The Spider and the Fly and True Crime in General

I've never been much of a true crime reader. I prefer to listen to podcasts or watch documentaries when it comes to this subject, for whatever reason.

Recently though, I've started reading more true crime books. It started with I'll Be Gone in the Dark, the truly impressive book written by the late Michelle McNamara. McNamara's beautiful book about the search for the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker/Golden State Killer was absolutely fantastic and is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the genre or just anyone who likes good writing. McNamara's early death was a tragedy for many reasons and the fact that we'll never get to read anything else by her is certainly one of those reasons.

Someone, I can't remember who, recommended I try The Spider and the Fly, since I'd enjoyed I'll Be Gone in the Dark so much. It took a few weeks to get my hands on it (it's still pretty popular with my local library, despite having been out for a few years now) and even longer to read. It's a slow book, but still a good one. Detailing the crimes of Kendall Francois or Poughkeepsie, NY, this book tells a lot about it's author, as well. It's not the traditional true crime book, focused exclusively on its criminal subject, reveling in the salacious details of how and when and what. This book is quieter than that and much more personal.

If you are interested in true crime - books, documentaries, podcasts, whatever, check out The Spider and the Fly (and I'll Be Gone in the Dark, if you haven't already). I've seen some other reviewers call  out The Spider and the Fly for being too focused on Rowe, the author, than on Francois, the murderer, but I liked it. It's an interesting examination on why we are interested in these killers. Why do we want to know what makes them tick? Is it simple morbid curiosity, or does it reveal a deeper need inside of ourselves to understand evil and evaluate its presence in our own lives? 

Reviews Are Coming Soon, I Promise!

Yeah, yeah, I know. I've been slacking lately. Again.

I have reasons, but they'll sound like excuses. The main truth is that most of the books I've been reading aren't going to actually be published for a few more months, and I really like to review those books closer to the time they come out. Plus a lot of publishers request that I not mention them until the week they're out. So, that's put a crimp in my reviewing ability.

The other thing is that I haven't come across a book lately that I love enough to write more than a few sentences. I've been reading lots that I like, but not lots that I love. Make sense?

And then add to that the fact that my laptop died a while back and I've been sharing a computer with my husband and teen aged son and you'll see that I just don't get much screen time. But that excuse is gone, as of today. I finally bought myself a new laptop today, so I should be able to update more regularly again, even if it is just a few sentences here and there.

While I'm here, I'll tell you about what I have been reading lately that's worth mentioning.

First: The Hiding Place by CJ Tudor. If you like Steven King (especially earlier Steven King), you'll probably like this book. Other reviewers have complained that it's too close to Pet Sematary, but I disagree. Sure it shares a plot device with that book, but overall the feel is very different. If I"m honest, I got more of an It vibe throughout the book. I don't know, I just liked it. The characters could have been more fleshed out, but that's probably just me nitpicking. It was good; I may re-read it. You should check it out.

Next: Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty. I liked this one soooooo much more than Truly Madly Guilty. And now that I've (finally) read it, I will finish watching the HBO series.

Finally: The Power, by Naomi Alderman. OMG, this one was so good. A woman in my knitting group recommended it to me and I devoured it in like 2 days. It's a super-interesting thought experiment on what would happen if women gained the physical upper hand over men. How would it change the world and our society.

Honorable Mention: If you have a small child, you need to check out Joyce Wan (if you haven't already). My toddler is obsessed with her books. They're simple and short enough to keep a short attention span happy and they're so cute you almost don't mind reading them 7 billion times in a row. Our personal favorite is You Are My Cupcake, but her latest, You Are My Magical Unicorn, is a close second.

That's it for now. I'll be back soon with new reviews, I promise!

I Owe You One

I'm jumping the gun on this review a little bit. The book doesn't come out until February 5, but I really want to talk about it now, so here we are.

