Sam Reviews "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

Memoirs are hard to rate because some stories are better than others, but overall this was a very nice read. Maya lead a very interesting life even before she turned 18 and I was never bored reading her stories. I'm a little disappointed that my high school never made me read this book, so I experienced it for the first time at 23, but I'm glad I did. I'd recommend this to anyone who already knows they like memoirs, but also to people who are just starting to get into them (like me!).

"I hadn't so much forgotten as I couldn't bring myself to remember. Other things were more important."

"[The town]  closed in around us,  as a real mother embraces a stranger's child. Warmly,  but not too familiarly."

"I could feel the evilness flowing through my body and waiting,  pent up, to rush off my tongue if I tried to open my mouth. I clamped my teeth shut,  I'd hold it in. If it escaped,  wouldn't it flood the world and all the innocent people?"

"I have never known if Momma sent for us, or if the St.Louis family got fed up with my grim presence. There is nothing more appalling than a constantly morose child."

"I was liked,  and what a difference it made. ...  Childhood's logic never asks to be proved (all conclusions are absolute).  I didn't question why Mrs. Flowers had singled me out for attention."

"For a few seconds it was a tossup over whether I would laugh (imagine being named Hallelujah) or cry (imagine letting some white woman rename you [Glory] for her convenience."

"Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives."

"She was our mother and belonged to us. She was never mentioned to anyone because we simply didn't have enough of her to share."

"Bailey was talking so fast he forgot to stutter."

"What child can resist a mother who laughs freely and often?"

"Through food we learned that there were other people in the world."

"I concerned myself less about everything and everyone. I often thought of the tedium of life once one had seen all its surprises."

"I had known all along the inevitable outcome and that I dared not poke into his knapsack of misery,  even with the offer to help him carry it."

"My tears were ... for the hopelessness of all mortals who live on the sufferance of Life. In order to avoid this bitter end,  we would all have to be born again,  and born with the knowledge of alternatives. Even then?"

"Nat King Cole warned the world to "straighten up and fly right."  As if they could,  as if human  beings could make a choice."

"Even as the scene was being enacted I realized the imbalance in his values. He thought I was giving him something, and  the fact of the matter was that it was my intention to take something from him.  His good looks and popularity had made him so inordinately conceited that they blinded him to that possibility."

Sam Reviews "Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded" by Hannah Hart

Buffering was everything I wanted it to be and more. I find Hannah Hart to be one of the most selfless and inspiring pop culture figures today. Starting off by utilizing her publicity tour as a way to encourage people to volunteer their time at food banks, to now getting the nitty gritty details of the struggles she has overcome, I don't know how someone could not appreciate her light. I'm not typically one to favor non-fiction books, but I managed to swallow this one whole in three days. I'll be honest, there were section in the book I felt were a little jumbled and I did have to go back and reread in order to regain my footing in the story, but overall this was a lovely memoir and I'm so glad Hannah opened herself up to her fans (and hopefully to other people as well).

As much as I want everyone to read this book for themselves, I also can't keep from sharing these wonderful, beautiful snippets from her story.

"Selfishly, I wanted to write this to feel less alone.  Selflessly, I hope it helps you feel less alone too."

"Regarding the appearance of the house alone,  the level of filth,  one would think that five people were living here,  but the feeling of stillness,  the dust,  the stagnance of inactivity were inescapable markers of the truth."

"I feel guilty,  like I'm blowing up a museum.  It's no wonder Mom can't throw these things away.   Of course she can't.  It feels like disposing of a body or packing up after a funeral.  Aside from the damp breaths of mold or the soft smell of rot associated with the clothes,  there are a thousand memories attached to each item. ... At a time when we had so little these clothes gave us so much.  Until now. Until this moment when I throw it all into this big black bag.   The reward for their tenure."

"... maybe she's been saving all this stuff for so long because she was waiting for her life to start back up again.  Is that hope?"

"Sometimes we have to start over and make new heirlooms for our children to eventually put into their own boxes or bags as they see fit. "

"'Am I ever going to get a real job? I work part time,  dude.  At a coffee shop.  Is this going to be my life forever?'
"'There's no such thing as forever,  man!  It's just right now.  And right now you work at a coffee shop and you're learning how to be an awesome barista.  We love coffee shops!  That's cool!'

"'I think I have to realize that being 27 and not having done my thing yet is not the catastrophe it seems to be.'"

"Depression is a wordless whisperer telling you that this feeling is the true feeling and that every other feeling you've ever had was only temporary.  This is your lasting reality.  Those memories you called happiness or peace were just distractions,  but this is you at your most real.  Don't bother to fight against it,  because you're always fighting against it,  and since you're fighting against your own nature,  you'll never fully win."

"Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am real."

"... healthy relationships weren't born out of the desperation to avoid a feeling of loneliness.  ...  Loneliness can come with you into even the most crowded of rooms."

"... dealing with depression isn't about trying to run away from the feeling; it's about learning to walk alongside it."

"I felt young and inexperienced but also free and reckless."

"'The only real danger is the comedown [from ecstacy]'

"'How will I know when I'm coming down?'
"'When all the judgement starts to seep back in.'"

"This girl, who had been a stranger an hour before, was now someone I knew I could trust.  We all trust until we're taught otherwise."

"Was I myself only when I was with other people?  Could I be myself alone?  Did I have a self alone?"

"Walk until you see a new perspective. You may not see a way out, but you can always change your perspective."

"You know what another word for fear is?  Intelligence."

"Achieving inner peace is real.  It's out there.  You just have to be willing to walk past the darkness, and even past the light, to find it."

"If you're the type of person who is logging internal complaints 99 percent of the time, it's not actually about the outside circumstances, it's about your internal head space.  Think about it...what are the odds that you're actually constantly surrounded by idiots? ... If you're someone who likes to complain and be negative, ain't nothing gonna change that but you."

"First anger, then guilt, then isolation.  That was the only pattern I knew."

"'Is it always this bad?'
"'Not always. But sometimes. Just like everything else.'"

"There are no bad guys in this story.  Things are always more complicated than one person who was wrong or one person who was selfish.  ...  Sometimes it's easier to decide that someone is the bad guy.  But the truth is never that simple."

"She said that handsome men don't stay handsome for long.  Or maybe she just said they don't stay long.  Both turned out to be true."

"You're a good person.  You're the best of any of us.  You'll take care of so many things."

"'I'm not your dad.  We're friends. We're family. But I'm not your dad.  Your dad is a good man.  He's just not here.'
"'Yeah, but you're here.'"

"What's the point of keeping a fragment of something that was already gone?"

"This is a message for those of you who contemplate permanent solutions to temporary problems [suicide].  You never know what could be coming in the future.  There is so much music you've yet to hear."

"We'll grow old together and laugh while we watch each other fall apart.  I love you."

"For his sake, I'm glad he disappeared.  I don't blame him.  I know it was an act of self-preservation."

"If you ask me about "the first time I thought I might be gay" ... I could say it was any time I was near another girl at all and she smelled so clean and nice and I wanted to be her favorite thing in the world.  ...   The truth is that I think it was in every moment."

"Denial is both active and passive."

"I'm glad we were on the same page. But I think that was the last time that we ever were."

"I wasn't gay when people asked me who I was dating because she and I weren't dating:  we were in love.  Good thing that she wasn't gay either. She was just experimenting and that's what she told everyone. Which is why she was comfortable talking about it. But I couldn't talk about it with my family because I knew we weren't an experiment. We'd get married (as two straight women) and then and only then would I tell my family. I didn't need to say the word "gay" because this wasn't long term. I wasn't gay at all, I was simply hers."

"The kind of conflict that's quiet - the quiet of two people who know that something is about to go terribly wrong. The quiet before an earthquake. Except who knew if the earthquake was going to bring forth a volcano and who knew if that volcano would destroy everything we had built."

