Book Review | The Storyteller by Dave Grohl

Posted February 26, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

The Storyteller by Dave Grohl

So, I’ve written a book.

Having entertained the idea for years, and even offered a few questionable opportunities (“It’s a piece of cake! Just do 4 hours of interviews, find someone else to write it, put your face on the cover, and voila!”) I have decided to write these stories just as I have always done, in my own hand. The joy that I have felt from chronicling these tales is not unlike listening back to a song that I’ve recorded and can’t wait to share with the world, or reading a primitive journal entry from a stained notebook, or even hearing my voice bounce between the Kiss posters on my wall as a child.

This certainly doesn’t mean that I’m quitting my day job, but it does give me a place to shed a little light on what it’s like to be a kid from Springfield, Virginia, walking through life while living out the crazy dreams I had as young musician. From hitting the road with Scream at 18 years old, to my time in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, jamming with Iggy Pop or playing at the Academy Awards or dancing with AC/DC and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, drumming for Tom Petty or meeting Sir Paul McCartney at Royal Albert Hall, bedtime stories with Joan Jett or a chance meeting with Little Richard, to flying halfway around the world for one epic night with my daughters…the list goes on. I look forward to focusing the lens through which I see these memories a little sharper for you with much excitement.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Nonfiction Reader Challenge
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

I’m a fan of Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters, and I’ve been wanting to read this for a while. I don’t read a lot of memoirs and biographies in general so it takes me a while to pick them up, but one of my reading goals this year is to read more nonfiction, and the audiobook became available to me at just the right time.

The Quotes

“Life is just too damn short to let someone else’s opinion steer the wheel.”

“But with friends, you design your own relationship, which in turn designs your grief, which can be felt even deeper when they are gone. Those can be roots that are much harder to pull.”

“I love my children as I was loved as a child, and I pray that they will do the same when their time comes. Some cycles are meant to be broken. Some are meant to be reinforced.”

“Courage is a defining factor in the life of any artist. The courage to bare your innermost feelings, to reveal your true voice, or to stand in front of an audience and lay it out there for the world to see. The emotional vulnerability that is often necessary to summon a great song can also work against you when sharing your song for the world to hear. This is the paralyzing conflict of any sensitive artist. A feeling I’ve experienced with every lyric I’ve sung to someone other than myself. Will they like it? Am I good enough? It is the courage to be yourself that bridges those opposing emotions, and when it does, magic can happen.”

The Narrator

Dave Grohl himself. I loved it. I loved listening to the book directly from his voice, to hear him tell me his stories about his life and his musical journey. It was perfect!

My Thoughts

Dave Grohl isn’t just an amazing musician, he is an amazing writer and storyteller. I’ve been a casual fan of his and of Foo Fighters, but while I liked his music and what little I know of his public persona, there is a lot I never knew about him and I’m glad he decided to tell his story in this book. The stories he tells in this book made me laugh, made me cry, filled me with awe and amazement, inspired me, and made me a bigger fan.

My Feels

What I love most about this book are the stories Dave Grohl tells about his connection to the people in his life. His relationships with people who are important to him; his mother, his family, his friends, and band mates. The way he connects with his fans, and other celebrities whom he is a fan of. He is such a down-to-earth person, even with all that fame and stardom from a relatively young age. Listening to him narrate the book, you feel like you are having a conversation with a close friend, and he is a person whom I’d truly love to be close friends with.

My Rating

5/5 stars. I loved listening to the book so much and I was sad when it was over. I almost wanted to start over just to hear it all over again. I’ve told my husband (who’s also a fan of Dave Grohl) little anecdotes while I was reading so he has put a hold on the book as well. Who knows? I might reread when he does!

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Sunday Post | The First Book Club Meeting

Posted February 24, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 30 Comments

Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings. 

The First Book Club Meeting

We had our first book club meeting this weekend! It was so much fun; we talked about our book of the month – Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, it was just okay for most of us – and also got to know each other a little bit.

