Sam Reviews "Ink and Ashes" by Valynne E. Maetani - April 2016

Sam's Notes Taken Along the Way

Prologue

Gotta love a catchy one-liner beginning like "People go to hell for what I'm about to do."

Chapter One

"Sometimes I wasn’t sure if a memory was really mine or if it was something I thought I remembered because someone else had talked about it."

Chapter Two

As soon as I realized that the Claire's dad was a judge I am instantly assuming that he was murdered by some released convict or family of a convict.  Potentially related in an unfriendly manner with the step-dad.

The texts between Forrest and Claire are sweet and remind me of how Courtney always asks me if I'm doing okay around the end of July/early August.  As much as I appreciate it I don't think I've ever asked Autumn or Amanda if they're alright.

How would a teacher not notice you destroying an Allen wrench in shop class?  

Chapter Three

I hope this story doesn't digress into a "friend-zone" subplot between Claire and Forrest.

"I have to fit hours of watching TV, playing video games, and napping in one weekend day, all because weekdays are too laborious to let me space these things out."

The pause before saying "they were acquaintances" when trying to explain the relationship between the two men made me think something very scandalous, like they were gay together or something.  Certainly more than acquaintances.

Chapter Four 

“Claire, you have always been my little elephant. You are courageous and strong, but sometimes you charge into things too quickly. All of you need to make sure you are prepared to hear the answers before you ask the questions.”

Chapter Six 

If Claire's mother was so upset that the kids were snooping and finding things out that they shouldn't be, then why was she letting them have all these friends over?  Not being allowed company was always the very first thing my parents punished us with.

The part where Claire is reading an article about how loved her dad was and all she can think to say is "They all knew him better than I did" makes me sad.

The letter Claire wrote to her dad when she was 13 makes me think of how I used to feel about my dad even though I didn't loose him when I was really young.
"So I’m sitting here in my room, wondering what Mom really meant when she said I’m like you. I think she meant I’m stubborn, but I don’t remember you enough to know how I’m like you. I’d like to think I have some of your good qualities. You must have been brave because you moved to America even though you didn’t speak English. And you must have been smart because you were a judge. I wish Mom talked about you. She gets all weird whenever I ask too many questions, so I don’t bother anymore. I may not remember much about you, but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have grounded me today over something that stupid. She’s going to miss me when I move to London.

Chapter Eleven 

"I’m tired of not fitting in because I’m a girl. And I’m tired of not fitting in with girls because I’m always with boys."

Chapter Twelve 

"Was it more important to be decent to someone, or declare my independence?"

Is it common practice to be banned from extracurricular activities when you are accused of cheating on a test?  Before it's even been proven?  I was only ever accused of cheating once, in 8th grade, and it was the other person who had copied off of my test, but I don't remember any punishment besides a stern talking to.

"Sometimes I wonder if I’m in love with Forrest. I know I feel differently about him than anyone else, but I also think that’s how it’s supposed to be with your best friend. Even if I knew for sure that I was in love with him, I can’t see myself doing anything about it. I’d never want to do anything that would put our friendship at risk. It’s just not worth it."

"And honestly, I have no idea what being in love feels like. Someone told me you feel like you can’t breathe when you’re around him. The first time I jumped off the high-dive at the pool, I hit the bottom. But I started to panic on my way up because I couldn’t breathe, and I thought I would run out of air. That was pure torture. I’ve never felt like being around Forrest is pure torture."

"I’ve always wondered if [Mom] would marry you again if she knew you were going to die. Would she marry you if she knew it would end up causing her so much pain?"

Chapter Thirteen 

Are prosthetic fingers a real thing?

I can't imagine how jarring it must be to have this physical idea of what your dad looks like that is suddenly destroyed / altered by reading an autopsy report.  Not to mention the pictures.  My mom has never let me look at my dad's and I wouldn't know where it is to even try and sneak a peek at it.

Chapter Fifteen 

I thought it was really clever of Fed to bring up the point that mobs usually want people in power to be in their back pocket, like judges.

I know "it's a book" but I don't understand how all of these teenagers are sitting in the living room of the house talking about mobs, murder, and conspiracy and none of the parents are around or aware.

Chapter Sixteen 

"Would it be awkward if we all end up together in heaven but Mom’s married to you and she’s married to another guy (aka Dad) too?"

"It’s not that I don’t want to see you again, but the whole idea of dying is scary. And right now, death just feels mean. I don’t know how God or whatever higher being could take people or animals away when there are people who still love them and need them."

Chapter Seventeen 

I guess I just can't be 100% satisfied with books.  I felt that "Every Day" didn't know into enough detail about day to day life and I feel like this book skips too much.

Chapter Eighteen 

How stupid does Claire have to be to walk home alone after all of the paranoia surrounding the black SUV - as well as everything else?

Chapter Nineteen 

I'm not sure how I feel about the story the step-dad tells to explain how he knew Claire's father and therefore felt compelled to take care of the family.  And all of the secrets, my family is notorious for secrets, and I've always hated it, so I empathize with Claire for being annoyed about having to find out all of these things on her own.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Very confused about where the fire was when it started and why Parker and Claire didn't notice it until their dad came to investigate.  The way the scene was written it seemed very sudden.  Was the bomb only triggered after the door was opened?

