The Maze Runner

If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.

Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.

Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.

Everything is going to change.

Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.

Remember. Survive. Run. 


The reasons I had behind choosing to read The Maze Runner had a lot to do with timing. This book made it on to my list just over a year ago when Brayden's Grade 8 teacher mentioned that this was the series of choice for her class right then. In case you missed it, I'm not opposed to Teen or Young Adult novels in any way shape or form and often times I find I like them better than Adult novels. So I added it to my [ridiculously long] to-read list. Then, the film adaptation came up on Netflix, so it was bumped higher in the to-read list. THEN, at work on day, on a particularly boring break, I grabbed it off of a unit bookshelf and just started reading it. Went home, borrowed the ebook from the library, and that's how The Maze Runner ended up bumping to the front of the line for the books I had to read. 

Unfortunately, being a choice of convenience rather than choice can sort of be a disadvantage. 

This is another one of those Young Adult series that are riding the gravy-train of post-apocalyptic, dystopian society, fad that's going on right now. Hunger Games, Divergent, etc... so it really feels like I have read it before. (C'mon youth of today! Read something HAPPY for a change! Your life isn't really all that bad that you need to read depressing stuff to realize it) I considered it a cross between Battle Royale (youth were placed in this environment, it was not an accident) and Lord of the Flies (the separation of different types of youth). And both of those novels were written far better than this one. There is a fine line between too much description and not enough... and things just being made too strange to describe. There are monsters called Grievers in this book and I am pretty sure I didn't imagine them right. A cross between a slug and a robot? What? Anyway, I figured when I watched the movie it would end up making sense, but it turns out the book wasn't good enough for me to get into watching the movie. I got about 30 minutes into watching it on Netflix, and then gave up.

This book was really one of those ones that are "fine", and considering it's a Young Adult series, if kids are reading them, great! But there's a lot better stuff out there, so go read the Hunger Games instead ;)

P.S. I Still Love You

Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.
When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Timesbestseller To All the Boys I've Loved Before, we see first love through the eyes of the unforgettable Lara Jean. Love is never easy, but maybe that’s part of what makes it so amazing. 



This book was not really the book I expected it to be, but that's not a bad thing. I think that can be a problem with sequels sometimes. We expect them to tell a certain story, but when they don't we get disappointed. I really liked To All The Boys I've Loved Before, and so I had an idea of where the plot for this one was going to go (because I knew that it starts directly after where the first one ends). I thought it was going to dance around around how Lara Jean felt after the conclusion of the first book, figure out how she felt about the whole thing, and then in the second half it would inevitably come to a conclusion. That seems to be a standard plotline for a Young Adult novel sequel. But NOPE! I was entirely wrong. What I thought would be the entire book wrapped up in basically the first few chapters of the book and then had an entirely different plot for the rest of it. A FAR better option that the one I envisioned. Things got back to normal pretty quickly, and I liked that. Generally Highschool Drama is either resolved quickly or not at all. True story. 

Speaking of Highschool Drama, this book made me glad I never dated in highschool (or, the adult equivalency, dated coworkers). When you have to remain in an environment where contact is inevitable, I wouldn't have wanted to deal with break ups, and exes. The constant pouring of salt in wounds doesn't really appeal to me. Genevieve is even more cowish in this novel that on many occassions I hoped that Lara Jean had some hidden ninja talents or something and would just punch her out (not really, that would have been lame for a plot, but if Lara Jean was me, I would have smacked her). Peter... ugh... just... Peter. I'll just say his actions had me zigzagging about what I wanted to happen with him, but I'm happy with how things turned out in the end with him. 

One of the highlights for me was this homemade game the group had that they played in middle school called Assassins. I LOVED reading about that stupid game. It seemed like SO much fun! If I had read this back then I would have totally tried to get some friends to play it. The only thing I wondered about is what would happen if you got your own name before the game was over.

It was a pretty tough go for me for a while there with sequels! This one has ended the sequel slump I was in! I really liked it and felt it was on par with the first. It was still that same silly, yet likely love life of a teenager. The Teen Rom Com of novels. Light, fluffy, and full of cheese. If you liked that in the first one, then definitely read this one!

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.

