#82 The Liars' Club by Mary Karr

This is another book I read because it was on my sister, Karen's, to-read list. I was kind of surprised to find it on her list, because it doesn't really feel like the kind of book she would have read, but then, a lot of books on her list were ones others had read that she thought would take her out of her comfort zone.

Mary Karr's childhood reminds me of my own. Which is surprising in a way; she grew up in a small oil town on the coast in Texas, while I grew up in (mostly) a small farming town in Missouri. Her daddy was a union laborer for an oil company, while mine worked in middle management in a factory. She had one sister; I'm right smack in the middle of seven kids. But it's the small town, lower middle class upbringing that brings to mind my own childhood. Playing (and fighting) with the neighborhood kids; exploring the nearby creek or woods or pasture; fighting with your siblings (but also fighting along with your siblings against the other neighborhood kids).

There are definitely some differences - my mom didn't get an inheritance, move us to Colorado, and divorce our dad in order to marry some drunk bartender. We didn't ride horses or get stung by a man-o-war or hide from a drunk, knife-wielding parent (or protect a step-father from a drunk, pistol-wielding parent). We didn't (as far as my parents know) use the kind of "colorful" language Mary and (especially) her sister Lecia used against the other neighborhood kids. But, reading this memoir, I still felt at times like I was reliving my own childhood.

~Kris

#47 The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

I went into reading this thinking I wouldn't gain anything as I have read one of Dave Ramsey's books already and I was raised to be financially smart, however, I was pleasantly surprised to be motivated and to change a few things.  The book starts out with Ramsey pretty much defending and sharing how his program works.  I was kind of bored with the first part of the book, however, once he got into the steps I felt curious and then motivated.  I actually gave this book to my husband and told him to read it next so we can be on the same page and now he's reading it, too. 

I do wish Karen had the opportunity to read this one.  I think she would have been pumped and motivated as well. 

#242 I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak

I loved how the book starts out with friends quarreling during a bank robbery.  I literally laughed out loud and read it aloud to my husband as it was so unlikely and inappropriate.  I knew I was going to enjoy this book just by the first few sentences.

Ed is given challenges throughout the book to help other people.  He doesn't know who is behind the project, but knows he has to complete it.  Ed grows as a person and helps many people along the way.  It reminded me of Pay it Forward as well as A Christmas Carol (not sure why the latter, but it did).  My only complaint would be is how the author goes into Ed lusting for different women and goes in detail.  I was going to recommend this to my son, but now feel uncomfortable recommending a book that is filled (okay, just a few times) with a 19 year lusting for women and what he wants to do to them. 

#18 Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King

This isn't my typical choice of books to read, but I think Karen would have really enjoyed it.  It had adventure, fantasy, bad boy turn good and so forth.  I don't believe I will finish the series.

#46 Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

Any book that leaves me crying in the bathroom at work can't be all bad, right?

I'm not going to say I really enjoyed reading this book, because - like I said - it left me crying at points. I don't enjoy crying, don't like being made to feel all the feels, make the ugly cry face, etc. But I'm such a jaded old grump that most of the usual heartstring-tugging that authors use to get you to feel the feels doesn't usually work on me. I recognize it for what it is - a cheap ploy to sell books and get people to talk about how the book made them feel (and, thereby, sell more books). So when a writer is able to push past my defenses and make me feel true emotion, I have to give credit.

Max is a young boy on the autism spectrum (though I don't think they ever come right out and say it in the book); Budo is his imaginary friend. (And, really, as Budo puts it, probably Max's only friend.) Most imaginary friends last only as long as their boy or girl needs them to help navigate being a kid; because Max is "special" and needs Budo to get through the routine things that most kids have already mastered, Budo has lasted a lot longer than most imaginary friends.

Something very much out of Max's routine happens, and Budo is forced to decide between leaving things alone (in which case Max will continue to need him, and he'll continue to exist) and helping Max overcome the problem (which could mean that Max grows enough that he won't need Budo any more). The Very Important Lesson in this book is that doing what's right isn't always the same as doing what's easy, or doing what's fun.

Dicks does a really good job of not only showing what life is like for an autistic person, but also showing how hard autism is for that person's family, teachers, etc. to understand. Max's mom is torn between smothering him with affection, which makes him uncomfortable, and giving him the space he needs, and his father thinks everything will be alright if they just ignore it and if Max just tries a little harder to be "normal". My only quibble here is when Max is put into a situation where he is forced waaay out of his comfort zone and he's forced to break his "rules" (like crossing a street, going outside when it's dark, walking on the sidewalk, etc.). I don't know that an autistic child would have been able to make these decisions and "break the rules" as easily as the author has Max do it.
The other area where Dicks has really done well is in creating this whole concept of what being an imaginary person means. The story is told from Budo's point of view; while Max is the only real person who can see Budo, Budo introduces the reader to an entire menagerie of imaginary friends.
Because these imaginary friends are created entirely out of their real person's imaginations, they run the gamut from basic concepts like a smudge on a wall to a two-dimensional paper boy to a spoon with eyes to a fairy princess to Budo, who is like a regular boy in (almost) every detail. Dicks has created an entire list of "rules" about imaginary friends - things they can or can't do, based on how their real friends imagined them. For instance, Budo can't run very fast, because Max never imagined him needing to run fast, but he can walk through doors and windows, because Max was worried he'd be trapped in a room or closet (one of Max's biggest fears). Budo doesn't sleep, because Max imagined Budo watching over him while he slept. And of course, the biggest part of this is the idea that an imaginary friend only exists as long as their real person continues to think of them. Which (without giving away anything) is where the whole "crying in the bathroom at work" thing comes in.
I loved just about everything about this book, from character descriptions, to the final plot resolution, even (especially) the way Budo and Max and the other kids talked, with "washer machines" and "bonus poops".
One last note: I read this as part of our "Reading with Karen" effort to read all of my late sister's to-read list. I know Karen would have loved this book as much as I did, and she would have posted on here that it had her "bawl-bagging" at the end. (

#270 Smile by Raina Telegemier

My daughter has been reading this series and she was telling me about them so I picked it up and was surprised to find certain content in it! For example, crushes, spin the bottle, frenemies, and so forth. Needless to say we had a nice chat after I finished the book and I got to hear her thoughts and feelings on these subjects. I really didn't think I would be having a talk about spin the bottle at age 10, but glad we did! The books ends nicely.

#64 Second Honeymoon by James Patterson

I... have nothing bad to say about this book. The dialog is great, there are no plot holes, and it was an enjoyable read. If I were to have one little quibble, it's this: the story deals with two serial killers - one who is killing newlywed couples on their honeymoons, and one who is killing men named John O'Hara (and is, obviously seeking revenge against the narrator). There are times I got the two plot lines mixed up a bit, but that was through no fault of the authors; I take full blame for not paying closer attention. Otherwise, as I said, this was a great read.

I don't know if it's the fact that Patterson has a co-author on these two honeymoon books, or if - these being written far more recent than the Alex Cross books I've recently read - but these have been far and away better than most of the other Patterson books I've read. The female FBI agent in this book was a pleasant, fully-developed character, similar to Lindsay in the Women's Murder Club books, and not some two-dimensional damsel-in-distress or ice queen like so many other of Patterson's female characters. The constant, gratuitous sexual situations that were so much a part of the first Honeymoon book (and many other of Patterson's books) are missing from this second one, and the book doesn't suffer for it.

This book gives me renewed hope for my mission of reading all the Patterson material that was in Karen's to-read list. I'll jump back into that material soon, but first, I'm taking a short break to read some things by other authors.  

~Kris