Behind Closed Doors by BA Paris

The New Neighbor by Leah Stewart

Those Girls by Chevy Stevens

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple

"Today's prevailing stance seems to be I have an opinion, therefore I am. My stance? I have no opinion, therefore I am superior to you."

The Book of You by Claire Kendal

Psychological thrillers have become my go-to for several reasons. Eventually there'll be a linked post somewhere that will explain my brain "injury" and the resulting lack of reading that was 2016. The ease of following a fairly simplistic plot and relatively minor character exploration makes these books foregone conclusions for me lately.

With such quick pacing and stereotypically plot-driven arcs, I also don't take many notes or mark many quotes.

The Book of You popped up as a suggestion on the public library terminal recently, so I took the bait. It took a hot minute for me to figure out Kendal's writing style. There are 2 major plot lines intersecting here, as well as a bit of time-hopping.

Clarissa has a stalker who also happens to be her rapist. She's then chosen as a juror on a case where at least one woman has been kidnapped and assaulted. Clarissa makes a lot of smart moves, but ultimately does not report her assault. Sparing you my extended personal story, there were many points that resonate for me.

About a week prior to reading this, a man that I had just met began to harass me. I genuinely feared that he would show up at my house. As this happened while my roommate was out of town, I sincerely should have stopped reading. Alas, I stayed with it and the book did end. Fingers crossed that the harassment has, as well.

2016 Reads

Women in Clothes by Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits, Leanne Shapton, & 639 Others
My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh
The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan
All Days Are Night by Peter Stamm

Wind/Pinball by Haruki Murakami
Always Pack a Party Dress by Amanda Brooks

The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey
The Winter Girl by Matt Marinovich
The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

After You by Jojo Moyes
The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

The Myth of You & Me by Leah Stewart
The Green Mile by Stephen King

2015 Reads: September-December

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume*
Tenth of December Stories by George Saunders

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Wendy
Ask Again Later by Jill A. Davis
Make Good Art by Neil Gaiman*
Jill Bernard's Little Book of Improv*
Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
Color of Water by James McBride*

The Precious One by Maria De los Santos
Let's Discuss Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris*


Divergent by Veronica Roth
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay


Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Like No Other by Una LaMarche (5 stars)
We Are Liars by E. Lockhart
Matt & Ben by Mindy Kaling & Brenda Withers

Panic by Lauren Oliver




Last Words by Michael Koryta
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
South of the Border West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
The Marvels by Brian Selznick
The Pillowman by Martin McDunogh

How Should a Person Be? by Shelia Heti
Luckiest Girl on Earth by Jessica Knoll
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
Women in Clothes by S. Heti, H. Julavits, Leanne Shapton & 639 others
Tigers Be Still by Kim Rosenstock
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie*
Humans of New York Stories by Brandon Stanton
Love Maps by Eliza Factor

New for 2015: I surrendered a handful of books after my heretofore strict 50-page rule. Prior to this, if I would always finish a book once I had read 50 pages. Extending myself some grace, I started allowing myself to "quit" a book if it still sucked once I'd crossed that previously adhered-to boundary. Among them were Insurgent by Veronica Roth, The Children's Crusade by Ann Packer, Off the Page by Jodi Picoult, The Golden Circle by Doris Lessing.


total books read in 2015: 58
*indicates a reread

Broken Harbor by Tana French

"I remember this country back when I was growing up. We went to church, we ate family suppers around the table, and it would never even have crossed a kid's mind to tell an adult to fuck off. There was plenty of bad there, I don't forget that, but we all knew exactly where we stood and we didn't break the rules lightly. If that sounds like small stuff to you, if it sounds boring or old-fashioned or uncool, think about this: people smiled at strangers, people said hello to neighbors, people left their doors unlocked and helped old women with their shopping bags, and the murder rate was scraping zero....Since then, we started turning feral. Wild got into the air like a virus, and it's spreading. Watch the packs of kids roaming inner-city estates, mindless and brakeless as baboons, looking for something or someone to wreck. Watch the businessmen shoving past pregnant women for a seat on the train, using their 4x4s to force smaller cars out of their way, purple-faced and outraged when the world dares to contradict them. Watch the teenagers throw screaming stamping tantrums when, for once, they can't have it the second they want it. Everything that stops us being animals is eroding, washing away like sand, going and gone. The final step into feral is murder."

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

"But it turns out that you had your own story, and I had mine. Our stories might have overlapped for a while-long enough that they even looked like the same story. But they were different."

"...she is still just a puppy, a little ball of white fur. And we run, she yips and wags her tail...Fluffernutter is tied to a leash, which is looped over a stick in the ground; it would take nothing at all for Fluffernutter to pull the stick out and come running after us, but she doesn't. She thinks she is more trapped than she actually is."

I Was a Child by Bruce Eric Kaplan

"this book is for my parents, who tried"

"although i wasn't able to put it into words then, i think what i found so compelling about that moment each week was the expression of a truth--we are all just little dolls of ourselves who occasionally pull back the curtains to reveal the real us."

"the wizard of oz was on tv once a year. it was like halloween or christmas. you waited for it. and then a week or two before , you knew it was coming on and thought about it a lot. our first television was black-and-white, so i never knew oz was in color, and had no idea the horse of many colors was changing colors. it didn't make a difference. once someone called during the wizard of oz and we all looked at one another, thinking, Who would call during The Wizard of Oz?"


hansel and gretl story..."i was driven mad by fright. cried and cried at how scary she was."=doug + gremlins (this is a random note from 1.5+ years ago. i don't quite remember the hansel and gretl story, but i do remember the gremlins one. in 1984, when Gremlins was released, i was 8 years old. my brother, doug, was 5. my parents took us to see it in the theater. doug was terrified and cried throughout much of this film. i thought this was HILARIOUS. this is perhaps the first time i remember being a touch evil. i went on to own everything Gremlins...velcro shoes, nightgowns, backpacks, and a pink babydoll t with a glitter Gizmo decal that i bought for myself when i was 26 years old. yep. all true. no shame.)

thrift store commercial of a woman transformed by a fur coat..."every time it came on, I was mesmerized by it. it was a very powerful message-this idea that you could change your situation, you didn't have to settle for what you had, you could become more than what you were."