Amy 
Lynnie 
fiction, young adult
What do you believe when your narrator is paranoid & schizophrenic? Is anything real? Is it all a delusion? Those are the questions you must confront when reading Made You Up by Francesca Zappia. Alex is a high school senior at a new school. She was forced to go there after getting in trouble at her prior school. This is the story of her senior year as she attempts to prepare for a life beyond high school.
Amy's Review
I enjoyed the book but, due to the summary and reviews, had expected something more shocking to be revealed as a non-reality. All the “surprises” were either already obvious to me by the time they were revealed in the story or were really not terribly surprising. It was an interesting tale with more than its fair share of quirky characters but what I enjoyed most was getting a glimpse into schizophrenia to which I had not previously been exposed. It was thought-provoking and educational.
Lynnie's Review
Alex is a compelling character who is never sure if what she's seeing is real or in her head- which means you never know either and to be sure, there are some gut punches along the way as delusions are confronted and reality is exposed.
I was absolutely absorbed in this story while reading it. The characters are written with beauty and compassion and the story flows along, never forgetting the problems confronting Alex and her family. In the light of morning I find myself wondering about the end of the story- was it real? Was it yet another delusion? I don't know the answer, but I know that this book has left an impression on me that won't soon be forgotten.
Lynnie
contemporary fiction, short story collection
Single,
Carefree, Mellow my eye. It should have been titled: Adulterous, Lying,
Narcissist but I don't know if that would sell many books.
The
title- Single, Carefree, Mellow gave me the impression that this would
be a collection of stories about single women dating, or not dating, but
generally being content with where they are in life. Sadly, that's not
the case in any of these stories (and clearly I didn't read the book's description very well). None of the women are single, or if
they are then their partners are not. They weren't exactly carefree or
mellow either as having an affair seems to be stressful & require an
impressive amount of planning and manipulation.
I particularly
hated one of the characters who appears in 3 separate stories. I
couldn't decide though if I hated her because I had to keep reading
about her (& she wasn't a very nice person as far as I could tell),
or if I hated the way she was portrayed by author Katherine Heiny. Does it really matter though?
Anyway,
if you're into a collection of stories about people who are unabashed
adulterers, this is the book for you. Unfortunately, it wasn't my cup of
tea.
Amy
fiction, young adult
I did not realize that this book is narrated by the imaginary friend referenced in the title. It’s a clever idea and allows the reader to have an insider’s view of the child from whom the imaginary friend exists. However, the imaginary friend is a little too insightful and observant to be believable. Otherwise, I might have enjoyed this book more. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend is the story of Max, an 8-year-old, as told by his imaginary friend, Budo. It covers a short period of time in Max's life and includes flashbacks to provide character history.
As the imaginary friend of an elementary school student with limited powers of observation, it didn’t feel right that Budo would have the psychiatric insight that he had. I could believe in all the freedom the imaginary friend possessed and even the rules of the “imaginary friend world” by which he “lived”. But, when the imaginary friend goes from speaking and acting like an elementary school student to showing the extremely mature powers of deduction and understanding on several occasions, the author, Matthew Dicks, lost my favor.
Additionally, I didn’t realize it when I started this book, but it feels geared toward middle grades. While I do love young adult novels, middle grade novels don’t tend to bring me a high level of personal enjoyment. This one, though, contains about a dozen f-bombs. Those words were not necessary to get the point of the story across (although, it definitely was expected and believable from those characters) and their frequent presence makes me think that maybe the author was really attempting to gear this novel toward an older audience. But, I don’t feel he was successful. In contrast, I can think of another book with a young narrator, Room by Emma Donoghue, which was very successfully geared toward grown-ups.
The best part of the novel was the last 15% and I appreciated the suspense, growth, and the brave actions of Max and the friends. But, the other “suspense” in the novel up until that time felt more like forced stalling and delaying in an attempt to build suspense. It was a nuisance since I was listening to the audiobook and could not just skim over the sections that seemed to serve no other point. Incidentally, the reader of the audiobook did a wonderful job!
In summary, the crafting of the novel was creative, the story had a lot of heart, the characters were well-drawn, but it didn't really interest me until the end.
Amy 
Lynnie 
fiction
A Man Called Ove is the story of a Swedish man named Ove. He's stuck in the mundane daily routines he follows until circumstances outside of his control begin to turn his routines and his life upside down.
Amy's Review
This novel tells a bittersweet story about a man who is much more bitter than sweet. In fact, he’s a curmudgeon, a stickler, a simple man who thrives on routine. He is opinionated, negative, fair-minded when it suits him, and lonely. He needs to feel in control. In my mind, he looks and acts like the old man in Pixar’s movie “Up”. The story was more slow-paced than I like but it was heartwarming in several ways. The story highlights the difficult grieving process for a solitary man with no family nor real friends. It gives hope that, deep down, people are good and that those in need, no matter how cold on the surface, might be able to find support and love in unexpected places while, in turn, bringing joy to others and meaning to his own life.
The author, Fredrik Backman, has a good sense of humor and I even laughed out loud a couple times! I was happy with the way the story ended which made up for the slow pace. But, I was frustrated with the implications regarding the Swedish government (of which I know nothing). If there are really governmental departments with the power to alter your lifestyle in ways that are not in accord with your wishes and act against your personal freedoms, I’m not sure why Sweden gets so much praise. But, I’m assuming there must be some truth to this situation since the government is the “bad guy” in this novel.
Lynnie's Review
By all accounts, you shouldn't like Ove who is a cantankerous, spiteful, angry older man. His life is driven by routine, even when the routines don't make much sense to the people around him, he's opinionated- unwavering in his ideas of right and wrong, and he does not bother to hide his disdain when he deems your actions "wrong" by his standards. The expression "he does not suffer fools gladly" was written with Ove in mind.
And yet, there is something about Ove that made me look forward to reading more about him. I adored watching his world get turned topsy turvy as his neighbors made him part of their lives and made themselves part of Ove's life, sometimes against his will. It was funny, charming, and remarkably moving to watch as Ove rediscovers life, love, and community.
Lynnie
cookbook
Andrew Schloss has put together a
nice collection of recipes for all experience levels. While nothing
groundbreaking, there are some good ideas in this book. The "hurry" part of Homemade in a Hurry typically
substitutes store bought items (like Pesto) instead of making your own
from scratch which definitely cuts back on some prep time in the
recipes. I think there are some cooks that just need a little permission
to use a shortcut. There are definitely some recipes in here that can
be whipped up quickly, but also plenty of ideas for someone who wants to
create more of their meal from scratch. The bottom line is that these
recipes give you the option to make cooking as easy or as involved as
you'd like it to be. I only got a handful of recipes I'll actually use
from this book, but I walked away with several new ideas.
