IMWAYR - Back on Track

I'm trying to get back on track with posting regularly. I suppose that means I should also look back through what I've written during class and post some of those. Anyway, back to books...

School
Virals by Jessica Khoury - Pia is a science experiment - one who can live forever. Kinda fitting that I'm reading this while some of you are reading Flowers for Algernon because Pia is the first of her kind - the only other animal this has been tested on is a rat. She is also "caged" into a compound in the Amazon jungle - and has no clue that there is an outside world until a new scientist comes in and Pia stumbles onto a hole in the electrified fence.

Home
Then and Always by Dani Atkins: I have to put a full disclaimer first - I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway, but any opinions I put down are my own. I have a hard time explaining this (because I'm not too far into it), so here's the synopsis from Goodreads - don't worry, there are no spoilers:

Rachel Wiltshire has everything she’s ever wanted: a close group of friends, a handsome boyfriend, and acceptance to the journalism program at her top-choice college. But one fateful evening, tragedy tears her world apart. 
 
Five years later, Rachel returns home for the first time to celebrate her best friend’s wedding. Still coping with her grief, she can’t stop thinking about the bright future she almost had, if only that one night had gone differently. But when a sudden fall lands her in the hospital, Rachel wakes to find that her life has completely changed. Now she has her dream job as a writer and a stylish apartment, but the people she loves most are not the way she remembers them. Unable to trust her own recollections, Rachel tries to piece together what really happened, and not even she can predict the astonishing truth.

So, basically, it's talking about Rachel having an alternate reality.

This one will become part of my school library and will have a book talk later this week.

Finished

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira - Still can't go on about how much I loved this book about a girl dealing with her older sister's death by writing letters to dead people. This is a very real, raw, realistic book that will seriously tug on your heartstrings. I highly recommend this one.

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain - This follows Billy L. and his company on their tour of Dallas Stadium while they're on leave from a tour of duty in Iraq. There are flashbacks, but most of the book takes place while they are stateside. You don't even get the fully story of why the troupe has been highly decorated.If you've read any Tim O'Brien, this is somewhat similar but to be honest, I prefer O'Brien. I had a hard time getting through this book - not because it was bad, but because I didn't really like it.

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn - This books pretends that Queen Elizabeth has decided to sneak away one day to go see her old yacht, Britannia, which is now docked in Leith, Scotland. She is slightly incognito and has none of her typical entourage. They are actually freaking out because they don't know where she is and want to find her before there is an incident.

Up Next

The second book in the Mara Dyer series
Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

IMWAYR - In a reading funk

It's been a struggle with reading this week; everything I've been reading hasn't gotten excited. So, I've been avoiding it. I'm hoping I can find some books this week that I really enjoy.

School

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain - This really isn't my type of book. It reminds me of Tim O'Brien's works but it hasn't sucked me in. Billy Lynn is a hero of the Iraq War; he and his company have been touring the nation to build up morale and show that the war is successful. The book takes place during one day when the company has gone to the Thanksgiving game at Cowboys stadium. I don't like the writing style, and with all the flashbacks to what has happened since he's been home make it drag for me.

Home

Finished

Going Over by Beth Kephart - Book talked. This was the one that took place in Berlin in 1983 with two storylines that connect on either side of the Berlin Wall. I highly recommend this one.

Hemingway’s Girl by Erika Robuck - I had to force myself to finish this one. It was not very good at all. I thought it was poorly written and a little mushy for me. I wouldn't recommend this one, so I'm not giving many details about it.

Swim by Jennifer Weiner - This was another Kindle single/short story. My complaints are the same as the previous ones I've read. I just got into and then it ended. It is based off a book she has written that I have yet to read, but I didn't like that it really seemed to leave off in the middle. But, it will drive me to read the book, so I guess it is a good marketing tool.

Up Next
Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn
Origin by Jessica Khoury