Under The Dresser

A Game of Thrones

2012-01-25T21:47:00.001-08:00

I just finished A Game of Thrones and woah. Bold move at the very end there George RR Martin, BOLD. Consider it a done deal that I will now move on to the next book, like immediately.

This book was all sorts of mythical and magical, which is not so much my game, but whatever. If I can get into Outlander and Enders Game, then I can't really turn my nose up at dragons and unicorns can I? I'd write more, but I need to star the next book in this serious to find out WTF Daenerys?!

Last books of 2011

2012-01-07T22:47:00.000-08:00

Before I take the plunge into A Game of Thrones and disappear for however long it takes to plow through that series, I thought I'd play a quick game of catch up and try to remember the last few books I read in 2011.

The Last Werewolf: This was a juicy read, if gory at times. If you're able to suck it up and read about killing and eating humans every 200 pages or so, this is a worthy read. It's about a 200 year old misanthropic werewolf in present day who finds out he is officially the last living werewolf on earth. I found it fascinating to read a first person narrative told from the perspective of a (mostly likable) villain. It's an epic adventure with quality (read: Adult) writing style. Also, I totally smell a sequel.

At Home: Major bore. Bill Bryson seems like a charming man but DUDE. This was a book club pick that I couldn't finish. Every time I picked it up I had flashbacks to 1997 during my freshman year of college when my roommate Maggie and I would need to take official nap breaks during reading assignments. This book induced many a nap break before I gave up on it.

An Echo in the Bone: After reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes (the 6th book in the Outlander series) I took a year or two long break. Then I recently saw An Echo in the Bone on the Buy 2, get 1 free table at Barnes and Noble and I snatched it up. It had been so long since reading the previous book that I had a hard time remembering some of the secondary characters, but eventually I fell back into the easy rhythm of Diana Gabaldon. I feel sad that Jamie and Claire are getting old, but am starting to find my groove with Brianna and Roger, who I assume are going to start playing a more major role in the next book. Thumbs up Diana. And way to leave us hanging until 2013 for book number 8. Rude.

Open: Andre Agassi's autobiography. Jeff got this book for his birthday and I read it to kill time, assuming it would be snoozeville but I loved it. Totally addictive and fascinating, despite my utter ignorance of tennis. This made me think I should be reading more autobiographies.

No Great Mischief: Boring. A little interesting, but mostly boring. I couldn't quite finish this book about sad Scottish immigrants living in Canada.

Can I interject for just one moment?

2011-11-20T21:06:00.001-08:00

To say how much I HATE BLOGGER? It's too bad I'm so supremely lazy that I will probably never do anything other than complain about it. Granted I'm not amazingly tech savvy, but isn't that the whole point? That even an idiot can have a blog? Then why can I only upload one photo at a time instead of just uploading a folder of 4 images? And why can I sometimes click on images within my post and resize them manually and other times have a completely different response (i.e. NONE) that requires me to edit it manually in html? And I don't need to ask why, because I know why editing html makes me want to slit my wrists - because it's ANNOYING. And tedious. And so unnecessary!

Anyways, I tried to add images of the book jackets to my post below but it looks like shite because I grew tired of fighting blogger and ... whatever. I'm wasting too much energy on this rant.

Apologies.

August, September and October Books

2011-11-11T12:06:00.000-08:00

Beat by Amy Boaz- This was a book club read and it was sort of "meh". It's about a woman who flees her marriage with her 7 year old daughter to Paris. Sounds exotic, but in the end most to all of the characters are unlikeable and ... who am I kidding? As soon as you read "meh" you skipped to the next book review, because who is going to go out of their way to find a book at the library (because something tells me it would be hard to find this one at Barnes and Noble (it's currently for sale on Amazon for 1 penny) that was summed up as "meh"?

Super Sad True Love Story - So I totally hated this book, BUT I get the impression it's very polarizing and many people really love it. As opposed to "Beat" which I think most people would agree is unanimously mediocre, this book is probably still worth reading despite my strong dislike for it. This book smacked of all sorts of things that rubbed me wrong and while I could go on and on, I'm not feeling like picking a fight right at this moment.

Essentially, it boiled down to the fact that this was an extremely negative book that paints a very grim picture of the US in the not too distant future. It's filled with what I guess could be described as very dark humor that I did not think was very funny. I would compare it to that person you know who says things like, "I'm just kidding" or "I'm just being honest" when really they are just being an asshole. It wore the costume of humor, but under the mask, I felt a sea of bitterness, anger and pettiness lurking.

I read for pleasure and escape, not to have all the terrible things about America made more terrible and rubbed in my face. I have a 2 year old - I have enough unpalatable things thrown in my face all the time; I don't need to add Debby Downer books to the list.

The Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummins - Loaned to me by my Mom. I really enjoyed this book, but it wasn't until a third of the way through that I really dug my heels in and felt addicted. This is narrated by a 12 year old Irish boy who lives with his father and extended family as "Travelers" (aka gypsies) in the 1950s. Solid plot, well told and it captured an interesting slice of life that I don't think I've read about before.

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - I read this quite a long time ago now and barely remember it. I do remember being alternately very into this book and then going through phases of boredom. To sum up my vague memory of this book: a kind of creepy story about a female prisoner in a women's facility in the early 1900's (I think? Maybe it was the 1800's) for a double murder where you can't ever quite figure out whether she killed the guys or not. Which I suppose is the point, but I like a reward at the end of chugging through a thick mystery and while this one had a bit of a reveal, it wasn't quite enough to satisfy me.

Library book that I couldn't finish - It was called Something and Something... maybe George and Aurther? Something like that. Two dudes names. Anyways, the author sounded vaguely familiar and the plot sounded interesting but in reality it was quite boring. I kept waiting for the two guys to cross paths like was promised on the book jacket. But once I got like 400 pages in and still no sign of path-crossing, I grew irritated and returned it before racking up crazy late fees at the Library.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett- Amazing, wonderful and totally consistent with everything from Ann Patchett. Boy do I have an author crush on her. She really knows how to make up a good story and then develop fascinating characters. I could care less about how implausible some parts may be - it was still one of the best books I've read this year and you should totally choose this for your next book club pick.

The Brightest Star in the Sky - The latest Marian Keyes book. Not bad I guess. I should probably just reread Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married and see if it's still as good (in a guilty pleasure way) as I remember, because none of Marian's recent books have lived up to that standard for me. But maybe it's like my memory of that show Rags to Riches from the 80's - entirely colored by the fact that I was like 7. Except with Marian Keyes I was probably more like 23. Maybe Marian Keyes is just better left for the 23 year olds out there.

Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater - this is a weird book my Dad gave me. It's kind of meant for kids, but not really. It was smart, amusing and took a day or two to read but I never would have picked it up myself. It's about some kids who like comic books and go hunting for a giant chicken that supposedly roamed the streets of their small NY suburb 20 years ago. I told you it was weird.

May, June and July - Quick recap-style

2011-07-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy - there are no words to tell you how bad this book was. For reals Maeve? Is it possible that Circle of Friends was this bad and I just didn't notice because I was 15?

Some other book my Mom gave me that sucked slightly less than Nights of Rain and Stars. I can't remember the name or find the book.

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell - and yes, the exclamation point is a part of the title. Loved this book, maybe my favorite from our year of book club reads.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford- local book by local author about the internment camps during WWII. It was a sweet romance with interesting history about that period of time in the northwest.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain- A book about Earnest Hemingway's first wife Hadley and their time in Paris. How great is the name Hadley btw? The book was pretty good too. Despite it making me like Earnest Hemingway slightly less than I already did. The Sun Also Rises? SNOOZE alert.

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon- Loved. But then again, I also loved his first book Shadow of the Wind. Complicated and confusing, but in the best sort of way.

Bossypants by Tina Fey - Double loved. Despite the fact that it's a bit disjointed/rambly at times, it's still brilliant. I particularly loved the chapter about her father, Don Fey and the suggestions she makes for beauty and grooming. Oh, and the ideas of how to gain more "me time" when you have a baby. I ask you, is there anything funnier than self-deprecating humor? I don't think there is.

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht - Did I already mention this one? I don't think so. Mostly I felt annoyed reading this book that someone who is approximately 10 years old wrote it and somehow manages to sound like someone with 50 years of wisdom under her belt. It's too late for me to be a child prodigy! Sigh.

Just Kids by Patti Smith - One time, I got to see Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye perform in a tiny room with only like 30 other people. It was awesome. She is so FASCINATING! And while punk rock isn't really my bag, it's hard to deny that Patti is a bad ass chick. She talks about her early days in New York City, living in the Hotel Chelsea and hanging out with Janis Joplin. This book is good stuff.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen - You guys. As I type this list, I'm realizing how many great books I've read this summer! Many. This is another one of them. Don't be scared by it's bajillion pages, or by the fact that The Corrections was hard to slog through (for me, maybe not for you). Franzen is a bit of a relentless downer, but his writing is so smart and cutting that I was willing to ignore that.

Catch Up - 6 books

2011-04-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

An inarticulate summary of the books I've read in the last month or so...

Russian Winter - This is a book from my Mom's book club that she loaned me. Lots of ballet and Russian cold war drama. It's been a while since I finished it, so my memory isn't very specific, but I loved all the ballet and the story is engaging. That said, I remember finding something a bit lacking overall - like the plot was missing a piece that would make it all a bit more sophisticated. A little less obvious which way the plot was going...

Peace like a River - This book surprised me. Another freebie from my Christmas haul, I didn't expect to feel very engaged. Namely because it sounded a bit wild west to me and I'm not a fan of cowboys and horses. That said, I remember finding the writing to be pretty top notch, surprising me occasionally with such smart prose that I was caught off guard. The story is narrated by a young boy (12ish?) in the 60's, who along with his clever little sister named Swede and his quirky Father go on a cross country adventure, looking for his older brother Davey who is accused of killing two of his peers and has escaped jail on a horse.

You Remind me of Me - My latest book club pick, which we meet about tomorrow. This book was beautifully written and sadder than sad. The characters are fascinating and real and the plot captivating, but given the sadness of it, I have to recommend it with a caveat. The book starts out with a few different stories - a 6 year old boy is attacked by his Mother's doberman, a young girl living in a house for pregnant teens in the 70's, and a teenage boy contemplating becoming a drug dealer. Eventually the author connects the dots until all the characters are sharing a story.

The Last Child - I plowed through this mystery in one weekend. My friend Jessie who always gets me hooked on the most addictive books (The Hunger Games, The Outlander series) gave me this book for my birthday last month and while there are definite flaws to the book, it sucks you in like nobodies business. The narration is a bit "cowboy" for my liking in the beginning, filled with swaggery sentences that when added up are a bit eye rolly. The characters aren't exactly original, but the plot is! The story follows Johnny Merrimon, a 13 year old boy who's twin sister was abducted the year prior. He's determined to track her down himself and will stop at nothing to find her (swaggery sentence anyone?). Then there's Clyde Hunt, the rule breaking detective who's lost everything trying to solve the case and is worried about Johnny and his beautiful and fragile Mother. But don't let my mockery sway you - it's not on the NYTimes Bestseller list for nothing! And I'm totally going to check out his other books. If you're looking for an engrossing mystery - this is a good one. It would be the perfect vacation read.

The Binding Chair - Foot binding is creepy! And gross! This was another freebie book and while it's not bad, it's not great either. I'm finding it hard to summarize this plot, so I peeked at the back of the book's description and it's vague - "Set in alluring Shanghai at the turn of the century, The Binding Chair intertwines the destinies of a Chinese woman determined to forget her past and A western girl focused on the promises of the future." I found this to be kind of a frustrating read. It's interesting and well written, but missing a solid plot to tie it all together.

The Historian - Creepy vampire book! And not in an Edward and Bella way, more of a Vlad Dracula in the middle ages way. The woman narrating this book is supposedly telling the story of her Father and his search for the story of the real Dracula - Vlad Teppes Dracula from the 1400's. It's creepy and jumps around in time and is full of weird and interesting facts. I read the whole thing wondering how much of it was real and how much of it made up. It's all conspiracy theoryrific - teasing you with the idea that there is a modern group of men and women (typically historians) who anonymously receive a creepy book with Dracula's seal on it that sends them into a spiraling search for Dracula. Is he still alive/undead? Are there really vampires? Follow the unlucky historians over time that track down the origins of the book to Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and other mysterious countries. I don't want to sell this too hard, because the truth is that it gets a bit tedious at times, but I still found it creepily fascinating.

Open House

2011-02-17T19:19:00.000-08:00

I think this might be my second Elizabeth Berg book? I feel the same about all her books though. I'm also pretty sure I came upon both in the same manner. Every year, my mother-in-law helps with a big book sale for charity (I think that's what it is at least). I'm not sure, but I think all the leftover books get divided up and somehow I always end up getting a giant box of free books at Christmas. The box of books is always addressed to my sister-in-law Kathleen and me - both of us are avid readers. We typically just pull a book out each and as long as we haven't read them, keep the one we happened to have pulled out, then keep going until the box is empty. We both end up with something like 10 new books per year in this manner. It's great. But it can make for a weird, mixed bag of books.

Well, clearly someone who donates to this sale every year really likes Elizabeth Berg because I think I get at least one of her books every year. Someone else also clearly likes trashy chic lit too because I almost always get one of those in the mix. But I can't complain because this year I also got a few real winners. And Kathleen and I haven't even switched books yet!

Anyways, I think Elizabeth Berg's books are maybe for a generation above me, or at least being over 40 would be helpful. They are very much books about a certain time in your life, and I think I just haven't reached that time yet. I'm just not quiet ready to relate to mothers of middle schoolers, in fact I'm not really ready to admit that I will ever be one. And I'm definitely not able to relate to the fall-out of divorce, which is what this book is all about.

All of that trash talk aside - she's a good writer. She really captures the essence of being lonely, sad and what it means to struggle with the question "What am I doing with my life?" I liked her descriptions of the main character wandering through the house and the funny/weird things you do when you know that no one is watching (like take off all your clothes and examine your body in the mirror). It only took me a day to read, but I can't say I'd really recommend it. Unless you're over 40, are a parent to a middle school aged child, and/or are going through a divorce. In which case, I definitely recommend it.

Sweet Love

2011-02-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

This book was terrible. Don't read it.

Parrot and Olivier in America

2011-02-17T14:50:00.001-08:00

This was a book club pick and I read it so long ago now that I'm struggling to remember what I liked about it.

It's incredibly well written, but it's definitely not the kind of book you can just sink comfortably into. In many ways, I was about halfway through it before I started to look forward to reading before bed. But there are certain descriptions and bits of dry humor in there that surprise you (in a good way). I think more than anything, I appreciated the insight into early America that this book provided. The story is told by two narrators - Olivier, a French nobleman and Parrot, a poor Brit. Both travel to America post-French Revolution in a tangled web that links them together and their unique insights and opinions on America were fascinating.

Cutting for Stone

2011-02-17T14:50:00.000-08:00

I loved this book. Well, maybe one step below "love"? I'm always hesitant to use that word with books unless I was totally smitten. But this book was a great combination: articulate and thoughtful, but also completely engrossing.

The story is about Marion, who is a twin to his brother Shiva. I confess to loving books about twins. Marion and Shiva were born to a nun (read: scandal) in Ethiopia who dies in childbirth. The father, a physician at the hospital where the nun worked, flees the scene. The book is Marion's story - it follows his entire childhood and has major themes of coming of age, family, unrequited love, politics, Ethiopian history (who knew it was so fascinating!?) and probably most of all - tragedy. Someone I know who read this book agreed that it was good, but was bothered by all the bummers that befall Marion in his life. Once she'd said that, I will confess that I started to notice these things more, but all in all, I still loved(?) the book. It's also important to mention that Marion and Shiva don't end up living an impoverished and depressed life having been orphaned at birth. In fact they are taken in by the hospital staff who live on the premises and they have a wonderful, warm and loving family. The early chapters about Hema and Gosh (other doctors at the hospital) were some of my favorites. I also loved when the book comes full circle towards the end when Marion moves to New York and we find what became of his father.

Anywhooo, I would highly recommend this for a book club pick.

The Hunger Games Trilogy - The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and The Mockingjay

2011-02-12T14:50:00.004-08:00

OMG. This was the most addictive reading I've done since I can't remember when. It's young adult reading, and I don't recommend it unless you're on board with that. And I know that some of you feel about YA Fiction the way I feel when someone tries to recommend a "Graphic Novel" (barf). But if you can climb on board the young adult train with me - I'm telling you that you will be rewarded. This reeks of something I would trash, but it's so suspenseful and fascinating that I couldn't help but love it. It actually reminded me a lot of another YA trilogy that I loved - The Golden Compass (I think the trilogy is called "His Dark Materials").

The stories take place in a post-apocalyptic North America where there is now the country of Panem. Panem is ruled by "The Capitol", which is surrounded by 12 outlying districts that all exist to support the Capitol. The Capitol is a terrible dictatorship and after an uprising in the now non-existent District 13 seventy four years earlier, the Capitol devised The Hunger Games. Each year, every district is forced to draw the names of one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 and these children will be sent to a large and creepy outdoor arena devised by the Capitol to battle it out for the death on live TV. Only one child is allowed to live. They do this to remind everyone in the districts that the Capitol is all-powerful and to keep the Districts submissive and scardy pants (and because they are eeeeeevil).

So, back to the story - 16 year old Katniss Everdeen (yes, everyone has weird and bad names in this book, but again, you must climb on board) is our heroine because she volunteers to take her little sister's place when her name is drawn. And that's really all I want to tell you. Except there is suspense, violence, unrequited love, drama, rebellion, and weird futuristic scenarios that are oddly fascinating. Like to the point where you try to fall asleep but CAN'T because all you want to know is what will happen next?!

I can't even remember

2011-01-06T22:02:00.000-08:00

I've read so many books since last posting that I can't even remember them. Or maybe it's because so many of them were Terrible that I don't remember them? Regardless, I'm going to stop apologizing for the infrequent posts of late because, well, I'm not actually sorry.

I will now present to you the blog post equivalent of a mash-up wherein I tell you what I've read (and can remember) in the last month or so.

A Reliable Wife
Meh. Saucy but in a creepy, bummed-me-out kind of way.

All that Matters
Ha! Turns out the free section of the library where you don't have to check the books out (you can literally just take them and return them on the honor system) is free FOR A REASON. Why I finished this book I'm not sure. Maybe because I was expecting some steamy lovin' at the end? Expectations not met. Leading me to:

The Accidental Wedding
Good Saucy. I mean, it's bad of course. But good.

To Catch a Bride
Bad Saucy.

The Kid
Funny and smart. Inappropriate but in the best of ways. Classic Dan Savage and in novel form!

The Human Stain
My first Phillip Roth experience. The title grosses me out still, but I was very impressed with the prose. It was a thinking book. I mean, not as complex as "The Accidental Wedding" but still... That said, I had to stop in the middle (something I hate doing) because I realized our next book club was meeting soon and I hadn't started our next read! So I've now moved onto:

Parrot and Olivier in America and hope that by the time I finish it, I will still feel some motivation to return to The Human Stain.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

2010-11-21T17:36:00.000-08:00

It feels like it's been ages since I really loved a book. You know, the kind of book that comes along once or twice a year - the one that makes it hard to tolerate any activity other than reading because you must know what happens next. This book didn't quite reach that level of love for me, but I did find myself surprisingly sucked in. More so than I have in a while.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie features an 11 year old Brit named Flavia deLuce who is pretty much completely unbelievable in her Doogie Howserness but is nonetheless charming and so smartly written that I bought into her reality anyways. She lives on a remote English estate post WWII with her sad, widowed father and two snooty older sisters. She's a solitary aspiring chemist that keeps mostly to an old science lab located in one of the far off wings of her family estate, making poisons to use on her sisters.

When a dead jack snipe with a stamp on its beak appears on her doorstop she's intrigued. But when she finds a dead body in the cucumber patch the following morning, she launches into a mini murder mystery adventure.

I really quite liked this book and think I might pick up the next "Flavia deLuce mystery" soonish.

Twenties Girl

2010-11-16T20:31:00.001-08:00

Wow. So many embarrassing things to say - where to start? First, I paid for this book. Second, I bought it because I confused Sophie Kinsella (the author) with Marian Keyes (an old favorite chick lit author of mine). Third I continued to think I was reading a Marian Keyes book the entire time I read the book. Which lead me to frequently think things like, "Wow Marian this book is TERRIBLE! What's happened to you? I mean, This Charming Man wasn't that good, but it was a hell of a lot more entertaining than THIS!"

It wasn't until I finished the entire book (which in my defense only took 2 days) that I saw an ad for a new book in the Shopaholic series on the last page. And I was all, "Huh? Why is there an ad for Shopaholic when this book is by.... oh.... WHAT?" So yeah, I'm a bozo. But so is Sophie Kinsella because this book is about a girl who gets visited by the ghost of her great aunt Sadie and they have weird and not terribly hilarious hijinks involving finding a missing necklace that is VERY important and really?

Waiting

2010-11-16T20:14:00.000-08:00

My desire to write thoughtful and humorous reviews has (temporarily, I hope) left me. I haven't become the ultimate cliche of a new mother - I'm still reading! I just don't feel much enthusiasm for sitting down at the end of the day to write about it. Waiting was a book club pick and while I'm glad to have read it, I struggled with liking the characters and got kind of sick of the ... waiting. The book takes place in communist China and follows a guy (I can't remember his name) who lives in the big city while his wife - through an arranged marriage - lives back in their small town raising their daughter. He falls for another, more modern woman and for 18 years he visits his wife and asks for a divorce. This was a story of waiting and while a fascinating look at China in the 60s, 70s and 80s, the characters annoyed and the drawn out waiting drove me a bit bananas. Waiting has never really been my forte though.

Death in Holy Orders

2010-10-19T21:59:00.000-07:00

A well written mystery that I think might have sequels? It's lacking a bit in believability and I thought the mystery was a tad too easy to solve before the big reveal. I like a mystery that sort of blows your mind when solved and this one didn't really do that, but I was still hooked by the twists and turns it took to get you there.

The book follows Detective Dalgleish (who I believe can be followed in many other mysteries by the same author) as he investigates the death of a young ordinand studying at a small theological college located on the edge of a cliff (which I mention mostly because I felt like the cliffs themselves became a character in the book). The murder suspects are the staff, religious students and priests at the college. More deaths ensue, and the mystery is wrapped up rather nicely at the end. It was a good read but the plot felt a little old-timey, murder she wrote style. Which made sense when I read the author profile - at the age of 80, she's apparently known as Britain's Queen of crime.

Faithful Place

2010-10-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

Tana French fans will not be disappointed. Well. Actually, they might be a TINY bit disappointed. The story isn't quit as gripping (as her first two novels), and the mystery is a shade less creepy and well... mysterious than the first two books in this quasi-series, but it's still smart, funny and addictive.

I actually own this now, so if any of you fans out there want to borrow, let me know!

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?

2010-10-15T12:17:00.000-07:00

Bedtime story time.

Olive Kitteridge

2010-09-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

I read this book last month and barely remember it. Naughty book blogger. What I can say is that I was impressed and disappointed by this book.

The novel follows a variety of people in the same small town, all of which are touched in one way or another - some in larger ways than others - by retired school teacher Olive Kitteridge. Each chapter introduces you to a new person and while some stories connect, most chapters can almost stand alone.

The way the author captures a voice is uncanny - I would start to get sucked in to a character, but then that particular plot line would end and another would pick up. Which was the disappointment part. The story telling was so real, and the depictions of relationships (especially marriages) so uplifting and heart breaking at the same time. But you never get any real resolution because of the book's format and for that reason, I'm not sure I can fully recommend it.

The Coral Thief

2010-09-10T17:10:00.001-07:00

This was our last book club pick and it had all the ingredients of a great read. But somehow it fell short on almost all levels.

Daniel Connor is a young medical student who is on his way to Paris in 1815 (shortly after Napoleon has been exiled) to study with the top researchers at Jardin Des Plantes. Once there he realizes that his credentials and rare coral specimens that he was to present to his new supervisor have been stolen by the mysterious and beautiful woman who sat next to him on the ride into town. He gets pulled into her secret circle of thief friends, finds himself falling in love with her, and there's French police chases, mystery, and capers. Yet somehow it all.... I don't know... felt a little Snoozeville to me. Which apparently Blogger doesn't deem a real word.

I had a hard time believing the "love" between Daniel and the coral thief - who we come to know as Lucienne Bernard, I didn't find her particularly likable, I thought he was a bit boring and in the end, I had a difficult time feeling engaged in the story. There wasn't anything very specifically wrong with the book, I just never found myself dying to pick it back up. In the end, most of the book club members felt the same way so there was obviously something missing here.

All that said, I don't want to be a complete Negative Nancy so I will say that there are chapters that follow the story of exiled Napoleon and they were great. I'll confess to very little French history and this was a peek into a fascinating era that made me want to read more (about Napoleon, not more of this particular book). I also liked reading about the Paris of 1815 - the underground passages, the police, the stolen art that filled the Louvre, and the exotic animals in the Jardin located in the center of the city. I wish I'd known more about this period in history before we traveled to Paris.

Apologies all around

2010-09-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

Um. Wow. I've been supremely negligent. I've read a few books and then written absolutely nothing about them. In my defense, my life lately has been a comdram (do they make those?) I'd call "Three Weddings and an Ear Infection" so before you say anything snotty just picture me up all night with a shrieking one year old, pacing the dark street outside in my pajamas while stepping on snails in my slippers. Who knew there was a secret population of about 5 bajillion snails on our street and that they ALL come out to chill on the sidewalk at midnight? The sound of me accidentally (and unavoidably - did I mention that there are 5 bajillion of them??) stepping on one of those buggers in the quiet of the late night was a sickening crunch that was loud enough to wake the child I had finally lulled to sleep. Gross.

So anyways, I've pretty much lost my readership with my recent apathy and am starting to wonder if I should even bother keeping up this blog? If any of you care to keep reading my infrequent and whiny reviews, speak now or forever hold your peace. See? Too many weddings this summer. What I'm saying is that if you actually read this site and would like to see me continue to post book reviews here, let me know and I'll take it under advisement. But don't just say you read them to make me feel better! This is unnecessary, I promise.

In case you *do* want to see reviews, I've read Olive Kitteridge, The Coral Thief (for book club), Faithful Place (the new Tana French), and am just about finished with Death at Holy Orders.

The Girl Who Kicked the Honet's Nest

2010-07-31T19:21:00.001-07:00

The third and final in the Lisbeth Salander series. Boy did I love the first book in this series. Then I think I read the second one shortly after it came out, which was also shortly before I went into labor with my daughter. Which means that it's been almost a year since I read it. For those of you who haven't read this series (are there any of you?) you know that these books are complicated. And have many characters. With foreign, hard to remember names that all sound similar with their crazy umlauts and gasa-stanla-stradas. So when The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest starts off with a bang and very little recap, I was all, "Wha?"

Eventually I caught on and fell back into the groove, but I will say that the language that gave me a slight rash in the second book shifted into full gear in this book. The conversation style is just so unrealistic! I suppose something has been lost in the translation from Swedish, but it's not just the dialogue, the whole book feels a bit bullet-pointish to me. It's all, "She puts on her shoes and leaves the house. It is 4:18pm. She is wearing black slacks and a light blue sweater." And I'm all, "That's all you've got for me?" In my opinion, the beauty of these books definitely lies in the story, not the writing. And the story sucks me in EVERY TIME. I don't even know if I like any of the characters, but I can't stop reading. Oh and I'm totally going to see the movie.

The Imperfectionists

2010-07-31T19:05:00.000-07:00

Oh you guys. I don't remember much of anything about this book anymore. I read it over a month ago for my book club and was waiting to post until after our discussion. But then I put it off so long that I actually just entirely forgot about it. The Imperfectionists was actually my book club pick, so I can't really blame anyone for the fact that it gave me a major case of the bummers. The NY Times gave it a pretty fabulous review and the book IS well written; it's smart, interesting and in many ways feels very real. Maybe too real?

Perhaps I should back up and tell you the basic plot first. The book takes place in Rome at an English language newspaper. Each chapter follows one of the employees at the paper and you get a sneak into their life for 30-50 pages. One employee finds that his girlfriend is having an affair, one sad young girl starts dating a total loser and lets him take advantage of him. Their aging stringer living in Paris can't find a story and struggles with finances and his irrelevance. It had a slight short-story feel to it, which if I'm honest I'll admit that I sort of hate short stories. It's just that I like getting sucked into a plot and I love love character development. Short stories just don't have enough space to do either of these things sufficiently for me - I'm always just about sucked in when boom. It's over. Cue disappointment. But I digress. My disappointment in this book wasn't so much about it's short storiness, as much as the crushing statement it makes about humanity. People are so annoying! And petty! And I don't know. It's probably all very true and maybe that's why I didn't like reading about it. But I'm really over focusing on that part. The truth is that the book is really well written, very articulate and a fascinating study in real people. I was worried about the book club meeting, thinking that everyone might have hated it for its sadness, but it ended up making for a very lively discussion.

Outlander Series: Fiery Cross and Breath of Snow and Ashes

2010-07-28T20:51:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. But I can't stop! Also, my holds on both of these books came up on the same day. So then I had to hurry and read both in time to return them to the library. Only these books are gigantic. So I ended up having to renew the second one and it took me forever to read them. Also, I think I forgot to review The Imperfectionists which I read over a month ago? Is that true? If so, expect a crappy review (crappily written, not crappy feedback) shortly. ANYWAYS!

So I read The Fiery Cross (book 6)

and A Breath of Snow and Ashes (book 7) of this series and I'm still enjoying them. The thing is, Diana Gabaldon is a good writer! She weaves a fascinating tale speckled with historical fiction, romance, and mystery and it's actually very smart. Granted the last book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes started to get just the teensiest bit ridiculous, but after 5 books (each over 1000 pages) I guess Diana's starting to get creative with the plot. But the truth is that I kind of like that in just one book Jamie and Claire manage to: get hit by lightening, get kidnapped (separately), be attacked and seek bloody revenge, meet historically famous people, have their house burned down, meet time travelers, be accused of murder, and get caught up in a plot involving stolen gold and marauding pirates. It's terrible yet fantastic. That said, I think I really will take a break before reading the final book of the series. I'm a little Jamie and Claire'd out.

I'm currently half way through The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and then need to hurry and start the book for my next book club meeting - The Coral Thief.

How I Live Now

2010-06-26T06:49:00.000-07:00

This is a young adult book that will take you a day or two to read. The book is narrated by a teenage girl who goes to England to stay with cousins and gets trapped there when a war breaks out. I'm not usually a big fan of the futuristic-type war books (Handmaid's Tale, The Road) because they freak me out a bit. I don't like putting an actual story to the scary possibility of a war in the Western World, in modern times. I suppose that's the whole point of reading books like this though - to gain perspective about those that *do* live in countries torn apart by war.

This story was slightly different as it was told through the eyes of a 15 year old girl and while there were definitely some chilling moments, it seemed more accurate and less creepy than the adult versions of this type of story. I wish I had something more articulate to say about this book (because it deserves it) but what can I say? It's 6:57am and I've already been up for an hour and a half today. And it's SATURDAY. My daughter decided that 5:30am was a fun time to wake up today and as I type this I'm watching her pull each of my books off the shelf and taste them. Her favorite so far seems to be Everything is Illuminated.

The Forgotten Garden

2010-06-16T15:27:00.001-07:00

Another book club reject that I thoroughly enjoyed. The book is about Nell, who on her 21st birthday in the 1920s, is told that her parents aren't really her parents. Her father - a dockmaster in Australia - found her on the wharf at the age of 4, all alone with a child's suitcase containing a beautiful book of children's fairy tales and little else, with no memory of her family. He and his wife took her in and raised her as their own. Nell goes in search of her true history in the 1970's but isn't able to solve the mystery entirely before her death in 2005. The story skips between three eras - the early 1900s where the truth of her mystery childhood is slowly revealed, the 1970s where we find out what Nell discovered during her personal search, and 2005 when her granddaughter Cassandra goes in search of the full story after her Nell's death.

I definitely liked the earliest story line the best - it was all secret garden and full of cool and creepy characters. Sure there were a few too many deathbed revelations/confessions than were rightly believable, and things got a little away-with-the-faeries but the book is full of mystery and intrigue and Kate Morton tells a good story.

Drums of Autumn (book 4 in the Outlander series)

2010-06-16T15:24:00.000-07:00

Listen, I'm not proud, okay? But my hold came up at the library and I read it. And I liked it. Enough said, right?

The Lonely Polygamist

2010-06-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

This was the red headed step-child that was not picked by my book club. Instead we voted in The Imperfectionists (which we meet to discuss soon, so that review will probably wait until then). I gobbled up The Imperfectionists and now hardly remember anything to discuss for book club, and then moved on to The Lonely Polygamist.

I thought this book was funny, smart, fascinating and surprisingly touching. It mostly revolves around the story of Golden Richards, who is "living The Principal" in a polygamist community in Utah. He has four wives and 28 children and he's having a midlife crisis. He's having an affair with another woman (ironic, no?) and is still trying to get over the accidental death of one of his children. He's overwhelmed by his larger than life family and seems to have stepped into this exotic lifestyle almost by accident.

The book isn't really about the soap-style drama of having multiple wives, but it does touch on the every day inconveniences and frustrations. Many of the chapters are actually focused on some of the more introverted members of the family - for example Rusty the 11 year old "trouble maker" and Trish, "The 4th Wife", and it makes you think less about the morality of polygamy and more about what Family means and the effects of parents' choices on their children. I loved the chapters narrated by Rusty - they reminded me of how much I fell in love with Oskar in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I'm not saying that this book had the same kind of emotional impact on me, but I still got really attached to Rusty and found myself giggling (and feeling intense sympathy) at how accurately the author captured the voice of a pre-pubescent boy.

I think the book isn't out in paperback yet, but when it does get released, I definitely recommend it.

Little Bee

2010-05-16T20:01:00.001-07:00

This was the second book selected for my new book club. We all agreed that while it was a good book, it wasn't particularly enjoyable to read. Little Bee alternates narratives between Sarah, a British magazine head with a four year old boy who never takes off his Batman costume; and Little Bee, a 16 year old Nigerian refugee who has experienced many, many terrible things.

The two met on a beach (with Sarah's husband and Little Bee's sister) 2 years prior to the start of the novel. The "meeting" on the beach is referenced from the start of the book but doesn't fully reveal itself until midway through the book. They meet back up in the present day when Little Bee illegally enters England as a refugee.

I won't spoil it for you, but I will say this: This book is a major Bummer.

It reminded me that horrible things happen and filled me with privileged guilt. All of us in the book club took issue with similar things in the book - the graphic descriptions of rape and murder were a little overly horrible, it was incredibly disturbing to read, few of the characters were very likable and several elements seemed to lack either continuity or believability (It is worth saying that I definitely believe that terrible things happen in places like Nigeria (and other places as well, for that matter), it was just some of the details in this particular story that I struggled with on occasion. Which I can't call into question without major spoilers).

With all that said, it was a terribly readable book, I had a very hard time putting it down, and tore through it in about 3 days flat. I expect we'll be seeing a film made of it within the next few years.

Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager

2010-05-14T21:58:00.001-07:00

You guys. Sometimes I read books that wouldn't be described as "high brow". This would be one of those times. So here's my story and I'm sticking to it:

A few years ago I finished the book Mary Queen of Scots - a true story in approximately 5 bajillion pages about ... guess who?! Yes, Mary Queen of Scots. We were on Orcas without television or other distractions so I went to the one bookstore in town and looked for a new book. The first book that struck my fancy was called Outlander. It had a simple blue cover and was described as being about Scotland in the 1700's. Having recently boarded the Scotland train, this sounded appealing.

So you can imagine my surprise when really the book is about a nurse from the 1940's, traveling in Scotland, who accidentally time travels to the 1700s, falls in love with a hot Scottish warrior and does it with him in the heather every chance she gets. Aaaand you will extra imagine my surprise when I kind of loved it. But seriously. The story is addictive in an Edward Cullen way (but featuring adults. and better writing. and real sex.) and when I finished it I learned that there was not only a sequel, but like 9 books in the series!

Flash forward a week when I'm at Barnes and Noble looking for the next book in the series. But when I can't find it in fiction, the store employee directs me to the romance section. The ROMANCE SECTION! I know, right? Too embarrassing. I turned around and left empty handed.

Okay. Flash forward again, only this time like 3 years to two weeks ago. We're on Orcas at the same book store (hi Darvills!) and I notice Dragonfly in Amber, the second book in the Outlander series. And who are we kidding? Something about giving birth and breastfeeding and wearing elastic waist pants for like 9 months just allows the whole concept of shame to set sail. I just don't have it in me to feel embarrassed anymore. Plus, when you're holding a cute baby while purchasing a trashy book, everyone is generally too busy cooing at your baby to notice what you're buying. Or at least this is what I tell myself.

And here's the deal. I read Dragonfly in Amber AND Voyager (the third book in the series - which incidentally has been moved to the fiction section at Barnes and Noble now and one of the employees told me it was because a dude that worked there got super into the books and made them move the series so he didn't have to admit to reading a romance novel). Also? I don't think I can stop. At least not yet. And I don't think I'm alone. Because there are like 15 holds on each and every one of the 9 books in this series at the Library.

Recap

2010-04-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

Wow. Where to start? Should I tell you about the book club I joined? Or maybe I should actually try reviewing one of the bajillion books I've read since reviewing The Help. And by bajillion I mean 3. It's all relative, right? I mean, once you have a kid, reading *A* book is such a coup that reading 3 in one month is pretty much mind blowing. And we don't need to mention that one of them was *cough cough* munhhhhdredpgggs *cough*. What? Oh, you couldn't understand me just then? FINE! I said that one of the books was only one hundred pages! Alright? Feel better now that you've made me admit that? Well, if you think that's bad, wait til I tell you that one of the others was written by Jodi Piccoult. I know, right? No shame.

Okay, I'll get down to business and start reviewing.

Keeping Faith
Meh. I don't know. Jodi Piccoult tells a decent (if totally implausible) story. Faith is a regular 7 year-old who suddenly starts talking to God and suffering from stigmata. Her mother struggles to protect her from the mobs of "followers" she develops while she also recovers from the shock of walking in on her husband with another woman. Again. I got this book for free a while ago and it was a quick guilty pleasure read in a pinch.

Home Game

A birthday gift that was devoured in 24 hours, this book is about the joys (and not-joys) of fatherhood. In particular, the first few weeks of fatherhood. It's funny, smart and real. My only real complaint is that so often men write irreverent stories about fatherhood and play into the idea that men are incompetent in a funny sort of way but that women are heroes and innately in love with their kids even while they scream in their faces. Oh what am I saying? Women ARE heroes and men ARE bozos!

I also tried to read A Lesson Before Dying, but accidently left it at home when we took a trip to Orcas Island, so I bought another book on the island and consequently ditched ALBD. I might come back to it in time. But I need to read the book for my next book club meeting! Which is Little Bee. Have you heard of it? I think you probably have; it's only because I live in a hole called Stay At Home Mom Land that I haven't, right?

Oh! And also I read The End of the Alphabet.

Which is a sweet little book about a couple who decide to travel to a city for very letter in the alphabet (Amsterdam to Zambia) when they find that the husband only has 30 days to live. If you're someone who needs character development (as I do) to really enjoy a book, this one probably isn't for you, but it did have some redeeming qualities- thought provoking, well written, etc...

The Panda Book

2010-04-18T15:26:00.001-07:00

Edie loves this book more than anyone has ever loved anything. I present to you a photo essay of me reading her the panda book in which I wiggle my finger vigorously in the Panda finger puppet and make funny voices.

The Help

2010-03-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

SO ADDICTIVE. My Mom also loaned this book to me and I feel sort of depressed that I finished it. What will I read now? I think everyone has either read this or knows what it's about so I won't give a detailed description here. It's essentially about three women in Jackson Mississippi in the early 1960's. Two of them are African American and work as maids for white families and one is a white girl who has convinced them to help her write a book about their experiences working for white women. I really loved it.

Faceless Killers

2010-03-25T17:04:00.000-07:00

This was my attempt to recreate my love for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Swedish author? Check. Murder mystery? Check. Potential for sequels? CHECK.

It was pretty good. I'm not sure I'll rush out to buy the next one, but I'll probably read it soonish. The mystery was very perplexing and I didn't really know how it was going to end - which is important for me when it comes to mysteries. Kurt Wallander - the detective in this mystery series is complex (also important). But it wasn't quite as smart and addictive as the Dragon Tattoo series. It's like Dragon Tattoo lite.

Also - I can't make the image of this book smaller. Sorry. Blogger hates my Mac and I don't have the energy to fight it.

Deadly Errors

2010-03-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

My Mom loaned me this book. The cover is sort of embarrassing.

It's about a brain surgeon in Seattle who discovers that the hospital's new electronic medical record system is making mistakes and causing deaths. It turns into a thriller slash mystery where the FBI asks him to investigate and lives are threatened and ... it was okay. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed it - but it wasn't particularly believable. Or believable at all actually. I did love how accurate the descriptions of Seattle were and I could picture every location described in perfect detail. And it's pretty cool that the author is an actual brain surgeon. I mean I was essentially a party planner before having my daughter and I wasn't capable of also writing a book, much less get it published. So the fact that this dude is able to save lives AND write a book? Impressed.

But the whole plot - while grounded in plausibility - became kind of ridiculous when an FBI agent blackmails the main character into risking his life (multiple times) to do his job for him. Said FBI agent also doesn't seem to care much that others who have looked into the mystery are being murdered left and right. Really? Call me an optimist, but I like to think that the FBI have my best interest in mind and wouldn't threaten me into getting killed by greedy hospital administrators while they sit back and watch.

