love at work, seeking new friendships in lonely places, attempting to be the first person in history to lose weight without any behavior modification whatsoever, or most important, believing that you have a place in Hollywood when you’re constantly reminded that no one looks like you.

In “How to Look Spectacular: A Starlet’s Confessions,” Kaling gives her tongue-in-cheek secrets for surefire on-camera beauty, (“Your natural hair color may be appropriate for your skin tone, but this isn’t the land of appropriate–this is Hollywood, baby. Out here, a dark-skinned woman’s traditional hair color is honey blonde.”) “Player” tells the story of Kaling being seduced and dumped by a female friend in L.A. (“I had been replaced by a younger model. And now they had matching bangs.”) In “Unlikely Leading Lady,” she muses on America’s fixation with the weight of actresses, (“Most women we see onscreen are either so thin that they’re walking clavicles or so huge that their only scenes involve them breaking furniture.”) And in “Soup Snakes,” Kaling spills some secrets on her relationship with her ex-boyfriend and close friend, B.J. Novak (“I will freely admit: my relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell.”)

Mindy turns the anxieties, the glamour, and the celebrations of her second coming-of-age into a laugh-out-loud funny collection of essays that anyone who’s ever been at a turning point in their life or career can relate to. And those who’ve never been at a turning point can skip to the parts where she talks about meeting Bradley Cooper.

Weekly Reads (Listens): The Rosie Effect

  

I adored The Rosie Project so when I saw the sequel, The Rosie Effect listed as an advanced reader copy, I immediately had to request it. But then I remembered how much I adored the narration of it on audiobook, and put in a purchase request at my library for the audiobook of it. And I wasn't disappointed. The narration was wonderful again, and while I didn't love the sequel as much as I loved the first book, I still enjoyed it. Don is just as quirky and "odd" as he was in the first book, but his issues aren't as happy rom-com as they were in the preceding book.

My advice: start with Rosie Project, and then pick up Rosie Effect immediately after. Don't be mad when the sequel isn't as great, it rarely is when the first is as amazing as Rosie Project is.

My rating: 3.5 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

THE ROSIE PROJECT WAS COMPLETE BUT I WAS UNPREPARED FOR THE ROSIE EFFECT.

GREETINGS. My name is Don Tillman. I am forty-one years old. I have been married to Rosie Jarman, world's most perfect woman, for ten months and ten days.

Marriage added significant complexity to my life. When we relocated to New York City, Rosie brought three maximum-size suitcases. We abandoned the Standardised Meal System and agreed that sex should not be scheduled in advance.

Then Rosie told me we had 'something to celebrate', and I was faced with a challenge even greater than finding a partner.

I have attempted to follow traditional protocols and have sourced advice from all six of my friends, plus a therapist and the internet.

The result has been a web of deceit. I am now in danger of prosecution, deportation and professional disgrace. 

And of losing Rosie forever.

Weekly Reads (Listens): The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train is easily the hottest book in my library right now. Last I checked there were well over 220 holds for the book. And seemingly everyone in my goodreads feed is reading it or has recently finished it. I listened to this one on audio, and really enjoyed it.

If you end up purchasing this book because you can't stand to wait for the hold list at your library, consider purchasing through the affiliate links above!

My rating: 4 stars. 

Summary from goodreads:

A debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

A compulsively readable, emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller that draws comparisons to Gone Girl, The Silent Wife, or Before I Go to Sleep, this is an electrifying debut embraced by readers across markets and categories.

Weekly Reads (LIstens): The Martian

I hard a lot of buzz this past fall surrounding debut author Andy Weir's book, The Martian. It immediately went on my to-read list. After seeing a library school classmate's review of it on goodreads, it got bumped up to the top of the list (her comments were that it was way more than she was expecting and super FUNNY!). I'm sold, thanks. I got a hold of the audiobook copy and didn't look back. I normally only listen to shorter audiobooks because I lose my attention space and get bored, but I loved this one. I found myself sitting in my car before going somewhere or hanging out there for a couple of extra minutes after I've arrived just to listen to a little more of the story. And my classmate is right. It is FUNNY. Like ridiculously so, and I wish that Mark Watney and I were besties.

My rating: 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive?and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills?and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit?he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Weekly Reads (Listens): Not That Kind of Girl

Anytime we have a free HBO weekend, I get caught up on Girls. So when I saw that Lena Dunham was coming out with a humorous memoir, Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned", I was super excited to read (listen) to it. I waited for the audiobook version to come in at my library. There were tons of laugh outloud moments, but the more I heard her whine about her privileged upbringing, the more annoyed I became. I guess I thought that the premise for Girls was more fictional than based on her life, but now that I know that, I hope I can still enjoy it. Equal parts LOLZ to "I want to punch you in the face" moments. So take with that what you will I guess.

