Dom's Top 5 Worst Books of 2016

Hello, everyone! I'm back with (unfortunately) the worst books I read in 2016.

I always hate it when I dislike a book. Alas, it happens. Books are rated usually by the emotional I felt reading the story but writing style as well.

NUMBER 5

Assassins of Athens by Jeffrey Siger
Pages: 286
What's it about?: A boy from a prominent family in Greece is found dead in a dumpster and Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis sets out to find out why.

I thought the plot of this book was promising, but Siger's writing just didn't cut it for me. It was good, but that's about it. Nothing too great. I thought the book took too long to pick up its plot. I think another reason this book didn't cut it for me was the politics. I went into this book not knowing anything about Greek politics (which I will say is my fault). Siger went on and on about them without actually explaining anything. Many points had to be reread so I could understand them.

Also, if I have to be completely honest about the ending, I thought it was bland. I thought to myself, "That was it?" as I read the last few pages. The events on these last few pages I saw coming from chapters before.

Bland book. Not really my thing.

NUMBER 4

Toys by James Patterson
Pages: 364
What's it about?: The Elites want to destroy humans. Technology is on the rise to kill.

The plot was definitely interesting and a neat concept, but I don't think it was executed well. Many of the descriptions were bland and some of the dialogue had me internally screaming, "Are you kidding me?!" A lot of it was very cliched. Some parts of the novel reminded me of every dystopian novel ever. I don't like stereotyping, but at times this definitely came off as the male book equivalent of a "chick flick". 

I know short chapters is a Patterson thing, but honestly, many of them could've been put together. I wasn't satisfied when many chapters ended like the way a reader should be. 

This novel also didn't scream "Patterson" to me. It came off as the coauthor actually did all of the writing, Patterson edited it, and now the coauthor is using Patterson's name to get more readers. 

The ending did pick up a bit and I liked the characterization of every character except Hays. He didn't seem developed enough for me and he came to terms with being who he really is really quick without any sort of development in between.

Yeah. Just not one of Patterson's best.

NUMBER 3

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niggenegger
Pages: 500
What's it about?: Henry is a time traveler and he's not sure what causes this. Clare meets him at six years old on one of his travels. Throughout the novel, their story develops, Henry randomly traveling and Clare awaiting him.

I have so much to day about this book that you'll be surprised this isn't ranked number one.

I really wanted to like this book. I was so excited to read it. I thought the plot was promising but it ended up not being executed well. 

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what the plot was. A woman falls in love with a time traveler. So...? All I got was a boring play-by-play of someone's life. The trailer for the movie and the summary on the back of the book made it out to seem that Henry was going to go on these grand adventures. They ended up being very bland. All while reading I could tell so much of it relates to the author. In fact, the author has the same hair color and eyes as Clare. She's from South Haven, Michigan like Clare. And now she currently lives in (the actual city of) Chicago like Clare and Henry. 

That leads me to a certain point. Thank God I am from Chicago so therefore I was able to picture everything in my head. I know exactly where Belmont is and same with Lake Shore Drive. I know that Grant Park is just a grassy area by the Bean and not something with swings and slides. I would've liked to see some description of these places anyway that weren't just "I took a left on Belmont and then onto Western." If you aren't from Chicago, most of her descriptions will mean absolutely nothing to you. "Stupid Lincoln Park." Do any non-Chicagoans actually know what Lincoln Park is? The same was done with South Haven. Granted, the house and the meadow were described well. But other than that, I didn't know what to imagine. 

Adding more detail leads to my opinion on the author's allusions. I congratulate her on her knowledge of so many things. But I guess try expanding that and showing us that you really do know what you're talking about? The author knows of so many bands and Clare and Henry would randomly recite works of literature. It takes up quite a bit of the story and without any knowledge, these chunks mean nothing.

Not only could some detail be added, but some needed to be taken out. There is so much unimportant detail in this novel. Constant lists of bands. Play-by-plays of what characters are doing that have no significance to the story. Lists of what they're putting on and what they're taking off before sex. I don't fucking care. I spent more than half the book being bored and skimming through it so I can get to the points that actually matter. 

