Amy 
fantasy, young adult, action/suspense
Eragon is a young man who finds a dragon egg while out hunting and his life is turned inside out as a result. During the story, I was often reminded of other stories due to plot points, environments, and character names; mostly Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones. But, I enjoyed Eragon very much and did not feel it was unoriginal. I am especially impressed this was written by a 16-year-old, Christopher Paolini! It was obviously intended to be the first in a series and, given the epic scale of the story, I’m okay with that. It ended at a good point along the storyline. I’m wary of the future-teller’s prediction in terms of who will betray Eragon. There are two obvious candidates to me at this point and I’m almost driven to read the next book in the series simply to have this mystery answered. The characters are well-drawn as are the various settings through which the travelers journey. I felt the pacing was good and the adventure held my attention for the most part. Despite this, the story isn’t calling me to keep reading it. I don’t feel that invested. But, I’ll probably read the next installment out of curiosity.
I listened to the audio book narrated by Gerard Doyle. He is a wonderful narrator full of many different voices and great voice acting. I give him an A+ and feel he was perfect for this novel.
Lynnie 
non-fiction
Judd Apatow presents a fascinating journey into some of the greatest comedic minds our
country has to offer. Like any compilation, some of the interviews in Sick in the Head are
more fascinating than others (Albert Brooks was a particular standout that has stuck with me long after reading it)
and there were a handful that I just skimmed through. I did find that
toward the end of the book I did more skimming than reading- I think
this is a book best enjoyed over time. Read an interview or two, come
back to it in another week & read a few more...reading it all in one
spurt made it feel a bit overwhelming by the end. I wished I didn't
have to return it to the library so I could enjoy it at more of my own
pace.
Still, I loved learned that Judd Apatow has been as
obsessed with comedy since he was young and his single-minded devotion
to the art form led to some fascinating conversations over the years. I
particularly liked most of the interviews he did when he was younger
because they were much more about how the comedy was created rather than
just storytelling. After reading this, I'm not sure I have a better appreciation for comedians, but I think they are all more fascinating than I originally imagined them to be.
Amy
psychological thriller
I devoured this one. I haven’t been this angry at a spouse during a novel since Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. Behind Closed Doors was infuriating, horrifying, and gripping. You know going in, thanks to cover art and the story summary, basically what to expect--that things are not what they seem to the outside world for this couple. Yet, B. A. Paris weaves a mostly convincing tale and the reader is compelled to read in order to find out how it ends.
I enjoyed the British narrator of the audio book, Georgia Maguire. My only complaint about her is that her male voices are not very male. I had difficulty at times distinguishing which character was speaking during a conversation, which is quite annoying. But the voice acting was great and she spoke clearly. Pacing was good. I’ll give her an A-.
Lynnie 
young adult, fantasy
I'm
going to admit something here that's very painful for me, but... I have
sequel fatigue. Wouldn't it be awesome if someone would write a really
cool YA adventure that was over when you closed the cover?
I'm
a fan of Marie Lu- I really enjoyed the Legend series (sorry, I read it before we had this blog) and I love that
she writes about badass women on a regular basis. I listened to Warcross
during a road trip and Nancy Wu did a wonderful job narrating &
bringing the characters to life. She held my attention for almost 12
hours of driving which is no small feat.
I also really enjoyed
the story of Warcross, the game was fascinating and the world
well-drawn. I enjoyed most of the characters and enjoyed their
experiences. BUT, I found that I could never truly enjoy it because I
knew that there wasn't going to be any resolution at the end. Some of
the plot points were predictable, but overall it was a fun story.
Honestly, if not for my sequel fatigue I would've likely given it 4
stars, but I just can't bring myself to do it.
Will I read the
sequel? I don't know. I would like to know what unfolds, but I'm just
kind of over the whole waiting-a-year-for-the-next-bit-of-the-story. In another year maybe my fatigue will have passed...
Amy
Lynnie
nonfiction
From Goodreads: "At a moment of crisis over our national identity, venerated journalist Dan Rather has emerged as a voice of reason and integrity, reflecting on--and writing passionately about--wht it means to be an American."