"I was formed in response to her,  as she was formed in response to me. We were each other's parent and each other's child."

Sam Reviews "American Psycho" by Bret Easton Ellis

It took me way too long to finish this book, but I really did not enjoy it.  I did not appreciate the incessant description of what name brand clothing the characters were wearing or the bizarre foods they were eating.  While the description during some of the more sinister scenes was enticing, those scenes did not make up for the amount of boring chapters in this book.  I understand why these chapters were there, they were meant to show the inner workings of this man's mind, but I really didn't want to know about those bits.  I don't know who I would recommend this book to.  I don't see myself going out of my way to read other books by this author.

"I keep studying her face,  bored by how beautiful it is,  flawless really."

"It's so much worse (and more pleasurable)  taking the life of someone who has hit his or her prime,  who has the beginnings of a full history, a spouse, a network of friends, a career,  whose death will upset far more people whose capacity for grief is limitless than a child's would,  perhaps ruin many more lives..."

"'People need each other.'
"'Some don't.  Or, well, people compensate.  They adjust.  People can get accustomed to anything, right?'"

"It did not occur to me,  ever,  that people were good or that a man was capable of change or that the world could ever be a better place through one's taking pleasure in a feeling or a look or a gesture, of receiving another person's love or kindness."

"You should never mistake affection for passion.  It can be not good. It can get you into trouble."

"There isn't any way I could be disappointed since I no longer find anything worth looking forward to."

"My personality is sketchy and unformed, my heartlessness goes deep and is persistent."

"Is evil something you are?  Or is it something you do?"

"My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone.  In fact I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape."

"Why not end up with her?  She has a better body than most every other girl I know.  Everyone is interchangeable anyway. It doesn't really matter."

Sam Reviews "The Carousel" (The Locket #3) by Richard Paul Evans

I had read The Carousel back in 2009, and even then I jotted down many a quote that I still love to this day.  It took me way too long to finish this because I moved and took a break from reading right in the middle of it, but I still love this book.  I still don't really see how "The Looking Glass" ties into this and "The Locket" so personally I would suggest just reading "The Locket" then "The Carousel" and judge the books based on that.  I think the love story is so great and (mostly) realistic, which is my favorite type.  And while this is more of a "happily ever after" type story, I do find a lot of my personal philosophy of love articulated in this author's story, which is also my favorite type.

"To dream is to hope.  To hope is to live."

"Love cannot exist without forgiveness and faith is more enduring than understanding."

"I do not understand, with so many people on this planet, so many die alone."

"It was no great coincidence that Della died on her birthday, as every day was Della's birthday.  ... Some delusions, even in the clear-minded, are best left unchallenged."

"Hey, baby, ain't it a shame.  All those curves and me with no brakes."

"Summer is a fever of sorts.  Hot and deceptive.  Like falling in love."

"Faye was perennially summer.  More than bronze-skinned and barefoot, she was the warm nights of the sea-son, the hot breeze that caressed my hair, dampened my brow, and filled each breath.  Summer and all its reckless promise."

"We both knew that it would be our last carefree summer together.  We spent those days constructing our dreams of a life together, clinging to each hour as tightly as a mountain climber holds to the rock face of a vertical climb, tethering our dreams and futures to our promises.  But summer always ends.  And in the end, promises weren't enough."

"There's something about standing on the edge of a cliff that takes the words from you."

"Despite our culture's fascination with death, we go to great lengths to conceal it from ourselves, pushing it out the back doors of hospitals in unmarked vans, and into secluded corners where we can safely get on with the business of ignoring our own mortality."

"I anticipated her evening call as the addict anticipates a fix, knowing all the while that just minutes after she hung up, the rush would wear off and the need for her would be all the greater."

"She was mixed up, perhaps no more than every teenager trapped in the adolescent house of mirrors, but she seemed more confused than most."

"What is it they say about college philosophy?  You remember just enough to screw up the rest of your life."