First things first - I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Now, on to the good stuff. I Owe You One is the latest book from author Sophie Kinsella. I liked this one. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads, but it was really more like 3.5 stars for me. Definitely better (for me anyway) than last year's Surprise Me, it didn't quite live up to my love for 2017's My Not So Perfect Life. Honestly though, the only thing holding me back from a higher star rating is that the book made me so mad at times!

Fixie fixes things (hence the nickname). She's a capable, reasonably intelligent doormat to her truly awful family. Seriously, these people are horrible. Her brother is a self-important ass and her sister is a vapid wannabe Instagram influencer who is quite possibly the most selfish character I've ever encountered in all of my years of reading. Fixie's biggest flaw is that she puts up with these people and somehow thinks she is inferior to them. I spent a good portion of the book yelling at her to just tell them off already.

Frustrating as it was at time though, this book has a great heart and a fun story that I did enjoy. Once it gets going (which was in a matter of the first few pages for me), you won't want to put it down. I highly recommend it to all lovers of rom-coms and anyone who has enjoyed Kinsella's previous work.

A Regularly Updated Blog

Y'all, I don't know why but I just can't seem to get my shit together when it comes to keeping this thing updated regularly. I'm reading. I'm reading a freaking TON!  You should see my nightstand (and my Kindle). I keep seeing that Marie Kondo meme going around on Facebook, you know the one:

and it cracks me up so much because, well, add an alarm clock (I'm old school... or just old) and a bunch of charging cables and that's my nightstand right now. Okay, always.

After not meeting my Goodreads challenge goal for the last few years, I blew through my list in 2018 and beat my goal by *drumroll please* 41 books. I had set the goal for 52 (a modest book a week) and ended up reading 93!

I get a lot of people in my real life that ask how I can keep up with all that and my answer is simple - I can't. I enjoy just about every book while I'm reading it. At almost 39 years old, with nearly 35 years of reading under my belt, I'm finally becoming one of those people who understands that you don't have to finish a book if you don't like it. So I can honestly say that I enjoy each book as I read it. That said, my favorites are the ones I can tell you about months later. If a book is just "meh" I won't remember much about it within a few weeks. That's actually one of the reasons I'm so thankful for Goodreads. It has saved me from a few re-reads over the years.

My list of favorites from last year is a LOT shorter than my list of books read.  At the top is the one I spent all of 2018 recommending to like everyone I know. Seriously, I got annoying about it - Baby Teeth. If you like suspense and creepy kids, this is the book for you.

I also loved the latest Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child. And I've loved going through all the books in the Bosch universe, by Michael Connelly. I've got one left to go (and another season and a half of the show to get through) and I'm trying to stretch it out and savor it because I'm not sure when the next one comes out.

I thought Still Me, by Jojo Moyes was fantastic. I hadn't been such a fan of Me After You, but I feel like Still Me was the perfect end to Louisa's story.

I liked The Accidental Beauty Queen, by Teri Wilson a lot. It's mindless fluff, but who doesn't need that every once in a while? I miss what I think of as the golden age of chick lit a lot. Back in the mid to late 90s when we were all falling in love with Bridget Jones and Jane Green was just getting started with her fluffier books like Mr. Maybe and Jemima J (which, yes, I know, is problematic, but I can't help it, I still really love that book). The Accidental Beauty Queen (and to a lesser extent For Once in My Life, by Colleen Coleman) reminded me of those early books in a way that I haven't experienced in a long time. The last installment in the Bridget Jones series was so disappointing and Jane Green's books have gotten so much more serious over the years. These were a breath of fresh air.

I read all of Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes books and The Outsider this year and loved them. I'd gotten away from reading King over the last decade or so and I'm so glad I've found my way back. He's been one of my favorite authors since I was a teenager and he never ceases to impress me. His Twitter feed is also amazing.

Oh! I also finally read the Harry Potter series. I know. I know. I'm never going to be one of those people that lists them as their favorite books of all time, but I have to say, I'm glad I read them and I really enjoyed them a lot.

