http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-17-flowers-in-the-attic/

I don't even know??

I was looking for some war-y historical fiction to bring some variety to my junior high booktalks. I started with [b:The Right Fight|17981402|The Right Fight (World War II, #1)|Chris Lynch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375754413s/17981402.jpg|25212270] book one of Chris Lynch's WWII series and I DNF'd after a few chapters, which were all about baseball and dames and seemed a little too twee, honestly. (I'm assuming that's not a fair representation of the book, since I figure they eventually go off to war, but... anyway. Back to the book I actually read.)

I wouldn't necessarily run out and endorse this for adult readers but I think it's hard to find stories about war that are not TOO graphic but also aren't boring, and I think this is a good fit for middle school readers who are interested in war. It's also a skillful balance between pointing out that HOLY SHIT, NAPALM IS FUCKED UP but without demonizing individual soldiers? There's a lot going on in a pretty short book but it doesn't feel overwhelming.

* note: there isn't extremely graphically described violence in this, but there is a suicide.

(I started this on audiobook and listened to about ~10 hours of it that way and then finished it in print when I got home. The audiobook is fine, but I don't think the narrator necessarily adds anything to it here, and it was kind of annoying to have audio footnotes.)

Anyway, this was TOTALLY FASCINATING. Like, I knew Scientology was weird, but... WHOA.

I also appreciated Lawrence Wright's in-depth research and even handedness. Like, I basically agree that pretty much all religions have things that sound bonkers and have to be taken on faith. Are thetans really that much weirder than the idea that we have immortal souls that will live on in heaven?

That said, of course, the documentation of all the kidnapping and such is just... hard to process?? Also after reading about all the ways the Church of Scientology goes after people who speak out about it made me really admire Lawrence Wright (and his team of factcheckers, etc) for publishing this book. WOW.

anyway, SUPER interesting and I definitely also want to watch the documentary.

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-18-not-cool/

it's too late for me, I've already been fatally infected with coolness. save... yourself...

OK, if this had been a Disney Channel Original Movie, I would have LOVED it. As a book, without lots of awesome training montages and figure skating scenes to watch, it... strained my suspension of disbelief at times.

But whatever, it was a pretty quick fun read. Good for fans of figure skating and/or hockey probably?

I was like, ooh girl sells moonshine to pay for college? BREAKING BAD JUNIOR!!

which is kind of is? But uh... not as good as Breaking Bad. I was interested in the whole moonshine process but things got kind of melodramatically off the rails for me towards the end. Still, I liked Lulu and Roni's friendship and Lulu's whole character arc--of realizing her parents have failed her and she's going to have to take care of things herself, and realizing more concretely that other people want different things than she wants and that's okay--was pretty great.

CRYINGGGG. Yeah it was as good as everyone said it was. I was hyped to read it after hearing so many good things and then I finally got it from the library (I started off at like 130 in line to read it) and right on the cover it says "Will appeal to fans of Twilight." And on the back, it compares If I stay to [b:The Lovely Bones|536|The Lovely Bones|Alice Sebold|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266447885s/536.jpg|1145090], which I did NOT like. But don't even worry, this book is way better than Twilight and Lovely Bones. Funny, sweet, and gut-punchingly sad. Check it out. Bring tissues.

The first few chapters (BLOOD) were ROUGH for a vegetarian, let me tell you! But I got through the butchery and overall really enjoyed this. It reminded me a little of [b:The Glass Castle|7445|The Glass Castle|Jeannette Walls|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1400930557s/7445.jpg|2944133] meets [b:Relish: My Life in the Kitchen|15786110|Relish My Life in the Kitchen|Lucy Knisley|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345686126s/15786110.jpg|21505033].

Sidenote: after I finished this I immediately googled to see if she and her husband had gotten divorced... apparently not. I wonder if he read this book??

It took me a long time to get through this, because I kept casually reading one story and putting it down for a stretch of time. Overall I enjoyed it, of course! Like with any anthology I liked some stories more than others... my favorite was definitely "Black Dog", the American Gods story.

I'd recommend it to any Neil Gaiman fan, but it probably wouldn't be the first NG book I'd recommend to a new reader.

On one hand, Wolverine punching dinosaurs is objectively awesome!

On the other hand, wait what was even happening here??