Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

Title: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

Author: Mindy Kaling

Publisher: Three Rivers Press 2012

Genre: Nonfiction - Memoir

Pages: 222

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Adventure; Ebook; 52 Books - W18; Read Your Freebies; Well Rounded Reader -- Media

Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?” Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly! In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.

Quirky, but not amazingly funny.  That's my incredibly short review of this book.  I was slightly disappointed but the lack of laugh-out-loud moments.  I really appreciate Kaling's comedy writing, but it just didn't quite translate to the book very well.  It's not a bad book, but not a great one either.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Title: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Author: Ray Bradbury

Publisher: Simona and Schuster 1962

Genre: Horror

Pages: 308

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: NPR Scifi and Fantasy; NPR Teen; Mount TBR; Read Your Freebies; 52 Books -- W15

Few American novels written this century have endured in th heart and mind as has this one-Ray Bradbury's incomparable masterwork of the dark fantastic. A carnival rolls in sometime after the midnight hour on a chill Midwestern October eve, ushering in Halloween a week before its time. A calliope's shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. And two inquisitive boys standing precariously on the brink of adulthood will soon discover the secret of the satanic raree-show's smoke, mazes, and mirrors, as they learn all too well the heavy cost of wishes -- and the stuff of nightmare.

For a classic horror novel, I wasn't that impressed.  In reality, I think I read this too late.  I was reminded of newer horror writers.  The entire time I thought I was reading a Stephen King novel or something of the like.  The writing was a bit stilted at times, but overall I did enjoy the story.  The nightmares are scary enough to get me at times.  The characters are shadowy and mysterious.  The twists and turns kept me interested.  A good read, but I think I prefer Bradbury's science fiction to his horror.

Tithe by Holly Black

Title: Tithe (Modern Tale of Faerie #1)

Author: Holly Black

Publisher: Simon and Schuster 2002

Genre: YA Paranormal (Fey)

Pages: 340

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Ebook; Women Author; 52 Books - W6; Top 100 YA Novels; Read Your Freebies

Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms -- a struggle that could very well mean her death.

The entire time I was reading this, I just kept thinking "I've read this before."  I haven't read this actual book, bit I've read so many YA stories just like it that the storyline was just incredibly familiar.  I was pretty bored. I think I could have liked this book, but I've just read too much of this genre.  I was going to include this series in my Seriously Series Reading Challenge.  Since i am nixing this series, I will not include it and substitute a different series for the challenge.

Modern Tale of Faerie (DNFed series)

• #1 Tithe
• #2 Valiant
• #3 Ironside

2014 Read Your Freebies Reading Challenge

From The Book Vixen:

• Runs January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2014 (books read prior to 1/1/2014 do not count towards the challenge). You can join anytime before 9/30/2014. Sign up on The Book Vixen’s blog.
• The goal is to read at least twelve (12) free ebooks. While twelve is the minimum, there is no maximum limit. See the different levels below and pick the one that works best for you. You can move up a level as often as you’d like but no moving down.
• This reading challenge is for LEGALLY obtained FREE ebooks. We do not condone ebook piracy. These can be books offered through bigger sites, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or smaller sites, such as Smashwords and All Romance Ebooks. Ebooks offered through author or publisher websites are acceptable as well, provided they are available free to everyone at the time of download.
• Any ebook format will work for this challenge (azw, EPUB, iBooks, mobi, PDF, etc.). You DO NOT need to have an ereader to participate in this challenge. You can read ebooks using Amazon’s Free Kindle Reading Apps, which you can download for your iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, Blackberry and more. Free audiobooks also count towards this challenge provided they are free to the public. They can't be free as a condition of signing up for a service and they can't be provided by the publisher for review.
• Only ebooks and audiobooks that were available free, in a legal manner, to the public will count towards this challenge. eARCs, library books, ebooks free through Amazon Prime, and/or books won or gifted are not eligible for this challenge.
• Books can be any genre (fiction, nonfiction, romance, fantasy, mystery, thriller, horror, etc.).
• Crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed, however, re-reads are not eligible for this challenge. The goal is to read the freebies you’ve legally acquired so that they are off your TBR pile.
• To join this challenge, grab the 2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge button and post this reading challenge on your blog to track your progress. Please include a link back to this sign-up post so others can join the reading challenge too. You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads, LibraryThing, BookLikes, Libib, etc., so as long as you have adedicated shelf for the 2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge and your profile is not private. The point of linking up is to have a place where people can see what you’re reading.

I have decided to forgo the review link-up for 2014. If you plan to review the books you read for this challenge, link them up in your 2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge post.

Levels:

Coupon Clipper: read 12 books Penny Pincher: read 24 books Buying in Bulk: read 36 books Super Saver: read 50 books Extreme Couponer: read 100+ books

I have a ton of free books that I've hoarded just sitting on my iPad.  I'm jumping on this challenge at the low level of "Coupon Clipper."  My reading list will be created as I read.

In the Company of Secrets by Judith Miller

First book of 2014... Let's get this party started!

Title: In the Company of Secrets (Postcards from Pullman #1)

Author: Judith Miller

Publisher: Bethany House 2007

Genre: Christian fiction

Pages: 386

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Monthly Key Word - Secrets; ebook; Women Authors; 52 Books -- W1; Read Your Freebies

The truth could cost her everything....

Olivia Mott didn't intend to lie. Somehow, it just happened. And wasn't it all Lady Charlotte's fault anyway?

Now Olivia's position as assistant chef at Pullman's elegant Hotel Florence is dependent upon her keeping her secrets. And sometimes lies have a way of leading to other lies. Should Olivia admit her real past and accept the consequences or keep quiet in order to preserve her comfortable new circumstances?

Deception seems to be part of everyday life in the company town of Pullman, Illinois, where the grand Pullman Palace Car is manufactured. Samuel Howard, Olivia's friend and the town manager, seems to think everything is fine, but Olivia observes something quite different. Could it be that Olivia is not the only one harboring secrets?

Hmmm... This is one of those free books that I happened to pick up on Kindle.  So glad I did not actually pay for this book. I was thoroughly bored the entire time I was reading.   The characters are not very entertaining.  The plotline is very predictable.  The sermons are seemingly out of place and awkward.  The ending is a complete "cliffhanger" but we all know how the story will end.  I can't believe I actually finished this one, but I did.  So, first book of the year completed.  Not starting on a high note.  Hope things get better...

Postcards from Pullman (DNFed series)

1. In the Company of Secrets
2. Whisper Along the Rails
3. An Uncertain Dream