If you like Orange is the New Black, try....
If you like Criminal Minds, try...
(Thanks to the publisher for my copy of The Killer Next Door in exchange for review consideration. Gonzalez and Daughter is from my own stacks.)
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
If You Like This, Try That Reviewlettes
Remember when I used to talk about books instead of frantically trying to get rid of them before moving? I figure I can marry up these two pursuits by reviewing some books that have been spending a bit too long on my desk. I've got two great books to tell you about today, both of which put me in the mind of a couple of my favorite TV shows. If you like your books to occasionally complement your TV-watching habit, today's post is for you! ;-)
If you like Orange is the New Black, try....
Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co. by Maria Amparo Escandon - Libertad Gonazalez, ironically, is in Mexican prison. Even more ironically, it's the first time she's ever had female friends and a home that's not on wheels. Finding an unlikely family in the cells of the Mexicali Penal Institution for Women with its bizarre class structure and warden with a heart of gold, Libertad still finds it difficult to tell the story of her life and crime to the women that surround her, so she unconsciously decides to read it to them. Pretending to read the library's books to her fellow inmates at her newly established Library Club, Libertad shares the tale of her life with her father, a man on the run from the Mexican authorities who drives truck to keep them off his trail, even though they became an imaginary threat long ago. Escandon weaves a charming, unique modern day fairy tale of Libertad's parents' love story, her rootless life on the road with an overprotective dad, and the love she found that made her so desperate to leave life on the road behind that she ends up in prison. Gonzalez and Daughter is a clever read about a woman who has to go to prison to find freedom. Bonus points because the prison community comes to life and definitely smacks of the uneasy camaraderie found among the inmates on Orange is the New Black. Definitely give this one a try!
If you like Criminal Minds, try...
The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood - I thought The Killer Next Door was a fascinating combination of literary fiction and mystery with a super-creepy serial killer that only a Criminal Minds fan could love. Marwood's book brings the denizens of sketchy South London house full of pay by the month flats dramatically to life. There's an immigrant, a runaway, an elderly woman unwilling to part with her rent control, a woman on the run from a moment in the wrong place at the wrong time, and, oh yeah, there's the normal looking guy that's actually a serial killer hard at work mummifying the remains of his kills within the confines of his flat. If you're looking for a thrill a minute, twisty sort of book that you won't be able to put down, this might not be it. It's no difficult task to guess the killer. However, The Killer Next Door is a convincing story of how a houseful of strangers with secrets becomes a family, united against their scumbag landlord, all with a side of perfectly twisted serial killer. I loved these characters, was taken in by the fringe of society where they exist, and loved the black humor that added a little levity to a dark story that doesn't end up seeming so dark at all. I love Alex Marwood's unique deeper take on the traditional crime thriller and look forward to whatever she comes up with next.
(Thanks to the publisher for my copy of The Killer Next Door in exchange for review consideration. Gonzalez and Daughter is from my own stacks.)
If you like Orange is the New Black, try....
If you like Criminal Minds, try...
(Thanks to the publisher for my copy of The Killer Next Door in exchange for review consideration. Gonzalez and Daughter is from my own stacks.)
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Loose Leafing: Currently
Happy Sunday, world! It's been a while since we've met which, of course, is my fault, as usual. Big life changes are afoot, so I've been preoccupied with lots of tasks that don't usually enter my purview. Let's get right down to it...
Planning... to move! I've finally put down a deposit on a little apartment of my very own. It's farther from most of my family (but still close enough to drop by with ease) but way closer to work and church. I haven't signed a lease to make it official yet, but I'm expecting to be moving in mid-July.
Purging... as much heavy stuff as I can stand to part with. There's nothing like moving to make the stark reality of how much of an overabundance of stuff you have really sink in. As you may have noted, the book problem is a big one. I have a lot of them, and they're heavy. I can maybe fit half of my present book collection into my new digs and hope that my parents will put up with storing a few. However, I'm trying to unload as many as I can. There are presently 9 boxes of books awaiting donation on the couch behind me, another probably box and a half waiting to be packed up upstairs, and that's really the tip of the "things I should be getting rid of" iceberg. Weeding out all my stuff (from heaviest to lightest) is going to be the order of the day for the next month and a half.