The Summer Guest

2010-02-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

I didn't expect much of this book. It was free and the title (and cover) left much to be desired. But actually? It was quite good. I don't have much time to devote to this review, the baby needs to be put to bed and all that business, but I do want to say that this book was a pleasant surprise. It alternates narration between 4 different, related characters. Joe, the owner of a summer lodge in upstate Maine, his college-age daughter Kate, Jordan the 30 year old caretaker of the lodge, Joe's wife Lucy, and Harry Wainwright - a business mogul who has spent the last 30 years with a summer trip to the lodge and comes to stay this last summer while sick with cancer. Hmm, I think that's 5 characters. Anyways, all the characters are likable and distinct in their voice, and together the chapters weave a beautiful story.

The Lost Garden

2010-02-22T19:02:00.001-08:00

This book sounded way more enjoyable than it really was. It takes place in England during World War II and follows Glen, a sad and single 35 year old horticulturalist who volunteers to head up a project for the "Women's Land Army". This posting takes her to rural England where she heads up an effort to grow potatoes for England on an abandoned estate. A group of Canadian soldiers is also posted nearby awaiting their dispatch to the war.

The description tempts you with the idea of a romance with a soldier and a friendship with one of the girls in the "army". But really the book is SAD and while beautifully written, it felt like I'd barely gotten started before suddenly everything was over and all the endings were anticlimactic and SAD. Did I mention that it was SAD? Well it was.

Fortune's Daughter

2010-02-22T18:06:00.001-08:00

Hmmm.. In true form, I read this a week or two ago and can't remember anything about it now. Let me think REAL HARD. Did you hear that? It was the sound of me thinking real hard. K! I think I remember something. It's about a pregnant woman who's boyfriend is lame and an older woman who gave her baby up for adoption a long time ago. It tells both their stories separately and then they eventually come together. It's classic Alice Hoffman in that it's enjoyable and well written with a touch of magic and whimsy, but not especially amazing or memorable. I remember it being kind of a bummer and a tad melodramatic, but it was easy to sink into and a quick read.

And PS I'm posting this from the laptop and can't figure out how to shrink the image of the book so ... it's big. Sorry.

The Monk Downstairs

2010-02-13T21:01:00.001-08:00

Another freebie book. For what this book is - a very sweet little romance - it was perfect. It took me about 2 days to read and the romance is actually vaguely plausible (assuming that an ex-monk might move into your downstairs apartment) and thoughtfully written.

The characters are older than your usual romance - a single mother in her late thirties and a former monk who just left a monastery after 20 years in his early 40's who moves into her mother-in-law apartment - and their tentative interest in each other is ... I don't know... nice. I liked it.

Folly

2010-02-13T20:48:00.001-08:00

This was a freebie book and while I enjoyed it, it wasn't the best book ever. The book follows the character of Rae, who has lost her husband and daughter in a car accident and decides to recover from her severe depression by moving to a tiny island in the San Juans owned by her family to rebuild a house that her great uncle built in the 1920's but burned down shortly after completion.

Can I be honest? I want to write a quality review for this book, but I just don't think it's going to happen. I'm sorry peoples, but I's tired. So here's the deal - the book is a little predictable but it will suck you in eventually. It's sort of a thriller because Rae has paranoid visions as part of her depression and you start to wonder if maybe her paranoia about "watchers" is true and she's all alone on a tiny island and it's a little freaky. But not freaky enough. I liked all the descriptions of the San Juans, a place Jeff and I know well and when I finished I realized that the author also wrote the Bee Keeper's Apprentice, which I remember finding totally addictive. So I don't know. 5 out of 10? 6? You get the idea.

Possession

2010-02-08T19:23:00.000-08:00

I'm officially the worst book blogger ever. I've read like 3 books since this one and never posted about ANY of them. Sorry guys.

Possession was loaned to me by Jeff's aunt and came highly recommended. It was one of the more sophisticated books I've read in some time and I will admit to the fact that I struggled now and again with the vocabulary used. It felt a bit like a book I would have been assigned to read in college. Words like beech-mast and quondam are used with abandon (and I found both of those words by just flipping open to a random page), along with references to people like Prospero and Feuebach and wow, apparently I am le stupid because I can't remember who any of these people anymore and I don't know what any of those words mean. But here's the thing - the language is truly beautiful, it's won the Booker prize, and the romance eventually does suck you in. At the end I was totally addicted.

A Fraction of The Whole

2010-01-14T19:21:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the absence of late, but this book was LONG. Worth it... but long. I must say that I found A Fraction of the Whole to be a little bit brilliant. I find it impossible to recount the plot, but essentially it's written from the perspective of Jasper Dean who tells you his whole crazy life story as written from jail, starting actually with the whole crazy life story of his father, Martin Dean - brother to the most infamous criminal in Australia. It jumps from Australia to Thailand to Paris and takes you in and out of jail, loiters amongst criminal bands, takes you on weird mystic type adventures, at one point the characters live in a labyrinth and ... I don't know... this book is hard to describe!

I loved the book but am having a hard time thinking of who I would recommend it to. I'm not sure there are many that I know that would like it the way I did. It's wacky, absurd at times, and incredibly smart but if you don't have more than a touch of misanthropy in you, I don't think you'd enjoy it. There's quite a bit of adventure to the plot, but maybe even more philosophy - or maybe it's not really philosophy as much as weird, out-there thoughts about man, culture and other randomness. I laughed out loud frequently - the humor is dark and dry but that's one of my favorite breeds of funny.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

2009-12-18T13:36:00.000-08:00

Barf. This book sucked. I'm not even going to bother summarizing it, just suffice it to say that I warned you - the cool cover is a mean trick! The book is super boring and pretentious. Or at least the first half of it is, because that's as much as I read before chucking it on the floor. New York Times Bestseller? More like New York Times Barfseller.

PS: My husband read this post and suggested it would have been funnier had I said New York Times Bestsmeller. Thoughts?

It's Important to start them early

2009-12-07T20:10:00.001-08:00

Reading The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.

American Wife

2009-12-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

LOVED IT. One of the top 3 books for me this year. It's loosely based on Laura Bush and I don't really care how much is founded in fact and how much is made up, I couldn't put it down. It starts with her as a girl in the 50's and 60's and continues all the way up to 2004 or so.

I loved Sittenfeld's first book, Prep, but was less than in love with her second book, but this one? Best of the three in my opinion. It's so articulate. And thought provoking. It makes you consider another side of George Bush; albeit not necessarily a more flattering one - just a more human one. It has such wonderful thoughts and insight on wealth and privilege, fame, politics, and what it means to be married. Please go read it. I don't care how hyped this book was - sometimes the hype is TRUE.

I enjoyed this book so much I'm worried about what to read next. Any suggestions of something that won't let me down?

Henry's Sisters

2009-11-23T22:16:00.001-08:00

My mother always said that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

2009-11-13T22:15:00.000-08:00

Turns out that reading with a baby isn't as hard as I'd originally thought. If I use my boppy while nursing Edie then I have my hands free to read while she eats! In this manner I polished off The Girl Who Played with Fire, sequel to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo which I read while pregnant. I found this book equally addictive, but was consistently distracted by the terrible translation from Swedish to English. The plot sucked me in really quickly and I kept hoping that Edie would get hungry so that I could read. But then while reading I would find myself thinking, "That's totally implausible!" or, "People don't really use those types of words in casual conversation!". Nevertheless, I kept reading and am looking forward to the third and final novel in the series. I'm kind of a sucker for a good mystery slash thriller.

The Art of Racing in The Rain

2009-10-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

I know, right? It's been a LONG time. But dudes, I had a BABY so you have to cut me some slack. And despite all the howling the wee one seems to be doing lately, I managed to consume a book! Sadly, because of all the howling I have very little time to summarize my thoughts on this book, so this will be a short review.

Basically, I really liked it. My first thought was, "Its' written from a dog's perspective?? Meh." But really I ended up loving that about it! The dog was so sweet, exactly like I imagine a dog thinking. I loved imagining that dogs really do like that you leave the tv on for them when you go to work. I loved that it took place in Seattle where I live. I have many more things to say but the babe is grumped up and needing attention. Basically, go read this book - it's real good. Thanks Mom for loaning it to me.

In Case You Were Wondering

2009-09-12T16:02:00.000-07:00

I had my baby. And she's pretty cute. Please welcome miss Edie Bee Culver.

Edie as in Ee-dee and Bee as in bumble bee, which also happens to be my Grandmother's middle name. She was born August 30th at 7:18pm and weighed in at 8lbs and 2oz. The birth was relatively uneventful as far as births go and we are all home and doing well, but sleeping little. Reading even less. To keep updated on our happenings (and for a ridiculous number of baby pics), feel free to visit my personal site - link is in the side bar.

The Sugar Queen

2009-08-21T10:39:00.000-07:00

My brain is turning to mush like in those Hulu commercials because I read this book last week and totally forgot to post about it. To further confirm my brain-->mush theory, I actually remember very little about the book, despite having finished it only like 6 days ago.

Here’s what I can tell you –

The Sugar Queen is about Josie, who I think was in her twenties and lives in a small town and cares for her bitchy elderly mother. Then a crazy lady appears in her closet one day and it changes her life. Suddenly she’s not this lonely future-spinster, because the crazy closet lady has forced her to go out into the world and meet people and DO STUFF.

It’s mostly a sweet romance (with a touch of magic) and I rather enjoyed it for what it was. Perfect vacation or bathtub reading.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2009-08-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

Loved it. I know there’s a lot of hype, and I caught on a little late, but when I was at Barnes and Noble buying a gift recently, there was a big table covered in this book right next to where I was waiting in line. I’d heard so many good things about it. And all I had to do was reach my hand out and… well, the rest is obvious. I bought it. And read it in like 3 days, despite it being a chunky monkey. It’s sort of an international thriller meets murder mystery - like Bourne Identity meets The Likeness, in Sweden.

I think some of the hype surrounding this book is based on the fact that the author died shortly after submitting the manuscripts for this book (and thankfully - its two sequels). Mystery surrounding mystery!

Anyways. The book is about so many things that I’m not really sure where to start. There’s the financial journalist Mikael who’s just been sentenced to 3 months in prison for libel after being tricked by a crooked financial leader about a story, and there’s Lisbeth - the tiny, spiky private investigator with man-issues. You follow their separate stories and then watch as the book brings them together to investigate the disappearance of a 16 year old girl who vanished in 1966. Somehow it (mostly) all comes together and while there were a few times where I was all, “What just happened?”, like a lot of thrillers, it either doesn’t matter that much, or things start to make sense a little bit further in.

For me, this was the type of book where I brought it to work to read during lunch, but really wanted to just shut my office door and read it all day. I didn’t necessarily feel totally satisfied at the end of the book, but they’re clearly winding you up to go right out and buy the next book in the series – The Girl that Plays with Fire, which they ensured by publishing the first chapter of it in the back of this book. So now of course I’ve read the first 10 pages of the next book and must have it. Meanwhile, I’m supposed to have a baby in like, oh ANY DAY NOW and have about a bajillion other things I should be doing, but I think instead I will buy The Girl that Plays with Fire and start it immediately.

The Thirteenth Tale

2009-08-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

I'm currently sequestered upstairs, breathing in the clean fresh air that our top floor has to offer. Jeff is downstairs, painting an elaborate system of built-in drawers and bookcases in our living room, inhaling enough toxic fumes for the two (almost three) of us. We don' t have a tv upstairs and this whole sequestering thing has become a common affair lately while Jeff completes layer after layer of primer and cream paint. This means much book reading. My most recent conquest was The Thirteenth Tale and I loved it.

When I was at Half Price Books last week I almost walked right by the bargain table. The truth is - I judge the bargain table. Part of me assumes that any book that's selling for that cheap must be lame and I usually walk on by. But this time, a stack of The Thirteenth Tale books caught my eye and sparked a memory of reading a good review for this book somewhere - was it Mari's site? Anyways, it was only a dollar! This seemed like a low risk decision, so I bought it. And let's just say that I was pleased with my ROI. This book is creepy and addictive and I a little bit loved it.

The story is about Vida Winter, an aging but very famous fiction writer in England. She's notorious for the mystery that surrounds her personal life - no reporter has ever been able to get the truth out of her. She tells every interviewer a different story about her life, none are true. But now she's old and sick and for one reason or another has chosen Margaret Lea to tell her story to. Margaret is the lonely adult daughter of an antique book seller, an avid reader and author of a few informal biographies. And PS - she also has a bit of secret past herself. Anyways, Margaret goes to stay with the crusty author and Vida tells her real story. And her story is creeepy and mysterious (and there are twins!) and I couldn't put it down. It's not Tana-French-style-creepy-genius, and there was a second where I sniffed a bit of Phillipa-Gregory-style-incest, but it was short lived and the book is still worthy. If you've read and enjoyed Nicholas Christopher (A Trip To the Stars is still one of my favs), I'd say you'd probably appreciate this book as well. No romance (sigh) but give it a try.

The Piano Tuner

2009-08-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

This book was the right book at the wrong time. It was beautifully written, with descriptions of Burma and music, but it was a bit too slow for my pregnancy and heat addled brain. Have I mentioned that it’s been HOT in Seattle? Like ridiculously hot? Well it has. In fact, last week we reached the hottest temperature ever to be recorded in Seattle. Like, ever. And this city is not like others that are equipped to deal with heat, no one here has air conditioning. So it has been an awesome time to be 8+ months pregnant. My primary defense against the heat was to draw a cold bath and sit in it with this book. For hours. And no, I didn’t turn pruny – that only happens in hot water silly! My point is, I finished this book, but it was hard.

The Piano Tuner follows Edward Drake from England during the late 1800’s to Burma. Long story short – Edward is a professional piano tuner and is commissioned on an odd mission by the military to travel to the British colonies in Burma and tune a piano in the jungle. This is the story of his travels and his experience in Burma.

The book was beautifully descriptive, sort of romantic, but in the end, pretty damn depressing. Not really my cup of tea at the moment.

The Smart One

2009-07-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

I think there need to be categories of chick lit, because just plopping this book into that category without any qualifiers isn’t quite fair. Granted it has cupcakes on the cover, but it’s not actually a very “fluffy” book as far as content goes. Maybe I should invent something called the Sophie Kinsella Scale and rate all chick lit books on this. A book that scores a 10 on the SKS would meet the following standards:

- Useless but entertaining content focused primarily on dating and romance, with shopping and fashion as supporting roles
- Main character is a single female between the ages of 21 and 35
- Super girly book jacket, often involving cartoon pictures of women wearing cute outfits and very high heels, cupcakes, and/or whimsical little swirls and stars
- Takes less than 2 days to read
- Induces small amounts of shame when caught reading at the office and coworker asks, “What are you reading?”
- Completely predictable ending

The Shopaholic series would rank a 10 on the SK Scale. Here is a description of The Smart One from the back of the book:

Bev Bloomrosen thinks her sisters see her as a loser. Not that she minds being the Smart One, but she can't imagine she'll ever live up to her family's expectations ... especially since she left behind her artistic ambitions-along with her humor-impaired ex-husband-to pursue a career as a "mere" schoolteacher.

But her sisters have their own image problems. Clare, the Pretty One, married well and seems to have the perfect suburban life, yet worries that the paper thin fabric of her beautiful designer world is ripping apart. And Joey, the Wild One who had 15 minutes of fame as a one-hit-wonder rock star, struggles with sobriety and keeping the secret of her weirdest ambition yet.

They love each other but mix like oil, water, and hundred-proof gin . . . a combination that threatens to combust over family tensions, suspected infidelities, a devastating accident, a stunning confession, and the sudden reappearance of their handsome, now all-grown-up former neighbor, Kenny Waxman, who's back in town making his mark as a TV comedy writer.

It seems they'll never understand where their differences begin and their own destructive tendencies end. Then it happens: the sisters discover a decades-old body stuffed inside an industrial drum and begin a bold, heartbreaking, and sometimes hilarious journey that will either bring them together . . . or tear them apart for good.

I would put The Smart One somewhere in the 4-6 range on the SKS. It took me only 3 days to read, and the cover is close to being super girly, but the focus is not entirely on dating and romance and the main character borders on too old for a chick lit book. The ending was also not entirely predictable and actually, the writing was pretty good. I’d recommend it for a lighter read.

The Last Chinese Chef

2009-07-19T15:48:00.001-07:00

I almost a little bit want to say I loved this book, but something is holding me back from using the word love.

It's not a book I would normally pick out myself, but a coworker loaned it to me and I've been trying not to purchase so many books lately, so I finally decided to give it a try. I've never been someone super fascinated by Chinese culture, but I did work for 2 and a half years in the offices for Wild Ginger, a fancy, well established Asian restaurant in Seattle that serves mostly upscale Chinese food. And tell you what, reading this book made me need to go back there real bad and eat black pepper scallops, tomato and tofu stir fry, shu mai, sea bass in fresh herbs, seven flavor beef and even some fragrant duck. But if we're being honest, it doesn't take much to induce a craving now that I'm 8 months pregnant and starving for just about anything that I hear mentioned in passing.

What finally got me to pick this book up and start it is when I noticed that Nicole Mones (the author) also wrote Lost in Translation. That movie was good, right? So I decided this book probably wouldn't suck either. And it didn't. It's about a woman named Maggie, a food magazine writer who was recently widowed. She receives notice that her late husband has a claim that has been filed against his estate in China, where he often did business. She travels to China to investigate the claim and also takes an assignment for the magazine while she's there to write about an up and coming Chinese chef, Sam Liang. Sam is half Chinese, half American. He was raised in the US and recently moved to China to continue his grandfather's legacy as the "last Chinese chef". I feel cheap stealing a quote from the back of the book, but Ruth Reichl (former NY Times food critic, Gourmet editor in chief, and author) says it so well:

"I don't think there's ever been anything quite like this. It's a love story, it's a mystery, and it's also the most thorough explanation of Chinese food that I've ever read in the English language."

The descriptions of the food are amazing, the characters are believable and likable, and the story is interesting. Something kept me from getting that I-can't-put-this-book-down feeling, but it's sill a really solid read; particularly good for a book club with foodies in it.

The Virgin of Small Plains

2009-07-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

A quick, engrossing read of questionable quality. The story is great - very captivating - but the quality of the writing is just okay.

Description I stole from the author’s website:

Seventeen years ago, the brutalized body of an unidentified young woman was discovered in the snow during a blizzard in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Deeply disturbed by this senseless death, the town rallied to give her a decent burial in the local cemetery. Since then, strange miracles have visited those who faithfully tend to her grave -- some even believe that her spirit can cure deadly illnesses. Slowly, the legend of the ill-fated girl -- the so-called Virgin of Small Plains --has spread.

But with the reappearance of prodigal son Mitch Newquist, troubling questions arise. Why did Mich abandon his beloved girlfriend, Abby, and flee on the night of the murder? Can Abby unravel a tangled seventeen-year-old skein of lies? And why do the town's leading citizens, including Mitch and Abby's own families, seem determined to keep the truth buried?

The style reminds me a bit of Jodi Piccoult, kind of addictive, but a little ridiculous every once in a while. Anyways, I still liked it and tore through it in like 2 days, so I guess I shouldn’t bash it. Also like Piccoult, it sounds like Pickard has written a bajillion books. In a pinch, I’d probably pick another one of hers up without batting an eye.

Zazoo

2009-07-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

I think this is technically a young adult book, but I thought it was a bit more sophisticated than the usual YA fare. I actually think this could make a good (and easy) book club pick.

The book is about Zazoo, a 14 year old Vietnamese girl who was adopted when she was 2 by an old French man who raises her as his granddaughter in central France. Together, they run their tiny village's locks on the canal. Zazoo meets a young French boy on a bike near her canal one morning and over the course of their budding relationship, you get to watch her relationship with her aging Grandfather develop as well. Her Grandfather's stories of WWII come out of the woodwork and other characters in the village get involved in the story and it turned out to be a really beautiful, touching and sad book.

I think because of the YA factor, it stops short of being a major cry fest, and perhaps things are tied up a little neatly at the end, but I still thought it was a seriously enjoyable book.

Miranda's Big Mistake

2009-07-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

Total chick lit. Decent, but don't rush out and buy it. Basically, Miranda has all sorts of romantic mishaps and per usual, takes just about the whole book to realize what has been glaringly obvious to the reader from about page 50 - she's in love with the OTHER guy! Shocking, I know. Still, I enjoyed it. It takes place in London, has entertaining supporting characters with their own story lines, and the author has a decent sense of humor.

Wideacre

2009-07-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

I loved The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen’s Fool, but Philippa, you totally let me down on this one. Sure, there was all sorts of historical sauciness going on, but incestuous sauciness is NOT cool. It is gross. And the main character of this entire book is totally hate-worthy. I only read the whole thing because I kept waiting for her to die. But I guess when the narration is first person it’s sort of hard to kill them off mid-book, despite how much you may want to. Because then who would tell the story? Anyways, I felt like this book took like 400 pages to basically say “She sucked and then she died.” Pretty sure I won’t be picking up the sequel to this one, particularly because it seems to feature a new brother-sister combo and I’m not in the mood to read about more raunchy, incestuous sex. Ew, Philippa. Just, ew.

The Likeness

2009-06-29T15:38:00.000-07:00

This book is truly awesome. Not that I’m surprised. Tana French’s first book, In The Woods was also awesome. That said, I’m still impressed. Loved every bit of this book.

