He's always watching

If you read The Trouble with Goats and Sheep (or at the very least my review of it) then you won't be surprised to learn that I thoroughly enjoyed The Goldfish Boy by Colleen Oakley. The bare bones of this book is remarkably similar in that it's centered on a cul-de-sac in England where there are secrets behind every door and there's a mystery involving the disappearance of a small child. Yes, they're remarkably similar except...the main character is a young boy named Matthew who suffers from a debilitating case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD which has resulted in him being unable/unwilling to leave his house. He is hyper-observant of everyone's movements and takes detailed notes which is how we get to know all of his neighbors. The majority of the novel takes place in his bedroom where the reader is trapped right along with him. Besides the discussion of OCD, Oakley tackles the internalized shame and fear of living with a mental illness. This is written in the style of Rear Window where the reader is seeing through the eyes of someone who is on the outside but also very much on the inside. (I'm deliberately being vague because to be anything else would give away the mystery.) This book made me wonder how common OCD might be in children and how this could be misdiagnosed as agoraphobia or vice versa. (Wait til you see how Matthew's parents view his behavior.) I felt that the author was extremely sensitive in her handling of this debilitating illness and wrote about it with just enough detail for us to feel as if we were getting a glimpse inside of Matthew without beating us over the head with it. Of note: I didn't much care for any of the adults in this book. Far and away, they were all pretty much useless cretins. The book though was riveting and I immediately passed it on to my co-worker who then passed it on to her teenage daughter. That marks it a winner in my books. 10/10

See what I mean about the Rear Window vibes? [Source: Amazon]

What's Up Next: Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley

What I'm Currently Reading: The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers and Quackery

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Didn't get the word play of the title until I was writing out my notes

After what feels like a millennium, I have read The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and I totally get the hype now. Oscar Wilde's play focuses on two men who independently of the other have invented alternate personas that allow them to cut loose without (hopefully) any repercussions. One of the men has created Ernest who is by all rights a scoundrel and his creator has finally decided to do away with him so that he can settle down and get married. The problem is that his friend (the other deceitful man) has decided to take on the mantle of Ernest so that he can win the heart of a girl that he's just met. (I recommend reading this in one sitting because otherwise you're liable to get confused.) Wilde uses word play and absolutely ridiculous circumstances to discuss the folly of youth and poke fun at the whims and fancies of people who believe they are really truly in love even if they don't truly know the other person. For instance, the two women of the play are determined that they will only marry someone named Ernest but as it turns out no one is named Ernest there is a bit of a kerfuffle. After all is said and done, no one comes out on top and everyone is depicted as foolish and unimpressive. It was thoroughly amusing and I guess now I'll have to see the movie that was based on it. :-P If you haven't read it yourself and you'd like a quick, fun read this will do just the trick. 9/10

And yes the title of this post is true. I was staring at the book's title and then it hit me: "Oh because it's about two men proclaiming to be Ernest and they do it will all earnestness."  *facepalm*

Source: wobcp.org

What's Up Next: The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson

What I'm Currently Reading: The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Don't dismiss children's literature just because you're an adult

Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult by Bruce Handy showed up on my radar through a footnote in another book that I read last year. (Just one more reminder that I am 100% a nerd especially in regards to children's literature.) Handy splits the chapters into different books considered 'classics' of children's literature and he explains why they've had a lasting effect and endured as long as they have. He makes an argument that there is a reason books become classics but there is also a clarity in realizing that a difference of opinion will most certainly occur. A good example is Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I know this is a classic and it is still read by kids and parents now but I have never (and probably never will) consider this one a favorite. In that same vein, there were quite a few books that he mentioned that I had not heard of or had never read and I promptly added them to my TRL. (You may recognize some of the titles if you decide to read this book.) One of the best things about Wild Things was the organization of the chapters. It's quite obvious that Handy has not only done thorough research on the topic but has a real passion for the topic. This made it have an academic feel which I really appreciated. Interspersed throughout the book are personal anecdotes about the books he loved as a child as well as his experience introducing books to his children. (Get those tissues out, parents with small children. It's fairly sentimental.) I doubt this would be of as much interest to someone not in the field of children's literature but if you're looking for inspiration about what books to read to your kids at night then this would be an excellent source for you. 9/10

Cover art inspired by Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. [Source: Amazon]

What's Up Next: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

What I'm Currently Reading: The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham (Coincidentally, I'm watching Midsomer Murders which is based off of the book series.)

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

The last story strengthened my resolve to never go on a cruise

Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories was a must-have for me for 2 reasons: 1. Roald Dahl is one of my favorite authors and I want to read everything he's ever written and 2. I love ghost stories. I have to admit that going into this one I was very much under the impression that this was going to be a book filled with stories written by Dahl himself. I clearly hadn't read the synopsis or book jacket because that is not what this book is about. This is a collection of some of Dahl's favorite ghost stories written by other people. He compiled this list when he was working on a project for American television and his preparation was extensive. He read 749 tales of the supernatural by different authors and from that large number he whittled it down to 14 of his favorites that he felt were not only excellent examples of writing in this genre but that would make for good television. (He also discovered that women are experts in this field and until the 11th hour he thought they would beat out the men with a hard majority.) Since there are 14 different stories in this collection, I will only talk about 2 that I found particularly chilling (and yes they are written by women).

