Book: Eat the Yolks

Eat the Yolks
by Liz Wolfe

Length: 265

Format: eBook, Kindle Edition
Price: $9.99

How I heard about it: One of my friends from high school is married to the author

Basic Premise: There are so many myths flying around the realm of health food that it can be hard to know what is true and what isn't. Nutritionist Liz Wolfe makes a case for eating whole foods, including the yolks of eggs and a whole host of other foods, dispelling the idea that calories are the enemy and "light" and "low fat" are actually good for us.

My Take: 8 out of 10 (scale here)

This book was instrumental in my understanding about food and how the body processes it. I don't often read non-fiction (as evidenced by the fact that I have reviewed less than 10... in the five years I have had this blog). I found it because I remember seeing one of my friends from high school bragging on Facebook about his nutritionist wife's first published book several years ago. Last summer I messaged him and asked for details, confessing that I often feel confused by the information out there regarding what foods we really should be eating. He responded, agreeing that it is confusing and explaining that his wife addresses that very issue in her book. He sent me the Amazon link, as well as how to find her Instagram, Facebook, email newsletter, and Balanced Bites podcast. I immediately downloaded the book, and though it took me awhile, I finished it this summer. It's taken me this long to post the review because I wanted to give the lifestyle a go before I wrote it. But I'll get to that part in a separate post.

The book itself is informative and witty. It's also very science-y, which I found a bit wearing at times, mainly because I hate science. But over all, it outlined the dangers of processed grains and dairy which were very hard to ignore, in the end. It also addressed the benefits of real food for the entire body. It was good enough that I ordered a hard copy so I could loan it out, and I messaged my friend back, thanking him and telling him how pleased I was to have read this book!

Kindle Book: Jasper Jones

Jasper Jones

by Craig Silvey

Length: 313

Format: eBook
Price: Free via the Overdrive app

How I heard about it: It's on my list.

Basic Premise: Charlie Butkin is just a regular guy...until the town outcast, Jasper Jones, shows up at his window one night. Jasper urgently needs Charlie's help to help clear his name. A murder has been committed, and Jasper swears it wasn't him.

My Take: 8.5 out of 10 (scale here)
This book was GRIPPING. From the moment Jasper shows Charlie what he shows Charlie, it was hard to put down. Jasper Jones was very "Huck Finn"-like; indeed it was obvious the author was highly influenced by Mark Twain. About halfway through, I felt like I had it all figured out, but I was wrong (not shocking...I do not have good crime-solving instincts). I loved the pace and the easy grace of the writing. The content was dark, but it was well-handled and intriguing. In parts there was a little too much boy dialogue (talk about superheroes and sports), and being someone who reads every word on the page, this got a bit tedious. But near the end, I started skimming, even though it felt wrong. I observed no consequence, so I may employ this method in the future. I wish the ending had given me more, but I always wish the ends of books had given me more.

Unfortunately, there was too much profanity for me to comfortably have this on my shelf. :( But it was still a GREAT read.

List Progress:

1. I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai review here
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky review here
   
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood review here
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher review here
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
6. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving review here
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver review here
8.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah review here
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon review here
10. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (read before I started blogging)
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie review here
13. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read before I started blogging)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer review here
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey review here
    
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read before I started blogging)
19. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read before I started blogging)
20. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen *abandoned*
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell review here
22. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
23. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - can we have a moment for whoever created this list? "Harry Potter" is not a book. It's a series of books. Sheesh.
24. Looking for Alaska by John Green review here
25. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak review here
26. The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini review here

Kindle Book: A Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

Length: 311

Format: eBook
Price: Downloaded from Overdrive

How I heard about it: It's on my list.

Basic Premise: A handmaid has one job - to produce a child. But the child is not her own - it will belong to her master and his wife. Torn from her husband and child and stripped of everything down to her name, the handmaid struggles to find a way among this newfound bondage.

My Take: 7 out of 10 (scale here)

UGH. This book was so dark. And it was a lot like The Poisonwood Bible in that it dealt with people who cared more about following religious rules than they did about knowing God. It was intriguing (I read it in three days) and troublesome and depressing all at the same time.  I liked the protagonist, but I didn't quite feel like I connected with her. She was a bit unbelievable in parts. It's a dystopian book published in 1986 - well before dystopians were popular. I found that interesting from a literature perspective, and having read so many of them by now. I also discovered while I was reading that this is the second book I've read by this author. The first was Alias Grace, which I also enjoyed, but also found very dark.

