Girl In Need of A Tourniquet

Girl in Need of a Tourniquet: Memoir of a Borderline Personality by Merri Lisa Johnson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I thought this BPD memoir would be a good way of looking at relationships and maybe give some incite and relative information as to why I have some of the problems I do with relationships but it fell wayyyyy short. The style of this book is written in a bizarre point form that when the author uses a line or 2 or 3 she is moving onto a different topic. She bounces around from idea to idea which is very much like the thought process of a person with BPD at certain times. 2 relevant pieces of information were the 3 categories from the Strange Situation and the 2 dimensional model of interpersonal style. Those I found, I could the information and relate it directly back to myself and see how I fit and where I belonged on the scale.

The book was very confusing to read, and was not a useful or helpful BPD memoir in my opinion.

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A Dog's Purpose

A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOW

This was right up there with the ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN.

Another book written from a dog's point of view, which I can only imagine is very precarious to write, but Cameron does a fantastic job. There are several different stories but they all end up being joined at the end not only by proving a dog's purpose but also how a dog can have many lives within in a lifetime and at some point they come together. (Almost along the same idea that a cat has several lives in a lifetime) It was really touching at the end when the dog sums up what a dog's purpose is and how multi-faceted it actually is. Then there is a bit about how a human has a purpose and a type of leadership that a dog looks for in us and expects from us, (I'm not doing the best job of explaining it because the way Cameron put it into words was perfect).

I had been eyeing this book for ages and then I read that it was going to be made into a movie so I was like, "Well I better get a jump on that and read it before it comes out because the book is always better than the movie." That will definitely happen for sure. So much happened in this book that when it is made into a movie they won't be able to put it all in the film.

Amazing Amazing book. If you like dog books or animal books you will definitely love this one to the core. Touching, heartwarming, makes you giggle, makes you laugh, might make you cry (didn't make me cry but for the emotional ones out there it will get to you in some parts). Geez get off your butt and get the book and read it already!

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A Home For Rose

A Home for Rose: How My Life Turned Upside Down for the Love of a Dog by Jon Katz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Jon Katz writes about his dogs he gets you right from the start. This particular book is a collection of stories about how life is on Bedlam Farm and how Rosie is a sheep herding force at such young age, a prodigy almost. Devon, who is renamed Orson, from his famed book A Dog Year, and one of my personal favourites. Homer, who is a loner compared to Orson and Rose, he just doesn't fit in at Bedlam and it frustrates Jon as to why this is so. And the infamous Rose who has so many fabulous qualities, it was really interesting to hear her stories in this book. She can be a herding tyrant but a loving a nurturing soul with the newborn lambs, it was really quite touching. Jon Katz books are like pick me ups or books that you read when you need something that is a light read but that you know is going to be good. I enjoy them every time and can guarantee that are always great.

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Bringing Up Bebe

Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book was not what I was expecting, a funny tale about a modern American family trying to live the posh life in Paris, France. The reader getting to be a witness to the ups and downs and comedic views and challenges that they would face when trying to make friends, go to restaurants with Bebe and try and have a quiet meal, finding care so they could go back to work as ambitious writers, and the list goes on and on.

No.

This book was an analytical take almost, a literal comparison of French parenting style to that of the American parenting style. From learning about different things such as 'the pause', how to get your child to try different foods the proper way, making children into independent beings, teaching children to sleep through the night at just a few months of age, restaurant behaviour and the mighty and powerful Creche system. There is so many differences that to be honest, Americans and even Canadians could really use to take a page out of the French style parenting book because it truly is immaculate and incredible.

Now yes I am only giving the book 2 stars because the content was quite dry, it took forever to read and there really was no funny or comedic relief which may have been nice to break up the dry monotony of the book. I think this book could be used in Colleges when comparing different care systems. Informative and interesting to a point but after that point the knife is uber dull.

