This Is Where It Ends

This Is Where It Ends

A quiet rural town is getting back into routine on the first day of school. The students and teachers are gathered together in the auditorium for the principal's annual "Welcome Back" pep talk. Everything is normal, until the assembly ends and the teachers realizes that all the auditorium doors are locked from the outside.

There's a shooter in the room, and this first day of school will tear the town apart. 

I have never read a school shooting novel before. I like to read to escape real life, and unfortunately violence, hate, and bullying in schools are all over the news and social media sites. For some reason though, I picked up this book and decided to read it. It was a good choice!

This Is Where It Ends is written from four different character perspectives (with a few special sections interspersed throughout). Jumping from view point to view point normally makes the story too jerky and disjointed for my liking, but Marieke did a wonderful job of keeping her timeline in order. In fact, the timeline was one of the things I thought was brilliant. 

The entire span of the book only takes place in one hour. Each chapter is broken up by different time increments (i.e. 10:32-10:35 A.M.), so you're reading in real time. The different narrators are located in various places: inside the auditorium, outside the auditorium, outside the school, so you're able to get a full spectrum of what's going on. Brilliant. 

The plot is violent (it's all about a school shooting), and every single character feels misunderstood (typical teenager). Despite the heavy subject matter, it didn't weigh down the flow of the story too much. Marieke did a good job of balancing dark backstories with hope and determination. 

While this book isn't a new favorite that I'll reread over and over again, I am glad that I gave it a chance. It reminded me that I need to be part of the good in the world. It doesn't take much to be kind, but it can make the biggest difference in the life of someone I'm kind to.  

Title: This Is Where It Ends

Author: Marieke Nijkamp

Publisher: Sourcebooks 

Published: January 5, 2016

Available: Amazon, Book Depository, and Barnes and Noble

Lily and the Octopus

Lily and the Octopus

Lily is a twelve-year-old dachshund with a tumor...I'm sorry, "octopus" on her head. Her owner, Ted, can't bring himself to acknowledge Lily's illness and does everything in his power and imagination to save her. 

I have never read a "dog novel" in my life, because whenever a dog is a main character it can't end well. Am I right? 

Lily and the Octopus received such great reviews that I broke my own rule and read a "dog novel." This was NOT the book for me to start with. Rather than being a moving fictional read about a man's love for his dog, this book was more magical realism about a man's obsession with his dog's tumor.

I understand that everyone handles grief in different ways. Ted's reaction is denial, and rather than being able to enjoy the time he has left with Lily, (she is really really old) he breathes life into her tumor. His imagination turns it into a talking octopus. 

I liked the parts where Ted had flashbacks of his life with Lily, or when he and Lily had conversations. They were just so fleeting and always overshadowed by the octopus. 

Between the talking tumor, the self-pity, and an entire section (whole chapters) about a really weird dream, this book didn't trigger any tears from me (and I have a four-year-old dog that's going blind for reasons the vet can't explain, so my baby's death has crossed my mind more than once.)

This was a book that just wasn't meant for me.

Title: Lily and the Octopus 

Author: Steven Rowley

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 

Published: June 7, 2016

Available: Amazon, Book Depository, and Barnes and Noble

Maybe subconsciously I read a "dog book" just so I could post pictures of Darcie here on the blog. Here's a little #tbt to when she was a newly adopted street mutt. 

Things Not Meant for You

Last year I had a reading resolution of over 30 books. This year, my resolution is a whopping 15 books. I love reading (hello, I started a book blog), so why did I cut my goal in half?

Well, it turns out that I'm a really picky reader...and by really picky, I mean it's more likely you'll find me in a library than a bookstore because it's easier to return the books I don't want to finish. It's more likely for a book to get an Erika rating of 2 stars than 4. It's more likely I'll prefer the movie than the book. (That last one probably made a lot of you cringe.)

I used to think there was something wrong with me. After all, how could I not love the book that was recommended by Oprah, 5-starred on Goodreads, and listed as a New York Times bestseller?

Buddha had the answer for me:
"In the end only three things matter: how much you love, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you."

I've applied this to multiple aspects of my life, including my reading habits.

According to Forbes, there are between "600,000 and 1,000,000 books published every year in the US alone." That's a lot of books.

With so many options on the bookshelf, why would I want to force my way through a book I don't enjoy? Not every book was meant for me. Apparently a lot of books weren't meant for me, and that's okay. Every person has different experiences in life. Books touch those experiences on various levels so what might ring as life changing text for one person might be a throw away read for another. And that's okay.

Rather than trying to force myself to read 2-3 books a month, I'm going to give myself the time to let go of the books not meant for me. By lowering my reading goal, I don't have to finish every book I start. I can take the time to start books that intrigue me and finish books that continued to intrigue me, hopefully turning 2017 into my best read yet.