Quick Book Reviews

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 I don't normally write book reviews on my blog, but I figured I'd include a few quick words on the things I read this past year since I was so pleased with most of them.

 Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - I've raved about this book and its film adaptation extensively. I think it will go down as one of my all time favorites. 

 Dark Places by Gillian Flynn - This book was nearly impossible to put down. The ending was pretty cliche, but I welcomed it in this case. Sometimes I like having things tied up with a neat little bow, damn it!

 Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn - This was a good one too, though not as strong as Gone Girl or Dark Places. Still, I like the women that Flynn writes. 

 My Year of Flops by Nathan Rabin - I wasn't crazy about this at all. I like books about bad movies, my favorite being Showgirls, Teen Wolves, and Astro Zombies by Michael Adams. This just wasn't nearly as funny.

 The Guilty One by Lisa Ballentyne - I recommendation I got from one of my favorite blogs, Mysterious Bibliophile. The court room scenes in this book were fascinating, but I wanted to rage when I finished it.

 Your Movie Sucks by Roger Ebert - I love Roger Ebert, especially when he's being blunt about how shitty a movie is.

 The Disaster Artist by Greg Sissero and Tom Bissell - This book was addictive. I think I finished it in about three hours. The Room is a movie I'll never forget, and this book about the making of it is something I'll never forget either.

 Bossypants by Tina Fey - A very funny and enjoyable memoir. 

 Horns by Joe Hill - Another one of my favorites of the year. I wish the film had held up.

 The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword, and The Mystery Knight by George R. R. Martin - These are the Dunk and Egg stories that I've been meaning to read for ages. They take place 100 years before Game of Thrones. There's a of interesting info on the Targaryens here, specifically Bloodraven, aka that old guy Bran just met beyond the wall.

 The World of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin and Elio Garcia - This book is one gigantic info drop on the world of Westeros. I really hope Elio wrote most of it, because it's obvious A LOT of work went into it, and GRRM should be focusing that amount of work on The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.

 Pilgrim's Wilderness by Tom Kizzia - So I've been on this weird kick reading about Christian Fundamentalists and their all around batshit crazy-ness. (I blame the Duggars, without them I never would've come across sites like Free Jinger or Recovering Grace) Papa Pilgrim takes the cake though. What a horrible person. 

Yes Please by Amy Poehler - I didn't care for this one as much as I did Bossypants. Her timeline was all over the place. 

 Dark Spell by Mayra Levitt and Jason Baldwin - The West Memphis Three was a case that always fascinated me, but Damian Echols was always the mouthpiece. I found myself more interested in hearing what Jason Baldwin had to say, and with this book he finally gets his chance. I hope he writes more, especially about the times right before and after his release. 

 Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman - This book reminded me a lot of Boy A, which I really enjoyed. I like mysteries and court room cases like this one. Plus, it had an interesting twist, and a movie was recently made about it starring Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Banks.

 Girl Boy Girl by Savannah Koop - The whole JT Leroy fiasco really fascinates me. I watched The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things when it first came out, then read the books straight after. THEN I realized JT Leroy was a fake. This was all probably in 2006-2007. So this story by Koop, the girl that was dressed up as JT was an interesting read. I wish it would've been longer and talked more about what happened after JT was outted as a fake. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 20, 2015 at 7:51 AM

    I'm reading Gone Girl next, I think! I can't wait!

    You should write more book reviews, if only so you can participate in my Fistful of Reads each month ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 20, 2015 at 9:39 AM

      Ohh I didn't know you were making a community thing out of that. I might have to!

      Delete
    2. AnonymousJanuary 20, 2015 at 12:30 PM

      Oh yes! It's not like a formal blogathon thing, but I'll be posting my review of my selected book at the end of each month, and then I'm going to link to any book reviews written by fellow bloggers from that month too. I already had a few bloggers send me their links!

      Delete
  2. s.January 20, 2015 at 9:17 AM

    I'm so glad you read - and liked - all Flynn's books! I'm so hoping she writes a new one soon and they finally get going with Sharp Objects adaptation

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 20, 2015 at 9:33 AM

      I hope so too. I'll be buying her next book on the first day of release. Sharp Objects would make a good movie for sure.

      Delete
  3. UnknownJanuary 20, 2015 at 11:30 AM

    Great post! I am adding Every Secret Thing to my list. I've heard this author recommended numerous times, and -- of course -- you had me on "reminds me a lot of Boy A." :-)

    I find the extreme end of Christian fundamentalism interesting too -- I'm not sure why. When I first became a homeschooler, secular or "liberal" Christian homeschool groups weren't all that prevalent and visible yet. (Boy, has that changed!) So I joined a couple of groups of uber-Fundamentalist homeschoolers. I met a lot of nice people, whom I liked and respected, but I spent a lot of time biting my tongue. How any woman could subscribe to a "submit to your husband" mentality still baffles and infuriates me.

    A friend of mine is writing a play based on this worldview and this type of marriage. I'll pass along your two links. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 20, 2015 at 12:56 PM

      Oh my God, I hate that mentality too. And I've looked at the curriculum for ATI homeschooling and it's just awful. I feel like people like the Duggars are just so uneducated, it's sad. Then they send them to programs run by Bill Gothard who's an accused sexual predator. The whole thing is just insane.

      Delete
  4. DouglasJanuary 20, 2015 at 6:54 PM

    Always good to change it up with some book reviews! Well, I said that at first and now I primarily do them. Weird how that happened. Anyway. Sad to hear Horns didn't live up to the book. Was looking forward to one day seeing it. Suppose it will end up being one of those fluke "happens to be on" things for me to watch it. Blah. Have you read his other books?

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    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 21, 2015 at 6:52 AM

      I haven't. The weird thing about Horns wasn't that they changed huge moments, it was that they changed so many little details that it drove me nuts. And the ending in the movie is just fucking weird.

      Delete
    2. DouglasJanuary 21, 2015 at 8:20 AM

      Oh. Heart-Shaped Box was also very good.
      The ending of the book was pretty weird too! I suppose I will give it a watch one of these days. Read it so long ago that I may not notice little details. Hell, I don't remember half the stuff going on in GoT at this point.

      Delete
    3. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 21, 2015 at 9:58 AM

      lol. I hope you like the film. I'll have to check out that book.

      Delete
  5. Big Screen Small WordsJanuary 20, 2015 at 8:04 PM

    Putting some of these books on my to-read list! I have yet to read Flynn's other novels, but really enjoyed Gone Girl.

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    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 21, 2015 at 6:51 AM

      Gone Girl is my favorite, followed by Dark Places, then Sharp Objects. They're really great!

      Delete
    2. WandererJanuary 24, 2015 at 2:03 AM

      I finished Gone Girl last year and will be picking up Dark Places soon...it was also recommended elsewhere in the the order you did.

      Delete
    3. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 24, 2015 at 6:40 AM

      I hope you like it!

      Delete
  6. JoshFebruary 2, 2015 at 1:32 PM

    Nice post! I really need to check out Gone Girl, Dark Places and Your Movie Sucks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamFebruary 2, 2015 at 3:56 PM

      Yes! Excellent books. I'm nervous for the Dark Places movie that's supposed to come out this year. Some of the casting is all wrong.

      Delete

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