The Nest - Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

I really really wanted to love this book. I mean, Amy Poehler blurbed it. If Amy Poehler couldn't stop reading or caring about the Plumb family, then sure I wouldn't be able to stop reading or caring about them, right? I'm not saying I'd do anything Amy Poehler says, but I'm also not saying I wouldn't take her reading suggestions. 

The Nest is a story about the Plumb family, and how they have come to rely on their long awaited inheritance. The four Plumb siblings, Leo, Melody, Beatrice, and Jack, have all created these new fictional lives for themselves after they've received their inheritance (which they've taken to calling "The Nest"), and in these fictional lives all their problems are solved. But what happens when The Nest becomes endangered due to Leo's carelessness? They are forced to forget these fictional lives and live with the realities they've created for themselves. 

One of my biggest problems with this book was the number of characters. There were just too many to get to know and to start to care about. There were four Plumb siblings, two of whom are married, one couple has twin daughters, and there's a deceased husband who is mentioned a few times. There's the waitress from the beginning of the story, a landlord, a few friends (some turn into more than just friends), and a few others. The narrater changed each chapter, so at times you'd start to get really into one character's story, but then it would abruptly shift to someone else. But sometimes I'd find I just didn't care about a character or a storyline and would rush through the chapter just to get to the end. 

This book wasn't the worst book I've ever read, but it wasn't the best book I've read. I read the majority of the book while I was camping, and it was probably the best book I've read camping for a few years. I couldn't really get into it, but I wanted to know how it ended so I also couldn't put the book down. I probably wouldn't read it again. 

Overall, I'd give the book 3.5/5 stars. Not fantastic, not horrible, somewhere in the middle. 

Have you read this book? Did you have a favourite character? Let me know!

I'm also on the new Indigo app called reco! You can find me there under the username lbaker67!

Finding Audrey - Sophie Kinsella

Finding Audrey

Sophie Kinsella

2015

I didn't know this book was happening. How I didn't know one of my favourite authors was releasing a book is something I can't figure out, but I was at the store the other day, saw the book, and immediately bought it without reading the synopsis or anything. I mean, I texted my mom all excitedly and then snapchatted some people who I thought might be as excited as me, and then bought the book. I quickly realized this is a young adult book, which made it a little different from her other books, but a good kind of different.

Finding Audrey is about a girl with Social Anxiety Disorder. She hints about what has happened to her, but never flat out states it. She hasn't really left her house in months except to go to therapy. Until she meets Linus. And things start to change for the better. I'd give more of a synopsis, but I don't want to give anything away! 

I really liked this book! It was a good combination of happy and sad, but in all the right places. Parts of the book are downright hilarious. Everything felt resolved, which is a good way to end a book (unlike Shopaholic to the Stars...but I'll get to that another time). I liked all the characters (which is unusual for me) and every character had something to add, and nobody felt like they were just put in there. The mother was probably one of my favourite characters. She means so well, but her execution is a little questionable at some points. She is always trying to do what she believes is best for her and for her family, but her source of information could use some work. There was one part of the book that I didn't totally agree with, but it was just a small part, and didn't have too much of an impact on the overall story.

Sophie Kinsella's books are always incredibly well written, and have incredible re-read potential. This book will probably sit on my shelf for a little while until one day when I just want a quick read where I know nothing bad happens. 

I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars! 

Have you read this book? Do you have a favourite Sophie Kinsella novel? Mine is probably Can You Keep A Secret? or The Undomestic Goddess. And of course, the Shopaholic series.

Does having the mother as a favourite character officially make me old?

All The Right Stuff - Walter Dean Meyers

All The Right Stuff

Walter Dean Meyers

2012

I really liked this book's cover. I downloaded it for my ereader from my library's website solely because I liked the orange and the blue in the cover. I should have probably read a little bit about it first, but I was just looking for some books to read on my vacation. I read this book in about two days, and it was an alright book, just not what I'm used to.

All The Right Stuff is about Paul DuPree who lives in Harlem and is working at a soup kitchen four days a week and tutoring a girl one day a week during the summer. Elijah, the old man who owns the soup kitchen, teaches Paul how to make soup, but more importantly, he won't shut up about something called the 'social contract'. That's the basis of this novel. A lot of other things happen (he befriends Keisha, the girl he is tutoring in basketball, he meets up with a very well known drug dealer/big shot named Sly, etc). 

The book is all about deep thinking and Elijah asks Paul a lot of questions about the social contract. If that was a concept I was interested in, I might have enjoyed the book more. Or maybe if I wasn't looking for something fun to read while I was on holidays.

The novel was well written, and you can see a change in the character of Paul from the beginning of the book to the end, especially in how he talks to people such as Keisha or Sly. There was very little plot though. The majority of the book was spent discussing the social contract and a lot of the book was  told in conversations between Elijah and Paul, or just Paul thinking. While some things did happen and I wanted to know how they were resolved, I didn't feel like there was a lot of action. 

I give this book 2.5 out of 5 stars. Had I been in the mood for a more philosophical novel I may have enjoyed this more. More plot would have been nice.

You can buy this book from Amazon here: All The Right Stuff

Have you read this book? Have you read anything else by Walter Dean Meyers? If you have, which book would you recommend?
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