Book Review: Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple ★★★

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“’That’s right,’ she told the girls. ‘You are bored. And I’m going to let you in on a little secret about life. You think it’s boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. The sooner you learn it’s on you to make life interesting, the better off you’ll be.’”

I don’t think I would have picked this one up on my own. But, my best friend was reading it and loving it, and I wanted to read it with her. And I’m really glad I did! Granted, I did listen to the audiobook since the wait for the physical book was heckin’ long at the library. And I enjoyed it! I’m so glad I gave this book a chance. 3.5 stars.

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Book Review: Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk ★★★★★

Survivor: A Novel

“Did perpetual happiness in the Garden of Eden maybe get so boring that eating the apple was justified?”

Funny, biting, harsh, satirical, absurd, poignant, real, nonsensical, dark, humorous, genius! This is what I love from Chuck. This is the Chuck that I look for when I want a slice of razor-edged, existential pie for breakfast. He soothes that ragged, sometimes consuming dread that most people feel from time to time. He just slaps on a balm of laughter and violence, and tells you to buck up and, honestly, it totally works. I love his books and Survivor is one of my new favorites for sure.

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Book Review: The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon ★★★★

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“Perhaps her mind would go on flexing psychic muscles that no longer existed; would be betrayed and mocked by a phantom self as the amputee is by a phantom limb. Someday she might replace whatever of her had gone away by some prosthetic device, a dress of a certain color, a phrase in a letter, another lover.” 

I finally got around to reading this book and I am so glad I did! Don’t you just love the feeling of finally being able to move a book from your TBR pile to your read shelf? Mmm it’s a good one. That being said, this was a bit of a difficult book to review. While only being about 150 pages, this little novel was chock full of dense language, insane conspiracies, crazy characters, and nonsensical dialogue. So, basically, it had all of the characteristics that I love about a satirical, postmodern, meta social commentary, parody fest. Woo!

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