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(and possibly the worst read of the decade...or the 2000s...)

Forget What You Know by Christina Dodd - No, this wasn't the worst read but it could also be titled "I Read This Book and Almost Immediately Forgot It". It was actually Dad's recommendation...he reads constantly and has vastly different taste in books than I do. He mostly reads murder mysteries and if he enjoys a book by an author, he tends to read everything that author wrote. He also leaves his books all over the house <g>. I saw a book on the loveseat--a different book by Christina Dodd--and thought it sounded interesting from the summary on the back cover. But Dad told me I'd like Forget What You Know better because, and I quote, "it's a little whoo-whoo". Which is his way of saying the book had supernatural elements to it. I don't exactly LOVE supernatural elements in the things I read but I like them better than Dad...anyways, the book starts off describing a beautiful ruby that's apparently cursed to bring destruction to those who possess it. A long time ago, some artist encapsulated the ruby into a statue of a dragon, entitling the piece "The Heart of the Dragon", and then the statue went missing. Folks have been looking for it forever...and then the story suddenly veers completely away from the missing statue and becomes a mystery about a body found in a car in a lake, a gunshot wound to the head of the victim. And then we veer away again to follow a woman who can make plants grow (the "whoo-whoo" part) whose mother mysteriously disappears and who suddenly finds herself in danger. All these elements eventually come together in a more or less satisfactory way, with the ending being both complicated and (I'm hoping intentionally) comic. The story zipped along at a good pace and I was reasonably entertained, plus many of the characters were interesting (some in a good way, some in a bad way) but I didn't love the book enough to want to read more of the author...or enough to remember a whole lot about how events unfolded. I'd give this one a B, maybe a B-.

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray - OK, THIS was the pig. I spent almost the entire month reading The Bee Sting, and when I was done, I wanted to throw it across the room in disgust but it's over 600 pages so it was a bit unwieldly. Plus I try not to abuse library books. The book tells the story of a modern day family in Ireland: the Barnes. Dad inherited the family business (a car dealership/garage) and is running it into the ground (no pun intended). Mom is a spoiled brat who can't face losing her status in their small town and who actually preferred Dad's brother, going so far as to get engaged to Bro before Bro is killed in a terrible accident. Daughter is screwing up her final year in what we'd call high school by pining after her bestie and binge drinking. Bro is 12 and considering running away to escape both some school bullies and his family who either is emotionally/verbally abusive to him or pays him no attention. All this is billed as a "tragi-comedy"...absolutely NOTHING about the book was funny, IMO. The ending of Forget What You Know was actually funnier. Each character gets a chance to tell their story; the author uses a slightly different style to capture each character's "voice". Mom's part of the tale was told in run on sentences, which annoyed the snot out of me. The characters are all awful people and all make bad decision after bad decision after bad decision and there's a couple rather semi-graphic, unpleasant sex scenes--one a rape--which I found super uncomfortable to read. At the end of the book, the author sets up a big event and then...and then...and then...the book ends without the reader finding out what happened. It was definitely a deliberate choice so the reader could choose their preferred ending but I hated it.At many points, I asked myself why was I still reading this awful, awful book? Honestly, I wanted to see how it ended...and then it didn't, exactly. F. And...eff this book.

Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir by Shoji Morimoto - This was the winner of the bunch. It's the true story of a guy in Japan who got tired of his job and his toxic boss and quit. Needing something to fill his time, he decided to "rent" himself out as a sort of companion, with the stipulation that--as the title says--he doesn't have to do anything. It's an odd concept, for sure, and IMO it highlights how different the Japanese culture is. I can't see an American volunteering to "do" the stuff Morimoto does (and let's face it, there's literally no such thing as "doing nothing"; at any given moment, you're breathing, you're aging, if you have your sight, you're seeing, if you have your hearing, you're hearing, etc.) He doesn't accept payment from his "clients"; he only asks that they pay for his train ticket to wherever he's meeting them as well as any meals while he's with them and any event they want him to go to that requires a ticket. The book chronicles a number of requests he's fulfilled over the several years he's been doing this, requests like "come with me while I sign divorce papers" or "meet me for a bowl of ramen at the new restaurant down the street" or "listen to me tell you about <whatever> and occasionally say something positive to me". Morimoto is careful to remain neutral; he emphasizes that he's not a therapist and isn't going to offer up suggestions or opinions. Mostly he nods and says "hmmm" or "really?". It was fascinating to read the requests his Twitter followers have sent him and TBH, if there was a way to make a living here in NE Ohio doing what he does, I'd strongly consider it. A-...the only reason the book doesn't get an A is it can be a bit repetitious at times, despite being a small volume with less than 190 pages.