Really Something

I didn't have SUPER GREAT expectations for Nate Expectations. I had decent expectations.  I did enjoy the first two.  Especially the first one, but the second one not as much.  So I figured the third would be as good or maybe even a little less good than the second one, but I was so wrong.  I really, really loved NE.  Very much!  Start with the first one, but the whole series is a keeper! 

Book Group?

I do this nonfiction book group deal and I am always looking for books that we can read.  I think that The Shift:  One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives might be a good choice.   I know that two of the women are retired nurses.  I think another women is still a practicing nurse, so it will be good to hear what they think of the book from a personal, experienced POV.  But I don't know if they will want to read it.  I suggest books, but they ultimately have the final say.  This month's book is Dream Home:  The Property Brothers' Ultimate Guide to Finding and Fixing Your Perfect House.  Since we just sold our house and moved to an apartment because I have no money or talent or desire to have a house, this was not my first pick!  But these ladies have their own homes or had their own homes and well, the Property Brothers are pretty cool, so it will be good!
Another cool thing about The Shift is that it is set in Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh is pretty famous for its hospitals.  I have a strong anti-UPMC bias, and I am pretty sure that is where Theresa Brown, RN is employed, but that is neither here nor there.
Now the only thing that kinda bugged me about the book is that Brown has PhD in English and she is a contributor to the New York Times but there was a lot of pronoun trouble.  You know the whole, "She had the same coloring as me."  I mean, it there were none that obvious, but there were a few that were obvious to me and well, I mean, I am NOT very well versed in grammar!  So it was obvious to me, and I have a million grammatical mistakes in this post alone...well, I just wonder about it.  Is that an old rule?  Is the choice of pronoun now just a choice?  I am not trying to be a smart butt here.  I just found out that we don't have to put two spaces after a period anymore!  I am not really up on changing rules!
Other than that, I really enjoyed the book!

More LBGTQNTSB

I can never get the LBGTQ thing right.  I always mix up the letters!  And "Q" is kinda new, isn't it? And I hear there are even more letters that people are wanting to put in, so that will confuse me even more!
Tim Federle has written another book about a LBGTQ kid, a G kid, more specifically.   He is the author of the Nate books, which I really enjoyed as well.  But this is way more than a G book.  This is also about loss, the loss of a sibling.  And about an absent father and about Pittsburgh and about friendship and about a lot of things, but not too many things to make it confusing.  This was just a thoroughly good book.  I am sure it would bother David Levithan though, because it is not very anti-fat!  Highly recommended.

Perks

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book I had intended to read for a long time, but I guess I just thought it was too trendy or too cool or too something.  I was very wrong.  This is an incredibly sweet story.  I love this book.  While some have commented that Charlie, the main character, is too young to to really be 15, I don't think so.  There are some 15 year olds who are sweet and caring and sensitive. Charlie is one of them.  The story is told in letter form.  Charlie writes to someone we don't know or meet and writes from the heart, honestly.  And it is lovely.  What a wonderful book about growing up, the good and the bad.
Okay so I admit, I wrote this review when I was about 1 hour from the end of the audiobook.
Now that I finished it, what a joke. This is not the book I thought it was. The ending is just so not good. It is just so bad. Unbelievable and it ruined the book for me completely with its bizarre conclusion. I feel cheated and manipulated and foolish.

Marathon

Am I too old to run a marathon?  Probably.  But man, Resolve made me want to try.  Resolve is told from the POV of a professor at a fictitious college in Pittsburgh.  It was near to hear the city described as Dr. Keller runs the Pittsburgh Marathon and tells of his plan to murder someone on the course and the events that led up to that decision.  Like successfully run marathon, this book is paced very well.  I hope to read more from J. J. Hensley.

Jesus isn't a Chiropractor SPOILER ALERT

The Demon of Brownsville Road:  a Pittsburgh Family's Battle with Evil in Their Home caught my attention because I worked in Brentwood for a time and found it be a very lovely community.  I also remember when Bob Cranmer when he the County Commissioner of Allegheny County.  He is coming to speak at my local library in March next year and so I wanted to read the book beforehand.  I was super excited to see that it was available for free on audio from Hoopla.
I can't recommend this book and I wrote why on goodreads.com:  ** spoiler alert **** spoiler alert ** I really didn't feel right giving this 1 star. I wish I could have just said "no rating" because this book left me with very complex feelings. It is very readable. I'm from Pittsburgh and worked in Brentwood for a time and so I was familiar with the author and the community.
The thing is though, I can't recommend it because contains many offensive references to "Indians" who brutally attracted settlers in the region. While the author does, very, very briefly, and not until the epilogue, mention that it's likely that these "Indians were just defending what they thought of as their land..." (Not exactly quote, but we all get the idea! Those natives not wanting to give up their homes and the land where they and their ancestors lived) the book is very, very racist.
Recently the book has attracted criticism, folks saying that Cranmer isn't telling the truth. I am not saying that Cranmer is lying, I really think that he believes that this happened.  But the thing that keeps me from believing that it was demonic possession and that made this quote from the article above shake my head in confusion:  "The book has become popular with people of faith — who see it as a testament to Mr. Cranmer’s devotion to Christianity — and those who are intrigued by the paranormal, boosted by a 2011 Discovery Channel documentary detailing the exorcism." is that Jesus isn't a chiropractor.
What I mean is, a few week ago I went to a chiropractor for the first time.  I had this pain in my hip that only occurred when I got up from a sitting or lying position and lasted until I took about 7 or 8 steps.  My dear friend, Sharon, has had wonderful success with a local chiropractor and she suggested that I go.  I had always thought that chiropractors were like LEGO Master Builders.  He or she could just pop and twist the spine and bones back to where they need to be.  One session.  Instant fix.  But no.  While the chiropractor I went to was super nice and I am sure she knows what she is doing, going to a chiropractor isn't a quick fix.  The doctor told me it would take at least a year.
I think that if Jesus was faced with any kind of demonic infestation, it would not take as long as it did here on Brownsville Road.  Why do I think that?  Well, Mark 5 for one.  And Mark 9:14-23.   Now that is not to say that God just POP does whatever we want and ask Him to do in seconds!  What I am saying is, though, when a demon comes around, he is no match for The Master.  So how can exorcisms really work like this?
Is the devil real?  Is evil real?
Yes.  I believe that the devil and evil are real.
But are they any match for our Savior?
Hahahahahah!  Um, no.
Not at all.

Twin Terror

Love books set in my hometown and around it- this book is set in Mount Pleasant, references Pittsburgh and the University of, Sewickley, Uniontown, Greensburg and Seton Hill, where I had a retreat my first trimester in seminary. Love books by Jack Gantos- Rotten Ralph, the Jack Tales, Joey Pigza, Mr. Gantos is beyond talented. Love books that are different, creepy, well written. Loved The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs. But man, it really grossed me out. It was disturbing! If you read the few reviews on amazon, you'll find a couple people who found it hard to follow or confusing. I don't think this is true and I'm a big lover of Stone Barrington books, so I am not sure where those folks are coming from. There was one especially negative review that I figure had to come from someone who hasn't read very much, even though they wrote it to sound as though they were a teacher or librarian or something. Don't read the negative reviews. But do read a summary of the book to see if it your cup of tea. This book might not be for everyone, but it is for those who don't mind feeling uncomfortable and don't mind thinking a bit, and who enjoy something completely different.