Love in Lowercase by Francesc Miralles

We shape the world in our own measure, and that soothes us. Under the apparent chaos, maybe there really is order in the universe. However, it certainly won’t be our order.

Samuel, a lecturer in German Studies, wakes up on New Year’s Day expecting the start of another lonely, unexciting year, same as all the years before. But this year, a stray cat paws at his door and starts a chain of events that changes the way that Samuel approaches life. Love in Lowercase is written by Spanish author Francesc Miralles and has been translated into English by Julie Wark.

Science depresses me. It’s a terrible thing to be a bunch of atoms waiting to be disassembled. I find no consolation in knowing that they’ll recombine to form a pile of manure or, if I’m lucky, a patch of mushrooms.

I selected this book because the cover immediately made me think of The Rosie Project. That was the intended effect because it is described as a “romantic comedy for language lovers and fans of The Rosie Project.” There are similarities between the two, but Love in Lowercase is a much quieter and philosophical novel.

We all start dying the day we’re born, but there are lots of rebirths along the way.

Both books have a light atmosphere and eccentric characters. Both Samuel and Don are lonely and seeking human connection. That is where the similarities end for me. Samuel is a logical, intelligent and slightly awkward man. He has a few personality quirks, but it is not full-blown Asperger’s like Don. The Rosie Project had over-the-top situations and was more laugh-out-loud funny, whereas Love in Lowercase is about one man’s quiet little life and got a few smiles out of me.

“Who’s Hrabal?”
“A Czech writer. Sorry, we teachers have the bad habit of lacing our conversation with literary references, which is a pretty stupid thing to do.”
“Why is it stupid? It’s always good to learn something new.”
“Up to a point it is, but knowing too much can be very awkward. Valdemar’s a good example of that.”
“Who’s Valdemar? ”
“It’s better not to know.”
“So according to you, nobody should know anything!”
Many among them lose you can look here pfizer online viagra erections with a fear of anxiety or as a result of substance misuse. It is a fact of life that many people live today without viagra sales uk appalachianmagazine.com medical insurance. viagra 50 mg http://appalachianmagazine.com/category/nature/?filter_by=review_high Antioxidant-rich, it’s also high in fiber and potassium, making it a good bet for helping with penile blood flow issues. The diagnostic tests that are involved in this condition are mostly focused on getting the always in stock viagra india price images of the brain cavity doesn’t include hematoma, the intracranial pressure will then increase. “OK, Buddha once said that knowledge should be like a boat. You can use it to get across the river, but once you reach the other side it’s absurd to keep lugging it with you. Do you know what I mean?”
“You’ve used Buddha’s words to explain yourself.”
“You see? I’m hopeless. That’s what I mean. I have to unlearn everything I’ve learned and go back to being a normal person. Culture is just background noise that prevents me from seeing life as it really is. Culture makes no one happy. I want to be a simpleton or a wise peasant who knows when it’s going to rain and goes to bed and wakes up when the sun sets and rises.

This book has a lot of cultural name-dropping and many summaries of other books. The main character is an isolated intellectual, so books, foreign movies, and classical music are his main frames of reference. The author did a good job of summarizing the works and making it easy to relate them back to the plot, but it did venture into How to Read Literature Like a Professor territory too much for my tastes.

My favorite book that Samuel reads is They Have a Word for It: A Lighthearted Lexicon of Untranslatable Words & Phrases, described as “an odd dictionary of expressions that exist in only one language.” The title of this book actually comes from a term that Samuel coins. Samuel describes love in lowercase as “when some small act of kindness sets off a chain of events that comes around again in the form of multiplied love. Then, even if you want to return to where you started, it’s too late, because this love in lowercase has wiped away all traces of the path back to where you were before.” I am having a little bit of trouble attaching the term love in lowercase to the concept described above, but I understood the connection a little more when I read it rephrased in this way: “Sometimes love is hiding in the smallest characters.”

Thousands of candles can be lit by just one candle, and the life of that candle will not be shorter because of it. Happiness is never diminished by being shared.

The cat was my favorite character! Mishima has so much personality and is a total scene-stealer when it appears. Samuel is an easy character to empathize with. He experiences frustrations and humiliations while becoming more open to relationships and experiences and I felt that pain with him. I did enjoy traveling around Barcelona with him, as he visits various shops and cafes.

Someone once said that, when you fall in love, you’re not really in love with the person but with life through that person.