This book has taught me that I need to read more Neil Gaiman. The man is an artist with words. The only other Neil Gaiman I had dabbled in was The Graveyard Book, and although it was good, it wasn't as good as this one. I've had a few recommendations for American Gods, Neverwhere, and Coraline... so those have been added to my very long "To-Read" list.... we'll get there eventually. I actually just had someone ask me if I had read American Gods yet... so... I really aught to do that.

I felt really connected with this book. Like, there were parts of this book where I felt that my heart actually hurt, not because it was particularly emotional for me as the reader, but more like when you are talking about lice and then your head itches. My heart hurt because the main kid's heart hurt... and because Gaiman is amazing. So fantastic.

I don't like to have spoilers in my reviews, so excuse the following extremely vague statements. I feel that they are worth mentioning, but I don't want to spoil any plot for anyone.

I love how great the grandmother relationship are in this book. Not even necessarily between Lettie and her Grandmother, but between her Grandmother and the main boy. It goes to show how great grandmothers (and grandpas too!) are and how much value they have in everyone's lives. Gaiman had this great line: "It was as if the essence of grandmotherliness had been condensed into the one place, at that one time" Beautiful.

I also loved the kitten the boy picked. If all cats were like her, I would probably want one. Allergies be damned!!

For the record, I HATE when author's don't name their main characters/narrators. I keep referring to "the boy" because he is never named. That drives me nuts. He has a name. Everyone does. So why are we not privy to that name? I struggle with writing reviews when I don't know the character's name. I feel like it never reads properly no matter how I frame a reference to him. Drives me crazy. UGH!

One of the greatest things I love about this book, and something that stands out from other books is how AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC the cover of this book is. This cover (as seen above) is so wonderful because it depicts an extremely important part of the book, but also manages to not contain any spoilers. It is a beautiful depiction of a stellar scene, but nothing will be spoiled by seeing it beforehand. If you read this book, you will not know the relevance of this cover until the very moment you are reading it. That cannot be said for many books. Any books that have covers created from scenes generally run a risk of spoilers, the Harry Potter Series comes to mind (the american covers are the WORST!), but this one? Nada. It is perfect.

I questioned at a few points in this novel whether it was an Adult novel or a Young Readers one, because the main character is a child, but there are a few scenes that could be a bit scary, but then there were also ones that seemed childish. It seems like it's a tough one to classify because it takes so many elements from different types of fiction. I think technically it's classified as Adult Fantasy, but I think I would classify it as Adult Fairy Tale, so if that seems like it might be your kind of book, this one might be for you.

Dark Places

Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars.

Since then, she had been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day...especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.

Who did massacre the Day family? 



NOTE: When I read books I make notes on my phone of things I want to say about them so that I don't forget things I want to say. Unfortunately, the note for Dark Places has mysteriously disappeared, so I apologize if this is short, I finished this book over a month ago and have read several since... I also might add edits afterwards if I think of more things to mention...

I found this book was pretty on par with the previous Gillian Flynn book I read, Sharp Objects. It was enjoyable and interesting, and I can honestly say that I didn't figure out any plot points ahead of schedule, but once they were revealed, they made sense. Nothing was particularly shocking, but surprising in a good way. 

I found it interesting the conundrum I had with the main character, Libby. This poor girl went through such horrible things, but I couldn't bring myself to feel sorry for her or like her at all. She was someone that coasted on donated money her whole life and didn't contribute to the world in any way. At all. She was very frustrating. And on top of her uselessness, she really was horrible to a lot of people, and felt she was owed something by almost everyone. But maybe that was the point of writing her that way. Making us recognize that having terrible things happen to you doesn't make you a good person, and doesn't mean everyone needs to be your friend. You still need to be a good person to make friends. They don't come with monetary donations.

It was an interesting read, give it a go if you are a bit into mysteries or have read her other stuff and liked it. I'm looking forward to reading Gone Girl (and watching the movie on Netflix!) now that I have read her previous work.

OOPS! Totally forgot! Reading Challenge 2016!

Normally I do a whole post about my goodreads Reading Challenge from last year and my plans for this year. I made a challenge for myself but then completely forgot about the post. So... sorry this is 3 weeks late...

Last year I went in with very low expectations for myself. Dominic still had several health issues that were preventing me from having any time to myself, and thus no time to read. I had a very bleak outlook on the forthcoming year and figured I would set the bar low, because I felt I would read SOME, but not much. I put my goal at 10 books which was one book a month for the remainder of the year... and I totally crushed it! I read 24 books in 2015, which was also how many I read in 2013, the last time I set a goal for the reading challenge and just barely made it.