It’s still funny to me that not even a month ago I was joking about wanting a book club and then it happened. I have to call back the “I want a million dollars” joke, because it’s not really a joke, I do want a million dollars! Please, thank you, Universe!

Other than that, last week was pretty uneventful. I was a little low energy and not feeling my best, and I found myself falling asleep while reading a couple of times. I took a lot of naps!

Books I read last week:

I wasn’t really satisfied with the first two books I read last week. The Bookshop on the Corner started off fine but I ended up not really liking the story and characters. And Remarkably Bright Creatures was a bit of a disappointment because I thought it was going to be more octopus-centric than it was. One of my book club members said that she felt like the author could’ve omitted the octopus’ POV entirely from the story and it wouldn’t have changed the story, and I agree.

Dave Grohl’s The Storyteller made me very happy though! I listened to it on audio with Dave himself narrating, and it was wonderful to listen to his stories about his life, his family, his musical journey. I just finished it last night so I haven’t written a review yet, but the gist is that I love it, and I love him, and I feel so inspired!

My husband is a musician and a fan of the Foo Fighters, so I kept telling him little anecdotes from the book, and he got interested and put a hold on the audiobook to listen for himself, which made me so happy! I’ve been trying for the longest time to get my husband to read more and discuss books with me, and apparently, all I had to do was read books about music and musicians! I’m making a list and taking recommendations, so if you’ve got a good one, let me know!

Last Week on The Blog

This Week

I’m currently in the middle of The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz. And I’ve just started the first Murderbot Diaries on audio. I’m also still rereading The Count of Monte Cristo for the readalong, and I promised a friend that I’d start reading the Elements of Cadence series by Rebecca Ross this week.

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Book Review | Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Posted February 23, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 10 Comments

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow’s unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors–until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.

Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #8: Features the ocean)
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

I’ve heard wonderful things about it and I was intrigued by the premise. It also ended up being the first book chosen for my in-person bookclub.

The Quotes

“Why can humans not use their millions of words to simply tell one another what they desire?”

“Secrets are everywhere. Some humans are crammed full of them. How do they not explode? It seems to be a hallmark of the human species: abysmal communication skills.”

“You can’t fix someone who is determined to stay broken.”

The Characters

Marcellus the octopus! I like that we get his POV, and I really like his personality too. Tova was also a main character and I liked her fine, and Cameron too, but sometimes he got on my nerves. I love the Knit-Wits; I love that they have their own idiosyncrasies but they genuinely care about Tova. Ethan was a real character too, even though he liked to gossip.

My Thoughts

I enjoyed the story, but it’s not exactly what I expected, and I do have some issues with it. I wanted more from Marcellus and I thought it would be more Marcellus-centric, but it felt like he was just a side character in Cameron’s and Tova’s stories. I enjoyed their stories too, but I’m just disappointed it wasn’t about Marcellus.

Spoiler
I also got really frustrated and honestly, I’m in disbelief that it took so long for Tova and Cameron to figure it out. The whole thing, with all the little bit of hints and speculation, and yet still not reaching the conclusion, is a bit convoluted and unrealistic for me. Marcellus ended with saying humans can occasionally be remarkably bright creatures, and I was like, really? Tova and Cameron?

My Feels

I do love that this is literally a found family story, but it didn’t give me the feels, to be quite honest. It’s a decent story, and I like that there was warmth between the characters, but there wasn’t enough. I love Marcellus, but even the relationship between Marcellus and Tova wasn’t enough. I’m disappointed.

My Rating

3/5 stars. I had high hopes for this book because it was so highly recommended, but I’m disappointed with the prolonged runaround and the lack of focus on the octopus and I feel just meh about it in the end.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

Posted February 23, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 6 Comments

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

Nina Redmond is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more.

Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile—a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling.

From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #30: Picked without reading the blurb)
2024 Bookish Book Challenge
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

It’s a bookish book, it was available, and I was in between books.

