Mini Reviews: "Armada" by Ernest Cline and "Someday, Someday, Maybe" by Lauren Graham

"Armada" by Ernest Cline
First published in 2015
349 pages
My rating: 4 out of 5
Image from Goodreads

I pretty much knew from the first page -- on which our main character spots a flying saucer through the window of his math classroom -- that I was going to like this novel.

I read and loved "Ready Player One" back in March and I was really looking forward to Ernest Cline's sophomore effort, "Armada." It was such a fun story and -- other than being what I call "sci-fi lite" -- the plot was totally different from "RPO." It wasn't quite as creative, but the writing was a little better. Both books are awesome and you should read 'em!

Zack Lightman of "Armada" is a totally likeable high school senior who lives with his single mom (his dad died in a workplace accident when he was just a baby) and is obsessed with his favorite video game, "Armada," a flight simulator that involves fending off alien invaders. But it turns out that the weapons, the aircraft and the aliens in the game might not be so fictional after all!

Don't be put off if science fiction isn't your usual thing -- both "Ready Player One" and "Armada" are accessible to all readers. There were a couple references (like "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" ) that went over my head, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story. And both of these books made me feel like being a major geek is the coolest thing ever. They made me want to time-travel back to the 1980s and visit an arcade, have Atari marathons, listen to '80s rock and wear acid-wash jeans!

(P.S. Don't miss the special touch Cline added in the back of the book. Throughout the story, Zack talks about his dad's "Raid the Arcade" cassette tape full of '80s songs, which has become Zack's playlist for gaming. Cline included the list -- on a photocopied Maxwell cassette tape track list -- so readers can listen to all the awesome '80s rock themselves!)

"Someday, Someday, Maybe" by Lauren Graham
First published in 2013
Audiobook read by the author
My rating: 3.5 out of 5
Image from Goodreads

"Someday, Someday, Maybe" was a cute, chick lit-y read about a 20-something aspiring actress living in New York City in 1995 (there's perhaps a little something autobiographical going on here). If you know Lauren Graham from "Gilmore Girls," you'd agree her main character Frannie Banks is exactly the type you'd expect her to write -- funny, self-deprecating, a little naive, full of gumption and kinda kooky, probably a lot like a young Lauren Graham.

I was so glad I decided to listen to the audiobook -- Graham's voice perfectly fits Frannie's character -- and I highly recommend going that route. I liked the story well enough overall, and I definitely enjoyed the 1990s setting with relics like cassette-tape answering machines, pagers, chunky Doc Martens, pantyhose and cash-everything.

However, the plot was predictable in the extreme -- from the love triangle to the fiasco of hiring an agent to the conclusion -- and the writing was alright but not great. But obviously Graham is an actress first and writer on the side, so I didn't expect to be blown away by a literary masterpiece. If I hadn't listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author herself, I would've given it 3 stars for an ok read. The extra half-star is for the personality and sense of character imbued by listening to Lauren Graham's narration.

15 Auto-Read Authors

Hello, fellow bookworms! Today's topic for Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish is our top 10 auto-buy authors. Seeing as I work at a library, I seldom buy books, especially brand-new ones. But there are some authors who, when they have a new book coming out, I'm always scrambling to be the first person on the holds list.

These are my auto-read authors. Who are yours?

 Jojo Moyes // Tasha Alexander

 (I'm gradually working my way through all of Jojo Moyes' books. So far I've read three, but eventually I'll read all of them!) 

 Donna Andrews // Janet Evanovich

 Ernest Cline // Paula McLain

 Laura Hillenbrand // Gillian Flynn

 W. Bruce Cameron // Emily Giffin

Pierce Brown // Samantha Shannon
(Along with Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily mysteries, these are my favorite ongoing series -- and I will read anything these authors write after their series are over. That'll be a while for Samantha Shannon as her series still has five books to go, but the final book of the Red Rising trilogy comes out next January.)

 Deborah Harkness
(I'm anxiously awaiting Deborah Harkness's follow-up to the All Souls trilogy!)

And these authors have only written one book so far, but I will definitely read whatever they put out next!

 Andy Weir // Bee Ridgway

Monday Musings

Highlight of the week: Eating tons of tomatoes fresh from the garden!

Reading: I finished and totally loved "Armada" by Ernest Cline (review to come!) and I finished up the audiobook of "Someday, Someday, Maybe" by Lauren Graham. It was perfect to listen to while knitting and I enjoyed hearing Lauren read her own novel. I started "The Little Paris Bookshop" a couple days ago but I've hardly read any at all! I've been so busy doing other stuff this week (gasp!). I also have "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" on my iPad and ready to start listening to. Kinda sad to be on the last Harry Potter audiobook. I've enjoyed listening to them so much!

Knitting: I'm absolutely loving my BlueSand Cardigan! This picture was taken a whole week ago, and I've made a good amount of progress since then. I'm almost done with the ribbed border that goes all along the front. After that's done, I do an i-cord bind-off along the entire thing (which will probably take forever!) and then the only big thing left will be the sleeves. I'm totally in love with the striped pocket linings.

