The Final Girl Support Group

 

Grady Hendrix is one of the best horror writers nowadays. I loved My Best Friend's Exorcism. This was good too, but I didn't embrace the characters like I did in My Best Friend's Exorcism. This book is pretty much like watching a slasher movie. It gets its genre down right.  It's about a group of women who have survived unspeakable violence. They're basically like the last woman standing in a slasher movie. They have been meeting at a support group together for years. That is until someone decides to take them out one by one. I got done with this book pretty quickly.  It was a page turner, but I wanted more. 

Becky's New Car

 

This was an ok play about a woman's mid-life crisis. Becky is a car salesman who takes up an affair after a wealthy man Walter enters her dealership. Her husband figures out the affair pretty quickly. Everyone gets affected by her actions even her twenty-six-year-old son whose life gets tangled unexpectedly with Walter's as well. Eventually a new car and a disappearance of Becky happens as well. It didn't change my life, but I finished it pretty quickly.     

Mary Rose

 

I was curious about J.M. Barrie's other work, so I read this play of his. It was charming and intriguing. It concerns a woman who disappeared during her childhood on an island. As an adult she goes to the island again with her husband and disappears once more. When Mary reappears, she hasn't aged. I read that Hitchcock wanted to a movie of this, but it didn't happen. Now that would have been interesting.

Animal Farm

 

I just thought this was ok as a teenager. I read it today at 39 and thought wow this book is something else. Frankly it's kind of eerie and entirely original. It concerns an animal farm. The animals rebel and start out free. By the end they are worse off than they were originally. The animals' commandments for example do not murder and not to use money all get broken eventually. The animals on the farm are pretty stupid as well just accepting the little phrases that get changed to each rule.  I have to admit murder happened way sooner than I expected. Napoleon is one jerk. I found the ending perfect and utterly creepy. It proves you can pack in just as much in a novella as you can in an epic. This was a statement on Russia and totalitarianism. George Orwell was one fantastic writer. 

The Pearl

 

This was a pretty good novella by John Steinbeck. It concerns a family that is too poor to pay for their baby boy Coyolito's health. After finding a pearl the family starts to dream big thinking not only of medical help but for an education for their boy. Surprisedly this find isn't the answer to their prayers. Instead, the discovery of the pearl becomes a nightmare. People respond to them with jealousy lying and calling the pearl worthless. They come across thieves. Eventually the father has blood on his hands and the family is met with tragedy. The only John Steinbeck's books I have read have been short ones. One of these days I need to challenge myself to read The Grapes of Wrath. 

Celtic Mythology for Kids

 

When I was 15, I blew off my English class assignment of mythology. Now I've come to regret it. I wish I knew at that time how cool mythology could be. Now I'm 39 and I have to catch up with all of the mythology stories of tons of cultures. Anyway, this book for kids was pretty cool. It has good illustrations, and the stories are simply told. My favorite story was about the seal catcher who turns into a seal and realizes the error of his ways. I also liked the Lugh story about a man who tries to enter a kingdom but has to a master in a skill that only one person possesses, only to discover that being a many-skilled person is a rarity in itself.  

Chinese Myths and Legends

 

This was an ok children's book about Chinese mythology which I know little about. It was a pretty good introduction to the culture. Half the book is about The Monkey King who comes across as a stubborn creature who eventually learns wisdom from his experiences. I like reading mythology books from the children's section since they tend to get to the point.