Books I Unfinished:
What's it about: cats, temporary cat owners, cat therapy
Quit at: 38%
It's not a novel as it said on the cover, it's short stories connected by the idea of being prescribe a cat as therapy. I think I had expected it to be a novel and maybe a little disappointed it wasn't.
I thought the first story I read was rather dull and meaningless where things just happened to this particular temporaty cat owner and it involved the cat a bit. I tried the second story but I just didn't care. There is some paranormal elements but that doesn't come until later in the book. I really did try to finish this but I just couldn't do it.
What's it about: a dog's life, some humans' lives
Quit at: 8%
This was boring even though I thought the beginning bit (the first few pages that is) was interesting. And there were these music symbols (twice) (see photo below) instead of a word which is so bizarre and no reviewer seemed to talk about them and I have no idea what it means or it it might be a mistake, who knows. I guess if you can read music, you can understand it but I don't.
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| screenshot - does this mean anything? |
So I may have read only 8% but when Tassen (the dog, the main character) started talking about poop (at the end of chapter 3), I just didn't want to continue. That was just a tiny bit but did it need to be there? Perhaps I need to stop reading books from a dog's perspective because this is the second book of this kind and I don't know why but I think perspectives from male dogs all seemed rather annoyingly absurd. I read spoilers and the end was one that I didn't like so I guess I'm glad I didn't finish this.
What's it about: a girl, vengeance, outlaws
Quit at: 49%
It started okay but it became dull and I just lost interest. Mattie (narrator/main character) is too stubborn and for a fourteen-year-old, she seemed way too grown-up. Why did it take almost 50% of the book for Mattie and the two men to start on their journey to go after the outlaw and start her revenge? That's when I stopped reading which seemed foolish since I could have finished since it was so near to what this book was about but I couldn't muster the interest.
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Books I Read:
What's it about: a boy's life, playing cards, friendship, family, good deeds
The writing is awkward, clipped, choppy with lots of short, even one word sentences and I think oddly-worded and supposedly they are metaphors which most of the time I don't understand. This is from the perspective of Ed Kennedy (the main character) who is nineteen. Aside from Ed's sexual fantasies and dreams (although not explicit), he seemed more like thirteen.
It bothers me that Ed got up beat up so badly that he was bleeding all over and yet he didn't seek treatment, he dragged himself home and slept it off, didn't even put a bandaid on his wounds or anything and the next day (or perhaps a day after), he's playing football (or whatever dumb game it was), beating people and having people beat him. This guy must have super healing powers because no normal humans heals that fast. And he should have brain damage of some kind.
The ending and that twist was horribly manufactured and I hated it. Ed wasn't changed or became better person — he started and ended exactly the same person except he got what he wanted which I don't think he deserved. Getting those playing card forced him to do good deeds but it didn't make him a better person. Nope.
< Click to Show/Hide Spoilers > Audrey, the girl who Ed had a crush on, decided she didn't want love so she refused to date Ed but at the end, after three minutes of dancing with Ed, she suddenly changed her mind and wanted to be with Ed - unless she had an lobotomy, no girl could change her mind that fast. But she wasn't much of a character. According to Ed, she is all legs and a body but Ed still didn't deserve her. The way he insisted he is the only guy who could love her is such ego and he never respected Audrey's wishes.
The man who started it all is some guy Ed maybe had seen once and he created everything to make Ed a better person so that Ed wouldn't turn out to be a loser like his father. The part that pissed me off is this man paid another man to sexually assault his wife nightly so that Ed could rescue her as one of Ed's good deeds. Such situations didn't need to be created when this happens often enough. This man was playing god but as it turned out he may be god because Ed isn't a real person, Ed and everything in his world is fiction – that's the stupid twist. End Spoilers >
What's it about: doctors, mad women, murder
This one is about Sarah Brandt's (the main character) husband's murder. This one was very serious in that there are barely hints of humor like the other books in the series but it's still good. This series does have sordid subjects relating to most of the crimes so I expected as such. Of course there is no justification in killing another human being but in this case it was woefully unjust, made you want to hurt those involved.
What's about: a sister and brother search for their father, cheaters & liars, travel
I guess I was expecting something grittier or darker but it wasn't too bleak. There is violence, prostitutions and a woman's hand is shot off but it's like one of those books where even when something bad happens, it's gets fixed and the bad guys get their comeuppance and all problems are solved. But it still kept me reading and I enjoyed it
Have you read any good books lately?
I appreciate reading about what you didn't finish as well as what you did. Did you ever watch the movies "True Grit"? One was made in 1969 with John Wayne and one in 2010 with Jeff Bridges. I wonder if you would like the movies better? I saw the one with John Wayne, but that was so long ago, I don't remember much about it.
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