The Return of Book Club Mondays (on a Wednesday) – "Gone Girl"

Let’s just say that I haven’t had the time to read a book per week in a few months. It is a bit of a high expectation, given how much everyone has going on these days! But I’m going to do my best to get back on some kind of book review schedule – whether it’ll be every week or not I can’t promise, but I’ll try. 

Also, this post is my 80^th post on An Epic Liz! It seems like kind of a silly milestone, but it isn’t to me!

Gone Girl was a book I’d heard about or read about on a book list somewhere, and I downloaded it a couple of months ago with every intention of reading it right away, but yeah, life. Written by Gillian Flynn, who has written two other novels (Dark Places and Sharp Objects, for reference) that I haven’t read, I looked at the positive reviews and decided to give it a shot. 

Here is the jacket description, thanks to gillian-flynn.com:

Marriage can be a real killer. One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn, takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. As The Washington Post proclaimed, her work “draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.” Gone Girl’s toxic mix of sharp-edged wit with deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn.

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick Dunne’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick Dunne isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but hearing from Amy through flashbacks in her diary reveal the perky perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister Margo at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was left in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

Employing her trademark razor-sharp writing and assured psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.

The first thing that I noticed was the voice of the novel wasn’t like most others. The story progressed by journal entries, basically, entries by both husband and wife. The husband being Nick Dunne, the husband of Amy, the woman who had gone missing. The entries switched off between Nick and Amy’s view points. Though it seems like a weird way to read a book, it really isn’t – not weird like Chuck Palahniuk’s Pygmy was, for sure. Each entry chronicled a different day, both prior to Amy’s disappearance and after. It was separated into three different sections to dictate the place in the story, as well, which made it easier.

Both had had bad luck and wound up back in Nick’s hometown in North Carthage, Missouri, which, for New York born and raised Amy, was difficult. The beginning of the book went through how they found themselves in their current situations, and the remainder was the story progressing from both viewpoints, both Nick and Amy, as Amy disappeared and the reader was left wondering what happened to her. As the story progressed, so did Nick's character. From doting, loving husband who thought he had gotten so lucky to a man who nobody believed. Both characters took a sinister approach at times, and the story blew itself open once the truth about the relationship between Nick and Amy came out. The plot progressed effortlessly, and I wanted to know what was going to happen so badly I just kept reading! Before I knew it, hours had gone by!

Unlike most books I read, I did not read much about this book before getting into it. In a world where everything has been reviewed a thousand times on the Internet, it was a bit refreshing to not have any idea what was coming next. One thing I will say, however, is this book absolutely kept me at the edge of my seat, and I finished it in just over one day! I don’t want to give too much away, but there were definitely some sucker punches thrown in for the reader who thought they knew exactly what was going on. 

This being my first read by Gillian Flynn, I will say that it was absolutely fantastic. I could not put it down, even if I wanted to. I had to keep reading, keep figuring out exactly what was going on. One hundred percent one of the most enthralling books I have read in a long while. In that, I will definitely be looking into her other works to see how they compare to Gone Girl. 

Read any good books lately? Don't hesitate to offer suggestions! Also, thank you for reading. I say it all the time, but it is definitely 100% appreciated.

Currently...

Sitting in bed with a sleeping cat, ready to go to bed myself, and decided to write a little note to just say that I am still alive. See, I've spent the last few months learning how to live again. As dramatic as that sounds, its' true.

It ended with a text message that read 'you are dead to me'. I knew it was over from there. Packed up, moved out, and I was left with the haunted house. Not haunted, literally, but haunted by the love that once lived between these walls. Haunted by what used to be and what isn't anymore. Instead of staying friends, I decided that for me, for my own sanity, it was better to cut all ties. I didn't want to play games, and I didn't want him to, either.

For everyone that thinks that it's easy to break up with someone you lived with, let me just tell you that it isn't. It sucks. Coming home to what looks like a ransacked living room, that only looks that way because the couch, TV stand, and TV are gone, and all that's left is a pile of cable boxes and the line in the carpet where his couch used to be. I rented a Rug Doctor like an adult - got rid of all the stains, as good as a chalk outline so far as I was concerned. The outline of the death of our relationship.

Before thinking that I'm wallowing in some sort of self-pity over here, let me just say that no, that isn't the case. In the two or so months since this has happened, I've gotten promoted at work, got a new car, and have a moderately successful handmade business. All in two months. I don't have time to wallow - hell, I barely have time to work some days! I'll leave you guys with a few pictures from life these days - and promise that I'm working hard, as my show schedule slows down, to get back to writing. It's not something I like not doing. It feels like something is missing, to me, and I'm more than ready to get back to the way life should be.

An amazing sunrise on my way to work!

A recent show's booth setup.

The crazy waves here in the MKE due to
Superstorm Sandy.

Cupcakes I made as a Halloween surprise for the shop -
I made a little mess with the frosting, as usual.

My Day of the Dead makeup from hosting trivia
on Halloween night!

Me hanging with my favorite little dude.

