How is it May already?
Thanks everyone for your comments on my last post. They were much appreciated. I can't believe it has only been a week now since everything happened. Sometimes I still catch myself looking for Toby at the end of the couch (that was her spot). Or I expect her to dash into the bathroom as I close the door (she liked to come in and lick my toes - yes, she was a bit of a weirdo). I guess life goes on and all that jazz.
I found another white hair the other day. Boo. That sucks. It was growing in the same area as the first one, so I'm hoping that it was actually in the same place as the one before. It wasn't very long, so that can mean that after I yanked the first one out it started growing again, which means I’m really only dealing with one white hair and not two.
Something that doesn't suck...I'm going to see Joel McHale tomorrow night! He better be funny and make me laugh. I have to get up super early (like 4:15 a.m. (ugh, I can't even think about that right now)) because the organization I work for is having our first ever 5k Walk/Run and I have to help out. I'll try and take a nap after the race, but I have a hard time taking naps, so if I stay up the whole time, it's up to Joel to keep me awake. I probably won't get home until after midnight, so it will be a very long day.
I've been doing a lot of reading this past week. I've somehow managed to read 3 books in the past 6 days (The Solitude of Prime Numbers, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Hunger Games). But I'm not going to talk about those books right now because I still need to talk about the books I read in April.
- The Likeness by Tana French: I liked it, but had a few problems with it. Most important, I had a hard time with the whole premise; it was a little too unbelievable for me. I also didn't really like how everything concluded. If I compare to the first book, I would say that I liked In the Woods a bit more. I'm still eager to read the last book (there's going to be a third book, right?). I really like Rob and Cassie.
- Little Bee by Chris Cleave: My co-worker loved this one and as soon as she finished reading it, she lent it to me. I really liked it too. I loved that the little kid was called Batman. It has some cute moments, as well as some pretty horrifying ones. The ending was ambiguous, but that didn't bother me. I wish there was more to the middle section of the book though.
- A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks: Don't judge me! I was forced to read it. The same co-worker as above also lent this one to me. While she was on vacation, she needed to pick up a book at the airport to read on the plane and ended up with The Last Song. This turned into a conversation about how she used to love Sparks when she was a teenager. Then I told her about that recent, infamous interview where he came off as a complete ass and how I've never read any of his books. She was going to lend me TLS, but then gave me ABitR instead because she thought it was one of his best books. Well, I didn't like it. I think part of the problem was that I went into it with a negative attitude, expecting to not like it. It wasn't horrible, but I found the characters bland and boring and the dialogue cheesy. I don't think I'll be reading any other Sparks books.
-Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters: I have read Waters's other books (except for the newest one) and always meant to read this one, but neither library that I go to has a copy, so when I got a gift card for B&N I decided to take the plunge and buy it. I really enjoyed the first part of the book; then things got kind of crazy in the middle and a little boring at the end. Warning: There's a lot of sex in it, which may be a plus to some people and a negative to others. I did like it though, but Fingersmith remains my favorite of Waters's books. I think I’ll try and watch the movie (or mini series - whatever it is) version of the book.
-The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova: I picked this one up at a library book sale about a year ago, but never got around to reading it. Then I saw some people on SF discussing it, so I figured I should finally get to it. It took me awhile to read (not just because it was so long), but I really enjoyed it. I can understand why some people might find it boring and give up on it, but I thought it was worth it to stick with it until the end. I was kind of annoyed by how abrupt the ending was though. The book was already long, so I don't think an extra chapter or two could have hurt.
- Animal Crackers by Hannah Tinti: I also picked this one up at a library book sale. At the time, I had recently read Tinti's The Good Thief so I figured I would give this one a try too. It's a collection of short stories, all having something to do with animals. As I have found with most short story collections, there's a mixture of great, okay and not so great stories. Overall, it was okay, but I felt a bit disturbed and unnerved by most of the stories. There was too much animal killing going on. One story about a boy repeatedly tossing his poor rabbit out the window really got to me. The stories left me feeling depressed.
I found another white hair the other day. Boo. That sucks. It was growing in the same area as the first one, so I'm hoping that it was actually in the same place as the one before. It wasn't very long, so that can mean that after I yanked the first one out it started growing again, which means I’m really only dealing with one white hair and not two.
Something that doesn't suck...I'm going to see Joel McHale tomorrow night! He better be funny and make me laugh. I have to get up super early (like 4:15 a.m. (ugh, I can't even think about that right now)) because the organization I work for is having our first ever 5k Walk/Run and I have to help out. I'll try and take a nap after the race, but I have a hard time taking naps, so if I stay up the whole time, it's up to Joel to keep me awake. I probably won't get home until after midnight, so it will be a very long day.
I've been doing a lot of reading this past week. I've somehow managed to read 3 books in the past 6 days (The Solitude of Prime Numbers, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Hunger Games). But I'm not going to talk about those books right now because I still need to talk about the books I read in April.
- The Likeness by Tana French: I liked it, but had a few problems with it. Most important, I had a hard time with the whole premise; it was a little too unbelievable for me. I also didn't really like how everything concluded. If I compare to the first book, I would say that I liked In the Woods a bit more. I'm still eager to read the last book (there's going to be a third book, right?). I really like Rob and Cassie.
- Little Bee by Chris Cleave: My co-worker loved this one and as soon as she finished reading it, she lent it to me. I really liked it too. I loved that the little kid was called Batman. It has some cute moments, as well as some pretty horrifying ones. The ending was ambiguous, but that didn't bother me. I wish there was more to the middle section of the book though.
- A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks: Don't judge me! I was forced to read it. The same co-worker as above also lent this one to me. While she was on vacation, she needed to pick up a book at the airport to read on the plane and ended up with The Last Song. This turned into a conversation about how she used to love Sparks when she was a teenager. Then I told her about that recent, infamous interview where he came off as a complete ass and how I've never read any of his books. She was going to lend me TLS, but then gave me ABitR instead because she thought it was one of his best books. Well, I didn't like it. I think part of the problem was that I went into it with a negative attitude, expecting to not like it. It wasn't horrible, but I found the characters bland and boring and the dialogue cheesy. I don't think I'll be reading any other Sparks books.
-Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters: I have read Waters's other books (except for the newest one) and always meant to read this one, but neither library that I go to has a copy, so when I got a gift card for B&N I decided to take the plunge and buy it. I really enjoyed the first part of the book; then things got kind of crazy in the middle and a little boring at the end. Warning: There's a lot of sex in it, which may be a plus to some people and a negative to others. I did like it though, but Fingersmith remains my favorite of Waters's books. I think I’ll try and watch the movie (or mini series - whatever it is) version of the book.
-The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova: I picked this one up at a library book sale about a year ago, but never got around to reading it. Then I saw some people on SF discussing it, so I figured I should finally get to it. It took me awhile to read (not just because it was so long), but I really enjoyed it. I can understand why some people might find it boring and give up on it, but I thought it was worth it to stick with it until the end. I was kind of annoyed by how abrupt the ending was though. The book was already long, so I don't think an extra chapter or two could have hurt.
- Animal Crackers by Hannah Tinti: I also picked this one up at a library book sale. At the time, I had recently read Tinti's The Good Thief so I figured I would give this one a try too. It's a collection of short stories, all having something to do with animals. As I have found with most short story collections, there's a mixture of great, okay and not so great stories. Overall, it was okay, but I felt a bit disturbed and unnerved by most of the stories. There was too much animal killing going on. One story about a boy repeatedly tossing his poor rabbit out the window really got to me. The stories left me feeling depressed.