The Quotes

“Just do something. You might make a mistake, then you can fix it. But if you do nothing, you can’t fix anything. And your life might turn out full of regrets.”

“Because every day with a book is slightly better than one without, and I wish you nothing but the happiest of days.”

“There was a universe inside every human being every bit as big as the universe outside them.”

The Narrator

Lucy Price-Lewis. I really liked her as a narrator. I did have trouble understanding the accents, but that’s mostly on me.

My Thoughts

I enjoyed it very much at first, even though it’s just a little bit cheesy. But I started to get really annoyed with Nina (and other characters) at the second half of the book.

Spoiler
I really didn’t like that she was so forgiving towards Marek after finding out he had a romantic partner who’s the mother of his child. I also don’t like that Marek is somehow still portrayed as a sympathetic character. Nina can be naive, but I think this is a little over-the-top. The fact that she continued talking to him even after that, I just don’t like it.

I also really didn’t like the way she handled that whole thing with the two siblings and their sick mother. That whole scene with Ainslee being unhappy about Nina getting involved, and then all of a sudden being okay with it didn’t ring true to me. And her sick mother’s interactions with Nina also felt weird and unrealistic.

And there was the part where Lennox had a sick animal he was rushing to get to the vet, but then he came back to drive Nina home first, I was in disbelief.


I could’ve overlooked one or two issues, but there were too many and I couldn’t enjoy the book anymore. I’m sorry I don’t have more to say about the book that isn’t spoilered. I guess I don’t really have a lot of nice things to say, and that makes me feel really bad, but it is what it is!

My Rating

3/5 stars. Because I don’t think it’s badly written. I just didn’t like the story or the characters.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Bookish Superpowers I Wish I Had

Posted February 19, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 37 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Bookish Superpowers I Wish I Had

I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for this topic and asked some of my bookish friends this question for fun. I ended up liking some of their answers more than my own, so I’ve stolen their ideas and added them here!

Top Ten Bookish Superpowers I Wish I Had

My own ideas:

  1. Books on my library waitlist always come at exactly the right time, staggered, and not all at once!
  2. Invincibility to FOMO
  3. Books I want to buy always just happen to be on sale when I want to buy them
  4. Ability to stop time while I savor reading
  5. Ability to remember every single detail of books I read – unless I want to reread, in which case, I forget everything except the fact I loved it, and get surprised all over again!
  6. Automatically forget any accidental spoilers so books never get ruined for me

Ideas I stole:

  1. Ability to read in every language
  2. Always picking up the exact books with the exact tropes you want in the moment
  3. Ability to know if you’ll like a book once you pick it up, so you don’t waste your time on books you wouldn’t like
  4. The artistic prowess for bookbinding and fore-edge painting so all my books look unique and beautiful!

Oh, how I wish some of these were real and actual superpowers I could have! What bookish superpowers would you wish for?

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Sunday Post | All the Legends, All the Lattes

Posted February 17, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 22 Comments

Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings. 

All the Legends, All the Lattes

I had a great reading week! I finished six books and they were all really good! Granted half of them were novellas and graphic novels, but still.

In particular, I finally read Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, and omg, it totally lived up to the hype for me. I finished it in one sitting on Tuesday, neglected everything else I was supposed to do, and I don’t even regret it. I loved it so much and I cannot wait to read the prequel!

Books I read this week:

I’ve written reviews for most of them, and if you’re interested in what I thought about them, you can check them out! I’m not planning to write reviews for the Debbie Tung books, but I do want to mention them here and express how much I loved them and how relatable they are. It’s like she sees into my soul!

Other than reading and burying my head in books this week, I didn’t really do much else. But again, I don’t regret anything!

Last Week on The Blog

This Week

I’m reading Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt this week. Our book club is having its first meeting this weekend and this is our first book of the month! Yay!

I’m also reading The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan on audio, and rereading The Count of Monte Cristo. There’s a readalong happening for The Count of Monte Cristo and it’s one of my all-time favorite books so I couldn’t resist joining in!

