The Ecq Review

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I have liked Colleen Hoover for a while. Ever since being one of the first readers of her original Kindle only book “Slammed” when my friend Gennyfer saw it free. And I totally loved it. Then she read my Amazon review on her book and started getting in contact. And she totally loved my poem “Write Poorly” and even included it her follow up that amazingly only came out a month later “Point of Retreat”. It’s amazing to me that this is all less than five years ago, it honestly seems a lot longer.

Since then, Colleen Hoover has gone to be a New York Times bestselling novelist. The interesting thing is since she is a Kindle first person, I feel like you see her books less in the library than her sales indicate.

And a lot of what I read and three of the four books I finished this week are by Colleen Hoover.

The first was Point of Retreat which I finished on Friday night not long after writing the post. It honestly didn’t hit me as hard as “Slammed” on the reread. It’s still very good, but the big conflict is nowhere near as big or interesting. I still have to go with my initial four star rating though since it’s not fair to judge a book by the reread. Although I do it for other media like movies. **** (5 Goodreads)

The second was the good “Confess.” It was a fun read but didn’t hit me like “Slammed” has. But I did finish it unlike “Hopeless” so far, which maybe I will try again. And it was weird to read in large print, the only format the CT libraries had. *** (3 GR)

The third book I finished was from Rick Cormier, “My Life Cracks Me Up”. I’m just going to copy and add to my Goodreads review on it. Really good fun.

I especially like the idea in the epilogue of two journals, one a loose leaf one with negative thoughts you can shred, burn or rip off. The other with positive thoughts you can keep forever. I talked about this earlier in the week as a blogpost.

We all have both, and I may need to add the negative personal journal. Not everything is my life is Three Good Things.

I also had no idea Rick was badass enough to drive a motorcycle through the snow, extremely cool. And I would love to own one of his silly guitar songwriter stuff. It would be an awesome idea to go out on the internet or something. Fun read.

He mentioned to me it really helped him write his excellent memoir of being a psychotherapist, “Mixed Nuts.”

It also was a book type I could see myself making. I have thought of making a best of the blog book at some point. Or even just reposting old pieces and adding some thoughts. We all have such fun stories in our life. ***1/2 (4 GR)

The fourth I had to finish this morning “November 9” by Colleen Hoover. Another compulsively readable book of hers with her also common sometimes ridiculous plot twists. This one was about a couple that met every on November 9th for 5 years and no other times. A lot of this really did seem totally ridiculous but I was completely hooked by it. It’s odd you can be both at the same time. Good fun. ***1/2 (4 GR)

Books checked out:
“The Kingdom of Speech” by Tom Wolfe. I just read a page so far. I am looking forward to it though.

My favorite two books by Tom Wolfe are long essays first “From Bauhaus to Our House” about how the Bauhaus movement sterilized a lot of architecture, see the amazing intricacies of a Craftsman home, that were actually called that because you could buy the whole kit from Sears, totally amazing. And to be replaced by big glass boxes like Philip Johnson’s Seagram building, and pretty much all suburban Edge City towers with tons of parking. Also I think the complete awfulness of the Soviet Bloc housing which is in so much of the world including most American projects. I should try to find my copy again which could be in storage or just borrow it from the library. **** (5 GR)

Also “The Painted Word” about how the art critic has shaped so much of modern art. I think this may have been more true in the 50s-70s then today. But, I think it’s still very true about MFA programs, galleries and museums. So probably still quite true. Both are great. **** (5 GR)

And I just reserved both from the library again, should probably hear more about them again in a couple weeks.

Bought: None

Also read:
““Voices of Bipolar Disorder: The Healing Companion: Stories for Courage, Comfort and Strength”, interesting set of essays from various perspectives, I read another 40% since last week, and up to page 109 of 175. I am lucky to have mild bipolar disorder usually. I do suffer from depression a lot and my most major manias came after life changes (finishing college, finishing my MBA, losing my dad, 2 year anniversary of my dad’s death). *** (3 GR)

“King Dork” by Frank Portman, I think I may have read a bit of this, this week, but not totally sure. Fun little read about dorks who are constantly thinking up new band names far more often than actually practicing. It’s also oddly obsessed with “A Catcher in the Rye”, it’s even part of the cover. On page 87 of 344. I may push through this in the week and a half before it’s due at the library (after 2 renewals). I’ve had it out since mid-September. I love that I can renew online with the library. And a library book shelf (it’s on my top left) is very important when you check out a lot of books. **1/2 (3 GR)

“This Girl” by Colleen Hoover. It’s #3 in the “Slammed” series and really an odd idea. It’s basically a retelling of the book “Slammed” by the male character Will. I feel like we got his perspective in book 2 of the series “Point of Retreat.” Colleen Hoover now loves to have chapters back and forth from the perspective of the lead characters. That was true in both “Confess” and “November 9”. I loved reading “Slammed” and “Point of Retreat” again, I’m doing this a bit at a time. It’s an odd book. On page 64 of 285. ***/3 GR

“Moscow 2042” by Vladimir Voinovich. Very interesting book, I’ve only read the first few chapters. It’s about a Russian exile who lives in Germany who heard about a time machine that flies faster than light speed. He wants to see Moscow 60 years in the future (it was written in 1982 during the Soviet times). I’ve heard it is similar to 1984. I am very intrigued by the start, very, very different than the wonderful YA romance of Colleen Hoover.

The odd thing is I feel like I didn’t read much this week, but I guess that wasn’t true at all. Reading is after all fun-da-mental. Although I was more than half done with “Point of Retreat” 85%, “Confess” around 75% and “My Life Cracks Me Up” around 60% last week. The only book I read all of this week was “November 9”. It’s also interesting that this post is now over 500 words longer than my Nanowrimo book. I’m amazed I completed that in 2005. I haven’t even really gotten started with it since. I guess blogging can be my thing.