Chapter Twenty-Four

"I was physically okay, but tonight my world had shifted."

Why in the hell was Claire not more suspicious that the "Koa wood button, probably from one of dad's Hawaiian shirts" was found so near to the MP3 player?  I don't know why he would be involved other than trying to scare Claire away from finding the truth, but every little thing can be evidence!

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Netsuku means to take root, but it’s also a homophone for the verb meaning to be laid up, like with an illness. Some people believe if you bring a potted plant to someone in the hospital, he might take root and stay for a long time.”

“Your father did a lot of things he regretted, but he was one of the best men I have ever known. Please remember that. He spent the rest of his life trying to make up for his mistakes.  ...  I don’t know the man—the boy—your father was before I met him, but I know the man he became, and it was an honor to spend that part of my life with him.”

“'I’m sure you can imagine how painful and difficult it might have been for your mom to talk about this.'”
"I whipped my head so my eyes could meet his. 'We loved him too. It wasn’t easy for us either. We "lost our father, and for ten years we’ve had no one to talk to.'
"For years my questions had been blown off or deflected, and every time that happened, I took whatever pain or hurt I had and pushed it deep inside. I did what I was taught. Gaman. Endure with dignity and grace. Accept the pain and don’t complain. But maybe I hadn’t done it the right way because those pains never disappeared, and the space where I had shoved everything was so full it was about to burst."
-- I can't imagine how I would feel if my mom hadn't been willing to open up about who my dad was.  Even though some of it I might have been better off not knowing.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I thought it was super sweet that Parker made a pulley system for Claire.

I have a separate journal I write letters to my dad in and while I have slowed down substantially I do feel it really helps with grieving the loss, especially of a parent.

The scene where Forrest is confessing his feelings for Claire is SO cheesy I almost skipped it.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Once they all arrived at the Halloween Dance it started suspecting that something bad was going to happen.  Reminds me of an episode of Pretty Little Liars (reminds me of a few different shows where bad things happen at costume parties).  Plus, it seems a little silly to dress up as especially Japanese when the attacks seem to have a Japanese them attached to them.  At least if she had altered her face she wouldn't have been such an easy target.

"...she’d never seen snow until she was a teen, when her family vacationed in Colorado for Christmas. She said she wondered how she could have missed out on something so beautiful for so many years, and when she first saw my father, it was like seeing snow for the first time.  For a moment, I thought about all the pain my father’s death had caused her and wondered if she would have been better off if she’d never seen snow in the first place."

I kind of doubt that Claire would have instantly noticed the missing button on Mr. Tama's shirt, especially since she was all distracted by Forrest.  But I'm glad she did because the minute the book talked about his shirt and accent I was like "Oh yeah that makes way more sense than any other theory so far!"

Chapter Thirty-Three

The police's question, "Why do you think he kept these here" was very valid and makes me question everything now.  Which is good since there's till 10 chapters left.

Chapter Thirty-Six

I still feel like Claire's dad's story is too clean, too perfect.  I still have a bad feeling that he's partly responsible for all of this, and on the bad guys' side.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Claire's hangup with not wanting to tell people she's dating Forrest is super annoying.  Not just in this book, but in general, people like that are super annoying to me.  If I was Forrest I would definitely take it personally.

Forrest knew that Mumps was at the party and talking to Claire.  Why didn't he mention it to Nicholas?  Why didn't he tell Claire that Mumps and Chase were friends?  Why is the connection only being drawn now?

The message Claire left for her dad when she started putting everything together was funny.  Like she realized in the next paragraph, she'd left normal messaged before, so why encode this one?  Also, I doubt she could have thought of all of that on her feet in real life.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Claire should have known better, especially with all of her training, to not make much noise until after the car had started to move.  Then she wouldn't have been knocked out the 2nd time.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

The story Claire's captor told is awful, and I don't know if I could forgive my father if I had found out he had done something like that.  Also, if Claire's mom or step-dad knew the stories, they were idiots for not putting all of the dots together sooner.

Chapter Forty

I hate "an eye for an eye" mentality.  Even in this context, Asia being the land of honor, I hate it so much.

"...tears collect in eyes as he walks because sadness lies in shadows of stars and in shadow of moon..."

Chapter Forty-One

"... there’s no honor in retaliation. Please let Nicholas go. You can’t respect the life she led by taking the life of another."

" I screamed and wiggled and kicked until my legs were free, then planted the chair over his face. He raised his head, hands at his throat. My eyes met his."
--How can the chair be over his face AND she have her hands around his neck?

I'm pissed that Claire didn't just shoot Arakaki,  Especially since it seems unlikely Nicholas would live after a shot to the chest.

Chapter Forty-Four

Since Fed and Nicholas are brother's, why didn't Nicholas have his own GPS tracker device?

I'm so glad Forrest punched Mumps, even after his long winded story and apology I still don't think I could have gotten over being harassed like that for money.

Chapter Forty-Five

"Ravage" means: cause severe and extensive damage to.

Overall I enjoyed this book.  I'm glad things didn't really start coming together until 75% through the book so as to keep things interesting.  I hate when the bad guy gets away leaving a cloud of "What if" over a book, especially a book that (as far as I know) has no intended sequel.  I did get a little bored of the monotonous high school days but I understand that's what makes a story a novel.  I also kind of yawned when "Everyone is going to be okay" because it didn't seem realistic, but on the other hand I am also glad that everyone is okay.  (However I don't think I would have been terribly disappointed if Avery hadn't made it out...)

