88. What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

Listened to audio on Chirp
narrated by Abigail Revasch and Kirby Heyborne
Unabridged audio (9:04)
2017 Delacourte Press
292 pgs.
YA RF
Finished 6/1/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.07 - 14,465 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: contemporary Mapleview, America

First line/s: "An unprecedented event: Kit Lowell just sat down next to me in the cafeteria.  I always sit alone, and when I say always I don't mean that in the exaggerated vernacular vernacular favored by my classmates."

My comments: This wasn't the lighthearted book that the cover suggests.  It was pretty heavy, actually.  It was the clear, honest voices of the two main characters that grabbed me and pulled at my heart strings.  I could visualize the story unfolding, and felt empathetic and super pissed at the bullying and injustices that David hads endured throughout his life, and the heartbreak that Kit will have to carry with her forever.  I wish I really, truly believed in Karma, because I eally want all the boys depicted in this story to get their due!

Goodreads synopsis:  Two struggling teenagers find an unexpected connection just when they need it most.
          Sometimes a new perspective is all that is needed to make sense of the world.
          KIT: I don’t know why I decide not to sit with Annie and Violet at lunch. It feels like no one here gets what I’m going through. How could they? I don’t even understand.
          DAVID: In the 622 days I’ve attended Mapleview High, Kit Lowell is the first person to sit at my lunch table. I mean, I’ve never once sat with someone until now. “So your dad is dead,” I say to Kit, because this is a fact I’ve recently learned about her.
          When an unlikely friendship is sparked between relatively popular Kit Lowell and socially isolated David Drucker, everyone is surprised, most of all Kit and David. Kit appreciates David’s blunt honesty—in fact, she finds it bizarrely refreshing. David welcomes Kit’s attention and her inquisitive nature. When she asks for his help figuring out the how and why of her dad’s tragic car accident, David is all in. But neither of them can predict what they’ll find. Can their friendship survive the truth?

19. Dark Pattern by Andrew Mayne

#4 Dr. Theo Cray/The Naturalist
listened to Audible
narrated by Will Damron
2019 Thomas & Mercer
316 pgs.
Adult Mystery/Serial Killer
Finished 1/27/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.21 - 2317 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporay Texas, St. Lucia, and other points on the map....

First line/s: "Nora watched the doorway.  This was when the Night Lady usually stopped at her room and stared inside."

My comments:  Serial killer hunter extraordinaire!  Whenever I go into one of the Theo Cray books now, I know I have to suspend reality checks.  I'm sure most of - or at least many -  of Cray's technological "inventions" are still science-fiction, but they are what makes these mysteries so different.  You know that he's going to get himself into some stupid cray situations and you roll your eyes at most of his antics, but that's also what makes these books so much fun, as well as his definite Asperger's/Autistic tendencies and his cognition of them.  It also cracks me up how much he irritates people.  A huge part of the plot comes off as comic relief for me, I wonder if it affects others in the same way?  To write this combination of grizzly deaths and this extraordinary character is quite genius.  A real breakdown should be coming for this man!  Or has he had it?  ti's hard to tell from the ending of this book, which did seem a little rushed compared to the rest of it.

Goodreads synopsis:  Dr. Theo Cray is on the hunt for a killer nurse, and redemption, in a mind-bending psychological thriller by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Naturalist.
          Dr. Theo Cray has a legendary mathematical knack for catching serial killers. Until his exposure to a mind-altering pathogen knocks him off his game. It has upended an investigation, destroyed his reputation, and left him to question his own sanity. One person still trusts him to finish the job. His former professor Amanda Paulson is helping point Cray down a logical path to his prey: a nomadic health-care worker whose murder spree stretches back decades and whose victims number in the hundreds.
          Never more desperate to save innocent lives, and to save himself, Cray follows each new lead around the world. But with his own grip on reality slipping away, Cray knows that to follow the pattern of an elusive killer, he must also confront his own dark side. In those dangerous shadows, he can find what he’s hunting. For Cray, venturing into a world without reason is going to be the most frightening journey of his life.

83. The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

listened to audio - borrowed from library
read by Emily Woo Zeller
Unabridged audio (10 hrs.)
2019 Berkley
296 pgs.
Adult Romance
Finished  9/1/2019
Goodreads rating: 3.98 - 27,773 ratings
My rating:  5
Setting: contemporary Vietnam, then San Jose/Palo Alto area of California

First line/s:  "Khai was supposed to be crying.  He knew he was supposed to be crying.  Everyone else was."

My comments:  This one kept me giggling and rolling my eyes.  It was ultra cute and sweet and the perfect thing to read on a long, lazy, overcast three-day-weekend Sunday.  I've got to rate it a five just for being a delightful read.  Nothing ethereal or deep, just a little bit of innocesnce, adult autism, and a young adult from a different country and culture coming to the US and knowing very little about its culture other than what they've seen in a Disney movie or two.

