The world is a not a wish granting machine.

Where to begin about 'The Fault in our Stars" by John Green. Well, first off it had been in my list for quite some time and just kept getting lost in the black hole that is my 'To Be Read' shelf. I finally got down to it and wish I had sooner.

In recent memory I cannot remember coming across something so unabashedly honest, heart felt, and sincere without an ounce of cliche. This love story of two teenagers is more true and raw then any I have read in an adult contemporary novel in a long long time.

The story is about Hazel Grace, caner patient at the age of sixteen who will battle until she loses a type of cancer that has attacked her lungs forcing her to cart an oxygen tank around with her at all times. Her cancer is not in remission and in incurable but by a very slim chance some new experimental treatment has kept her going.

Enter Augustus Waters, fellow childhood cancer survivor who lost a limb in his fight but has been in remission since then.

Augustus an Hazel travel through what its like to be a person with cancer who is also trying to live a full life in the time they have. They find kindred spirits in one another and form a bond that even the adults in their lives can see is real and not some overly hormone charged 'young love'. They bond over a book called 'An Imperial Affliction' by a reclusive writer who moved to Amsterdam and hadn't been heard from since. Their joined thoughts and musings on this book they share creates the sub plot of the story that keeps their narrative flowing and engaging while constantly giving us insights into their relationship with one another.

John Green manages to explain what it means to live life through the voice of people who are losing theres. At one point there is an especially emotional scene when Hazel gets very emotional saying that she is a 'grenade' and feels that she should minimize the causalities as much as possible by staying away from everyone and being the reason for their sadness. We see her, as an only child, struggle to live with knowing her parents will be forever changed by the end of her life and she can do nothing to ease their pain; for them she is an open wound that with each day becomes more infected.

I cannot praise the portrayal of human relationships and emotions enough in this story. I think a part of me is always going to be biased to modern fiction because I look for any reason to see through it and deem it unrealistic, but even with every once of my scrutiny, this one held water all the way through.

Even though it is deemed YA, this book has made numerous must read lists and I completely understand why. If you want an excellent story, told in the most achingly raw way then please do yourself a favor and read "The Fault in our Stars." This one will stay with you for a long time, I promise.

4.5 out of 5.



P.s. Keep an eye and an ear open for news about this books upcoming adaptation to the big school coming soon! If you don't want the plot to be spoiled for you, I suggest you find time to read it soon!

“Life is ridiculous. It's not our fault.”

Maddie, a sixteen year old high school student, is off to rehab. She has a serious substance abuse problem and was left with no other alternatives in her young life than to go into a treatment facility before she even comes close to walking in a cap and gown.
 
In the Spring Meadow rehab center she meets fellow teenager Trish and slowly builds a friendship based on their common struggle. Trish becomes a confidant and sounding board as well as a source of entertainment. Maddie also meets Stewart, devilishly handsome, punk rocker type who checked into the center several weeks before Maddie's checkout date. The two become very close, fall in love and have to navigate sober living with graduating high school and living hours apart.
 
Upon Maddie's release from treatment, she leaves Stewart and goes back to high school in an attempt to graduate and move on to college. She finds that her friends before can no longer be her friends after if she wants to stay sober, which she does. The social adjustment comes with ups, downs, temptations and triumphs. She struggles with the changes but finds herself making it one day at a time with the help of some unlikely individuals.
 
A series of tragic and violent events test her resolve and commitment to sobriety while she is trying to completely turn her life around, mend broken relationships, and become the person she thinks she can be.
 
This book is classified YA and reads like one but it deals with difficult subject matter. The most difficult part about this is that these issues are not over exaggerated and do happen to kids this young. In a world where 12 looks like 25, pre teens and teenagers come face to face with the harshness of reality at an increasingly early age. All it takes is one time for an experience to morph into a habit which morphs into an addiction.
 
I have a bit of an issue with the story because it seems like Maddie's transition is too easy. For anyone who has ever swore to themselves they would stop a behavior knows the roller coaster of successes and failures. The first several days you are completely determined and think you are in complete control but then just as suddenly things go off the rails; multiple that times ten for someone who is addicted and not just wanting to change aspects of their lives. 
 
This book does however deal honestly and truthfully with the social changes that happen when a person gets sober. Free times change, associates change, ideas of a good time change, everything about that life changes. It takes time to adjust and find what a new normal is. Substance abuse is a lifestyle and non abusive is another lifestyle. These days it seems like everyone knows someone who has an addiction whether it be drugs, alcohol, food, gambling...everyone is fighting a battle and everyone can benefit from taking a step back from judgement and look to make a positive impact in that persons life.
 
This book is a good poolside/beach read. It has short chapters, moves incredibly quickly and will keep you interested. Does Maddie stay sober? Does she end up with Stewart? Does she graduate high school and make it to college? To find out, pick up Recovery Road today.
 
2.5 out of 5 

Your past is never far behind.

Schroder by Amity Gaige is a fascinating novel that probes what it mean to have a name, a past and how things can go so wrong so fast, even with the best of intentions.