Purchasing... all the stuff I don't have. Like furniture, kitchenware, a TV, etc, etc. See, I have all the wrong stuff. I'm already having some luck, though. Living in rural Pennsylvania offers its occasional perks, one of which is the opportunity to pick up some decent starter (*ahem* used) furniture and stuff at local yard sales. Yesterday, I bought a couple lamps, a small kitchen table with chairs, a coffee table, a lightly used Keurig mini that's purported to work, and a lightly used Dyson vacuum cleaner that definitely works - all for under $150. My grandparents have a sleeper sofa that they're willing to part with, and I am breathing a sigh of relief at not having to spend a fortune up front on furniture and other necessities.
Poking fun at... San Andreas! My mom and I love to go to the movies and have got to see a disaster movie at least once a year to enjoy the special effects. Also, they're fun to make fun of, and we love that, too. See there are only two qualities of disaster movies: good bad and bad bad. They are always cheesy, overwrought, and unrealistic, but if they have sufficient cool effects and action to counteract the cheesy overwrought dialogue/acting, they can prove to be very enjoyable. I'm happy to report that San Andreas definitely falls within the "good bad" camp providing thrills a minute and plenty of opportunities to make fun of cheesy scenes and all those stereotypical disaster movie scenes. Definitely a fun movie to see at the theater with friends or family that don't take these things too seriously.
Pondering... announcing an official blog hiatus. I'm an especially busy girl this summer both at work and at home(s), and I'm wondering if I wouldn't be better off taking a little official break from the action here. So busy am I that even the outlook for taking a real vacation is decidedly dim. However, there's a stack of books sitting here that I'd really like to get reviewed so I don't have to take them with me, ergo the jury's still out on this one.
Packing... nothing yet. I'm not ready! There's too much stuff! And no boxes! Agh! Moving stress is already creeping on me. I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to go continue attempting to cut my belongings in half so that I can pack what remains.
(This post has been sponsored by the letter "P" who knows that when you spot a trend, sometimes you should just go with it.)
Hope you're having a more relaxing Sunday than I am! What are you up to this week?
Planning... to move! I've finally put down a deposit on a little apartment of my very own. It's farther from most of my family (but still close enough to drop by with ease) but way closer to work and church. I haven't signed a lease to make it official yet, but I'm expecting to be moving in mid-July.
Purging... as much heavy stuff as I can stand to part with. There's nothing like moving to make the stark reality of how much of an overabundance of stuff you have really sink in. As you may have noted, the book problem is a big one. I have a lot of them, and they're heavy. I can maybe fit half of my present book collection into my new digs and hope that my parents will put up with storing a few. However, I'm trying to unload as many as I can. There are presently 9 boxes of books awaiting donation on the couch behind me, another probably box and a half waiting to be packed up upstairs, and that's really the tip of the "things I should be getting rid of" iceberg. Weeding out all my stuff (from heaviest to lightest) is going to be the order of the day for the next month and a half.
Purchasing... all the stuff I don't have. Like furniture, kitchenware, a TV, etc, etc. See, I have all the wrong stuff. I'm already having some luck, though. Living in rural Pennsylvania offers its occasional perks, one of which is the opportunity to pick up some decent starter (*ahem* used) furniture and stuff at local yard sales. Yesterday, I bought a couple lamps, a small kitchen table with chairs, a coffee table, a lightly used Keurig mini that's purported to work, and a lightly used Dyson vacuum cleaner that definitely works - all for under $150. My grandparents have a sleeper sofa that they're willing to part with, and I am breathing a sigh of relief at not having to spend a fortune up front on furniture and other necessities.