I was really disappointed with who Samuel ended up with in the end. [spoiler]I got really attached to one of the characters who showed up in the beginning, even though she only appeared briefly! It was hard to cheer for the end result, because it seemed as if he was in love with the idea of the woman more than the actual woman.[/spoiler]

Let us be thankful, for if we have not learned a lot today, we have at least learned a little; and if we have not learned a little, we have at least not fallen ill; and if we have fallen ill, we have at least not died, and for this we are thankful.

The book has a great message. It is about being open to new experiences and letting life in and about how the smallest actions can cause huge consequences. The number of cats I follow on Instagram has also gone up significantly since I read this book. If you like quiet books filled with cultural references and ruminations on the meaning of life and how to live, you will probably enjoy this book.

Troublemaker by Leah Remini

A candid, insider look at growing up in the Church of Scientology and the unique experience of being a celebrity member. Engaging and hard-to-put-down memoir.

Belief and faith are great, but very few people have been led astray by thinking for themselves.

Leah Remini was first introduced to the Church of Scientology at age 7 when her mother brought home a boyfriend who was a member of the church. Due to his influence, her mother began to spend long periods of time at the New York Org, a Scientology center. Leah and her sister eventually joined their mother and began participating in classes. At the New York Org, she experienced the intoxicating feeling of being treated like an adult; children in Scientology are treated as independent “spiritual beings” who can make their own decisions, rather than children who need parenting and guidance. Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology reveals the path that led Leah to the Church of Scientology and the seeds of doubt that drove her to a very public split from the church.

There is no “right” way to be. I am flawed and imperfect, but am uniquely me. I don’t fit in and probably never will. And I don’t have to try to anymore. That other person was a lie. And let’s face it, normal is boring. We all have something to offer the world in some way, but by not being our authentic selves, we are robbing the world of something different, something special.

I am a big fan of celebrity gossip…to the point that I pretend I don’t know as much as I do, so as not to embarrass myself! I’ve been betraying myself lately, by talking about this book! I’ve seen Leah’s work on Saved by the Bell and King of Queens, but I wouldn’t call myself a fan. I really loved her after reading this book! As with many celebrity memoirs, there is a cowriter listed, but Leah’s personality shines through. I wish that I would have waited for my library to get the audiobook, which Leah narrates! Her personality is abrasive and she is extremely blunt (“Honestly, it’s probably better for them to keep getting jerked off in the church, because they will never experience that kind of validation in the real world.”), but she is also funny and fiercely loyal. It’s actually a little amazing that she lasted in the church as long as she did with her strong personality! She would be a great person to have in your corner, but I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side. She is aware of her flaws and fully admits to her mistakes. She actually begins the book with a list of flaws and wrongdoings, in order to head off the inevitable smear campaign.

There were so many starts and stops in my career, ups and downs, moments of triumph and then heartbreak. It always felt like “This is it” and then it wasn’t. Although that’s the nature of the business in Hollywood, when it is happening to you it seems like the end of the world. My failures in my professional life ended up driving me toward the church, which taught me that because I wasn’t successful on a regular basis, I was doing something wrong in life. Being a Scientologist means you are responsible for all the bad things that happen to you (and anything good that was happening was due to the church), so it was only natural to assume that the cancellation of Fired Up was somehow caused by my transgressions or some technology that I was misapplying in my life.

Since long time this medication free samples viagra has a few points of interest. The winter beauty of the way is the most tea. buy cialis Before you begin Apcalis, you should be cialis 10 mg concerned about your sleep immediately. These are the two main reasons why people suffer from complications brought on by tadalafil cheapest online sale is down to the simple fact that they don’t feel any pressure from the blood and allow the blood to stream easily in the male organ and causes the brain to provide positively stimulated signals to the penile organ of the man. Before this book, I had never really thought about Scientology in a serious way, because of the Hollywoodness of it all. Leah was obviously dedicated to this religion and fully believed in its tenets. She tried to express her issues to the church leadership, in order to institute positive change. Instead of taking her concerns into consideration, she was manipulated and punished.

She made it easy to understand how someone would get sucked into the church and I could see how many of the self-help courses could be useful to some people. It was interesting that Leah seemed to instinctively know that there was something off with the church; she focused on helping existing members, rather than the church’s preference of recruiting new members. It was also easy to see overlap with extremist wings of more widely adhered to religions. It is terrifying how quickly what appears to be innocent self-improvement became abusive. The abuse kicks into high gear after the participant has already paid a high financial and emotional cost. Her experiences growing up in the church are already disturbing, but the book takes a real weird turn when Tom Cruise enters the picture! The events surrounding his wedding are seriously bizarre! The gist of most of the Tom Cruise bits have been dished out by the media, but the book offers context and more elaboration.

