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!

Movie Review: Catching Fire

 

A blast from the past. Last fall, I started writing a review of the movie Catching Fire, but I never finished it. Well, here it is...

Catching Fire, the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy, finally came to theaters. I went to see it with the hopes of comparing it to the book. While I remember the gist of the story, I can't say I remember all the small details worth comparing. Honestly, I don't remember too much from the book since I read it all the way back in November 2011.

When I wrote my book review for Catching Fire, I tried not to give too much away. Nowadays, I tell people what it's about. The 75th edition of the Hunger Games is different than the traditional Hunger Games. All past winners are forced to compete in the games. But there is a lot more to it, and it really provides a lot of momentum to the third book.

The movie was solid. It followed the book from what I remember. If you liked the book, you'll like the movie. Jennifer Lawrence was obviously great in it. My only annoyance with the movies is how far they are spaced apart. The Hunger Games came out in March 2012. Catching Fire doesn't come out for 20 months? Give me a break.

I've actually seen the movie a few more times at home. One thing I wanted to add was I thought the movie was pretty dark, like a lot of the scenes are darker and can be hard to see on the television. And the movie is kind of long. But it was still enjoyable and I'm looking forward to the third one.

My rating for Catching Fire, the movie: 3 stars out of 5.

P.S. Possibly my worst review ever? I felt obligated to post this since I started it a while back but it's pretty pathetic.