Watching: We watched the season finales of "Poldark" (really good!) and "True Detective" season 2 (blah) this week. I'm so glad that "Poldark" is coming back for an even longer season of 10 episodes next year. "True Detective," on the other hand, was a huge disappointment -- nowhere near as good as season 1. We also went to see the new "Mission Impossible" movie and enjoyed it (and the fact that we got a free popcorn!).

Trying: Hair chalk! As you can see in the top picture, I had a pinkish-purple streak in my hair on Friday. I love working at a place where we get to put colored stripes in each other's hair! :) And I also really, really liked my pink streak. I'm thinking about making it permanent!

Eating: I finally found an awesome baked bean recipe that we both agreed was a keeper from the first bite! (Patio Pintos via Taste of Home)

Following: hotdudesreading on Instagram. One of my friends at work told me about the account, and god bless her for it ! ;)   

Looking forward to: Oh my goodness, this next week is going to be totally awesome! On Tuesday we're going to see "The Book of Mormon," Wednesday and Thursday I'll get to hang out with my best friend who will be in town for her brother's wedding, and then we head off to the Smoky Mountains!

Quote of the week: "With all due respect, what you read is more important in the long term than the man you marry, ma chere, Madame." -- Monsieur Perdu in "The Little Paris Bookshop" by Nina George

My 10 Most-Read Authors

Today the ladies at The Broke and the Bookish have asked us to talk about the authors we've read the most. My top 10 is going to be a bit misleading, but I decided to do it anyway because, well, it's hard to resist making lists! As I've mentioned before, since I started blogging and working at a library I'm far less likely to read a whole slew of books by the same author. This is not a good thing and I'm trying to rectify it!

What that means is that I started reading every author on this list before I started blogging four (!!!) years ago. A few, like Tasha Alexander, Janet Evanovich, Emily Giffin, Dan Brown and Donna Andrews are auto-reads for me, but I've either grown out of or neglected some of these authors for at least a couple years! So, while this list is indeed the authors I've read the most, it's not an entirely accurate representation of the authors I've read the most lately. So, without futher ado:

Janet Evanovich: 28+ books

21 Stephanie Plum books

3 between-the-numbers Plum books

3 Lizzy and Diesel books

1 Fox and O'Hare book
a few pre-Plum novels like "Motor Mouth"

Donna Andrews: 18 books

18 Meg Langslow mysteries

Rick Riordan: 10 books

5 Percy Jackson and the Olympians books

5 Heroes of Olympus books

J.K. Rowling: 9 1/2 books

7 Harry Potter books

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard"

"The Casual Vacancy"

half of "The Cuckoo's Calling"

Tasha Alexander: 9 books

9 Lady Emily mysteries

Philippa Gregory: 8 books

Sophie Kinsella: 7 books

Emily Giffin: 6 books

(still need to read "Baby Proof")

Dan Brown: 6 books

4 Robert Landgon books

"Deception Point"

"Digital Fortress"

Jodi Picoult: 4 books

I feel like I must have forgotten at least one or two, though, because I could swear I've read more.

Monday Musings

Highlights of the week: Jarrod was still gone last week (he's home now, yay!) and I was getting pretty lonely with just the cat for company! I did enjoy several evenings of reading in the hammock and basking in the absolutely perfect Ohio summer weather we've had lately. It's hard to beat 80 and mostly sunny. Also, I ate an entire bag of popcorn for dinner one night, which was pretty awesome. This is what happens when I'm left to my own devices!

Reading: This week I finished "See Also Murder" by Larry Sweazy (review) and "In the Unlikely Event" by Judy Blume (review). Both were ok -- though the Judy Blume book was a much better form of "ok" than the mystery. On Saturday I started "Armada" by Ernest Cline, his follow-up to "Ready Player One," and I'm really enjoying it so far. It was tough to decide what to read next -- as you can see, I had quite a fabulous selection!

Knitting: Still hard at work on my BlueSand Cardigan. It's coming along wonderfully! I'm having so much fun knitting my first sweater that I've already selected a pattern for sweater #2! I'll post progress pictures of my sweater on the blog soon.

Watching: One of my goals for Jarrod's two weeks away was to get a whole bunch of stuff from the DVR watched -- and I was terrifically successful on that front (not that it was that hard, let's be honest)! I'm now totally caught up on one of my guilty pleasures, the ABC Family show "Chasing Life," and I started season 1 of the Masterpiece Mystery series "Grantchester." A cute WWII soldier turned vicar (i.e. nice guy!) who solves murders and drinks too much? Count me in!

I also watched "Out of Africa" with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford.  I was inspired to watch it after reading Paula McLain's new book, "Circling the Sun" (review). Young Meryl Streep is absolutely stunning!

Trying: Aztec Secret bentonite clay mask -- supposedly works wonders on skin! And Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pens, my first-ever fountain pens.