2016 Reading Challenge

Annie has read 1 book toward her goal of 26 books.

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1 of 26 (3%)

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This year, I am going back to the goal I set for myself in 2014 that I did not complete. This is the goal that equates to one book every two weeks. I'm hoping I can do this, I was so close this past year when I wasn't even really trying. Wish me luck!

Outlander

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.



This is going to be difficult to review without making some people angry with me. People seem to feel very strongly about this book, one way or the other. When I gave it a 4/5 on GoodReads, I had one person exclaim that they would have given it a 10, and someone else was, like, "Really? That high?". It's a tough one, because I really do see both sides of it... anywhoodle, on to the review.

I really can say I liked this book, I was thoroughly entertained through it's entirety even though it is a comparatively long book. I did feel like it really should have been published as two books though. It seemed like two stories to me. In the interest of attempting to avoid spoilers, I feel that there was a distinct change in tone from the time where Claire was hiding her situation from everyone, to when Jaime found out. I don't have any problem with long books (I like big books and I cannot lie...), but I think they can be very intimidating to many people. Cut it into two books and it easily could have appealed to more people.

I enjoyed the interesting premise of the novel, I mean, time travel is nothing new, but I found the approach to it very intersting and thought provoking. Is what Claire did what I would have done in her situation? This book is escapism at it's finest. 

Now, for the dirt.

I really find Gabaldon's hyper-attention to detail frustrating. On some occasions it is justified, but I am fully capable of creating a scene in my head without her attempting to tell me every single detail. I do not need to know exactly how many pine-needles are on that tree thanks, I can imagine it without that kind of info (Ok, that is a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea). But there is one particular scene where things happen really fast, yet her giving me every single detail about the scene made it seem like it took forever. There are things that the person that was involved wouldn't have noticed because she was taken by surprise, but we are informed of every detail as if you were staring at a painting for hours. It's just unnecessary, and results in the loss of the scene set up and tension. It interrupted the flow of the novel, and I found that really frustrating.

I struggled with the treatment of women in this book the same way I struggled with how women were treated in the TV series MadMen. I know that this is a different time period and women didn't have as many rights as they do now, and this is why women fought for the rights we have, but it is still so damn frustrating! There are so many times I wanted to smack Claire and tell her to value herself, and spit on Jamie and point out that he should have more respect for a woman who may (and does) mother his children... but... as I said, it was a different time. We'll just say that there is no way I would survive longer than a week if I got thrust back in time and had do deal with all the sexism and abuse. I am also fully aware that changing this in the novel would make it horribly historically inaccurate, and thus, bad... but UGH! I was so livid at some points!

This book definitely isn't for everyone, know what you are getting into before you start, but it has the potential to be your favourite book in the whole world, or you might hate it and quit part way through. It's kinda a toss up!

Cleft Palate Surgery and the Working Life...

I have been awful at keeping my blog up to date. I really don't have much of an excuse aside from "I haven't felt like it", and I have now rejoined the work force so I haven't had as much time as I did before, but... still. It doesn't really take THAT long to pump out a book review (I am now 7 behind :/ ) considering I take notes on my phone and just put them into a readable format and hit "publish". But I suppose I knew there were more important things to write about and I felt like I should write those before the book reviews, but the personal ones are tougher. What do I include? What do I keep to myself? What is interesting enough to talk about? What is boring?...Excuses, excuses.... but in any case, here we go!...

Dominic did have his palate repair surgery on January 5th, and it went pretty well. His recovery has been fine, but he struggled (and is still struggling) with eating the same volumes of food and milk he was prior to his surgery. Initially, the doc said that once he was back up to drinking what he was then he could leave the hospital, which I thought sounded relatively easy until that what was keeping us in hospital. Dominic became orally averted for the first time in his life (which is amazing, because most cleft lip/palate kids tend to struggle with it) and refused to take any food or fluid in his mouth for about the first week after surgery. The Plastic Surgeon said beforehand that some kids only take a day to go back to normal, others take a couple, when we were in the hospital he said some "took as long as four days". So Dominic's recovery was LONG. But we didn't stay in that long. Long story short: although I didn't want to at first, we decided to start using his g-button again, even though we haven't used it in two months, so that we could get him out of the hospital. He's still not completely back up to his regular feeds, but he's getting better. I know his mouth is probably still a bit sore, and feels very different from how it used to, but his recovery is still taking longer than his doctor expected him to. Otherwise he is great though! He's was back to being my happy little man shortly after coming home, and really, that is the most important thing.

