6) The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox
My sister sent me a reading challenge for this year, and I have put this book down for the book I had abandoned. It's true. It's like eating a super rich dessert, and it's really good, but you just can't eat it all at once. I think I worked on this book off and on for nearly a year.
Brad Wilcox is wonderful. He is a gifted wordsmith. His heart is big, and his understanding is profound. This book on the Atonement (an expansion of a talk Brad once gave) is quite good, but something I would rather read a chapter at a time to get the full benefit instead of in a few binges, as I tend to do.
I truly struggle with books that have no plot. The short stories sprinkled here in there helped me press through it. But otherwise, it felt like reading the Bible Dictionary (which is not a bad thing; I just can't read it for more than a few minutes because it is so compacted).
I give this book four stars for subject matter and the compassionate wisdom of the author. My testimony and understanding grew! But it was so much information all at once, said in so many ways. I have to knock off a star for the way my attention lapsed very often. It's a book I would love to read again, in bits.
7) The Only Pirate at the Party by Lindsey Stirling and Brooke S. Passey
Imagine two sisters staying out late to a dubstep concert, then staying in the same room afterward to giggle and write funny chapters for a book as the adrenaline rush subsides. Also, imagine one of the sisters was the headlining performer for said dubsmash concert, having danced in a whirl of sequins while playing complex, original melodies on an electric violin.
I don't think the creation process of this book was far off from that.
The book is told in first person by Lindsey. She jumps from story to story, and I was enthralled. Everything was addressed: early life, embarrassing memories, her LDS mission, her eating disorder, 'aha' moments, learning to be the boss, upholding standards on her tours, modesty, being awkward with celebrities, and "post-tour blues." I identify with Lindsey's cheeky personality and am amazed that this little pixie of a girl could have such immense spunk and vision, and the determination to see it through. She filled a void in the international entertainment industry we didn't even know we had--for a dancing, hip hop violinist. All the while, she manifests disbelief at her popularity, inward uncertainty, and expresses her regular-joe-ness. It is a fascinating juxtaposition.
I gave this book five stars. I heart it. I want it in my private collection so I can see those bright blue letters stand out from the yellow spine, reminding me that it is really okay to be THE ONLY PIRATE AT THE PARTY. I am more inspired to be myself and go for my dreams.
Despite how AMAZINGLY, REFRESHINGLY POSITIVE the vibe is throughout this book (even during harder chapters), I do believe most males and older ladies would blush with some of the lady talk. This is standard visiting teaching or mother's room conversation, sparsely sprinkled throughout the book. If you're a girl, you get it, but dudes might want to avert their eyes sometimes (THOUGH her observations about the guys on her tour group are positively revolting! I don't even see how they are comparable).
I feel like Lindsey Stirling is the cool college roommate I never had. I GET her.
I got an ab workout from laughing through this book. Lindsey has a clever turn of phrase I relished. I highly recommend this book if you're a Stirlingite or a person with big dreams.
8) What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (book club selection)
This torrid book club selection is about a woman who wakes up after a head injury with no remembrance of the past ten years of her life. Instead of blissfully newlywed with a child on the way, she has three children, is divorcing her husband, and has become someone that even she dislikes. So what happened? That's the story.
The positives: this book helped me reflect. Am I who I wished to become ten years ago? Where will my current vector lead in ten years? Do my friends help or hurt my progress? How are my relationships with the people I love? How can I ensure blossoming, long-term relationships with them?
Also, this book gave me many, many examples of people I want to be nothing like at all, and renewed perspective of what kinds of books I do enjoy.
Otherwise, this book was exceedingly unpleasant to read. My online search for a summary at page 184 was fruitless, so I put in a few hours and ashamedly finished the book out of morbid curiosity and to keep up with my book club. Oh, how I regret it. If it was a movie, I would have walked out; I have that sick feeling for finishing it. The book is dusted with a thick layer of obscenities (f-bombs abundant), all of which could have been replaced with intelligent diction. To me, there is very little literary merit to What Alice Forgot. It is a dramatic story and nothing more to me, besides the discussion pieces which were great in book club.
The author is disrespectful of the reader by keeping the storyline dammed up for nearly 200 pages, then slowly leaking plot and essential information over the next 269. She tempts the reader with important details without explaining them for a hundred pages or more. I felt manipulated into finishing this book, and ultimately underpaid for the work I put in.
This is a two star book for me, representing the introspection I conducted and the few times the author made me laugh. I appreciate her efforts, but this isn't my style. This is the kindest review I can create for this book.
9) Silence by Deborah Lytton
Fifteen-year-old Stella dreams of being on Broadway and has sworn off relationships to help her focus on her dream. But when a freak accident renders her deaf and unable to sing, solitary Hayden becomes the only person she can understand because his severe stutter makes his lips easy to read. The two grow closer as he shows her what potential her life holds, even while deaf. She really sees him despite his guarded brokenness. Of course there is lots of drama and that nearly insurmountable crest of communication that is characteristic of many novels, but I felt this was worth my time.
Like a Hallmark movie, the book is cheesy, pleasantly mindless, and most of all, heartwarming. I give it 3.5 stars.
This book reads like a middle grade novel, with basic diction, lots of cliches, and many, many. Short. Incomplete. Sentences. What puts it into older-grade territory is the topic of some physical and verbal child abuse in the past. Even though it felt like I was reading a melodramatic tween novel most of the time, it was a fluffy way to flush the bad taste in my mouth from the last novel I read.
10) Focused: Keeping Your Life on Track, One Choice at a Time by Noelle Pikus Pace
If you watched the skeleton events at the last Winter Olympics, you'll remember peppy, family-centered Noelle Pikus Pace who took silver in the event (jumping into the crowd after her final run, no less). No one has been more excited to earn second place! It is with that enthusiasm that Noelle wrote this book.
It is hard to categorize this book. Self-help? Memoir? But it reads quickly and packs an inspirational punch. Noelle writes in themed chapters, and a story from her skeleton career is used to illustrate each (though not in chronological order). Noelle wasn't always self-believing and others-centered, and I appreciated reading about 'aha' moments in her progression. I flagged several pages that had great insights or quotes from LDS prophets, and there are many beautiful photographs throughout with lovely, scripted quotes on them.
This is an uplifting and motivational read, great as an emotional pick-me-up. Noelle is a determined, spiritual woman, and I feel like a better person having read her book. I can't wait to read it again another time. 4.5 stars.
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