February 2016 - Blind Date

Emily:

In February I decided to do something I hadn’t done in a while, I went on a blind date. The person setting me up didn’t know me that well but luckily gave me some information about my options. There was one Gothic Horror option (no thanks) and one memoir about a girl from Afghanistan (I was worried about a Kite Runner repeat), and some other options I can’t remember (perhaps there’s a reason I didn’t choose them). Ultimately, I went with a mystery because a good mystery novel is like my homemade apple pie, I can’t say no.

“A Blind Date with a Book” was a cute display at our favorite store Bookman’s and I was totally sold. I spent forever looking at all of the options, wondering excitingly what each held. I know everyone says don’t judge a book by it’s cover, but I do. I also judge them heavily by the synopsis on the back. All of the books eager to on a blind date were beautifully wrapped and only had their genre, setting, and year published and a short tagline listed on the front. I think I would give a lot more books a chance if I had less information to make a decision on.

Unwrapping my mystery choice felt like a mildly exciting roller coaster ride--nothing too crazy, but still enough to make you want to ride it again. I do have to give my blind date book props though. The cover was interesting and the synopsis wasn’t bad, but I still don’t think I would have bought it on my own.

The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly balked mystery traditions by making it obvious from the beginning ‘who dunnit’. The problem is we don’t know what he did. That’s the mystery that Kelly craftly unfolds throughout the book--why our protagonist's husband is being let out of prison and why that makes the protagonist even more paranoid and neurotic. The suspense of the past and the present day kept me wholly engaged in the book. But, ultimately Kelly’s main character---whose perspective you see it all through was a major let down that ruin an interesting story.

I guess the downfall of this book is the main character. In the end, the book is about a girl who having never rebelled in her life decides to throw away her talents to hang with a crowd that fascinates her (that’s it, they have no other redeeming qualities--they’re just “interesting”). Maybe if there had been more substance behind her fascination, her decisions would have been more understandable. Instead, you painfully watch her throw her life away.

But despite the book being less than stellar, I would totally go on another blind date with a book. Maybe it’s the thrill of not knowing what kind of gem I’ll find or maybe that I’m expanding my horizons or maybe I just trust my local Bookman’s employees enough to trust they’ll put an amazing book in my hands one day.  

So, thank you mysterious date-setter for providing me with a wonderful experience despite my mediocre date. No many people can say that for a blind date.

Dallin:

Pictures from the month:

We played a game called Konexi which is basically a mix between scrabble and jenga.

We received an Oreganos gift card from my brother and sister in law. We got the stuffed crust pizza or something. It was a hefty pizza. We made it through about one and a half slices before we said uncle and then had leftovers for the rest of the week! Worried that we would exercise moderation, we proceeded to eat a pizookie, which is the glorious symbiosis of cookies and ice cream. 

I fell asleep on the patio

This felt like the longest February in years! 

I liked it.