List Progress:

1. I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai review here
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher review here
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
6. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving review here
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver review here
8.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah review here
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon
10. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (read before I started blogging)
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie review here
13. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read before I started blogging)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer review here
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read before I started blogging)
19. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read before I started blogging)
20. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen *abandoned*
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell review here
22. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
23. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - can we have a moment for whoever created this list? "Harry Potter" is not a book. It's a series of books. Sheesh.
24. Looking for Alaska by John Green review here
25. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak review here
26. The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini review here

Kindle Book: The Poisonwood Bible

The Poisonwood Bible

by Barbara Kingsolver

Length: 576

Format: eBook
Price: Downloaded from Overdrive

How I heard about it: It's on my list.

Basic Premise: A young missionary family sets out to Christian-ize a remote area of the Congo in the early 1960s. What began as a bright adventure full of joy and promise leaves the family scarred and scattered.

My Take: 6.5 out of 10 (scale here)

This book was very well-written. It alternated between the perspective of five characters, four of whom were the daughters, and though I anticipated it would be difficult to keep them all straight, it actually wasn't. The beautiful language and imagery made it seem like I could step outside and be there, in the middle of the Congolese jungle, watching children play, swatting mosquitoes, and eating a freshly-picked banana.

But for all the book's positives, it was just so...uncomfortable. The father, the one who felt so "called" to "ministering" to the people of the Congo, was a tyrannical, maniacal psychopath who idolized his own integrity and righteousness far above his God. In this process, he alienated his "church-goers" (who were really just there to come in from the sun) and drove a wedge so deep between himself and his family that when things started to fall apart, he didn't even notice. I did loved how the author played with irony - this man was obsessed with getting people baptized. He kept trying to get people to come down to the river and be baptized, but because he made no effort whatsoever to get to know the people or the culture, he didn't realize the river was infested with vicious crocodiles who had picked off a number of the villagers already. It was so depressing to me to read about this pious, ungodly man who ranked right up there with the scum of the earth and think about the fact that people believed he was a man of God. And because of that sampling, they said, "No, thank you, I don't want anything to do with God." It makes me uncomfortable because I have known people like him and I have read and heard the sorts of things he said. It makes me uncomfortable because I know that, while I strive to love and live for and serve this God, there are visible moments when my life or my words or my deeds or my all of the above reflect the opposite effort. It's a lot to stomach the fact that something I do might shape the opposite feeling about God in others. In short, the discomfort comes from the similarities I was able to draw from this horrible man to myself. It made me shudder many, many times.

ALTHOUGH! There was a glorious moment in the book, where the former missionary in their post comes through, and rather than spouting off about sins and hell and death, he is dispensing food and medicine and clothing to the people who are in such desperate need. One of the daughters begins to dialogue with him about how different the people respond to him over her father. His response, "Well, my dear, there are Christians, and then there are Christians."

Yes. Yes there are.

List Progress:

1. I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai review here
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher review here
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
6. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving review here
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
8.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah review here
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon
10. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (read before I started blogging)
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie review here
13. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read before I started blogging)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer review here
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read before I started blogging)
19. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read before I started blogging)
20. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen *abandoned*
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell review here
22. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
23. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - can we have a moment for whoever created this list? "Harry Potter" is not a book. It's a series of books. Sheesh.
24. Looking for Alaska by John Green review here
25. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak review here
26. The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini review here

Book: Half of a Yellow Sun

Half of a Yellow Sun

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Length: 560

Format: eBook
Price: Downloaded from Overdrive

How I heard about it: It's on my list.

Basic Premise: Twin sisters Olanna and Kainene grew up among the wealthy and privileged in Nigeria. When civil unrest turns into all-out war, the sisters and their significant others struggle to make sense of this new life and their roles in it.

My Take: 4 out of 10 (scale here)

First of all, I would take this book off every YAL list on which it appears. I suppose it's there because one of the three narrators is a young houseboy who journeys into manhood, but I don't consider this a story for young adults. It is very "adult" and explicit often times to the detriment of the story. Most of the time, when I hear there is a movie about a book I'm reading, I want to see it. This one is even free on Amazon and I still don't really want to watch it. It's rated R for "some violence and sexual content." If they used the word "some" they must have really trimmed both.

