Book Review: This Time Together by Carol Burnett

This Time Together is a memoir of various stories from Carol Burnett's life. The idea for the book came from a touring show she did by the same name where she would just allow audience members to ask questions and she would answer them. Over the years, certain questions were asked more frequently than others and she wanted a way to share her favorite stories with her children in later years, so she decided to write them down. She begins with her childhood, living with her grandma (Nanny) and moving from Texas to California. I loved the story about her sister, Christine, and the parakeet she received for her birthday one year, Tweety. Tweety became Carol's mother's best pal, and repeated many of the things she would frequently say, such as ," Pretty Bastard!" and, "Where the hell have you been?" She goes on to tell about how a kind man saw her perform while she was attending UCLA, and when he discovered she wanted to go to New York to pursue musical theater he gave her a 5 year loan of $1000  to get her there on the condition that she pa it back with no interest, that she help others get started in the future, and that she never reveal his identity. She talks about auditioning for shows and getting her first steady job on a weekly variety show. There are many funny instances she recounts along the way, including how her notorious Tarzan yell saved her from a mugger once. She talks about how she met and married her two husbands, having her daughters, her success in Once Upon A Mattress and more. She give the most details about what most people nowadays know her for - The Carol Burnett Show - with funny stories about the cast and crew as well as her favorite skits and jokes from the show. All in all, the book is a lighthearted look at the life of a great performer and some of the amazing experiences she was lucky enough to have.

Carol Burnett has always been a bit of an idol of mine since I was a kid and first watched the movie Annie. As I went on to be a theater nerd in my teenage years, she was nothing short of a super star who we all emulated everyday. She is a wonderful performer, and an extremely kind and funny woman to boot. Listening to her read this memoir to me was a real treat and it was just what I hoped for when I picked it up. Having read a few memoirs of performers from this generation now, I'm constantly struck by how humble they are about all their successes. It's so refreshing compared to the attitudes of many stars today. Talented people who performed from the 1950s to the 1970s seem to be much more like normal people who are thankful for their incredible luck at being able to do something that they loved for their livelihood, and it just endears them all the more. Even if you aren't familiar with Carol Burnett's repertoire, I would recommend this book. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: Joyful Wisdom by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

It's kind of random how I came across this book - I had never heard of it before in spite of its best seller status. I know I've hinted before that I'm going through some big things in my personal life, so I'm sure this genre of book makes sense in that respect, but the biggest thing that lead me to this book is that my husband has really gotten into Buddhism lately and I wanted to be able to keep up with him so I searched my library catalog for "Buddhism" and perused the selection. I narrowed things down to what audiobooks were available (realistically I am driving so much that audiobooks are my best option to read right now), and this was first on the list that looked good to me. I'm glad to report that this blind picking method worked out well this time :)

Joyful Wisdom is what I like to summarize (loosely) as a practical guide to Buddhist meditation. The author is a monk from Nepal who travels around the world and teaches these basics. The book is broken down into 3 main sections: Principles, Experience, and Application. He covers the basic thought and history behind Buddhism first, moving onto what those basics mean in your own life, and then tells you how to apply these teachings to benefit your life. He uses examples not only from ancient Buddhist texts and teachings, but also from some of his modern students and what these specific techniques did for them. In the application section, he literally breaks down how to meditate on a specific Buddhist principle with instructions such as, "Assume the 7 point position. Clear your thoughts and think about a person who you feel gratitude for. Don't ponder on it for more than a few minutes." Very practical. Very precise. He even talks about how it's ok and even needed to take breaks, and how even if we feel like we are failing because we can't clear our mind, that's actually a good thing. Basically there is no failure - a nice notion to go into things with, really.