Goodreads synopsis:  Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.
          As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.
          With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.

79. Ellie and the Harpmaker by Hazel Prior

read on my iPhone
2019 Bantam Press
288 pgs.
Adult CRF
Finished 8/17/2019
Goodreads rating: 3.93 - 813 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting:  Exmoor, England

First line/s:  "A woman came to the barn today.  Her hair was the color of walnut wood.  Her eyes were the color of bracken in October.  Her socks were the color of cherries, which was noticeable because all the rest of her clothes were sad colors.  She carried an enormous shoulder bag, canvas.  It had a big buckle (square), but it was hanging open.  The woman's mouth was open too.
She was shifting from one foot to the other by the door so I told her to come in.  The words came out a little bit mangled due to the fact that I was wearing my mask.  She asked what I'd said, so I took it off and also took off my earmuffs and I said it again.  She came in.  Her socks were very red indeed.  So was her face."  (What a great way to understand Dan's thinking process!)

My comments:  Ellie and the Harpmaker was not at all what I expected.  Written in two voices, Dan's and Ellie's, it's the perfect way to get into Dan's head. He was the harpmaker.  He lies somewhere on the autism spectrum, I'm guessing he has Aspergers.  And he is delightful.  Exmoor and harps and a pheasant pet; nature and counting anything and everything; crustless geometrically shaped sandwiches; innocence and vulnerability and gullibility; relationships between spouses, siblings, parents, friends, and children ---- these things and so many more shape the body of this story.  (It was much heavier than expected, too.) Excellent.

Goodreads synopsis:  In the rolling hills of beautiful Exmoor, there’s a barn. And in that barn, you’ll find Dan. He’s a maker of exquisite harps - but not a great maker of conversation. He’s content in his own company, quietly working and away from social situations that he doesn’t always get right.
          But one day, a cherry-socked woman stumbles across his barn and the conversation flows a little more easily than usual. She says her name’s Ellie, a housewife, alone, out on her daily walk and, though she doesn’t say this, she looks sad. He wants to make her feel better, so he gives her one of his harps, made of cherry wood.
          And before they know it, this simple act of kindness puts them on the path to friendship, big secrets, pet pheasants and, most importantly, true love

94. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

read on my iPhone
2018 Berkley
336 pgs.
Adult CRF - Romance
Finished 10/23/2018
Goodreads rating: 4.02 - 26,123 ratings
My rating: 5

First line/s:  "I know you hate surprises, Stella."

My comments:  Read this in one big swallow.  A young woman with Asbergers hires an escort because she knows she is so afraid of sex that she is frigid.  A delightful story, really well written, lots of sex - quite explicit, actually -with two very likable protagonists, Stella and Michael.  You know - you absolutely KNOW - that everything is going to turn out like a fairy tale, which makes it even more fun to read. Got to give this one a five for pure enjoyment!

Goodreads synopsis:  A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.
          Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases — a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.
          It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice — with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan — from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...
          Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he's making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic...

60. The Seven Rules of Elvira Carr by Frances Maynard

read on my iPhone
2017, Mantle
393 pgs.
Adult CRF
Finished 9/30/17
Goodreads rating:  4.02 - 477 ratings
My rating:  5, I think
Setting: Contemporary England

First line/s:  "I was scrubbing potatoes when it happened."

My comments:  This was a charming, multi-layered story, told in the first person by Elvira herself.  Elvira has autism/Aspergers, and has been ruled -- and bullied -- by her overbearing mother for her entire 25 - or - so years.  That changes, however, when her mother has a serious stroke at the very beginning of the story.  Elvira learns to cope and appear more "normal" with the help of many caring individuals.  I love this book.  It takes you into the head and heart of a gril with a condition that is incredibly difficult to understand.

Goodreads synopsis: A socially challenged young woman is finally forced to find her place in the world in this breathtaking and moving debut 
     Elvira Carr believes in crisp schedules, clear guidelines, and taking people at face value. She lives at home with her overbearing mother, who has deemed her unfit to interact with the rest of society.
     But when her mother has a stroke, Ellie is suddenly forced to look after herself. She quickly comes up with an ingenious way of coping with the world: the seven social rules spreadsheet.
     Unfortunately, Ellie soon discovers that most people don't live their lives within a set of rules. As she experiences social missteps and awkward encounters, Ellie continues to learn – about herself, and the people around her. And she'll need this new knowledge if she hopes to pave the way to living life on her own terms.

MOVIE - The Accountant

R (2:08)

Wide 10.8.16

Viewed 10.17.16 at Park Place

RT Critic:  49  Audience:  87
Critic's Consensus:  The Accountant writes off a committed performance from Ben Affleck, leaving viewers with a scattershot action thriller beset by an array of ill-advised deductions.