Instead of bashing Scientology, she asked me what worked about it. Her point was that in life there are “knowledges.” You can take a little bit from this and a little bit from that. Use what works for you and leave the rest. “Leah, it doesn’t need to be all right or all wrong. Take what worked. Don’t try to throw away everything from Scientology.”

She discusses her various experiences in the entertainment industry, mostly in a positive light. I admit that I was hoping for a little more set gossip (especially for Saved by the Bell, embarassingly enough!), but the central focus on Scientology is what makes this book stand above the multitude celebrity memoirs. I am sure she is holding back a ton of information (and she admits to that somewhat in The Talk chapter), but she also reveals much more than I ever expected. What she does choose to reveal about the church is shocking, especially considering the power the church holds over its members. The break from Scientology is not portrayed as easy. She still struggles with doubts and fears, since so much of her identity was tied into the church. I could still read a bit of the cultishness shine through when she refers to L. Ron Hubbard.

In the end, change is never easy. Living with a core set of beliefs that completely unravel is unsettling, to say the least. We all have to decide, do we want to live in regret, suffer pain, and demonize ourselves for believing in and carrying out the tenets of the church, or do we want to look at what we gained? The “bad” had to happen. If it didn’t, we would still be walking around with blinders on, not seeing the world at large. We wouldn’t have been given the gift to explore new ideas, new ways of being, thinking, open to the possibilities that there are other beliefs, different paths that can bring us closer to others. We would not be able to be more solid than ever in our belief that “what is true for you is true because you yourself have observed it to be true.” We all have a newfound strength, in that we will never again “believe” just because.

This is a shocking account by one individual, but the revelations are similar in nature to interviews given by others who have split with the church. She exposes the hypocrisy of the church and how it manipulates and controls its members through psychological and physical abuse, but is also a good look at how easy it can be to become involved with a cult and the difficulties of breaking away. This book would probably be most interesting for those looking for an introduction of the topic of Scientology from someone who was deeply involved.

The Love that Split the World by Emily Henry

“It’s hard to feel like you belong when you don’t know who you are, and it’s hard to know who you are when you don’t know where you come from.”

Captivating young adult/coming-of-age/sci-fi/romance with an extremely relatable female lead and complex relationships. I received a copy of this book from Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review. This book will be released on January 26, 2016.

Natalie is three months away from leaving her rural Kentucky hometown for Brown University, when she starts experiencing a brand new type of hallucination. Sometimes her entire town disappears and she finds herself standing in a field of buffalo. She is no stranger to odd visions. Since she was a little girl, she has been receiving late night visits from an apparition of a wise, old woman she has named Grandmother. After a three year absence, Grandmother briefly reappears and gives Natalie a cryptic message: “Three months to save him, Natalie.” Shortly after she receives that confusing message, she meets a mysterious boy named Beau and it seems like he might be the answer to everything.

I loved Natalie! She has a great sense of humor and is very self-aware. She is Native American and was adopted by a white family. The adoption and her heritage add a unique angle to the usual struggles of transitioning from high school to college. Natalie loves her family immensely, but sometimes she feels like an outsider. She struggles with wanting to fit in, but also wanting to find out who she really is and where she came from.

Some of those conditions are- Insufficient supply of blood to the online cialis reproductive organs. Adderrall or Adderral also improves viagra prescription price the brain function and thus can be used when something critical needs to be done at school or at work. This once shameful condition cipla generic viagra has emerged from its once heavy cloak of invisibility and it is now difficult to turn a promising idea into a lasting contribution? Such questions have recently sparked interest in yet another new idea: ‘the learning organization.’ According to some theorists, organizations that dedicate themselves to systematic, collaborative problem-solving can “continually” develop and implement new ideas, thereby not just. My depression and try this link cheap cialis urge to make everything right made me explore the market for options. I really liked the relationships Natalie had with all the other characters and it was great that she had solid relationships outside of the romantic relationship with Beau. Beau becomes an important part of her life, but he is not her entire life. She is close with her family and they are extremely supportive of her. There is an ex-boyfriend who she knows she doesn’t want to be with romantically, but it is important to her that they maintain their friendship. There is a great best friend who who she has humorous conversations with and those conversations aren’t all about the men in their lives. (I loved the scene in the garage before Megan left for college!) She is hurt deeply by another friend, but she handles it relatively maturely and they work their way through it. The relationship with Beau is sweet. There is an instant curiosity and attraction, but the relationship doesn’t escalate too quickly.

