GOAL!

but not for any one soccer team. I am so not even paying ATTENTION to the World Cup, let alone cheering for somebody.  No, my title refers to my Day Zero project goals that I am working on. I accomplished my VERY FIRST goal last Thursday by taking a spin class. It was hard, but I loved it and I'm going again tonight. :o)  I have about half a dozen (or more?!) goals in progress and I will have just started two more with this post. See, one of my goals is to "Write a book review once a month for 1 year" and another in conjunction with that is to "post 3 reviews of books on my blog."

I want to get in the habit of writing more reviews on Goodreads for the books I read (thus the first goal) and then, because I'm not friends in real life with many of my readers, I want to post 3 of those reviews here on my blog. I'm in no sense a "book blogger" (although I have many friends who ARE! and they are amazing) but I want to share the awesomeness that I read from time to time. So, below you will find my first book review that I will share with all of you.

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

First off, I got this book put into my hands by the lovely Angie when I requested something different, maybe a "classic" (?), and something I wouldn't normally pick off a shelf for myself. I wonder if Angie thought of this book as a risky suggestion, but since I trust her so explicitly with her reading suggestions (she's never steered me wrong!), I took this book willingly and a little excited to try something unusual. However, the doubts started to fly as I began this book and wondered what I had gotten myself into with this novel. The thoughts were especially strong when in the beginning I just couldn't seem to connect at all. I'd barely read a chapter at night after swallowing a Sookie Stackhouse book in one gulp. However, once I really started paying this book some attention, it delivered. Big time.

This book has two point of views - that of the Alzheimer ridden Dr. Homer and his daughter - Codi. I loved the telling of this story. It was absolutely perfect. The majority of the book is narrated by Codi but with the snippets of Dr. Homer the book is simply perfection. At one point, my favorite part by far of the book, I really connected with the story and was actually enjoying myself. By about page 200 I was flipping pages like a maniac and I seriously could not put this book down. I stayed up way too late last night drinking in the wonderful dialogue between Codi and the people of Grace and then within her own mind.

I loved Codi's character a lot. I really started to feel a connection with her and while I haven't had all of her same problems, I do feel where she's coming from. I loved the letters from Hallie and the flashbacks to her weird childhood. My favorite part (mentioned earlier) is at one point when Loyd and Codi are driving around and talking about "animal dreams." I loved their philosophical discussion and really enjoyed what they thought about. It made me think on my own life and that's when I found my connection to this book and fell in love with Codi and all of Grace.

I love this book. It's going on my list of books that I must buy in the future and I can't wait to read this book again and again and again....

two years ago 
three years ago