Geek Lust

How could I not pick up a book that not only gets so close to my own blog's title, but is literally about the driving force behind everything I am interested in? I saw this on the Local Author shelf and that was just an even better reason to pick it up, because you guys know I love reading things written by people close by. So I picked it up and while I didn't absolutely love this book, it was fun to read.

Alex Langley binds together in these pages everything that makes a geek a geek. Covering everything from the original geeks, scientist that started things, to all the mediums that geeks revel in, including but not limited to books, shows, movies, podcasts, and games. While the book is divided in a pretty clear manor, moving from one subject to the next in a cohesive manor that ties it all together, Langley's lists and frequent content jumping does make this book a bit more chaotic to read than I would have liked.

But it was fun! I mean, a whole book listing the many reasons people mark me as weird, yeah I enjoyed seeing in print that there are whole groups that love the things I love. It was also a lot of fun to pick out which of the many names in each medium I have enjoyed over the years. Who doesn't love it when someone acknowledges their love of that one book series you thought you were alone in reading!

I had fun with this book and recommend it to anyone with the willingness to basically read a book of lists. After all, it helped me discover a lot more shows, books, and games I should be partaking in!

Every Last Word

January - Books with a white cover

This is the story of Sam. Sam has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, focusing on the obsessive part. She is sixteen and she was diagnosed years ago, and she is in therapy and trying to cope with it. But no one outside of Sam's family knows. And she likes it like that because she wants the world to think she is completely normal. Only, she is lonely because of this thinking. Until she meets Caroline and her world starts to change. Sam discovers poetry and makes friends and focuses on herself. She starts to be happy. It's a wonderful story!

And it is so darn familiar to me that sometimes I had to take a step back. Sure, the details are a little different because while I do have OCD (or Pure-O as I have discovered is more accurate), I was dealing more with depression and anxiety in high school. And whereas Sam had a group of plastic friends she felt she could never explain things to, I had my family who I was desperate not to disappoint. Sam meets the Poets, friends that understood, had their own faults, but had poetry. I had a few friends that had their own illness and were willing to just let me be. Sam finds AJ. I am now married to my own AJ. It sounds so awesome, finding your way through, figuring out who you are and how to be happy in it. But it's not that easy. At one point, Sam's friend tells her she is changing, and maybe not for the better. I received those same lines from my father. It was hard to explain that I wasn't who everyone had though I was up to that point, especially since my family really liked that girl and I was becoming my own person. It took my a long time to find my own Poets, but I got there and have slowly to become happier in my own life.

So imagine how amazing it was to pick up this book and discover my story within its pages! So maybe I was far more drawn to the story than you would be. But I honestly believe that Stone does such an amazing job of giving us Sam in all her crazy glory and making us fall in love with her. She does an incredible job of capturing the good, the bad, the crazy of Sam's day to day life, from the obsession with her odometer in her car to the panic attacks that nearly cripple her. Stone did a lot of research for this story, and it really shows in how accurately she portrays so much of it. It was wonderful getting to read this one. Even through the sad parts and the bits that gave me second hand embarrassment and the pages that made my heart smile. It was a fantastic book from beginning to end. Please, pick it up, read it, love it with me!

Symptoms of Being Human

January - Books with white covers

When I saw the theme for this month I had to make my way to the library for both books because incidentally I have no books with white covers! I am so glad that I did! Because I found two that I think will be incredible. And the first one really was!

Riley is gender fluid, meaning that instead of waking up with the anatomy of a female and feeling like a girl, Riley has to take a moment to gauge where their gender dial is at the moment. Of course, this doesn't help much because Riley is not out as gender fluid and therefore cannot dress to their preference for the day. So this is the story of Riley switching schools, going through therapy, being the child of a conservative congressman, all while trying to navigate the very confusing path of gender fluidity. And this story is wonderful!

At the end of the book Jeff Garvin writes a note including statistics for trans and gender nonbinary people: how many are sexually harassed, how many commit suicide, how many have no access to helpful resources. This note is necessary because his character, Riley, has it relatively good, with help and support from numerous sources. Most in Riley's situation do not. And yet, even with having it good, Riley in no way has it easy.

