Sometimes a story is able to take you someplace else. But even better, sometimes you become so immersed in a particular fictional world, you don’t ever want to leave. That’s what happened to me when I listened to A Man Called Ove, the most recent pick from my new book club (and a huge step up from our first pick!!). Not only did I feel like I was right in Ove’s Swedish neighborhood, experiencing everything that happened in the book, but it made me want to […]
“Because not all monsters were monsters in the beginning. Some are monsters born of sorrow.”
This was pretty good. Not as good as A Man Called Ove, but still pretty good. “People in the real world always say, when something terrible happens, that the sadness and loss and aching pain of the heart will “lessen as time passes,” but it isn’t true. Sorrow and loss are constant, but if we all had to go through our whole lives carrying them the whole time, we wouldn’t be able to stand it. The sadness would paralyze us. So in the end we just […]
“People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.”
Oh, I loved this book. I think I may be the last person on the planet to read it, but I’m so glad I finally did! “We always think there’s enough time to do things with other people. Time to say things to them. And then something happens and then we stand there holding on to words like ‘if’.” This man called Ove works with his hands. He doesn’t like books or foreign cars or cats. He’s experienced a lot of tragedy in his life, but […]
Don’t Feed Dogs Chocolate, Although That’s Not What The Problem Was
I don’t know why I liked this book. It’s sweet. It’s as far from cynical as one can get. It’s… nice. But the characters aren’t. They are sarcastic. And angry. Super dysfunctional. And really funny. Seven year old Elsa tells this story and she is hilarious. She’s far too smart for her age and finds other seven year olds to be boring and useless. Adults aren’t much better, especially the ones at school. Granny is her savior. Granny doesn’t have time for rules. Spelling […]
A Man Called Ove makes me read an actual book.
After finishing several audiobooks, I had gotten used to “reading” while accomplishing some other task. So it took several weeks for me to actually read this book, which was a Christmas gift. How time-consuming to SIT DOWN and READ an ACTUAL book…Could I truly devote ALL my attention to it? I was afraid I wouldn’t get the kitchen cleaned or my email checked or God knows what else if I just READ the book myself. Oh no, is this what kids these days think about […]
I liked this book way more than I thought I would.
I’m such a sucker. Two books in a row have turned me into a dripping snot monster. Well, to be fair, I think I cried harder at this one than I otherwise would have because I’d cried so hard at Code Name Verity the day before. I was all prepped to be emotional; all my systems were primed. At least this was a happy cry. Way better than that ‘OH MY GOD THIS IS SO SAD MY HEART IS DYING’ crying I did on that […]