whatcha readin'? {books 22, 23 and 24::goal 24}

First off,
can I just say...
YAY ME!!!
I have actually met (and passed) my goal of 24 books
for this year!

Secondly...
I love Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman.
I used to read A LOT of Dragonlance books
which are generally by different authors
but the series that were done by Weis & Hickman
were always my favorite.

And these did not disappoint.

Vikings and dragons and magic...
old gods, mythology,
good vs evil...
a little bit of everything that gets
a geeky heart racing.

I know that there is a 4th book in this series
but I haven't read it yet...
but I did hear that the series may not get finished
so that makes me sad.

5 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥♥'s

NEXT UP:  BEARTOWN - FREDRIK BACKMAN

whatcha readin' {book 21::goal 24}

I am so happy that I read this book.

Sometimes I see a book like this
and I think that I really want to read it
but then, once I start, I realize it's the kind of stuff
I already knew or it's a little too "out-there" for me
to be able to make any kind of connection with.

But not this one.

This one was talking my language.

Plus...he made me laugh.

And a lot of it made sense to me.  I found myself taking notes
and nodding my head.  The whole idea of not giving an f
is not about giving up...it's about being aware of where you are
wasting your precious f's.  And using them on the things that matter
(ie not on the guy that accidentally cut you off on the way to work
this morning).

And this. 
This gets me every time.
The whole "backwards law" thing...
how accepting your negative experiences
is actually, then, a positive experience....
and that chasing positive experiences
can actually be a negative experience.

I know, right.

It's like that whole "This sentence is false" thing.
If that's true...then the sentence is actually true...
which kind of makes it false
(but then, that makes it true)
but if it's false, then...IT'S STILL TRUE.

OK.  Not really the same thing.
(I may have breathed in too much jet fuel over the weekend).

So anyway.  This was a good book.
I found myself thinking about it long after I had read it...
and talking about it with 18
(especially around driving offenses that set him off the deep end)
(hence the reference earlier to maybe not wasting your f's
on the guy that cut you off).

I totally recommend this book, if you like this kind of thing.
It was one that was totally worth the hype in my mind.  :)

4.5 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥♥'s

NEXT UP:  BONES OF THE DRAGON - MARGARET WEIS & TRACY HICKMAN

whatcha readin'? {book 20::goal 24}

Oh.....this book.

I had no idea what this was about...I just picked it up
because I like the cover
and honestly...
I liked the title, too.

I imagined it to be about a little girl
in a make believe world of
cotton candy, carnival horses and
a battle between good and evil
with frogs that turned into princes
and mushrooms that made you taller.

But...that's not what it was about.
At all.

Which was totally ok!
Because what it was about was so fast paced
and terrifying and I couldn't turn the pages
fast enough....

I'm not going to tell you what it's about.

This is not that kind of review.

This is an "I frigging loved this book"
kind of review.

Oh.  But I will say that I loved Lincoln.
I loved how she captured his voice
and all the facets of a mother's love...
how it can cover pride and panic and exasperation and
worry and fear and gratitude all in any number of breaths...

This was a good one.

5 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥♥'s

NEXT UP:  THE SUBTLE ART OF NOT GIVING A F**** -MARK MANSON

whatcha readin'? {book 19::goal 24}

In all honesty, I struggled a bit with this book.
I didn't really like it at the beginning, I found she had a
funny way with words that was sort of throwing me off.

I did like it more as I got further into it but,
seriously, it was a little too gritty and gruesome for me.

If I had read this when I was younger, I may have been more
enthralled...kind of the same way I was with the story of Charles Manson
and how people...girls...blindly followed him
whereas now, I just get irritated with the whole idea.

All in all, I thought it was good and after I finished it,
I did mark it as 4 hearts so I must have liked it but
I finished it back in May so I am wondering why my notes
don't seem to match up with my rating.  This is what happens
when I don't blog about it right away. 
:)

4 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥♥'s

NEXT UP:  FIERCE KINGDOM - GIN PHILLIPS

whatcha readin'? {2018::book 18 - goal 24}

I am honestly not sure
what made me pick up this book.
The cover is not my usual "cover"...
I am very drawn to covers
and will typically pick up a book
just based on that.

But I am glad that I read it.
An interconnected web of stories
set over a period of time
that sees the Great Depression and World War II...
it makes you think about how
everyone has their own story
but sometimes, when you don't know
another person's story...
you assume you know it...
and you make it fit into your own
so that it's easier to comprehend.

It makes me wonder how much I do that in real life.

An interesting read...but it bogged me down a little...
I liked it, but didn't love it.

Maybe it's the cover.

3.5 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥♥'s

NEXT UP:  THE GIRLS - EMMA CLINE