Poking fun at... San Andreas! My mom and I love to go to the movies and have got to see a disaster movie at least once a year to enjoy the special effects. Also, they're fun to make fun of, and we love that, too. See there are only two qualities of disaster movies: good bad and bad bad. They are always cheesy, overwrought, and unrealistic, but if they have sufficient cool effects and action to counteract the cheesy overwrought dialogue/acting, they can prove to be very enjoyable. I'm happy to report that San Andreas definitely falls within the "good bad" camp providing thrills a minute and plenty of opportunities to make fun of cheesy scenes and all those stereotypical disaster movie scenes. Definitely a fun movie to see at the theater with friends or family that don't take these things too seriously.
Pondering... announcing an official blog hiatus. I'm an especially busy girl this summer both at work and at home(s), and I'm wondering if I wouldn't be better off taking a little official break from the action here. So busy am I that even the outlook for taking a real vacation is decidedly dim. However, there's a stack of books sitting here that I'd really like to get reviewed so I don't have to take them with me, ergo the jury's still out on this one.
Packing... nothing yet. I'm not ready! There's too much stuff! And no boxes! Agh! Moving stress is already creeping on me. I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to go continue attempting to cut my belongings in half so that I can pack what remains.
(This post has been sponsored by the letter "P" who knows that when you spot a trend, sometimes you should just go with it.)
Hope you're having a more relaxing Sunday than I am! What are you up to this week?
Sunday, May 17, 2015
The Happy Christian by David Murray
A few months ago, before the wretchedness of another freezing cold winter finally melted into the beautiful spring I see outside as I write this, I did something I don't do a whole lot of, I accepted a Christian book for review. It probably doesn't make any sense for my blog, I don't share a lot about my Christian faith here, even though it undoubtedly means a lot to me and is at the heart of who I am (and want to be!), so I know I probably don't have a big audience for such a review here. That said, I am a Christian, and this past winter I was struggling with unhappiness in a major way for no especially apparent reason, so when the pitch for The Happy Christian: Ten Ways to Be a Joyful Believer in a Gloomy World appeared in my mailbox, I suspected it could be just the sort of book I could benefit from reading. I don't intend to preach at anybody, but I hope you'll bear with me while I share about a good book that's not my usual fare.
It's tough to be happy, even in a time and place where a lot of people have relatively more peace, more wealth, and more freedom than ever. We live in a world where, thanks to the 24 hour news cycle, we can be bombarded by bad news literally all the time. Time or distance no longer separate us from the pain of the world at large, which is great if we can pray and even physically lend a hand, but can also lead to sense of hopelessness as images of catastrophe and injustice come to us from all over the world. Even without that, there's our own brains that start to work against us, trained from a young age to critique and pick out the bad and set about the project of correcting it, it's not always easy for us to zoom in on the good in any situation. In our daily race against the clock to accomplish all the things on our to do list before another day is lost, it's all too easy to get down and depressed about all the things we're not doing and all the less than ideal situations we can't fix until pessimism is always the order of the day. Murray observes all this in The Happy Christian and then gets down to applying gospel truths and modern positive psychology in a series of "formulas" meant to help us escape from the downward spiral of hopelessness it's too easy to get trapped in.
Murray's decision to marry up psychology with biblical teaching is an interesting and effective one. Murray's chapters are filled with the scientific value of optimism, prescriptions for how much negativity can be mixed with positivity to still live a hopeful, happy life, and scientific evidence for the daily practice of more positive habits that can be exercised by Christians in conjunction with their faith. In the course of it all, Murray makes a good case for how modern positive psychology is is right in line with God's will and promise for our lives.
Though I appreciated the psychology aspect, I was much more in tune with the chapters that leaned more on biblical teaching. The chapter about our daily duel with our to-do lists that always ends in disappointment was cast in a different light when Murray reminds readers that Jesus's work, the hardest and most important, is already done. Additionally, the chapter about taking more joy in our work by doing everything with passion and honesty to the glory of God, and how that can give meaning and purpose to even the most insignificant of jobs, really hit home. Murray even closes with a very prescient topic for this day and age: diversity. In this chapter he makes a great case for God's desire to reach all nations and for how diversifying our communities and our churches is key in future joy as we each stand to reap the benefits of plugging in every race and culture's strengths into a united church.