So those are my favorites for the year and hopefully I'll be back with more book recs before this time next year.

The Reckoning

Short post today - I mentioned a few days ago that I had gotten an advance copy of The Reckoning, the newest book by John Grisham. As usual, I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

I finished it up this afternoon and wanted to post a quick review while it's fresh in my mind.

You know the expression, "he could read the phone book and it would still be fascinating?" That's how I feel about this book. John Grisham is such a strong writer that he can write on just about anything and make it interesting and compelling. That's certainly the case with his latest book, The Reckoning.

Don't get me wrong, I liked this book. But if I'm honest, there wasn't much plot. More of a beautiful recounting of one family's unending tragedy. As always with Grisham, the settings and characters are wonderfully rendered with just the right amount of detail. The major difference with this book is just that the whole story felt a little phoned in and the ending was very abrupt and a little unsatisfying.

Three stars for this one instead of my usual 4 or 5.

And.... I'm Back!

After a long absence, it's looking like I finally have time to read and review again! Here's a quick catch-up on what I've been reading so far this year (new books and old ones):

Harry Potter. Yep - that's right. You heard me. I finally read the damned things. And I liked them. Look, I'm never going to understand the whole dressing up and waiting in line in the middle of the night thing these books inspired, but they are good. Definitely better than the movies. In fact, reading the books may have ruined the movies for me. Dammit.

Harry Bosch. I've read books from this universe here and there over the years, but this year I sat down with a list of all of Michael Connelly's books, in order, and started really making my way through them all. I don't always agree with Detective Bosch, but if I'm ever murdered, I hope the detective on the case is just like him. I'm about halfway through the series and hoping to finish up early next year. 

Jack Reacher. I was lucky enough to score an advance copy of the latest book in this fantastic series by Lee Child - Past Tense - and I loved it. Fans of the series will find it a great addition to Reacher's adventures. Never read any of these books before? Check them out. 

Baby Teeth. This debut novel by Zoje Stage blew me away. I received an advance copy from the publisher back in February and then had to wait and wait and wait for it to be released months later in July. In the meantime, I told every single person I know that they had to read this book. It's Gone Girl meets The Bad Seed. I was up all night finishing this one. 

Of course there have been lots of other books this year, but those are the stand-outs for me. I just got my hands on the new John Grisham, so look for my thoughts on that in a week or two!

Surprise Me

Oh Sophie Kinsella. You're killing me.

After last year's fantastic My Not So Perfect Life, I had such high hopes for Surprise Me. It seemed like Kinsella has shrugged off the absolute disaster that the Shopaholic books have become and gotten her groove back. I was so excited to read another fun, fabulous, old-school-chick-lit, fluffy masterpiece and instead, I got, well, surprised.

Surprise Me tells the story of Sylvie and Dan, the happiest couple who never communicate that ever did exist. It all starts out when they go for an insurance checkup and the doctor tells them they can both expect to live another 68 or so years. Worried they'll get bored with each other, they decide to start surprising each other with random gifts and activities to keep things fresh. Along the way they have to work out the wallpapered-over cracks in their marriage and learn to be honest with each other.

I wanted to love this book but just couldn't. Sylvie is so... I don't know. She's just such a waste for most of the book. I found myself wanting to scream at her. If it had been possible to reach into the book, take her by the shoulders and shake her, I would have. And Dan. Dan's not much better. Dude. If you're going to have a secret cell phone and be moody and defensive and never tell your wife anything, you can't get pissed if she accuses you of having an affair.

The entire plot of the book could have been dealt with in less than 10 pages if these two characters had been half as in-sync as Sylvie spends the first few chapters wanting us to believe they are.

Still, the end was nice and there is a lot of character development which is always good when the characters have been so incredibly frustrating for most of the book. I still love Kinsella and (most of) her books.

Legally required disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.