I thought Henry's interactions with uber-young Clare were a little strange. I'm reading about a 40 year old man interacting with a six year old girl. Dear Lord. I also thought the development between Clare and present day Henry was too fast, Romeo and Juliet fast. Present day Henry just met Clare and hours later they were in love. 

I also question the jobs of these characters. There's no way that Clare and Henry would be able to live the way they do in Chicago as a librarian and an artist that spends a great deal of time just making art rather than dealing it. I mean, being a librarian is a livable job. But you probably won't live the way Henry does. 

Finally, these are just two nitpicks and don't affect my view of the book that much: Nobody in Chicago calls it the El. That's a tourist and a suburban thing. If Henry was a typical Chicagoan, he would just call it the train or (to be even more Chicagoan) the specific line he's taking. For example, "Dom, how are you getting there?" "Oh I'm taking the Blue Line". The author also included some Italian that is wrong. "Bella donnas" does not exist. That would be "belle donne". But I do need to thank her for saying Lake Shore Drive. People are under the notion that Chicagoans call it LSD. No. No we do not. That's a suburbanite-trying-to-be-from-the-city thing. 

Dear Lord. I don't know, man. I wanted to like this book so bad. I wanted to be able to fall in love with it. But I couldn't. I was bored and a lot of the times the book angered me. I thought the reveal of what would happen to Henry was way too early in the story so when it actually happened I felt absolutely nothing. The ending did nothing for me as well. I spent the last 100 pages counting down to the last one. 

NUMBER 2

The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Pages: 295
What's it about?: This book explores the life of women of color in rural Georgia during the 1930s. It addresses many social issues of the time.

Ugh. I know you're supposed to like this book because it's a classic. To be honest, I'm very upset that I didn't like this book. I just found it very boring and none of the characters were likable. I liked Celie for a while but even she became unlikable. The book itself was difficult to read. I had a difficult time keeping track of who was talking when. I understand this was done because the story is told in the form of prayer, but I thought it was just distracting.

The only redeeming quality of the book was the end. It was nice to see everyone at peace after reading through so much anger.

NUMBER 1

Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead
Pages: 256
What's it about?: An anthropologist recounts the information she found while staying in Samoa.

I had to read this for a class. This was boring. Just a list of things with hardly any stories. I wasn't engaged at all. Then I found out that some of the facts in this book are probably wrong. Samoans have come out and said that Mead believed everything they told her and later they found some of their jokes in her book labeled as facts. So that ruined this book for me.


And that's that! Stay tuned for my January reads! School is hitting me hard so hopefully I can get to that blog soon.

Dom's Top 5 Best Books of 2016

...aaaaannnnd I'm back!

I'll be honest. Picking my best and worst books for this past year was difficult. I read only forty-three books, making my selection too small to choose from. It took me a while to compile my lists. In fact, my plan was to upload this on Friday when we first made the blog. But that never happened since I couldn't even figure out what books I wanted to mention until Monday night. Alas, here they are: Dom's Best Books of 2016 (worst to come later).

NUMBER 5

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Pages: 282
What's it about?: A boy from Idaho saves up enough money to buy two hounds and he teaches them how to be great hunting dogs.
Favorite Quote: "I'm sure the red fern has grown and has completely covered the two little mounds. I know it is still there, hiding its secret beneath those long, red leaves, but it wouldn't be hidden from me for part of my life is buried there, too."

This was a reread. The first time I read this book was sixth grade. Years later, I forgot everything that had happened other than the fact I remember crying. I picked this up again and was done within less than a week. I'm just going to saw it now: Any book that causes me to give a physical emotion gets brownie points from me. This book caused actual tears to stream down my face even though I was in a very public area and people were staring. 

When it comes to the writing of this novel, it is a tad mediocre, but one has to remember how old the target audience is. The fact that I read this before helped me bring my mind back easier. I thought it was a wonderful story about a child and his dogs. The love shown throughout the novel is a love I think many dog owners can relate too. This book is an excellent example of animals having souls as well. It was clear the dogs loved Billy, and it was also clear they loved one another.

It's difficult to talk more about this book without giving away the ending. I have a feeling many of you have read this book already, but I'll hold off on the spoilers just in case. After all, my dad spoiled the ending of The Strange Case of Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and his excuse was, "I thought everyone knew it!" Completely ruined the books for me (but that's for another blog).


NUMBER 4

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Pages: 503
What's it about?: A well-honored man dies and the town reacts. Some people have trouble with their parents, others with themselves, and others with the entire town.
Favorite Quote: "By the time Kay and Gaia arrived, and the police decided to force their way in, (insert name) had achieved her only ambition: she had joined her brother where nobody could part them."

Like I said above, if a book can cause a physical reaction out of me, then it gets brownie points. This was another book that made me cry my damn eyes out in the middle of a public space.

I've seen other reviews of this book and I can't understand the hate it gets. I will say that the book starts off very slow. The first 200-300 pages are all about characterization and setting you up for the ending. But I still don't think this book deserves some of the hate it gets. I also want to say this is not meant to be read as a Harry Potter novel. Please stay away from that mindset.

Why do I like this book? For many reasons.

1. Each character has their own distinctive personality. Usually when a book has a multitude of characters, I stay clear. Most of the time the characters all blend into one another and you can't tell them apart. But Rowling does a great job here. Just by descriptions alone I could tell when Krystal was doing something or when Suhkvinder was the one talking. I never got mixed up once and I think Rowling deserves some praise for this.

2. Characterization. I have never loved or hated characters as much as I did while reading this book. The more you learned about certain characters, the more you either wanted to hug them and tell them everything was going to be alright or the more you wanted to punch them. An example of a character I love is Krystal. In the very beginning she came off as someone who is difficult to deal with and I actually didn't like her right away. But then Rowling explored her life and I wanted to cry at each chapter. An example of a character I hated was Simon. I didn't hate him because of bad writing. No. The writing was so good that you knew Rowling wants you to hate him. If someone like him were real I don't know what I'd do.

3. Exploration. Rowling explored many realistic situations such as self-harm, domestic abuse, drugs, teenage sex, etc. These could easily offend people if written the wrong way, but I thought Rowling did an excellent job. It's also just nice to see someone acknowledge that these things do happen and they don't pretend that they don't. The book seemed very realistic with all of these things.

The last chapter was about my favorite character. I was a mess in that library. Please read this book so I have someone to cry with.


NUMBER 3

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Pages: 522
What's it about?: Black maids are working for white families in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi. People want a change, and two black maids and one white woman are the ones to push for the start of it.
Favorite Quote: "I ain't burnin' no chicken."

Another book that caused some tears to stream down my face. I realized the older I get, the easier it is to make me cry.

I don't really have any complaints about this book. Admittedly, I was a bit worried about how the dialect of the maids would portray them. In the end, I thought the dialect was an excellent choice. It helped lot when it came to voice inside my head reading in their accents. Also, near the "About" section at the end of the book the author says she had this idea from her own Help growing up. I thought this contributed a lot to the dialect.

The characterization in this book was so well done. Each character had their own distinct personality. I fell in love with Aibileen right away, Minny's sassiness killed me (in a good way), I applauded Skeeter throughout the entire store (Minny and Aibileen as well), and some characters I wanted to slap in the face. Celia I wanted to slap for being so aloof. Elizabeth was such a follower and bad mother. I've never despised a character as much as I despised Hilly. But like with Simon above, I didn't hate her because of bad writing. The writing was so good that the author made you think she was real. Hilly made me so angry that I wanted to destroy her. AND MAE MOBLEY WAS JUST THE CUTEST THING THAT WAS TOO PRECIOUS FOR THIS WORLD!

This is one of those books I'll always hold close to my heart.


NUMBER 2

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathon Safran Foer
Pages: 276
What's it about?: A man goes on the hunt for the woman who saved his grandfather during WWII with the help of a Ukrainian family.
Favorite Quote: "I don't think that there are any limits to how excellent we could make life seem."

