book blogger

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

~ SamanthaWho ~ 25 Comments

The Ocean at the End of the LaneI was very pleasantly surprised with The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman because I had no expectations when I started reading. A beautifully written story, it is both touching and a bit dazzling.

Our narrator returns to his hometown for a funeral and finds himself drawn to one of the farms neighboring his childhood home. Once there, he revisits an old memory of an adventure he had when he was seven years old. The boy is a lonely child and a bit self-deprecating in a sadly humorous way. Because of this, he is very excited to meet the little girl from the neighboring farm, Lettie. Lettie is mature beyond her eleven years and our narrator is instantly stricken by her wisdom and bravery to face danger as an adult might.

Gaiman does a fantastic job of allowing the reader to get inside the head of a child and I really enjoyed it. There is a really interesting divide between adults and children and the boy refers to the grown-ups in his life as though they are a set of different species.

A few of my favorite lines from the book:

“I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.”

“I lay on the bed and lost myself in stories. I liked that. Books were safer than other people anyway.”

I really recommend The Ocean at the End of the Lane. This is one of those books with lines and ideas that stick with you long after reading it.

The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth

~ SamanthaWho ~ 3 Comments

The Things We KeepI was so excited to receive an advanced readers’ edition of The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth after reading the book description. A story sharing a woman’s experience with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, the book is very touching. I connected with the characters early on and felt for them, which is something I look for while reading.

The book is told from three different perspectives. We first meet Anna, a 38-year-old woman who has been checked into a residential care facility when she begins to show signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Once there she meets another resident her age, Luke, and a touching connection is formed between them. Through these characters, Hepworth illustrates the frustration and sadness of living with Alzheimer’s disease.

We also meet Eve Bennett, a newly single mother, and her daughter Clementine. The story is written from each of their perspectives and it’s very interesting to see how they each deal with the loss of a loved one. Eve begins working at the residential care facility where she meets Anna and Luke and after witnessing their bond, she goes to great lengths to help them.

This is an engaging story and I was hooked quickly. I definitely recommend this read!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for sending me an advanced readers’ edition of The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth in exchange for an honest review! The book is released for sale today, January 19, 2016.

Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins

~ SamanthaWho ~ 11 Comments

Gold Fame CitrusAfter reading 110 pages of Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins, I couldn’t stick with it. I don’t typically stop reading a book once I’ve started, but after I was a third of the way through I still wasn’t excited about the story and found my mind drifting.

The story is built on an interesting idea that a massive drought has swept through California. A drought that is so drastic it sends most of the population away. Luz and Ray, the main characters of the book, are holdouts living in an abandoned mansion in southern California and are surviving on rations and whatever they can scavenge. Claire Vaye Watkins did do a great job illustrating this desert landscape that left me feeling quite thirsty every time I was reading. Unfortunately, I found the writing to be scattered and a bit un-engaging. That’s not to say it’s a bad story though, maybe reading it in another place at another time would be an entirely different experience…

Has anyone else tried reading Gold Fame Citrus? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Leave Your Mark by Aliza Licht

~ SamanthaWho ~ 2 Comments

Leave Your MarkAliza Licht, a highly successful communications executive in the fashion industry, brings us Leave Your Mark. This book is a how-to guide explaining the foundation needed to get ahead in your career, on social media and with your personal brand, through her own experiences. I don’t typically read how-to books, usually choosing much shorter online articles with a list of tips, but I really enjoyed this one!

With a conversational tone, I felt slightly like I was have an extended coffee date with Licht as she explained her top tips for succeeding in any industry as a professional. Her casual tone was very easy to read and engage with. Her advice ranged from broad categories of how to find your passion to writing a short follow-up email. Slightly sassy in tone, I respect Licht’s tell-it-how-it-is attitude because there are some things in life that just shouldn’t be tiptoed around!

As the new year begins, I’m going to do my best to take some of the advice from this book to heart. Here are a few pieces of advice from Leave Your Mark that I think are the most insightful and beneficial:

– “Anticipate your boss’s needs.”
– “You don’t get a promotion for doing your job; you get a promotion for going above and beyond your job.”
– “Don’t just learn your job, learn everyone else’s.”

I graduated from college last spring and as someone entering the business world, I found her advice to be both intelligent and perceptive. Whether it’s applying this advice for my career, on social media platforms like WordPress and Instagram, or while communicating with other professionals, I’m glad to have read Leave Your Mark.

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

~ SamanthaWho ~ 2 Comments

Circling the SunI really enjoyed The Paris Wife by Paula McLain so I was excited to get my hands on her latest book, Circling the Sun. I liked this book, but unfortunately I wasn’t as drawn into the story as I had hoped to be. It was good and I wanted to see how it turned out, but I didn’t feel like I couldn’t put it down.

The book is based on the real life of Beryl Markham, a record-setting pilot. Beryl is a strong character, very alive and brave, and one who wants freedom more than anything else. As a young English girl growing up in colonial Kenya, she faced wild animals regularly, but she used fear to motivate her rather than hold her back. Beryl is a character that is easy to admire.

Along with Beryl’s character I was fascinated to read about life in Africa during the 1920’s. McLain did a great job of creating this wild colorful scenery filled with lions, horses, and other animals.

Throughout the story I had a hard time understanding how each character’s lives could change so often. From romantic partners to careers to houses, each character seemed to be bouncing all around with no sense of stability. As a person that doesn’t always welcome change, this was very strange to read about. Some sections were also a bit slow for me and at times I had a tough time keeping track of the many characters involved.

Circling the Sun is definitely an interesting and well-written story worth a read!

Amazon’s first physical bookstore

~ SamanthaWho ~ 32 Comments

Amazon's physical bookstoreA few weeks after opening, I finally visited the Amazon bookstore in the University Village shopping center of Seattle, Washington.

The first thing I thought (along with just about everyone else hearing the news) is that it’s ironic that Amazon has decided to come out with a physical bookstore when they grew in size and scope by putting so many other physical bookstores out of business.

As far as appearance goes, the bookstore is pretty nice! The store is brightly lit, with rows of bookshelves along with areas designed for handling and testing out kindle products. News coverage of the store has explained that it is different from other bookstores because Amazon is using its huge database to stock  only  products that they believe will sell in a timely manner. Reps from Amazon have also said that instead of the spine out displays that are typical and are able to fit more books, they will show the book faces. This way the books each get more space and are easier to browse through.

Ironic or not, I love a bookstore and Amazon may be onto something with how they stock and display books. Either way, only time will tell the success of Amazon’s first physical bookstore and whether there will be more to come in the future….