Sam Reviews "Every Day" by Dave Levithan - March 2016

Sam's Notes Taken Along the Way

I am already so excited for this book just from the tagline on the cover:  "Every day a different body, every day a different life, every day in love with the same girl."  Then, knowing this guy had his hands in "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist" and "Will Greyson, Will Greyson" makes me even MORE excited; because I liked the movie of Nick and Nora and I've been wanting to read Will Greyson,

Day 5994

If his whole life, the narrator has been bouncing between bodies, how can he ever feel as though he has his own self?

"If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: We all want everything to be okay. We don’t even wish so much for fantastic or marvelous or outstanding. We will happily settle for okay, because most of the time, okay is enough."

"I find myself smiling when she comes near, and she smiles back. It’s as simple as that. Simple and complicated, as most true things are."

"You can learn a lot about people from the stories they tell, but you can also know them from the way they sing along, whether they like the windows up or down, if they live by the map or by the world, if they feel the pull of the ocean."

"It’s one thing to fall in love. It’s another to feel someone else falling in love with you, and to feel a responsibility toward that love."

It's been a long time since I watched Quantum leap but that's what this reminds me of.  But also, how weird is it to imagine an e-mail address being the only real way for you to leave yourself any notes?  It's interesting because it's something unique to our generation.

Day 5996

"And if he’d died … I wondered if I would have died, too. There is no way for me to know." - Definitely an interesting question to discuss.

"...video games. It’s a universal presence, like TV or the Internet. No matter where I am, I usually have access to these things." - Thinking about this is just crazy, even thinking back to our childhoods and how these things were common but a luxury.  Think back to our parents' childhoods, our grandparents'.

"This, I’ve discovered, is the best way to waste time, because it isn’t really wasted—surrounded by friends, talking crap and sometimes talking for real, with snacks around and something on a screen."

Day 5997

Did it seem strange that the author described Amy as "rock n roll" and also had anime decals on he backpack?  Not to say people have to like certain things, just seems simpler in a book world to have a clear character "style" instead of combos.

"...beautiful sadness is a myth. Sadness turns our features to clay, not porcelain."

"Kindness connects to who you are, while niceness connects to how you want to be seen."

At this point I can't decide how I expect or want this book to go.  If I want Rhiannon's to somehow understand and believe who she is in love with lives in a different body every day (Time Traveler's Wife style), or if  I want this to be a story of one sided / unrequited love where this narrator falls in love with different parts of her.  However, the 2nd way would be confusing, too, cuz how many times can "new people" introduce themselves to her and then disappear before she stops being so kind to them?

Day 5999

I'm not sure if a guy singing a song to me randomly at a party would be uncomfortable or endearing.

What is the reason the narrator has for falling asleep in a car instead of taking Nathan's body home so he wouldn't wake up terribly confused?

Day 6000

"...no matter what our religion or gender or race or geographic background, we all have about 98 percent in common with each other.  ...  For whatever reason, we like to focus on the 2 percent that’s different, and most of the conflict in the world comes from that."


"The only way I can navigate through my life is because of the 98 percent that every life has in common."

"I feel as much belief in her as I do in God—I find faith in human perseverance, even as the universe throws challenge after challenge our way."

I was starting to get a little bored with the story before Nathan e-mailed the narrator and was clearly aware and angry about what had happened.  Now my interest is perked again!

Day 6001

I can't imagine having to be romantic with people you aren't attracted to just so that you don't mess up their lives.

Day 6004

"I feel such a tenderness for these vulnerable nighttime conversations, the way words take a different shape in the air when there’s no light in the room."

"It’s only been two days, but that’s twice what I’m used to. It’s just a hint—the smallest hint—of what it would be like to wake up in the same place every morning.  I have to let that go."

Day 6005

"It takes uncommon strength to live with these things [mental illness(es)]. But I have seen that strength over and over again. When I fall into the life of someone grappling, I have to mirror their strength, and sometimes surpass it, because I am less prepared."

The chapter about the girl with depression was very intense.  I don't wanna write down all the bits that made it intense, but I really liked the character building in that body the most so far.

"I am not kissing her because I want to, and I am not kissing her because I need to—I am kissing her for a reason that transcends want and need, that feels elemental to our existence, a molecular component on which our universe will be built."

Day 6006

The scene of how Austin and Hugo met was so cheesy but cute
"Austin said, “Hey, that could be us in ten years.”
"And Hugo said, “Or ten months.”
"And Austin said, “Or ten days.”
"And Hugo said, “Or ten minutes.”

"And Austin said, “Or ten seconds.”

Day 6007

When A is yelling at Rhiannon about why Justin isn't any good for her, it reminds me of the part in Ruby Sparks when the author starts yelling at her that she is his creation.

"I didn’t think of myself as a boy or a girl—I never have. I would just think of myself as a boy or a girl for a day. It was like a different set of clothes."  -  Imagine that.

Day 6009

“How did you know it was me?” I have to ask.
“The way you looked at me,” she says. “It couldn’t have been anyone else.”

And just like that, the universe goes wrong. ... I feel it, and she doesn’t. Or I feel it, and she won’t.