Surprisingly, no tears for this one. But at one point I did have to put the book down so I could take a breather out of pure shock.

I'm going to be honest: I actually was not the biggest fan of this book when I first start reading it. The style of the narration was very confusing for me. There aren't any quotation marks. When it's Alex's point of view, everything is in one giant paragraph and sometimes I had to pretend to know who was talking. In Jonathan's (the character) point of view, the dialogue was separate as usual but he used italics rather than quotation marks. My natural instincts was to think of these as thoughts.

This style of writing took some getting used to, but once I got it down, I couldn't put down the book. Foer had interesting ways of dropping subtle hints about what happened at what parts and many parts of the book made me laugh out loud (Sammy Davis Junior Junior is possibly one of my favorite characters). I'm also a World War II junkie, which is what a lot of this book was about. The sexual scenes were a bonus I guess. Not because I like sex scenes. Just because they were so random I couldn't help but laughed. They were random but somehow fit well.

The big reason this book is so high on my list is because of the end. This book did not go in the direction I was thinking it would go. But I'm not disappointed. Alex's grandfather tells the story about his friend and what happened to him. He told it in one paragraph, but the paragraph was five pages long with little to no punctuation. The voice in my head sounded like it was in a panic which, given what was happening, was what I think Foer was going for. When this chapter was done I had to put the book down for a few minutes. 

The ending made me scream. Can't say why. No spoilers!


NUMBER 1

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Pages: 706
What's it about?: A family moves into a house and discover the inside grows. Soon, the inside of the house is bigger than it is on the outside.
Favorite Quote: "We all create stories to protect ourselves."

I know I gave this book only 4 stars on Goodreads compared to the 5 stars of the other books on this list but oh my God.

1. This book scared the shit out of me at times.

2. There are two stories going on at once.

3. The footnotes made this seem like it was an actual essay about a real place.

4. Extremely stylistic. Chapter 9 was about a labyrinth so Danielewski made the style of the footnotes a labyrinth. He made you go back an fourth constantly and from page to page without a specific order. If someone was at the bottom of the stairs, the narration was at the bottom of the page. Top of the stairs, the narration was at the top of the page. When a rope was snapping, the words spread across the two pages and the spaces bigger and bigger until it was one letter per page. At one point you need a mirror to read the book. 

5. Johnny's essay on the word "fuck".

6. You don't realize how terrifying a chapter is until you finish and you think about it for a few minutes.

7. Letters from Johnny's mom were included. You couldn't tell what was real and what was a hallucination. 

8. The characters Zampano and Johnny seemed very real. At times I forgot this book was fake and I would want to meet Zampano to congratulate him on what he's accomplished. But then you remember he's not a real writer and neither is Johnny and neither are the editors who correct some of Johnny's mistakes. 

I wanted to put this book down but at the same time I couldn't. This was definitely a heavy read. Took me about a month. But I'm so tempted to go on this journey again. I wish I had this guy's creativity.


And that's all I have for you, folks! Stay tuned for my Worst Books of 2016!

-Dom

What Did Dom Read in 2016?

Hey, y'all! It's Dom. I was in the midst of creating a Top 5 Best and Worst Books of 2016 list when I stopped and realized maybe I should list what books I read this past year. 

Here are the stats:

Total # of Books Read: 43
Total # of Pages Read: 12,883 
Books That Were Rereads: 4
Books Read for School: 3
Books Read in the Beginning of the Year: 19
Books Read in Summer: 13 
Books Read in the End of the Year: 11

The books that I read for school are in red and the ones I reread are in blue.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman (162 pages)

Matilda by Roald Dahl (240 pages)

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz (111 pages)

Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales and Poems w/ Selected Essays by Edgar Allan Poe (504 pages)

American Gods by Neil Gaiman (541 pages)

The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson (325 pages)

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (261 pages)

Charlie and the Grandmothers by Katy Towell (224 pages)

