Ti | Book Chatter

The Boy is thirteen today. THIRTEEN. I cannot believe it. We’ve spent our entire staycation doing little things here and there, so last night we had his birthday dinner at The Smokehouse, a really yummy steak house which is right across from Warner Bros. Today, we plan to hit The Grove. It’s what he wants to do! This photo is from the beach trip we took earlier in the week.

Happy Birthday!! You are such a talented kid. Keep drawing and creating so you can continue to do what you love.

Since we’ve been vacationing, I haven’t been by the computer too much so I haven’t checked my reader. However, so many of you have emailed me or checked in with me on Facebook. So glad for that because I really do miss you guys when I am not near my computer. Having a Smartphone helps.

Overall, our week has been good. Something happened mid-week though which completely freaked me out and threatened to make me crazy. I’m not sure if I will post about it or not. I probably will.

As for today, we will have tacos for dinner, chocolate cake for The Boy and The Hub and a gluten-free version for The Girl and I. I’ve been watching her lately and she doesn’t seem to be doing well with gluten. Her reaction is different from mine, but I’ll be mentioning it at her next doctor’s appointment.

As for reading… I finished The Upright Piano Player and Miss Hildreth Wore Brown. I hope to write the reviews up later today. I am about 25% into Cutting for Stone (Kindle). It’s quite different from I imagined it. In a good way.

Hope you have a great day!

Before I Fall
By Lauren Oliver
(HarperCollins, Hardcover, 9780061726804, March 2010, 480pp.)

The Short of It:

Absolutely riveting, from beginning to end.

The Rest of It:

After dying in a car accident, Samantha Kingston is forced to relive her last day a total of seven times. As repetitive as this sounds, each day is slightly different, and with her being a popular high school student, there are lots of choices to make. Some good, some bad and some with horrible consequences.

Realizing that I would be taken through her last day over and over again, I worried that it would be a bit like that movie Groundhog Day, where the main character was forced to repeat his day again and again (I really didn’t like that movie), but Oliver manages to keep it interesting. I could not put it down and sped through it in just a couple of sittings.

Samantha is a popular girl and runs with a fast crowd. There is a lot of drinking, and sex is THE big topic of discussion, but if you are able to put that aside, you’ll see Before I Fall for what it is, an absolutely riveting read about living life to its fullest.

Would I let my daughter read it? The Girl is only seven, but if she were thirteen or fourteen, I’d have no problem with her reading it. It brings up issues that teens face every day: underage drinking, sex, eating disorders, popularity and being different. I don’t think it hurts for young girls to think about these things. In fact, I think it helps them make better decisions in the long run. I think male readers would find value in reading it as well.

That said, once you start this book you will not be able to put it down and although it’s certainly geared towards young adults, older readers will find it just as readable. Highly recommend.

Source: Borrowed