Garvin does an incredible job of trying to nail down the symptoms and effects of a term that is just as fluid in how it effects individuals as it is for the day to day of those with it. There are many times when Riley described a panic attack that had me feeling in the moment of one of my own attacks, Garvin captures it so perfectly. This is an incredible debut for a man that has no personal experience with the things he describes in his book. It makes me excited to see what he tackles next!

So, this is when I say what point of view this books is written in and dissect how it effected my reading of the book. First person! I know, I know, for someone who hates first person so much I seem to find a lot of novels written in it! But this one, this one could not have been written in any other way! Because Riley is fluid, the reader cannot see Riley in any other way than how Riley sees Riley. Notice how earlier in my post I have to use they/them so that I do not assign a gender to Riley? Garvin avoids the pronoun issue by allowing Riley to tell the story. That coupled with the fact that only Riley can accurately portray everything they go through forces this book to be best done in first person. And it was wonderful that way! Maybe it helped that I could relate to Riley's punk attitude and made me love them from the first lines of the book!

I loved everything about this book! I was so excited to see it on the shelf and get to take a look into the world of a character set that is slowly finding its way into books these days. I love nontraditional characters. And I love that the number of novels are growing that can help those with less traditional problems. The best way for a teenager to feel safe is to show them others that feel the same way. Riley is an example of of trying to give more teenagers this safe space through understanding. It touches my heart to see the genre expanding in such a way! So, if you have more books along these lines, please send them my way! I would love to read more on subjects that I cannot understand first hand but want to understand for others. And if you haven't picked this one up but are willing to branch out of the norm, please do. This one was incredible! Let me know what you think!

The Sisters

In the beginning was Mabel and Bertie. In the summer of 1927 Mabel knew something would soon happen to Bertie and that the only way to escape would be to take her sister away. She thought she planned out the only way things could be done to give them a restart at life. Only, something went wrong. Bertie never got on the train. Suddenly both Mabel and Bertie are thrown out into the world, alone and uncertain, and full of emotions they keep tucked away from prying eyes.

What follows is a story like most others, Mabel finds herself in photography and unusual friendships, Bertie marries and devotes herself to making sure her little family holds together. But the original tragedy colors everything.

Jensen weaves a tale that may seem simple enough, only that there is a thread running through all of it that most of the characters are never aware of even as it changes things for them permanently. This family that hides truths about what they are doing, what they feel, and they change the course of each other's lives with these hidden facets. Amazingly, something that happened in 1927 effects the great-granddaughters in 2007, even as the child has no idea of the events that occurred.

Not only is this an amazing story to show how tragedy colors each and every one of us without us having gone through the event itself, Jensen is an incredible writer. Her imagination is vast as she develops this family and chronicles their lives. At the worst moments in the book she gives us just enough of the scene to make it stick with you, make you cringe, without having to take it too far. And her characters are so diverse and real that you can't help but feel for each and every one of them.

I am so glad that picked up this novel and I will be looking for more of Jensen's works in the future! I recommend everyone pick this book up!

Three Good Things

May - Books with numbers in the title.

I loved the premise behind this book, the story of two sisters, one a recent divorcee with a bake shop that's just trying to figure out life after her husband, and the other a successful lawyer and new mom trying to figure out how to balance her life. Loosing their mother at just sixteen and six, they have only her imparted words of wisdom to help them these years later: "At the end of every day, find three good things about it."

I think the fact that I rarely pick up mainstream books has effected me. While I greatly enjoyed this book, loved the story and the writing style, even found myself talking aloud at the characters near the end, I felt the book was a little watered down. I believe this to be a side affect of far too many life and death harrowing storylines in my recent read list. Something so simple almost fell flat for me. That is not to say that I didn't love the book, that I don't recommend it, on the contrary, I suggest everyone, especially women, pick this book up. Join the McClarety sisters on their path to trying to discover themselves in their own little ways at a time when most people expect to have all their shit together. This book is wonderful, so much like life with moments of joy, confusion, pain, misunderstandings, awkward moments, The characters are so adorable in their little Wisconsin town where the worst that can happen is a little too much snow to make someone late for work. Well, at least on the surface, because under that is two women who are a little too scared of making the wrong move and having everything they want in life slip through their fingers. And what's a little pastry without a side of drama?

This was a really enjoyable read and I look forward to holding on to it to recommend for all my friends that ask me for a good book and they don't want anything too heavy. And if you read the book and try the recipe for kringle, something I am really considering, let me know how it turns out!