Monday Musings

Highlight of the week: My "espresso patronum" Harry Potter shirt (complete with Grim) came in the mail from BookRiot! The store had a 30% off sale for the 4th of July, so I got a great deal. I've been lusting after this shirt for months and I was so excited when it arrived! I keep saying I want to get more book-themed shirts to wear to work at the library and this one is perfect.

Reading: I finally finished up "I, Ripper" on Friday, and thank god for that. I had such a high hopes for that book and it ended up being a real trudge to get through. Now I'm on to a NetGalley copy of Paula McLain's new book, due out later this month, "Circling the Sun." I really loved "The Paris Wife" and so far I'm enjoying this one.

Knitting: My Gryffindor scarf is finally nearing completion! And I'm super-excited to start my next project, an open-front striped cardigan. It's three colors, and I ordered beige, navy and coral yarn. I can't wait to get started... I just keep procrastinating knitting up a gauge swatch. (The pattern is Blue Sand Cardigan.)

Watching: The list of things on our DVR is never-ending! I've been trying to catch up on episodes of one of my guilty pleasures, the ABC Family show "Chasing Life."  As for movies, last week Jarrod and I watched "Chappie" (meh), "The Good Lie" (pretty good) and "Like Sunday, Like Rain" (also pretty good). We've decided it's time to start watching a new TV show on DVD and we're pondering over a few contenders. I'm thinking "Orphan Black." Any suggestions?

Listening to: I'm a bit tired of listening to the same ol', same ol', so I've been using the radio function on Spotify a lot lately. My favorite channels are Florida Georgia Line, Of Monsters and Men (we're going to see them in concert in September -- yay!) and Broken Bells.

Eating: I was craving s'mores, but it's been way too wet and rainy to use our fire pit (what is up with that, Mother Nature! Can I just get some damn sunshine, please?!) so we tried the oven-broiler method. Not campfire-quality, but not bad either.

Looking forward to: Dog-sitting my friend's Great Dane puppy the week after next! She brought Duke over to meet us last week and he was such an adorable, goofy and gigantic guy (he's 5 1/2 months and already weighs 80 pounds)! And my trip home to Colorado in less than two months. If this rainy, cool summer keeps up, I'll be majorly in need of some Rocky Mountain sun rays (if, that is, the mosquitoes haven't eaten me alive by then).

Book Review: "Euphoria" by Lily King

"Euphoria" by Lily King
First published in 2014
257 pages
My rating: 4 out of 5
Image from Goodreads
*Book won in a Goodreads giveaway from Atlantic Monthly Press

The Short Of It:
Three anthropologists, 1930s New Guinea, and a fiery love triangle with untold consequences. "Euphoria" was an intense, fast read brimming with adventure, history and sexual tension.

The Long Of It:
This riveting story of three young anthropologists studying primitive tribes in 1930s New Guinea is part love story, part tragedy, part cultural study and part historical fiction.

Nell Stone -- loosely based on pioneering anthropologist Margaret Mead -- and her husband, Fen, have just spent the past several months living with and studying New Guinea's violent and aggressive Mumbanyo tribe when a chance encounter with fellow anthropologist Andrew Bankson changes the course of life for all three of them.

Nell and Fen have a rocky marriage; Fen is emasculated and jealous of Nell's success in their field, and Nell is reeling from a miscarriage and the couple's chilling months with the Mumbanyo. Andrew, who has spent the last several years living with a tribe along the Sepik River, is engulfed in loneliness and despair, and he's contemplating suicide. Our three protagonists are all in very dark places when they meet on Christmas Eve; they're drawn to each other in a way so intense it's almost dangerous -- each needing something from the others -- and they all fall just a little bit in love. But that love puts their blossoming careers -- and even their lives -- in jeopardy.

The story of Nell, Fen and Andrew is gripping by itself, but I really enjoyed learning more about the birth of the anthropology field and the primitive tribes of New Guinea. Our narrators tells us of human sacrifice, infanticide and unusual sexual practices, but there's also simplicity, friendship and acceptance. It took me a couple chapters to really get into the story, but once I did I was off and away and devoured the rest of the tale. King is a talented writer, and she's skilled at evoking vivid imagery without being long-winded.

