Like sand through the hourglass

Today I'm talking about The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. It took far longer to finish than I had anticipated and that was mostly because I expected it to be one thing and it was decidedly another. I had thought (and hoped) it would be heavier on the historical fiction side of things and while it did start out that way it ended up leaning more towards romance (not my fave genre as you know). The reader follows a young woman named Addie LaRue (as the title suggests) who in a moment of desperation cries out to the universe for help and the answer she receives is not at all what she expected. In order to truly be free and live a life of her own choosing she is sentenced to be forgotten by everyone she meets. The story bounces between time periods beginning in the early 1700s and ending up in 2014/present day. Schwab's descriptive writing is truly beautiful and there were many passages that gave me Hamnet vibes (i.e. they were deliciously written) but these sections were brief and generally devolved into Addie's relationship with the god who cursed her. I also appreciated the chill LGBTQ+ vibes that were threaded throughout. However, if I have to distill all my feelings about this book into one word it would have to be: lukewarm. 4/10

[A/N: If you've read this book and want to discuss the ending hit me up in the comments but make sure to tag it as SPOILERS just in case anyone else happens upon it.]

Source: StoryGraph

What I'm currently reading: Spring by Ali Smith and Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

**If you're interested in buying any of these books or any books really, you can click here. This will re-direct you to AbeBooks which is a site I use all of the time to find used books at an excellent price. A lot of the time I don't even pay for shipping! Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made through this link. You will not be charged anything additional for my commission. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) ** 

Laughter is certainly a medicine

As long-time readers of the blog may know I'm a huge fan of Jenny Lawson (go here and here for my thoughts on her other books) so it was pretty much a no-brainer to pick up an early review copy of her newest book Broken (In the Best Possible Way). Like her other two books, Lawson tells stories from her past (growing up, her relationship with her husband, hiding from delivery people, etc) with a heavy dose of gallows humor. (If you're squeamish or unable to play Cards Against Humanity then you're not going to vibe with Jenny which is a daggum shame.) There are a lot of reasons why I absolutely adore Jenny but probably the biggest is that she tackles the tough topics of mental health while cracking these macabre jokes which are 100% up my alley. (You already know I'm death positive so of course jokes about death are my life blood.) She doesn't shy away from delving into those dark places that people who suffer from depression and anxiety dwell and she doesn't sugarcoat her continuing struggles.

I do want to sound a note of caution that if you suffer from any mental health issues and are easily triggered by talk on this subject (or on the subject of suicide) then you might want to sip Jenny's book instead of gulping it down. (No idea why I turned this into a drinking metaphor.) But I do think it is worth your time because it is always so comforting to read about someone else fighting the same demons as yourself. (And you don't want to miss out on the laugh-out-loud moments that this book is saturated with because they are comedy gold.) Another hole-in-one homerun through the goal posts.

Source: Amazon

If you or someone you love are in distress and contemplating self-harm or suicide please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline either by their website or by calling 800-273-8255. There's only one you on this planet and we want to keep you here. <3

What I'm currently reading: Bury my Heart at Chuck E. Cheese's by Tiffany Midge

**If you're interested in buying any of these books or any books really, you can click here. This will re-direct you to AbeBooks which is a site I use all of the time to find used books at an excellent price. A lot of the time I don't even pay for shipping! Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made through this link. You will not be charged anything additional for my commission. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) ** 

A breath of fresh air

Just as good as I thought it would be based off of the blurb. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett explores the joys of reading and its ability to take the reader on a journey unlike any other. And the reader featured in this little novella has been on a great many journeys but when she falls in love with reading she is still fundamentally changed...like all of us book junkies. 

Bennett tells the story of what happens when Queen Elizabeth chances upon a mobile library at the back of the palace. For someone who's entire life has been about duty and impartiality the world of books (which naturally cultivates favoritism for authors) has been anathema. But once she sets off down the bookish path there's no stopping her insatiable appetite for the written word. But there's a bit of a hitch to her giddy up. Her staff aren't as jazzed about her newfound hobby as she is and the machinations to which they'll go to wrest her from the grip of her obsession border on the absurd (which is why it's so much fun).