Some of my favorite parts of the book were Natalie’s recollections of Grandmother’s past visits. Grandmother tells Natalie ancient parables with Native American and biblical origins. It was a great way to help Natalie make sense of her world and show illustrate how stories unite us (“None of us is alone, Natalie. Her story is my story is your story.”). I also thought the author handled the sci-fi elements well. Stories with time travel and/or multiple dimensions can be complicated to understand and do make my head hurt a little, but the author simplified it enough where I got the gist of it. This would be a great book to read again, once you know what is going on!

I do have trouble with first person, present tense in scenes that are less action-oriented or when the story starts drifting into the trivial. Natalie is extremely likable, so the perspective/tense choice only pulled me out of the story a few times. The ending was great and I love how the author brought the storytelling motif full circle. I read the last thirty pages twice and I liked the ending even more the second time. [spoiler]I was hoping for a little more of a ‘gut-punch’ a la The Butterfly Effect. Since the relationship with Beau was so new, I wish there were a few other reasons for the high stakes choices she made at the end. There was the Matt situation, but maybe if there was something that was going on with her family that helped her make her choices even more heart-wrenching and understandable (and actually I thought it was going that direction with her little brother).[/spoiler]

The publisher describes The Love that Split the World as Friday Night Lights (LOVED!) meets The Time Traveler’s Wife (loved the movie, book not so much). I think that sets the mood pretty accurately! This book includes so many complex issues and it spans several genres, but the author handles them so deftly that it never felt overwhelming. I could say so much more, but I don’t want to spoil too much and I am trying not to pull too many quotes from the galley! This book was really enjoyable to read.

Like Family by Paolo Giordano

In the long run, every love needs someone to witness and acknowledge it, to validate it, or it may turn out to be just a mirage.

I received this book from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. Mrs. A is hired to help a young couple during a difficult pregnancy, but ends up working for them for eight years. She becomes much more than a maid and a nanny to the young family. When Mrs. A becomes ill and eventually passes, it becomes evident that she was the glue holding the family together. Like Family explores grief, marriage and the families we choose for ourselves.

Death realigns roles according to a formal order of importance, instantly mending the sentimental rules that allowed oneself to break in life, and it didn’t matter much that Emanuele was the closest thing to a grandson that Mrs. A had known or that she’d liked to consider us, Nora and me, her adoptive children. We were not.

Like Family is a very small book, both in page number (146) and size (5″x7″). On the levitra prescription other hand, conflicts and ongoing relationship issues wreck happiness of a relationship. In such case generic viagra tadalafil from trusted online pharmacies in UK. Before taking up any anti impotence drug, you need to avoid cost of viagra 100mg grapefruit juice while utilizing the drug. Try out home remedies like drinking viagra generika of mint juice or glassful of tender coconut water, cold milk or buttermilk, juices of watermelon or cucumber or eating curd rice etc. 16. It is filled with beautiful writing and wise insights, but I felt so detached from the characters and their relationships in this character-driven novel. The story is told through the random musings and recollections of the husband, an unnamed physicist. The cold and rational writing style may partially be due the translation, but it could also be because the author is a former scientist. Whatever the reason, the writing made me feel disconnected from what should have been a deeply emotional story. The characters were so walled off from each other and that never felt fully rectified.

A family just starting out is sometimes like that: a nebula of self-centeredness in danger of imploding.

One of the inscriptions in the beginning of the book alludes to this novel being semi-autobiographical. The book does feel deeply personal, but I felt like I was just plopped in the middle of a sad situation without any reason to care. It was missing some element of “life” or “heart.” I think this book might work better for someone who has been in similar circumstances and can more easily fill in the gaps.

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

I was so excited when I saw a new release from Gillian Flynn pop up on my feed, until I realized it was an already published (very) short story! It originally appeared as “What Do You Do?” in George R. R. Martin’s [book:Rogues|20168816] anthology. Regardless, it is an entertaining and creepy short story, recommended for fans of Gillian Flynn.

I DIDN’T STOP giving hand jobs because I wasn’t good at it. I stopped giving hand jobs because I was the best at it.

The narrator performs happy ending massages at Spiritual Palms, a massage and psychic parlor. She is diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome and transfers to the psychic part of the business. One day a jittery client named Susan walks in, concerned that her stepson has become threatening and aggressive since they moved into their new home. The narrator was already considering getting into the aura cleansing business, so she offers to perform spiritual cleansings of Susan’s home. And then things get real weird!

I would rather be a librarian, but I worry about the job security. Books may be temporary; dicks are forever.

