Library Haul

Checked out too many items once again.

Real quick run down:
This Is The End - Seen it. Liked it. Wanted to see it again.
Brave - Seen it. Love it. Let's watch it again.
The Odd Life of Timothy Green - A friend told me this movie was cute. 
Paprika - a random grab because the description sounded intriguing.
Children Who Chase Lost Voices - Same as above.
Orphan Black - Kept hearing it was good. Watched the first 3 episodes so far and I'm pretty sucked in, can't wait to find out what happens. Moving at a good pace so far.
Kick Ass 2 - I have a weird Kick Ass obsession. It's a bit darker than the first one. Hoping they make a third.
The Spectacular Now - I saw the movie and loved it and thought I'd try the book as well.
House of Leaves - Internet people have raved about it, but honestly....I can't get into it.
The Husband's Secret - Copied someone on instagram who said they couldn't put it down.
My Story by Elizabeth Smart - I keep reading kidnapping memoirs.
The Cuckoo's Calling - J.K. Rowling stalker.

Library Haul: Monica Drake

The Stud Book by Monica Drake
Sarah, a behaviorist at the local zoo, turns her studies to the human population when infertility keeps her from reaching her life’s goal of becoming a mother. Dulcet, a single and fiercely independent nonconformist, introduces sex ed to high-school students when she isn’t otherwise focused on getting high. Georgie, a brand-new mom, struggles to meld the roles of professional, mother, and wife into a life that will be both pleasing and productive. Nyla, a self-proclaimed ecologist, strives to save the world and her teenage daughter at the same time. As these four friends come in and out of each other’s lives, negotiating their individual worlds of love, family, and work, Drake teases out the intersection between theories on parenthood, evolution, sex, and reproduction. The result is a relevant and original story about life and self-worth in an increasingly crowded world. Although the characters are whiny and self-absorbed at times, and their stories seem connected almost by afterthought, Drake’s sharp wit and contemporary take on ecology and adult life make this an entertaining and thought-provoking read. --Cortney Ophoff 

Clown Girl by Monica Drake
As Drake's debut opens, Nita, otherwise known as Sniffles the Clown, is tying balloon animals for a horde of greedy, sticky children at a fair. Suffering what may be a cardiac event, she's rushed to the hospital—after trying to get help from a clown fetishist, who simply drops his phone number on top of her prone form. Welcome to wacky, stressful Baloneytown, where clown prostitution, stoned dogs and fire juggling–cum–arson are the norm. Nita struggles to make enough money clowning to keep herself in oversized shoes and squirting daisies, while also saving for Clown College tuition for her boyfriend, handsome clown Rex Galore. But Rex is mostly MIA, and Nita's longing for him settles on local cop Jerrod. While not much happens, the pace of the narrative is methamphetamine-frantic, as Drake drills down past the face paint and into Nita's core, often using Nita's relations with men as the bit. Nita emerges as a fully-realized character, bearing witness to a lot of the emotionally ridiculous and just a hint of the sublime. Some plot threads never quite come together, and a few characters are underdeveloped, but there is a lot more going on here than just clowning around.

Library Haul

Some Ghibli films and a couple books that caught my eye! I'll admit I haven't been too into reading lately but I'm trying.

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
This knowing, generous and slyly sly new novel follows a group of teenagers who meet at a summer camp for artsy teens in 1974 and survive as friends through the competitions and realities of growing up. At its heart is Jules (nee Julie, she changes it that first summer to seem more sophisticated) Jacobson, an aspiring comic actress who comes to realize she’s got more creative temperament than talent; her almost boyfriend Ethan Figman, the true genius in the bunch (he’s a cartoonist); musician Jonah Bay, son of a famous Baez-ish folksinger; and the Wolf siblings, Ash and Goodman, attractive and mysterious. How these five circle each other, come together and break apart, makes for plenty of hilarious scenes and plenty of heartbreaking ones, too. A compelling coming of age story about five privileged kids, this is also a pitch-perfect tale about a particular generation and the era that spawned it. (from amazon.com)

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
Harper Curtis isn’t your run-of-the-mill serial killer. He gets to time travel from the 1920s through the 1980s, killing girls in different decades, all to satisfy a bloodthirsty Chicago bungalow. Yes, you read that correctly: the house makes him do it. In this genre-bending novel, Beukes never explains the origins of this evil house or how it manages to transport Harper from year to year. All we know is that Harper is compelled to track down and murder specific “shining girls” in gruesome ways (usually evisceration), and he gets away with it since he can escape across time. Until he leaves Kirby Mazrachi behind in 1989, that is. Kirby miraculously recovers from the vicious attack and is determined to track down her assailant, even if the police consider it a closed case. She enlists the help of Dan, a reporter at the Sun-Times, and they slowly uncover odd clues left behind in a dozen unsolved murder cases; it turns out Harper has been leaving behind items from the future. Not for all tastes, but fans of urban fantasy may be interested in this clever and detailed supernatural thriller. (from amazon.com)