The first is called 'Harry' and was written by Rosemary Timperley. It bore a striking resemblance to The Imaginary in that its primary focus was on a little girl who had a strong friendship with an imaginary boy. The biggest difference here is that the mom tried very hard to squash this relationship because she had a deep and abiding fear...of the name Harry. Yes, I too found this odd. Nevertheless, while it may seem irrational this fear was quite powerful and instead of ignoring the interactions of her child and her invisible playmate she let it consume her until...well you'll have to read the story. 😀 Suffice to say, the ending was quite the surprise.

The other story I'd like to mention came immediately after 'Harry' and was written by Cynthia Asquith. 'The Corner Shop' follows a man who stumbles into an old rundown shop full of what appears to be dusty junk. Persuaded by the decrepit shop owner, he buys something that turns out to be of immense value. Bothered by his conscience, he feels that it is his duty to give some of this money back to the proprietor as he feels the sale was too much to his benefit. When he returns to the shop, he is shocked to discover...gosh you'll just have to check it out yourself. 😀 It's a creepy tale with a whiff of Stephen King about it that is sure to get the hairs on your neck to stand up.

I have to admit that I had to go back and look at the chapter listing to remember the stories written in this collection and only a few of them came back to me clearly. That seems to be the way with most collections that I read (except for Stories of Your Life and Others) so that shouldn't discourage you from giving it a shot. There are some real gems in there as well as some illuminating thoughts from Dahl himself in the introduction. 7/10 overall.

Such a beautiful cover. [Source: Amazon UK]

What's Up Next: Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult by Bruce Handy

What I'm Currently Reading: The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers by Hollis Robbins and edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

2017 Book Roundup

Another year has gone by and it's now time to compile the list of books that I read in 2017. Like last year, some of these books haven't been reviewed (yet in some cases and never in others) so you'll need to keep an eye on the blog to see what I thought of them. I'm going to do something slightly different this year. I've decided to include rereads in my count because I want to be able to keep a running record (digitally) of everything I've read in a given year. Here we go!

1. Ms. Bixby's Last Day
2. Have You Seen Elephant? (picture book - no review)
3. Duck, Duck, Dinosaur (picture book - no review)
4. Sidekicked
5. Vampire Academy
6. Dead Wake
7. Hark! A Vagrant
8. South Riding
9. Wonderful, Wicked, and Whizzpopping
10. The Burning World
11. Cry, Heart, But Never Break
12. The Dungeoneers
13. Frostbite
14. Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast
15. Henry & Leo
16. Frog on a Log?
17. The Last Shadow Gate
18. Terms & Conditions
19. I Work at a Public Library
20. A Freudian Slip is When You Say One Thing but Mean Your Mother
21. I Don't Want to be Big
22. The Unfinished World
23. Frindle
24. Waking Gods
25. I Don't Want to be a Frog
26. The Secrets of Gaslight Lane
27. Trio for Blunt Instruments
28. Lunch Witch: Knee-Deep in Niceness
29. The Grumpface
30. How to Build an Android
31. Fortunately, the Milk
32. The Shadow Land
33. Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat (for some reason I didn't review this?)
34. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life
35. The House of Months and Years
36. The Wild Robot
37. Grandpa's Great Escape
38. The Deadly 7
39. The Phantom Tollbooth
40. Book Uncle and Me
41. Roller Girl
42. The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle
43. The Marvels
44. Some Writer!
45. The Invention of Hugo Cabret
46. The Mysterious Benedict Society
47. Wildwood
48. The Cabinet of Curiosities
49. One Day We'll Be Dead and None of This Will Matter
50. Under Wildwood
51. Stories of Your Life and Others
52. Do Not Say We Have Nothing
53. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body
54. The Trouble with Goats and Sheep
55. The Book That Changed America
56. Wildwood Imperium
57. Comics Squad: Detention
58. Wonderstruck
59. The Imaginary
60. HiLo (graphic novels 1-3)
61. Ghost Waltz
62. Bluffton
63. The Storm in the Barn
64. The Red Badge of Courage
65. Science of the Magical
66. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey
67. A Wrinkle in Time (reread)
68. A Wind in the Door 
69. A Swiftly Tilting Planet
70. Many Waters
71. Grendel
72. The Great Questions of Tomorrow
73. Find the Good
74. Thornhill
75. Woolly
76. everyone's a aliebn when ur a aliebn too
77. Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
78. Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories
79. The Importance of Being Earnest
80. A Veil of Shadows
81. Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult 
82. The Goldfish Boy 
83. Close Enough to Touch
84. Deep Dark Fears
85. Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods
86. The Unreal and the Real 
87. The People's Republic of Amnesia 
88. The Little Virtues
89. The Creeps
90. World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures 
91. Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores
92. My Friend Dahmer
93. Scythe 
94. Mine Own Executioner

And the reread books:

1. The Rubber Band
2. The Red Box
3. Pride & Prejudice (every year)
4. Star Trek Into Darkness
5. Murder on the Orient Express
6. The Neverending Story (every year)

That brings our total count to: 100 books.

I decided to do as I did in 2015 and include the review links (not doing that again anytime in a hurry) for each of the titles but you can always use the search feature to look up any genre, subject, etc. to find your next book to kick off 2018. :-) Happy New Year!!

**If you're interested in buying any of these books or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books. Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **