A book based on or turned into a TV show

A book based on or turned into a TV show

Title: The Leftovers
Author: Tom Perrotta
Publication date: 2011
Challenge: A book based on or turned into a TV show

I came to this book a bit differently than I typically do. First, my friend Rachel implored upon me to watch the HBO series based on the book. Unlike me, Rachel doesn't watch much television so if she was interested, I thought I'd check it out. A few episodes in and I was hooked. Then I had one of my frequent "what are you reading" text exchanges with my friend Skye. Turns out she had read The Leftovers previously and loved it (but wouldn't watch the series). Thanks to a Kindle Daily Deal in December, it found its way to my e-reader.

An interesting side note about the PopSugar list is that I haven't spent any money or made one visit to the library since I've begun this undertaking. I've found my robust Kindle TBR list and my actual TBR bookshelf will help me meet most of the challenges. And technically, I bought A Long Fatal Love Chase in 2014. :-)

It's hard for me to review or talk about The Leftovers without comparing the book to the TV series. The premise of both is the same and the characters have the same names and share some similarities but the series takes many liberties as Hollywood is wont to do.

It's three years after a Rapture-like or the actual Rapture event occurs. The book takes its title from those who are, pardon the usage, left behind.

Tom Garvey is the town mayor. His family is the center of the story with only one non-Garvey character (Nora Durst) being prominently featured in chapters of her own. Nora lost her entire family (husband, son and daughter) in the Sudden Departure.

The Garveys include daughter Jill, a high school student; son Tom, who has left home and joined a cult; and mom/wife Laurie, who has joined a cult of her own the Guilty Remnant or G.R.

The story follows the characters as they go about trying to live a life in a world that is forever changed. Jill is struggling to find herself while desperately missing her mother.

Four stars

Next challenge: TBD

My attempt to read 52 books in 2015

I blame Pinterest. Though it's just as easy to blame my book club. I have a pretty awesome book club. But let's get back to Pinterest ...

I have a Pinterest board (Book worm) where I pin quotes, ecards and book lists (I love book lists) for later reference or my personal amusement. A few months ago, Pinterest started suggesting posts that I might like. Up pops the PopSugar 2015 Reading Challenge. This list is different from the other lists I scour through. It's not the top 10 books of [insert year/genre/author/etc.]. This one is different.

I'm intrigued. I begin to ponder the challenge of reading 50 books in a single year. (I read over 30 in 2014 but 50 could be a stretch as I do have a family and a job.)

The PopSugar list doesn't reference specific books or even a genre. It poses challenges such as "a book with more than 500 pages," "a classic romance," "a book that became a movie" and so on.

I printed copies of the list (see PDF). Posted it on my bulletin board at work. Left copies on my friends'/coworkers'/fellow book clubbers' (they share all three affiliations) desks. And then I waited for 2014 to end because I couldn't see the value in starting a book that wouldn't earn me "credit" for the challenge.

I've been a fan of Goodreads for several years. The previous two years my reading was spurred by the Goodreads' challenge. I thought about tracking my progress via that site but then decided a blog might be more fun.

If you are a fan of reading, I welcome you to join me on my yearlong journey as I read my way through a list of 52 (that's right, not 50!) challenges.

A book that made you cry

A book that made you cry

Title: Me Before You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Publication date: 2012

In the "which came first" realm, this book came before the challenge. As I plod through my Kindle purchases, I decided that Me Before You would be my next book. I'd just read From Baghdad to America and I really deserved a reward. Not certain which challenge it would fulfill but with "a book written by a female author" in my back pocket, I started.

I was quickly drawn into the story. Louisa Clark is a young woman who loses her job in a cafe and must find work quickly since she is the breadwinner in her parents' household. She is hired to care for Will Traynor, a 30-something man who is a quadriplegic. The contract provided by Will's mother is for six months. Desperate for the income with few options available in the small English town where she lives, Lou sets off on this new role.

Jojo Moyes pulled me right into Louisa's life. I was rooting for her; angry at her family for treating her so poorly; angry at her boyfriend for taking her for granted; and perplexed by Will Traynor's demeanor toward her.

