Running Away: a memoir

Running Away: A Memoir by Robert Andrew Powell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I love stories on people's journey into running & hearing about their experiences in races. So I was excited to give this book a go. I just didn't get into this one.
This was the story of Robert & his life after his divorce, finding his living arrangements in Hotels & without a job. He decides to try something his own father did at his late years in his life. Take up running. Except his father qualified for Boston on his first marathon out & then finished Boston in an amazing time. A true natural.
Robert decides to try the same, moving from Miami & going to Boulder, Colorado.
The book documents the whole thing, the people he meets, the people that train him, all the way through is qualifying Boston race - his first marathon. But the book just kept traveling back & going through the past & this book seemed more like a therapy book about the relationship he had with his father more then anything else. Everything was a comparison, an attitude of being better then his father, how his father seemed to think of his son as worthless & this was just a point to prove to his dad.
I actually got so bored with it at one point, I skipped like 10 chapters & STILL didn't feel like I missed anything - the next chapter started with the same feel.
I will say, I did enjoy the chapter on his marathon he ran...but even that, his father being at the race & at the finish line, & the voice of his dad he heard in his head...
yeah, more of a therapy book then a running book.

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Dreaming of the Sea

Dreaming of the Sea by Heidi Garrett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a cute little read. Apparently this author takes well known fairy tales & redoes them with a twist.

This was one taken from the Little Mermaid ... & the story of how the Sea Witch, how she came to be, how she controlled things, how she had a deal with the devil & needs an apprentice before she dies. & what happened when the latest Sea Witch finds a human to become her apprentice, one who is beautiful & has a strong faith in God...

I really did enjoy this book & was totally into the story of it. Give me a fairy tale, even a twisted backwards version, & I'll still love it.

I already downloaded another one of the 'mixed up' fairy tales she wrote, I think based off of Snow White.

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Everybody's Got Something

Everybody's Got Something by Robin Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Robin Roberts & was excited to see she wrote a book about her experience with MDS. It helps that I love autobiographies as well.

This book definitely shines the love of family Robin has, the joy she has in life & the strength she has through the loss of her mother & the trials of her illness.

There's not much in the book that you haven't seen on her special or heard her talk about on shows, but it's still a good easy read to sit back & enjoy.

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Paper Towns

Paper Towns by John Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life — dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge — he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues — and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew

____________________

So I started off loving this book where it talks about the all nighter that Margo & "Q" went through. I laughed & enjoyed their night of revenge. Sweet to see Q get to see his childhood friend again & feel a closeness to her again.
... & then she disappears.

The rest after that had me up & down on the book.

I loved the times Q was with his friends Radar & Ben. It felt like real life teenage attitude. Going through prom, graduation, hanging out with friends & having them help you on your hunt for this girl that you had this strange connection to your whole life.

I didn't love so much the 'mystery' part of the book, trying to figure out clues they felt like Margo left them. Trying to find all the 'paper towns' on maps & looking in abandoned places to find the smallest clues... one being a Whitman poem. It just felt repetitive & boring... but then the next chapter would be Q & his friends just being buddies & getting through life together... so it was topsy turvey for me.

The ending? Won't give it away if they find Margo & what the real story is, but I was left again torn on how it all worked out. I felt like it had a solid ending, but did I agree with it? Not sure.

I will say, I do like John Green's writing style. Will read his other books as well.

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4:09:43

4:09:43: Boston 2013 Through the Eyes of the Runners by Hal Higdon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love everything about running & running stories. I was excited to get this book to see through the eyes of runners the story of Boston & the bombing that happened in 2013.

This is a quick book that starts at the beginning of the race & leads us to the time on the clock of 4:09:43

I loved hearing the stories, but it got a little over whelming with all the names & stats of each person's story. It was like little snippets off of hundreds of people's blogs or something. "So & So from such such said" - "So & So from such & such ran" - "So & so from such & such felt" ... it's that kind of thing continually repeating. I get this is the point of the story to see the day through runners eyes, but it was just distracting to me.

I'm sure these runners loved seeing their names in this book, having a part of their story of Boston put into a book with others. It just wasn't made for a good book. This to me just reminded me of a collaboration of a bunch of blog posts.

I wish they would have focused on maybe 1, 2 or 3 people that really experienced the day & tell their story more in depth.

Its still definitely an interesting read - something I'm glad I read just to feel what happened that awful day.

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Dorothy Must Die

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My mom is more then obsessed with Wizard of Oz, so I grew up with Dorothy, & her friends being part of our family.

So the front of this book grabbed my attention. I had to read it & went into a little leery. Little did I know I wouldn't be able to put this book down.

This is the story of Amy - a young girl in Kansas who is considered 'trash' in her school & has an mother who doesn't even care for her. She's all alone when her trailer gets caught up in a tornado & she's wisked away to Oz... a place she knows, but didn't know it was real... until now.

But this Oz doesn't look like the Oz she grew up on. This Oz is scary & dark & full of evil.

Amy finds out that Dorothy has returned from Kansas & she has taken over. Power has gotten to Dorothy & she wants more & more of it. Glinda has turned against the munchkins causing them to be slaves. The 3 friends, The scarecrow, tinman & lion? They've all mutated into creatures that are evil & cruel, & don't think twice on harming other creatures in Oz.

When Amy is captured & taken to the Emerald City, things aren't looking good for her. But next thing she knows, she has a choice if she wants to join the Wicked Alliance & join a group of Wicked Witches.

But is Oz what it seems? Can wicked be good & good be wicked? & can Amy do that job that she's pressed to do? To kill Dorothy?

This book is not for the faint of heart. It has language, it has violence, it is shocking in what happens to the characters... but its a good story. It makes you wonder if there was a happily ever after.

It's a long book but I wanted more....

& more I'll get... I just have to wait.

This is going to be a series & I'll have to wait till the next book. DANG IT!!!

I had read that this was in talks of being a TV series on the CW... I could TOTALLY see it. & it'd be wonderful.

I think if you liked The Hunger Games & if you like the Wizard of Oz - you'd enjoy this book.

Let me know if you read it - I'm dying to talk to someone about it!!!

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No Place Like Oz

No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So I found out about this book AFTER I read "Dorothy Must Die"... & it didn't change any thing about the 2nd book. Actually was cool to read some things that are in the DMD & then thin, Ahh - there it is. What I'm saying is it doesn't hurt which way you read this. First or Second.

What I will say is I again love this writer & the way she's taken a classic story & put a new spin on it. What happens to Dorothy after she wakes up at home? Is her life changed? Do people believe she was really in a place called Oz?

We're at Dorothy's 16th birthday & life isn't the best for the "girl who rode the cyclone"... & then she gets a birthday present she wasn't expecting. Before you know it, Dorothy is back in Oz & seeing how things have changed since she's left. & Dorothy is there for one reason, to find Glinda so has seemed to have gone missing.

I won't give anything away, but we see how Dorothy turns into the person she is in Dorothy Must Die. But the whole time we are drawing lines between wicked & good... & which side is really which.

I'm going to be sitting on pins & needles waiting for the next book in this series!!!


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