The You I've Never Known

I hate that Ellen Hopkins broke from her one word titles. 

The You I've Never Know does not fit this novel as much as the original title: Chameleon.

I hate that she broke from writing strictly in verse to instead include both verse and prose.

 I also hate that Maya's Journal at the end. I found it completely pointless.

BUT FORGET THAT NEGATIVITY!

As you all know, anything Ellen Hopkins is my favorite.

This book was not near as dark as some of her others but still had a dangerous twist. 

We read from the POV of Ariel and Maya. 

Ariel is struggling to understand who she is. Her entire life consisted running from town to town with her father. She never got to make friends, a social life, or indulge in regular teenage activities. But for some reason, her dad actually begins settling down, which allows Ariel a chance to satisfy her curiosity. 

Maya loves her best friend Tati, loves her so much that she was willing to hustle some alcohol from a couple of Fort Hood soldiers. But when she becomes pregnant at 16, she has a few decisions to make. Keep or kill? Move with mom or marry Jason? Keeping her baby was the best decision she had ever made, but marrying Jason was one of the worst. He took her baby. He took her whole world. He went AWOL just to get away and was willing to hurt those he "loved". 

But knowing Ellen Hopkins, what could be the twist?

How do Ariel and Maya cross paths?

I can't ruin it for you guys, just pick up the book.

Looking for more books by Ellen Hopkins?

 

Middle-Grade:

Closer to Nowhere

What About Will

Teen:
Crank Trilogy
 Flirtin' with the Monster
Rumble
Burned
Smoke
Tricks
Traffick
People Kill People

Adult Fiction:
Love Lies Beneath
A Sin Such as This
Collateral
Triangles

 Anthologies:
One Death, Nine Stories
Behind the Song
Life Inside My Mind

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

Bibliophiles have a strong attraction to books.

They look, touch, smell, and collect books as a hobby.

But most of them don't steal books to feed their bibliomania.

Yet, John Gilkey did exactly that.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Passion tells John Gilkey's story. Allison Hoover Bartlett leads us on an epic journey of the pros and cons to collecting books, why people collect, and how they perceive themselves in the world of literature. Most collectors are middle aged, white men who want to own the most prestigious library that stands in their own home. Many other rare book buyers are merely trying to make a profit. Allison let us journey with her to the book fairs, rare book stores, and even Goodwill to find the answers she was looking for. 

John Gilkey was not your average rare book collector. The majority of his books were stolen or paid for with stolen credit cards. He began by writing bad checks for books that were far out of his price range. Which led to stealing credit card numbers and using a ploy to purchase books over the phone. His entire life was based around theft. 

But why send someone to prison for stealing books? 

This question was one that Gilkey often struggled with because he believed he obtained all his books in a reasonable manner.

Throughout this book, Allison, Gilkey, and a variety of rare book sellers and collectors alike shared their input as to what books do for them. Each person has different events that led them to books. But they all had one thing in common, a disdain for Gilkey. 

This book brought me so much joy. 

I never thought about books being art.

I never thought about collecting.

And I definitely never thought about stealing a book.

But this book has opened my eyes to an entire new world of literary passion.

If you are a fellow book lover, definitely pick up a copy of this book!!

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

So, many high schools across the country are required to read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so I decided to read it as well. 

I get it, diversity is not something we accept with open arms. 

However, I hated this book so much.

The basis of this book was that an Indian boy named Junior who has spent the first 13 years of his life living on the reservation with his family. He attended school, played basketball, and had friends on the rez. But he hated it. He wanted to go to Reardan, the white kid school. When he began attending Reardan, he felt like an outsider; the only Indian kid in an entirely white school. He thought they were looking down on him, picking on him, and excluding him. But that wasn't the case, they were just unfamiliar with someone like Junior attending their school. Yada, yada, yada... they finally accept him as one of their own when he starts shining on the basketball court. He begins standing up for himself and for his beliefs and sticks to the decisions he made. 

That's basically the gist of the book. 

BUT

Sherman Alexie just gets bored sometimes and starts killing of random characters???

All in all, I would not recommend this book to anyone. 

I apologize to anyone who is required to read this book for school.

Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer

So as many of you know, I'm a Justice Science student and an avid True Crime reader.

I enjoy reading about people like Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez, Dennis Rader, Jeffery Dahmer... But Ted Bundy pissed me off more than any of them. 

 

In Conversations with a Killer (The Death Row Interviews) Bundy had the opportunity to talk through a hypothetical person who may be committing crimes similar to the ones Bundy is associated with, which Bundy claims he had no part of A N Y of the kidnappings, rapes, or murders of the 13 women. The entirety of this book is the recorded interviews of Bundy describing this hypothetical person, and he does not let you forget that he is not talking about himself, he is talking in hypotheticals. 

You may be thinking, "Why would this make you so angry, Jessica?" 

 

Well, it's because young Ted Bundy was a Justice Science and Psychology student, just like myself. 

