the summer of firsts and lasts

This is a story that follows three sisters (all named after flowers) at summer camp. Seeing as how they are all a few years apart they are at different stages of camp life. One sister is in the 2nd year, another sister in her last year and the 3rd sister is a staff member. They are all struggling with different parts of camp this year from bullies, to boys, to making new friends. Each sister takes a turn narrating her part of the story, which is kind of fun to see some of the same even from different points of view.

I didn't care for this book at all.

Well, that might be harsh, I did enjoy the sisterly love that went on...made me want to call my sister. And the story line showed promise, but in the end I was turned off by it. I did learn a few things from reading this book:

1-boys and girls should never go to camp together with out parental supervision (DUH). it is like you are asking for kids to be stupid and make poor choices.

2- Parents shouldn't send their kids away to camps that are longer than a week. I mean really that is far too long. Unless you are a bunch of stinky boys up in the mountains with nothing else to do but tie knots and build fires while wearing matching outfits that are a weird shade of green or brown (I can never tell).

3- I am so glad that my kids will go to girls camp or scout camp or EFY...none of this summer camp business for weeks on end.

So yeah, the cover of this books is awesome and under the awesome cover is a yellow book! YELLOW. But that is it. I can't even find a favorite quote.

Grade: D

what happened to goodbye

I was in need of some very light easy summer reading this week so I went to my awesome local library and checked out a few newly published young adult books. Ahhh there is nothing better than teen love stories right?

What happened to Goodbye was supposed to be about a high school girl who moves around a lot with her father changing her name and identity with each move until she hits one town and she can't help be be herself...but at this point she isn't sure who that is anymore...until she meets the good looking neighbor boy who helps her figure it out. A love story AND a self discovery story. What can be better? Oh lets see, as it turns out this girl (Mclean) is a senior in high school her parents had gotten a divorce several earlier because the mom cheated and left the dad (awful). So the story was really about this poor girls struggle to deal with such a terrible divorce and a mom who wouldn't admit fault at all.

It was an nice story, I think I enjoyed the writing more than the actually story though. My favorite parts were when the narrator (Mclean) would mention that her knee bumped into the cute neighbor boy on the car ride and neither one moved their knee, or their hands touched but just a little, or his arm brushed her in the hall. squeal and giggle. I loved those parts the author put in there because it is so true to a girls thinking...so funny how excited a girl will get about something that a boy is probably not even thinking about. There were also times it was a little bit random, she would be in one moment and then the next paragraph should would be telling a memory from her past and then BAM just like that she is back in the moment. At first it was annoying, but then I realized that it is true to how a teenage girl, or any girl for that matter, is going to think and talk. So it seemed fitting.

This is a story about a girl figuring out who she is and where she really belongs, she is trying to forgive her mother for being selfish and leaving the family she made to create a new family. It is about making friends and sticking around to support each other. It was a nice story...nothing amazing or life changing, but an easy read with more to it than just a love story-in fact it is a very little love story but a HUGE emotional story.

Favorite quote: "I mean, it's not surprising really. Once you love something, you always love it in some way. You have to. It's, like, part of you for good" AND But in the real world, you couldn't really just split a family down the middle, mom on one side, dad the other, with the child divided equally between. It was like when you ripped a piece of paper into two: no matter how you tried, the seams never fit exactly right again. It was what you couldn't see, those tiniest of pieces, that we lost in the severing, and their absence kept everything from being complete.

GRADE: C

The Happiness Project

A few years ago I noticed this book had been published about the same time I noticed Eat, Pray, Love. I wanted to read both of them, but after reading Eat, Pray Love I was a little worried that it would be another woman's selfish search for "inner peace" or whatever it was called in that book. Finally this last year I picked up the Happiness Project and I am so glad that I did. It has taken me about 6 months to read...or so. But it has given me a lot to think about and I hope to eventually pick it up again and instead of just reading the book I want to work my way through the book.

Gretchen Rubin (the author) is already a happy person. She is married to a nice man and has two daughters, she wasn't searching for some lost happiness that she gave up when she married or had her kids, she was simply wanting to be happier and make sure she remained that way in the years to come living life to the fullest. As she did her research, made her resolutions (not goals-goals are something you reach and resolution is something you continue working and striving for) and implemented both she realized that happiness came when we focused on others. During the year of her project she had a lot of different areas of focus from Boosting Energy to Remember Love to Contemplating the Heavens. Through the whole project she tried to always "stay true to Gretchen" meaning that she didn't want to develop habits or resolutions that she wouldn't enjoy or make her happy, for example in the Contemplating the Heavens chapter she was encouraged to meditate but she knew that it would have driven her nuts and she would have hated ever minute of thus creating an unhappy Gretchen.

I am excited to eventually revisit this book, hopefully making a project year for myself. Mine probably wouldn't be as intense-but I like the thought of focusing on something new each month. Although this book is all about her experience it will be easy to apply the chapters and ideas in my own life staying true to Angela instead of Gretchen. It is worth a read, or a skim at least. I will admit that there were times when I read this book thinking "if was reading the Ensign or The Book of Mormon I bet it would have the same results (maybe even better)." It is a good book, thoughtful and encouraging and realistic. Also in the back is a list of books Rubin used in researching for her project and book. I can't wait to read some of those.

Take a look for yourself...and then go read the Ensign.

Quote: The Year is over, and I really am happier. After all my research, I found out what I knew all along: I could change my life without changing my life. When I made the effort to reach out for them, I found that the ruby slippers had been on my feet all along; the bluebird was singing outside my kitchen window.

GRADE: B