The Running Bibliophile

11/22/63  by Stephen King opens with high school teacher Jake Epping being recruited by his friend Al, a local diner owner, to travel back in time to 1963 and stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy . Though skeptical at first, Jake follows Al’s instructions and discovers a portal to the past. As he builds a new life in another era, he quickly learns that altering history comes with unexpected consequences and not everything goes according to plan. Who hasn't thought about time travel ... of going back into the past or jumping ahead into the future? With so many books, and movies, on this subject matter, you'd think the subject of time travel would be overdone and predictable. But, Stephen King is anything but predictable and delivers a story that feels fresh, immersive, and completely unforgettable. I frequently find myself thinking about 11/22/63 . Does the date sound familiar to you? On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, leaving the nati...

It seems as though The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins was the undeniable smash hit of 2015. Everywhere I turned, someone was recommending it, and it consistently appeared on must-read lists, especially for fans of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Much of The Girl on the Train unfolds aboard a commuter train heading into London, where we’re introduced to one of the main characters, Rachel. She’s unemployed, struggling with alcoholism, and hiding the truth about her job status from her flatmate. During her daily train rides, Rachel passes by her old townhouse ... the home she once shared with her ex-husband, who now lives there with his new wife and their baby. A few doors down lives a seemingly perfect married couple, relatively new to the neighborhood. Rachel becomes fixated on them, creating imagined stories about their happy life. But when the wife Megan suddenly goes missing, Rachel believes she holds key pieces of the puzzle though the police dismiss her due to her unreliable s...

I am the type of person who will put down a book if it doesn't grab my attention within the first five pages or so, even when it comes to adult novels. The reason for this is that I just don't want to waste my time, or money, on something that isn't any good. And, yes, I'm one of those that has to own their copy. I've just now started borrowing books from the library, especially when it is a book that I am unsure of. That was exactly the case with  Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children  by Ransom Riggs . I put off reading it for the longest time because I wasn't convinced I'd enjoy it. I even tried reading a few pages while browsing at my local Barnes & Noble, but it didn't immediately grab my attention, despite having an intriguing premise. Eventually, I saw that my local library branch offered both the eBook version and digital audiobook versions available, so I decided to give the latter a chance. Listening to audiobooks has neve...

After joining the Goodreads.com website to keep track of what books I was reading and which ones I wanted to read, I discovered their giveaways section where members of the site can win free books from publishers. I entered numerous giveaways hoping I'd win just one book and didn't think of much more of it. Then, during one of my many trips to Barnes & Noble, I was looking at the books on the bargain bin shelves hoping to discover my next favorite author. Because who has just one favorite author, right? While browsing, I picked up  The Spellman Files  by Lisa Lutz .  The main character was described as part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry. I decided to buy the book since it was on sale for $4.98. I promptly went home, put the book on one of my book shelves, and promptly forgot about it. Approximately a month or two later, I received an email from Goodreads.com letting me know that I had won  Curse of the Spellmans  by Lisa Lutz, which was the sequel to...

Suspicion  by Joseph Finder is a fast paced thriller based in Boston, Massachusetts. Struggling writer Danny Goodman's  life seems to be falling apart. His ex-wife recently passed away, and he's struggling to pay his daughter's private school tuition. After another student's parent being generous by loaning Danny a large sum of money via a wire transfer, he's now being scrutinized by the DEA. Holy plot twists, Batman!  Suspicion  had one plot twist after another that made the book hard to put down. Despite some of the twists being predictable, they didn't take away from the overall story. The suspense continues to grow throughout the novel, keeping readers on the edge of their seats and questioning every character and motive along the way. The only real flaw I saw with the book is that it is doubtful a person would accept a personal loan from another person they've never met before ... even if it was the father of their child's best friend. A mor...

Earlier this summer, I stumbled across a website called Influenster.com. Curious, I checked out what they are about. Influenster.com offers its members products to try for free. The only catch is members have to review the product or products they receive. This sounded like a great opportunity, and I signed up. This past Saturday, I received my first product to test. It came in what is called a "VoxBox", and the product is Sally Hansen's Airbrush Legs, which is a leg makeup that is supposed to cover up any freckles, blemishes, etc.  And, let me tell you, I was super excited to try this product. When I first put it on my legs, I thought I might have incorrectly read what the product was for because it made my legs look darker, and I thought that it might actually be a tanning lotion of sorts. However, I didn't read it wrong . . . it is a makeup for your legs. Sally Hansen's Airbrush Legs did help cover up some of my imperfections on my legs like some...

Gone Girl  by Gillian Flynn   opens on a sweltering summer morning as Nick and Amy Dunne prepare to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary.  When Nick returns home, he finds their house in disarray and Amy mysteriously missing. As the police begin their investigation, suspicion quickly turns toward Nick, whose behavior during questioning does little to help his case. If he didn’t do it, then who did? After reading the final words of Gone Girl , I set the book face down beside me and couldn't help but ask, "Did that really just end like that?"  Never in my life has a book made me as angry as Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl .  I had to sit there for a minute thinking about what I had just read before picking it back up and throwing across the room.  Of course, I immediately jumped up to retrieve it, worried I might have damaged it because as much as the story frustrated me, I still like to keep my books in good condition. Gone Girl  as a whole didn't m...