For One More Day by Mitch Albom

If you could have one more day with someone you loved would you take it? What would that day look like? For "Chick" Benetto that wish has been granted with one more day with his mother. The story tells us about how his life went from one of promised grandeur to one of desperation at the end of a neck of a bottle.

Albom creates a story filled with hope even in the darkest of times and how we as humans can return from that darkness to live fulfilled lives. He is one of the masters of this type of uplifting story, another master is Coelho for another example of this particular type of story. Albom creates realistic and believable characters here because he roots them some firmly in reality, while allowing for the mystical elements to shine through as well. He lets the otherworldly elements not be so boldly shockable that they feel organic in the context of the story. He never makes a bigger deal of them than he should, which provides the right touch for such an enjoyable read.

If you have ever felt down and out in your life this is a book that you need to read. There are millions of people similar to "Chick" out there and to have someone tell such a story will help you connect with others that have shared similar experiences. For a brief moment it does help to recognize that we are not the only ones that go through struggles in this life. People can become overwhelmed by their own individual struggles that they feel they are alone, but we are not. There are those of us out there that have struggled and Albom taps into that. So if you are struggling read this and recognize you are not alone, but afterwards take the first steps like "Chick" does to recuperate that lost life you want back. It just takes one single step forward because unlike "Chick" most of us will never get "One More Day" to make the things right, so do what you can today. It is a powerful book with a strong message that will engage a reader that understands it. Share that message with the world.  

 

Until next time... Stay Optimistic!!!

Morganville Vampires Series Book 1: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

I haven't been much for Young Adult novels of this particular type for awhile now, but I thought what the heck it has to be better than the other mainstream vampire series that will go unnamed here. I devoured this book in one sitting while I was on the greyhound bus going from Indiana to California (the bus trip was multiple days the book however was finished in one day of that trip).

Caine, whose real name is Roxanne Longstreet Conrad, creates a new world of vampires that is engaging in a way that I haven't seen from the genre in awhile. She makes the vampires in charge of this singular town and creates a mystery as to why others cannot remember aspects of the town upon their exit. This made for a rather fun first read of the multiple book series.

We are introduced to the main characters relatively quickly in the book, which is always nice since sometimes it can feel like an author takes their sweet time to make you aware of the big names. Someone may get introduced in chapter twelve in another series book, but here it is like "these are the big names for at least a few books", which was nice. You could also tell that it was a series because there are several moments where you go "I bet that comes back later". It made it feel like I was part of an ongoing world instead of just reading a one and done novel. Often I don't like feeling like I have to read more books than the one currently in my hands, but here it felt natural and right. I reached the final page of this book WANTING there to be more instead of being thankful I reached the ending and that it was enjoyable. I was saying, "Okay more and what happens to such and such character next..." I don't normally say that. I didn't even say that in the Sookie Stackhouse book that I read.

This was engaging on an important fun level that many books have lost touch with. Often, as readers it appears we want to have really deep meaningful books to read. We want it to be literary masterpieces, but I state right now I find I enjoy the books that are not considered masterpieces so much better because they provide enjoyment over substance. I would rather leave a book feeling that I have went on a journey with characters I like and want to see again than to read a book where I feel like I am dragged through the coals to get to the ending. Glass Houses never felt like I was dragged along, but felt like an enjoyable ride! What if other writers understood that a book should be enjoyable like Caine does? I think we would all have better reading experiences.

All of her characters are richly layered with secrets. You can tell from the first moment any character is introduced that something is not being said about them regardless of their importance in the series. To naturally have that with each character is rare. While this is a multiple book series commitment it is one that I am going to be taking on over the next several months between other reading I am doing as well because I feel that it will be well worth it based on this first book of the series.

 

Until next time... Stay Optimistic!!!

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (KINDLE)

When you recognize that you love a good mystery book it is hard to say that you hate the king of the mystery/detective story, so I won't because this was legitimately an excellent book. It held my interest from the first few pages until the very end, which is rare for a book to do for me. In most instances I find myself not wanting to come back for at least a day and then pushing myself to read the rest of a book, but this one I read every single day since I started it for at least an hour a day.

Doyle came back to Holmes for this great story that infused supernatural and reality together nicely. He made you believe that it was possible the supernatural was occurring, but then revealed all when appropriate. I enjoy a writer that can turn the plot around quickly to reveal the truth of what is happening to characters.

The characters are believable for the time period. The motives are sound and reasonable as well. Some mysteries I have felt that the author is grasping at straws, but here everything adds nicely. It may just be that Doyle has had enough experience filling in every plot hole imaginable that one doesn't feel that he is lacking. He even goes as far to explain how an animal was fed while its master was away. These things showcase a brilliant writer who thinks about the aspects that a reader may notice or question.

