The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Travelers Wife

Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Publisher: Harcourt Books
Year: 2003
Audio Publisher: High Bridge Company
Audio year: 2011
Audio Reader: Fred Berman (Henry) & Phoebe Strole (Clare)
Audio Length: 17 hours & 38 minutes
Genre: Magical Realism/Romance
Age: Adult 18+
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This is our book club pick for The Book Was Better in September. If no one shows up for this meeting we are going to cancel the club & I'm a little bit sad because I think that it's a really cool idea & I'm not entirely sure why no one is coming. This book & the last one Hidden Figures were both picks that the people that came the last time in May wanted so I'm even more confused as to how I had 7 people at that meeting say they wanted to read these books & yet no one is coming.

But this book is one that has been sitting on my shelf for years, I picked it up second hand as I do most of my books, & I was also aware of the movie but hadn't seen it until I decided to check it out a few days ago. I'm kinda sad that I saw the movie but I'm also slightly grateful because then I knew how the story would end. I have to admit that there wasn't many differences between the book & the movie so I don't know if I really like one over the other. I did the same thing I've been doing over the past few months when I get the audio & the regular book & read/listen between them. The audio was great because you get 2 different readers. It's hard to convey that in the movie so maybe the book is better because of that? Overall I really like the book & I'm happy I finally read it. I've been on a love story as apposed to fantasy lately & it's been pretty fun so far.
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Clare Abshire is 6 years old when she meets Henry DeTamble for the first time in the meadow outside her family's Michigan house, its 1977 & he is 37 years old in real life. He is trying to hide from her since he is naked in the bushes but that's how their love story begins. They won't meet in real time until many years later in 1991 when Clare is 20 & Henry is a 28 year old Librarian working in Chicago at the Newberry. From there we follow their lives through time, Clare is an artist. Clare has been in love with Henry since that day in the meadow but since that hasn't technically happened to him yet he is growing to love her, closing in on the inevitable.That's the funny thing about time travel, no matter what you can't change anything because it's already happened. Eventually they have a family & go through the motions of a life that will never be normal. It's New Years Eve in 2006 when the past & the present will come crashing together & their lives will change forever. The funny thing is that because time is such a fluid thing Henry will always be around no matter what happens.
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Likes: The audio book was fantastic because of the 2 different readers & view points. It's a little long but worth it. 

The story & the whole fantasy of time travel makes it super interesting, like nothing I've ever read before. Magical realism is one of my favorite genres but there isn't a lot of books out there.

It's a love story that can stand the test of time...literally.

I will warn that it is definitely an adult story there is language & sex...a lot of sex...right away about 20 pages in is when it starts. I wasn't bothered by it but I know some may be.

Dislikes: The ending was sad but because of Henry's ability to travel it wasn't really the end. I guess that's the silver lining.

Rating:

Talking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham

Talking As Fast As I Can

Author: Lauren Graham
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Year: 2016
Audio Reader: Lauren Graham
Audio Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio
Audio Length: 4 hours & 38 mins
Genre: Biography
Age: Adult 18+
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I finally read this book! I had it checked out a while ago & it's been on my radar since I binged Gilmore Girls before the revival came out. I'm really happy I finally got to read/listen to it. I think the audiobook is fantastic & I would highly recommend it.
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Imagine Loralei Gilmore reading you a story...that's what this book is like!  After reading it I'm convinced that there is no one else on this planet that could have played that part other than Lauren Graham. We get to learn about her early acting career starting in high school, then her journey to Broadway, then the best part...Gilmore Girls! She includes some funny personal stories about her & significant other Peter Krause, some well learned Hollywood knowledge, writing advice, & more spunk & wit then you think one person can exude. In her classic & fast voice the pages fly by when listening to it on audio. I could not recommend it more. A MUST READ!!!
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Likes: I obviously really liked this book & I went into it knowing I would but it was even better than I could have ever imagined. Listening to her read about her life & tell funny stories, jokes, & sing made my day & I will never regret reading this book.

It was hilarious! But I will say having her read it really made that so. I don't think it would have been as funny if it was read by someone else or if I just read it.