The beautiful cover of "Euphoria," with its vibrant rainbow eucalyptus tree and it's lovely raised white lettering, is one of my all-time favorites, and -- seeing as I am a self-confessed offender of judging books by their covers -- I had really high hopes for this novel. I'm pleased to say it didn't disappoint.

16 Hyped Books I Haven't Gotten Around To Reading Yet

Hello, fellow bookworms! It's Tuesday, which means it's time for Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish! This week's topic is about hyped, popular, well-publicized books we haven't read. My to-read list is full of really popular books that I intend to get to soon (i.e. hope to read at some point in my lifetime!) so I compiled my TTT list from there.

These are all books I'd like to read, some (like "All the Light We Cannot See," "The Queen of the Tearling" and "In the Kingdom of Ice") more than others. Have you read any of my selections? Which ones should jump to the front of the line? What hyped books are on your reading list?

I Judge Books By Their Covers: "Boo"

Hello, my name is Lindsay, and I judge books by their covers.
Confession: I always judge books by their covers. A book's appearance -- from the artwork to the font to the colors to the texture to the weight and cut of the pages (I like the ragged-edged ones) -- is very important to me. And there are certain kinds of covers I like and certain ones I'd never pick up unless I was already planning to read the book. It's fascinating to see how covers change between editions -- hardcover and paperback, or U.S. and international -- and it's so fun to see who prefers what!

The cover on the left is the U.S. edition and the right is the U.K. edition.

Read my review of "Boo" here.

Here's another good book with two fairly disparate covers. Sometimes I wonder how the same book can have such different artistic interpretations! Overall, I suppose the U.K. cover is a better fit for the book itself, and the blurb -- combined with the O turned into a halo and even the finger gun -- are punny and catchy. I like the bold orange color choice and the style of the artwork.

But the U.S. cover really drew me in -- in fact, I had never heard of this book until the cover caught my eye when I was processing new library books at work. The colors are gorgeous (maybe I'm biased because I love anything in the teal/turquoise family) and the number 106 is important to the story. The book is fairly charming and quirky, and the mysterious eyes peeking out of the locker are a bit less sinister than the boy pretending to shoot himself in the head. And the cobalt slices of locker vent provide a contrast and symmetry to the cover that's pleasing to the eye.

I like how the handwritten title text gives both books a subtle school theme -- the U.S. title is reminiscent of chalk, and the U.K. cover looks like a marker scrawl. These covers are eye-catching and I like them both, but the winner is... the U.S. cover! Do tell, which cover to you like best?

Book Review: "Boo" by Neil Smith

"Boo" by Neil Smith
First published in 2015
310 pages
My rating: 4 out of 5
Image from Goodreads

The Short Of It:
"Boo" is one of the most unique books I've read this year. Somehow Smith managed to write a book about a dead eighth-grader -- not the most cheerful subject matter -- that is sweet, funny and thought-provoking. I fully recommend this quick read.

The Long Of It:
Just a few days into eighth grade, Oliver "Boo" Dalrymple dies in front of his locker (which was, fortuitously, number 106 -- the same number of elements in the periodic table in 1979, the year the book is set). One minute he's reciting the elements and looking at the picture of one of his heroes, Jane Goodall, taped up in his locker, the next he wakes up in "Town," a rather original, slightly wacky version of heaven just for dead 13-year-old Americans.

Back in America, Boo was pale as a ghost (hence the nickname), scrawny, ridiculously smart, mercilessly bullied, and -- the modern-day reader can discern -- likely had Asperger's (he's exactly like a younger version of Don from "The Rosie Project"). Boo also had a heart defect, which he assumes is the cause of his untimely death. A few days later, though, another boy from Boo's school, Johnny Henzel, arrives in Town with the news that he and Boo were murdered. Boo, Johnny and their new (slightly eccentric) friends set off on a mission through Town to unearth more information about the murders -- with quite unexpected results.

This book is a bit hard to peg. My library had it as adult fiction, but it could just as easily be a well-written young adult book. In fact, it would be a good book for teens to read, as it deals with topics like bullying and depression as well as friendship and forgiveness. It could sort of be called a murder-mystery, but the murders are really not the central focus of the novel. And though Boo, Johnny and friends are in "heaven" it's not at all a religious book -- in fact, living Boo was an atheist. It's a bit of a cross between "The Lovely Bones" and "Wonder" with plenty of quirk, originality and humor thrown in.

