Books - Pocketful of Joules

What I’ve Been Reading

One of the perks of my new job is that I ride the Metro for about 25 minutes each way in the morning and afternoon. While many of you wouldn’t consider the Metro a PERK – as there are lots of terrible smells and generally odd people interactions – I’m pretty happy to bury my head in a book and enjoy 25 minutes of (mostly) uninterrupted reading!

I linked to each book on Amazon so you can click through and read the full description if you’d like. However, I always recommend trying your library first, because FREE BOOKS!

99 Percent Mine: A Novel by Sally Thorne

Find it here: https://amzn.to/2RV7WDo

The book centers around Darcy Barrett, who has had a life-long crush on childhood friend Tom Valeska. To complicate things (of course), she has a boy twin, Jamie who “saw him first” and is his best friend. Now as an adult, she is thrown into a situation where they are both single at the same time and stuck in close quarters with each other. You now, as it goes.

I thought this book was fun and I liked the lighthearted banter. However, I didn’t really love Darcy. She describes herself as a dirtbag and honestly she’s pretty selfish and unlikeable for much of the book. I get that she loves Tom, but really… it seems like he can do so much better. Of course, everything is a happily after at the end which is my thing. So all in all I’m going to stick with this book was fun, but I won’t bother searching out the other book by the author.

Gimme Some Sugar by Molly Harper

Find it here: https://amzn.to/2YDa05q

This one is another childhood best friends fall in love book. I’m not sure why I ended up with two books in the same specific genre… but I did. And I don’t even HAVE any childhood male best friends in my life! I basically picked up this book because it had a yummy cake on the front of it. Anyways, this story is about Lucy Brewer, a young widow that returns to her childhood town. She reignites a friendship with her childhood BFF, which soon turns to loooooove. There are complications, of course, but this one is as sweet as can be. Everyone in the book is pretty darn likeable and this was the perfect ‘beach read’ or ‘metro read’ if you’re me.

Outside the Jukebox: How I Turned My Vintage Music Obsession Into My Dream Gig by Scott Bradlee

Find it here: https://amzn.to/2XrI6gn

Like most people, I’ve come across Postmodern Jukebox performances on Facebook and YouTube and never really gave it much thought. I randomly picked up this book at the library and it was incredibly interesting to see how Scott built up this little idea of giving modern songs a vintage spin and turned it into a traveling “rotating supergroup” of performers. I found this book super interesting and highly recommend it if you are interested in how he made a little YouTube sensation into a full time gig.

Runnin’ With the Devil: A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind the Making of Van Halen by Noel E. Monk

Find it here: https://amzn.to/2xyFRrY

I’m not a super Van Halen fan or anything, but I do enjoy my Classic Rock. So when I saw this book as I walked by I basically was like ‘hmmm… cool’ and threw it in my cart. This book was written by Van Halen’s manager who worked with the group their first 7 years. It was pretty darn interesting! To hear about the behind the scenes drama during the rise (and fall) of the David Lee Roth years. The band did Monk pretty darn dirty at the end of it and there is certainly some palatable bitterness, but WOW was it entertaining. If you like behind the music type stuff or have even enjoyed Van Halen a little bit, this book is a good one!

When you find out the world is against you: and other funny memories about awful moments by Kelly Oxford

Find it here: https://amzn.to/2XtykKp (this book is currently a free read on Kindle Unlimited)

I don’t know Kelly Oxford at all. I’m not sure if she’s a comedian or an author or writes for television. It’s pretty unclear. She certainly has a way with words and tells very cringy/embarrassing/funny stories throughout her book. It kind of threw me though when it went from being a silly little book about cringy stuff from her childhood and being a mom, to talking about sexual abuse. I get the importance of the chapters at the end, but it just felt like whiplash to get from point a to point b. All in all, it was a fine Metro reading book because about 20 minutes at a time was plenty to read it. I didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it. It was okay.

Do you have a book recommendation for me?

Disclosure: Pocketful of Joules is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. All images from Amazon.com.