It was short the book is about 200 pages & the audio is less than 5 hours so easily read in a day.

The pictures in the book really add to the story & make it more relatable & interesting.

I now really want to read her fictional book that she wrote. 

Dislikes:-

Rating:

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

Safe Haven

Author:Nicholas Sparks
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Year: 2010
Audio Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc.
Audio Reader: Rebecca Lowman
Audio Year:2010
Audio Length: 11 hours 3 mins
Genre: Romance/Thriller
Age: Adult 18+
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The only other Nicholas Sparks book I have ever read is A Walk to Remember & that was back in high school when the movie came out & I thought it was great. I was also young & naive etc etc. So when I think of a Nicholas Sparks book I think so the sappiest, cheesiest, most cliche romance story EVER written! But I was surprised by this story. I've seen the movie several times & really enjoyed it. The book & the movie were very similar which I liked, the differences are small overall. I've been told that this story is different from his others & so I think it was a good one to start with. Based on this experience I'd read more books by him in the future.
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Katie Feldman is starting a new life in Southport, NC.It's a small coastal town with southern charm & it's just the place she's looking for after leaving her crazy, drunk, police detective husband, who beats her. In Southport Katie is just trying to blend in, but along the way she meets a great guy named Alex. He's a young widow who owns a convenience store & has 2 great kids. Katie & him hit it off & they become a little family after some reluctancy on Katie's part. Unfortunately Katie can't escape her past & Kevin soon comes looking for her. Katie must do everything in her power to stop Kevin from hurting Alex & the kids in order to stay in her new found safe haven.
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Likes: Easy to follow story line, interesting characters, relatable story, romance, & suspense all in one book.

I finished it quickly once I gave it some real effort.

The audio reader does different voices like a southern accent, & kids voices.

Close to the movie with only a few small differences that didn't effect the story in the end.

Overall I was surprised that it was better than I thought it would be. 

Dislikes: -

Rating:

NOOK Ereader TBR

I've had an ereader for about 10 years now. I've always stayed faithful to the NOOK by Barnes & Noble. So over the years I've accumulated hundreds of ebooks. Lately I haven't been reading ebooks as much as I used to so I have a little bit of a back log going on...but I just keep pre-ordering! LOL

So this is a list of the current books that I have on my reader & plan to read...hopefully soon!

Some of these books I have already read but I never finished the series. Others I ended up with because I subscribe to Book Bub, a discount e book list, & some I pre-order because they are on my auto author order list. I sometimes buy some because I wanted to try them or I read some great reviews & don't want to get them from the library. I'm gonna try to distinguish which book falls into which category. Let's go with this code:
RR=Reread
BB=Book Bub Purchase
FS= Finish Series
AA= Auto Author

The Vampire Diaries #1: The Awakening by L.J. Smith
I really really LOVE LOVE LOVE this show! I'm hoping the books live up to the hype of the show. 

Between the Lines & Off the Page by Jodi Picoult
RR & FS
I read the first one about a year ago & really liked it.

 Caraval by Stephanie Garber
BB

The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell
This is another book that I bought because I loved the show. I've also watched Sex in the City about 500 times & have that book in paperback. I've never read either.

Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness, Beautiful Chaos, Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia
RR
I read this series when I was a school librarian & I really enjoyed the movie. I have to reread it before finishing the sequel series.

Dangerous Creatures & Dangerous Deception by Kami Garcia
RR & FS
Once I finish the original series & reread this first one I can finish it.

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
BB

Frost Blood by Elly Blake
BB

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
RR
I read this book about a year ago & liked it. I want to reread it & finish the series.

Jack by Liesl Shurtliff
AA
Since I read Rump when I was a school librarian I've always ordered this author's books.

The Jaguar Stones: Middleworld by J & P Voelkel
This book has been on my TBR for about 6 years! Eventually I'll read it.

The Legend of James Grey by Jennifer Moorman
BB

Nil by Lynne Matson
We have this book in my library but it gets checked out a lot so I decided to buy it.

Once & For All by Sarah Dessen
AA

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
AA

Harry Potter 1-7 by J.K. Rowling
RR
 I am slowing getting these books in e book form & audio through Audible. I haven't read them since book 7 came out. So a reread is necessary.