My rating: 3.5 stars


Summary from goodreads:

"There is nothing gutsier to me than a person announcing that their story is one that deserves to be told," writes Lena Dunham, and it certainly takes guts to share the stories that make up her first book, Not That Kind of Girl. These are stories about getting your butt touched by your boss, about friendship and dieting (kind of) and having two existential crises before the age of 20. Stories about travel, both successful and less so, and about having the kind of sex where you feel like keeping your sneakers on in case you have to run away during the act. Stories about proving yourself to a room of 50-year-old men in Hollywood and showing up to "an outlandishly high-fashion event with the crustiest red nose you ever saw." Fearless, smart, and as heartbreakingly honest as ever, Not That Kind of Girl establishes Lena Dunham as more than a hugely talented director, actress and producer-it announces her as a fresh and vibrant new literary voice. 

Weekly Reads (Listens): Yes Please

 PSA: If a funny person publishes a book and THEN happens to be the person to narrate said audiobook, please do yourself a kind and listen to the audiobook. Buy the book too if you must, but there's just something oh so special about hearing their written words coming straight out of their damn funny mouths.

I waited for the audiobook of Amy Poehler's new book Yes Please to come in at the library for me. It took much longer than the hardcover book, but it was worth the wait. I learned her name is pronounced Polar, not Peeler, and also I'm a moron for thinking that the 'o' would somehow be silent and the 'e' would take on a long vowel sound, but whatever. The book was hilarious. And honest. And I somehow love Amy Poehler even more than I already did.

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from goodreads:

In Amy Poehler’s highly anticipated first book, Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious. Powered by Amy’s charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book is full of words to live by. 

Weekly Reads (Listens): Food A Love Story

I've loved Jim Gaffigan since the first time I heard his comedy routine on a long road trip to Chicago for spring break my junior year of college. I adored his last book My Dad is Fat, and I could not wait to get my heads on his newest Food: A Love Story. I received an e-ARC of this book to read and review honestly and/or suggest to my library customers during reader's advisory interactions, and instead of tearing into it immediately, I instead waited patiently for the audiobook version.

You see, Jim Gaffigan is hilarious. And I'm sure his written words are hilarious. But his written words spoken by him are pee-your-pants-funny. This story is all about food and his unhealthy relationship with it. And I so get it, and him. I've often said that if I wasn't a runner, I would be significantly overweight because I just love food oh so much. And so does Jim. So pick this up on audiobook for sure, and you'll spend your time in the car laughing outloud, or pick up the book version and prepare to awkwardly laugh outloud while you're hanging out alone. Either way, read it/listen to it, because it's totally worth it.

Hot pocket.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

What are my qualifications to write this book? None really. So why should you read it? Here's why: I'm a little fat. If a thin guy were to write about a love of food and eating I'd highly recommend that you do not read his book." 
Bacon. McDonalds. Cinnabon. Hot Pockets. Kale. Stand-up comedian and author Jim Gaffigan has made his career rhapsodizing over the most treasured dishes of the American diet ("choking on bacon is like getting murdered by your lover") and decrying the worst offenders ("kale is the early morning of foods"). Fans flocked to his "New York Times" bestselling book "Dad is Fat" to hear him riff on fatherhood but now, in his second book, he will give them what they really crave--hundreds of pages of his thoughts on all things culinary(ish). Insights such as: why he believes coconut water was invented to get people to stop drinking coconut water, why pretzel bread is #3 on his most important inventions of humankind (behind the wheel and the computer), and the answer to the age-old question "which animal is more delicious: the pig, the cow, or the bacon cheeseburger?

Weekly Reads (Listens): Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography

When I first heard that NPH was coming out with an autobiography, Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography, I immediately put it on my to-read list. When I found out it was a choose your own adventure format, I was even more excited. And then when I learned that NPH himself was narrating the audiobook version, I died on the spot. JK, I didn't. But I did put in a purchase request to my library to order the audiobook. Wait for it.... best decision ever.

This was freakin' amazing. His narration was amazing. The way he tells his story is amazing. I somehow finished the book loving him even more than I already did. Buy this in audio. Buy this in print. You won't regret either.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Tired of memoirs that only tell you what really happened?
Sick of deeply personal accounts written in the first person? Seeking an exciting, interactive read that puts the “u” back in “aUtobiography”? Then look no further than Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography! In this revolutionary, Joycean experiment in light celebrity narrative, actor/personality/carbon-based-life-form Neil Patrick Harris lets you, the reader, live his life. You will be born to New Mexico. You will get your big break at an acting camp. You will get into a bizarre confrontation outside a nightclub with actor Scott Caan. Even better, at each critical juncture of your life you will choose how to proceed. You will decide whether to try out for Doogie Howser, M.D. You will decide whether to spend years struggling with your sexuality. You will decide what kind of caviar you want to eat on board Elton John’s yacht.

