Book 189: Origin by Dan Brown (Audiobook)

The author of The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons wrote this book last year and it was heralded by everyone who read it as amazing. I'm not sure I'd use that word to describe it, but it certainly was entertaining.

I really like Dan Brown for his original stories and the fascinating way he weaves together fact and fiction. Origin didn't disappoint at all in that aspect. In fact, I can't imagine how much research Brown had to conduct to create the story lines of Origin and his previous books.

Where I feel he falls short, though, is in the dialogue. The main character, Robert Langdon, is the same professor that unraveled the mysteries in the books cited above. In those books and in Origin, when Professor Langdon explains something to another character, it's almost like he's reading the information out of a textbook. For me, the dialogue makes the exchanges feel disingenuous.

Other than that one small thing, Origin was a fascinating read. I loved the characters and plot twists. Like The DaVinci Code, Origin makes you question what you thought you knew about the world around you. Brown uses his characters to hypothesize about Earth's beginnings and the future of humanity. I was absolutely fascinated.

Book 186: The Last Jew of Treblinka by Chil Rajchman (Audiobook)

What a short, disturbing book. And yet, so powerful.

A lot of the Holocaust books I've read have focused on the concentration camps in and around Germany. I never read anything about the Polish camps. I never knew that the Polish camps were not concentration camps - they were extermination camps. With few exceptions, every person who entered Treblinka suffered a horrible fate: immediate gassing and cremation.

The only thing worse than being gassed and cremated was having to shave the heads of men and women who were headed to the gas chambers. And having to pull the teeth of the dead to extract gold fillings. And having to pick up bone shards and unearth corpses. Chil Rajchman did it all, until he escaped. Then later, he identified SS war criminals and testified against them in court.

This story is a profound, disturbing, and moving tale that needed to be heard.

Don't go on autopilot.

We humans have a tendency to go on autopilot when we're doing routine tasks.

We do crazy, stupid things on autopilot. Like, for instance, I once opened up a container of leftover spaghetti and found a pair of my sunglasses pushed into it. I must have done it while I was cleaning up the kitchen on autopilot after a particularly stressful day.

Check out this article from the New Scientist on "default mode network" - DMN - a structure in the brain that handles rote functions.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2151137-your-autopilot-mode-is-real-now-we-know-how-the-brain-does-it/

I'd like to challenge you to keep your brain active while you're driving to work, taking a shower, and doing the dishes.

Put on some headphones and listen to an audiobook.

Right now, I'm listening to The Child by Fiona Barton, and it's riveting. It makes me feel alive when I'm doing routine stuff at home, at work, or during my commute.

You can use Audible if you like, but I choose to borrow audiobooks from the Delaware Library Catalog. (You need a library card to access it, so go get one today.)

Don't live your life on autopilot.

Book 169: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman (Audiobook) narrated by Joan Walker

I think Fredrik Backman is my new favorite author. I fell in like with him when I read A Man Called Ove and now I'm completely, head-over-heels in love with this author.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry was an absolutely fascinating book. Like Ove, it uncovers each character slowly, without revealing each person completely until the end of the book. This style of writing is tantalizing to someone like me because I love suspense.

In this book, seven-year-old Elsa (who is almost eight) learns that not everything (or everyone) is at it seems. She has been surrounded by people her whole life, and until a difficult event brings them all together, she never realized she knew absolutely nothing about any of them. So she sets off on an adventure to unearth the secrets of her neighbors, friends, and family members, especially those of her quirky, independent grandmother.

This story was incredible. Backman is a master at creating characters that are both believable and unique. The characters just about jump out of the book. With Joan Walker's expert narration, the story was even more vivid. I haven't been this hooked on an audiobook in ages.

It was great. I loved it so, so much.

💌💌💌

Book 165: All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner (Audiobook) Read by Tracee Chimo

Another audiobook on loan from my coworker Sherry! This was a good one.

In Jennifer Weiner's book All Fall Down, Allison Weiss was a busy wife, mom, and blogger. She also had a little problem that was quickly ballooning out of control: an addiction to painkillers.

Through the character Allison Weiss, the author made it clear that anyone and everyone can be susceptible to addiction. In the parts where Allison's addiction is snowballing downhill, wide swaths of the story are missing, because Allison doesn't remember them. We - as the reader - are clued in later about the reasons some things happened the way they did. And we find out that not everything is not always what it seems.

I was in familiar territory as I immersed myself in this book. Not with addiction (though I do know it well, but not firsthand), but with the challenges of being a working mother, feeling like things are spinning out of control. I know the feeling of having deadlines to meet while children are begging for attention and a spouse or partner is mentally or emotionally checking out. I grew up in Philadelphia, I knew the landmarks embedded in the story's setting.

I loved this book through and through. The audiobook version, read by Tracee Chimo, was excellent.

And now, I'm caught up.

Book 153: The Whistler by John Grisham - Audiobook read by Cassandra Campbell

The Whistler was a loan from my coworker Sherry who keeps me stocked with audiobooks she buys and shares with her mom and people in our office. (I can't keep up with her!) I listened to this awhile ago but wanted to make sure it appeared on my blog.

True to form, Grisham applied his legal expertise to this novel to bring it to life. I always learn something when I read his novels, and in this case it was about judicial review, jurisdictions, Indian reservation law, and forensics. Pretty interesting stuff, if you ask me.