Day 6015

The part when A accesses the memory of Justin and Rhiannon reading "The Outsiders" and he calls her Silver because "Nothing gold can stay" is very cute.

Day 6018

The bit when Rhiannon acts insulted that A used artificial sweetener to fill in the heart at the Chinese restaurant was cute.

I also don't like "The Giving Tree" for the same reasons as A and Rhiannon, that loving someone doesn't mean giving them every single little bit of yourself.

Day 6021

I'm pretty sure Dana would be on trial for involuntary manslaughter if she killed her brother driving drunk.  She would have more serious problems than a grounding and a psychiatrist house call.

On that same note, I wonder if A has ever found himself in prison or in juvenile delinquency, that would be an interesting story to tell.

Day 6022

I find it interesting that the only way for A to leave (or return) to a specific area is to do it as another person.  How if he had gone to Hawaii he wouldn't have woken back up near Rhiannon's town, but near the vacation place.

"Just because you break up with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re free of him. I’m still attached to Justin in a hundred different ways. We’re just not dating anymore. It’s going to take me years to be free of him.”

Day 6023

"This isn’t exactly the welcome I was hoping for, but it’s a welcome I understand. When we’re alone together, I’m the destination. When I’m here in her life at school, I’m the disruption."

I appreciate that this book is so modern and does dive into things like transgender.  I'm glad that Vic's chapter was lengthier than other chapters because transgender identity intrigues me (that sounds bad, but I mean it positively).

Day 6024

The bit about the funeral and how A wants to commit it all to memory hit me, partially because it's a sweet gesture not to take away important things from people, but also in the idea that if this was real, think of days you just can't remember fully when you should be able to (the opposite of deja vu, I suppose).

Also when A is feeling bad for himself because he'll never be grieved, it's sad, but it also makes me think about how when you go to family funerals (or friend funerals I suppose though I've been fortunate enough to never do that) it's always amazing at the number of people you don't know.  And I think that's what people ask when they say "Who would be at my funeral." We know who we expect to be there, but who else will show up, and how do people find out about funerals besides word of mouth, especially in this day and age?

Day 6025

"...the looks I get—such undisguised disgust.  ...  The judgment flows freely. It’s possible that they’re reacting to the thing that Finn has allowed himself to become. But there’s also something more primal, something more defensive in their disgust. I am what they fear becoming."

That fat chapter makes me mad, not just because I take it personally a little bit, but because A, and/or the author, is basically fat shaming the whole time.  Talking about what Finn could do to fix things.  But it's also realistic I suppose, cuz most overweight people don't sit and think how great they are, they're thinking about their appearance and their sweat and the way they feel being hugged.  I guess it was just a trigger for me, so I'm glad it was short.

I'm also going to theorize that the reason Rhiannon didn't "see" or "feel" A inside Finn's body is because A was so wrapped up in his body that he didn't let his personality show through,

However, the idea of getting roses to take to the movie theater is a sweet gesture cuz the whole time you're at the theater you'll be getting the attention of "Look that lucky girl with a dozen roses in the seat next to her."

Day 6028

Poole being like A was a welcome surprise.  I remember wondering at the beginning if there were others because a sole entity like A doesn't make sense.

Day 6029

"There are still a few hours left in the night, but she doesn’t use any of them to get back to me."

Day 6030

Zara and Amelia remind me of Jeff's sister Anna and her girlfriend Em.  Such perfection it almost makes you sick, or angry.

Day 6033

As much as I can appreciate A's sacrifice, it's still an imperfect plan.  What if instead of feeling lucky Alex wakes up confused and not attracted to Rhiannon at all.  Even as a sacrifice there's no way to be sure it's going to go the way A wants.


Overall, I enjoyed this book but I don't think I could re-read it.  I think the concept is great but it was difficult to develop on paper.

Sam Reviews "Cold Mountain" by Charles Frazier - February 2016

Sam's Notes Taken Along the Way

Chapter One - The Shadow of a Crow

"...he had seen the metal face of the age and had been so stunned by it that when he thought into the future, all he could vision was a world from which everything he counted important had been banished or had willingly fled."

Can you imagine living a life knowing that your leg is rotting away underneath of you?  I know it happens now but not nearly that often, especially in a hospital.  But Balis just kept working on his project as if nothing was happening.

So the blind man didn't just have un-seeing eyes, he literally had no eyes?  Is that really a phenomenon that could happen?  I do agree with him though, better to have never been able to see than to loose your eyesight later in life.

I think it's funny that in the narrator's reminiscence the (I'm assuming) white people spent their time in the "Bald" getting drunk and lounging around, then the Indians come up and they set up a sport to play and pass the time.

"Inman did not consider himself to be a superstitious person, but he did believe that there is a world
invisible to us. He no longer thought of that world as heaven, nor did he still think that we get to go
there when we die. Those teachings had been burned away. But he could not abide by a universe
composed only of what he could see, especially when it was so frequently foul. So he held to the
idea of another world, a better place,"

Chapter Two - The Ground Beneath Her Hands

Fleabane - Daisy

Angelica - Queen's lace

Tickseed - Coreopsis

Heal-all - Prunella Vulgaris

"...nature has a preference for a particular order: parents die, then children die. But it was a harsh design, offering little relief from pain, for being in accord with it means that the fortunate find themselves orphaned."