I have always been the type of person who was interested in meditation, but I just never found any explanations that made sense to me as to how to go about it. I'm not one who easily relates to metaphysical-speak like, "make friends with your fears." Seriously? What? How does one do that? The greatest thing I gained from this book is an explanation of the meditation process that actually made sense to me. It was also wonderful to learn that I am not alone or unprepared for this practice - in fact, most people feel similar to me when they can't get their head clear enough to focus on what they think they should. It's about clearing other thoughts out of the way so that you can focus on what surfaces during that clarity. If that thought bubbles up to the top, obviously it is at the forefront of your mind and needs your attention. I've never had such a rational sounding break down of meditation before. I fully believe that anyone who is interested in meditation, whether you've tried it and felt like you couldn't do it, or if you're like me and have never fully tried because it never made sense, this book is what you need. There is so much information in here that I'm sure it would help even a seasoned meditator.

I'm sure there is plenty more that I could say about this book, but just know that I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

I came across a very interesting book list on Pinterest several months ago called 40+ Life-Changing Books To Read This Year. Normally I am not a big "self-help" book type person, but these books seemed different. All of them were about general life topics (finances, habits, diet, happiness, etc) and a few of them stuck out to me at the time. I've had a very difficult few months, I think I've been fairly up front about that on this blog. Not to get dramatic, but I would even go as far to say that the last 2 months in particular have been the hardest of my life. I discovered this list around the time that the current issues began, and I decided my life could use a little changing for the better, so why not give some of these books a try? I started searching the audiobooks available at my library, and the first one that sounded interesting to me that was available was The Happiness Advantage - what better place to start than by helping yourself be happier?

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor is pretty much the perfect combination of science and emotion (for me, at least). Shawn Achor is a Harvard professor who specializes in positive psychology and its benefits. The book advertises itself as a guide to "fuel success and performance at work," but the concepts are incredibly applicable to your daily life, not just work. Shawn Achor talks about his experience as a business consultant at the beginning of our current recession. His job was to come in and tell these employees how being happier will make them more productive ... when in reality they had very little to be happy about (it was the time of mass layoffs and closing businesses). In his lectures, he would teach the idea of focusing on key decisions in the workers' day to increase their happiness and then have them watch for the results. He helped companies like American Express and IBM - definitely the heavy hitters of the game at the time.

The thing I like most about the book (in my opinion) is that it doesn't just say, "Be happy, you'll do better in life." The book backs up every suggestion with a scientific or sociological study. I am a person who needs more than just some warm and fuzzy affirmations to make me want to change, and this book fulfills that need for me. It has been a while since I read it, so I can't site many specific examples, but here are a few things I learned/loved. People who say they are "naturally unlucky" tend to not notice outside opportunities to make their situation better (backed up by a very cool study). Your ability to persevere in trials can be developed like a muscle and will make you happier. The 20 second rule is absolutely a real thing in my life - this is the idea that something that will take 20 seconds longer to accomplish (i.e. is 20 seconds less convenient to access, etc) will make your brain less likely to actually push you to do it. This is something that I noticed about myself even before I read this book, but now I have a Harvard professor's word on the subject, lol.

In spite of my reservations, I enjoyed this book immensely. It really is true that this book will change your life. It didn't cause any huge events to come to pass or anything, but it helped me to re-tune my brain in small ways to help me look at the brighter side and it really has made a huge difference in how I perceive my situation. Things could always be worse than they are, and knowing that can make a big difference in how happy I am. I have developed a greater appreciation of things I have verses things I don't have, and I catch myself in my former negative habits at work and with my husband now so I can make beneficial changes that I did not recognize before reading this book. I cannot recommend reading this enough - in fact, I can only imagine how much better we could all be if everyone read it. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

Man, it has been a long time since I posted any book reviews on here! That doesn't mean I haven't been reading, quite the opposite actually, I just haven't quite felt like the brain jog of sitting down and writing formal reviews. I'm always up to date on Goodreads if you're ever curious :) Anyway, on with the review!

As a thank you to the volunteers for World Book Night, we were allowed to pick 3 audiobooks from a list of select titles that were distributed this year (how nice is that?!). I was a little torn with the available choices, but my wild card ended up being After the Funeral by Agatha Christie.