Looking forward to: Now that Jarrod's home, we can see the new "Mission: Impossible" movie! And -- one week from today -- the assignment list for our move comes out! We won't find out where we'll be stationed next until October but this is the list of all the open jobs for Jarrod's rank and career field -- and one of them will be his! Fingers crossed for some awesome locations!

Quote of the week: "Once you have a wonderful dog, a life without one is diminished." So true. We miss our dear, sweet Conan so much!

Book Review: "In the Unlikely Event" by Judy Blume

"In the Unlikely Event" by Judy Blume
First published in 2015
397 pages
My rating: 3.5 out of 5
Image from Goodreads

Pros:
*The plotline of three planes crashing in the same New Jersey town in the early 1950s is not as crazy as it sounds. Judy Blume actually grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, site of three plane crashes in 8 weeks the year she was 15.

*I loved the 1951-52 small-town New Jersey setting. It's fun to be transported back to a time when girls wore skirts and dresses every day, soda fountains were a thing, and everyone got their news from an actual newspaper. The historical fiction aspect of the book was great.

*Speaking of newspapers,  I really enjoyed the newspaper "clippings" at the beginning of every chapter. The colorful and rather biased reporting was apparently true to form, as Blume says in the acknowledgments section that she used some wording from actual newspaper stories covering the plane crashes. It added another level of interest to the story.

Cons:
*This is marketed as an adult book, but I thought it was more of a a teen coming-of-age story that, oh, just so happens to have a handful of horrific plane crashes thrown in. Judy Blume is famous for her kids' and young adult books, and I felt like this was really just a YA book with a few adult characters stuck in as an afterthought.

*Continuing that thought, the plane crashes -- the focus of the first half of the book -- really don't have anything to do with the underlying storyline, which takes the lead in the second part of the book. I expected the crashes to have more of an impact overall. Otherwise, what was the point of making them the star of the novel?

*There were way too many points-of-view. Perspectives changed multiple times in every chapter, and some of the characters were totally unnecessary to the story. It was a bit hard to keep the minor characters straight and I wish Blume had cut them out and let us hear more from some of the people we actually cared about (like the compelling Rusty, our main character's single mother, who got pregnant at 18 out of wedlock at a time when that was a cardinal sin -- and still managed to eke out a pretty good life for her small family).

*The main narrator, Miri, is only 15. I'm sure I was naive about plenty of things at that age, but Miri is painfully and irritatingly so. Sometimes I yearned to give her a good, hard shake on the shoulders. In fact I felt all the young women in the book were completely in the dark about so many things -- especially sex. No, you cannot get pregnant just from being touched down there, ya dummy! (Thank god we live in the 21st century where I'm pretty sure no high school seniors could possibly think that. Blume put quite a bit of teen sex talk in the book [my this-is-a-YA-book-in-adult-clothing warning bells are going off here!] and I was pretty disgusted by the misogynistic and sexually repressive culture of the '50s -- really not all that long ago.)

So...
This book wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it could've been better. If it had been more adult-oriented I probably would've given it 4 stars. Still, I was really intrigued by the based-in-fact plane crash plot... it's nuts to think our author lived through that terrifying time herself!

Book Review: "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

"I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
First published in 2014
371 pages
My rating: 5 out of 5
Image from Goodreads

The Short of It:
This book was awesome. Read it.

The Long of It:
Other than the Hunger Games trilogy, I don't think I've ever awarded 5 stars to a YA book. Young adult books usually just aren't my thing, and I often tend to be particularly harsh when reading overly hyped ones. But "I'll Give You the Sun" transcended all that. It was not a typical YA book. In other words -- I loooooooved it!

"I'll Give You the Sun" is a story of secrets and lies, guilt and grief, love and forgiveness and family, art and creativity -- and most importantly, about figuring out who you are, flaws and all. Its real, raw themes are relevant to people of all ages, and the brilliant, lovely, metaphor-filled writing is so incredibly readable and complex that it'll appeal to everyone. Sorry here, YA superfans, but seldom do young adult books possess the depth of plot and skilled writing that adult books often have (which makes sense, because they're for teenagers), but Nelson didn't dumb down anything for her audience.

So what's it about? Jude and Noah are twins, nearly inseparable from birth to age 13, despite their differences: Jude is beautiful and popular and full of daring, and Noah is artistic and quiet and a little odd. But during their 13th summer, everything changes. Bit by bit, their relationship devolves until, at age 16, they barely speak to each other. The story alternates between age 13 and age 16, with Noah telling us the story of their 13-year-old selves and Jude narrating three years later.

I can't remember the last time a book got at my emotions like "I'll Give You the Sun" did. I gasped aloud, I smiled, I cringed, I chuckled. Nelson crafted two extremely lovable, extremely imperfect characters and you'll be rooting for them -- and for their relationship with each other -- the whole time.

I highly recommend this book for teens and grown-ups alike. The broad themes are ones everybody can relate to, and the writing is wonderful. Let the beautiful cover draw you in, and then get lost in the story of Jude and Noah.