I’m not sure if I should keep up the pretense of reading The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner. I still really want to, but I’m just not. How do I make myself read it?

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Book Review | The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister

Posted February 16, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister

Erica Bauermeister, the national bestselling author of The School of Essential Ingredients, presents a moving and evocative coming-of-age novel about childhood stories, families lost and found, and how a fragrance conjures memories capable of shaping the course of our lives.

Emmeline lives an enchanted childhood on a remote island with her father, who teaches her about the natural world through her senses. What he won’t explain are the mysterious scents stored in the drawers that line the walls of their cabin, or the origin of the machine that creates them. As Emmeline grows, however, so too does her curiosity, until one day the unforeseen happens, and Emmeline is vaulted out into the real world—a place of love, betrayal, ambition, and revenge. To understand her past, Emmeline must unlock the clues to her identity, a quest that challenges the limits of her heart and imagination.

Lyrical and immersive, The Scent Keeper explores the provocative beauty of scent, the way it can reveal hidden truths, lead us to the person we seek, and even help us find our way back home.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #2: Bibliosmia – A smelly book)
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

I came across this book while browsing my library’s audiobook catalog and it fit one of the prompts from the 2024 52 Book Club Challenge, so I decided to give it a try.

The Quotes

“It’s amazing how easily we can cast ourselves in the role of hero.”

“We are the unwitting carriers of our parents’ secrets, the ripples made by stones we never saw thrown.”

“Everyone else thought it was magic, but I knew better. In the end, it wasn’t the flavors or the alcohol that made people relax—it was the experience of being seen and understood.”

“I think one of the most fascinating things about perfumes is how they change with each person’s skin chemistry. I’ve always thought of them as verbs, not nouns. Truth, I’ve found, is much the same.”

The Characters

The story follows Emmeline from childhood until young adulthood, so we see her development as a person and as a character. I must admit that I really didn’t like her as a child. I felt like she made a lot of rash and reckless decisions, and even though she was a child, she was old enough to understand the consequences of her actions. She was better as a young adult, but obviously still had a long way to grow.

I don’t think I loved any of the characters in the book, except maybe the goat and the dog. I liked some of them, but there were no standouts. I find it interesting because I’m a character-driven reader, and it’s hard for me to like a book if I don’t like the characters, but I do also enjoy complicated characters, as long as they are real and interesting, and I think Emmeline was real and interesting.

My Thoughts

The most fascinating parts of the book for me were the scents and everything to do with them. The description of Emmeline’s father’s machine, and all the bottles of scents, the different scents Emmeline paid attention to, the ways to use scents, how Emmeline learned to work with scents. Some of these things we learn about are obviously pure fiction, and there were a few things I know to be true in real life about the science of scents, but there were many that I had no idea of their veracity. Still fascinating in the context of the story, and I loved reading about them.

My Feels

My favorite parts of the book were when Emmeline bonded with the goat and the dog. Those scenes were just so wholesome and beautiful. They don’t actually play very prominent parts, but out of all the relationships Emmeline had in the story, it was her relationships with the goat and dog that made me feel the most.

My Rating

4/5 stars. It’s really good and I liked it, but I don’t love it. I’m giving points for the beautiful writing and execution though.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Posted February 14, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 5 Comments

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won’t be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #12: Title starting with the letter “L”)
2024 Diversity Reading Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

Everyone keeps saying how great it is! I do sometimes get apprehensive about a book that might potentially be overhyped because I don’t want to end up disappointed, but I felt certain that I would like this one somehow.

The Quotes

“Things don’t have to stay as what they started out as.”

“His eyes widened. “Well, shit. Milky bean water. I’ll be damned.” He took another, longer sip and burned his tongue.”

“I was just thinking that you don’t have to forget who you were … because that’s what brought you here.”

“You’ve found a very peaceful place here. A special place. You’ve planted something, and now its blossoming. Very nice. A good spot to rest. My thanks to you for letting an old-timer shade under the branches of what you’ve grown.”

The Characters

Viv is the main character in this book, but every single character in this book is what makes the book! It’s the perfect ensemble cast; there are the core important characters to Viv, and to her cafe, and there are the supporting characters who are just so vibrant and unique in each of their own ways. Every single one of them were brought so vividly to life. I love them all!

My Thoughts

I loved the story from beginning to end! For a high fantasy novel that focuses on building a cafe business rather than embarking on a perilous quest to kill dragons, it’s surprisingly engrossing! I guess it makes sense, whether you’re killing dragons or serving coffee, the interesting parts of a story is in how you solve the problems, and with Legends & Lattes, it was wonderful watching Viv and her friends navigate the issues surrounding the running of a cafe.

My Feels

I don’t even know where to begin to talk about my feels. First of all, we all know I love found family stories. And I loved it here too, so much! It was so heartwarming to see how Viv made friends, the kind of person she was, the kind of people she drew to herself – because of the person she was. I loved how some enemies became friends. I loved how she protected her friends and her friends protected her. I loved the development of all the friendships she made since moving to Thune, not even a few months in a new place. I loved everything about it, and my only wish is that there was more!

I know there’s another book out, a prequel, and you can bet I’m going to read it too, but seriously, there needs to be a whole bunch of books in this series. I need more of them!

My Rating

5/5 stars. I love it, and it’s going into my Favorite Books of All Time Hall of Fame!

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Favorite Book Relationships

Posted February 12, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 50 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Love Freebie and I’m doing my Top Ten Favorite Book Relationships

Happy Valentine’s Day! This list will include all kinds of relationships; romantic, platonic, familial, symbiotic… I wanted to feature all the characters I love and their love for each other.

Top Ten Favorite Book Relationships

  1. Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables – I think the books represent the evolution of their relationship a lot better than the mini-series but it was just so sweet to see them grow up and grow older together. They were horrible to each other when they were children, but once they grew up, they were just perfect together.
  2. Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth from A Song of Ice and Fire – An actual enemies to (sort-of) lovers story? I’d say respected comrade, but it’s clear they trauma-bonded in some way and feel deeply for each other. Look, I’m not saying that it’s a healthy relationship, but it was clearly a meaningful one. It was just amazing to see the way they had to trust each other, first out of necessity, then later out of respect and feelings.
  3. Darrow and Sevro from the Red Rising series – Darrow and Sevro are my ride-or-die people. I can’t bear it when they are at odds with each other. I need them to be okay with each other, more than I need Darrow with Virginia. If anything happened to their relationship, I will riot!
  4. Aurianne and Marcus from The Light Bearer – This is a very underrated book that I love with my whole heart. I love Aurianne because she’s one of the strongest, smartest, bravest woman I’ve ever met (read about), and Marcus is an incredibly intelligent strategist. And while they are both amazing as individuals, together they are the most powerful of power couples, and I love them!
  5. Vargo, Ren, and Gray from the Rook and Rose series – This isn’t a throuple, I promise, but a very unique relationship that comes from complete love and trust for each other. I love Vargo especially because of how badass his reputation is to everyone else, but how vulnerable he is with Ren and Gray. I am in love with them all!
  6. Pi and Richard Parker from Life of Pi – This was one of the most intense relationships I loved reading about. I don’t think Richard Parker loved Pi in any way except symbiotically, but they had such a beautiful relationship, nonetheless. I mean, not that it’s anything I’d want to aspire to, but in the context of the story. From fear of each other, to tolerance, to trust. Oh, I don’t know, it’s just such a complex thing to read about and it elicits so many feelings.
  7. Rocky and Ryland Grace from Project Hail Mary – Amaze! I am in love with Rocky, and I love Ryland Grace more because I see him through Rocky’s POV. I love how they bonded. I love how they learned about each other, how they adapted and respected each other’s needs, customs, and more. It’s just such an example for how we should treat people different from us. Do you agree? Fist my bump!
  8. Peter and Bea from The Book of Strange New Things – Full disclosure, it’s been 10 years since I read this book and I don’t remember very much, but I remember thinking that this was one of most interesting books I’ve ever read that showcased what a marriage was like, and this while Peter and his wife, Bea, lived on different planets for pretty much the whole book! You know what, I should probably reread this sometime soon.
  9. Alice and Leonard from This Time Tomorrow – This was one of the more recent books I read, so you can read more about what I thought about the book here. Alice and Leonard are daughter and father, and I loved how they loved each other. I loved how present Leonard was for his daughter. I loved how Alice realized that having more time with her father was what was most important for her. It was just such a wholesome relationship, with all its beauty and bittersweetness.
  10. Katniss and Peeta from The Hunger Games series – I’m sorry if it’s overdone and overrated, but there are so many reasons why I love The Hunger Games, and Peeta with Katniss is just one of the reasons. Peeta accepts Katniss as she is, with all her flaws, and he’s totally willing to die for her. It might have taken Katniss some time to feel her feelings, but that’s part of what I loved about their relationship; that it wasn’t insta-love. They had real reasons for falling for each other, each in their own time.