Richard Abernathy dies suddenly, leaving his large estate divided between 6 family members, all of whom are siblings or nieces/nephews. After the funeral when Mr. Abernathy's lawyer sits the family down to reveal the contents of the will, Abernathy's sister, Cora (who is known for being innocently curt and clueless with what is appropriate in conversation), suddenly makes the statement, "Well he was murdered, wasn't he?", sparking a moment's interest from the others before they brush it off. Everyone else sits up to take notice, however, when the very next day Cora is violently killed in her sleep. The family lawyer becomes so worried that he calls in his old friend, Hercule Poirot, to question the other family members and investigate the case. There are quite a few twists to the plot, as should be expected, and a very big surprise in the end as to who done it and why.

I now, officially, know where all the stereotypes about mystery novels came from. This was my first ever experience with Agatha Christie, and overall it was entertaining, if a little cliché. It kept me involved enough in the story to not get bored. I will say I was a bit disappointed with how random the killer's motive was, but considering this is #29 in the Poirot books I guess I can understand that you would run out of reasonable reasons to kill someone, lol. The book was definitely well written and well researched - all of the clues made sense. I did enjoy having the little glimpse into life in England after WWII. I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. It was a fun little read, though I don't really feel the need to delve into the genre again any time soon.

Book Review: Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris

I'll admit - I first only added this book to my list because of the crazy title. Oddly enough this method of choice has worked well for me before and didn't fail me here either.

Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls is a collection of essays/short stories, most of which have a humorous tone. It opens up with what ended up being one of my favorites about the author's search for a real taxidermy owl. I knew at that point that this guy was my kind of person. David Sedaris tells many stories of his life and childhood - many instances with his very authoritarian father, his book patrons, his foreign friends. I loved an essay about when he tried to learn German using the Pilsner Language series - apparently the German version is more affected by German customs than other Pilsner language discs. I also really loved when he describes one of his book tours. During the meet and greet portion, he always asks each person who comes up to meet him a random question. When one woman came up, he suddenly drew a blank and couldn't think of what to ask. He just blurted out, "When was the last time you touched a monkey?" He thought that the woman would say not since she was a child or many years ago, but she responded, "Ooh, can you smell it on me?" lol It turned out that she worked in some kind of monkey sanctuary.

I found the style of this book much like the style of one of my favorite authors, Chuck Klosterman, making me just want to read more from David Sedaris. I very much enjoyed his wit and sarcasm  and the way he can make these seemingly everyday situations worth remembering. I can't wait to see what his other books hold :) I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Having just recently finished The Hunger Games, I continued down the young-adult-book spiral and finished off the series by reading Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

Catching Fire picks up with Katniss and Peeta back at home and in trouble with The Capital. The whole first section of the book consists of them travelling through the other districts, trying to make their love story believable. In the end, the president is not convinced, and in what appears to be retaliation the two of them are put into the next Hunger Games. I won't go into more details in case anyone reading this hasn't seen the movie or read the book yet. Overall, I was not really happy with where the story was going. Katniss, who was fairly level headed and mature beyond her years in the first book, comes across as a whiny teenager in the second. She flat out annoyed me most of the time. Also, the book has them contemplating "kissing" a lot. I guess I can't really complain since it is a book written for teens and pre-teens, but it was pretty childish. I'm not saying I wanted sex scenes, wuite the contrary, but I could have done without the poorly developed love triangle. Overall, I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. The decent was only just beginning...