"I got to study Will Traynor up close, in those first couple of weeks. I saw that he seemed determined not to look anything like the man he had been; he had let his light-brown hair grow into a shapeless mess, his stubble crawl across his jaw. His gray eyes were lined with exhaustion, or the effort of constant discomfort ... They bore they hollow look of someone who was always a few steps removed from the world around him."

Even though Louisa is in her late 20s, I think of Me Before You as a a coming-of-age story. Perhaps it's better to consider it a coming into one's own as she finds her world and interest expanded by someone who, now confined to a wheelchair, lived a life of adventure and culture.  

It's a great skill when a writer can make you hate a character for 150 pages and then fall in love with him for the remaining 150 pages of the book. Moyes does this. I've already classified it as a book that made me cry but I was surprised by the turns in the story and truly appreciated them.

Four stars (though I'm seriously considering increasing it to five)

Next challenge: A book based on or turned into a TV show

A book with bad reviews

A book with bad reviews

Title: From Baghdad to America: Life Lessons from a Dog Named Lava 
Author: Jay Kopelman
Publication date: 2010

My book club read Jay Kopelman's first book, From Baghdad with Love, several years ago and enjoyed it. We were all dog lovers (hence our name Must Love Dogs) and enjoyed rooting for Kopelman's effort to bring a dog he'd rescued as a Marine stationed in Iraq home to the U.S. against military rules. When his second book came up as a Kindle Daily Deal, not only did I buy it, I encouraged the members of my club to do so as well. For that I can only say, "I'm sorry."

I bought this book last year and it's been on my Kindle for three or four months. I approached it believing I'd accomplish the challenge of "a book with nonhuman characters." I quickly realized that the dog I'd fallen in love with (who was pictured on the cover and included in the subtitle) was rarely mentioned in this book.

The book begins with Kopelman taking his dog for a walk around his home in Palo Alto, Calif. Lava, like many survivors of war, has PTSD (who wouldn't?). Kopelman takes the dog for a walk OFF LEASH. Our first reunion with Lava is him being hit by a car and my opinion of Kopelman takes a dive and doesn't recover.

It's important that I am cautious in my critique and in my opinion of Kopelman because he is an angry man. He doesn't like critics and he is pretty clear about that in his book. Not only is the story lacking but Kopelman could've used a better editor too. Lava seems to be an afterthought. Most chapters are a rant about civilians taking soldiers and their service for granted and then close with a quip about Lava. Here's the one quote I highlighted in my reading:

“Of course I apologized, but I couldn’t shake the sense that I was truly an asshole.” 

My note said, "Because you ARE an asshole!"

The best thing I can say for this book is that Lava is still alive. The second nice thing I can say is that it only took me two days to read it. In the end, it went from "a book with nonhuman characters" to "a book with bad reviews." Guess I'm back to Animal Farm for my nonhuman character challenge.

Next challenge: TBD

A book written by an author with your same initials

A book written by an author with your same initials

Title: Around the World in 80 Days
Author: Jules Verne
Publication date: 1872

Some of the reading challenges I approach knowing what book I'll read but others require some pondering maybe even some research. Such was the case with this challenge. One of my favorite discoveries (yay research!) was this site which aggregates authors. Debbie, I don't know who you are but I know you're a genius. Thanks to Debbie, I found my JV in Jules Verne.

This book is a perfect example of how one title can fit multiple challenges. In addition to the challenge I selected, this book would also fit a book "originally written in another language," "more than 100 years old" or "with a number in the title." How fun!

To say I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Around the World in 80 Days would be an understatement. I found myself eager to read it. I also found it written in a style that made me wonder if it was originally written for serialization as the chapters (or every two chapters) seem to have their own story arc as they collectively moved the lead character from continent to continent.

Verne's language is descriptive (much credit to what had to be a phenomenal translator) and, despite being written in the 1800s, stands up well in 2015.

[Passepartout], without a word, made a rush for him, grasped him by the throat and, much to the amusement of a group of Americans, who immediately began to bet on him, administered to the detective a perfect volley of blows, which proved the great superiority of French over English pugilistic skill.

Now how's that for a sentence?

Four stars

Next challenge: A book with nonhuman characters

A book a friend recommended

A book a friend recommended

Title: Still Alice 
Author: Lisa Genova
Publication date: 2007

Alice Howland is kind of a big deal. She's a professor of psychology at Harvard and travels the world as an invited speaker at conferences, is a published author and researcher. When Alice begins to forget things, she finds it unusual but not alarming. When she goes out for a run and can't remember how to get home, things change.

Lisa Genova, herself an accomplished professor of psychology, takes us through Alice's discovery of her early-onset Alzheimer's and how this alters her family dynamic.

The subject matter was a jarring one. My own great memory is a personal source of pride. The possibility of that trait deteriorating is frightening. It's certainly what makes Still Alice such a compelling read: if it can happen to someone as accomplished, albeit fictional, as Alice, could it happen to me? What would I do?

Still Alice is the February selection for my book club selected and recommended by my friend Jorri. We're looking forward to that discussion and hoping to see the film adaptation soon as well.

Four stars

Next challenge: A book by an author with your same initials

A book that became a movie

A book that became a movie

Title: Must Love Dogs
Author: Claire Cook
Publication date: 2002

In January 2012, four friends/coworkers/fellow writers and I started a book club. (You can read that story at my friend Jill's site.) We called ourselves Must Love Dogs because, well we do, and our initial bonding occurred over stories of our dogs. It was convenient that it is also the name of a book, though one none of us had read.

This January, having availed myself of a Kindle Daily Deal to purchase the book in 2014, I set about to read Must Love Dogs. My short review to my book club girls was, "It was a'ight."

Must Love Dogs is the story of Sarah Hurlihy a relatively newly divorced 40-something whose big Irish-American family is encouraging her to "get out there again." The Hurlihy clan is central to the story and I found their interactions with one another to be real and engaging.

I was a bit disenchanted when I set about reading the book and discovered it had been turned into a series. Given I am still mourning Augustus Waters and would like to chat with the characters from The Invention of Wings, the fact that I'm not eager to read the other books in the series speaks volumes about the book or so I think.

Enough said.

Two stars

Next challenge: A book a friend recommended

A Pulitzer Prize-winning book

A Pulitzer Prize-winning book

Title: The Interpreter of Maladies
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Publication date: 1999

I was introduced to Jhumpa Lahiri through my book club (you'll find this to be a common thread in my reading). In 2014, we read The Lowlands, which was Lahiri's latest book. The majority of us (n = 6) did not like the book. I really disliked the book, which led to one of our best club discussions yet (fittingly occurring in an Indian restaurant.)

Not one to give up easily, I decided to tackle The Namesake next. Again: hated it. Loved the setting. Loved reading about the culture. Decided to watch the movie because, hello Kal Penn, and hated that too!

Then I find myself in 2015 with the PopSugar challenge looming before me and The Interpreter of Maladies waiting on my Kindle (love those Kindle Daily Deals). And? Loved it! I loved absolutely everything about this book, of which I knew very little other than it was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

A collection of short stories each of which introduces a new topic and new characters, Interpreter is just wonderful. I cared about the characters in the book. I enjoyed each story and was content with their conclusion.

Learn from my mistakes fellow readers: start with the Pulitzer winner.

Five stars

Next challenge: A book that became a movie

A classic romance

A classic romance

Title: A Long Fatal Love Chase
Author: Louisa May Alcott
Publication date: 1995
Challenge: A classic romance

I hadn't read Louisa May Alcott since my childhood reading of Little Women. This book was the January selection for my book club (Must Love Dogs). As noted in my previous post, I waited until January 1 to read it so I could cross a 2015 challenge off my list.

The story of how the book came to be published is almost as interesting as the book plot itself. Alcott wrote A Long Fatal Love Chase as a serialization for magazine publication at a time when she was under pressure to earn a salary to keep her family afloat following her extended stay in Europe.

For this reason, every two chapters has a story arc of its own taking the plot on a twisting route following the heroine's journey across the continent in search of love and ultimately peace and safety.

I found the book pretty easy to read to read. It did a fine job holding my attention. I tend to like books that allow me to read a chapter at a time but keep the story moving. This one did that.

Three stars

Next challenge: A Pulitzer Prize-winning book