Play Book Tag discussion

My life is not a thriller. My life is the opposite of a thriller. What a relief. Who wants their life to be thrilling? Don’t get me wrong. We want our lives to be exciting: we want them to inspire, to be surprising, to provide us a reason to get up and experience something new every day. But thrilling? No way, man.

So starts Will Leitch's novel How Lucky and with it I think I have found a new favorite character in Daniel. Daniel is a twenty-six year old man confined to a wheelchair with SMA a degenerative disease similar to ALS, but which starts in infancy. Daniel has never known anything else and has forged a life which is as independent as possible.

His life is routine and every morning at the same time he sits out on his porch and then one morning he sees something. It is at that point which his life takes a strange and dangerous turn.

Great review! I have this book on my TBR, and now you made me want to read it even more.

So pleased you also loved it!

Theresa wrote: "So pleased you also loved it!"

You coaxed me into reading it. It was one from last year's Edgars which I would have passed by, so figured I had better read it before starting this years.

I am right now getting those lined up.

Diana H. wrote: "Great review! I have this book on my TBR, and now you made me want to read it even more."

I think you might like it and despite how the book starts it is a bit of a thriller.

I loved it - your review makes me want to go back and reread it. I am trying not to buy it. I buy too many books now -- my house is filled with books, I check books out of the library, read anything that is around me. I loved this book and wondered why it did not get much publicity. I read it when Chris Bohjalian gave it 5 stars - such a rating from a noted author should not be ignored. Thanks for the review - made me feel all smiley inside. peace, janz

Peacejanz wrote: "I loved it - your review makes me want to go back and reread it. I am trying not to buy it. I buy too many books now -- my house is filled with books, I check books out of the library, read anythin..."

Peacejanz, I loved Daniel's spirit and gumption.

I appreciated that Will Leitch got his inspiration from his son's best friend who has SMA.

Daniel's mother is an important character in the book who we never actually meet but learn about her philosophy in raising Daniel to be independent and not feel sorry for himself and he in turn repaid her in kind and gave her independence as well.

Then there is his wonderful friend Travis. So much bright shining stuff in this book.

I have the audio but hadn't got around to it, glad to hear such a good review.

Robin P wrote: "I have the audio but hadn't got around to it, glad to hear such a good review."

I'd love to hear how it was on audio. There are a few things which could make it quite interesting.

I read this a while back and remember really loving Daniel's spirit, and learning about SMA.

I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It was quite different from what I had expected but well done.

This one was one of my favorites from last year's Edgar nominees.

Cora wrote: "This one was one of my favorites from last year's Edgar nominees."

I missed it during our Edgar reads, but heard so much positive about it, decided that I must read it.

I was trying to remember WHY I read this, and finally put it together- the author is one of the founds of a HUGE sports blog/website (Deadspin). One of the reasons football is a subject in the book, and definitely a push to read this. I had idea it was nominated for an Edgar!

He still writes a lot of sports media- does pieces for larger companies like NY Mag as well.

Joi wrote: "I was trying to remember WHY I read this, and finally put it together- the author is one of the founds of a HUGE sports blog/website (Deadspin). One of the reasons football is a subject in the book..."

The setting is Athens, GA where he lives.

And Athens, GA is the home of the University of Georgia, national champs in football. peace, janz