On the whole, I was impressed and encouraged by Murray's book and came away with some great insights. Additionally, I was impressed that Murray, in addition to providing solid reasoning and theology, took the next step and provided readers of The Happy Christian with practical and often biblical ways to start introducing more hope and positivity into our lives, a practical aspect missing from too many Christian books. I'd encourage anybody who is wondering why happiness seems to be a little too hard to hold onto, to give Murray's book a read and hope that it changes your perspective the way it changed mine.
(Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy for review consideration.)
Murray's decision to marry up psychology with biblical teaching is an interesting and effective one. Murray's chapters are filled with the scientific value of optimism, prescriptions for how much negativity can be mixed with positivity to still live a hopeful, happy life, and scientific evidence for the daily practice of more positive habits that can be exercised by Christians in conjunction with their faith. In the course of it all, Murray makes a good case for how modern positive psychology is is right in line with God's will and promise for our lives.
Though I appreciated the psychology aspect, I was much more in tune with the chapters that leaned more on biblical teaching. The chapter about our daily duel with our to-do lists that always ends in disappointment was cast in a different light when Murray reminds readers that Jesus's work, the hardest and most important, is already done. Additionally, the chapter about taking more joy in our work by doing everything with passion and honesty to the glory of God, and how that can give meaning and purpose to even the most insignificant of jobs, really hit home. Murray even closes with a very prescient topic for this day and age: diversity. In this chapter he makes a great case for God's desire to reach all nations and for how diversifying our communities and our churches is key in future joy as we each stand to reap the benefits of plugging in every race and culture's strengths into a united church.
On the whole, I was impressed and encouraged by Murray's book and came away with some great insights. Additionally, I was impressed that Murray, in addition to providing solid reasoning and theology, took the next step and provided readers of The Happy Christian with practical and often biblical ways to start introducing more hope and positivity into our lives, a practical aspect missing from too many Christian books. I'd encourage anybody who is wondering why happiness seems to be a little too hard to hold onto, to give Murray's book a read and hope that it changes your perspective the way it changed mine.
Whatever you will complete or not today, rest in the only work that will never need to be done again. Rest in the fact that Jesus has done the most impossible job in the world, done it perfectly, and made it available. Take it. Enjoy it. Build your life on it. Let it change your whole view of your life and work. Use His work to put your work in perspective. Believe His work is counted as yours. Despite all that you fear and dread about the next ten hours - a critical boss, a vicious competitor, a looming deadline, a complaining customer, an impossible sales target, unrelenting children, monotonous drudge - you have Christ's perfect work credited to your account. Yes, it is counted as yours, as if you did it. Are you humble enough to receive it?
(Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy for review consideration.)
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Loose Leafing: Reading, Mommies, and a Giveaway!
It's been a week, I'll tell you. I screwed up my back like I do last Sunday and spent the week recovering at a glacial pace that's still glaciering a long even now. Luckily (?), I have a job where I can work from home if the situation calls for it, and the situation called for it all week long. The only upside of the busted spine situation is how much extra reading time it afforded me. Happily, just as I was destroying my spine, I was also starting a run of great books. The Sunshine Crust Baking Factory by Stacy Wakefield, Girl Underwater by Claire Kells, and Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum have kept me great company this week, distracting me from the misery of a major spine failure. I'll write more about these after my spine heals a bit more and I find my missing blogging mojo.
Until, then, there are still more exciting things lurking in this post. It's Mother's Day! I'm not one, but I have one, so I'll be spending today celebrating her and my grandmother as well. One of the things I'm the most grateful for about my mom is that she's a big reader, too! We enable each other's book habits by pointing out the sales on BookOutlet.com and traveling to all the area library book sales, where we usually get more books than we can carry.
In honor of all the mothers who read, I've got a great giveaway from Penguin/Viking for a few titles they think will be big hits with moms. I haven't read any of them yet (for shame!), but I'm excited to do so (as long as I don't have to hurt my back again to do it - LOL)!