The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, The Kill Order, The Fever Code by James Dashner
RR, RR, RR, FS, & FS
I read The Maze Runner when I had a middle school book club. It is like Lord of the Flies for the new generation. From there I read the next 2 books. That was all that was out @ the time.Now that the next 2 books are out I want to reread the beginning & finish the series.

Origin by Dan Brown
AA
I've read all the other books in the Robert Langdon series so this was a pre-order.

Pottermore Presents by J.K. Rowling
AA
More HP books! YES PLEASE!

The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, & The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
RR, RR, RR, RR, & FS
This series is much like The Maze Runner, not all of them were out so I had to wait & I never finished.

The Reader by Traci Chee
This books is like Nil, always checked out @ my library so I bought it.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
RR
I read this book years ago when it first came out & it was AMAZING! I've been waiting for it to be finished to reread/finish it.

Renegades by Marissa Meyer
AA
I really enjoyed her Lunar Chronicles series & Heartless so she has become one of my authors.

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
AA
I have loved this author since I first read Practical Magic in high school. This is the prequel so of course I pre-ordered it.

The Selection by Kiera Cass
I bought this book when it first came out years ago& have just never read it. Now that the series is over I can get started. 

The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine
BB

Spelled by Betsy Schow
BB

 

Splintered by A.G.Howard
BB

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
BB

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
BB
I've wanted to read this series for a while but it's always checked out! So when it came up on the discount list I jumped on it.

The Testing, Independent Study, & Graduation Day by Joelle Charbonneau
BB
I got all 3 of these books for $1.99!!!

Bared to You & Reflected in You by Sylvia Day
RR & FS
I discovered this series after getting into Fifty Shades. It's pretty good overall.

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Hidden Figures

Author: Margot Lee Shetterly
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (Movie Tie-In Edition)
Year: 2016
Audio Publisher: Harper Collins
Audio Year: 2016
Audio Reader: Robin Miles
Audio Length: 10 hours 47 minutes
Genre: Histoical Non Fiction
Age: Adult 18+
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This was our The Book Was Better book club pick for the month of August. The last time we had people attend the meetings was in June. I'm a little disappointed that no one showed up to the meeting because when we met in June this book & the September book were both ones that they had picked. Hopefully things will pick u with this book club otherwise it might get cut from our schedule! Because no one showed the only opinion on which version of the story was better I an give you is mine. But if you'd like to share please do so in the comments.
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The book begins well before the movie version of the story. NASA isn't even a thing yet, Brown vs. Board of Education won't happen for years, & for the first time ever women are able to work while their husbands are fighting the war against Hitler.

We are introduced to several women over the course of the almost 300 page book. But most importantly we get to hear the stories of three women name Dorothy Vaughn, Katherine Goble (Johnson), & Mary Jackson. These women like so many others were raised all over the US, brought up in a time when the color of your skin determined what kind of life you would have. They overcame challenges & eventually became some of the leading engineers, supervisors, & mathematicians for an organization devoted to getting humans into space for the first time ever.

The reader gets to follow these women & several others through their upbringing, school age years, married life, working time, & hard earned retirement. History develops on the page as the civil right movement takes shape, women's rights come into focus, & the world changes to keep up.

It's a compelling narrative full of science, math, & a lot of hope for the future
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Likes: The book wasn't that long, same goes for the audio, it was a good length overall.

The reader was clear & easy to understand. I liked that it was a woman.

There was a lot of history that I didn't know about & it was interesting to learn.

GIRL POWER!!!

The movie was an excellent adaptation I think despite the timelines being slightly different.

Dislikes: At some points there was too much information that did not add to the story overall.

I would have liked to see pictures!

Rating:

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Book to Movie Comparison:

Overall at the end of it I think the movie was better.

The reason I think that is because it depicts the most interesting & important part of the story where the women really start making a difference..We get a little bit of back story on Katherine which is interesting then we get right into it without a bunch of fluff. The fluff was interesting to read for the most part, although I think not all of it was necessary.

