February Book Reviews

The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman: I waited anxiously to read this book as it has been on my list for a long time and it did not disappoint.  I think my lot in life is to be perpetually unsatisfied by endings, but baring that tradition, I loved the book. I liked the strength of the setting without a novel bogged down by description.  I thought the plot and characters where different enough while still being believable. The most charming part is that it is a guilt-free recommendation because it didn't have any offensive language or situations. That doesn't happen very often these days.

Finding Alaska:  If you ever see me reading a young adult please politely remind me that I don't like them.  Ever.

Gone Girl: The plot was so fun that I wanted to hand the book to everyone I talked to about it.  But the language was just base enough that I couldn't in good faith.  The book hinges on believing the husband has a thread of misogyny in him, so the language was useful for that but mostly offensive.  And persistent.  That said, the plot really was so fun!
"The bankruptcy matched my psyche perfectly. For several years, I had been bored.  Not a whining, restless child's boredom (although I was not above that) but a dense, blanketing malaise.  It seemed to me that there was nothing new to be discovered ever again.  Our society was utterly, ruinously  derivative.  We were the first human being who would never see anything for the first time. We stare at the wonders of the world, dull-eyed, underwhelmed. Mona Lisa, the Pyramids, the Empire State Building.  Jungle animals on attack, ancient icebergs collapsing, volcanoes erupting.  I can't recall a single amazing thing I have seen firsthand that I didn't immediately reference to a movie or TV show....And the worst thing...is: The secondhand experience is always better.  The image is crisper, the view is keener, the camera angle and the soundtrack manipulate my emotions in a way reality can't anymore. I don't know that we are actually human at this point...If we are betrayed, we know the words to say; when a loved one dies, we know the words to say.  If we want to play the stud or the smart-as or the fool, we know the words to say.  We are all working from the same dog-eared script."