This little book manages not only to explore what it means to fall in love with literature and how it makes your entire view of the world expand but it also manages to cultivate a picture of the monarchy that feels believable (and hysterical). This isn't dry or abstracted but a spoofy and insightfully delightful little romp. So much fun!! 10/10

Source: Goodreads

What I'm currently reading: Broken (In the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson

**If you're interested in buying any of these books or any books really, you can click here. This will re-direct you to AbeBooks which is a site I use all of the time to find used books at an excellent price. A lot of the time I don't even pay for shipping! Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made through this link. You will not be charged anything additional for my commission. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) ** 

Dashed expectations and a DNF

I started Single. On Purpose. thinking that it would be a celebration of being single and that it would talk about societal pressures to be in a relationship. I thought (and hoped) it would explore the joys of being on your own and how you can be a complete and happy person without being tied to someone else. I was wrong. While the author does say that being on your own is valuable and meaningful his overall message is that this is only a step toward the ultimate happiness of being in a relationship. And he harps a lot on exercise and weight loss. As someone who has little intention of dating and who is super happy on their own this book felt insulting. Where's the book about being a kick-ass single that doesn't fret about their weight or wearing makeup or having sex? I'm clearly the wrong audience for this book but I'm also super bummed that it wasn't what I thought it would be because that's the book I really wanted to read. 2/10 

[Possible Spoiler: I felt like every bit of advice offered was either something glaringly obvious like 'get more sleep' or 'be happy doing things on your own' or it was bizarrely dangerous like 'go out and have one night stands if you've never done that before' and 'if you encourage your partner to go to therapy there's a better than average chance they will get better and leave you'.]

Source: HarperCollins Publishers

And then there was a wildcard that I picked up at work. The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis (the dream team behind The Wildwood Chronicles which I enjoyed so much) purported to be a wild romp through Marseille following the adventures of a group of thieving youths. But this book falls short. I got nearly halfway through the book before calling it quits because there was entirely too much focus on the buzzwords of thievery to the detriment of a smoothly flowing story. For instance, when our main character meets the whiz mob he is inundated with a long list of jargon to denote where on a person there might be loot (not the word they use by the way) as well as all of the complicated terminology for their roles in the group. And they kept bandying these words around and I kept being pulled from the story because I was trying to puzzle out what the heck they were referencing. (By the way, this is a middle grade book which either makes me a very slow-witted adult or the kids these days really have surpassed me with their slang.) So that's one I didn't finish and don't intend to continue. 2/10 because at least there's a few illustrations.

Source: Amazon

What I'm currently reading: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

**If you're interested in buying any of these books or any books really, you can click here. This will re-direct you to AbeBooks which is a site I use all of the time to find used books at an excellent price. A lot of the time I don't even pay for shipping! Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made through this link. You will not be charged anything additional for my commission. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) ** 

I'm no flonker

History buffs and sports enthusiasts will enjoy this little book full of information about those games that are no longer played and/or lost to obscurity (usually for a very good reason). The vast majority feature cruelty to animals which I suppose one could expect from a book titled Fox Tossing and Other Forgotten and Dangerous Sports, Pastimes, and Games but boy was it brutal. Bears, rats, dogs, cats, and even tortoises weren't exempt from the savagery of man. Besides the sports that featured the capture, suffering, and eventual death of animals there were those that were just plain idiotically dangerous. For example, would you like to participate in a rousing game of Human Fishing whereby you are the fish attached to a fishing line with another person trying to reel you in? What about Waterfall-Riding over Niagara in a barrel? Of course, you could always play it safe and indulge in everyone's favorite past-time of Dwile Flonking where a person who is blindfolded tries to hit his friends with a mop soaked in beer. Yes, this was a real thing.

While I enjoyed learning about the different past-times enjoyed by people all over the world through the ages the sheer amount that relied on the maltreatment of animals made this not exactly a fun read. Information = 10/10 Fun reading experience = 5/10

Source: Amazon

What I'm currently reading: ????

