Return of the Mini Reviews

I really didn't want to go the mini review route, but the books awaiting review are sadly getting out of control :( So mini reviews it is. Mostly, I didn't want to do mini reviews because I've really LOVED everything I've read lately! And I want to write 5,000 word posts about all of these books. But sometimes a mini review gets read more than those long posts so I'll look on the bright side and hope that these catch your eye ;)

Let's start with Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell which I cannot BELIEVE I'm mini reviewing. Because it really does deserve a novel sized review. But if I don't tell you something about it I'll never tell you anything about it. Heather did an awesome job of summarizing this one if you want to read her summary. A VERY brief summary of this one is that it's an amazingly beautiful, honest, heartwarming and heartbreaking story of love in the 80's between two teens who both bear the weight of the world on their shoulders for their own reason but attempt to find safety and love in each other. And they do, genuinely which is why I loved this book so damn much. I loved it because Eleanor listening to The Smiths for the first time ever when Park gave her his headphones made me cry. I loved it because Eleanor was not skinny and blonde (not that there's anything wrong with that...my sister is skinny and blonde, but I mean she wasn't perfect and full of sunshine...word choice Chris..word choice) and because Park was not white and the star athlete (not that there's anything wrong with that either). I loved it because it showed perseverance in the face of horrors and it also showed that sometimes you really just cannot persevere anymore. I loved it because it showed a true first love and acknowledged that that love can be and is real for so many people...and just how special that love can be. You need to read this book. I need to read Attachments, her previously published book and I cannot WAIT for Fangirl which comes out in September!

Second up is Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris. I was going to say that there's not

much else I can say about David Sedaris' books that I haven't already said in the past, but that's not true. This book is much like his previous books...it's filled with essays that will make you blow snot out of your nose in public. I assure you that's a true statement >> I read this during the readathon and had to go inside five pages in because I was assured that once again, I would not make it through a Sedaris book in public. With this book he does throw in some completely fictional "essays" as well. They're told from the point of view of people completely different from Sedaris....and I should warn you that because of that, if you're a strong Conservative or offended by someone who strongly disagrees with Conservative values, you may want to veer away from this one. Like far away. What IS different about this collection though is that Sedaris surprised me with these moments of clarity. There I was reading an essay and laughing my ass off and then all of a sudden I'd find myself stopped in my tracks thinking "hmm..that was quite beautiful." There's quite a bit of wisdom to be had in this collection mixed in with Sedaris' typical wit and I'm glad to have picked up this gem :)

And lastly, I FINALLY read Bird by Rita Murphy which I should've read long long ago since I've had it for awhile now and since it's such a short book. This book was absolutely nothing like what I thought it would be! I don't even know what I thought it would be exactly, but not this! It's a completely gothic tale that would be perfect for Carl's RIP challenge that tells the story of a young girl who's extremely tiny who one day comes upon the door of a giant and mysterious house and becomes the caretaker for the woman who owns the house, mending nets for the fisherman who live nearby. The house is full of mysteries and Miranda, the small girl, must wear special boots to keep herself from being carried away from it by the wind. That is until she learns that she may want to be carried away by the wind with the help of some mysterious things she finds at the house and a friend that she makes who one day visits after she loses a red kite. I enjoyed this one so much more than I thought I would! I think it was actually because it was so different than what I thought it would be.

And that's it for the mini reviews today. As of right now, there are TWO more books to review, but I have a feeling there will be a couple more added to that pile in the next day or so :p