Regardless of exactly what kind of book "Boo" is, it's one that's at once charming, funny, poignant and infinitely readable -- and it should be read!

My 5 Favorite Reads So Far This Year

Can you believe 2015 is halfway over? The first part of the year has been pretty awesome for me -- I went to Hawaii, Dallas and New York City, I saw Florida Georgia Line and Hozier in concert, and I read 38 mostly decent books.

The topic for this week's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is the best books we've read so far in 2015. I kept my list short, with only 5 titles, but they were all fantastic books that I'd fully recommend.

I did notice, compiling this list, that I last read a truly amazing, unforgettable, up-all-night book back in April. I think it's time for another one! Any recommendations? Without further ado, here are my five favorite reads from the first half of 2015.

1. Red Rising (and Golden Son) by Pierce Brown

(my review)

I absolutely loved the first and second installments of Pierce Brown's Red Rising series. The books are exquisite page-turners and I can't wait for the conclusion of the trilogy in January -- except that then there will be no more books! If you have not yet discovered "Red Rising," I urge you to check it out ASAP!

2. The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

(my review)

The first book in this series, "The Bone Season," was pretty good, but I was totally hooked by the second installment, "The Mime Order." I spent a handful of days where all I did was eat, work and read this book.

3. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

(my review)

I only gave "Ready Player One" four stars because I thought the prose could've been brightened up a bit. But this fantastic story has totally stuck with me and it is definitely one of my favorites. I'm anxiously awaiting Cline's new book, "Armada,' which comes out in a couple weeks.

4. Fives and Twenty-Fives by Michael Pitre

(my review)

I read "Fives and Twenty-Fives" as part of my goal to read more military literature, being that I'm an Air Force spouse. I was blown away. It was a beautiful, terrible, amazing read.

5. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

(my review)

This book takes post-apocalyptic fiction to a different level and I really enjoyed this beautiful, gripping, fun read.

What To Read Next? Decisions, Decisions, Glorious Decisions!

Yesterday morning I finished Janet Evanovich's new release, "Wicked Charms," and was confronted with that delicious question we bookworms love: what to read next. So many options, so many characters to love and hate, so many adventures to take!

It's rare that I have more than one or two books waiting in the wings, but I went on a bit of a requesting spree at the library and I have five books checked out! "The Ice Twins" was recommended by two of my co-workers at the library and the other four are on my summer to-read list.

I'm not in the mood for anything in particular, so I decided to choose my next book by reading the opening lines of each novel:

The Kill Artist: The restorer raised his magnifying visor and switched off the bank of fluorescent lights. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the murkiness of evening in the cathedral; then he inspected a tiny portion of the painting just below an arrow wound on the leg of Saint Stephen.

I, Ripper: When I cut the woman's throat, her eyes betrayed not pain, not fear, but utter confusion. Truly, no creature can understand its own obliteration. Our expectation of death is real but highly theoretical until the moment is upon us and so it was with her.

The Ice Twins: Our chairs are placed precisely two yards apart. And they are both facing the big desk, as if we are a couple having marital therapy; a feeling I know too well. Dominating the room is a pair of lofty, uncurtained, eighteenth-century sash windows: twin portraits of a dark and dimming London sky.

The Girl You Left Behind: I was dreaming of food. Crisp baguettes, the flesh of the bread a virginal white, still steaming from the oven, and ripe cheese, its borders creeping toward the edge of the plate. Grapes and plums, stacked high in bowls, dusky and fragrant, their scent filling the air.

I'll Give You the Sun: This is how it all begins. With Zephyr and Fry -- reigning neighborhood sociopaths -- torpedoing after me and the whole forest floor shaking under my feet as I blast through air, trees, this white-hot panic.

What lines pulled you in, intrigued you, made you want to keep reading? Which book would you pick up next if you were me? If I were choosing a book based solely on the opening sentences, having no idea what the book was about, I'd go with the tantalizing and vivid food description of "The Girl You Left Behind." And so, my next read is: