Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism - Temple Grandin

I was completely unprepared for the impact this book would have on my life. I have never had so many personal revelations from reading a book.  If you would like to understand me, read this book.

American Gods - Neil Gaiman

Well, I wasn't really sure what to expect here. Just out of nowhere, Neil Gaiman blew up. I'd never heard of the guy a year ago, then suddenly he's everywhere. I'd also heard that American Gods was being made into something, tv show? series? I'm not sure, but I knew of it and thought I should read it before it gets ruined into a show.
My opinion is that it is a good book, but perhaps not worth all the hype over it. The idea is fantastic, the characters are a little weird (though I believe that to be on purpose, it didn't rub me as the right kind of weird), but the pacing is good.
Overall, I would say: Eh. Perhaps a let down based on the hype, not that it was a bad book. I think I would have liked it more if I'd not heard anything about it beforehand.

The Beautiful and Damned - F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is another book that could be titled, "Why Everyone Needs a Job". It was more in line with Steinbeck's useless, pointlessly meandering characters than those of the other Fitzgerald book I've read, The Great Gatsby. That's really why I picked up this book; I really enjoyed Gatsby. However, this was a huge let down in comparison.  Lame, useless, the characters never did anything....it was just boring.
I don't recommend this book to anyone.

How We Do It: How the Science of Sex can make You a Better Lover - Judy Dutton

Totally read this book. Lots of info without being boring. I liked the author's use of snide remarks to keep it amusing, yet on task. It has helpful ideas, regardless of where you are in your journey.
The only complaint I have is I wanted more on kinky stuff, but I imagine that section was not limited by the author's interest, but rather a dearth of available studies to reference.

Forgotten Tales of Indiana - Keven McQueen

This is a compilation of just a stack of weird stories about strange circumstances and eccentrics. Other than the first chapter, it's not a coherent narrative, and while the stories are interesting, they don't flow at all, nor are they long enough to pull you in, only a paragraph or so.  I read this straight through and some of the changes in stories were jarring.
I would recommend this more for bathroom reading, that's how short some tales were.

The Gingerbread Girl - Stephen King

This is one of King's "short" stories. The short is in quotations because for other people, this would be a normal length story. But coming from the man who wrote It, this is a lazy afternoon's worth of work. It is in keeping with his style, simply not as long because the incident the book covers takes place over a short period of time.  It has all the frustrating desperation interspersed with obscure but relevant details that he is so good at creating. If you've never read a Stephen King novel, this would be an excellent one to test out to see if you like his style.

Proven Guilty - Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, Bk 8)

Good, good good story, good twists.
I have one small complaint: Harry shows up at the Carpenter household after it was attacked and specifically mentions that the family minivan looks like giants used it to play basketball. Then after getting everyone out, it is suddenly fine to drive to safe haven. MAJOR editing flaw people! Come on! I'm a casual reader and I noticed this, I wasn't even trying. This is the type of error in these books that I see regularly, and I am striving HARD not to repeat in my own book. But I think I also have a good handful of friends who will be more than obliging to help me find them when that time comes.
I also have one big complaint: Early Dresden books dealt with the Nevernever and ghosts and so on, but a few books in we get into knights and faith and God. Now, I love me some good demon/God/insane Catholicism/summoning type stuff. I'm a big fan of Lucifer and Hellblazer. BUT these characters are obvious where they stand in regard to God and how that influences the story. Butcher's take on it is just weird and wishy-washy. Dresden knows God exists, even has a demon imprint running around his brain, but still doesn't "believe" or have "faith". There are two reasons you wouldn't give God the time of day, either you don't believe he's there or you've already had a falling out and are damned. Neither of these is the case for Dresden so his whiny, "I don't know......." make zero sense. I wish Butcher had either thrown in with the religious crowd or stayed the hell away from it (pun intended). It is my least favorite aspect of this story line. This is another issue I am striving hard not to make in my own book. I'm pleased as punch that I have a better planned out universe than the author who inspired me. But I believe I'm far more neurotic and methodical than Butcher is, but you could say that about me in regards to 99% of all 7 billion people alive today, so that shouldn't surprising.
Also NEWSFLASH to my readers: I'm writing a book. I think it's great, but when you put that much love and effort into something, of course you should think it's great. It must be the same reason parents love their children.