Poetry Wednesday- Love Is Not All by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Love Is Not All by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain; 
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink 
And rise and sink and rise and sink again; 
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath, 
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone; 
Yet many a man is making friends with death 
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone. 
It well may be that in a difficult hour, 
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release, 
Or nagged by want past resolution's power, 
I might be driven to sell your love for peace, 
Or trade the memory of this night for food. 
It well may be. I do not think I would.

Reading Resolutions- Workable List

On the first of January I posted a book challenge that I intend to complete this year. Now that I have read a few titles, I am realizing that it is hard to keep up with which categories I have left to choose from without opening every other one of my posts. So I am going to copy the list here so that I can come back and cross them off as I go. Again, I did not create this book challenge myself. You can find the original here.

1 A book you own but haven't read. Daughter of Smoke and Bone
2 A book that was made into a movie.
3 A book you pick solely because of the cover.
4 A book your friend loves.
5 A book published this year.
6 A book by an author you have never read before. Soy Sauce for Beginners
7 A book by an author you love.  Big Little Lies
8 A book at the bottom of your TBR pile.
9 A book with a color in the title.
10 A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit.Days of Blood and Starlight
11 A book you started but never finished.
12 A book with a lion, a witch, or a wardrobe.
13 A book with a female heroine. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
14 A book set in the summer.
15 A book of poems.
16 A book you learned about because of this challenge.
17 A book that will make you smarter.
18 A book with a blue cover.
19 A book you were supposed to read in school, but never did.
20 A book "everyone" but you has read.
21 A book with a great first line.
22 A book with pictures.
23 A book from the library.
24 A book you loved...read it again!
25 A book that is more than 10 years old. The Princess Diaries
26 A book based on a true story.

I will be updating this as I go along. I look forward to crossing them off and reading some great books this year!

Happy Reading,
HLP

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

We open with a mystery. Who is Mara Dyer? Who is she really? 

This question is honestly forgotten rather quickly as we are pulled into her story. She is the sole survivor of a terrible accident that claimed the life of her childhood best friend, her boyfriend, and his sister. But that's not the worst part. She is beginning to see things, terrible things. 

Along with all of that, her family has relocated to Florida. They all want it to be a new start, but horrible things keep happening. 

When Mara meets the infamous Noah Shaw, things only get even more twisted. 

They both come to realizations about themselves that could change everything. Now they are faced with a question; can they handle what lies ahead for them? 

I was really drawn in my Mara's "voice". I sort of have a thing for snarky teenage dialogue in my YA. It was also very refreshing to read a character like Noah Shaw. He's your typical YA boyfriend, only he doesn't SEEM to be as big of a pretentious jerk with obsessive tendencies that we are use to. And, he British, so, yeah.

This is no 'intellectual' read,  but I was really very drawn in by the story and I am excited to read the next two installments. I read this on my Kindle, so I went out and bought the second and third books in paper for my library. The next time I visit the used bookstore I will be picking the first one up in paper too.I'll be crossing this one off my list at #13- A book with a female heroine.

For now, I am reading the fifth book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, which I am completely in love with. Due to the length of said book, it might be a while before I get to write again!


Happy Reading!
HLP

Soy Sauce for Beginners by Kirsten Chen

Soy Sauce for Beginners by Kirsten Chen

From Goodreads:
Gretchen Lin, adrift at the age of thirty, leaves her floundering marriage in San Francisco to move back to her childhood home in Singapore and immediately finds herself face-to-face with the twin headaches she’s avoided her entire adult life: her mother’s drinking problem and the machinations of her father’s artisanal soy sauce business.

Soy Sauce for Beginners reveals the triumphs and sacrifices that shape one woman’s search for a place to call home, and the unexpected art and tradition behind the brewing of a much-used but unsung condiment. The result is a foodie love story that will give readers a hearty appreciation for family loyalty and fresh starts.

I was initially drawn in by the soy sauce. Not even going to lie. And let me just tell you, the descriptions of the artesian soy sauce had my mouth watering. The soy sauce almost becomes a character itself. Anyway, I'm salivating.

Gretchen is hiding. From her cheating husband, from her colleagues, from her own parents, and even from herself. Reeling from the scathing revelation that not only was her husband unfaithful, but with a twenty-one year old, no less, she returns home to Singapore and attempts to blend in a much as possible.

But she surprises no one more than herself with the unwilling changes that she is about to face.

My favorite thing about this story is how, in the end, Gretchen needs no one but herself. She makes her own choices, and faces the consequences.

My only complaint about this story is that there is sort of a lack of one. This comes off like more of an anecdote from a friend than a novel. I appreciated the familiarity in the writing. The characters felt real to me. I just kept waiting for something more to happen, and it never really came.

