meg reads and reads

Title: Needful Things Author: Stephen King This book definitely had some really high moments, but overall it was a slow and uninteresting read. The main problem with this book is that there are just way too many main characters. I feel like we could have gotten glimpses of some characters--such as Sally, Lester, Frank Jewett, George Nelson, Rev. Rose, Father Brigham, and many more--without having to go too deeply into their personal stories. Their separate plot lines felt superfluous and made the book much longer than it needed to be. That said, this has one of the more gruesome scenes I've read in a Stephen King book thus far, the fight between Wilma and Nettie. The final showdown between Mr. Gaunt and Alan is pretty neat, though it is so outlandish that it takes a little of the spark out of it. All in all, it was decent, and I give it three out of five stars. ------------------------- QUOTE: "'Not everybody believes in ghosts, but I do. Do you know what they ...

Title: Boys of Brayshaw High Author: Meagan Brandy Oh...my...gosh. I have read some awful garbage in my life. Remember I read Nora Roberts a couple months back? This is worse. This is so much worse. I don't even know where to begin. Ugh. Okay, there are so many sentences in this book that don't even make sense. The book is told from the perspective of two different characters who just so happen to have the same voice. Like if you don't pay attention to the chapter headers that let you know who's speaking, you would not be able to tell. Then there's the fact that the entire plot is completely unrealistic and makes no sense. Also, the main male character, Maddoc, is a total domineering jerk, but I think we're supposed to like him. I honestly feel like I'm dumber for having read this book. Time to find new garbage to read. Two out of five stars. ---------------------- QUOTE: "People who can lay their heads down and fall asl...

Title: I Capture the Castle Author: Dodie Smith This book was remarkably heartwarming and funny. Normally, I find that humor in books this old doesn't age well, but that really isn't the case here. Dodie Smith's sense of humor shines through in a superb way, and I found myself laughing out loud multiple times. That said, this isn't a comedy. There's a love story. There's concern of mental illness. It's a complex tale of a family that others wish to save (from poverty, from irrelevance, etc.), but they ultimately save themselves. It doesn't end with a happily ever after, but I still feel good about where the characters are at the end. It's Austen-esque with a dose of realism. I like that. Four out of five stars. QUOTES: "There is only one page left to write on. I will fill it with words of only one syllable. I love. I have loved. I will love." "I only want to write. And there's no college for that except life....

Title: Dracula Author: Bram Stoker This is a horror classic that in many ways has earned its place in the literary hall of fame. I am certain that when it came out it had much more impact than it does now. It has not aged all that well. With that said, there are still parts that are extremely creepy, particularly near the beginning in Dracula's castle and later after Dracula comes to London and the events that take place there. There is stuff in between that's pretty boring and hard to get through, and it's also pretty slow during the 'chase' at the end. I feel like that should have been the most exciting part, and I personally thought that the ending was extremely anticlimactic. Bram Stoker did a wonderful job, however, giving each character his or her unique voice. You could definitely tell who was narrating each chapter just by the tone and the language used, even if you didn't pay attention to the chapter titles. That's not an easy thing for a w...

Title: The Best Thing Author: Mariana Zapata This book was all right. The cursing goes a bit overboard, in my opinion, almost like the author is just going for a reaction. That may or may not be true, but that's what it felt like to me. There's a whole plot line introduced with the main character Lenny's biological grandmother that felt pointless, because it didn't really go anywhere. The main love story is sweet. There's a big "reveal" in the book that I think was supposed to be a surprise, but I called it very early on in the book. All of that said, there are several laugh-out-loud moments, particularly concerning Grandpa Gus, and that is the main saving grace for this book, in my opinion. Because of Grandpa Gus and Peter, this book gets three out of five stars. Otherwise, it'd probably be less. It wasn't bad; it just wasn't great, either. ------------------------- READING PROGRESS: Needful Things by Stephen King: 84% Dracula by B...

Title: Gone Girl Author: Gillian Flynn This is perhaps one of the craziest books I have ever read. I mean this in the best way possible. There isn't one character in this book that is 100% likable, but there is a clear protagonist and antagonist. There are so many twists and tiny details that are actually hugely important, which really makes this one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. I have heard that people really hated it (particularly the ending), but I thought it was fun. Additionally, I'm usually not a fan of the movie versions of books that I read, but I thought the movie was almost as good as the book (probably because Gillian Flynn herself wrote the movie). Five out of five stars. --------------- READING PROGRESS: Needful Things by Stephen King: 83% The Best Thing by Mariana Zapata: 97% Dracula by Bram Stoker: 88% Codename Villanelle by Luke Jennings: 31%

Title: Written in My Own Heart's Blood Author: Diana Gabaldon It has been an insanely long time since I reviewed a book, and I'm sorry. Life got a little crazy there for a while. I started a new job, and we are house hunting, on top of all the normal craziness that comes with being a mother of two small kids. But anyway, here we are, over a month since my last review. This book was very long, so it took me longer than I'd like to admit to read it. It was very emotionally heavy at parts, which added to the length of time it took me to read. There is one particular scene where I cried like a baby and had to put the book down for an extended period of time to recover (this is one reason why I read multiple books at a time--so I can continue to read if I just can't continue with a book immediately for some reason).  A friend of mine said that, though Diana Gabaldon often has heavy subject matter in her books, you can always have faith that there is a point ...