Mockingjay picks up with Panem in full on war. The districts are rebelling and Katniss finds herself in the hands of the rebel forces. After patching her up, they want her to be their "mockingjay" - basically a propaganda-style spokesperson for their cause. Katniss hems and haws about doing the job, succumbing to it in the end. Then there is war. I don't want to divulge too much since I know some people are really invested in this series of films. Suffice it to say that while the first two books at least had a clear point and climax (the actual Hunger Games), this third book is all over the place. The battles are not really well described and I kept finding myself back tracking to figure out how they ended up where they were - the transitions were that sharp. The whiny Katniss of the second book only becomes worse in the third. Seriously, you're not happy with The Capital and hope for an uprising for the 2 first books, then when the uprising happens you can't decide whether you like it or not? Show some stinking conviction and make up your damn mind. There are so many things that happen that in no way were essential to the plot - I mean how many times can the girl get hurt doing something stupid? Quickly after I began the third book I saw way too many correlations with Russian revolutionary history for it to have been a coincidence. The despot-like early government is overthrown by an incredibly strict communism-like government with a corrupt leader? Two large bodies of power threatening nuclear war? Totally Russia, amiright? I also absolutely hated the ending. I fell like I almost could have gotten over my other qualms with the final two books if it all ended well, but frankly I was ticked off with how badly it just fizzled out. Clearly the author lost her steam. This series should have remained as just one book: The Hunger Games. I was on board with the first book, but the next two just made me feel like I wasted my time. Even collecting my thoughts to write this review made me say, "Ugh...". I give Mockingjay 2 out of 5 stars.

I do apologize to anyone out there who liked this series - so far I seem to be a major minority. As I've gotten older I have developed a distaste for many book series, in particular of the young adult genre. It's exactly like what I see happening to films. They start off with a huge success in the first book, then just deliver crap from then on out knowing that people will buy it because they enjoyed the first one and want to see what happens next. I think it's easiest to get away with this type of quality fade in young adult novels since the kids usually aren't the ones doing the buying - the next birthday or holiday some older relative will think, "Oh, Jenny really loved the first book in this series. I'm going to buy the entire box set of the rest," and the publishers rake in the cash. We need to take a stand against crap books, ya'll. Quit spending your money on it and eventually we will end up with a higher quality of entertainment.

P.S. I an dying to see how they translate Mockingjay into a movie. Seriously, you could cut more than half of that book ans still get the message. Of course I'll be waiting until I can rent it so I don't boost the box office sales, lol. Rant over.

Book Review: The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

I was on a serious book kick this past week and after finishing The Hunger Games, I tried to "check out" the sequel and it was not available. I needed something to fill the void, so I started looking through what was available on the rest of my "wishlist" from the local library, and I decided to give The Silver Linings Playbook a go.

I'm sure many people have seen the rather successful movie by now, but if you are like me and haven't I'll clue you in. Pat Peoples is in a tragic accident that puts him in a mental health facility for quite some time. The story picks up when his mother arranges for him to be released in her care and brings him back home to New Jersey to try to give him a life again. Pat soon realizes that he can't remember about 4 years of his life. He decides that his life is a movie that God is making, and he's had so many bad things happen that he is waiting for his 'silver lining' at the end of his movie. He spends his time working out to impress his estranged wife in hopes she will see he is a changed man and want to end their "apart time". Pat becomes obsessed with his fitness routine and the Philadelphia Eagles and those take up most of his time. His family avoids talking about his wife at all, and his therapist constantly questions why Pat is still so bent on impressing his wife when he has had no reason to believe he will see her again. Pat talks constantly about his wife to everyone, always mentioning how he was a bad husband and has changed himself completely to be kinder and treat his wife how she deserves in the future.

Pat becomes friends with his childhood best friend's wife's sister, Tiffany, shortly after moving back. Tiffany's husband died a while before and she has been dealing with her own mental health as well. At first Pat thinks Tiffany is strange, but they become friends and begin to help one another more than either of them realize. Tiffany enlists Pat to dance in an Dance Away Depression showcase in exchange for helping him communicate with his wife.

I feel like I shouldn't reveal more of the story in case you should decide to read this book, which I would absolutely recommend. Pat is a very endearing character. He is 34 but kind of talks and thinks like a teenager, which you come to learn is a result of his unfortunate accident. He has glimpses of true adulthood though, so you know that the old Pat is still in there somewhere, and parts of him are deliberately suppressed in an effort to be a better man for his wife. There is a great deal of football jargon in this book, and though I am in no way a football fan, I came to see why it was so important to Pat. I still laugh to myself when I think of Pat's nightmares about Kenny G (Pat's nemesis) standing over him and evilly playing Songbird, as well as the big dance scene that is choreographed to Total Eclipse of the Heart. These two instances alone made me look forward to seeing the movie, but I am told that neither of those things are depicted as such in the movie which makes me sad, lol. I quickly fell in love with this story and couldn't get enough. I listened to the entire audiobook in just over 24 hours. It's a quirky love story with a lot of humor and meaning.

