72. Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett

listened to on Audio, borrowed from the library
read by Amy Melissa Bentley
Unabridged audio (11:23)
2018 Simon Pulse
421 pgs.
YA CRF
Finished before 8/5, but forgot to write it down
Goodreads rating:  4.04 - 8750 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting: contemporary Melita Hills, CA (just outside SF) and in the national park wilderness/high Sierras just north/northeast

First line/s:  "Spontaneity is overrated."

My comments:  I greatly disliked the beginning of the book, so much so that I almost put it down.  It took forever to get to the "roughing it" in the wild.  I couldn't believe that Zorie would be friends with a girl like Reagan (et al.) or that her father was such a JERK and she hardly rebelled at all.  Also she'd been best friends with Lennon since she was quite young and she drops him like a hot potato without looking into what was really going on.....  And although she lost her birth mother when she was 8, she'd taken on loving her stepmother incredibly (which is good), but the infrequent mention of her birth mother is weird, as if she didn't remember her  (or even care) much...but she was EIGHT!  Not a baby. And again, she had an incredible dirt-bag father. Quite a few aspects that bugged me.  But the second half of the book was pretty decent, for the most part.  Not as good as The Anatomical Shape of a Heart, which is also recently read.

Goodreads synopsis:  Ever since last year’s homecoming dance, best friends-turned-best enemies Zorie and Lennon have made an art of avoiding each other. It doesn’t hurt that their families are the modern-day Californian version of the Montagues and Capulets.
          But when a group camping trip goes south, Zorie and Lennon find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Alone. Together.
          What could go wrong?
          With no one but each other for company, Zorie and Lennon have no choice but to hash out their issues via witty jabs and insults as they try to make their way to safety. But fighting each other while also fighting off the forces of nature makes getting out of the woods in one piece less and less likely.
          And as the two travel deeper into Northern California’s rugged backcountry, secrets and hidden feelings surface. But can Zorie and Lennon’s rekindled connection survive out in the real world? Or was it just a result of the fresh forest air and the magic of the twinkling stars?

Letterboxing #2 - My First Try in Tucson

Sunday, 4/17/15

Irish Bell

Tucson, Arizona

Gorgeous spring day, high 70's and super sunny, I headed down Pantano to Michael Perry Park - a small playground, a fenced baseball field, rest rooms, and access to the Pantano Wash bicycle/walking  path.  But it was on a short gravel path just beside the paved bike path where, under a pile of rocks at the base of some shrubs I found "Irish Bell."  Good directions other than one small glitch - the gate to go through is on the WEST side of the parking lot, not the east side as the directions claimed.  Took a few minutes to figure it out and try it anyways...so glad I did!

I settled down cross-legged, partially shaded by a different shrub, and stamped my book with the hand-carved Irish bell stamp and stamped their little book with my tree.  I've put all my stuff - and a bottle of water, into my black hiking bag and it worked out perfectly.  I plan to leave this in my car so that I'll always have it with me!
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I like that it was a short walk - only a little over 1300 steps - and that I actually found it!  The exposure to the sun was a bit difficult, so I'm thinking that now that summer's upon us, much Tucson trekking will kill me - if the snakes and scorpions and other various critters don't.  But I hope to try one or two more huntes before I leave for the summer!

MOVIE - Wild

R (1:55)

12/3/14 Limited release

Viewed 1/13/15 at Roadhouse all by my lonesome

RT Critic: 91   Audience:  82  

Cag:  5/Terrific movie

Directed by Jean -Marc Vallee

20th Century Fox

Based on the book by Cheryl Strayed

Reese Witherspoon

My comments:   I saw this on Tuesday night, tossed and turned all night thinking about it, and couldn't get it out of my head the next day.  For me, the overall theme is how powerfully the many different ways we grieve play out.  I hadn't read the book, though I was always drawn to it.  And I wonder how Cheryl Strayed is dealing with her grief....her decisions....and her life, now.  Her unbelievable determination was/is so amazing.

RT: Summary:  With the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, Cheryl Strayed has lost all hope. After years of reckless, destructive behavior, she makes a rash decision. With absolutely no experience, driven only by sheer determination, Cheryl hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. WILD powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddens, strengthens, and ultimately heals her.