Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
I love Mindy Kaling. I'd totally want to have a cocktail with her and complain about random things i.e. people who block aisles in the supermarket. As for her first novel, I chuckled the whole way through. I love that she is kind of like her character on The Mindy Project, but also just very real.
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
This was not my first reading of this book. In fact I went to see the movie with my step-mom, read the book again, and then went to the movie again with Tom. It is not my favourite of the series. It's just a tad too political for me. But I feel it gave Katniss a good end to her story.
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
I read this book with some friends. I really enjoyed the videos that go along with this, and I definitely recommend reading it with a bunch of people.
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
Another instance where the book far surpasses the movie. I have it on good authority that it's pretty good at portraying Newfie's, minus all the incest talk. The author has this beautiful way of setting the scene, and you actually feel like you are there.
Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
This was one of my high-school bestie and I's favourite movies. The book is great in that it really gives you the clinical aspect of the whole thing. It has her actual paperwork in it so you can see how her stay develops. It's not just Susanna though. Polly breaks my heart every time. It's a short read, but an awesome one.
On Kindle:
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield
I loved the beginning of this book. Hadfield talks about his dreams and inspirations and how he advanced to become an astronaut. I just couldn't get through it though. It was just a little too much. He saw an opportunity, applied, worked hard, got the job, and then rinsed and repeated. The loveable bit of him that you see when he speaks in public, or his videos from space, is lost in print. It's worth a read for the first few chapters, but if you don't finish it I don't blame you.
Fishbowl by Bradley Somer
Flipping awesome! Yep! It doesn't sound like it would be great. I mean some of the story is an inner dialogue of a fish falling from the 27th floor. But it works somehow. It's kind of like Love Actually. There are all these people who don't seem to have anything in common except for their housing situation. As you read you see how some of their lives intertwine. As with Love Actually, no one is perfect. In fact they all have "flaws". But it is their quirks that make them so darn interesting. As for my readers who are a bit more sensitive, the use of the F word is applied liberally so that may be a game changer. Still, I think I may purchase it in paper form and read it again.
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
I FRIGGIN HATED THIS BOOK! It's just on this list so I can rant. For some reason it is okay to talk about a castrated sociopathic murder. Actually usually I don't have an issue with this. It's just that this character is a teenager. That really bothered me. And he tortures animals. Yep. After he tortured his third one I was so done.
