11/22/63

By: Stephen King

Plot: Jake Epping's friend, Al, shows him a portal that goes back in time and gives him the mission to save JFK. A mission Al was unable to complete himself. Will he do it??

My Thoughts: This is my first Stephen King book! I think. I'm pretty sure I've never read a book by him before. I couldn't decide what book I wanted to read next and so I had my husband pick one, and this is what he picked. I've wanted to read this but was a little intimidated by the size, so I never really picked it up. It didn't feel like the book was so long once I was reading it though, so that was good. 

At the beginning I really liked some parts, and others not so much. Honestly whenever Al was there I really liked it, and when it was Jake by himself I wasn't as into it. I just really liked Al for some reason. I liked that there was someone who found the 'wormhole' first and was able to tell the main character about it, and give some direction. Jake was not really my favorite character I've ever read, but he was likeable enough. I was worried about how much I would enjoy it when he was off by himself, but I did. 

I was annoyed by the senseless warnings, like he made some huge mistake, but don't worry because you won't find out why it was a mistake until 200 or more pages later. It just seemed overly dramatic for no reason. I also thought it was weird that King included characters from his other book, It. I never read the book, obviously, but it is popular enough that I recognized it and confirmed with Wiki. I could overlook that, if it was just the one scene, but then he kept bringing the two characters up over and over and over again. It was weird. And totally unnecessary. I could also do without reading about all the 'pound cake' they were eating.

I've never been that fascinated by the JFK assassination like some people are. Before my time I guess. So all the spying he did on Lee and his family I didn't care for as much. I was more interested in him trying to fit into the past as a teacher and everything that happened in Jodie. *Spoiler* I liked the ending, even though it made the whole book seem pointless. He wasted years of his life working towards this one goal, only to realize that by achieving his goal and saving JFK, he actually just makes everything worse in the future. He did find love, which would have made it worth it, but it was with someone that he could never be with, without screwing up the future again. So would it have been better for him to never have gone back to the past at all? Maybe I don't like the ending...

Favorite Quotes: "But stupidity is one of two things we see most clearly in retrospect. The other is missed chances."

"I'm one of those people who doesn't really know what he thinks until he writes it down."

Rating: 3/5 I liked it. 

YES PLEASE

By: Amy Poehler

Plot: I don't know. Do these celebrity written memoirs really have plots?

Thoughts: I really hate this celebrity book fad (don't even get me started on the YouTubers who have "written" books). BUT I do like to read the ones by actual writers. I know people like Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, and Mindy Kaling (ect.) can actually write all by themselves so I'm more willing to pick up their books. Especially if I think they really are hilarious. It took me a while to really get into this book, because all she does at first is write about how hard it is to write a book and that was just annoying. Why write the book then? No one is making you! You've got enough money.

She, of course, writes about how she got to where she is today. I never watched SNL when she was on it but I liked reading about it. I also really enjoyed her confession about going through people's things at their house and I really hope it's true. I was excited to read about Parks and Rec. because I love it, minus that last season. It didn't disappoint. The best part was her notes to everyone on the cast. There was one part that did make me laugh out loud and it's down below.  Side note: would she please just get back together with Will Arnett because I like those two complete-strangers-to-me together.

Favorite Quote: "But how can you deny such hilarious gems as 'Most men fear getting laughed at or humiliated by a romantic prospect while most women fear rape and death'? I mean, who doesn't want me spouting that kind of stuff at their Christmas party?"

My Rating: 3/5 I like Amy Poehler and if she's a terrible person in real life I'd be bummed. I mean not really, why should I care?