Choose correctly and you’ll find fame, fortune, and true love. Choose incorrectly and you’ll find misery, heartbreak, and a hideous death by piranhas. All this, plus magic tricks, cocktail recipes, embarrassing pictures from your time as a child actor, and even a closing song. Yes, if you buy one book this year, congratulations on being above the American average, and make that book Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography!

Weekly Reads (Listens): One More Thing

One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is The Office's B.J. Novak's first novel. I picked up the audiobook version after failing to listen to Mindy Kaling and Tina Fey's books on audio instead of reading them. NEVER AGAIN will I make this mistake. This one was narrated by B.J. along with many guest narrators. The stories are all short stories, although there are some themes that run through several stories. I listened to this while running and there were moments when I was actually laughing out loud. And then there were times that the stories were just...okay.

Definitely worth a read or a listen.

My rating: 3 stars.

Summary from Goodreads:

From an actor, writer, and director of the hit TV comedy The Office (US version): a story collection that was "workshopped" at comedy clubs and bookstores on both coasts.

B.J. Novak's One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is an endlessly entertaining, surprisingly sensitive, and startlingly original debut collection that signals the arrival of a welcome new voice in American fiction.

Across a dazzling range of subjects, themes, tones, and narrative voices, Novak's assured prose and expansive imagination introduce readers to people, places, and premises that are hilarious, insightful, provocative, and moving-often at the same time.

In One More Thing, a boy wins a $100,000 prize in a box of Frosted Flakes - only to discover that claiming the winnings may unravel his family. A woman sets out to seduce motivational speaker Tony Robbins - turning for help to the famed motivator himself. A school principal unveils a bold plan to permanently abolish arithmetic. An acclaimed ambulance driver seeks the courage to follow his heart and throw it all away to be a singer-songwriter. Author John Grisham contemplates a monumental typo. A new arrival in heaven, overwhelmed by infinite options, procrastinates over his long-ago promise to visit his grandmother. We meet a vengeance-minded hare, obsessed with scoring a rematch against the tortoise who ruined his life; and post-college friends who debate how to stage an intervention in the era of Facebook. We learn why wearing a red t-shirt every day is the key to finding love; how February got its name; and why the stock market is sometimes just... down.

Finding inspiration in questions from the nature of perfection to the icing on carrot cake, from the deeply familiar to the intoxicatingly imaginative,One More Thing finds its heart in the most human of phenomena: love, fear, family, ambition, and the inner stirring for the one elusive element that might make a person complete. The stories in this collection are like nothing else, but they have one thing in common: they share the playful humor, deep heart, inquisitive mind, and altogether electrifying spirit of a writer with a fierce devotion to the entertainment of the reader.

Weekly Reads: Breadcrumbs

 I listened to Breadcrumbs on my trip to M adison WI and back. To be honest, I didn't really get in to it at the beginning. I listened to a disc and then didn't listen to any more until the drive home. On the drive home I finished three discs in a row before I needed to take a break to do some Glee singing to keep myself alert and awake.

The book was just ok, in my opinion. It's fairy tale inspired, which I love, but I just didn't get truly wrapped up in the book. It's a good fantasy read for children, but left some to be desired as an adult reader.

My rating: 3 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Once upon a time, Hazel and Jack were best friends. They had been best friends since they were six, spending hot Minneapolis summers and cold Minneapolis winters together, dreaming of Hogwarts and Oz, superheroes and baseball. Now that they were eleven, it was weird for a boy and a girl to be best friends. But they couldn't help it - Hazel and Jack fit, in that way you only read about in books. And they didn't fit anywhere else. 

And then, one day, it was over. Jack just stopped talking to Hazel. And while her mom tried to tell her that this sometimes happens to boys and girls at this age, Hazel had read enough stories to know that it's never that simple. And it turns out, she was right. Jack's heart had been frozen, and he was taken into the woods by a woman dressed in white to live in a palace made of ice. Now, it's up to Hazel to venture into the woods after him. Hazel finds, however, that these woods are nothing like what she's read about, and the Jack that Hazel went in to save isn't the same Jack that will emerge. Or even the same Hazel.

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," Breadcrumbsis a story of the struggle to hold on, and the things we leave behind.