**If you're interested in buying any of these books or any books really, you can click here. This will re-direct you to AbeBooks which is a site I use all of the time to find used books at an excellent price. A lot of the time I don't even pay for shipping! Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made through this link. You will not be charged anything additional for my commission. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) ** 

A jam-packed day

Today I'd like to talk about Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson. [A/N: A little over 10 years ago a film based on the book was released with Amy Adams and Frances McDormand so you may be familiar with the plot.] The story follows Miss Pettigrew who is a down-on-her-luck governess looking for work. It seems that life has only been full of disappointments and drudgery for this single lady so when she glimpses an opportunity to escape her mundane existence she grabs it. Can you blame her? While she's been a straitlaced genteel sort of person her whole life, Miss Pettigrew soon finds herself in surprisingly compromising situations when she enters the world of Delysia LaFosse. Not only is Miss LaFosse a Nightclub Singer but she's currently juggling 3 men without much success of permanent happiness. THREE MEN?! Miss Pettigrew is aghast and agog but she's also thoroughly enchanted and she soon decides that it is her duty to set Miss LaFosse on the right path and make her marry one of them. And she knows exactly which one that should be (and if you've watched the film you'll know he's played by Lee Pace so YES CORRECT CHOICE).

If you're looking for a funny story about a woman who decides to throw caution to the wind and really live for the first time in her life then this might be a great choice for you. It was a really quick and entertaining read overall but there are some questionable moments that pop up now and again re Jewish people and men abusing women. They crop up at the oddest moments without adding anything to the plot and in fact they make the reading experience somewhat jarring which knocks down the rating to a 6/10 for me.

PS I loved the formatting of this book which was broken up by the hours of the day reinforcing that all of the action of the story takes place in one day. A super quick read!

Source: Goodreads

What I'm currently reading: Fox Tossing and Other Forgotten and Dangerous Sports, Pastimes, and Games by Edward Brooke-Hitching

**If you're interested in buying any of these books or any books really, you can click here. This will re-direct you to AbeBooks which is a site I use all of the time to find used books at an excellent price. A lot of the time I don't even pay for shipping! Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made through this link. You will not be charged anything additional for my commission. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Forgotten but not gone

Not the cover I had but the one I prefer. [Source: Amazon.com]

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox centers on 3 women and spans two different time periods. Much of it is quite disjointed (purposefully so I reckon) and there's quite a bit of jumping around between points of view and time periods. And there are no chapter breaks so this flip flopping is accomplished through page breaks instead. The reader follows Iris, Esme, and Kitty in the present day as well as their remembrances of past events. Iris is a young woman running a secondhand clothing store who has a very unusual romantic life. (I thought about adding this to the trigger warning at the bottom but in the end decided not to. You'll have to read the book for yourself to see if you agree with my decision.) Kitty is Iris's grandmother who is suffering from Alzheimer's and living in a nursing home. Her POV is full of jumbled and incomplete recollections from her past. Many of those revolve around her sister Esme who is certainly billed as the primary character but is the one I feel like I didn't fully comprehend. I'm afraid of giving too much away but since this is in the blurb I feel like it's okay to tell you that when we meet Esme in the present day she has been locked away in a psychiatric hospital for SIXTY-ONE YEARS. Let that sink in for a moment. O'Farrell is clearly looking to start a discussion about the injustices women suffered not so long ago when they were shut away in these institutions by their families for infractions like crying too much, talking back to their husbands, or disobedience to their parents. (I'd be in a lot of trouble if I lived back then.) I've read other books that delve into the topic of wrongful imprisonment in mental facilities (one book was nonfiction and written by a reporter who disguised herself as a patient) but none where the patient was away for so long before being released.

I picked this one up solely because I loved O'Farrell's writing in Hamnet and I wanted more of that delicious prose. This is one of her earlier works and so has a very different literary style (I'm now thinking this could be deliberate because of the subject matter). This hasn't put me off exploring more of her writing in the least. I honestly don't know if I can say that I either liked or disliked The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. It's one of those books that when you close the cover you say aloud, "What was that?". So because I'm on the fence I'm giving this one a 5/10. 😬

Trigger warning: sexual assault and enforced imprisonment.

Read this from O'Farrell about her experience researching this topic and the reaction to the book.

What I'm currently reading: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

**If you're interested in buying any of these books or any books really, you can click here. This will re-direct you to AbeBooks which is a site I use all of the time to find used books at an excellent price. A lot of the time I don't even pay for shipping! Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made through this link. You will not be charged anything additional for my commission. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **