2016 Reading: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story: An American Nightmare

#34 A book from the library

And to make it EXTRA legit, this is a book from a completely different library system that I had to special order.

Okay, I don't need to know the history of the state since the beginning of time. I really don't. I got a book about Jeffrey Dahmer because I wanted to read about Jeffrey Dahmer (not that I don't already know nearly all there is to learn about him, but STILL) not all this other nonsense. If I wanted to read about the rubber tire industry of Akron, Ohio I would have gotten a different book.

This book led me in a lot of different directions that I previously have not gone with this particular killer. One thing I hated was the way they kept referring to him as a mass murderer. He was NOT a mass murderer.

A serial killer is conventionally defined

as a person who murders three or more

people in a period of over a  month, with

"cooling down" time between murders.

[...]

Mass murderers, unlike serial killers,

kill a large number of people, typically

at the same time in a single location.

(http://www.crimemuseum.org/)

Not. The same. Thing.

What with that and the part where they felt it necessary to go back and tell the entire history of the state of Wisconsin at the beginning of every chapter, I found this book to be not as interesting as I wanted it to be. They glossed over a lot of facts and details and focused on everything else BUT what Jeffrey Dahmer was doing and his victims, which is al I really wanted from this book in the first place.

Not my favorite serial killer book by far.

2016 Reading: Peter Pan

#1 A book based on a fairy tale

Oh My God.

Michael killed a guy. Little tiny Michael who was still in a tiny onesie carrying a teddy bear... killed a guy.

OOPS! KILLED A MAN

Also, when boys got too old, Peter "thins them out."

Everything you know about Peter Pan is a lie.

Everything.

This book was a lot longer than I expected. Lots of drawn out stuff that turned out to be nonsense. Details of things and events that had no meaning within the story. And not that much interaction with the pirates in general.

Meh.

I ended up reading most of this at work since I found a place to read it online.

2016 Reading: The Story of Vampires

 This was the first book of the year! I am going to be doing a book challenge this year. 40 books with different subjects and stuff.

This book is #9 on the list: "A book that's under 150 pages."

I've had this on my shelf a while and I kinda wanted to get it over with because I turned all of the books on my shelf (that I have not read) sideways. This will activate my OCD and I thought it would be a good way to force me to read what I already have rather than buy new or keep bringing tons of books home from work.

This was a short little 85 page thing about vampires. Kinda hoaky. Made for kids, I think. It had pictures and basically I knew everything that was in it anyway.

But it still counts, damnit.

2015 Reading: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (13 books)

I listened to these straight through on my way to work or any car ride that would take longer than 20 minutes. All 13. I originally started them because I had seen the movie and I heard that Tim Curry read the audiobooks and then I just wanted to know more about them. It's very seldom that you get a young children's novel (or set of novels) that have no happy endings in them at all. (I'm fond of Summer of My German Soldier and Jacob Have I Loved as well.)

I really enjoyed listening to them. I can honestly say that there were parts that made me laugh out loud and other parts that made me grip the steering wheel in anger.

This brings my total up to 44 for the year so far and I'm in the middle of another that I hope to finish before New Year's. Better than I was thinking. Still worse than last year.

2015 Reading: Shattered Mirror

This was another one of those books that was on my shelf that I still had not read. I knew it would be a fast read so I went ahead and powered through it. I've read this author before and I know she was a young girl at the time she wrote this and I can't help noticing that it's a little obvious. I liked her other book Demon in My View, but I was much younger when I read it. I guess tastes do change as you get older. Or something.

Another one of those teen angst vampire/witch dangerous romance books. Teenage hunter witch ends up falling for vampire dude, angst and despair. The end. Blah. I don't care. This is one of the books that might fall victim to my next library purge since I think just once is enough. I mean, it was a good book, but it's not something memorable that I'm going to think of fondly ad reread for nostalgia purposes. We'll see.

On to the next.

2015 Reading: The Book of David

FINALLY! An anonymous book that doesn't end in the main character dying!!!! The whole time I was reading this book I kept waiting for something to happen. Maybe his father would beat him to death, maybe his football friend would, maybe he would commit suicide because he just couldn't handle having to hide anymore. But at last, a happy ending for one of these journal-type books.

I really enjoy this series of books and I wish there were more. I know that when I started with Go Ask Alice oh so many years ago, it was really what got me started with my love of books about teenager drug addicts. I don't really know what that says about me as a person, but I don't really care either. They are quick and easy to read, but they also have that something extra. I don't usually like diary type books, but they don't really read like most of the others, either.

This makes number 30 of the year, which is not exactly what I hoped for, but I've been really lazy this year. On to the next one, I suppose.

2015 Reading: Letting Ana Go

I don't know what it is, but I LOVE books about teen angst (especially surrounded by drugs for some reason). These Anonymous diary-style books are so entertaining without taking up much time in my reading schedule.

THIS ONE, however, really started to piss me off. The subject of anorexia is something that I am not familiar with personally (and if you look at me, you'll KNOW that's true) but it's something that I've thought about quite a bit (not to try it, but just as a subject of intrigue and concern). I just don't get it. I understand looking in the mirror and not liking what you see. I do it all the time. But to begin to see ribs and various other bones poking out, hollowed cheeks, and sunken eyes and STILL manage to have the mindset that you are fat is just mind-boggling to me.

Not to mention that the main character of the book started out at a whopping 128... If I LOST 128 lbs. I would STILL be overweight for my age, height, and bone structure. And she wanted to lost MORE?!

Seriously. Mind-boggling.

I had to get a big bowl of ice cream after I finished reading this book.

And I enjoyed every single bite.