The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

First recommendation since I've started reading again - and it was a great recommendation.The main character, Rachel, takes the same train every day. She fantasizes about what looks like a perfect couple she passes by every day. Rachel's life is anything but perfect as she struggles to get over a recent divorce. One drunken night, something really bad happens, but she can't remember exactly what or if she was involved.

The story moves fast. All of the characters become intertwined. What ensues is page-turning: jealously, cheating, lying, a police investigation, and even murder. As Rachel starts to remember and uncover more about that night, she is seen as unreliable and possibly a suspect. It's hard to tell who to trust or who's side to take. That makes it so interesting and hard to put down - you want to find out the truth. The suspense builds to a climatic ending.

I read the last half of the book in one day at the beach. I couldn't stop. I also realized that many people have heard of this book and / or already read it. It's certainly a thriller and somewhat comparable to Gone Girl. The book is also being made into a movie and hits theaters in October. If you haven't read it yet, read it before the movie comes out...99% of the time the book is better than the movie!

My rating for The Girl on the Train: 4.5 stars out of 5. Get it here!

For One More Day by Mitch Albom

I went to Barnes and Noble and wandered the aisles for the first time in a long time. Oh how I love that place. If you've read my blog you know I'm a big Mitch Albom fan. I've read many of his books (blogs here: The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Tuesdays with Morrie, and The Time Keeper). The back cover roped me in with this: "If you had the chance, just one chance, to go back and fix what you did wrong in life, would you take it?"

For One More Day is about a former baseball player who has lost everything. As a kid, his parents get divorced and he's faced with choosing school, his mom's preference, or baseball, his dad's preference. He is raised by his mother, but chooses to pursue baseball. Eventually, he has a brief stint in the majors, but never makes a career out of it. After starting a family, life breaks down and he drinks heavily. Soon his wife divorces him and his daughter doesn't invite him to her wedding. One night after too many drinks, he decides to end his life. During that night, he gains perspective on many things from his childhood and growing up. You'll have to read the book to hear how it ends.

There is a bit of a ghost aspect to it, which if you know me you know I hate things like that. But it works it this setting. Certain stories that he shares can be gut-wrenching, but I think everyone experiences moments like those. The very end was also a bit of a surprise. Last comment on this is many of Albom's books are based on true stories. When you read this book, it certainly has that feel, but from my research on Google, it seems this is a work of fiction. Overall, it was a good story to get me back into reading.

My rating for For One More Day: 3.5 stars out of 5. Get it here!

I'm Back...For Real This Time!

I'm back writing on Nick's Library. I started reading again and plan on sharing reviews. Some history on the blog and where we are today...

• I started reading books for fun in college. I would discuss them with anyone who would listen, which I admit not many friends wanted to talk about books back then.
• I started this blog back in the summer after I graduated college (July 2011) as a way distant friends could keep up with what I was reading.
• I would give away the best books I read as Christmas gifts to friends. I loved that idea.
• The goal was one book a week. I maintained that until September 2013, when I started dating a girl. And I started focusing more on my actuarial exams.
• Needless to say, reading (and the blog) stopped for a while. I tried to get back into reading (and blogging) in mid-2014, but that was short lived.
• A lot of things have happened over the last two years. And a lot of things have changed in the last six months. At the end of the day, I realized how much I enjoy reading a good book. That's just part of who I am and I shouldn't let the hustle and bustle of life overtake that.

Going forward, I'll be posting book reviews like I did in the past. I have a lot of catching up to do since I'm sure there are plenty of good books from 2015 and the first half of 2016. Leave a comment if you have suggestions. I might also reflect back on some of the older posts.

Let's hope this goes on for a while!

P.S. Really strange fact - I was searching for my website and learned that some old advertising guy started his own site named "Nick's Library". He even bought the domain nickslibrary.com. Ugh! I guess if this ever takes off I'll have to come up with a new name. I was the original Nick's Library though - he copied my name!