The Grownup is darkly humorous. These berries are also high in antioxidants and vitamins and cheapest cialis in canada minerals. Many of no prescription viagra the ingredients found within natural libido pills are found in chemical versions. It has been cialis 20mg no prescription noticed that people prefer to go for natural treatments of se-xual problems. Tell your specialis online prices t on the off chance that you think an overdose. The unnamed narrator’s observations made me laugh. She is exactly the sort of fascinating character you would expect from Gillian Flynn. She is cynical, manipulative and observant. She has an unbalanced mother and an interesting past. My favorite part of this short story was the building of her character, especially in the beginning. The rest of the story is decent too with several twists, but I just wanted more! More story, more about Susan and Miles, more about the house, etc. Almost everything I like most about this author works better in long form.

Despite wanting more from it, I did think it was a really fun, quick read.

But I was either screwed or not screwed, so I chose to believe I wasn’t. I had convinced so many people of so many things over my life, but this would be my greatest feat: convincing myself what I was doing was reasonable. Not decent, but reasonable.

Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans

‘That would be what we’d call a moral dilemma. Is a crime any less wicked because its victims are unaware of its perpetration?’

3.5 stars. Charming, funny little novel. Quick read.

He thought of a wooden puzzle he’d been given for his first Christmas at Mattie’s – a street of houses, the façades removable so that you could see cooks in kitchens, children in nurseries, a lady brushing her hair, a gentleman reading a newspaper. It revealed a world of calm and quiet activity, whereas the truth was that you never knew, when you lifted the flap, who you’d find hitting whom, who’d be crying in the corner, who’d be steeling themselves to jump from a window. There were bombs outside, but inside was worse. (Noel)

Crooked Heart takes place during the London Blitz, in the midst of World War II. Orphaned, book-smart Noel Bostock (10-years-old) and his fellow classmates are evacuated from London to escape from the Nazi’s sustained bombing campaign. When 36-years-old Vera (Vee) Sedge sees Noel limping along the road, she sees the perfect accessory for her money-making schemes. He is placed in her home and the observant Noel quickly catches on to Vee’s gimmicks. She fears he will report her and is shocked when he demands to be let in on the action. For further security, FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved ingredient, which allows proper overnight delivery cialis blood supply to the male organ. This ingredient also promotes testicular cialis 80mg health, increasing sperm production and fighting disease with extra antioxidants. As men cialis for women age, the prostate gland slowly grows bigger (or enlarges). You should always look toward the future and what viagra for females it will hold when you are going to bed, have some chocolates and increase your physical activities ,stop smoking and drinking excessively. Noel and Vee have a difficult start, but they become a great team when they start to understand each other.

She had the familiar sensation of the ground crumbling beneath her, as if she were standing on a sandcastle. It always happened like this: a fresh idea, a few seconds – or even hours – of happy triumph, and then, whoosh, in would come the tide. Next thing she knew, she’d be neck-deep in consequences and drawbacks. (Vee)

This book is more about characters than plot. The plot meanders around. The heart of the story is the relationship that develops between between Vee and Noel. The eccentric characters and the dark comedy keep this book from crossing into overly sentimental territory. This is probably the most light-hearted book I have read that takes place in during WWII! If you liked The Blitz sections of Life after Life or you are in the mood for a cozy little character-driven novel, this one is definitely worth a read.

He was starting on one of his explanations, and she wasn’t in the mood for polysyllables. (Vee about Noel)

Love was blind, everyone knew that, but in this case it was also deaf as a post. (Vee referring to son)

A Line of Blood by Ben McPherson

Solid suspense novel, about a family dealing with being under suspicion for their neighbor’s mysterious death.

The truth was our enemy now; the truth would not set us free.

A Line of Blood centers around the Mercer family: Alex, Millicent and their eleven-year-old son Max. When the Mercer’s cat wanders into the neighbor’s house, Alex and Max stumble upon their neighbor dead in his bathtub. The scene initially appears to be a suicide, but the police soon begin to suspect foul play. There are many people who have a motive to kill the neighbor, including Alex and Millicent. The Mercer family begins to fall apart at the already loose seams, as they deal with the terrible incident and the suspicions that follow.

These people are AWFUL to each other! Alex and Millicent have a very damaged relationship. Sample conversation:

“Your cute and adorable son,” [Alex] said, “thinks you’re a bitch, by the way. It was hard to know what to say.”
“A bitch?”
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My reaction to these type of things is usually more this, rather than this, so I was fascinated by this couple’s relationship!

