Title: You Author: Caroline Kepnes Publisher: Atria Books Publication Date: September 30th, 2014 Format: Hardcover Pages: 422
You by Caroline Kepnes is a witty, entertaining thriller with a character that is brilliantly creepy. A young man, Joe Goldberg, is in charge of running a NYC bookstore known for rare and used books. A beautiful young woman walks into the store one day and catches his eye. He follows her on social media, around the city and watches her every move through her apartment window. Beck, the unsuspecting victim, begins to fall in love with Joe who will do ANYTHING for her. This isn’t love, this is OBSESSION.
The story is narrated by Joe Goldberg which Kepnes did a brilliant job in creating. I was not able to put this book down. All of the main characters are dysfunctional and cause their own level of drama. The style of the book is different from any thriller I have read before.
Five Bookworms (Excellent Read)
You is also available as a series on Netflix.
Photo Credit: Ace Photography
Caroline Kepnes is the author of You, Hidden Bodies and Providence. She lives in Los Angeles. Visit her website at http://www.carolinekepnes.com/author/
Title: The Art of Racing in the Rain Author: Garth Stein Published by: Harper Collins Publication Date: May 13, 2008 Format: Hardcover Length: 321 pages
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein is one of my favorite books, which tells you it must be good because I am not a huge fan of dogs. I was honestly skeptical when I read this book several years ago. The only reason I read the book is because the library where I am employed has a copy and I decided one afternoon to read it after reading good reviews. The Art of Racing in the Rain is a charming novel that will bring you to tears. The point of view is told from the dog’s perspective which is what makes the book so entertaining. Since it has been several years since I’ve read the book, I’ve included a summary below from Goodreads.
Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver.
Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn’t simply about going fast. On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through.
A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life … as only a dog could tell it.
The movie adaptation is out in theaters now starring Milo Ventimiglia (Gilmore Girl’s and This Is Us) Amanda Seyfried, and Kevin Costner (voice of Enzo the dog).
Born in Los Angeles and raised in Seattle, Garth’s ancestry is diverse: his mother, a native of Alaska, is of Tlingit Indian and Irish descent; his father, a Brooklyn native, is the child of Jewish emigrants from Austria. Garth lives in Seattle with his wife and three sons. He got involved with “high performance driver education” in 2001, received his racing license with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), and went on to win the points championship in the Northwest Region Spec Miata class in 2004. He left racing after a serious crash—while racing in the rain.
*BOOKS TO FILM 2020* What books are being adapted into film? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.
What I’m Listening to Right Now…
The Dateline podcast was just released this year featuring current and classic episodes.
Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations podcast featuring selected interviews from the leaders of today.
What I’m Watching Right Now…
Jason Bateman and Laura Linney star in Ozark, a Netflix series about a man who is a financial planner that is involved in a money laundering scheme gone wrong and has to move his family to make amends to a Mexican drug cartel.
Mindhunter is a Netflix series based on the true crime book, Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Serial Crime Unit, by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. Two FBI agents delve into the minds of serial killers from the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Title: Educated Author Tara Westover Publisher: Random House Publication Date: February 20th, 2018 Format: Hardcover Length: 352 pages
I was not familiar with Educated by Tara Westover until I saw a coworker reading the book. I asked him what the memoir was about and he explained that it was about a young woman that was isolated from society and had never been educated. She decided to educate herself enough to pass the ACT and attend college at age 17. She eventually received a PhD in history from Cambridge. Intrigued, I decided to check the book out from the library. I was picturing a story similar to the “living off the grid” shows on TV. This was similar to that, but with a father that most likely had bipolar, was not taking medication and made poor decisions that nearly cost his children their life several times. The children were not allowed to be homeschooled by the mother or receive any medical care from doctors.
Buck’s Peak, Idaho Photo Credit: Idaho: A Climbing Guide
Westover was born and raised in Idaho in a home that overlooked Buck’s Peak. Her mother is a midwife/herbalist and eventually became the main provider of the family. Interestingly enough, her father is very strict in traditional roles. Women are not supposed to work outside the home or receive any form of education. The couple was not raised in this strict traditional way. Both of their sets of parents allowed them to attend school and work. The father chose this life as a way to not answer to society, specifically the government. Westover did not have a birth certificate until she was 9. She does not know the day she was born, only that the year is 1986. The couple have 7 children and all helped the father in his junkyard. When not assisting their father, they assisted the mom in the home.
Tara Westover Photo Credit: Hill & Aubrey
Westover writes a beautiful memoir where she leaves the “off the grid” lifestyle in favor of being a member of society. I listened to an interview with Westover hosted by Oprah Winfrey. She describes the book as “liberating” and I have to agree. Westover chose her own life and escaped the abuse from her past. Her older brother, named Tyler in the book, helped her escape by encouraging her to attend college. He told her all she had to do was learn enough from textbooks to receive a 27 on the ACT. After receiving a high enough score on the ACT, Westover attended Brigham Young University. She asked her college history class what the Holocaust was. Her professor thought she was trying to make a cruel joke, but she truly did not know. She was also not aware of the Civil Rights Movement. College was a struggle in the beginning not only academically, but socially as well. Several years went by until Westover was fully acclimated socially and she eventually had a steady boyfriend. She keeps in contact with three of her siblings and is estranged from the rest of her family, including her parents. Her parents believe she is a danger to the family and that she is possessed by a demon. When Westover was attending Harvard for her PhD, her parents visited. Her father attempted to do an exorcism on Westover. She writes, “I had come to believe that the ability to evaluate many ideas, many histories, many points of view, was at the heart of what it means to self-create. If I yielded now, I would lose more than an argument. I would lose custody of my own mind. This was the price I was being asked to pay, I understood that now. What my father wanted to cast from me wasn’t a demon: it was me,” (Westover, p. 304).
Note:Educated has caused controversy among readers. Many reviewers are saying that the “off the grid” lifestyle is not unusual and are taking offense. I don’t typically read reviews of a book until after I am done reading so other’s opinions will not be a reflection of my own. The author, Tara Westover, is not, in my personal opinion, criticizing the “off the grid lifestyle.” She is speaking of her own experience in dealing with feelings of isolation in an abusive family. I don’t believe her experience would have been negative if not for the abuse and the lack of homeschooling/public education.
Tara Westover is an American author. Born in Idaho to a father opposed to public education, she never attended school. She spent her days working in her father’s junkyard or stewing herbs for her mother, a self-taught herbalist and midwife. Taught to read by an older brother, her education was erratic and incomplete. She was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. After that first encounter with education, she pursued learning for a decade, graduating magna cum laude from Brigham Young University in 2008 and subsequently winning a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. She earned an MPhil from Trinity College, Cambridge in 2009, and in 2010 was a visiting fellow at Harvard University. She returned to Cambridge, where she was awarded a PhD in history in 2014.
Named Book of the Year by the American Booksellers Association Winner of the 2018 Goodreads Choice Award for Memoir Finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Award Long listed for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist for the Leonard Award from the National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist for the Autobiography Award from the National Book Critics Circle Award Winner of the Audie Award for Autobiography/Memoir Winner of the Audi Award for Best Female Narrator (because Julie is fab) Alex Award by the American Library Association Finalist for the LA Times Book Prize One of New York Times’s 10 Best Books of 2018 Amazon Editors’ #1 pick for the Best Book of 2018 Indigo #1 Pick for Best Book of 2018 #1 LibraryReads pick by American Librarians Audible’s Best Memoir of the Year Apple’s Best Memoir of the Year Hudson Group Best Book of the Year President Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of the Year list Bill Gates’s Holiday Reading List
The Quirky Bookworm 