Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Review - Dumplin’

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

5 out of 5 gnomes


So much awesomeness packed into a tiny book package. I just couldn’t put this book down. I read at every free opportunity and just fell in love with it all. The characters, the humor, the crazy situations, the drama, it all equals one heck of a good time.


Willowdean/Will is quite a fierce and funny character. You’ll think she’s super confident at first and that’s definitely how the world sees her then she really starts to doubt herself. That’s when things start to implode with her friend and her mom.  


As you read you’ll probably start to miss Lucy as much as Willowdean does. Her aunt seems to be the glue that was holding the family together. It is great learning about her though especially when Willow and some friends check out a Dolly Parton night at a very entertaining club.


The other great aspect of this book is how Dolly Parton music permeates the story. Willow’s aunt loved Parton and it’s part of how she met her best friend Ellen too.


The Clover City pageant is crazy but I really like how it was betrayed and the mini revolution that forms around it this year.


Of course this book deals a lot with body image and I love seeing not the norm in characters from Willodean to her friends all of them are different. A lot of this hits close to home too especially Millie because like Willowdean I can remember thinking, well at least I’m fat but not that fat. That’s why I’m glad that this book is out there. It shows that you should really put yourself out there in the world and go for your dreams.

Whether you’re fat, skinny or somewhere in between this book should be a must read. I for one can’t wait to see this in movie form because if done right it would be a sight to behold.

Monday, September 28, 2015

My Favorite Quotes/Lines - Dumplin'

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

“If I could avert my eyes from all the kissing people ever, I’m positive that my life would be at least 2 percent more fulfilling.”

“I mean, if this were, like, 1642, my wide birthing hips would be worth many cows or something.”

“The world fat makes people uncomfortable. But when you see me, the first thing you notice is my body. And my body is fat. It’s like how I notice some girls have big boobs or shiny hair or knobby knees. Those things are okay to say. But the word fat, the one that best describes me, makes lips frown and cheeks lose their color.”

“...on the eighth day God created ranch dressing.”

“It’s not that I don’t like new people. It’s just that, in general, I do not like new people.”

“I have the manners of a cat in a box of bubble wrap.”

“I guess it’s an awfully big sky not to share.”

“Television saves lives.”

“Maybe’ cause you don’t always have to win a pageant to wear a crown.”

“I’m doing this because I want to cross the line between me and the rest of the world. Not be someone’s savior.”

“That day was, like, realizing for the first time that the religion your parents subscribe to doesn’t work for you.”

“Just ‘cause something’s easy doesn’t make it right.” He lets the chain go and I kick my feet out into the stars.”

“This in-box full of unopened messages is the truest reminder that we are temporary fixtures in a permanent world.”

“We dance slow to fast songs and fast to slow songs, creating our own rhythm.”

“I’ve been real lost without her. Like, she was this compass I didn’t even know I had.”

“Because life is not a river and we’re not all headin’ in the same direction.”

“There’s some kind of peace that comes with knowing that for every person who is waiting to be found, there’s someone out there searching.”

“Oh my God,” says El. “I think you might be my spirit animal.”

Friday, September 25, 2015

Review - Everything, Everything

Everthing, Everything by Nicola Yoon

* Read via NetGalley


4 gnomes and a gnome hat out of 5 gnomes

Wow, just wow, what a book. I couldn’t put it down, and finished reading in less than a day. I definitely wasn’t expecting the twist. You will have all of the emotions while reading this book from happiness to WTF did I just read.

Maddy has never gone outside because of her disease and then things get really interesting when Olly moves in next door.

The use of a rather unfortunate bundt cake was both inventive and hilarious. I really liked the small bits of humor found in this book along with the other crazy happenings.

Maddy is an awesome character who just wants more from the world but is hindered by being sick/unable to leave the house. She is creative and has plenty of dreams.

Olly is a parkour loving guy with a troubled home life. He and Maddy make quite a pair and their chemistry is crazy good.

The use of handwritten notes and illustrations really adds some nice dimensions to what you’re reading.

Overall, an unexpectedly unique and well done book.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Sentence Sneak Peek - Everything, Everything

Everthing, Everything by Nicola Yoon

* Read via NetGalley

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)

“I’VE READ MANY more books than you.”