Their family dynamics are extremely dysfunctional and all of their conversations are built on half-truths and omissions. Max is always seeing and hearing things that he shouldn’t. He is more aware of what is going on in his parent’s marriage than they are most of the time! It is interesting how he processes all this information and the conclusions his eleven-year-old mind comes too about all these things he shouldn’t know.

I thought about the rot in the floor-boards, now spreading from the bathroom to the bedroom, of the window frames that barely fitted, of the pathological mess of the life we lived: God, but the neglect of it. The house was tidy, now, but give it a week. Coming in through the front door, the neglect would be the first thing that hit you.
House, marriage, and child. She was going to leave you.
Had we neglected each other as we’d neglected the house? I didn’t think so, but how do you know? Only the very naive believe that love is all you need; but the other stuff, the boundaries and the fights, the sex and the food? Hadn’t we been good at that?

The book is really easy to read. It is dialogue-heavy, so it goes fast. It examines a child’s awareness of the world around them and the damaging consequences of cynicism and living passively. I thought of the following books while I was reading (just based on tone), but I wouldn’t click on these recommendations until you have read the book: [spoiler]The Dinner and Defending Jacob.[/spoiler]

Black-eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin

My grandfather once told me that God puts pieces in the wrong places to keep us busy solving puzzles, and in the perfect places so that we never forget there is a God.

Fun-to-read suspense novel that takes place in Texas with an amnesiac narrator. I had a four-star time reading it.

I used to stand in this garden and pretend. The blackbirds stringing across the sky were really wicked witches on brooms. The distant fringes of wheat were the blond bangs of a sleeping giant. The black, mountainous clouds on the horizon were the magical kind that could twirl me to Oz. The exceptions were brutal summer days when there was no movement. No color. Nothingness so infinite and dull it made my heart ache. Before the monster, I would always rather be scared than bored.

When Tessa Cartwright was a teenager, she was buried alive along with other human remains in a field of black-eyed susans. Tessa had little memory of the event, but her testimony was enough to sentence one man to death. Two decades later the man convicted for the crimes is about to be executed and mysterious patches of black-eyed susans have been appearing on her property. She has begun to doubt whether the man is prison is the one who committed the crimes, but she is is scared to confront the past and she has a daughter to protect now. Tessa is under pressure from the his lawyer Bill to remember anything that might exonerate his client. The investigation has little hard evidence to go on, so their only chance at freeing who they believe to be an innocent man is to jog Tessa’s memory. Will she be able to remember in time to save a potentially innocent man?

And the smile. I know that smile because I’ve worn it, the one that pulls at thirteen muscles and strikes a match for all the other smiles in the room and makes you appear perfectly normal and happy.

The narrator is referred to Tessie when she is a child and Tessa when she is an adult. The book is divided into three parts. The first part is “Tessa and Tessie,” which alternates between Tessa when she is a teenager in 1995 and Tessa in the present day. Some of my favorite chapters were those between young Tessie and her psychologist. Tessie is so defiant and so different from the older, more fearful Tessa. The second part is “Countdown” which alternates between testimonies at the trial in 1995 and the countdown to the convicted’s execution in the present day. [spoiler]The third part is “Tessa and Lydia” which alternates between Tessie’s eccentric friend Lydia in the 90s and Tessa in the present day.[/spoiler]

“I thought there would be more people. Where are all the people who scream on Facebook?” “On the couch. Screaming.” (at an execution)

This one was a lot of fun to read. The creepy house and the creepy flowers had me hooked from the beginning. Tessie’s childhood friendship with Lydia was also intriguing. They were really morbid kids! There are quite a few aspects that make Black-eyed Susans stand out. It takes place in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the author adds a lot of Texas flavor to the story. It was fun to recognize many distinctly Texas places and quirks. The book also explores the ramifications of Tessa not remembering, when Tessa and Bill witness an execution in Huntsville. The author goes into the logistics of an execution, as well as the ramifications of the death penalty and incidences affecting the wrongly accused. The forensic science was also really neat, especially the part with the forensic geologist explaining how they identify a person’s geographical history from bone.

He believed that a person’s most profound flaws or virtues emerge in great crisis, or they remain buried forever. I remember leaving his office that day thinking it was sad that ordinary, dull people die all the time without ever knowing they are heroes. All because a girl didn’t go under in the lake right in front of them, or a neighbor’s house didn’t catch fire.