The Girl in the Red Coat by Roma Ligocka (292 pages)

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling (111 pages)

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges (319 pages)

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (276 pages)

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (555 pages)

Bambi by Felix Salten (262 pages)

Bambi’s Children by Felix Salten (361 pages)

Hawkeye vs. Deadpool (114 pages)

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks (207 pages)

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks (333 pages)

Trame: A Contemporary Italian Reader by Cristina Abbona-Sneider, Antonello Borra, and Cristina Pausini (260 pages)

Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow (368 pages)

Le Avventure di Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (138 pages)

Toys by James Patterson and Neil McMahon (402 pages)

I Can See in the Dark by Karin Fossum (210 pages)

The Drowned Boy by Karin Fossum (223 pages)

Assassins of Athens by Jeffrey Siger (275 pages)

Zoo by James Patterson (395 pages)

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (503 pages)

The Journal of Scott Collins: A World War II Solder (140 pages)

A Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket by (162 pages)

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl (81 pages)

Judy Moody Goes to College by Mean McDonald (131 pages)

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewki (709 pages)

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (313 pages)

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (531 pages)

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (282 pages)

World War Z by Max Brooks (342 pages)

The Whalestoe Letters by Mark Z. Danielewski (83 pages)

Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead (223 pages)

Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate (201 pages)

Unforgiven by Lauren Kate (357 pages)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett (522 pages)

Italian Cinema From Neorealism to the Present by Peter Bondanella (546 pages)

The Color Purple by Alice Walker (288 pages)

List of top 5 best and worst books of 2016 to come! Stay tuned!

About Us: The Owners of This Blog

Hello Readers!

As the owners of this blog, we felt that it would be a good idea to introduce ourselves to the readers as the first thing that appears.

Hello!
My name is Carissa! I'm 20 years old and I'm an English and Secondary Education major at Loyola University, and I'm currently in my sophomore year of college. I'll include a little bit of information about myself:

Favorite Book: My favorite book would have to be White Fang written by Jack London.

Favorite Band: My favorite band at the moment would have to be Twenty One Pilots. They've honestly become so successful. In all honesty I listen to so many different music genres. Some of my favorite artists would have to be: Beyonce, Chance the Rapper, J.Cole, Real Friends, Neck Deep, and so many more.

Favorite Candy: Gummy worms. No one can argue with that because Gummy worms are the best.

Favorite Food: There are too many different foods for me to decide this one.

Favorite Movie: Mary Poppins

Favorite Animal: I love cheetahs!

Favorite Disney Character: Aladdin

Future Job Goals: Well... I aspire to become a District Attorney, but if law school does not work out becoming a high school English teacher is great goal.

Fun Fact: I've been to Disney World 3 times.


Howdy howdy howdy!

My name is Dominique but almost everyone I know calls me Dom. I'm 19 years old and a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I'm double majoring in Zoology and Italian and I'm also trying to get a certificate in Environmental Sciences. Although my majors have nothing to do with English, I still love to read and write!

Favorite Book: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

Favorite Band: I love Evanescence and have for the past seven years. Other bands in my top 5 are 30 Seconds to Mars, Within Temptation, La Dispute, and Hands Like Houses. I also have an obsession with oldies! Name a band from the 50s, 60s, and 70s and I've probably heard of them!

Favorite Candy: Reese's Peanut Buttercups and Smarties

Favorite Food: Anything Italian and takis

Favorite Movie: The Nightmare Before Christmas

Favorite Animal: Elephant

Favorite Disney Character: Dumbo (I feel like this is a given considering my above answer heh)

Future Job Goals: I would love to work at a zoo and also become a wildlife rehabilitator. Making children's books about animals would be cool too. The Big Goal is to become an animal photographer for National Geographic (I do have a photography page on Facebook called Fascinating Creatures).

Fun Fact: I've owned my Chicago Cubs hat for almost ten years now. I also have a stuffed animal that's about sixteen years old but I refuse to give him up.


We're just two women from Chicago who love to read and document books. Welcome to the blog!