For the most part, The Whistler kept my attention, although it got a little slow toward the middle. Just as he was losing me, Grisham whipped up a new twist that kept me going through the end. Still, I wasn't sold on every part of the book; there were elements that I as a mother did not find convincing.

Like many of the books I read and review on this blog, I don't want to tell you so much you don't need to read (or listen to) the book yourself. Instead, I'll just say that the characters were bold and interesting, the story line was good, and the author kept me guessing until the end.

Book 152: Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood by Lisa Damour, Ph.D (Audiobook)

This review is dedicated to my daughter, Katelyn, who is presently 11 years old.

I listened to this audiobook, read by the author Dr. Lisa Damour. My daughter will be 12 years old in no time at all, and seems to be developing at an accelerated pace. Or maybe it's because I can remember the day she was born and how I felt as I held her newborn eight pound, eight ounce body in my arms.

When I picked up this audiobook at the library, I hoped to learn how I could be my daughter's strongest supporter as she grows into a young woman. I was pleasantly surprised; not only was the book a fantastic guide for me as a mother, I also learned a great deal about myself and my tumultuous teenage years.

Dr. Damour drew upon her substantial experience as a counselor for teenage girls to write about what she calls the seven stages of a girl's development. She used a number of real life scenarios to illustrate how girls take on challenges, interact with their friends, slowly detach themselves from their parents, and begin to strike out on their own.

Shortly after I finished this book, my daughter displayed some of the behavior Dr. Damour discussed in the first transition. I felt reassured that my daughter's behavior was completely normal, and all I needed to give her was some space and respect. It worked, and it was no big deal. It was an immediate validation of Dr. Damour's advice.

I loved this book through and through and felt serious regret that Dr. Damour hadn't published it earlier. My parents could have used her advice.

Yep. This is tough.

Reading two books a week is not easy. It is really, really not easy.

I have noticed, however, that this goal is already making me more resourceful. First, I always try to borrow books from the Smyrna Public Library instead of buying them. Second, I subscribed to the Kindle Unlimited service through Amazon so that I can download books without paying for each and every one of them. Finally, I got an Audible subscription so that I always have an audio book downloaded on my phone and ready for my commute. And last but not least, I have an immense shelf full of every book anyone could ever hope to read. (The problem is, I tend to buy books that are heavy, both in subject matter and weight. Of the something like 500 books that I have at home, only 8 of them are under 300 pages. Sheesh... thanks, Past Self, you screwed me.)

I read about two hours a day in an effort to achieve this goal, and that's already no joke. If I wake up early enough, I read for fifteen to twenty minutes in the morning. I read through my lunch break (a half hour) and read while my boyfriend is watching TV in the evening (another half hour) and then another fifteen to twenty minutes before bed. I have my Kindle or my smart phone with me everywhere I go, so I can whip one of them out if I have to wait twenty minutes at the nail salon or in line at the bank. I still feel like I need to step it up.

It's also making it more obvious to me that people who "don't have time to read" simply don't make time to read. If I can do it, so can you.

Book 136: A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston (Audiobook)

Bryan Cranston, whom most people know as the dad from "Malcolm in the Middle" and as Heisenberg in "Breaking Bad," has led a fascinating life. And no one can tell it better than him.

I was astounded when I saw this book in the new books bin at the library. My first thought was, Bryan Cranston wrote an autobiography? He's not even old! Knowing I'd never have time to read the book, I requested the audio version and waited for what seemed like forever for the book to appear at the front desk of my beloved Smyrna Public Library. The wait was worth it - Cranston did not disappoint.

The audio version of this book is read by Cranston himself, which I thought was a great decision. As he hashed out the details of his wild and crazy life, I developed a genuine respect for Cranston's career and his ability to grow and change as his many different roles demanded. I also better understood why he had not been successful earlier in life: he was extremely selective about the roles he chose to play. That's a lesson to all of us - jumping at every opportunity would have reduced the quality and value of his craft.

I am intentionally leaving out details, because Cranston's story was fun and surprising from beginning to end. I hope you will pick up this audiobook and enjoy it as much as I did.

Book 117: Lone Wolf by Jodie Picoult (Audiobook)

First of all, let me say that I really have enjoyed Jodie Picoult's books up until this point. However, this book disappointed me on many levels. And I feel so bad, because Jodie is a badass writer.

I read this book for our book club at the Smyrna Public Library. Sometimes our selections are hit or miss for me. This was a complete miss for me.

Although the premise of the book was really wonderful - the parallels between the familial relationship of wolves and those of the Warren family - I felt that Picoult's execution was lacking. The honest to goodness truth is that toward the middle of the book, I began to get bored. The more it went on, the more bored I got. By the time I got to what I hoped was the end, I was no longer interested in the Warren family. I just wanted their suffering - and my suffering - to be over.

Stephen King is the master of suspense. He is an expert at building momentum and keeping his readers on the edge of their seats. Although Picoult is a creative storyteller, an awesome researcher, and generally knows how to engage her readers, she misses the mark with her attempt at suspense. The problem is, I've read King extensively, and I know what suspense is supposed to feel like. Instead, listening to this book felt like an absolute chore. I wanted it to end long before it did.

Although I missed the book club discussion on Lone Wolf, I've heard that many of those in attendance loved it. Since the book is also a #1 New York Times Bestseller, I suppose this only proves that I'm just as square a peg as I've always been. I'm okay with that.