This story made me desire to devour more Doyle in the future. I believe that reading some more Sherlock Holmes stories may be in my near future!

 

Until next time... Stay Optimistic!!!

Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister

"You know," Marion said, "I met a woman once when I was a teenager. I knew she had gone through a lot, but she was so strong, so compassionate. I asked her how she could be the way she was, and you know what she told me?"

Hadley shook her head

"She said, you can be broken, or broken open. That choice is yours."

- Page 146

For many this would be classified as chick-lit because it involves a story focused primarily on the friendship between a group of women that make a promise to one of the other characters to meet certain tasks that she places before them, due to deciding to go white water rafting after she beats cancer. For me this wasn't chick-lit, but human-lit. It weaved stories of hopes, dreams, loves, and loss all within its mere 260-some pages.

Bauermeister alternates the chapters by being the complete story of one of the women in the group of friends. We are told somewhere within the chapter their task that was presented to them and we discover throughout why this task was such a burden to accomplish for them to that particular date and why Kate, the cancer survivor, has chosen it for them. In some cases it seems rather mundane the tasks given, but when you understand that in life the simple things are sometimes the hardest for us to accomplish it rings so much truer than if they were being told to do bigger tasks. Sometimes with the stories bigger tasks are revealed to the character and it changes their lives. That is why I call this human-lit because it is about how we must take these small moments/small steps sometimes to see what our full potential is. If you never take that first step you never know what you are capable of and sometimes you will falter, but most of the time it results in learning that would never have occurred otherwise.

Bauermeister isn't the next Hemingway by any means, but who needs every single story they read to be a classic, sometimes a lighter story is more desirable. Sometimes a simpler read can touch you in more ways than a classic can ever do. "Joy for Beginners" is that, a simpler read, that will teach you a lesson about life, if you allow it to and do not get caught up on other things, like macho pride for you male readers out there. So nothing technically blows up in this story and there is little to no violence within its pages, but this book is about humanity and the lives that are touched by one singular event. How friendships grow organically and how people can do big things if they just try. Oh we may not be the best all the time, but we humans can do such beautiful and wonderful things! This book reminded me of that!

Until next time... Stay Optimistic!!!

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

Based on the premise presented in the jacket cover of this book I was looking forward to an atypical story of the rapture and while I got that it was lacking an overall point to the story itself or at least one that felt worth reading. It felt like a disjointed story that was raising towards something that never came.

While characters were well-developed it felt that some were forced into the story in order to add more pages to what could have been a shorter novel, in particular the character of Aimee. As I was reading the parts with Tom were probably the ones I found myself devouring the quickest, until the last few times he appeared which felt organic for the character, but also a bit lackluster in where you wanted the overall story to end up. The rest of the characters meandered around to the point you wondered if they were going to achieve much of anything at all throughout the story. I feel like I understand that Perrotta was not trying to write a "why did the rapture happen" story, but it feels like he was trying to tell a story of people moving on after a great tragedy. I am not sure how successfully he does that here. While all the characters do indeed move on in some context it feels that many of them stay trapped in their old lives in some capacity. I enjoy a book, personally, where characters move forward or learn something over the course of the pages I read and unfortunately it does not feel like they did here.

If I am giving this thus far a negative review why did I give it three stars? It is well-written. Perrotta obviously knows how to craft a story, but knowing how to craft a story does not always make it a success. What this story lacks is a backbone or something to move it forward towards being more than just a group of people that no one cares to read about. Characters do not even intermingle in a meaningful way for the great majority of the book.

I was left with a bad taste in my mouth for huge chunks of the book, wishing that it would all be over soon. When I finally started to like it I neared the climax of the story. As it neared again the story went to a horrible place for me with the plot, characters, and overall theme of the book. I wanted so much to like this book that I randomly picked up in the bookstore on sale, but unfortunately sometimes there is a reason that a book is marked down and this was one of them. I recommend this for people that are okay reading about everyday life and the changes people can go through after a catastrophic event. I will give Perrotta another chance by reading one of his other works, such as Election or Little Children because you should never judge an author by one singular book that you have read by them but multiple works because an author may be trying a new formula or any number of things with a book, so I say if you don't like this one try another maybe one will click with you or even me in this particular case.

Until next time... Stay Optimistic!!!

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Collins work is heralded as the beginning of the "Detective Mystery Genre" by many critics. This is because it is the first of its kind that involves heavily the uncovering of a great mystery as part of the plot. Here it is the gem called The Moonstone, which the book is obviously named for. The Moonstone is stolen and we are left wondering who in the tale took the precious gem.