Cag:  5/Loved it

Directed by Gavin O'Connor

Warner Brothers Pictures

Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. T. Simmons, John Lithgow, Jeffrey Tambor

My comments:  I loved this movie.  Some of the critics didn't...probably because it was all wrapped up in a neat little bow, which is what I really loved about it.  Bill Dubuque, who wrote the screenplay, was brilliant.  He took a number of seemingly different vignettes and wove them together to make one story.  He must have needed a wall to map it out!  Spectacular storytelling!   Yup, violence, and killing...but sweetness and humor and a grand mystery as well. And Asberger's.  And love, although it definitely wasn't a love story per se.  Top it off with small roles for both John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor (and fantastic parts for Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, and J. T. Simmons) and this became a real winner for me...one of my favorites so far this year!

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Christian Wolff is a math savant with more affinity for numbers than people. Behind the cover of a small-town CPA office, he works as a freelance accountant for some of the world's most dangerous criminal organizations. With the Treasury Department's Crime Enforcement Division, run by Ray King, starting to close in, Christian takes on a legitimate client: a state-of-the-art robotics company where an accounting clerk has discovered a discrepancy involving millions of dollars. But as Christian uncooks the books and gets closer to the truth, it is the body count that starts to rise.

2. The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion

2013, Simon & Schuster

295 pgs.

Adult CRF 

Finished 1/8/2014

GoodreadsRating: 4.09

My Rating: 5 Awesome/a Favorite!

Acquired:  TPPL

Setting: Collegiate Melbourne, Australia and NYC

1^st sentence/s:  "I may have found a solution to the Wife Porblem.  As with so many scientific breakthroughs, the answer was obvious in retrospect.  But had it not been for a series of unscheduled events, it is unlikely I would have discovered it."

My comments: :This book was absolutely hilarious - I didn't want it to end.  Clever, insightful, and absolutely wonderful.  It was a way-too-fast read...one of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long time!

Goodreads Review: Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges.

33. Mockingbird - Kathryn Erskine

Philomel Books, 2010
$15.99
for: Middle Grades
235 pgs.
Rating: 5 - I loved it.

I had no clue that this would get to me so. A beautifully crafted, haunting book. I've had a few hours to digest this, and I can't get the idea of the father out of my head. Imagine losing your wife to cancer when your kids are really young. Discoveing your daughter has Asperger's Syndrome. And then losing your 8th grade son when he is killed in a school shooting. I'd cry all the time, too.

This story is told from the point-of-view of ten year old Caitlin, who has Aspergers. I've heard it called both Syndrome and Disorder. It's a form of autism. Usually kids have a difficult time communicating with others, are very, very concrete, dislike eye contact and physical touch, and become obsessed with subjects. Usually considered eccentric. Caitlin certainly has all these difficulties. But she has a particularly caring teacher who helps guide her through the fifith grade. Her brother, Devon, used to be the one who taught her all the social rules so that she wouldn't be so "weird." She still remembers all his lessons.

But now Devon's gone. Her father is terrifically grief-stricken and Caitllin, who loves (and understands) words and her dictionary, feels she must find "closure." She becomes obsessed with that idea. At the same time her teacher is trying to teach her about friends - what they are and how to be one. She befriends first grade Michael, who she recognizes from her brother's memorial service. Lo and behold, his mother, a teacher, was one of the three killed. But it is her idea to finish her brother's Eagel Scout project - designing and building a beautiful wooden chest - that starts the healing process.

Erskine uses italics to show dialogue, not quotation marks. I rather liked it.

Woven throughout the book is the story of To Kill a Mockingbird. This family is the 21st century Scout, Jem, and Atticus. This book is a treasure.

Here are some interesting blog reviews about Mockingbird:

Bibliochic (a "future teen librarian))
Six Boxes of Books (three 30-something sisters)
Reading Nook (another teen blogger....love 'em!)

MOVIE - Adam

Wonderful acting, moving story
Released July 29, 2009
PG-13 (1:37)
9/1 at El Con with Ronnie
RT: 64% cag: 90%
Director: Max Mayer


Hugh Dancy (of Jane Austen Book Club and Ella Enchanted), Rose Byrne


Adam is a 29 year old electrical engineer with Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism. His father has died and left Adam alone - for the first time in his life. He lives in a New York City apartment and meets his new upstairs neighbor, Beth. A primary school teacher, she is sensitive and inquisitive, studies up on Aspergers, and befriends Adam. It runs from a friendship to more. But it's a difficult road...and an interesting one. Amy Irving and Peter Gallagher play Beth's parents, a subplot that impacts the story.


I think that Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne, as the leads, do terrific acting jobs. Hugh Dancy is adorable. And he's convincing. He's British and seems to have the American accent down pat. I really enjoyed this film.