Review: Me Before You

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

My rating: 5 of 5 stars




I'm so sad my stomach hurts. I read the last 50ish pages with my hand clapped over the lower half of my face, holding in the denial I could feel building inside of me at the ending of the book.

You can see it coming, but there's nothing you can do to stop it.

This is a marvelous, moving, and tremendously sad book that doesn't shirk from the hard questions regarding assisted suicide and a patient's right to self-determination. I recommend it, but one shouldn't finish reading it in public, or anywhere where there's no ready access to facial tissues.



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Review: Dreams of Gods & Monsters

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars




This is a trilogy that I knew I had to read as soon as I skimmed the blurb here on Goodreads. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor was recommended by the magical algorithm of You'll Like It, I think because I loved Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus. I'm not sure the algorithm has ever gotten a recommendation for me so RIGHT before.

I love this trilogy. I love Laini Taylor and will read anything she writes from here on out.

But let's talk about this book.

There's a skill that Taylor possesses in rendering the fierce, funny love between two girlfriends that I am not sure I have seen in any other author I current read. In the face of grimness, there's Karou and Zuzana fighting for one another...and making each other laugh. Actively seeking that good feeling you get when you make your best friend LAUGH. It's just true, and perfect, I don't think I've seen it from anyone else in recent memory, at least. (Upon reflection, I think part of the shiny of this is how effortlessly the book passes that dreaded Bechdel test.)

This trilogy is wonderful and inventive and sweet and funny. If you haven't read it yet, I'm jealous.

Because now you can read it for the first time!



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Me, in one photo.

Red shoes!

So, I hate having my photo taken. The prevalence of the phone as a cultural presence makes this awkward, but I am AWESOME at dodging the pocket phones of friends and family. To be honest, I don't have much of an explanation for it. I'm not in denial about what I look like: I'm zaftig but kind of nice looking despite it, I guess. Decent haircut and passable makeup, most of the time, which is all that most of us can do to look all right in the moment.

I'd look better if I were thinner, and I'm working on that, but GOD I hate having my picture taken. I go all tense and weird when the camera comes out, and it shows every time. But I was walking in Lawrence, KS, the other night, on our way to see my friend Dave who was visiting from Boston, and I snapped this photo of my feet. No weird tense face, just red Chucks and boyfriend jeans. My feet, which I kinda like, in shoes and out of shoes. This is my newest pair of shoes, and they're still a little stiff and shiny.

I can't say I'll be posting my face anytime soon, but I DO love this shot. It probably tells you more about me than just about anything other than a shot of my face.

Stuck

I'm feeling cranky and wheel-spinny and stuck. I want something, so many things, but I can't tell you what they are. I think I better go to yoga tomorrow.

Review: The Host

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



And so ends the only Stephenie Meyer book currently in existence that I think I can finish.



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