"I don't know why we delude ourselves that life is predictable and safe, when it's really just a carton of eggs - always just one stumble away from being scrambled."

"There are times when doing what is right and avoiding the appearance of evil are not the same thing."

"It was ecstasy being alone with her. I should have known it could not last."

"Depression is a box of lies. The person trapped in this darkness often is unable to see past its murk to future happiness or even past joys.  They believe, erroneously,  that they have always been unhappy and,  therefore, always will be."

"What remained [of Faye] was numb,  bathed in the psychological anesthetic required for emotional survival."

"The sun will rise again. The only question is whether or not we will be there to greet it."

"Though we pay homage to the gods of intellect and reason,  in the end we believe what we want to believe."

"The drowning man is not picky about which lifeboat he climbs into."

"Love is a reaction of the pituitary. Researchers say that when the pituitary is removed,  that person never feels that whirlwind,  head over heels feeling of love. ...  i think i could have used a pituitary- ectomy years ago.   I'm bad at love.  I just throw my heart up like a skeet target to see if anyone wants to blow it into a million pieces."

"I'm not into fatalism. At least i dont think i am.  But sometimes i think there might be something to it.  I don't believe that we're meant to go through this life alone."

"The opposite of love isn't anger. It's indifference."

"One of the sweetest women I had ever known had just walked out of my life. And the only honest and kind thing I could do was let her go."

"Life isn't like any carousel I have ever known. It's not safe or predictable. We never know where or when someone's going to get off.  There are no promises.  The truth is, if we knew what the ride was like we probably would have just saved the ticket."

"We can't promise our time.  It's not ours to give.   The best we can promise is our hearts.  And the most we can hope for is to live each moment so when it's all over,  there are no regrets."

"I don't know who you are anymore. I don't know what you're thinking.  I'm afraid of you."

Carole's Review: Time and Regret by MK Tod

Author: MK Tod
Title: Time and Regret
Genre: Historical Fiction and Mystery
Pages: ebook
First Published: August 16th 2016 
Where I Got It: My Shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for an honest and unbiased review)

When Grace Hansen finds a box belonging to her beloved grandfather, she has no idea it holds the key to his past—and to long-buried family secrets. In the box are his World War I diaries and a cryptic note addressed to her. Determined to solve her grandfather’s puzzle, Grace follows his diary entries across towns and battle sites in northern France, where she becomes increasingly drawn to a charming French man—and suddenly aware that someone is following her…

Through her grandfather’s vivid writing and Grace’s own travels, a picture emerges of a man very unlike the one who raised her: one who watched countless friends and loved ones die horrifically in battle; one who lived a life of regret. But her grandfather wasn’t the only one harboring secrets, and the more Grace learns about her family, the less she thinks she can trust them.




Oooooh WWI. Such a bloody, bloody war. So many people lost their lives! I'm glad this story shared Martin's tale as well Grace's. It showed his journey as well as Grace's. The author did an amazing job with showing the true brutality of the war and the survivor's guilt. Beautiful job.

Normally I prefer one POV over the other, but for this one, I really liked both. Both had me hooked and I couldn't wait for the continuation of both. The author did a good job with the switching between WWI and the 1990s. Kuddos. It can be tough transitioning. 

So many secrets and so many regrets on all sides! Lies, blackmail, secrets, stealing, killing, and so much more! Poor Grace! LOLLL 

Poor Martin. :( He really did have a hard time. However, he was a clever man and taught Grace well on how to decipher the secrets he had. 

Now, the culprit at the end surprised me for sure. Yes, I did suspect that person....but everyone was on my radar. However, as the story progressed I did have my money on someone else. The culprit did make me sad. I really had hoped it wouldn't be that person. Super bummer....but it did make a lot of sense honestly. 

Why was Grandmama/Cynthia was such a B! But I don't understand it fully. Why would Martin stay with her or put up with her being so mean to Grace? You can't help who you love, but he should have put his foot down and told her off. I think she needed a reminder that you can't be a B whenever you wanted. Yes, it did make the story interesting and make it harder for Grace to solve the mystery....but yeah. Not cool. 