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Get Me Out Of Here

Get Me Out of Here: My Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder by Rachel Reiland
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have so many mixed feelings about this book. Of course I found it hard to read because I suffer from BPD myself and this book was written from the perspective of a person that had a lot of anger issues and suffered a lot of trauma in her childhood. There was a lot of similar content for me and that is why it took a little bit longer to read, but I did come out with this gleaming bit of wisdom : IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO HELP A PERSON WHEN THEY ARE DOWN AND IN NEED, ESPECIALLY WHEN SUFFERING FROM MENTAL ILLNESS. Reiland was super lucky to have the amount of support and the support systems that she had. Most people have half of what she had or much less. Her husband stuck by her through thick and thin, she had people in her church that didn't judge her but just helped her with her kids or sent home care package meals, her pastor was an ear in times of need, and most importantly she had a very devoted psychiatrist that was very dedicated to helping her with her recovery and her treatment. He made it clear that it was going to be a long hard process and that it was going to take a lot of work, and more importantly, that he would not give up on her. The fact that Reiland's psychiatrist was so invested really meant a lot to me because I know what it feels like to have doctors and people on your 'team' that feel once you have a diagnosis of bpd that you are lost cause. I have been with my therapist for over 5 years now and she has been a life line like no other. She has helped me through many of my addictions, she has helped me overcome violent tendencies and we are currently working on positive relationships and boundaries as well as other skills within the dbt realm. I wasn't the most keen on the fact that religion ended up helping Reiland a lot but that is not my choice, I do not believe in God. If it worked for her than I am happy that she was able to get some comfort from that.

I will say that the major disappointment of the book is that after you have read it you find out that Rachel Reiland is a pseudonym. I realize that she probably had to use a false name because some of the things she wrote about could have gotten her in big trouble but it's almost like she has duped the reader. She has told you all these dark and deep secrets about her life, some of them crushing and probably hard to even put down on paper and then she hides behind a fake name. That to me is the ultimate deception. When writing a memoir like this you need to be able to own the shit that you have been through, and one of the ways that I see someone doing that is by putting their name on their work. So even though "Rachel Reiland" didn't own her dirty laundry there is some great one liners that can be taken from reading this book. It may be a painful or informative read, depending what perspective you are reading it from but it sure is an eye opener on BPD, and there is not enough accounts of what BPD is like so it is great to see more people telling their stories.

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The Light Between Oceans

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I give this book a solid 3 star rating. I would give it more if I enjoyed the family, love-y dove-y , tear at your heart strings type of book it was but that is just not normally the book that I reach for willingly and devour. None the less I will give it a decent review for a variety of reasons. The author took me to the various shores of Australia in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Gave beautiful descriptions that if you closed your eyes you would swear you were there and you could hear the waves crashing around you and the salt leaving a print on your skin. I was very impressed with the author's attention to detail, and not just with landscapes but right down to the description of what was in Lulu's box, especially the map. As important as the map was to the story as it was to certain characters, the author is very consistent with the dynamic that is meant to be shared and had between characters. Some you don't realize how strong the bond is until later in the story while others it is quite evident how glued together the characters are even when there are doubts about whether they should be or not. This book slightly reminded me of the Notebook, as there were parts of it that were just so comparable, even though the situation may have been completely different. This book stands strong on its character development, plot and descriptions which are a long lost art in most literature these days. Although the book does deserve a higher star rating I just cannot give it that based on my taste, but I know many people that would devour this book right up and give it a 5 star rating easily. For a first book this will be a hard act to follow but I would definitely read what is next.




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Daddy's Little Earner

Daddy's Little Earner: A Heartbreaking True Story Of A Brave Little Girl's Escape From Violence by Maria Landon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

note - some may find my rating and review of this book harsh but I feel that as a person giving my 2 cents worth of a review I should be truthful and critical of everything. ( I am with every other book so why should I turn soft with this book?) If you don't like it leave it in the comments and I may/not read them. Freedom of speech is a right and what a perfect place to exercise that right than on a book review site...moving on.............

