A Bad Trip to the Library

Seriously. It was a bad trip to the library. I am going to talk about six books and I liked NONE OF THEM.  The boy kept telling me if I disliked the books so much, maybe I shouldn't have checked them out. I was a bit defensive (how was I supposed to know these books would make me so irate?!), but now I see his point. From now on, I'm going to keep rereading the same books over and over again that I know and love. No new books. At least until I go to the library again, I guess.

Maybe this trip was a payback for the last time when I read all kinds of books I loved.  So if it's a vicious cycle, it means that the five books I just took out from the library should be brilliant. Please let them be brilliant. 

The Idiot Girls' Action Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro and Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A. S. King - At first, you might think these books have nothing in common.  Notaro writes an autobiography and King writes a fiction piece.  Notaro writes a strange combo of memoir/chick lit and King writes a teen lit tale of woe and sorrow.  But, here's the kicker.  Both of these books involve young women doing stupid things that make me feel stupid for reading it.

Look, I'm going to admit it. I'm a bit of a teetotaler.  We still have a bottle of champagne sitting on our kitchen counter from our wedding three years ago.  We have wine in our house, but only to be used for cooking.  There's a bottle of potato vodka in our freezer given to my husband  before he met me that has never been opened.  We just don't drink spirits is what I'm saying. I never have.

I don't care if you drink a class of wine with your dinner or a beer while you're watching the football game. I really don't care.  But I see no reason to read books about girls putting their lives and other people's lives in danger while getting drunk.  Period.  I didn't even finish Notaro's book. I was unamused and pissed off. I finished the King book, but I was very disturbed by this book. I wanted Vera to grow up, stop drinking, and stop being completely irresponsible. I kind of hated her. I know she was grieving, but that's no excuse for putting other people's lives at risk.  For the entire book.  From the very first page.  I know that a lot of the criticisms of these books has more to do with me than with the books, but I am not going to celebrate this irresponsible behavior (other forms of irresponsible behavior on the other hand may have potential free passes).  

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey - This is a classic of the mystery genre, I know.  But I gave up about half way through and have no regrets. I just couldn't even finish the boringness and the nothingeverhappeningness. 

Little Bee by Chris Cleave - This was not what I expected. It was a perfectly acceptable read, but totally not worth the glowing reviews from all over. 

Drought by Pam Bachorz and Delirium by Lauren Oliver - I feel like I read this line from someone else, so I'm copying here, but I am just over dystopian young adult novels.  Honestly, while I enjoyed The Hunger Games, I was pretty over it by the time Mockingjay came out.  As far as I can tell, it's a lose-lose situation to write the endings to these types of books. Either it's total destruction or some fake save and either way I'm pissed off. I'm not entirely sure how I want the books to end.  Maybe the authors should do a Choose Your Adventure-style ending.  Choose Path A if you want an unrealistic, happy ending.  Choose Path B if you want to know how things would turn out if it were the real world.  Choose Path C if you want to know what lame ass way the author originally intended to end this book. 

Whatever.  The world is already a dystopia.  I don't see why I need to read about sad places in my fiction.  The next time I see "imagined world" or "near future" or some such nonsense, I'm going to leave it right on the shelf where it belongs.

Makeup

This is my makeup bag. It is filled with products, some of which I use reliably and some of which I don't.

This, on the other hand, is the full complement of products I do use on a "regular" makeup day.

I start with Pore Professional, the primer from Benefit. It does the job super well, but it is super expensive. Not quite as expensive as the Smashbox primer I used to use, but still, I feel like I'm putting gold on my face.  I read in Real Simple that L'Oreal has a decent primer for about a fifth of the price.  Is that true? 

Then I use Erase Paste (also from Benefit, a trend that will continue) as a "foundation" of sorts. I mostly use it to cover up zits, the red area around my nose and cheeks, and my sometimes dark circles. I sleep more than any other adult I know, so the dark circles rarely come, but occasionally they do.

I use the tiny spatula to get the Erase Paste out, then I put it on the super cheap latex sponge and smear on the necessary blemishes.  Voila.  Instant perfection.  Then I smear, especially at the jaw line, to make sure I don' t have one of those mask lines. I am super cool like that.

Before I do my eyeshadow, I use Stay Don't Stray eyelid primer (by Benefit). Benefit used to make an awesome eyelid primer called F.Y. Eye, but they stopped making it and replaced it with this inferior product.  It's awful packaging, I always use way too much, and I can't tell how much product is left, causing me to RUN OUT on the day of a big presentation.  Suck it, Benefit. Don't mess with success.

