Thursday, September 17, 2015

What's Sara Reading? September Edition


I've been a Kindle kinda gal for about a month or two now (this is my first month featuring books ALL read on the Kindle, though!) and I've noticed a few weird things about my reading habits since making the move to the Kindle side.

For one, I constantly forget what I am reading! Not kidding! Without a physical book, I don't look at the book cover constantly - or at all, really! - so now I am constantly forgetting the title of the book I am reading if it's a long one. You wouldn't think a tiny thing like that would be a challenge to remember but alas, it is!

Also, I have NO idea how long any of these books are. Kindles don't give you page numbers on each page like a normal book. It shows the percentage of how much you've read so far along with a location number (but it's NOT a page, it's some weird memory number or something). So if I want to see how many pages there are, I have to check the Amazon listing.

Lastly for now, I have been reading SO FAST! I don't know if it is a coincidence, the font size difference, if I've got more free time on my hands lately, or if I am just super excited to use the Kindle whenever possible, but I noticed I was devouring books faster than I normally do. I mean, look above - I've got 5 books to cover today! What kind of book crack am I on?

Anyone out there have a Kindle? Notice anything quirky like I have?

Over all, I've enjoyed moving to the Kindle. I do miss one thing incredibly much - I can no longer share my favorites! I wanted so many friends to read Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari when I was done but couldn't pass it around! That bums me out. Oh well!

Anywho, shall we?

1. My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece by Annabel Pitcher
Oh man, this story killed me. This story is told in the POV of 10 year old, Jamie, as he copes with life after his older sister was killed. When his sister died, he was very young, and while everyone around him is still grieving, he struggles with how he is supposed to feel. Jamie tells the tale so innocently and comes off as such a sweet little dude. How he is teased at school made my heart break but I loved the relationship he had with his classmate. She was maybe my favorite part of the book. I loved learning details through his eyes - no matter how heartbreaking they could be.




2. Wreckage by Emily Bleeker
Moving back and forth in the timeline, Wreckage is about a woman fighting to stay alive on an island with two strangers after a plane crash all while how she adapts to life after being rescued. It's INSANE! I am not usually a fan of dramatic books but the drama was balanced perfectly as we learn more and more about what happened in the year and a half they were on the island. The thought of being somewhere for over a year with a stranger and no one else makes me think. What WOULD happen? So crazy.




3. The First Time I Said Goodbye by Claire Allan
This book was a bit cliche in the premise but I enjoyed it. Annabel's father has passed and, to heal, she goes with her mother back home to Ireland. She begins to learn of her mother's first love - one that got away. Every other chapter takes place in the past and the story of her mother's love affair in her teens comes to light for us as it does for Annabel. I liked finding out what happened slowly - just as Annabel finds out - and enjoyed the story. The ending felt the most cliche and cheesy but it made sense for the story overall.



4. Sugar by Deirdre Riordan Hall
At first, I didn't know if I could handle reading this. Sugar, whose real name is Mercy, is the laughing stock at school due to her weight. At home, it's no better. Her mother, now too obese to leave her bed, bullies her worse than the kids at school. To cope, Sugar turns to, well, sugar. Some of the descriptions of her binges made me queasy but I think it is written in a way to do that on purpose in order to show just how bad her mental state really is and how closed in she feels wherever she goes. I loved the genuine friendship she finds in the new boy at school and don't want to go too far into that in fear of ruining it. It was a great read despite the extremely real moments Sugar has with her dependency on food. Sad - so sad! - but a great read.


5. And Then She Was Gone by Rosalind Noonan 
This book is about a kidnapping and a rescue. Lauren O'Neil was kidnapped at 11, kept in a secluded cabin for 6 years, and then found and rescued at 17. It focuses mostly on how she handles being found and how she adapts to being returned to her real family and real life. I really liked this story but one thing really bugged me. When Lauren is found, she doesn't feel any connection to her family and it's clear she has forgotten how she lived prior to being kidnapped and has almost lost that close bond with her family. Like...what? I get that her kidnapper told her that her family stopped looking (a lie, obviously), but 6 years away isn't long enough for her to almost forget her family. I think of Cody's sister Abby (she is now 13) and how glued to her mom's hip she is and know that she wouldn't just forget her life after 6 years away. 11 is not young enough that she'd forget her life. Perhaps if she were 5 or 6 when it happened the memory would fade easier. But that aside, it was a very gripping story.