Amy's Review
Part autobiography, part history lesson, part political statement, What Unites Us is a wonderful book written by an educated, observant, lifelong newsman. I enjoyed every chapter (listed here by name): the Preface about Patriotism (vs. Nationalism), Freedom, Community, Exploration, Responsibility, and Character. Each chapter has several sections which read like essays or news segments. Dan Rather is so rational and measured and brings out the facts in order to support and explain his statements. His humble childhood and natural curiosity, combined with good fortune in his career, have provided him with a perfect platform for weighing information and knowing the important points to make. He understands firsthand how impressions can change with exposure to situations, gaining new information, and meeting people. He loves this country and its citizens. And his message, while dire at times, is overall one of hope and confidence. I learned several things about historical events and national transitions and movements. And being able to follow his life from before he was exposed to, and enlightened on, a few topics to the point at which his mind was opened to further possibilities and/or understanding, was extremely eye-opening. It made me realize that the ignorance of many people today is due to the fact that they have not benefited from a variety of experiences or knowing a variety of people. They've lived in one sort of place with the same sort of people and lack experience with which to make considered decisions. They simply don’t know. They lack empathy and are unable to consider things from another side that they cannot fathom.
I loved his definition of art (“an attempt to capture the truths of the world as you see it in a medium you can share with others. It is about lending your voice, your perspective to local, national, and global conversations. And that is why, in the United States in particular, our definition of what is art and who is an artist must be as varied as our citizenry”). Some additional awesome quotes:
“a democracy requires open access to ideas. It requires a willingness to struggle and learn, to question our own suppositions and biases, to open ourselves as citizens, and a nation, to a world of books and thought. If we become a country of superficiality and easy answers based on assumptions and not one steeped in reason and critical learning, we will have lost the foundation of our founding and all that has allowed our nation to grow into our modern United States.”
“Empathy is not only a personal feeling; it can be a potent force for political and social change. And thus the suppression or denial of empathy is a deliberate part of a cynical political calculus. Dividing people and stoking animosity can pave a path to power (and in many recent elections, it has). This has been well known since the time of the ancients. But these divisions inevitably come at the expense of the long-term health and welfare of the nation as a whole.”
“We see elected officials pounding their chests, saying their vision of America represents the only real patriotism. To them I say that patriotism is not a cudgel. It is not an arms race.”
While I was not initially interested in reading this novel since I don’t love autobiographies or nonfiction, I do enjoy Rather’s public comments on social media and generally applaud his thoughts. (But, I must say, I think he’s been a bit too heavy-handed with pushing this book in that venue.) When a friend read What Unites Us and gave it a positive review, it prompted me to give it a try. I’m so glad I did. I listened to Rather narrate the book himself via audio book which was even more enjoyable than reading the novel would have been for me. However, there is a warning. When listening in the car (and probably when using headphones too—I did not attempt) there is way too much saliva noise near the beginning of the recording! Thankfully, listening to his narration coming from my phone’s speaker did not have that problem and later attempts in the car seemed to no longer have that issue. I’ll take away the “plus” because of the saliva and give him an A in his narration of his own words.
Lynnie's Review
I don't have much to add to the other reviews of this book, but I did enjoy it. I think I would have enjoyed it more in another political climate though because I often found myself thinking, "yes, you're absolutely right Dan, why doesn't everyone else understand this?" I wanted to be inspired, but mostly I found myself saddened by the fact that so many people have abandoned facts in order to justify the machinations of our current administration.
Still, I appreciated both the history lessons & the sentiments provided by Rather.
Amy 
historical fiction
Just not my kind of story. The Great Alone describes the harsh realities of living in small-town Alaska. Centered around a very unhappy man’s daughter and the price the family and the neighbors paid for his mental illness, it's filled with one bad situation after another. I found it depressing. The long-winded descriptions, which were obviously written as a love letter to Alaska, forced me to start skimming because I just wanted to get to the parts where things were actually happening. At least there was a happy, hopeful ending. I really don’t have much to say, though, since I didn’t appreciate it nearly as much as most people do. It wasn't nearly as enjoyable as Kristin Hannah's previous novel, The Nightingale.
Lynnie
young adult, science-fiction
Obsidio is a great finale to the Illuminae series. Presented like the other
books in the series, Illuminae and Gemina, you are presented with a series of
reports, messages, video transcription and occasional artistic rendering
to piece together the continuing saga of Kady, Ezra, Hanna, Nik, Ella,
and of course some new editions. (And once again, I encourage you not to read this on a Kindle, though the Kindle App worked well.)
If you enjoyed the first two
books you'll like this one as well as Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff have
brought back all your favorite characters from the first two books and
forced them to work together to save their world. There are also some
new characters who round out the adventure as the story takes us full
circle back to Kerenza IV where the story started.
There are similarities to Amie Kaufman's collaboration with Meghan Spooner,
the These Broken Stars series in that while the initial books have some
overlap, the final book brings all the characters and their strings
together to wrap things up in a neat little bow. Still, I enjoyed seeing how those strings were woven together. Overall this series was a lot of fun to read.
Amy 