"It's claimed that if you take a mirror and look backwards into a well, you'll see your future down in the water."

I can't imagine how lonely it would be to live on the Cold Mountain farm and be all alone, I probably would have cried if I had been Ada when Ruby walked up and said she'd stay and help, so long as things were fair and even.

Chapter Three - The Color of Despair

Is Inman black?  The statement about being comfortable with a scythe makes me think so, also explains why the 3 guys from down decided so randomly to attack him.  If he isn't black, then what motivation did the guys have for jumping him?

I find it interesting that the "mountain people" thought Ada was stupid for drawing, although perhaps they really did think she was just taking notes in her book.  Funny because Ada expected the mountain people to be stupid and uncivilized.

"...he would like to love the world as it was, and he felt a great deal of accomplishment for the occasions when he did, since the other was so easy. Hate took no effort other than to look about."

Chapter Four - Verbs, All of them Tiring

"...there was no burden that couldn't be lightened, no wreckful life that couldn't be set right by heading off down the road."

Chapter Five - Like Any Other Thing, a Gift

While the story of the preacher and the lady in white seemed really random, I think its my favorite part so far.  "You only felt bad when the hay stacks were too wet to fuck in, I'm sure."  Then to mislead the preacher into thinking her'll play the antagonist just long enough to tie him up and write the true story for the town to find later - I loved that.

When Inman is with the gypsies he says one of the boys takes a rat-tail file to the horses teeth.  I can't imagine any horse being okay with you filing it's teeth.

Chapter Six - Ashes of Roses

I feel like Ruby is the perfect characterization of my mother.  "That was a silly story, time for my night work." And off she goes to do checks and final things before going to sleep, even after having a nice big dinner and relaxing chat.

Chapter Seven - Exile and Brute Wandering

"There's some say that's the way to contentment, get to where there's nothing you crave, where you've lost your appetites."

"The creek's turnings marked how all that moves must shape itself to the maze of actual landscape, no matter what its preferences might be."  (The "preferences" referring to gravity preferring to move in a straight line, but this creek was all curvy.)

Is it really realistic that a catfish could / would eat a hammer and a whole bluebird?

The bit where Inman knocks the preacher out for trying to steal from the country store made me laugh, but I think I'd rather have left him behind than to deal with him in my journey

Holy shit to the peddler's father's gambling winnings:  "As a result of the evening card play, great numbers of hogs, several families of slaves, a saddle horse, a kennelful of bird dogs, a fine English-made shotgun, and Lucinda changed hands."  Sure sounds like the guy he played against didn't have much to take home / go home to.

As sad and awful as the peddler's story was, I liked it.  I would thoroughly enjoy a book centered around Odell's story!

Chapter Eight - Source and Root

"...the nail to his left index finger. It was near as long as the finger itself, the way some people will grow them for cutting butter and dipping lard and other such tasks."  ...What?  Ew.

The story involving the heron is so weird.  First the fact that the bird would come so close to Ada just to fly away instead of just focusing on food.  Then the fact that Ruby's father told her, when she was a little girl, a vivid tale of her mother being raped by a bird.  WTF

The story of Ada's parents is sweet but heartbreaking.  I also find it clever how Ada and Ruby's relationships with their father's was so different.  Ruby had to take care of herself and her father when he was there, and Ada was literally the light of her father's life.

Chapter Nine - To Live Like a Gamecock

I feel like the story of Inman surviving a shooting seems a little unlikely, which is a bummer, cuz I was really appreciating the authenticity of this story.

Chapter Ten - In Place of the Truth

"Ada imagined her as a lonely and abandoned child wandering the countryside to braid the tails of old solitary plow horses out of need for proximity to something live and warm."

I liked the bit about how Ada acted all flippant when Inman came to say goodbye but then felt so bad she went to see him at work, and I love their final farewell, where he flipped the hat and flung it into his house so that he could kiss her.  Also love how Ada talks about the clothing of the time, how Inman probably couldn't even feel her warmth because of all of the layers of clothing she wore to be "in style" with the times.

Chapter Eleven - The Doing of It

"Can't tolerate living around a chicken. No spirit to a chicken at all."

The goat scene didn't bother me until I realized the initial slice to the goat's throat didn't really kill it, just got it bleeding.

"...he guessed the promise of it was part of what made up the war frenzy in the early days. The powerful draw of new faces, new places, new lives. And new laws whereunder you might kill all you wanted and not be jailed, but rather be decorated. Men talked of war as if they committed it to preserve what they had and what they believed. But Inman now guessed it was boredom with the repetition of the daily rounds that had made them take up weapons. The endless arc of the sun, wheel of seasons. War took a man out of that circle of regular life and made a season of its own, not much dependent on anything else."

I like the potential foreshadowing of the Ada becoming the goatwoman.  Maybe keeping record with drawings was a common thing in those days, but I can imagine Ada becoming comfortable enough with her ability to run her own farm that she could live in solitude with her journals.

"...she planned to stretch out at the top of the rock cliff and let the ravens peck her apart and carry her away.  'It's that or worms, she said. Of the two I'd as soon have ravens carry me off on their black wings.'"

Chapter Twelve - Freewill Savages

I don't blame Ruby at all for not being able to forgive and view Stobrod differently after his story of learning how to play fiddle during the war.  It doesn't change the fact that she grew up alone and fending for herself.