I use the Big Beautiful Eyes by Benefit shadow for most days. It basically looks like I'm not wearing any eye makeup at all.  I like that. I recently purchased some green eyeshadow at Sephora, though, and I've been enjoying playing with that on days when I have nothing going on in my life.

Cheap mascara. I use it because my sister-in-law does. There's no other reason. Mascara can be so expensive and you have to replace it every two months, so I opt to use the cheap stuff. Will my life be forever changed for the better if I invest in non-drugstore mascara?

I'm still using blush from The Body Shop.  I've been eying the Nars blush in Orgasm, though. Everyone says it's the miracle blush.  Maybe that will be my next big Sephora purchase in another six months when the novelty of the green eyeshadow wears off.

Lip stuff to finish off. Usually I start with a lipstick and then just bring along a tube of gloss to keep freshening it up during the day.  Both of these are Benefit products (Life on the A List for the gloss and Curtsy for the lipstick).

These are the brushes I use just about every day. One big one for blush (and the occasional powder I use on special days).  The small one is used for eyeshadow.  Both of these are from the Sonia Kaskuk Double Duty Brush Set available at Target. I wash them way less frequently than I'm supposed to, but they are hardy and inexpensive and do the job well. 

And that's it my friends. My entire makeup regimen for daily use.  Should I grow up and get myself a decent mascara and blush?  Any recommendations? Products that you can't live without? 

More Books Because All I Do When It's Gray and Rainy is Read

Letters from the Inside by John Marsden – Another epistolary novel. Another novel I never want to think about again.  I can’t in good conscience recommend this to anyone.

If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman – These two novels follow two characters after a life-altering car accident.  The first one is told from the point of view of Mia and the second from the point of view of Adam, her boyfriend.  They are both awesome books, but for what it’s worth, it’s the second one that left me feeling drained and sad and unable to focus on anything else for a day. If you can ignore the last ten pages of the book, Where She Went is absolutely in my top ten novels.  So, what I’m saying is you should read these books.

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie and After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick – Two novels centered around the story of a family.  The first one is told from the POV of the older brother, the second one of the younger brother.  There’s something about Sonnenblick’s writing I completely admire – the use of humor when life is complicated. I want to emulate it in my own life, instead of being so dramatic about everything.  Two very big thumbs up for these books.

Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt – zzzzzzzzzzzzz…oh, wait.  This was a free book on my Kindle and it was, um, boring.

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr – This book followed me everywhere I went. I would run from it, hide under my blankets, pretend it didn’t exist, but it did exist. Maybe it was my mood, maybe it was the relentlessly grey skies, but this was one of the saddest books I’ve ever read.  I thought it was hauntingly beautiful.  It was masterful portrayal a complicated relationship between complicated people in complicated circumstances.  (I read this book only because it came up on a search for books similar in style to Sarah Dessen. I would argue that it is unlike anything Sarah Dessen has every written, but I do think it would appeal to Dessen fans.)

Heart on a Chain by Cindy C. Bennett – By page ten of this book, I was attempting to muffle my tears.  When my husband asked me what was wrong, I gestured in the vague direction of my Kindle as I told him it was just so sad. I had just started reading it.  And it got sadder and sadder. It was a realistic portrait of abuse.  It was not a realistic portrait of anything else – the romance, the ramifications of the abuse, the relationship with the other parent – but despite the obvious flaws in, you know, reality, I was moved by this book.  Where were these books when I was young?  I would have been comforted by this book, by the knowledge that there were others going through similar struggles, that there were others who were rootless and confused.  I am not sure if I recommend this book.  I guess I do. It was beautiful.  I’m still thinking about it weeks later.  But bring your tissues and your suspension of disbelief.

The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kady Cross – Another free download on my Kindle.  Pretty funny and engaging.  I would have purchased the sequel (you win, Amazon!) but it hasn’t been released yet, so I put it on my library request list instead.

The Girl who Could Fly by Victoria Forester – This has been on my list to read for over a year.  I’ll be honest, the reason I didn’t get it was because it was in the children’s section of our local library and I can never find anything in the children’s section of our library (do you hear me downtown library?) and I always go to that section and get frustrated because things are always shelved incorrectly! Anyway, this was actually shelved correctly and it was a good, fast read.  I liked it and I am sure I would have loved it when I was seven or eight.  A great book for young girls just starting their chapter book reading.

Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt – It took me a few chapters to warm up to this book. As a teacher, I hate books that hate on teachers.  But it wasn’t really a book hating on teachers, it was a book loving on teachers. It just takes a while to get there. I wasn’t as crazy about it as I was about The Girl who Could Fly, but it was another good read for a children’s book (I was able to get this one from the teen stacks, so I didn’t have to face the children’s section twice in one trip.)