I've got a copy of each of the following to give away (one winner for each book to increase your odds of winning!):
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd - Freshly released in paperback, I know this novel based on the life of abolitionist and suffragist Sarah Grimke has been a favorite of a several of my blogging friends.
One Plus One by Jojo Moyes - A bunch of bloggers also loved this one, which is about a down on her luck mom taking her kids on an ill-fated road trip to the Math Olympiad, who finds an unlikely rescuer along the way.
Cut Me Loose by Leah Vincent - I haven't heard as much about, but it sounds interesting. It’s a memoir of a young woman’s self-destructive spiral after being cast out by her ultra-Orthodox Jewish family.
You can enter to win one of these books in the form below until next Sunday, May 17th at 8 PM EST. The publisher is doing the shipping, so I'm afraid the giveaway is U.S. only.
Is your mom a reader? If so, did you get her a great book this year?
Until, then, there are still more exciting things lurking in this post. It's Mother's Day! I'm not one, but I have one, so I'll be spending today celebrating her and my grandmother as well. One of the things I'm the most grateful for about my mom is that she's a big reader, too! We enable each other's book habits by pointing out the sales on BookOutlet.com and traveling to all the area library book sales, where we usually get more books than we can carry.
In honor of all the mothers who read, I've got a great giveaway from Penguin/Viking for a few titles they think will be big hits with moms. I haven't read any of them yet (for shame!), but I'm excited to do so (as long as I don't have to hurt my back again to do it - LOL)!
I've got a copy of each of the following to give away (one winner for each book to increase your odds of winning!):
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd - Freshly released in paperback, I know this novel based on the life of abolitionist and suffragist Sarah Grimke has been a favorite of a several of my blogging friends.
One Plus One by Jojo Moyes - A bunch of bloggers also loved this one, which is about a down on her luck mom taking her kids on an ill-fated road trip to the Math Olympiad, who finds an unlikely rescuer along the way.
Cut Me Loose by Leah Vincent - I haven't heard as much about, but it sounds interesting. It’s a memoir of a young woman’s self-destructive spiral after being cast out by her ultra-Orthodox Jewish family.
You can enter to win one of these books in the form below until next Sunday, May 17th at 8 PM EST. The publisher is doing the shipping, so I'm afraid the giveaway is U.S. only.
Is your mom a reader? If so, did you get her a great book this year?
Thursday, May 7, 2015
In a World Just Right by Jen Brooks
Smart, beautiful track star Kylie Simms is the girl of Jonathan's dreams, but untouchable in the real world, where Jonathan is all but invisible. It doesn't matter, though, because Jonathan has created a mirror world of his own, one where Kylie loves him unconditionally, one where he has friends and runs track and lives the "normal" life that he might have had. Everything is going along okay in Jonathan's worlds until the day he mistakes one world for the other and approaches the real Kylie for a kiss. All the sudden, everything Jonathan thought he knew about his life and his power is called into question, and maybe none of Jonathan's worlds are quite what they've always seemed.
I really enjoyed In a World Just Right. It starts out as a sweet, if misguided, romance between a boy who's lost everything and the girl of his imagination. Then it morphs into a much more intriguing story as the mystery behind Jonathan's power to create parallel worlds for himself is uncoiled and the implications of it for the worlds he manipulates become startlingly clear. Jonathan is a sympathetic character, wishing to blend in and forget in the real world but desperately wanting to be a hero or the boy he could have been in the worlds he creates. He's very realistically drawn, not ruined by the tragedy of his life, but always existing with an unspeakable grief just below the surface.
The best part of the book, however, is the end. I wouldn't for a moment chance spoiling it for anybody, but I will tell you that I was surprised, I ugly cried, and it made a middle of the road romance with magical leanings blossom into something much more profound. Brooks' debut is everything I'd hoped and more, a pitch perfect novel about love that shows up in many forms and the courage it takes to face every day in the real world.
(Thanks to the author for providing an advance copy for my honest review.)
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