February 2013 Books

MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend by Rachel Bertsche (library ebook) - This book just reinforced everything I've known is true. I really need a local friend.  I have best friends, friends I can call when I need to cry or complain about my husband, and friends I can count on to be there when I really need them. I do not have friends I can meet for lunch or go get a pedicure with or go to their house so my husband can watch that fucking Batman Begins movie for the five thousandth time.  It also confirmed that I am the one who has to initiate these friendships because otherwise it will not happen.  It did not actually tell me how I am supposed to go about doing those things when I live in Nowhere, Wisconsin, but I will persevere and start making more forward friendship attempts.

Anyone want to move to the Madison/Milwaukee area?  I'll invite you over for dinner and meet you at the nearest mall for a pedicure...

The Fault in our Stars by John Green (actual physical book Bestest Friend sent me) - Yep, it's as good as everyone says it is. You should read it.

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (library ebook) - It started off kind of interestingly, but it was too much in this guy's head by the end and I just didn't care. Or maybe I'm just not smart enough for the profound thinking our narrator had to do. I mean, it's possible. Mostly if you look in my head, it's just a list of household chores and work-related lists, so it's possible that I'm just not the audience for this book. Or it's possible that it just wasn't that great a book.

The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon (library ebook) - This was good, but it took me weeks and weeks to finish it because every time I would read it, I would be further convinced that I would probably be diagnosed as somewhere on the autism spectrum if I were ever tested and it would make me very, very uncomfortable. I thought Moon did a great job here of really addressing some difficult questions while putting you in the mind of someone who has autism. 

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Kindle book) - This is a soon to be released movie, right? And I'm sure it will be a better movie than book because these two main characters are the worst examples of whiny, over-privileged, snotty teenagers I've encountered since that book with the girl who got to go sailing all summer and bitched about it. Since the book is told mostly through mental telepathy between those two uber-annoying kids, I was seriously contemplating whether or not it was worth it to even finish the book. But I did because I paid $1.99 for the book and I wanted my money's worth.  Ugh.  Plus, it was that whole "let's just sit down with these brats for a five minute conversation and we can clear everything up," but they never do have that talk so the world is in danger plot device in full force.  You know I can't stand that literary conceit and it doubly bugged me here.

I also read some interesting books for work this month, but I'm pretty sure no one needs to know what I thought of any of these books (super useful but methodologically questionable, not exactly what I wanted but useful, totally going to use large chunks of for my next lecture, not useful but may be useful in the future), but I've always kept these as my fun books, so I'll continue to do so.