My only real complaint was the ending after the reveal and whatnot. It did seem to drag on and on. It felt like it was never going to end and I expected more to be revealed, but nothing was. 

Pierre was meh to me. He was nice and I'm glad Grace found him....but I guess I wasn't taken in by his charm. 

I was utterly hooked from page one. The characters were interesting and I was very involved with both of their stories. I will admit...I teared up a couple of times during Martin's story! THE FEELS DAMMIT! THE FEELS! War is such a nasty, nasty thing especially WWI. WWI was the beginning of the shift of how warfare was done. It was a nasty transition that caused so many people to die on all sides. Super sad. The mystery was good and the culprit surprised me. 

I also LOVE THE COVER! Beautiful. 

In the end, I highly recommend this for everyone. Yes, there is some historical parts involved, but the author does a good job making it feel real and alive. The mystery and finding out all the secrets was for sure good. The ending did drag on a bit, but the rest of the of the story was fun. I shall stamp this with 4 stars. 

Sam Reviews "The Looking Glass" (The Locket #2) by Richard Paul Evans

I did not love this book as much as I loved The Locket.  I felt that it was more of a stand alone book than it was a sequel / prequel, and so I was disappointed it feel second in a series.  I think the story was sweet, well written, and realistic, but it wasn't my preferred story.  I don't typically enjoy historical fiction, which this was, as it was based in the 1850s.  I really love Richard Paul Evans' writing style, and I find his stories entrancing and easy to get through, but I don't see myself rereading this book.  I also don't think it is a necessary addition to it's predecessor.


"I love thee with a love I seemed to lose..."
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"There are those who find God in the order of the universe - evidenced in elements as small as atomic nuclei to forces as massive as the cosmic energy that holds the galaxies at bay."

"Salvation, spiritual or otherwise, is not a solitary matter and along such journeys there are companions placed along our travels and travails, fellow sojourners who forever alter our paths and sometimes carry us when we are too weary to carry ourselves."

"At times, hearts are the most traitorous of devices.  They tumble headlong and blindly toward obvious dangers while they obstinately protect us from that which would likely do us the most good."

"...it is man's nature to distrust those unlike himself and fear those he does not understand."

"...there are moments in one's life more memorable than entire years.  But these moments are those usually wished forgotten."

"As sure as success will destroy a man, it will just as assuredly be imitated."

"How quickly it is forgotten that Midas's gift was a curse not a blessing."

"I do not wonder at the cruelty of this world,  as it seems the nature of it. I find myself more perplexed at why there is good at all."

"I suppose that my anger is more of habit now than sentiment."

"I believe it is among man's greatest quests of life,  not just to see life as it really is,  but to see his part in it."

"Our false beliefs can be a chain to our souls. Only if we hold on to who we truly are can we be free.  The danger is in the forgetting."

"'We do not see things in this life as they truly are - only as we believe they are.  ...we see through a glass darkly - but no glass is so dark, I think,  as the looking glass through which we view ourselves.  Nowhere does man err so greatly than when he looks to see the reality of who he is.' 

"'And who are we?'
"'We are worthy.   Worthy of life. Worthy of love. Worthy of kindness and gentleness. We are not some mistake of God or nature.'"

"'If i tell you, where will i reside in your heart?'
"'I don't know,  but you must have faith in me'"

"Not all pain was equal. There could,  in fact,  be delicious sorrow."

"The greatest shackles we bear in this life are those forged by our own fears."

"I have made a grave mistake. I have carelessly handled a heart entrusted to mine. And in so doing i have broken both."

Sam Reviews "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson - August 2016

First of all this is one of my alltime favorite books so I was very excited when Donnia picked it.

I found the Platinum Edition of this book at a booksale and there is a foreward by the author that this was a book she didn't even want to write which I think just makes me love it more.

