The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Goodreads Summary:

Charlie is a freshman.

And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it.

Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

My thoughts:

In my last review I had nothing more than blah to say about that book. This book was anything but blah. I was taken back to my own high school memories and the lives of my friends back then. I haven't looked back on those days with much fondness until reading this book. For better or worse our personal journeys make us who we are and sometimes it is good to relive it, even if it is through the eyes of someone else.

Stephen Chbosky captured the youth of a generation that hasn't realized they have grown up. We all make stupid choices and it is nice to look back at the common ones with humor and a smile rather than regret which so often comes with the inevitability of maturing. It seems like not so long ago that I met my friend Spencer at a night of Rocky Horror Picture show viewing and poetry (oh the bad poetry!) reading at a mutual friend's home.

I would recommend this book to anyone. It is heart breaking as much as it is heart warming but you come away from it in a good place.

While writing this review I was listening to Asleep by the Smiths.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Goodreads Summary:

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

My Thoughts:

Can I just start by saying blah? There is nothing terrible about this book. There is equally nothing remarkable about this book. It was a fast read but much of the time I was bored, the rest of the time I was annoyed. I disliked the narrative switches. I disliked Ender as a character. I am not a fan of whiny children. I don't love when a book spends so much time talking about how amazing the lead character is but spends almost no time showing it.

I will not read the other books in this series. I will not bother seeing the movie either. I wasn't impressed with the obviousness of the different personalities of the Wiggin children. Of course Peter is cruel and of course Valentine is his opposite so of course Ender is somewhere in the middle. Blah.

I was told this book was awesome. I am telling you it isn't anything special. 

I would not recommend this book, unless you want something that is super predictable and boring.

While writing this review I was watching Sleepy Hallow the TV show.

Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling

Goodreads Summary:
A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide.
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.
Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

My Thoughts:

I considered putting this book down more than once and never picking it up again. I continued reading only because I knew that JK Rowling had penned this book and I loved the Harry Potter series. In the end I am glad that I finished the book.

So why did I almost stop reading it? The first half of the book was dreadfully boring and slow. I didn't have a clear picture of the lead character in my mind and I couldn't care less about any of the characters in general. What was clear was that these characters were not at all original. Scene after scene in the book fell flat in setting a stage. I had to make up for the lack of description by filling in much of the stage myself just to have that dashed when the story finally filled those gaps for me. I am not a huge mystery reader, mostly I stick with the Richard Castle variety, so I don't know how an avid mystery reader would like this book but I will say it just felt like one big fat cliche after another.

All of this being sad the second half of the book picked things up for me and by the end I was actually interested in the characters and how the story would end. I was not shocked by the who done it, but I did actually enjoy getting there. I think now that these characters have a lot of potential if Rowling can find her own voice and stop playing into cliched stories.

I would not recommend this to Harry Potter fans. While JK Rowling has a magical way of creating an entire world of fantasy she lacks the ability to set a story it what could be reality. I do see this as a problem she is likely to fix.

I would recommend this to mystery readers, by the end it is a decent read and your lot may be more tolerant of the slow progression in the story. Over all I think this was a decent beginning to a series of mystery novels that I will continue to read.

While writing this review I was listening to Adele. 

So that happened....

So it could be that I am graduated from the University of Utah with a BS in Political Science. I say, it could be, only because the graduation office has not yet made it official. The process to make it official could take another month and then they will mail me my swanky paper. I have until March to decide if I will be participating in the actual graduation ceremonies through the University.

My college graduation has been a long time coming. I started college while I was still in high school back in 1999 and finally finished in 2013.

Holy crap you guys that is a really long time to get through college. Why on Earth did it take me that long?

The biggest reason is that I refused to take out student loans until I had a solid landing on a major. It took six tries to end up on Political Science but I don't regret even one minute in a class that didn't apply to that major. I learned so much about myself and what I am capable of in all those years of college. As it turns out, I am actually pretty awesome and fairly intelligent (toot toot of my horn!). I have a well rounded education that others don't have because they jumped into one major and stayed there. My path was rocky and more than once I wanted to give up. I was pretty lucky that I had a lot of people cheering me on or giving me the "don't be stupid" look when I talked about giving up and sewing drapes for the rest of my life. (Have I mentioned that here before? I sew stuffs, not for you, unless you pay a ridiculous amount of money for my time.)

I would say this last semester, was by far the hardest I have ever gotten through. I worked on papers in my sleep and that actually seemed to help my grade! I was super stressed and thank Joss (as in Joss Whedon creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, FireFly, Dollhouse, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D aka my God don't judge) my husband is a really patient dude and just handed me a cup of coffee whenever I got out of hand.

14 Years of going to college and working at the same time, talk about busy busy busy. So... Now what? I have already started the annoying process of looking for a job in my field. That basically means a job with the state, county, or Salt Lake City. I am also applying at the University of Utah.

I have yet to figure out how to fill my free time, which is still weird to me that I have some. I have become really reluctant to schedule my time with anyone. I don't think this has anything to do with the people in my life but more a selfish need on my part to gain some much needed Malinda refocusing time. I need to spend some time not doing anything that means anything. I imagine in the next month or two this will change and I will come out of my hole a little more but for now I just need to chill in my own space for a beat.

The one thing I am sure I will be doing is a lot of reading that has nothing to do with politics in any way. I am currently working my way through a few books, as I couldn't decide what to read. I will post reviews on all of them in the next couple of weeks as I finish them.

Since finishing the semester on the 18th some really awesome changes have happened in Utah. As of right now gay marriage is legal in Utah. I wasn't super surprised by the ruling because I knew the judge was a President Obama appointee, but it seems to have floored most people here as well as everywhere else. Two of my close friends made Christmas Eve pretty special by having a surprise wedding. I was so glad to have been included. I love all of my friends: gay, straight, or otherwise and they should all have the right to choose their path and the government should recognize them all equally.

I have been dealing with an evil head cold for the last week or so. I woke up feeling craptastic on Christmas but as it turns out I was lucky as my bestie woke up the same day with a case of the flu. She and I spent the morning getting her some medical attention and scripts which had the chance of causing hallucinations which could either have been good or bad.... like all hallucinations?

New Years was a really low key event at home with the hubby which is really the way I prefer to celebrate. Normally we get the scrabble board out but this year we just watched movies and chilled. Man, it was awesome sauce. I am finally starting to feel kind of normal again. Post finals burnout has seemed to have passed and my cold is on its last legs. This means it might actually sink in soon that I am done with school and I might freak a little. I am hoping the job search keeps me grounded and I don't freak too much.

I hope you are all excited to rock a new year and new experiences. I will be posting more in the new year and possibly about more than just the books I am reading though that is still the focus here.

While writing this post I was watching Fashion Police. I love pretty dresses.