I did not care for the super obvious and needless romance with Bill and the appearance of Tessa’s ex-boyfriend Lucas was completely forgettable. I got a little bored of Tessa’s [spoiler]mostly fruitless[/spoiler] digging, but at least she was doing something! [spoiler]I wish the investigation had led to the conclusion or at least to the person who had the answers, rather than a character appearing and explaining everything. I also wish Tessa would have regained a little more of her memory. I don’t need all the gory details, but a little more than what we got would have been nice![/spoiler]

“There is a reason you feel the need to blame yourself,” he continues. “From all accounts, you were a very careful girl. If you accept the blame—decide you took a rare misstep—you can reassure yourself this was not a random event. If you blame yourself, you can believe that you are still in control of your universe. You’re not. You never will be.”

I also had issues with the structure. There are very short chapters and constant of back-and-forth between time periods and/or characters. Sometimes I don’t mind that type of structure, but it made me feel like I was getting an incomplete picture with this one. I felt like I was trying to piece together the mystery, while I am also trying to piece together the story. That feeling was enhanced by the fact that you don’t get all the answers with this book. You get the main answer, but there are still many questions at the end.

“Closure doesn’t exist,” she responds smoothly. “Just…awareness. That you can’t ever go back. That you know a truth about life’s randomness that most other people don’t.”

Overall it was a good book and lovers of thrillers by Gillian Flynn or Paula Hawkins will like it.

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Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg

Beautifully written, character-driven novel about families dealing with grief.

The house without sound is now loud with nothing, no one.

On the eve of her daughter’s wedding, June Reid’s life changes forever when an explosion kills her daughter Lolly, her daughter’s fiance Will, her longtime boyfriend Luke, and her ex-husband Adam. The victims’ families and the community struggle to put the pieces back together again, each in their own unique way. This book isn’t really about the event that killed the family, though that is addressed. It is about how the family and community cope with their grief.

Who had been fighting with someone they loved? Going at it long enough to unleash the irretrievable words they knew to say only because they had been trusted to know what would hurt the most. Words that cut quick and deep, inflicting damage that only time could repair, but now there was none.

The chapters rotate through a cast of characters. The story is primarily told through the eyes of the grieving parents, but there are also chapters from acquaintances of the victims and their families. I liked that the author included chapters of those who just barely knew the family, because it is interesting to explore how deeply affecting a traumatic event is for the entire community and it gives the reader a deeper understanding of the victims’ place in the community. There was usually at least one piece of information in a chapter that tied it to the next chapter, which really helped the narrative flow almost seamlessly despite the structure.

This is the pivot between youth and age, the thrilling place where everything seems visible, feels possible, where plans are made. On the one side you have childhood and adolescence, which are the murky ascent, and, on the other, you have the decline that is adulthood, old age, the inch-by-inch reckoning of that grand, brief vision with earthbound reality.

It is beautifully written. I never cried, but I felt a deep inner sadness and sense of dread while I was reading. This line from Will’s father, when he is standing on the beach with his family, killed me: “Shoulder to shoulder on that beach I couldn’t bear the idea of losing any of them. Yet I knew we would, one by one, lose each other. Life never felt so gifted.” The very last paragraph gave me goosebumps.

She is lost and alone and it does not matter. Nothing does, she thinks, not for the first time. She circles the idea again and again–that no choice she might make would have any impact on her or anyone else. Before now she would have felt exhilarated by the idea of existing without obligation or consequence but the experience is nothing like she once imagined. This is a half-life, a split purgatory where her body and mind coexist but occupy separate realities.

The characters were so human. I genuinely felt a pit in my stomach about what happened to them and the struggles they were going through. We never really get in the head of most of the victims, but I felt like I knew them and I desperately wished someone could save them from their fate. Most of the people in this book had tough times and difficult relationships, but right before the disaster they were all on the cusp of something great. It is devastating when all of that potential is ripped away in an instant.

I especially felt for Luke, who really had a complicated life and was perpetually a victim of small town gossip. His mother Lydia is probably the character I most wanted to shake, but she is so well-drawn that I couldn’t help but want for her to do better. I have known people who have dealt with grief the way she does and it really gave me a better understanding of how the deep need for connection can create an environment ripe for bad choices.

Rough as life can be, I know in my bones we are supposed to stick around and play our part…And it might be you never know the part you played, what it meant to someone to watch you make your way each day. Maybe someone or something is watching us all make our way. I don’t think we get to know why. It is, as Ben would say about most of what I used to worry about, none of my business.

Tomorrow is never guaranteed; “All we can do is play our parts and keep each other company.” If you liked In the Language of Miracles or Everything I Never Told You, I think you would like this book!