Book Club...Tuesday? Life After Death by Damien Echols

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you will know that I have been a longtime supporter of the West Memphis Three. When I heard that Damien Echols was releasing a book, I was immediately interested, and picked it up as soon as I could. I finished it this morning, and walked away from it with the following thoughts. The book itself is called Life After Death, and it was released on September 18th.

The writing was phenomenal. Damien, who after seventeen years behind bars was released last August, has a definite way with words - especially for someone so soft spoken. It was wonderful to read about his childhood, though the story itself was a sad one. Most of the book was the story of his life leading up to his arrest - it was not a 'woe is me' pity party like some might expect it to be. In fact, I enjoyed not reading the ins and outs of the case all over again. It was refreshing to hear - or read - Damien be so blatantly honest about his life leading up to his arrest. This was not my first time reading Damien's words - his first book, Almost Home, was something I remember finding on eBay or a site of the like, and something I read cover to cover in one sitting.

If you are expecting a salacious memoir about seventeen years in prison, look elsewhere. The book is more a sequel to Almost Home than anything - the story of a man somewhat broken by prison life, but not broken to the point that he gave up.

For years, I have constantly felt a connection to not only Damien, but the West Memphis Three situation as a whole. As I wrote in this post a couple of days after their release, it is a situation that still brings me to tears to this day.

To see Damien out in the world and being as successful as he is is wonderful. I feel incredibly proud to be a supporter of the West Memphis Three, and could not be happier that he can enjoy the things he outlines so well in the book - winter, life with his wife, Lorri, and chasing the dream of exoneration. It is wonderful to see that he never let the years behind bars kill him inside, though they tried.

While he was in prison, I always wanted to write Damien - tell him how connected I felt, but it's not something I can do anymore, for obvious reasons - and just this once, I'll keep my words to myself, since freedom is a greater gift than any letter could ever be.

(Still) not dead, but an update...

Have you ever noticed how fast life moves? Before your eyes, in the blink of an eyelid, everything changes. Sometimes for the better, sometimes worse. Feelings change and so do people, as quickly as the seasons.

You can't place blame in a breakup, because really, sometimes two people just grow apart instead of together, which is the case in the situation I find myself in as of Monday. You wake up one day and your feelings are different, through no fault of your own. It sucks, and it can hurt, especially since you're tearing down a house two people built together essentially - but at some point, you have to live for yourself and not someone else - especially when it isn't working.

Amongst all that, I've accepted a new job where I work, running the office. Still working part time as a trivia host at night and running a business on the weekends and whenever possible with my knitting and other crafts.

Suffice to say, I'm exhausted! Although, the best advice I can give right now is pretty simple...

Look good and feeling good will come right along.

Introducing Blackheart Knits & Crafts!

It’s always awkward to start out a blog post when you haven’t done one in awhile.. you aren’t sure how to be! Like when you’re in the midst of a breakup and you tiptoe around each other in the house like everything’s made of glass.. like that. In any case, I’ve been busy. Busy doing what, you ask?

Launching a legitimate handmade business!

Something that I touch on here and there in my posts is how I enjoy knitting and doing crafts, just enjoy creating in general. For years, I’ve been knitting for charity and for friends, and even selling a piece here and there. I created an Etsy shop a few years ago, but haven’t ever made a sale since Etsy is so oversaturated at this point it isn’t even funny. That wasn’t doing how I thought it would, so I opted for the next best thing – doing craft shows! 

Several years ago, I came up with the moniker Blackheart Knits & Crafts as kind of a whim. It’s something that I thought of that never really went away and it has definitely stuck!

The last month has been nothing but stress, hemorrhaging money, and attempting to create the greatest booth I possibly could. I bought plain kraft paper bags and hand-stamped each letter on them, bought and painted fixtures, bought tablecloths, created business cards – the whole shebang. It all came full circle for me when I applied for a Wisconsin seller’s permit! We are officially ready to roll!

Of course, my first show (which was this past Sunday) didn’t go how I would have planned. Organizers poorly promoted the show, which led to maybe 25 people in the door all day, and it was not the handmade show it was purported to be. There were maybe three handmade crafts booths, otherwise the entire show was saturated with home businesses like Pure Romance, Pampered Chef, and the like. Through no fault of my own, my first show really was not a success.

Since there are two sides to every coin, I decided to take my motivation and direct it forward, instead of stewing and being upset about a show that didn’t go how it should have. So, since Sunday, I have been a busy bee! I have booked about ten more shows from now until Thanksgiving weekend, and if anything, I’m just hungry to be successful and continue to grow the little handmade business that homes itself in my second bedroom when it isn’t packed up and ready to go.

I will continue to maintain an Etsy shop, which you can find here, and if you’re in the Midwest area and want to check out one of my local shows, or even if you just want to ‘Like’ what I’m doing, Blackheart Knits & Crafts is now on Facebook. Even if you aren’t in the area, I always take custom orders and you know.. Christmas is just a stone’s throw away!

Seriously, though – thank you guys for your patience and I will be happy to continue sharing news and goings-on in my little life with a bit more frequency from now going forward.