What are your guys' take on the "The First Ten Lies They Tell You In High School"?
1.  We are here to help you.
2. You will have enough time to get to your class before the bell rings.
3.  The dress code will be enforced
4. No smoking is allowed on school grounds
5. Our football team will win the championship this year.
6. We expect more of you here.
7. Guidance counselors are always available to listen.
8. Your schedule was created with your needs in mind.
9. Your locker combination is private.
10. These will be the years you look back on fondly.

"We got to World War I in seventh grade. Who knew there had been a war with the whole world? ... Iraq or Vietnam, one of those TV wars."

I think she made the wrong decision to not explain the situation when Mr. Neck asked her why she was in the hall without a pass.

Whenever I read this book I have to imagine the art class and teacher is choir so I can relate. Because I am no artist, I like words, so all his nonsense about art being your breath and soul doesn't resonate with me.

I really hate when people talk shitty of people for having sex even if they're refering to cheerleaders.  Especially statements like "Group rate abortions before prom".  Sure hate on cheerleaders for their special treatment by the staff, jealousy of their athletic bodies and dating jocks, even their parents assuming they are well off, but leave their sexual choices out of it.

"Linda means pretty in Spanish. They call me Me-no-linda for the rest of the period. This is how terrorists get started."

"She [the librarian] says that Maya Angelou is one of the greatest American writers.  ...  She must be a great writer if the school board is afraid of her."

When Melinda starts crying cuz her parents noticed her drawing more it reminds me of my bitterness that my parents never cared about my writing.

The part where Melinda talks about cutting herself with a paperclip and then her mom's response being "I don't have time for this" reminds me of my pathetic attempt at attention seeking self mutilation.

"He sets the coffee on the top of his car and fumbles in his pocket for the keys.  Very, very adult this, this coffee/car-keys/cut-school guy."

Even though I do find this whole "Let's not talk about things and hope they go away mentality", I will admit that the way Melinda acts around IT is the same way I act when I see Steven Dolliver or Joel Ritchie.

The part where Melinda skips school and jumps on the bus to go to the mall, and she uses the metaphor about "You just expect the mall to be there like milk in the refrigerator."  It's funny how, now reading that as an adult you think "Well if you don't put the milk there it won't just be there."  Also how she's saying she was surprised it was locked, I remember when my mom and I went shopping for my Senior Prom dress we got into Flint at like 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning and almost all of the stores didn't open until 10:00 and my mom was pissed because she hates driving in traffic which is why she had planned to go, shop, and be home before noon.

"...When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time.  You'd be shocked at how many adults are really dead inside - walking through their days with no idea who they are, just waiting for a heart attack or cancer or a Mack truck to come along and finish the job.  It's the saddest thing I know."

"Seeds are inefficient.  If the seed is planted too deep, it doesn't warm up at the right time.  Plant it too close to the surface and a crow eats it.  Too much rain and the seed molds.  Not enough rain and it never gets started.  Even if it does manage to sprout, it can be choked by weeds, rooted up by a dog, mashed by a soccer ball, or asphyxiated by car exhaust.  It's amazing anything survives."

"...it's ready to flower...this is a bad time to be a rose or a zinnia or a marigold, because people attack with scissors and cut off what's pretty.  But plants are cool.  If the rose is picked, the plant grows another one.  It needs to bloom to produce more seeds."

Thoughts on the Ten More Lies They Tell You In High School:
1.  You will use algebra in your adult lives.
2.  Driving to school is a privilege that can be taken away.
3.  Students must stay on campus for lunch.
4.  The new textbooks will arrive any day now.
5.  Colleges care about more than your SAT scores.
6.  We are enforcing the dress code.
7.  We will figure out how to turn off the heat soon.
8.  Our bus drivers are highly trained professionals.
9.  There is nothing wrong with summer school.
10.  We want to hear what you have to say.

"Sometimes I think high school is just one long hazing activity; if you are tough enough to survive this, they'll let you become an adult.  I hope it's worth it."