My Thoughts Regarding Being Henry David

 

 Being Henry David by Cal Armistead

 Contemporary Young Adult novel

Stand alone title

There was something about Being Henry David that appealed to me when I first learned of the book a few months ago. Before I started reading it, I crossed my fingers and hoped it lived up to my expectations.

When I first started reading Being Henry David, my stomach lurched. It took me a few pages to adjust to the authors writing style. Her sentence structure mirrors Hanks disjointed thoughts, but once I did, I found her writing to be very lyrical and consistent. 

She has a knack for using words to paint a very vivid picture. Although I’ve never visited Walden’s Pond, her descriptions transported me there. There was even a few points in the book where I forgot I was reading and was transported directly into Hank’s world.

The book is told completely from the viewpoint of the main character, a young man name “Hank” It starts when he wakes up in the middle of Penn Station and realizes he has no idea who he is. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t call up any memories. The only clues he has is a copy of Walden. 

It doesn’t take very long for Hank’s situation to go from really bad, to horrible, to the downright terrifying. Desperate to escape, he jumps on a train and heads to Walden’s Pond, hoping to find some answers there.

The change in location doesn’t magically restore Hank’s memory, but it does put him in a position to connect with some pretty interesting people, including Thoreau expert, and in my opinion the best character in the book, Thomas. With Thomas’s help, Hank slowly starts searching for clues to his identity and tries to figure out where he stood.

The author did an excellent job of maintaining the forward momentum of the plot. Although there are some points where it becomes a bit predictable, it never drags which is what I really care about.

All of the characters are well developed and very enjoyable. Best of all, each one was quite unique. I don’t think there was a single character in the entire novel who I would consider to be of cookie cutter variety. Each one had quirks and issues, and best of all, they played an important role in the novel.

My biggest complaint with the book is that when it ended, while Hank’s story reached a nice ending point, I still wanted to know what had happened to a few of the other characters. Oh well, maybe when the author releases the next book, it will answer all my questions.

I think Being Henry David bears a strong resemblance to what might happen if Sarah Dessen and S.E. Hinton joined force and co-authored a book.

I received Being Henry David via NetGalley.

My Thoughts on a Few Books I've Read

I’m trying to use my blog a bit more, and make it a more productive bit of internet real estate. Since I read lots of books, I figure the least I should do is post a few book reviews. I’m hoping to get into the habit of doing this about once a week.

I’ve been lucky enough to have time to read several books already this month. Partly because I’ve done some traveling which means extra time to read, and partly because work has been a little slow, and mostly because several of the books I’ve read have either been short novella’s or have been audiobooks.

Here are my thoughts on a few of the books I’ve read this year.

  Accidental Romance-by Jessica E. Subject - I connected with Jessica Subject through the Six

Sentence Sunday blog hop. I fell in love with this book as soon as she started posting snippets, mostly because it was set on a farm.The beginning of the novella caused me to remember my high school agriculture classes and the seemingly endless lectures about the importance of always shutting of the equipment before fixing a problem. I know people who failed to heed this warning, and can honestly say that Jessica Subject’s description of the incident is spot on.

In the spirit of complete honesty, I’ll admit that there were times when became a little to whiny for my taste and I’d have to take a deep breath and remind myself that, all things considered, in her situation I’d be even whinier and more self-centered.

The chemistry between the two characters is good, the setting fantastic, and writing fluid. It’s a great quick read that provides readers with a break from reality. This is a very sweet (minimal sexual contact) romance novella. I think this book is an excellent choice when you're looking for something quick and interesting to read. It's a great story to have on hand when traveling with family.

  Sweetness and Light: The Mysterious History of the Honeybee by Hattie Ellis

 This book surprised me in the best possible way. There was something about it's unassuming appearance that lowered my expectations. I assumed it was going to be either very dry, or very badly written. I was dead wrong.

 

While this book won't provide you with copious amounts of information about how to raise bees or collect honey, it provides all sorts of information about the history of honey and how beekeeping has changed throughout the centuries, as well as some basic information about some of the worlds biggest beekeepers. It's a great choice for anyone who has a passing interest in beekeeping or honey. I found her telling of how the plight with the African Bees started. I'd never heard the full story before.

 

I found the authors writing to be very fluid and smooth and her stories were interesting enough I actually looked up a few of the beekeepers she mentioned and wrote down the name of a movie she mentioned, while tweeting some of the more interesting bits of lore. I thought this was an excellent book. I'm looking forward to reading more books penned by Hattie Ellis in the future. 

   

Bones Are Forever (Temperance Brennan, #15) by Kathy Reichs I started reading Kathy Reichs a few years ago because I loved the television series, Bones. While the show is connected to the series, the resemblances between the two are minimal. The only similarities Reich's character shares with the T.V. series is the name and the job. The rest is totally different. Personally, I like the book character better.

The last two books in the series disappointed me, it kind of felt like Riechs was writing because she felt she had to, not because she was interested in the story telling, but Bones are Forever reads like Reichs older novels. I quite enjoyed it.

I found this to be a very quick book to read. I finished it one the first half of the a road trip to Kansas and promptly passed it to my sister who hasn't read any of the books in the series. I found the cases to be interesting, though they involved dead babies which is always sad. The relationships were back to being interesting and woven nicely into the main plot, and the tension was fantastic.

Bones are Forever led to a great deal of research and discussing of some Canadian serial killers which kept us entertained for the last half of the drive home.