As the reviews before me have stated it was heartbreaking and sad and blah blah blah blah blah... cry me a freakin' river. Sure you feel horrible for the author her father sexually abuses her, treats her like a living piece of garbage and all she wants is to be loved by her father. It's depressing. Brings your mood down. Makes you think what kind of an asshole her father really is... Also, introspectively makes you think what are the social services doing to help this girl. They are bouncing her around from place to place hoping she will stay but they are not providing any therapy or help to resolve the hidden daddy issues that keep the author running. If you ask me this is a perfect example of a broken system trying to help a broken child. While the book did have a lot of sensitive material in it, some of it was ruined by the fact that things were repeated over and over and over again (a HUGE pet peeve of mine). There were quite a few editing errors that should have been picked up because they were clear as day. While I believe the ending of this story has something to be said for the author's story and her journey, I feel that she needed to polish her work more. It was almost like she was trying to write a Cathy Glass story but came nowhere near except in content. I gave the book a 2 star rating for the author going the distance and trying to write her story in a way similar to Glass, but mostly the stars go to her journey and recovery. She made a huge turn around with her life and kudos to her for being strong enough to do it. Writing about the journey is one thing, living it is the hardest thing.

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Panic In Level 4

Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science by Richard Preston
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Disappointed does not even begin to explain how let down I was by this book. I was expecting interesting, slightly disgusting and disturbing stories about viruses that had ravaged people, similar to Preston's book the Hot Zone. Man did this ever fall short. While the 'stories' are actually essays which means they are written in a totally different style, which some people may consider the first point of contention, the MAJOR point of contention for me is that not all the essays are related to matters involving issues that would be considered a biosafety level 4 issue.

Ie. The Mountains of Pi - is about 2 guys trying to find the ending numbers for Pi....
A Death in the Forest - is about a bug native to China that is killing Hemlock trees in North America....
Blood Kiss- is about Ebola (which is a biosafety level 4 infectious disease so that fits the title)
The Human Kabbalah - is about reading human genomes and determining what is missing etc......
The Lost Unicorn - is about the Unicorn Tapestries from the 1800's and their preservation....
The Self-Cannibals - is about Lesch Nyhan disease while not biosafety threat quite interesting

So now that I have named what the essays are about are you wondering why, as I am, the book is titled to be more scary then it really is.

WHY RICHARD PRESTON WHY!!!

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Zoo

Zoo by James Patterson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a RE-READ but I guess I have not done a review for it.

Very interesting premise for a novel. Totally outside of Patterson's realm of murder/mystery genre. Loved the topic of Human-Animal-Conflict. Compared to other stories this was considerably graphic when Patterson was describing death scenes and animal attacks but it was so fitting for the type of story that he was trying to tell. This is actually one of my most favourite James Patterson books of all times because it is different. The ending is a little rough and short but I think that Patterson was running out of steam at that point because things were just so darn good. I will cut a little slack for that. Patterson truly grasped the humanity factory in that humans are very greedy and will do anything at the risk of getting their needs, wants and desires fulfilled, even when it will cause detriment to a society or more.

LOVE THIS BOOK. GIVE IT A CHANCE. YOU WILL BE SURPRISED!

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My Horizontal Life, A Collection of One-Night Stands

My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands by Chelsea Handler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

RE-READ

I read this book a long time ago and added it to my 'read' list but when I was looking today I did not give any comments or feedback so I thought I would do it the second time around.

If you are looking for a book that will have you laughing in any situation this is your book. If you are looking for a book that has outrageous sex stories this is your book. If you are looking for a book that you wished emulated your non-existent party life so that you could live vicariously through the author/main character this is your book. If you are looking for a book to take story telling to a new adventurous and creative level this is your book. Basically this is your book in so many ways that you should already be going to the store and buying it, ordering it on whatever book website you use or downloading it already. Prepare yourself to laugh out loud, laugh till you cry and maybe even laugh till you pee a little because it's going to happen.
LOL

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The Bear

The Bear by Claire Cameron
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

NOTE - this book is written from the perspective of a 5 year old, but it is not that believable because Cameron doesn't fully grasp the thought processes or language styles of a 5 year old.

Prior to writing this review I looked up what other people thought about this book. I don't really know why I did that but I was shocked to find that many people were giving it 4 stars and upwards. They were also comparing it to Emma Donoghue's The Room, which I think is and insult to Donoghue. I am giving the book a 2 star rating but in actuality it deserves a 1.75. It baffles my mind how this book got so much hype when it really wasn't that good.