Aside from the violence and sex, the story didn't really move well. It felt disjointed and hollow. The author did a nice job developing characters, but the characters just weren't very likable. Maybe I'm being too harsh. But I will say that what I like about this book and books like it are the settings - the environment, the cultural backdrop, the place in history - and the way I feel it broadens my understandings of these countries and cultures. That part I LOVED. The rest...well, I'm just not a fan.

List Progress:

1. I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
6. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving review here
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
8.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah review here
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon
10. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (read before I started blogging)
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
13. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read before I started blogging)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer review here
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read before I started blogging)
19. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read before I started blogging)
20. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen *abandoned*
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell review here
22. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
23. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - can we have a moment for whoever created this list? "Harry Potter" is not a book. It's a series of books. Sheesh.
24. Looking for Alaska by John Green review here
25. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak review here
26. The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini review here

Book: A Prayer for Owen Meany

A Prayer for Owen Meany

by John Irving

Length: 640

Format: eBook
Price: $2.99 on Amazon

How I heard about it: It's on my list.

Basic Premise: Johnny Wheelwright tells the story of his life in terms of his best friend, Owen Meany, whose presence in his life affects everything from the existence of his mother to discovering his long-lost father to developing his own unwavering faith.

My Take: 5 out of 10 (scale here)
I looked, and I originally downloaded this book in March of 2015. MARCH. I just finished at the end of November. Want to know why? Because this book was soooooooooooooooooo long. On your Kindle, you can't really tell how long a book is. It has a page counter, but sometimes pages are multiple screens long. It also has a percentage count, but sometimes there is an interview with the author or the first chapter of another book or something, so you can't exactly tell when the book is going to end. All I know is that, after reading solidly on the drive to and from my aunt and uncle's over break (5 hours total), I had read only 10% of this book. UGH.

Aside from the length, the book was well written. The language was such that it would have been very pleasant to listen to someone read it aloud. It took FOREVER for the conflict (finding out how his real father was) to emerge, and I've come to hate books like this that spend too much time on introductory details. As often happens with books like this, the second half was much better and easier than the first half. The ending was satisfactory, I suppose, but it just took so long to get there. I feel like the editor could have axed at least 40% of this book and my rating would go up to a 7.5.

List Progress:

1. I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
6. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving review here
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
8.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah review here
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon
10. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (read before I started blogging)
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
13. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read before I started blogging)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer review here
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read before I started blogging)
19. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read before I started blogging)
20. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen *abandoned*
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell review here
22. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
23. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - can we have a moment for whoever created this list? "Harry Potter" is not a book. It's a series of books. Sheesh.
24. Looking for Alaska by John Green review here
25. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak review here
26. The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini review here

Book: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

by Jonathan Safran Foer

Length: 368

Format: eBook
Price: Downloaded from Overdrive

How I heard about it: It's on my list.

Basic Premise: Nine-year-old Oskar lost his father last year in the 9/11 terrorist attack, but as he is going through his father's closet one day, he discovers an envelope and an unmarked key. Believing them to be part of a last message from his father, Oskar launches a search for his father's last secret.

My Take: 6 out of 10 (scale here)

This story is told mostly from Oskar in a first-person narrative, but there are bits scattered throughout which are told by his grandmother and grandfather, but you don't realize who they are or how their stories connect until later in the book. Although this can often be an effective story-telling tool, I wasn't a fan of that particular approach with this particular story. One of the reasons was that one of the characters was so fundamentally un-likeable. Another was because it tended to complicate things rather than clarify, which was obviously intentional, but it didn't really work for me. However, the primary storyteller, Oskar, was highly entertaining. He has an extremely brilliant mind but lacks certain basic social skills, such as the ability to determine whether something he thinks is appropriate to say out loud. It made for many amusing moments. It also made Oskar incredibly endearing. I also loved how his two favorite adjectives were "extremely" and "incredibly." The story was heartfelt and, although I won't be looking up other books by this author, I did enjoy this one.

List Progress:

1. I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
6. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
8.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah review here
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon
10. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (read before I started blogging)
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
13. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read before I started blogging)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer 
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read before I started blogging)
19. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read before I started blogging)
20. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen *abandoned*
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell review here
22. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
23. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - can we have a moment for whoever created this list? "Harry Potter" is not a book. It's a series of books. Sheesh.
24. Looking for Alaska by John Green review here
25. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak review here
26. The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini review here