Loving Right Now: Amazon First Reads & an Awesome Book

I’ve been an Amazon Prime member for years and I just found out about Amazon First Reads!

Each month, they release a list of editors picks and Amazon Prime members get to choose one FREE Kindle book each month! If you’re not a Kindle person, you can get a discounted rate to shop the hardcover version for $9.99 or less.

I somehow stumbled on the May First Reads list and downloaded The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms.

Synopsis: Overworked and underappreciated, single mom Amy Byler needs a break. So when the guilt-ridden husband who abandoned her shows up and offers to take care of their kids for the summer, she accepts his offer and escapes rural Pennsylvania for New York City.

Usually grounded and mild mannered, Amy finally lets her hair down in the city that never sleeps. She discovers a life filled with culture, sophistication, and—with a little encouragement from her friends—a few blind dates. When one man in particular makes quick work of Amy’s heart, she risks losing herself completely in the unexpected escape, and as the summer comes to an end, Amy realizes too late that she must make an impossible decision: stay in this exciting new chapter of her life, or return to the life she left behind.

But before she can choose, a crisis forces the two worlds together, and Amy must stare down a future where she could lose both sides of herself, and every dream she’s ever nurtured, in the beat of a heart.

You guys, I COULD NOT put this book down. I loved Amy so much and I was cheering for her the entire way of the book.

If you have Kindle Unlimited, this book is free. If you don’t the cost is $4.99 for a Kindle download, $10.37 for a paperback or $15.99 for a hardcover. There is also a chance you can reserve it at your local library. Any which way, READ IT!

Here is a link to the Kindle version: https://amzn.to/2PXPYz6

Here is a link to the Paperback version: https://amzn.to/2HinTQt

Here is a link to the Hardcover version: https://amzn.to/2LDttB3

Have you read a great book lately that you want to share?

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

Favorite Books for a 7-Year-Old

I mentioned that I picked up a bunch of books for Jack at the thrift store recently, which made me think that it would be fun to share some of his current favorite books. He is in the ‘early reader’ stage where he is getting better and better at reading on his own each week, so by picking books he can read himself with little help it helps raise his confidence.

For the past 7 years, I’ve been reading him a book before bed each night. But for the past month or so, he ALSO reads me a book before bed. It’s enough to make my little bookworm heart grow three sizes!

Here are our current favs:

For Jack to Read To Me

At this point we probably own over a dozen Pete the Cat books (easily), but Jack LOVES them… so if I ever see one we don’t have I tend to snap it up. They range in skill level though, so some of them are ‘mommy read’ books and some are ‘Jack read’ books. All these are books that Jack can read to me with little to no help:

Pete the Cat and the Lost Tooth: https://amzn.to/2DEFOi1
Pete the Cat and the Bad Banana https://amzn.to/2GRJXkA
Pete the Cat Pete’s Big Lunch https://amzn.to/2GQHAON
Pete the Cat and the Surprise Teacher https://amzn.to/2UJxF1n

For Me to Read to Jack

What Should Danny Do (The Power to Choose) https://amzn.to/2J2ZOOG

My friend Lindsey sent this book over to Jack and he LOVES it and has made me read it to him probably 20 times so far. It is a choose your own adventure book with a twist… Danny can either choose good choices (such as share with his brother) or bad choices (such as destroy his brother’s game) and then you get to see the consequences. When pulling up this book, I saw that there is a second book in the series, What Should Danny Do? School Day, so I immediately ordered it.

Dog Man https://amzn.to/2IOZkMY

Dog Man Lord of the Fleas https://amzn.to/2IYDAxk

If you have a first grader, you MUST check out the Dog Man books. Jack is obsessed with them! They are in comic book format, so most of the scenes are easy to understand even without knowing the big words. We currently own 5 out of 6 Dog Man books and each night will read 2 – 3 chapters. Jack loves them so much that he begs for additional chapters every single night!

Now it’s your turn to share, do you have kid book recommendations?