There is not that many differences between the book & the movie. The things that were changed added to the story in the film version. For example the opposition between Dorothy & Mrs. Mitchell in the movie adds a bit of drama. That coupled with things like the colored only coffee pot in Katherine's office really demonstrates the level of segregation in Virginia even after the separate but equal ruling. The movie was also funny & light hearted at sometimes, espically concerning Mary Jackson, she was hilarious. The love story between Katherine & her soon to be husband Jim adds a level of romance behind the trials of daily life. I will say one of the biggest differences between the book & movie were that although the book was about all the women it mainly focused on Dorothy. But in the movie the main character seemed to be Katherine. I was ok with the story either way.

26 Books to Read in 2018 Challenge List Update

Each year for the past several years I've been apart of a Facebook group that creates a list of books & then we all share with each other as we read & complete the list. I'm more than half way though my list & I'm gonna do my best to finish it this year. This is a little update on what I've read so far & what my plans are for the rest of the list. 

 

These are the books I've read so far this year:

***I've done a review for all of these books***

5. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

6. The 100: Day 21 by Kass Morgan

7. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

10. A Court of Frost & Starlight by Sarah J. Maas

12. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

14. MAD Librarian by Michael Guillebeau

15. The Lost City of Z by David Grann

16. What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding by Kristin Newman

17. The 100 by Kass Morgan

18. Me Before You by JoJo Moyers

19. The Sleeper & the Spindle by Neil Gaiman

20. Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

21. Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein

22.Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

23. The Lost World by Michael Crichton

24. The Great Treehouse War by Lisa Graff

26.  A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

These are the books I plan on reading for the remaining books:

1. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffennegger

2. The Host by Stephanie Meyer

3. Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

4. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*** by Mark Manson

8. The Great Library Series by Rachel Caine

9. Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham

11. The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows

25. The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas

The only number I haven't picked is #13 because I'm not sure what I'm gonna do...

Stay tuned for more reviews as I finish my list!

August 2018 TBR

This month with summer reading over I'm hoping to step up my game a little & read more books. But...I always say that so we'll see what actually happens. I'm still working on improving my book checkout addiction. 

The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt by William Nothdurft

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1022171.The_Lost_Dinosaurs_of_Egypt?from_search=true

I discovered this book on Goodreads when I added another dinosaur book to my shelf. I requested it on ILL so I definitely have to read this one this month. 

Trilobite by Richard Fortey

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/373562.Trilobite?from_search=true

This is another one that I saw on Goodreads but another library in my system had it luckily. 

Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah Dawson

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34431692-kill-the-farm-boy?ac=1&from_search=true

This book came in on our bestseller shef & the description had my laughing so I decided to try it. 

Ghosted by Rosie Walsh

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36464087-ghosted?from_search=true

I saw this book on the add for Book of the Month club & my library got it so i decided to try it. 

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25953369-hidden-figures?ac=1&from_search=true

This is our The Book Was Better club book for this month, the meeting is next week. 

July 2018 Wrap-Up

I only managed to read 3 books this month but I really enjoyed all of them. Next month I want to step my game up again now that summer reading is over & things will slow down a little...I think...I hope! 

Road to Redemption by Piper Davenport

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23982081-road-to-redemption?from_search=true

I'm signed up to receive daily emails through a site called Book Bub. The get a list of free or very cheap e books & send it to you daily based on preferences you have selected. I will sometimes download the free books or the 99 cent ones because I find them interesting. Most of them are "trashy romance novels" LOL so I don't do complete reviews on them. This was this months "trashy romance novel".

Welcome to Wonderland: Home Sweet Motel by Chris Grabenstein

My review is here.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28502766-home-sweet-motel?ac=1&from_search=true

This is the first book in a series by one of my newly found favorite authors. It was short, funny, & entertaining. Unfortunately I have to wait for my library to buy the other books. 

Mr. Lemoncello's Great Library Race by Chris Grabenstein

 My review is here.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31226744-mr-lemoncello-s-great-library-race?ac=1&from_search=true

This is the third book in the Lemoncello Library series, which is amazing!!! I had great numbers on my review of this book which I am very happy about. I also received a comment from the author himself that there will be another Lemoncello book next year so I'm very excited for that.