We are taken on a journey toward discovering the culprit by various narrators that share their perspective or part of the greater mystery of what occurred. Each narrator has their own individual bias, such as the first narrator that is a servant that wishes to keep the family safe or the second narrator who has a deep seeded religious perspective. This makes each narrator feel somewhat flawed in their telling, but adds the needed human element that a work of fiction needs to keep it above the water of sinking into the ocean of utter crap or implausibility.  

For most of the story it feels like a great Victorian era book, but it is when the added element of the Indian characters are added that this story begins to feel forced or taken off course. It feels that at times that Collins himself was not sure of the direction that he would eventually take in some moments and then forced it to go in a particular direction. Each narrator is strong, but one wishes that the ultimate destiny of the Moonstone will be revealed a lot sooner than it is. There are numerous places that the story drags on and you wonder if you will reach the conclusion. When I personally reached the conclusion I felt that it was rather forced and that there had been no clear indication that it could have been the person it ends up being. I had wished there had been more little hints along the way towards the destination, but Collins didn't write it in this manner. He had us instead jump from person to person only receiving bits of information for way too many pages.

The largest redeeming quality of the work is the fact that we know that this book has had a great place in literary history due to it being one of the first books of its kind. If it wasn't for this simple fact I may have judged this particular book much harsher because it left much to be desired. I did have to  question though if I would have enjoyed it to a different caliber if I had never had previously read a mystery novel, which would have been the context for this book, which is another reason it was judged less harshly then I originally intended it to be. Overall though it left a lot to be desired from this reader and felt my time would have been better spent on a more enjoyable read, such as any other mystery novel like the next Sookie Stackhouse or Stephanie Plum books.

 

Until next time... Stay Optimistic!!!

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

This is a nonfiction work composed of essays. Each piece has its own individualized theme and some pieces are longer than others. This is great for this particular book because if a particular essay does not speak to you it will be over in mere pages and you will be onto the next one. This makes it a easier read than some other books that you wonder if it will ever be over.

Didion has many themes throughout the book, but many of them focus on places that she has visited or lived in, such as San Francisco, Hawaii, and New York. Never do you feel like she is rubbing these experiences in your face, which could have happened with a less skilled writer. You simply feel like a friend is sharing a story with you over coffee.

If you are unsure of Didion because you are not a fan of nonfiction work I would suggest reading the essays that are contained within entitled "Goodbye to All That" which focuses on her realizing she no longer belonged in New York and the title piece "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" which is about a visit to San Francisco. Both pieces are classic Didion and will showcase her writing style for you.

What can I say about this author that hasn't already been said by more prestigious individuals? Not much. She is a well-respected author for a reason and I say hats off to her for writing about the American experience even if it is told through her lens.

Until next time... Stay Optimistic!!!

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

Simon creates an almost hauntingly accurate portrayal of the history of mental health in America from institutions to self-determination. If you are an individual that is interested in acquiring more knowledge of mental health this is a good book to read because it does not have the bland nature of a non-fiction read.

It is easy to become immersed with the characters and be drawn into their world because Simon creates unique voices for each of the main characters. The story is told from various viewpoints, so you need to be able to keep a few main characters straight as you are reading, but Simon makes each setting unique so you are not questioning who you are with at any one time or where they are at. She knows how to fully put you inside of the scenes that she creates. Also this book would be considered an inspirational book in my opinion on how one should never give up hope, even in the darkest of situations. If you like this type of book then you will love this one!

I cannot recommend this book enough. While it may feel it drags in parts, especially when reading the parts for the character named Homan, when you reach the final page you understand the choices Simon made and  recognize you have been safely guided to the correct destination.

Until next time... Stay OPTIMISTIC!!

Janet Evanovich's "How I Write"

When I read "One for the Money" by Evanovich I have to be honest I was not a huge fan. I could not get behind the story at all, but I decided to give her book on writing a shot cause well she is successful for some reason after all.


She has written numerous novels at this point not only in her successful Stephanie Plum series, but also in the newer side series and also several books in the Metro series. This collection of work made me believe she would have much to say on the process of writing. I was right and she does it well. In this collection of answers from her official website she clearly showcases her process and how it can work for others coming into the field.

The best thing about this particular book is its simplistic nature. I was able to read the entire book in the matter of a couple of hours because she uses an easy-to-read q&a style. This choice makes it more accessible than other more in-depth writing books. It is one I would suggest for a beginner, like myself, that wishes to write. It will help you gain some confidence in yourself and understand that your first step in this process is to start writing!

Evanovich also recommends that you learn the basics of grammar before trying your hand at writing. She, however, clearly feels this can be done from research in books like "The Elements of Style." She speaks on this in her own journey of becoming a writer. She had to do the leg work required to become an author but it obviously is paying off nicely for her. This gem of a book showcases that you can do the same with putting in the energy she has and that nothing comes over night (she had to wait ten years)