Who are your favorite book relationships? Why do you like them? Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Book Review | Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

Posted February 12, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

Doomed to—or blessed with—eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living forever at one age is less a blessing that it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #9: A character-driven novel)
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

This is one of those books I’d heard about but never read, and it was immediately available on my library’s catalog and only four hours on audio, so I thought, why not?

The Quotes

“Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live.”

“The way I see it,” Miles went on, “it’s no good hiding yourself away, like Pa and lots of other people. And it’s no good just thinking of your own pleasure, either. People got to do something useful if they’re going to take up space in the world.”

“But dying’s part of the wheel, right there next to being born. You can’t pick out the pieces you like and leave the rest. Being part of the whole thing, that’s the blessing.”

“You really have to love words if you’re going to be a writer, because as a writer, you certainly spend a lot of time with words.”

The Narrator

Peter Thomas. Everything was just perfect, I have no complaints!

My Thoughts

Look, I’m just going to ignore the whole kidnapping thing, Stockholm Syndrome thing, possible grooming of a 12-year-old girl by a 17-year-old boy, or a 104-year-old man, depending how you see it. I’m taking it at face value, and it’s such a sweet story. Bittersweet. Scary too, if the bad guy had gotten his way.

Personally, if there was a spring that could grant me immortality, I would go for it. I might regret it because there’d be no way out if I wanted to die, but if so, then I’d spend my life looking for a way to die, and then I’d have a purpose to live! Ironic. But seriously, I love the idea of living forever and staying the same age. Of course, I’d prefer to become immortal when I was younger, but heck, I’d take it at this age. I’m not completely decrepit yet!

I do understand the thought processes that Tuck and his family has about their immortality though. It would be hard to never be able to stay in one place long, to never be able to have lifelong friends, to never be able to progress in life, get married and have kids, and grow old with them. I know that I would only take immortality if my husband lived forever with me. I would never choose it if he couldn’t come with me. I did feel like Miles could’ve tried again, but that’s a moot point by the end of the story.

My Feels

It’s a sad and lonely existence, the way the Tucks lived. They could’ve done much more with the gift, or the curse, they had. I loved what Miles said, about being useful if you’re going to take up space in the world. They may or may not like being immortal, but if you’re there, you may as well do something good with it.

Spoiler
I was also sad that by the time they came back, Winnie had grown old and died. It’s sad to me that she never got to see them again. And I’m not exactly sure what happened to the spring, but it’s implied that it’s no longer there. I feel like the Tucks could’ve shared it with trusted friends and loved ones over the years, so that they wouldn’t be so alone, and I’m sure some people would love to have that opportunity as well. But if the spring is gone, then that chance is lost forever.

My Rating

4/5 stars. It gives me a lot to think about.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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