“MY DISEASE IS as rare as it is famous.”

“MOVIE NIGHT OR Honor Pictionary or Book Club?”

“I’M READING ON my white couch when Carla comes in the next morning.”

“I’M UP TO the part where Charlie realizes that the mouse’s fate may be his own when I hear a loud, rumbling noise outside.”

“August 5
         The family in the house next door moved away.”

“CARLA,” I SAY, “it won’t be like last time.”

“THAT NIGHT, I dream that the house breathes with me.”

HIS MOM’S SCHEDULE
6:35 AM - Arrives on porch with a steaming cup of something hot.”

“HIS FAMILY CALLS him Olly.”

“I’VE JUST SAT down at the dining table for dinner.”

“BACK IN MY room, I go immediately to my bedroom window.”

“HOW LONG ARE going to mope around the house?”

“TWO DAYS PASS and I’ve stopped moping.”

“I’M JUST SETTLING in to bed when the pings begin again.”

“I CAN’T STAND it.”

“THE BUNDT IS sitting on a table next to the window.”

“THE BUNDT IS lying on a white sheet.”

“I TELL MYSELF that I won’t look, but as soon as the first ping sounds I’m at the window.”

“Hello, I guess we should start with introductions?”

“Wednesday, 8:15 P.M.”

“MR. WATERMAN’S ON his way up,” Carla says from the doorway.”

CARLA’S SMILING AT me like she knows something I don’t know.”

“MAYBE HE COULD come over for a visit?”

“I TRY AGAIN.”

“FIFTEEN MINUTES?”

“PLEASE, CARLA—”
    She cuts me off.”

“CARLA DOESN’T SAY anything about it again until just after lunch two days later.”

“By the time you read this we will have met.”

“THE SUNROOM IS my favorite room in the house.”

HYSTERICAL ABDOMINAL RHOPALOCERA

The condition of having one or more monarch butterflies take up residence in the stomach.”

“BEFORE CARLA ARRIVES the next morning I spend exactly thirteen minutes in bed convinced that I am getting sick.”

“AND IT’S THE wanting that pulls me back down to earth hard.”

“THERE’S NO EMAIL from Olly.”

“Monday, 8:09 P.M.”

“CARLA MAKES US wait a week before we can see each other again.

“AFTER AN EPOCH, the week finally ends.”

OLLY’S ON THE wall again when I enter the room.”

“MY CONSTANT IMING with Olly is catching up with me.”

NUMBER OF:
minutes it takes Olly’s dad to begin yelling after he arrived home last night:
                                                             8...”

“HE’S NOT ON the wall when I see him again the next day.”

“TEN-YEAR-OLD OLLY AND his dad are at the breakfast bar in their old penthouse apartment in New York City.”

“YOUR MOTHER WANTS to know if I’ve noticed anything different about you lately,” says Carla from across the living room.”

“We’ve received your credit card application

“NORMAL PEOPLE PACE when they’re nervous.”

“I READ ONCE that on average, we replace the majority of our cells every seven years.”

“Later, 8:16 P.M.”

“TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER, kissing is all I think about.

“OLLY’S NOT ON the wall.”

“Later, 8:03 P.M.”

“THE UNIVERSE AND my subconsciousness may be conspiring against me.”

“I’M ALMOST ASLEEP that night when my door opens.”

“THE NEXT MORNING I wake to yelling.”

“I PULL THE curtains aside as soon as I’m back in my room.”

“MY MOM WORDLESSLY kneels to gather scraps of drawing form our game of Honor Pictionary and stacks them into a neat pile.”

“MY NEW NURSE is an unsmiling despot with a nursing degree.”

OLLY’S SCHEDULE
      6:55 AM Stands at window.

“WITH OLLY BACK in school, our IM sessions are even more limited.”

“I’VE CANCELED YET another mother-daughter night, so my mom stops by my room.”

“OLLY’S ALREADY WAITING for me when I go to the window.”

“SOMETIMES I REREAD my favorite books from back to front.”

“A WEEK LATER, something startles me awake.”