Description from the back of the book:

Six months after a particularly nasty case, Detective Cassie Maddox has transferred out of Dublin’s Murder squad and has no plans to go back. That is, until an urgent telephone call summons her to a grisly crime scene.

It’s only when she sees the body that Casssie understands the hurry. The victim, a young woman, is Cassie’s double and carries ID identifying herself as Alexandra Madison, an alias Cassie once used on an undercover job. Suddenly, Cassie must discover not only who killed this girl but, more importantly, who is this girl? And as reality and fantasy become desperately tangled, Cassie moves dangerously closer to losing herself forever.

There are great characters that suck you in, the mystery is creepy and fascinating and unlike In The Woods, she does not leave you hanging with unsolved crimes. I'd put it in my top 5 for 2009.

My friend Maggie loaned me this book and told me that it was excellent. Maggie – I hope my love for this book makes up for the fact that I also liked Water for Elephants.

The Friendship Test

2009-06-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

Meh. Entertaining but not worthy of much praise. I think this author also wrote Alphabet Weekends, which I liked more. Like I said, this book was definitely entertaining, but the characters were a little one dimensional and the main character bugged me. The story is about 4 best friends who meet in college in the 80s. Then the story flashes forward 15 years to when the girls are in their mid-30s. One of the girls, Freddie is facing a bit of a life crisis and her friends rally to support her. This is a grossly oversimplified plot summary, but it’s really all you need to know. I’m sure it’s more to do with the quality (or lack) of my recent reading material, but I seem to be ramping back up to my old reading pace of 2-3 books per week.

I feel that you should know that when I Googled for the book title on Google Images to find the jacket cover picture, the window auto filled for me "The Friendship Turd". Um, what?

Next up: I had dinner with my friend Maggie tonight and she loaned me The Likeness by Tana French and I'm already hooked.

Three Wishes

2009-06-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

Loved it. Don’t get me wrong, this is not the most awesome book you’ll ever read, but it was exactly what I was in the mood for. Three Wishes is by the same author as The Last Anniversary, which I read last month and reviewed here. I thought this book was actually better than The Last Anniversary.

Liane is an Australian author and this book is about Cat, Gemma and Lynn – triplets living in Sydney who are turning 34. The three are very different, and the book follows each of their stories through entertaining times as well as divorce, depression, dating and other issues that don’t start with D. It reminded me a lot of my other favorite Aussie author – Monica McInerney, who wrote Family Baggage, The Faraday Girls and The Alphabet Sisters. It’s definitely a book for women, but despite its semi-lame title and really bad jacket cover, it’s not total fluff so I hesitate to categorize it as plain old chick lit. I thought her descriptions of the emotions and self doubt that come with divorce were particularly poignant and articulate. I also thought she captured the tone of close female friendships pretty well. I don’t have sisters myself, but the loyalty and frustrations the triplets experienced with eachother didn’t seem too far from the way I've felt about my closest girlfriends. So if you’re in the mood for something easy and enjoyable, I recommend Three Wishes.

Summer at Tiffany

2009-06-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

Description from Amazon –

At the age of 82, Marjorie Hart, a professional cellist, recalls 1945, when she and her best friend, Marty, students at the University of Iowa, spent the summer in Manhattan, in this pleasant but slight memoir. Failing to obtain work at Lord & Taylor, the pair, self-described as long-limbed, blue-eyed blondes, were hired at Tiffany's—the first female floor sales pages, delivering packages to the repair and shipping department, for $20 a week.

I was mostly sucked in by the Tiffany blue book jacket and the mention on the back of celebrity encounters with the likes of Judy Garland. In the end the book was cute, but not stimulating. The celebrity sightings were just that, it wasn’t like she hung out with Judy Garland, she just saw her shopping for jewelry once. It was a bit like having your Grandma tell you an hour long story about her youth. Interesting, but maybe not as book-worthy as she’d like to hope.

The School of Essential Ingredients

2009-06-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

The School of Essential Ingredients is about a cooking school in the Northwest. Lillian owns a small restaurant that once a month on Mondays hosts a cooking class. Each chapter simultaneously tells the story of one of the weekly classes and follows a different student in the class. I loved all the beautiful food descriptions and almost cried with envy while reading about the crab with butter sauce (note to self – must go crabbing this summer), but at the same time the whole book felt a little simplistic to me. It was a little corny and contrived. Or maybe I’m just a bitter Betty?

Here’s the deal – this book describes cooking classes exactly as I’ve always wanted them to be: You go to a quaint restaurant and are taught by a quirky, motherly character as you make fantastic food and new best friends with the other students. Last year Jeff did a great thing for my birthday and enrolled us in a Greek cooking lesson at a fancy local cooking school (in fact, the school is actually thanked in the notes of this book I might add). Greek food is my favorite and I was pumped. But the truth is, pretty much all the other attendees were with some corporate group doing a team building exercise and were obviously NOT pumped. A few of the younger ones even slipped out the back door a few minutes in. The people who stayed were annoying and weird and then we just sort of ate as we went instead of all sitting down to pig out and bond together. Don’t get me wrong, the food was really good and Jeff and I still had fun together, but my point is that this book seemed a little too perfect-perfect. Plus, every single person in the class is profoundly impacted by the cooking class and food and I don’t know, I guess I found it a little rashy. Like the woman that seems to be struggling with mild post-partum depression who is magically repaired by her first taste of crab? Not really buying it.

That said, it only took a day or two to read and if you like reading food blogs (which I do) you’ll probably still enjoy it (which I did) purely for all the beautiful descriptions of food.

PS: Blogger feels that “rashy” is not a real word. I disagree. When something is annoying (like a rash), it’s only right for that thing to be described as rashy.

The Fall of Light

2009-06-11T11:29:00.000-07:00

This book turned out (disappointingly) to be a little less trashy than I originally anticipated. It was more mystical and less saucy. Still, it’s good if you’re in the mood for an Irish tale full of famine, family and love. The book follows the Foley family in old timey Ireland after their mother disappears into the mist one morning. The father takes his 4 sons on a journey across the country to the ocean and in the process they’re all separated and spend the rest of the book finding and losing each other over the course of their lives. The book travels briefly to Africa, France, Nova Scotia and the US but always returns to Ireland. I keep trying to think of the best word to describe the writing style because I think it’s central to liking or not liking the book. Meandering? Romantic? Old fashioned? Fable-rific? I’m not sure these are right, but maybe close.

Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married

2009-06-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided to stop talking about it and just do it. I reread Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married. I found it on the free bookshelf at work and it seemed that fate was speaking to me. It was definitely enjoyable – why am I such a sucker for romantic endings where men profess their love in a way that real men never do? I don’t know. But I am. The rest of the book sucked a little more than I remembered, but I still enjoyed my reunion with Marian Keyes.

Last night I started Fall of Light by Niall Williams. So far it appears to be an Irish-Pillars-of-the-Earth-meets-Diana-Gabaldon type of book. In other words, historical fiction meets trashy mythical romance. Also known as my cup of tea right now.

The Amateur Marriage

2009-05-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hmmm… I really don’t have much to say about this book. I read it out of desperation. I came back from my big annual trip to DC and had nothing to read and a massive cold that kept me in bed for 5 days. This book was laying around so I read it. It was good I guess. Well written, but not terribly enjoyable.

It’s about a young couple that meet at the start of World War II and fall in love and get married upon his return from service. Their marriage kind of sucks from early on (hence the title), but not in an entertaining, bickery way, more in a depressing, we need a divorce kind of way. Not exactly a bucket of laughs. The book follows their marriage over the years, eventually ending in the present day. I did get pretty engaged midway through when their 17 year old daughter runs away during the 1970s, but when it became clear that she probably wasn’t ever coming back, I got bored with that plot line. I’m adding this to the pile of books that I think would probably be more enjoyable to an older generation, kind of how I feel about most of Anne Tyler’s books really.

The Last Anniversary

2009-05-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

Finally! A chick lit author that I’d never heard of. I thought I’d heard of (and read) all the guilty pleasure authors there were to read. But now I know this is not true and it has restored my faith. I found this book on the free shelf at work and could tell from the cover design that it was perfect for the long weekend. We headed to Orcas Island on Friday afternoon and enjoyed the warm (!) and sunny (!) weather for three solid days. I’m finally not nauseous, and given that I'm standing on the precipice of being hugely pregnant, I’m in the perfect state to pick up reading again for a short while (although it does take me an extra 10 minutes and 4 pillows to get comfortable first).

In a slight departure from the usual chick lit plot line, this book takes place in Australia instead of London or New York. Luckily they still say funny things there like “light globes” instead of light bulbs and “hoovering” instead of vacuuming.

The Last Anniversary stars Sophie, a 39 year old single woman who kind of randomly inherits a house on the teeny-tiny, Scribbly Gum Island. The island is famous for The Munro Baby Mystery, in which a small baby was mysteriously abandoned by her parents, found, and then raised by two young sisters who also live on the island. The “baby” is now a grandmother and still lives on the island along with an assortment of random and entertaining relatives. Sophie moves to the island and hijinks ensue. Eventually, secrets are revealed and the “mystery” is solved. It’s witty, has a good story with entertaining characters and a touch of romance. Perfect long weekend reading in the sunshine.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

2009-05-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

This book hit the spot for airplane reading. The story and style were better suited for a trip to the Oregon Coast or something similar, but I made do with the airplane ride to DC.

I’d heard good things about it from a fair number of people, and it delivered. It’s not epic or anything, but it’s sweet, sad and slightly romantic. The whole book is made up of letters written to and from the main character, Juliet and the various members of the GL&PPPS. The Society started during World War II on Guernsey Island, located amongst the Channel Islands between England and France. Through the letters they share their love of reading and their war stories. The society members are eclectic and their stories are told with such personality, that it’s easy to stay engaged despite the letter format of the book.

It’s a short little book and didn’t take me long to read, so I don’t have much insight to provide. Plus, I’m pretty sure everyone’s already read this book as I got more than two, “You haven’t read that yet??” responses from people who saw me reading it.

Watermelon

2009-05-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

I used to love Marian Keyes so much. When all else was letting me down in the book world two weeks ago, I did something I never do - re-read a book. Most avid readers love to reread their favs, but I NEVER do this. I can't explain why, I just can't maintain interest when I already know what's going to happen. But Watermelon was different. It wasn't nearly as awesome as I remembered but it still delivered what I needed - entertainment. If I'd had Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married in my possession, I would have preferred to reread that, but I didn't. So I didn't.

Watermelon is pure chick-lit - the story of a 29 year old Irish woman living in London who's husband leaves her the day she gives birth to their first child. She goes back to Ireland to recover with her parents and family. Her family is entertaining, they call vacuuming "hoovering", the main character is self-deprecating, and there is romance (and vengeance). Plus, it only took me a day to reread so I didn't have to feel bad about reading fluff.