This book was absolutely up my alley and it was nice to enjoy a book this much again. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed other books too but I connected more with this story. Pat is so optimistic and even though you soon realize that his hopes of reconciling with his wife will probably never be fulfilled, you can't help but hold out the hope yourself. If you're in the mood for a meaningful look at a different kind of life, I recommend you give this book a try. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Ok, yes, I have officially jumped on The Hunger Games' band wagon. Normally I'm not a huge young adult fiction fan and generally shun any YA series that are popular on mere principal; but I have seen the films and enjoyed them, thus leading me to say, "Eh, why not?" when I needed a new audiobook to listen to while knitting.

In case you've lived under some kind of large rock for the last 5 years,The Hunger Games is a dystopian novel about a country called Panem. Before Panem was officially established, their land was constantly at war. A controlling body came in and basically beat all the others into submission, setting up their own government and separating the country into 12 districts. Each district is sectioned off by what that area produces for their country (lumber, coal, agriculture, etc), and district members are all controlled by The Capital. In order to keep their whip in hand, The Capital enforces The Hunger Games each year, treated as a kind of twisted Olympics where a boy and girl from each district are thrown into a contained arena with each district's "tributes" where they all fight to the death. 

While I enjoy the story of this series, I do have a few misgivings (of course, because I'm me and this is a YA novel, lol). I mean, what kind of society allows their teenagers to be sacrificed for 75 YEARS without trying to stop it? I don't think any crazy governing body in the history of man has had that kind of control since the medieval era, and even then you can trace it back to their people being uneducated which is not the case in Panem. This, to me, is completely unrealistic, lol. Once I let go of my little hang ups, the story itself is good and presents a good message: You shouldn't go along with something when you know it is wrong, no matter what public opinion seems to be. In spite of having to fight for their lives, Katniss and Peeta stand up for the unfair position they are placed in and essentially stick it to the man in the end. I've already seen the second film, so I generally know where the series is going and that theme withstands. The story helps illustrate that even if you are "a kid", you can still stand up and cause change, a valuable lesson at any age. 

I give The Hunger Games 4 out of 5 stars. I can't say that I feel I gained much mentally by reading this book, but the story was enjoyable and it presents some good ideas. I will read the rest of the series which is more than I can say for most other YA books I've taken a chance on. At least this series gives our youth a valuable lesson about life.

Book Review: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

I recently discovered that my local library has audiobook downloads you can "check out" online and I could not wait to browse the list of available titles. How fantastic is it that you can have a book read to you within a few minutes - and some are even available on you phone! How awesome is that?! I spent a few hours going through the whole library worth and I made a "wishlist" of titles I would like to read. Many of my wanted titles were currently checked out, but when I saw this one I quickly snatched it before anyone else did.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood was one of the World Book Night titles for 2013 and has interested me ever since. The book takes place in a dystopian future where the United States is no more and the area has been taken over by a fundamentalist Christian religious group and called Gilead. In Gilead, women are controlled: they cannot hold property, converse or consort with men they are not married to, or even read and write. In the years before Gilead was established, pregnancy became rare. The narrator tells you it is because of chemicals we expose ourselves too and the situation becomes so precarious that a new faction of society is formed: the handmaids. Handmaids act as surrogates, each one being assigned to a husband and wife who have been childless. The handmaids are all "viable" women who had the choice to either live this life or be sent to "the colonies", which is basically just a nuclear fall out site where they would be exposed to severe radiation and die a horrible death. The handmaids are given 3 chances to bare acceptable offspring for the family they are assigned to - there is only a 1 in 4 chance that the baby will be "normal" and not deformed from the chemicals and radiation - the other 75% of them are called "unbabies" and are killed.

