A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (10/100)

So I started reading the prologue for this book and just kind of skimmed through it and thought, I am going to LOVE this book. The author has such a sense of humor! Well, not so much. I felt like I was reading a rambling, incoherent stream of consciousness. Sometimes he would be describing what he would do in a hypothetical situation only to find out like two pages later that the hypothetical situation had actually happened, and we are past it. Or on one page, his brother is 15 and the next he is 12. Just totally not my thing. AT ALL. 1 and a half stars

Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger (9/100)

I thought that I would like this book after starting to read another book I was despising (more on that later) but I wound up really kind of hating it. It was SOOO predictable. Not to mention I really REALLY hated the characters. They just kind of made me mad. They were so self-absorbed and just plain rotten. The only parts of the book I really liked were Bette's time in her hometown, away from the nastiness of New York City. 2 stars

MySecret: A Postsecret Book by Frank Warren (8/100)

I don't know if this book should really count, since it has so few words, but after realizing that my goals seems to be overly ambitions as far as the # of books I am going to read, and since it is a real book, I am counting it.

I think the author of this book is a genius, really. What a great idea, to have people write down their deepest darkest secrets, and submit them anonymously. With that being said, I think the need for a book is a little excessive. I mean, this started as a grassroots Internet project. Why shouldn't it stay as one? Does one really need to purchase the book? But I did enjoy reading the stories. 3 stars

Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster (7/100)

I had previously read her second memoir and thought it was funny, but just kind of eh. But I decided to give her another chance because she loves Target and Trader Joe's so I know we are kindred spirits. I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. I found it hilarious and I didn't want to put it down. For some reason, my library does not have Bitter is the New Black but I am going to try to get it elsewhere so I can complete the trio. 4 stars

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charles Perkins Gilman (6/100)

I am not sure if it is even fair for me to rate this book. It is only 26 pages long, and it is a tiny book as it is. The only reason I read it was because it was on the list of "1,001 books you must read before you die" and I wanted to try out their recommendations.

Stupidly, I read it a page or two at a time, so I thought maybe by the end I was missing something. But no, that really was all there was to it. I think I will stick to the nest for my book recommendations more than listening to books to read from the 1800's. I don't care that much about enlightenment.

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult (5/100)

I really really love Jodi Picoult. She has the type of book that you can read 100 page and it feels like 20. You just want to keep going. I also like the fact that her books are thought provoking. In the middle of reading this, I explained the premise to my husband (who normally couldn't care less about what I am reading) and we had a good conversation about capital punishment.

The premise of the book is that a man is on death row for murdering a man and his young step daughter. The wife/mother of the victims was pregnant at the time of the murder and now (11 years later) the new daughter needs a heart transplant in order to live. The man on death row volunteers his heart and says he needs to give it to the girl in order to find salvation.

The only reason I am not giving this book a 5 is because I felt it was fairly predictable and I was not really a fan of the "supernatural" type occurrences (although I guess they could be classified as religious miracles, I am not really into that type of thing). 4 stars

Madness by Marya Hornbacher (4/100)

I read this book because mental illness has touched my life before and I wanted to try to get a better understanding of bipolar disorder and those who suffer from it. Before reading this book, I thought bipolar simply meant being depressed sometimes, and then quickly having "high" moods. I was entirely wrong.

The author of this book actually didn't seem to experience depression too often. Instead, she was gripped by madness and bouts of mania. It wasn't a high mood like I thought, but basically insanity, not knowing who you were, what you were capable of, etc. There was hospital stay after drugged up hospital stay.

Some pages were hard to read because sentences lasted nearly the whole page. I can only imagine if it was that hard to read it, how it feels to think that way all of the time. I really hoped for a happy ending, but as I neared the end of the book I realized that truly wasn't possible since the disorder was managed but never cured, and the next bout of madness could easily be around the next corner.

At first I wanted to read her previous memoir about her eating disorder, but now I am not sure that I do since I know what happens "after" and it is not a happy ending, or an end to the eating disorder. I feel for the author and truly, anyone who has suffered with this disorder.
3 stars