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I have READ things

January has been a WHIRLWIND MONTH. And we're only halfway through it. What other mysteries do you hold, January!

In addition to personal/professional Life Stuff, I've actually been finishing books. I KNOW. What is even going on.


So let's look at some actual books on this damn book blog.

Gone Girl. Yeah. I read this. And I was reeeeal excited for the first half. Then a thing happened and I was like "...oh. Reall--ok." And then more things happened and then I liked the ending. YOU CANNOT TALK ABOUT THIS BOOK. Because if you give away anything, it RUINS it. Just -- omg, I was going to say a thing, but I CAN'T for the good of those who haven't read it yet. What I CAN say is that Gillian Flynn apparently lives near me in Chicago. So...boom. Also I kind of want to read Sharp Objects, mainly because I saw a girl on the train reading it and the cover looked neato.

Holes. I was 100% more delighted by the twists in this than in Gone Girl. Mainly because I did not know there would BE any twists. So when a thing got revealed at the end, I giggled muchly. I've loved Louis Sachar since back when I read Sideways Stories from Wayside School at an appropriate age. I've been meaning to read this for years, and the main thing that happened while I read it was people would see it and go "Oh! I should re-read that." And yes, they should. It is wonderful. Also, anything that flashes back to the 1800s Old West gets +20 points.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. I'm just making my way through the lesbian canon. Obbbviously. One of my old Livejournal friends said this is her favorite book and that Ruth and Idgie are the best. Plus, give me a book set in the South that features wise black women and children catching fireflies, and I am SOLD. Also mmm small towns. There's a small town in Illinois called Bishop Hill that was founded by Swedish cultists (I know, right?) and my friend and I road-tripped it out there a few years ago, because you get to wander around and eat pie and find the grave of the guy who shot the cult leader.

I have a whole album of these.

So I love small towns, and this book not only had colorful Southern characters (hurray!), but featured a small town where everyone knows each other. I never said "Ugh it's time to look in on THIS character," because I loved them all. Also, I would please like to live in Whistle Stop. Good job, Fannie Flagg. I will read your other books.

I've started my next chronological Dickens, which is the thrilling (false) Barnaby Rudge -- a book alllll about the anti-popery riots in 1780. Because nothing says 'stands the test of time' like a novel about how unpopular Catholicism was in 18th century England. I'm actually expecting to love it anyway, because it's early Dickens, and I can't hate early Dickens. Plus he just described someone as "a burly, large-headed man with a fat face."

I hate myself for loving you, Dickens.

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