 

The entire time he's describing this hypothetical person, he's using basic textbook psychology terms and using the actually definitions to fit this person. HOWEVER no person would fit those terms absolutely perfectly. Bundy knew what he was doing, he knew what he was describing, and he was purposefully describing terms that would not have fit his M.O. and was leaving out the ones that would! He created a person who was so similar to himself that he did not realize we still knew who and what he was talking about.

 

So yes, Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer (The Death Row Interviews) was something that I longed to read for many years. Obviously, I am infuriated at the content of the interview but I understand how important this interview was to bringing some kind of answers to the families. While Ted thought he was being clever, we knew there was some truth to all of his answers.

Read at your own risk.

Looking for other Conversation with a Killer books?

Ed Kemper

Looking for other books on Ted Bundy?
The Stranger Beside Me
The Phantom Prince

Red-Blooded American Male

Wow.

Robert Trachtenberg is quite the photographer.

Red-Blooded American Male is everything that you would expect it to be, plus throw in a few Canadians and British celebs too!

The cover with Will Arnett sets the mood for the entire book. Trachtenberg has a unique way of capturing men in the most unconventional shoots. 

Imagine Seth Rogan with a baby lamb.

Neil Patrick Harris soaking up water in the tub.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatem doing what best buds do.

Paul Rudd being too sexy in bed.

John Stamos and Bob Saget dressed as women.

Mark Walberg and his kids shoved into a tiny car. 

Jimmy Fallon wearing Victoria Secret angel wings.

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is in this book.

And I loved every minute of it. 

As part of his "personal project" Trachtenberg put together of book of these photos with stories behind each one of them. Each story tells about the celebrity, the shoot, and the overall mood. It lets us glimpse into Trachtenberg's mind and really understand what it means to capture a picture perfect moment. 

I would like to send a HUGE thanks to Blogging for Books for providing me a copy of Red-Blooded American Male!!

Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett

With the holidays coming up, I want you guys to imagine something.

Imagine you're running low on money and just want to make the holiday great, big meal, gifts for everyone. An opportunity arises for you to make a whole lot of cash, FAST. Just carry a little bit of cocaine and you'll make your family so happy when they see the money. 

Elaine Bartlett did just that and was sentenced 20-to-life for a drug bust she was barely a part of. 

Elaine and her boyfriend Nathan were set up by a guy named Charlie, or George Deets, if you will. Charlie didn't want one of his good friends to go to prison, so he promised a couple of police officers of a drug bust that was going to go down. Resulting in the arrests of Elaine and Nathan.

This event is what starts Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett. 

Told in 4 separate parts, we follow Elaine through court, prison, clemency, and getting back on her feet. We follow her family who has to deal with their parents being in prison. Trust is broken, bonds are broken, and home will never feel like home again.

After 16 years incarcerated, Elaine finally was released on clemency. She couldn't wait to get home to her babies. But her babies were no longer babies. Her babies had babies!! Apache, her oldest, basically took over the parental role when she was arrested. He grew up into a fine young man. But Jamel... Oh Jamel walked a dangerous line with the law. Throughout the book he continuously finds his way back to Rikers Island. 

It hurts to read something like this where family is so broken....

But we are the ones doing this to our society.

I had to read Life on the Outside for my Community Corrections class.

This class has taught me so much! This book has even taught me more than I ever imagined.

Excuse the profanity, but we treat our prisoners like absolute shit. 

We're breaking families apart. We're creating a society where kids grow up without parents. Without parents, we're seeing more and more kids become entangled with the law and then wonder why our prisons are overcrowded??? 

OPEN YOUR EYES PEOPLE.

These people still need our help, we cannot turn our backs on them when they make a mistake. 

They are still people and believe it or not, they will be coming out of prison. They will be joining our society once again. Lets help them before it's too late.

The Secret Language of Dogs

Being a dog mom is one of the best feelings in the world. You get to do life with your best friend, hang out and get to know all their little quirks. But why are they doing these things? The silly little things we see our dogs do are things that come natural to them. 

In The Secret Language of Dogs, Victoria Stilwell explains the inner workings of dogs and their brains. Dogs and humans have coexisted for an incredibly long time now, so we must know a little bit about our canine companions! But did you know dogs can have phobias, fears, emotions, and disorders? Dogs are far more complex than we give them credit for. Each dog learns differently, feel differently, and interact differently. 

This book taught me how to care for my pup in a completely new way. I rescued my mini poodle, Sophie, in January 2016. She needed so much help. Her hair was matted and dreaded; she was all of 5 pounds (not much bigger now, just healthier); you could see her ribs and irritation on her skin. But the worst part of all was that she was skiddish. Her socialization skills were so skewed that walking too loudly next to her would scare the beejezus out of her! But Victoria Stilwell knows there is still hope for dogs like this! By teaching dogs that there is at least one person that cares for them, they will not feel as insecure as before. 

So this book is for all you fellow dog lovers out there.

Dog Moms, Dog Dads, Fur babies everywhere.

I am so thankful that Blogging for Books provided me a copy of this wonderful book!

P.S. It's filled with dog pictures too!!!