This book was about a 5 year old girls' survival skills to keep herself and her brother alive and safe until someone comes to their rescue or they come to the demise of the villain of the story known as the BEAR. I found the story very disjointed. There was a lot of flashbacks in time to various stages of their life in Toronto, playing with the neighbour's dog, playing with Barbies, etc. The only thing that I will give Cameron complete credit for is that she did a fantastic job describing the loneliness of the situation and the desolation of the environment. Algonquin Park did not seem like the ideal camping spot that most people seem to portray as,especially after reading this book. Even Cameron's flash forwards into the future were disjointed and not flowing. After reading how she came about writing about the subject matter and what was her inspiration and drive I kind of felt like saying, "Really? And that's the best you could come up with?" Now I will fully admit that I am not an accomplished writer and I do not have the Globe and Mail shouting praise for my latest work but I know it would be better than The Bear.... and that's all I have to say about that.

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Answering 911, Life In the Hot Seat

Answering 911: Life in the Hot Seat by Caroline Burau
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

NOTE - This book was poorly edited and there are countless spelling mistakes and errors.

NOTE - This book really could have only been 156 pages long the last 47 pages were not really crucial to the story and were more of a tirade/rant about the pros and cons of being a 911 dispatcher. I think this subject matter is demonstrated clearly in the stories and encounters the author shares with the readers.

At first when I started reading this book I was thinking of changing careers and that this was something I could go to school for and learn how to do. I was unsure of all the complexities and roles that the job truly entailed until reading this book. Now that I have read the book there is NO ABSOLUTE WAY IN HELL that I could ever do this job. It is high stress, high octane 100% of the time. The author showed when you are at work you cannot think enough about work and when you are away from work you can't think enough about work. Some of the situations, although incredibly real, were mind blowing to say the least and even the smartest individual may not have an idea as to how to handle the situation. There were a lot of good mini stories that captured various parts of the job of a 911 dispatcher that made this book worth reading, so if you can excuse the editorial mistakes and the extra filler pages please give this book a try it's very interesting at the core.

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Soul of A Lion

Soul of a Lion: One Woman's Quest to Rescue Africa's Wildlife Refugees by Barbara Bennett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a heart touching novel that, since I was in a bad place, up lifted my spirits and helped set a goal of going to visit Harnas Wildlife Foundation. Although the book is called Soul of a Lion there are more stories about leopards and cheetahs than lions. There is no direct story line for this book but it is a collection of stories relative to the Van der Merwe family and Harnas. Pictures at the beginning of each chapter allow you a chance to see the animals and 'put a name to a face' after hearing about their shenanigans and hijinx. Loved that Marieta was always found with a vervet monkey or baby baboon attached to her hip and that she refused to have any animal put to sleep unless it was suffering. There are a lot of lovely quotes that highlight the purpose and meaning behind Harnas that are also interspersed throughout the book as wel. Overall, a feel good type of read that has you wanting to travel to Africa to get cuddles from various types of baby animals.

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How Evan Broke His Head and Other Stories

How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets by Garth Stein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If there is one thing that Garth Stein can do it's WRITE. His first book was a complete hit and in my collection of re-reads. This book although it does not make the re-reads list it does make you more informed about the world of epilepsy and the choices a caring and concerned brother makes so that his younger brother doesn't have to suffer through a particular situation in their childhood. Along the way there are many choices that Evan has made that have put dampers on his life or made his life harder. There have also been choices that he had no idea would come back and stare him in the face... literally. The thing about Evan is that he is a great character but a very unpredictable character, you are always unsure what choice he is going to make and the reasoning he is going to have behind that choice. The one thing that Evan does guarantee is a blunt sense of humour which really just puts things into perspective. The book was also an interesting look at the music scene and what it's like to be an aspiring guitarist in a band full of people with little to no talent.

This book is totally different compared to The Art of Racing in the Rain but it's also nice that it is different because it means that Stein can write a variety of good things. Here here to that

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The Invention of Wings

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book took a long time to read. I found it was an ok book but it didn't seem to consistently hold my attention. If you liked THE HELP this is much better writing and a much better story.

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