Chapter Thirteen - Bride Bed Full of Blood

I do find it interesting that throughout Inman's narrative he keeps talking about all the bad he's done and how he's undeserving of a good life, but he keeps doing good things for people, especially this young girl who only offered him a few plates of beans.

I don't know why I'm always surprised when books or movies show or describe animals eating humans.  Like, you wouldn't expect a chicken to eat the innards of a human, but then again it makes sense, just scary to think about how many different animals could/would eat your body.

Chapter Fourteen - A Satisfied Mind

The letter Ada wrote to her cousin seemed really random and out of place considering the cousin hadn't been mentioned up to this point.

I'm not good at understanding how to read "how to" pronounce something so what does the group think:
Broad initial A in Ada; accented second syllable in Monroe.
Everyone's natural leaning was Long A, heavy Mon.

Chapter Fifteen - A Vow to Bear

The bear scene was so sad, and that seems bizarre to me cuz I've never been attached to bears and view them mostly as a predator.  But the fact that the bear literally ran itself off a cliff in an attempt to save it's cub is so depressing.

Do you guys think Guilt could be considered a deadly sin?

Chapter Sixteen - Naught and Grief

I really wasn't expecting Stobrod and Pangle to be shot to death, especially after the guard had them play a song for them before standing them up to be shot.

Chapter Eighteen - Black Bark in Winter

"We'll feed you, though. It's not like we've not been feeding every other stray that wanders through."

"Ruby said she found him not particularly worse than the general order of men, which is to say that he would greatly benefit from having someone's foot in his back every waking minute."

I feel like Stobrod surviving the three bullets and then reviving so (it seemed soon) after Ruby applied the herbs, seems a tad unrealistic.

"She doubted that its people, even in the last days, had ever looked ahead and imagined loss so total and so soon. They had not foreseen a near time when theirs would be another world filled with other people whose mouths would speak other words, whose sleep would be eased or troubled with other dreams, whose prayers would be offered up to other gods."

Chapter Nineteen - Footsteps in Snow

"He doubted there was a man in the world emptier than he at that moment. He would walk right out of this world and keep on going into that happy valley she had described."

"Quit puzzling over it. The worst you can do is fail to kill a turkey and there's not a hunter in the world hasn't done that. Go on."

It seriously infuriated me that the Georgia boy was living in Ada's house and led Inman to where Ada and Ruby had set off.  Thank god they ended up meeting on the same path because if Inman and Ada had just missed meeting each other I would've been pissed.

"Such is the price I'll pay for the past four years.  Firearms standing between me and everything I want."

Chapter Twenty - The Far Side of Trouble

I appreciate that a book set in such an older time has a character like Ruby to say "You don't need him.  But if you want him, that's a whole different matter."

The idea of stuffing a wound with old spider / cobwebs seems super disgusting, although I can see that it would be effective nevertheless.

"... you went on living one day after another, and in time you were somebody else, your previous self only like a close relative, a sister or brother, with whom you shared a past. But a different person, a separate life."

"God lays the unbearable on you and then takes some back."

"He could haul a portable sawmill to a man's land and set it up and saw out the material for a house from the man's own timber. There would be an economy in that, and a satisfaction for the man as well, for he could sit in his completed house and delight in all its parts coming right from his own land."  --  That is actually what my uncle did, his entire house is floored with wood that came from his own land, I believe the doors are as well.

"They stood on a cusp. They could think in one part of their minds that their whole lives stretched out before them without boundary or limit. At the same time another part guessed that youth was about over for them and what lay ahead was another country entirely, wherein the possibilities narrowed down moment by moment."

Chapter Twenty-One - Spirits of Crows, Dancing

"He looked to have German or Dutch blood in him. Maybe Irish or some inbred product of Cornwall. No matter. He was now American all through, white skin, white hair, and a killer."

Epilogue, October 1874

So, I hate the ending.  Nothing ruins a book more for me than an ending I can't get behind.  If Inman had to die, then why not Strobad too?  And the whole "at least I have a piece of him from beyond the grave" thing is so overdone - although perhaps not when this book was written.  I would not re-read the book again, but I'll still give three stars cuz I didn't hate it.  I mostly struggled over some of the language and I wish it had been a touch shorter.

Sam Reviews "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs - January 2016

Sam's Notes Taken Along the Way

Prologue

"...like anything that changes you forever, split my life into halves: Before and After."  
--I always refer to my father's death as before or after "everything went crazy".

"I think they worried that my grand father would infect me with some incurable dreaminess from which I’d never recover—that these fantasies were somehow inoculating me against more practical ambitions—so one day my mother sat me down and explained that I couldn’t become an explorer because everything in the world had already been discovered. I’d been born in the wrong century, and I felt cheated."  
--I like the metaphor or being infected with dreaminess. But, also the idea that our generations and generations before are a bunch of copycats.  At the end of the day you will probably never read an original story, watch an original movie, hear an original song. It's all just adaptions of the same old, same old.

"We cling to our fairy tales until the price for believing them becomes too high..."
--When do you think you let got of fairy tales or started feeling guilty for being too dreamy or imaginative.  I think I was 9 or 10 when I started to feel bad about playing with Barbies, even though i still pretended to be a witch.  Then in middle school I definitely let go of all of the "childish" things.

