What Novel Are You Currently Reading, Version 2

Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, or the alternate title, Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell

I received a copy of the movie based on this book for a secret santa gift at work year before last, and wanted to read the book but never got around to it. Then, last time I was in Barnes and Noble, I happened to find a copy in the bargain bin. Fate. I enjoyed this book- Powell writes with a real smart-ass, sarcastic sense of humor that is very similar to my own. It also kind of inspired me to want to start cooking again, even though despite the title, that's not really what the book's about.

This book's not for everyone, especially people who have a problem with profanity, which this book is full of, and Powell characterizes herself as rather whiny and hysterical, which I think would be really annoying in real life, though it made for an interesting (in my opinion) "character," especially with how that shows the characters of the other people in her life, although others might disagree.

 

If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman. I read these both back to back, and they're kind of like one story anyhow, so I'll throw 'em both in this post.

I liked both of these books. The characters were all distinct individuals, and especially in the first book, I loved the descriptions of family and friends spending time together. Most of them sounded like awesome, fun people, something that I felt the movie adaptation of If I Stay did well. The protagonists were sympathetic and stuck in some very difficult situations, which I, sadistically, I suppose, enjoyed reading about. But I never really got sad like I felt like I should've, more specifically again in If I Stay. I like when a book makes me bawl my eyes out, and this one never got me to that point.

 

Rereading Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich. I love this series so much- the books are quick reads and don't require a whole lot of thought, and they're fun. There's nothing groundbreaking- you already know exactly what you're gonna get in every book of this series-but sometimes that's okay.

 

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich. See comments about Notorious Nineteen above- this was more of the same.

 

The Martian by Andy Weir. This book is so good. I picked it up after seeing the movie, and I love it to pieces. The main character is such a joy to read; he has such a great sense of humor. I adore him. There's a lot of scientific talk (the accuracy of which I neither know or care about), but I found it really fascinating, so it didn't bog the story down for me. It's not terribly long by my standards, so it was a quick read, and really satisfying. Recommended.

 

Bump.

I'm currently reading Room by Emma Donoghue. This is a really good read, imo. It has a dark af story, but it's told through the eyes of a five year old narrator, so it's just a really cool perspective on things. The main characters are well-written, and I wanted to know how things turned out for them. I found the first half of the book slightly more engaging than the second, because the first half has more at stake, while the second half sort of wraps things up, but really, it's a good book and worth a read.

It's also a pretty good movie, too, with an excellent main cast.

 

In honor of the new movie, I'm finishing up a reread of Stephen King's IT. This is one of my favorite novels of all time. It's a gripping coming-of-age tale with a fantastic, likable cast of characters who I grew to care about as the story goes on. The kids especially had to face things no child should have had to face (both supernatural and otherwise), and they did so admirably. I also loved the idea of a villain picking the thing you fear most out of your head, and proceeding to scare the hell out of you with it in order to feed on your fear. This book has a lot of King's typical cliches- set in Maine, the writer character, etc., but I don't care. And despite all the people out there who have a clown phobia who might say otherwise, as well as the blurb on the back of my beaten-up, 1986 copy of the book, I wouldn't call this a horror, not really. It's more about the power of friendship and the strength of belief, as well as an acknowledgement that evil exists in humanity. There's that one scene at the end everyone always mentions when talking about the book, but I pretty much chalk it up to the fact that Stephen King was on all the drugs and alcohol when writing a lot of his early work, shrug, and move on. This is one long ass book at 1090 pages (in my edition), and it probably isn't for everyone, but I would recommend it.