So, I'm giving this one three stars. Enjoyable read. I'm counting it as #6, A book by an author you have never read before.

Now I am just itching, yearning to get home to my library and find something else to read. I have been craving a really good book  for some time now. I'm talking life changing. Here's to hoping!

Happy Reading,

HLP

Time's Echo by Rysa Walker

Time's Echo by Risa Walker

This novella takes places between the first book in the CHRONOS Files series, Timebound, and the second, Time's Edge. I read the first last year and was captivated, and for a while I scoured Amazon every time I thought about it to search for more. I had to wait a while for this novella as well as the second title in the series, but so far it has been worth the wait!

Time's Echo is told through Kiernan's point of view, which is awesome because, of what I can remember from Timebound, we don't get much of him at all. We can assume by what he says during their interaction that they have some sort of past(future?) that is involved, we just don't know what. This novella answers a few of those questions and sets up Time's Echo, which is waiting for me on my Kindle.

Reading this reminded me how much I love Walker's writing, I get sucked right in. And now I'm super psyched to finish up some other titles that I am reading so I can get to Time's Echo!

Happy Reading!

HLP

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

From Goodreads: Sometimes it’s the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal. . . .
  
A murder… . . . a tragic accident… . . . or just parents behaving badly?  

What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.   But who did what?

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

Once again, Moriarty has completely blown me away with her characters and her story-telling.  When the story begins it is clear that a tragic accident has occurred at the Pirriwee Public School's Trivia Night, but we do not know what has happened or to whom. Normally, I find it hard to enjoy plots like this one because if it isn't done well then it can be a put off. But the lives of the residents of Pirriwee are so twisted and, let's just admit it, interesting, I didn't have time to be bored. 

This book felt very real to me in some ways, and in others like a caricature of real life. I know that the majority of people do not act the way these characters do, but I also know that there are people out there who DO behave this way. And to be clear, I'm talking about all of the helicopter moms at the school. There are other behaviors that I will address momentarily. 

But, these mothers. Oh my wow. It is true what someone says in the book( can't remember who, it was an obscure comment from a minor character) about how involved parents are these days in the minutiae of their children's day to day lives. I am somewhere on the line with this though. Things are different from when I grew up, and I'm only 24. There are so many different kinds of danger out there, and we are the test dummies on how to go about preventing it. But truly, these moms are a different breed. And I have seen their type. Drama mamas. Meddlesome. But the first person anyone calls to head a fundraiser. At their core, they have the best intentions. It's the execution that is a little off.

While it was wildly entertaining to read about these crazy women, kicking each other in the sandbox and sneering at canteen duty, there were some truly dark topics being brought to light. Perry and Celeste's relationship is one just like hundreds of thousands of others across the entire world. And they have more in common than a vicious abuser. They also all have victims who think that it is okay. That they deserve it. That what they are going through really isn't that bad. That it doesn't affect anyone else around them. That it will get better. Each time I read a scene with Perry and Celeste, I could feel myself physically flinching, preparing myself for the blow. It really was hard to read sometimes.

I felt the same way about Jane's story with Saxon. The build up around the story was really good, and when she finally told it I was a little shocked. No where near as shocked as I was when I read the ending though.....

I gave this one five stars. This is my second read by Moriarty. I read The Husband's Secret last year and was also very pleased. I am crossing this one off my resolution list for #7-  A book by an author you love.

I will be looking for more titles by Liane Moriarty in the future, and if you are reading this, I hope you do too!

Happy Reading!

HLP 

Reading Resolutions

Ohhkay. So I'm not really the resolution type, but I am striving toward a goal when it comes to reading this year. I barely read 20 books in 2014. I mean, I schlepped my way through it. I feel like I picked up so many books that were "wrong for me at the time". I don't like giving up completely on books. There have been very few that I have actually put down for good and said, 'nope, not doing it'.

Another problem for me this year was my serious lack of time. Since giving birth to my beautiful baby boy in March, I haven't exactly had an abundance of time just sitting around demanding to be used. So I set a very unrealistic goal of 50 books for 2014, and was of course disappointed with myself whenever it totally flopped.

So for 2015, I am setting a goal that is more realistic, yet improving on last year. My goal is to read 26 books in 2015. I found this really cute reading challenge earlier this evening and I am going to try it out! I will post it here for posterity, as well as to give credit to the original link.

Again, I did not create this challenge and I encourage everyone to go to

 http://burns-familyblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/26-books-in-2015.html

and check them out. It's a really cute blog!

Well, I am off to begin my reading journey for 2015. I just finished reading This is Where I Leave You by Johnathan Tropper. I gave it four stars. And as something different, my husband and I read it together! We finished it yesterday and watched the new movie based on the book this evening. I would recommend both!

Happy Reading!

HLP