"I felt ashamed for having been jealous of his life, considering the price he’d paid for it, and I tried to feel lucky for the safe and unextraordinary one that I had done nothing to deserve."

Chapter One

I always find it awkward when a relationship is so clearly "business only" - like when the narrator introduces Ricky as the guy who helps him not get beat up in return for the narrator tutoring him through English.  Also, the whole "He was, I suppose, my best friend, which is a less pathetic way of saying he was my only friend." - so awkward even though I know a few people like that.

I really love stories that have real moments along with the impossible.  Like the Jacob finds his grandfather slashed open and he thinks "Grandpas are supposed to die in bed, quietly, not like this".  That is a very realistic thought even though this is a categorized as a fantasy novel.

Chapter Two

What kinds of things do you guys consider garbage vs. treasure?  In this chapter the collections the narrator wants to keep are the water damaged National Geographics, the bowling shirts, the weapons in the cabinet, and the Big Band and Swing 78's.  I would probably have gotten rid of the damaged magazines and the shirts but the weapons and records, while worth money also have sentimental value and are therefore worth more than pawnshop shelves, in my opinion.

I really do love plays on words, so the "bird who smoked a pipe" being Miss Peregrine herself is just beautiful to me.  Also I love the circular logic that as a kid Jake wanted to be an explorer and now he and his dad are going of on an adventure to this strange island.

"I did love her, of course, but mostly just because loving your mom is mandatory, not because she was someone I think I’d like very much if I met her walking down the street. Which she wouldn’t be, anyway; walking is for poor people."

Chapter Three

I can't imagine how awkward it would be having to ask strangers to take me somewhere, not even tour guides, just random people in town.

The rap scene was painful, although I did appreciate the mention of Doctor Who, it was still painful.

Chapter Four

There story of the bunny costume Halloween seemed really forced, like it was only written to utilize the picture in the book, it was kind of a bummer.

When the narrator is talking about how he doesn't want to believe his grandfather was a bad person, it struck a cord with me.  When my dad died and I found out all the bad stuff he'd done in the past and everything, I was mad at first, but now I don't wanna remember him for that.  So even if the grandfather had been a lying, cheating, terrible father, the narrator wouldn't remember him that way anyway.  I think part of that is human nature, not just that you shouldn't talk ill of the dead, but how we all tend to idolize people once they're gone.

The story of the Old Man who died in the bog reminds me of this movie I watched with Jeff - Jughead - where they had to sacrifice people to this well.

Chapter Five

"Yeah, he was a psychobabble-spewing prick. But that didn’t make him wrong."

Chapter Six

“'He was lucky in a way. It wasn’t long and drawn-out. No months in a hospital hooked up to machines.' That was ridiculous, of course—his death had been needless, obscene—but I think it made us both feel a little better to say it."

Chapter Seven

Which would you prefer if you were living in a loop:  To remember each day and experience it differently each time, or to not remember and go through the same motions every day never realizing that time never passed?

At least Millard has the right idea, finding a project that will most likely keep you busy until the end of time, writing a record of how a day went down through the eyes of every single person (and animal) who experienced it.

I think I would have felt so bad for the kids stuck in 1940 that I would want to bring them as many books as I could stand to carry so they could at least experience something new.

Why would having to turn away from the mutilated sheep be seen as an admission of guilt?  And why would they lock criminals up in the museum?  Wouldn't they potentially do more harm there by breaking things or vandalizing out of spite?

Why didn't he just show his dad a picture of Emma to prove he had at least one friend on the other side of the island?  Then he would just have to avoid them ever meeting.

Chapter Eight

If Miss Peregrine was that concerned with the children not being tempted away from the loop then she really should have said something to Jacob before his 3rd visit there.

If items within the loop will age and die, or shrivel up and disintegrate, then what would happen to items from the current time going back into the loop?

Why does Miss Peregrine not die when she is outside of the loop?  Is she more magical or more peculiar than the children?

"So it’s not even a decision, really. You stay. It’s only later—years later—that you begin to wonder what might’ve happened if you hadn’t."  --  Isn't that true even in our world?  You don't choose to stay in Michigan where the winter isn't hardly worth the short summer you'll have, and most of the big cities are notoriously rotten.  But one day, before you realize it, you've built a life here and can't imagine leaving now.

Chapter Nine

Did the "seeing monsters no one else can see caused me to be seen by a psychiatrist for stress reaction" remind anyone else of Fallen?

Again, I felt the explanation for the pictures of Wights were forced, the Santa was creepy but the dentist was clearly altered and the "cowering girl" was clearly smirking, not scared.

Chapter Ten

What would happen if people tried to have families within the loop?  Would pregnancy just be impossible cuz time doesn't really pass so the baby couldn't grow?  Man, a life full of no-consequences sex haha

When they say that Jeffrey Dahmer is a wight that would imply that he was blind, but that isn't true so it puts a hole in the story.

Are wights shape shifters?  Or did the wight attacking the island just play on a boy's lack of attention to people like gardeners, bus driver's and etc,?

“A bigger reaction?” I said. “Last time you blew up half of Siberia!”
“If you must fail,” he said grandly, “fail spectacularly!”

Chapter Eleven

The "leapfrogging" concept seems insane, but a very clever way to keep the story going.