It's hard to wrap up the complicated society of this book in just a short review here, but I look at it as a combination of most religious and political groups that are considered backward and frightening to modern Americans. It would be like combining the most extreme laws of Amish, Shariah, Nazi and Presbyterian fundamentalism. Everything is controlled by men who impose incredibly restrictive laws that are for the "protection" of their women. The laws are really used to keep their people at bay, too afraid to speak up and powerless to fight the controlling body.

The narrator has been forced into the life she leads. Her child was taken away from her before "the war", and now she has been through a "women's center" where she is basically brainwashed into leading this life. She lives how she is expected but never completely accepts or believes in what she is doing, eventually leading to her breaking a few rules just to mix things up in her miserable life.

I feel like I'm kind of rambling, so I'll just get to the heart of what I thought. This books was a great warning of what can happen in any society controlled by one religion. There is no freedom except for those who are high enough up in the government that they are "above" the common man and therefor feel that it is ok for them to go outside the law but not others. The women are forced into strict rituals that are said to be for their own good, when in reality it is all so they can be kept down and ignorant of the bigger picture. We may all wish that our own religion played a bigger part in the laws of our country, whatever religion that may be, but this book really outlines how slippery that slope is. No matter what the intentions are of any religion, man is a greedy and imperfect animal; and when we allow a governing body to limit our freedoms for what they claim is "our own good", we are allowing another imperfect being to control us and use us as pawns for their own benefit.

I really enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale. It was not only incredibly thought provoking, but the story was enjoyable in and of itself. The book was very well written and the characters all very lifelike. You can't help but feel for all of the women involved, no matter what their social status they all have their own hardships in this strange life. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It's certainly one to read when you want to reexamine your stance on government and religion.

Book Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The Thousander Club decided on Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn for the book of the month of February. It seemed interesting, so I decided to join in and give it a read. Well, give it a listen since I read this by audiobook.

The book started off interesting enough - a man comes home on his 5th anniversary to find the house showing signs of struggle and his wife missing. As evidence is found, it seems to point more and more to the husband as the prime suspect. Throughout the first part of the book you learn how Amy and Nick's relationship began and what their life together was like over the last 5 years. You learn about their personalities and quirks both through the husband's reflections as well as intermittent diary entries from the wife. By the end of this section of the book, the police are positive that Nick (the husband) is their man even though he keep protesting he is innocent. There is a huge twist, which I will not mention here so I don't spoil it for anyone who want to read the book, but it is quite big and forms the remaining half of the book.

I was not a big fan of this book. In my opinion, the 3 parts can be broken down like this: Part 1 - Ridiculously clichéed Dateline episode; Part 2 - Actually interesting and worth reading; Part 3 - The Author ran out of steam, yet couldn't let the villain get their just desserts, so it just fizzles out into a crap ending. I get that the author was trying to be different and deliberately not end happily, but I feel that the book really suffered because of it. The book went from being well formed and well written to feeling forced. Also, the two main characters are "realistic" to the point of being unlikable. I will say that it was eloquently written, though there was quite a bit of language that I didn't love, the large part of the book was almost poetic at times and very to the point. All in all, it left a feeling of "Ugh" when I finished it, so I definitely will not be venturing further into the world of Gillian Flynn novels. I give this book 2 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: Treasure Island

I received the audiobook of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson for free last month and it kept my daily commute entertaining a few weeks ago :)

I don't think it's possible to not know the story of Treasure Island if you live in an English speaking country. I remember watching the old Disney version when we had a substitute teacher in elementary school, and who doesn't love the Muppet version :) My exposure to this story has been long and engrained, but I never realized how many changes all of these movies made until now.