Our main character here is Eric Kennedy, formerly Eric Schroder, a naturalized American who escaped from East Germany. There was no scandal following him from Germany, but somehow on arriving in Boston he decided he didn't belong and would assume the Kennedy name. As with any lie, once you've started that ball rolling it's hard to stop. So, overtime, Eric Schroder essentially was Eric Kennedy, even in his own mind.

Years later he meets the woman of his dreams, Laura, and they have an incredibly gifted daughter, Meadow. Things progress in the true fashion of the early stages of the American dream until the Kennedy's begin divorce proceedings. Somewhere along the line Eric became the lesser of the two parents and was allowed only supervised visits with Meadow. This doesn't sit well with him and the two of them go on a road trip to reconnect and escape the truths he will inevitably have to tell.

Eric was/is not a bad father and in his attempts to be present for his daughter he broke the laws of the custody agreement and the story takes off from there.

The narrative is written as a letter from Eric to his estranged wife Laura. During his telling we as readers are challenged with so many conflicting emotions it leaves us exhausted but enthralled all at the same time. Gaige's use of language is so masterful it flows seamlessly from the page into your brain and makes the words almost seem like you wrote them yourself. Schroder is such an honest account of life and emotion without the over exaggerations that tend to weigh other novels down. It explores what it means to be a father, a person with a past, a person who cannot come to terms with their present. 

Encompassing the full range of human emotion, Schroder by Amity Gaige is a fulfilling, entertaining, and worthwhile beginning of Summer read.

4 out of 5.

Final Grade: D-

I gave up on this one long before I quit reading it. The Writing Class  by Jincy Willett is a story about a single, middle aged woman names Amy who was a hot shot young writer getting published right out of the gate at the age of 22. After he initial burst of success she had hit a block and jus as fast as she became a successful writer, she became an out of work, single, middle aged, unattractive woman who lives alone with her dog.

To make a living she began teaching a fiction writing course at a local college. Normally the classes were filled with a mix of old women and their romance novels, young hot shot guys with their love of James Patterson and the occasionally aspiring children's book author who never had kids. The only thing that all her classes had in common over the years was that very very few people in them had any actual talent and she spent her semesters faking enthusiasm and counting down the weeks.

Until a different kind of class came along. Amy found that this time she actually had a mix of people who kept her interested and had some talent. Things were shaping up nicely through the first couple of weeks until one among them started to play some pranks that bordered on inappropriate and dangerous. Dubbed 'The Sniper', Amy and the class begin to try to figure out which among them was playing these pranks and causing a disturbance.

This is when I quit. First of all I was really bored with the characters and didn't feel invested in them or their stories. Secondly, I think the term 'sniper' is so glib and annoying it pissed me off every time I read it. I don't know, maybe it's because I have never been a fan of the mystery genre or if I don't care for the 'Who done it' type story line but  I was not into this one at all. Digging through the last twenty pages that I decided to read was like pulling out eyelashes one by one.

I can't remember a time when I stopped reading a book this far into it but my 'to be read' stack is so deep that I realized I didn't have to waste time on books I didn't like so I stopped. I pulled my bookmark and went into my office to grab my next book.

There was nothing inherently wrong with the story other than I was really bored. If you like mystery stories I think the hunt for the dreaded 'Sniper' may keep you into it. Although I will say that there are so many books out there to we cannot possibly hope to read them all so I would bypass this one. They can't all be winners.

In this writing class, everyone got an F.

•"An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them."

I have been waiting a long time for a book like this to come across my desk and all I needed to do was go back to my roots and shoot for the classics. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde came to me through our book club pick and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

 

Wilde brings us the story of devilishly handsome, suave, pure, Dorian Gray. He is the talk of the town for his unbelievably striking good looks. The young man is a sitter for famous English painter Basil Hallworth who has an unhealthy fascination with Gray, and says that all his inspiration for art comes from him. He worships his beauty and youth with such a deep fascination in a way that only an artist can.

 

Hallworth’s finished portrait of Dorian is his masterpiece. It captures everything about him so well that the subject himself despises it. He thinks it so unfair that this painting get to live on frozen in time while every second he looks at it, he becomes a second older and a second less attractive. In a fit of youthful rage and pestilence Dorian wishes that the painting could age and he remain forever as he is today. Little did he know, his wish would come true. Upon next seeing the portrait the face had grown older somehow. It turns out that every decision and weight of life that normally shows on a face shows up on his portrait instead. Dorian's portrait reflects his inner soul and personality while his physical self shows nothing but perfect. Grays life goes on a strange downward spiral with his vanity and self indulgences turning him mad and bringing about his miserable demise all under the mocking vulgarity of his portrait.
 
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a fascinating look at what it means to be youthful, honest, moral, and alive. Oscar Wilde uses very dense language and if you absent mindedly read this one you will miss so much. This is the type of book that requires careful attention and a keen reader’s eye; however, I promise you it is worth it. 
Our group had mixed reactions about it. I loved it through and through, while several others liked the sentiment and overall message but had a hard time getting through it page by page. The language was a bit of a hang up for a couple of others as well. 
If you are looking for a thought provoking and deeply philosophical read than I highly recommend "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Plus, like one of our club members noted 'Reading this book makes you feel smarter.'