Look Back on 2015

2015

• "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman  ||  Genre:  Fantasy, Novel, Science Fiction

• "Splintered" by A.G. Howard  ||  Genre:  Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Adventure

• "One for the Money" by Janet Evanovich  ||  Genre:  Fiction, Crime Fiction, Suspense, Mystery

• "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J. K. Rowling  || Genre:  Fantasy, Children's Literature

• "A Child Called 'It'" by Dave Pelzer || Genre:  Biography, Children's Literature

• "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman || Genre:  Young Adult Fiction

• "The 5th Wave" by Rick Yancey || Genre:  Young Adult Fiction, Science Fiction

• "Still Life with Woodpecker" by Tom Robbins || Genre:  Absurdest Fiction, Speculative Fiction

• "Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" by Haruki Murakami || Genre:  Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction

• "The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink ||  Genre:  Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novel

• "1984" by George Orwell  ||  Genre:  Utopian and Dystopian Fiction, Political Fiction, Social Science Fiction

• "Fallen" by Lauren Kate  ||  Genre:  Fiction, Mystery

22nd Meet Up - December 2015

Had a great time at our 22nd meetup where we got to met Brie,

 and see Donnia's new place (still super cute)!

Also another friend, Daniella, showed up at the end and asked to join!

So we have 2 new excited members joining our ranks in the upcoming months and I am so stoked!  Also, everyone who came got presents :)  (Spoilers:  They were books.)

Have a safe and happy holiday, everyone, and I'll see you in January! :D

 

 

Sam Review's "Fallen" by Lauren Kate - December 2015

Sam's Notes Taken Along the Way

In the Beginning

"This lifeless paper, cruel impostor, was the only way to take her with him."

Chapter One

What kind of school rule is "No one is allowed a car"?  And even if you aren't allowed to have a car on campus with you, that still doesn't justify, in my mind, why they would sell her car just cuz she can't have it at school.

Chapter Two

I wonder if the shocking wristbands would be at all legal to use on minors in a school setting.

I am automatically suspicious of Penn.  Not only that she knows so much about everyone by being an aid, but because she almost brags about it.  And I don't understand what her immune system has to do with her wearing 4 sweaters at once.

Chapter Four

I can't be okay for a school to be so close to a cemetery, and to utilize the cemetery as a sort of punishment.  Just the idea of being forced into a cemetery freaks me out.

"Luce’s wishes felt too heavy for something so light." [speaking of dandelion wishes]

Chapter Eight

I can't get over how weird all the names in this book are.  Luce, Diante, Penn...

"Wicked Witch of the South" [in reference to stiletto boots appearing out from a phone booth] wouldn't the correct reference be Wicked Witch of the West?

Chapter Eleven

Arriane and Gabbe's reaction to Todd's death was super inappropriate.  Sipping on alcoholic drinks in a hospital after a student had his neck broken trying to escape a fire.

Chapter Twelve

When Luce was crying (more over Trevor than Todd) and Cam was just right on top of her, bugging her about the necklace he gave her, and hugging her and telling how everything would be alright, I felt so suffocated on her behalf.

Chapter Fifteen

I'm not a firm believer that most guys are led on and friend zoned by girls, however Luce's behavior bothers me so much.  I really do like she's playing Cam, even if she doesn't understand how she feels about Cam and Daniel and herself, why couldn't she just explain to Cam that he isn't the only guy she's interested in - before he got into the nasty fist fight with Daniel?

Chapter Fifteen

Cam's letter-led rendezvous is way more creepy than it is endearing to me, and there is no way in hell I would have gotten into that sedan. 

"...his face pale as the bloom of a peony." - I just appreciated the simile and tie in to her favorite flower.

Chapter Sixteen

"The only way to survive eternity is to be able to appreciate each moment." - I think this is a really great statement about how to get over grief.

There are parts of Daniel's story I still don't understand:
Is he always the same age or does he age, die, and be reborn with the same memories?  If he doesn't age and just exists as a 17 year old forever - that is true damnation, I cant imagine being 17 forever.  Would you still feel 17 or would you feel older and kind of creepy for being in love with a 17 year old when Luce eventually shows up?
Also, Luce, why is she not condemned?  Or if she is condemned, is her condemnation that she only lives to be 17 and then dies?  If that's the case, why wouldn't Daniel want to take advantage of every moment and be with her as early in her life as he possibly could be?  Is it just because the pain is too great?
Is the only reason why he expected to meet and cause her death so quickly because he avoided her until she found her way to him or do they only ever get a few weeks together regardless of when they find each other?

Chapter Eighteen

Literally stopped and laughed out loud to Miss Sophia's statement of "There's supposed to be an order to things!" when the locusts were appearing.

I don't really care for the implication that most of the important characters are part of this reincarnation thing.

When Cam was summoning the "creatures that embodied night" I was just imagining the Heartless from Kingdom Hearts.

Miss Sophia being a bad guy was an interesting twist, although I don't know why since Cam was "nice" to and ended up being an enemy.
Chapter Nineteen

It's an interesting theory that Luce has to be baptized in order to be reborn considering reincarnation isn't something typically talked about in a Christian bible.  Ironically I was never baptized so I wonder what that would mean for me in this world.

Chapter Twenty

Why could the mortals see the destruction from the battle but no one had been woken up during it?