What I read... March

Rating scale:

1/5 - Hated it, didn't finish.
2/5 - Tolerated it on principle to finish.
3/5 - Eh, didn't love it, didn't hate it.  Had some good parts/kept me interested/finished it on principle.
4/5 - I liked it.
5/5 - I LURVED it and I'd read it again.


Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 4.5/5

This was the Cyber Book Club book of the month and even though I failed at jumping on the hangout due to life, I read the book.  I actually didn't really discuss it on the Teh Blog at all because I was waiting for the cyber book club... and then I didn't join and I have the sads.  I enjoyed this book.  The ending seemed a bit rushed, and of course there was the un/ambiguous (there are so many 3 word combinations I could think of..) ending that was kinda perfect.  This wasn't overly teen angsty, but I did start to get annoyed at Eleanor a few times just for her general asshole-ary and feeling-less-ness.

The mystery part of the book was a bit weird and I did like how it circled back to Tina and defying expectations.  I also liked how it discussed the touchy subject of the "victim."

TL;DR: Not too much teenage angst, weird love story that kept me entertained.



Too Blessed to Be Stressed: Inspiration for Climbing Out of Life's Stress-Pool by Debora Coty 3/5

Teh BFF gave me this book for Christmas.  She had read it for something and really enjoyed it.  There were parts that I enjoyed, but I struggled with some of the things like her referring to God as "Papa God."  She explained it, but that didn't make it any more comfortable in my brain.  It's a self-help/Jesus-y book and some of the points she made were solid, but there were other things that just weren't for me (kids).  At some points, I felt like the author was trying too hard to entertain, but I think that was around the same time I was reading The Bloggess's book, so I could have just been blanketing my discontent.  This would probably make a good Bible study book.

TL;DR: Self-help + Jesus = spiritual guidance book that made me chuckle some but overall left me nonplussed.




Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling 4.5/5

I loved this book, but I'd probably never read it again, which is why it got a 4.5.  I appreciated that Mindy worked her ass off to get where she is today and she didn't tell me drug stories and nothing seemed overly exaggerated.  I appreciated her discussion about body image, but sometimes it annoyed me because it started to seem like it was always about her being a "big" girl...  /rolleyes  Granted, I have seen what she's talking about, but sometimes it felt like the primary focus of the book was her body issues, and it's her book and she can do what she wants, but that wasn't I wanted to read about.  There were parts that made me giggle, which is always important.  This was a quicker read for me than Yes Please, granted it was about 100 pages shorter, but it just worked for me.  Let's not make this last longer than it needs to, mmkaythx.

TL;DR: Mindy is down to earth and doesn't tell me about that time when she was drunk or high, but she might focus a little too much on being the "big" girl everyone thinks she is.  


The World of PostSecret by Frank Warren 5/5

I love all the PostSecret books.  They make me depressed and happy and sad and happy and make me feel closer to society and hate it at the same time.  Overall though, these books with the secrets make me feel like my secrets aren't so bad and that I shouldn't be ashamed of them and I should be comfortable sharing my secrets with my people.  I know I will reread this book, just like I've reread the previous books.  In this book, Frank does something different where he speaks to the fact that he may pass off the PostSecret project to someone else since he's done it for so long.  There is also a section that the original USPS lady wrote describing what it was like to deliver these secrets to Frank and about being asked for her autograph.  Having been to see PostSecret Live, PostSecret is something that I hope never dies.  Granted, I wish the app was available to us Android peons, but I will just consider this delayed gratification.

TL;DR: Just go get this book from the bookstore (if there is an e-version, it's not as good, I promise AND real books can have extra secrets written in!) and read it because you want to shift your perspective that everyone is going through something and we should all be nicer to each other.


What's on deck: 
-Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty - the teen angst struggle is real for me with this book.  I've almost put it down so many times but I've already devoted so much time to it and Kristen said it was good and she's read the entire series!
- The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan - This is the cyber book club book of the month and despite knowing I will not be able to attend the hangout, I'm still going to try and read the book.  I had a really hard time voting this month because I kinda wanted to read all the things.
-The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - I've only seen good things about this book.  I'll jump on the bandwagon.
-Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer - This book has been on my list for a long time and I actually started it at one point.  I got distracted and never finished it.  Ok, I'll finish it.
-Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid - I'd like to accomplish this one in the near future.  Maybe if I start it, I can finish it before summer ends?
- Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - I'd really like to read this one, mostly based on judging the cover and because it's really just sticking out in my mind.


So tell me, Gentle Readers... what did YOU read this month?  BTW, the comics of the Sunday paper totally counts.  Those things are the shiznit.