Treasure Island tells the exciting story of Jim Hawkins, a young English boy who ends up on a pirate-ridden adventure by complete coincidence. The Captain, a "seafaring man" staying at his family's inn, dies leaving behind the debt of his bill and a group of dangerous men who have promised to return later that night. Jim and his mother go through The Captain's trunk to collect the money he owes them and the stumble on a paper packet that turns out to be the only map to the location of the Captain Flint's treasure. Flint's treasure was a myth that even those who weren't connected with seamen knew about, so Jim takes the map to his friend the local doctor and thus begins a voyage to claim the treasure. They employ a man named John Silver to be the ship's cook for the voyage, they trust him completely. Unbeknownst to Jim and his group, the crew Silver finds for them are all Flint's former men and they plan to take the gold for themselves once they find it. Jim learns of their treachery and his group of honest men escape to the island before the pirates can do anything. There are several battles that take place, several life or death situations, treasure, marooning, and everything other typical pirate related excitement you can think of. 

I can see how sensational this story was in the 1800s when this book was first written, as well as why it is still greatly endeared today. I now can point out all the things every movie has left out (example: do you know who Ben Gunn is?) as well as how many little things they changed that completely altered the outcome of the story. Even though I have heard this story most of my life in one way or another, it was like reading a different tale in a way. I got a real feel for just how sly John Silver is as well as how stupid Squire Trelawny is for trusting him. No matter how many films you've seen, you still stand to learn something more and enjoy the book they are all based off of. This is s story that will no doubt be a favorite as long as there are people around to read it :)

Book Review: The Great Gatsby

So, about a month ago I posted a link to get The Great Gatsby audiobook for free. That week happened to coincide with a day full of plumbers in my house, so I spent my time knitting this headband and listening to the book. I finished the whole thing! 5 hours of having a book read to me, lol, who knows what the plumbers thought I was doing.

Most people my age are surprised to hear that I hadn't read The Great Gatsby before now as it is required reading here in 11th or 12th grade. Since I took AP English classes, I didn't have the same book requirements and I just never got around to reading it. I always knew the story vaguely, but I had never even watched the Robert Redford movie to know more than just generalities. This was my first ever audiobook as well as my first experience with F. Scott Fitzgerald, and I am happy to say it will not be the last.

The Great Gatsby is a story about the lengths a man will go to for the woman he loves. Gatsby gears his entire life around becoming rich so that Daisy, the girl who just couldn't marry a poor man when she was young, would see what she had missed out on. It's kind of a crazy idea to base your whole life around proving something to another person, but when you think about it this is not that uncommon of an occurrence. Case and point, how many people lose weight or pretend they have some fancy job to impress old friends or rivals from high school? Gatsby just takes this notion to the extreme, and it works out to his favor and detriment in the end. He changes his entire life to get the revenge he wants, and it effects everyone connected with him in the process.

Though it may not be the interpretation 12th grade English books drive home, I got an overwhelming sense of "Be Careful What You Wish For" when the reading was over. The story talks about the opulence of the 1920s, but the heart of the story is what a man will go through to get what he wants and how what you want comes at a serious price. I absolutely loved the writing style and look forward to the next F. Scott Fitzgerald book that I read. Now I am all set to see the new movie and pick it apart :)

Free Treasure Island Audiobook Download

 Downpour.com has another great audiobook for Free today :) Just go here to get the audiobook of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Add the book to your cart and use promo code FREEISLAND at checkout. It will make your total $0.00 and then you can download it and listen away!

I already listened to The Great Gatsby last week when they gave that out for free and I really loved it. The narrator was very good and I really enjoyed it. So hurry while this lasts!

Free The Great Gatsby AudioBook Download (Today Only)

Today Only (4/25), Downpour.com has released a code to get an audiobook download of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald for FREE! This is a classic and wonderful story, plus the movie is coming out in May (it's going to be epic!) so why not read/listen to the real deal to get yourself excited? To get this freebie, just add the book to your cart and enter promo code freegatsy at checkout.

You will need to create an account on Downpour.com and enter your billing info, but that's it and they will email you your audiobook!

I hope you enjoy it!