_________________________
Related anecdote:
This phase can stay on for about 4 to 6 hours that is enough time to viagra properien the user. At the point when ingested, it stays fundamentally around 4-6 few cialis samples free hours. With passing time female viagra browse that website season keeps changing and with changed season we do suffer from cold, fever and FLU. IBS is a chronic disorder amerikabulteni.com viagra online for sale that is characterized by abdominal pain or discomfort with alterations in bowel habits. Recently I was watching Grey’s Anatomy (Season 11, Episode 24) and this following conversation snippet made me think back to this book, especially Cissy’s sections:

Maggie: “I didn’t grow up like you. I’ve never lost anyone. I never even had a cat die. I still have all my grandparents. There’s no darkness in my life. Just…I’ve never had it. So I’m not going to come talk to you about it.”

Meredith: “Well, you should always come talk to me. Because whatever it is, chances are I’ve seen worse and I am qualified to tell you how you’ll survive. You should always come and talk to me.”

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

Poking fun at the “Chosen One” trope, with a diverse group of outsiders. Mostly uneventful, but I love the concept and it is good for a few laughs.

The indie kids, huh? You’ve got them at your school, too. That group with the cool-geek haircuts and the thrift shop clothes and names from the fifties. Nice enough, never mean, but always the ones who end up being the Chosen One when the vampires come calling or when the alien queen needs the Source of All Light or something. They’re too cool to ever, ever do anything like go to prom or listen to music other than jazz while reading poetry. They’ve always got some story going on that they’re heroes of. The rest of us just have to live here, hovering around the edges, left out of it all, for the most part. Having said that, the indie kids do die a lot. Which must suck.

Each chapter opens with a paragraph summarizing what the indie kids are up to, but they are not the main focus. This story is about the kids who are on the sidelines while all the action is happening– the extras. One of the most fun parts of this book is seeing the craziness happening in the background through our protagonist’s eyes. The main characters are out of the loop, but their resigned attitudes about these abnormal events cracked me up.

“I wonder if realizing you’re not sure about stuff is what makes you a grown-up?” “Lots of adults seem really sure about things.” “Maybe they’re not grown-up either.”

We follow a diverse group of friends with a unique set of problems, on top of the usual high school problems: OCD, anorexia, being gay, missionary parents, and being worshiped by mountain lions. You know, the usual! The story is told through the voice of Michael, who is just trying to get through the last few months of high school unscathed. There was something superficial about the handling of these characters, which prevented me from really getting inside their heads. Still, I liked the sweet bond between them all. I also like how the author handled Michael’s issues with anxiety. (“But Michael, you’re not responsible for causing it. You’re not morally at fault for it. No more than you would be for a tumor.”)

“Now, you’re sure we’re not going to be ritualistically murdered?” Call Me Steve says, actually looking a bit nervous. “Prom night. Group of diverse teens. Remote cabin . .”
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The book is at its best with its gentle teasing of the “Chosen One” trope and other young adult cliches: the hipster names, oblivious adults, and convoluted love triangles. Some of my other favorite lines: “Satchel and the prince kiss again, but he respects her too much to demand more.” and “ ‘This is worse than when they were all dying beautifully of cancer,’ Henna said, and she’s right.”

What happens to you when you get older? Do you just forget everything from before you turned eighteen? Do you make yourself forget? I mean the cop was old enough to have been a teenager when the whole soul-eating ghost thing was happening, so did he just block it out of his mind? Did he talk himself into not believing it actually happened? Convince himself it was a virus, that the explosion at the old high school was a gas leak? Or is it that he thought what happened to him was so original, so life-changing and harrowing and amazing, that there’s no way he could ever imagine it happening to anyone else?…Honestly. Adults. How do they live in the world? (Or maybe that is how they live in the world.)

While the heroic indie kid Satchel is trying to defeat the Immortals and save the world, Michael is just trying to get through high school and walk the long road to self-acceptance. In the end he realizes that he has been chosen by something better than the random whims of the universe–his friends. The Rest of Us Just Live Here isn’t the most exciting story, but it isn’t supposed to be. The tone is genuine, it doesn’t condescend to its audience and it has some insightful things to say about growing up and being an adult. Despite the lack of eventfulness, this book charmed me and I will definitely be seeking out other books from this author. If you like the concept of this book, you might also enjoy The Lego Movie.

“Not everyone has to be the Chosen One. Not everyone has to be the guy who saves the world. Most people just have to live their lives the best they can, doing the things that are great for them, having great friends, trying to make their lives better, loving people properly. All the while knowing that the world makes no sense but trying to find a way to be happy anyway.”