Makes You Want to Run!

I have not been running as much lately...I had a fall and it kinda scared me, so I have been doing the elliptical and the stationary bike and running only a mile or two every day.  But man...the Track series by Jason Reynolds reminds me what it is like to feel the freedom and the strength that comes from running.  Reynolds just has that way....such a wonderful story, such great characters...Mr. Reynolds is just a master.  Lu was an excellent addition for those who run and those who want to run and those who feel and those who want to feel and for black skinned people and for white skinned people and for being who feel good in their skin and for being don't feel so good in their skin and well, just for humans in general.  I think that the best way to read this series or any of his book narrated by Guy Lockhard is to listen, because this man is just so excellent at reading and expressing the words of his friend. 

Just One Small Thing

One Small Thing was super-good.  So much to think about here.  I am looking forward to reading more from Erin Watt.  Such a remarkable story about loss and love and getting through and acceptance and forgiveness and yeah...this was just really beautiful. 

Super Good

Chris Crutcher is a fantastic writer.  Sports books, but more than sports books.  Real-life books.  Hard topic books.  In the case of Deadline, death.  But more than death.  How to live when you are dying.  Tell or not tell?  Grace. Forgiveness.  Racism.  Small towns.  Small minds.  First love.  Incest. Everything.  Wow.  Just a LOT in Deadline.  A LOT.  Highly recommended. Highly.

St. Joseph's Day

I know I have written this before...my buddy and former roomie, Nancy Lou was Nancy Joseph before she married Dick Jenkins.  A big day for her was St. Joseph's Day.  That is March 19.  And March 19 is also the day when the swallows return to Mission San Juan Capistrano.   It was on March 19 of this year that I saw the book The Year the Swallows Came Early and decided to give it a listen. I didn't know if it had anything to do with swallows returning to Capistrano, but it turns out, it did.
This was a good book, man.  It really shows you that dualistic thinking doesn't work in the world.
The book begins with Groovy walking her dad to work and her dad getting arrested.
This isn't an action book, it is a thoughtful and thought-provoking one.  And it has a lovely, very subtle, totally non-preachy, pro-church and faith message.  I really liked it.  I just wish maybe it had a wee bit more action, but really, it was a very, very good book.

Last Year...

I read One Day More and I really enjoyed it and I thought, man, I can't wait to read Life After Theft!  But when I saw it on the shelf at the library, it just looked so so so so so long!  And I do get lazy!  But then a lovely gal I know, the daughter of my friend Theresa, told me that she loved LAT so I looked and there it was, able to be downloaded for free from the library!  So even though it was a year later, I remembered how much I enjoyed One Day More and I started in on LAT.  Man.  I blew through the first 6 1/2 of 8 sections of the audio.  It was so so so good!  I loved it so much!  But my enthusiasm faded a little bit.  I am not sure why.  The cover is totally deceiving.  Like The Disenchantments the cover will most likely turn away guys, but the narrator is a guy!  What a shame!  This is definitely a "good for dudes" but can you honestly see a teen dude carrying this book around?  If I were Aprilynne Pike I would be kinda mad!
It was cool to learn more about Santa Monica, which I have driven through but not spent any time.  Now I know though, that if I had a ton of bucks and any fashion sense, Montana Avenue is the only place to shop.
Jeff is the new kid in super-rich town.  His dad did very well in the whole dot.com thing, so he is new to this world of riches, but it isn't the prep school or the new wealth that are causing him problems, its a ghost.  The ghost of Kimberlee, who was super-rich in life and went to Jeff's prep school, but she had a big problem, she was a kleptomaniac.  Big time.  She hid all of the things that she stole, from her teachers, classmates, stores, in a cave on her private beach.  She's been haunting the school halls for a year now and no one can see her, until Jeff starts school.  She enlists his help to return all of the things that she stole so that her soul can have peace and maybe she won't have to float around in limbo.
I really did like this book, I guess I just wanted it to have a little more meaning.  It could have.  Jeff is an agnostic and I thought maybe he would be moved by his experience with Kimberlee or something, you know?  I don't know...I just thought that this could be a good part of the book, not that it would have to be Christian or preachy or anything.  Or even if his whole experience affirmed his agnosticism (is that possible, given the nature of agnosticism, I don't know!) or something!  But it just didn't seem to impact him at all, for more belief or for less belief, and I found that not very believable.  Interacting with a ghost would impact you in a big way, I think!  It just had a chance to be something deeper, like a Sara Zarr book, but it didn't go that way.  And that's okay!  I mean, I am the gal who loves Stone Barrington and The Fame Game!  I just wanted a little more from this.  Still, I would recommend it.