~*~

As I mentioned before, I have now gone back to work. My Maternity Leave is done and I will never be on it ever again, but I haven't returned to the Correctional Centre and I don't intend to at this point. For many many reasons that I can't really get in to, I didn't feel that SCC was the place for me anymore. So although I am still on leave from there until July (we can take up to 2 years for mat leave, although we only get paid EI for the first), I returned to Kilburn Hall at the beginning of December. Scheduling shifts works quite a bit different for Permanent Part Time staff at Kilburn from the Correctional, so I wasn't sure if this plan was going to work out. At SCC, they schedule part timers with the prediction that people will book sick and be on leave and anything else, at Kilburn, part timers are mostly call in, and we only get scheduled shifts for vacant positions and already existing leaves, occasionally for holidays too, but if people book sick, the staff at Kilburn just call around trying to fill that spot. I suppose it's because the staff is smaller, so if they were to do it the way the Correctional does there is a greater likelihood of people being booked and then not needed.... anyway... how this is relevant to me is that at the Correctional, I would get monthly schedules (and they were always full), shortly before the beginning of the month. At Kilburn, I am lucky if I get a week's notice for shifts that I can have. I wasn't sure that I would be able to get enough hours to work out just being on a call in basis, but luckily for me, I have enough seniority that I have worked almost every shift I have been available for. Right now, I am only working weekends, which is great because most of the time they are 12 hour shifts, so if I work both Saturday and Sunday I am working just over half time, and that is pretty much exactly what I want.

It took quite a few headaches to get me to this point though.

Originally, I wasn't intending on going back to work until the new year, but although the Government offers this Benefit for Critically Ill Children benefit, they really don't seem to like giving it out. I had been cut off early twice without explanation, and getting through to Service Canada on the phone to find out why was near impossible. I would listen to their 500,000 options, be told I was going to be transferred to a representative, only to then hear a recording about how the call volume was high and my call could not be transferred. The first time they cut me off, apparently I filed paperwork wrong (no one had told me how to do it in the first place, just threw forms at me to get Dom's doctors to fill out), so they had to go back and fix it, but once they did they told me everything was back on track. Then the second time, I was told that "oops, someone miscalculated your weeks of entitlement" and they would fix that. Only to get a call a week later saying I needed MORE documentation of Dominic's surgeries and time in hospital even though the prior forms state that Dominic's doctors consider him critically ill up until 10 weeks after his last surgery (the date being January 28th 2015 on all my paperwork, meaning after that was done, my maternity leave would start). But now that's not good enough. His doctors need to PROVE that he was critically ill up until then. Anyway, I'm still working on filing the paperwork for that (because I just got letters from his doctors last week), and they cut us off at the end of October, so I just needed to go back to work because we couldn't rely on the government support that we were entitled to coming through any time soon.

Then there were the issues with returning to work at Kilburn.

When I first decided I needed to take that second year of maternity leave from both Kilburn and SCC, I just filed both forms stating I would return in July and both places said that if I wanted/needed to come back before then I just needed to let them know. So when all this buggered stuff happened with EI, I just called kilburn staffing, told one of the women in the office that I was willing to take shifts as of December 5th (first weekend of December) and figured that would be good enough. When I didn't hear anything, I called and talked to a different woman and she said she still had me listed as on leave until July. I told her that I had notified them I was available, but she said that nothing was official until I talked to another manager. When I got off the phone with her I fired off an email to the manager-of-significant-importance and was frustrated because I figured that would mean I was pooched for shifts in December. Luckily, a handful of shifts came my way on short notice, and from how January is going, it looks like I can be relatively (but with slight reservations) sure that I will get enough shifts at Kilburn to keep us afloat financially and we can forgo the need for any outside childcare. Yippee!

In any case, it has been quite the ride, but I am actually kinda liking being back at work. As much as I would vastly prefer to be a stay at home mom all the time, it is kinda nice to get out and talk to other people once and a while. :)