“SOMETIMES THE WORLD reveals itself to you.”

“IT’S A STRANGE thing to realize that you’re willing to die.”

Dear Mom,
The first thing is that I love you.

“HEARING
The alarm’s keypad tries to announce my escape by emitting a loud BEEP each time I press a number.

“WE COME TO our senses.”

“MADS, BE SERIOUS.”

“CARLA SCREAMS AND covers her face when she first sees me.”

Q” What is the best way to relieve earaches caused by changes in cabin pressure?”

“I’VE DECIDED BAGGAGE carousels are a perfect metaphor for life,” Olly says from atop the edge of a nonmoving one.”

“ACCORDING TO THE guidebook, Maui is shaped like a head.”

“OUR HOTEL SITS right on the beach and we can see and smell the ocean from the small, open-air lobby.

“I FEEL MUCH better after we grab a quick bite to eat.

“IT’S POSSIBLE THAT I should’ve tried on the swimsuit before I bought it.”

“I SURPRISE OLLY by getting into the water right away.”

“BACK AT THE hotel, Olly calls his friend, Zach, from our room phone.”

“IT’S LATE AFTERNOON by the time we get back to the hotel.”

“I COME AWAKE slowly, languidly until I realize what we’ve done.

“ACCORDING TO THE Big Bang theory, the universe came into being in one single moment—”

“OLLY SMILES.”

“SOMEONE HAS PUT me in a hot oven and locked the door.”

“I DON’T REMEMBER much, just a jumbled mix of images.”

“MY MOM HAS transformed my bedroom into a hospital ward.”

“Wednesday, 6:56 P.M.”

“I’M IN AN endless field filled with red poppies.”

“I’M STRONGER WITH each passing day.”

“THE NEXT DAY, Carla bustles in.”

HIS DAD’S SCHEDULE
   9:00 AM - LEAVES FOR WORK

“A MONTH LATER, just after Christmas, his dad moves away, too.”

“OLLY’S MATH SAYS you can’t predict the future.”

“I READ THE e-mail six times before the letters form words and the words form sentences that I can understand, but, even then, the meaning of all the words taken together eludes me.”

“CARLA’S BARELY IN the door before I’m on her with the letter.

“ALL I HAVE to do is go to sleep—quiet my mind, relax my body, and go to sleep.”

“I RUN FROM the office.”

“ONCE UPON A time there was a girl whose entire life was a lie.”

“A UNIVERSE THAT can wink into existence can wink out again.”

“FOUR DAYS PASS.”

“I SPEND THE next few days searching for more information, for anything that will explain what happened to me and what happened to my mother.”

“I HAVE MY first weekly visit with Dr. Chase.

“MY MOM TRIES to enter my room, but the door is locked with me in it.”

“I PAINT EACH wall in my room a different color.”

“I ORDER REAL plants for the sunroom.”

DR. CHASE INSISTS that it’s too soon for me to attempt enrolling in high school.

“A WEEK LATER Carla and I watch as Mr. Waterman makes his way across the lawn and to his car to leave.”

“A WEEK LATER my mom knocks on my door.”

“I OPEN THE present from my mom.”

“I STARE OUT the window of the airplane and see miles and miles of greenery sectioned into perfect squares.”

“EVEN AT 9 A.M.”

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

My Favorite Quotes/Lines - Everything, Everything

Everthing, Everything by Nicola Yoon

* Read via NetGalley


“I’VE READ MANY more books than you.”

“Maybe I’m holding out hope that one day, someday, things will change.”

“The more I watch, the more I want to know.”

“Life is hard, honey, Everyone finds a way.”

“Madeline: OK. Why was the boy surprised to find celery growing out of his ears?
Olly: why?”
Madeline: Because he’d planted corn!”

“Everything’s a risk. Not doing anything is a risk. It’s up to you.”

“It’s strange because of course I’d known that. But the difference between knowing it and seeing them in person is the difference between dreaming of flying and flight.”

“For the first time in a long time, I want more than I have.”

“You have enough things to be afraid of. Love can’t kill you.”

“Books, Olly! I learned it from books.”

“We can have immortality or the memory of touch. But we can’t have both.”