On Beauty

2009-05-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

This book bored me. I read Smith's first book, White Teeth when it came out and thought it was boring. When On Beauty came out, everyone assured me that this book was much better than White Teeth. I disagree. Both books are well written but both of them had boring stories with boring, fairly unlikeable characters.

Basically there's this previously happy, but now seriously unhappily married couple. The husband is a pretentious and boring white professor and his wife is a sassy but kind of boring African American woman. He cheats on her. Their unlikeable adult children have semi-interesting plot lines that don't really get resolved by the end and .... Bored! I'm too bored to finish.

Also - do you like how short my reviews have become since getting pregnant? I don't have time to mess around peoples. I've got cribs to buy, naps to take, and panic attacks to have about the fact that very soon another life will depend on me. I don't have time for books that take 200 pages to suck me in; I need books to be interesting immediately.

Any recommendations for my next read? I've been chugging through A Widow for One Year by John Irving during my lunch breaks at work, but I'm really needing something lighter. Maybe something in the chick lit category? Something with a GOOD STORY.

Water for Elephants

2009-04-16T16:17:00.000-07:00

My friend Maggie trashed this book to me once so I put off reading it. But then I found it a few weeks ago in my box of books given to me by my sister in law at Christmas. And burn on you Maggie because I'm totally jumping aboard the I-Love-Water-For-Elephants-Train. This book was good. I’m not saying it was Shakespeare, but the woman tells a good story. About elephants! And monkeys! And there are circus freaks, and romance and well, I fell for it.

Before I Wake

2009-04-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

I finished Before I Wake a few weeks ago, so I don’t remember any of the clever things I was going to say about it. Basically I liked this book, but I don’t really know why. It was weird. Here are some random facts about this book:

1. It takes place in Victoria, BC, which is close to where I live, so I liked that.

2. I almost put it down at the beginning because it’s all about a 3 year old girl getting hit by a truck and being put into a coma. Being pregnant, I seem to be more susceptible than usual to the sadness of such story lines. Particularly because I’m a total fatalist and feel that by reading about it, it makes it more likely to happen to me.

3. I almost put it down later because it took this weird turn from sad story about child getting hit by a car and her parents dealing with the tragedy to all of a sudden being about miracles and the Catholic church and ghosts. Then I kind of got into it, but not in a way that I was proud of. It had sort of a normal-book-meets-that-weird-movie-starring-Nicholas Cage-and-Meg Ryan-where-he’s-a-ghost-that-roams-the-library type of thing.

This is not a helpful review and for this I am sorry.

The Echo Maker

2009-03-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

The Echo Maker was loaned to me by a coworker. I read it at a snail’s pace because, despite being in my 17th week of pregnancy, I’m still pretty queasy most of the time. My attention span is also closer to a gnat’s than a human’s these days, which doesn’t help.

The Echo Maker is about a woman in her early 30’s, whose younger brother is in a terrible car accident. She goes home to help him with his recovery (they have no other relatives) but when he wakes up from his coma, finds that while he acknowledges that she looks just like his sister, he thinks she is an imposter. The brain damage incurred in the car accident has caused a rare condition called Capgras Syndrome where victims think that their loved ones have been doubled or replaced by robots. They recognize the person, but lose the emotional connection associated with them. Because they can’t attach any emotional bond to this person, they are convinced that the person is a “double”. This is the story of their relationship, what his condition does to it, his favorite nurse, and the famous brain doctor that comes from New York to observe and maybe help him.

The premise of the story is really interesting and the writing is very sophisticated, but I still struggled with the book at times. I finished the book a day or two ago, but I’ve been stuck on how to summarize my “issues” with it.

Firstly - I felt he didn’t do the best job with character development. Or maybe it was just that I didn’t like any of the characters very much so I had a hard time connecting to them? In particular, I thought he had a really loose grasp on how to write from a female’s perspective. His women didn’t really feel like women to me. Which is odd because he chose to write the first 200 pages or so with the sister as the main character. I just couldn’t get into her. The only character I had a pretty easy time sympathizing with was the brother with the brain damage. He wasn’t described as particularly likable, but later I wondered if he was made more relatable or “real” for a reason. I say this because later in the book, the author leads you to question humanity and maybe he was trying to make the point that the only really “true” character was the one who thought everything in his life was a lie. Pretentious, yes. But that was kind of the feel of the book for me at the end.

Secondly - I didn’t like the marriage between Weber (the famous brain doctor) and his wife. I think it was meant to seem really intimate, but the fact that their pet names for each other were “Man” and “Woman” felt incredibly unnatural to me. No matter how many times I tried to hear someone routinely (like even while fighting with each other) calling their wife “woman”, or a wife calling her husband “man” without sounding stupid (or like a 20 year old stoner in the 70’s), I couldn’t. There were other aspects to the description of their marriage that made me wonder if the author had maybe never been in a long term relationship and was just describing what he thought a 30 year marriage would look like.

Thirdly - I felt like midway through the book, the story became less of the focus and it became more about the science of brain damage and the philosophical questions that brain disorders pose. It got a little “deep” for me at times, but this may have just been because I wasn’t in the mood to wonder if the person with the brain damage actually sees the world more clearly than those of us without. I’m more of a story/plot driven type reader, so this lost my interest a bit.

In the book’s defense, the prose is beautifully written and very sophisticated. I haven’t looked, but I would imagine he also writes poetry. There's a slight mystery twist to the story in which you are left wondering about the mysterious circumstances of the car accident, and I liked this part of the book quite a bit. I just got hung up on some of the details. Truthfully, I should probably just stick to chick lit while I’m pregnant. Then maybe I could finish more than one book per month.

The Road

2009-02-27T16:09:00.000-08:00

Despite my 8:30pm bedtime of late and what I am now referring to as my constant companion – Barfy, I managed to finish a book this week! I started reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy during my lunch breaks at work (which PS Cormac – there are too many C’s in your name). I pretty much always eat lunch alone at the café/bakery downstairs from my office. I like the break from work and I always bring a book so no one bothers me while I eat. In the beginning, The Road was just a necessary lunch prop. But after a week of reading a few pages here and there while shoveling in sandwiches, I found myself hooked. It took almost half the book, but all of a sudden, I needed to read the rest – immediately.

Don’t get me wrong- this book is Depressing (and that capital D is there for a reason). In fact, it may be the biggest downer of a book EVER. But the story is so laced with love and humanity! The story is very simple – a man and his son who are never given real names are travelling “the road” south somewhere on the east coast after some horrible event has destroyed the world and most of humanity. They never say what actually happened (which bugged) but you get the impression that after this mystery cataclysmic event, the people who didn’t die turned against each other in desperation.

It’s hard to describe why this book is good, but it truly is. Granted I’m pregnant, but I found myself crying multiple times during the book and anyone who knows me will tell you that I am NOT a crier. The love between the man and his son is just so truthful. I think I read somewhere that the author dedicated the book to his son, so I suppose the writing comes from somewhere real. And you can tell.

On a related note – did anyone ever read a book called something like Z for Zacharia? I feel that I read a book like this in middle school that was also a post-apocalyptic story but can’t remember anything else about it…

BAAAHH! I just Googled The Road so I could find an image to post with this review and noticed that it was an Oprah's book club book! The trend (unknowingly) continues...

It's Official

2009-02-17T19:28:00.000-08:00

I'm pregnant. 3 months to be precise. This is the true reason why I haven't been reading as much lately. Turns out being pregnant makes me feel like I'm super car sick. Like, all the time! And what is the last thing you want to do when you're car sick? You guessed it. Read. I haven't even been reading books about being pregnant, which totally goes against my obsessive nature.

Anywhoo, I will refrain from posting too much personal information on this site, but if you're curious and want more information (and a baby pic from today's appointment), you're always welcome to visit my other site: jill's daily note.

Drowning Ruth

2009-02-13T13:54:00.000-08:00

I wonder why I’m all about reading Oprah’s book club books lately? Does Oprah ever pick a book that isn’t kind of a downer? I think no. But that’s okay because at least the writing was solid. The story was also captivating. All around, I actually quite enjoyed this book. Lindsey asked in the comments on my last review whether I’ve ever read any Anita Shreve. The answer is yes! And coincidentally, this book actually reminded me a little of Shreve’s story telling. It takes you to a certain time in history and the voice is very consistent.

I tried a few different times to summarize the plot on my own, but alas nothing I’m writing is right. So I will resort to the back of the book description:

Winter, 1919. Amanda Starkey spends her days nursing soldiers wounded in the Great War. Finding herself suddenly overwhelmed, she flees Milwaukee and retreats to her family’s farm on Nagawaukee Lake, seeking comfort with her younger sister, Mathilda, and three-year-old niece, Ruth. But very soon, Amanda comes to see that her old home is no refuge – she has carried her troubles with her. On one terrible night almost a year later, Amanda loses nearly everything that is dearest to her when her sister mysteriously disappears and is later found drowned beneath the ice that covers the lake. When Mathilda’s husband comes home from the war, wounded and troubled himself, he finds that Amanda has taken charge of Ruth and the farm, assuming her responsibility with a frightening intensity. Wry and guarded, Amanda tells the story of her family in careful doses, as anxious to hide from herself as from us the secrets of her own past and of that night.

Really strong character development – it’s one of those books where you think about them when you’re not reading, wondering what’s happening to them. You might not like every one of the characters, but you really get the whole story with each of them. The plot is a bit melodramatic (it is, after all an Oprah book) but I bought into it. For some reason I always have an easier time buying into melodrama when the story takes place in “olden times”. Like everyone was all running around getting drowned and creating scandals in the 1910s, right?

Anyways, there are plenty of plot twists to keep your attention, plus they don’t tell you the whole effing story until like the very last page, so you really are compelled to keep reading. Considering how lethargic my reading habits have been of late, the fact that I tore through this book in 3 days should tell you that I liked it.

The Year of Pleasures

2009-01-29T15:18:00.000-08:00

For Christmas my sister in law and her husband gave me a big box of novels. Last week I dug around in there and picked out The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg, which I finished last night. If memory serves, Berg is rather prolific and has written tons of books that I always pick up at the bookstore and then put down after seeing that they all seem to feature women in their 50s.

But this time the book was free, had a nice cover and for whatever reason, the story appealed. The Year of Pleasures tells the story of Betta Nolan, who is in her mid 50’s and who’s husband recently died from cancer. They lived in Boston together and led a rather insular life with no real friends. After his death, she follows through on a promise she made her dying husband and sells their house, drives West and moves to a small town to start over. She ends up in a small town outside Chicago, reconnects with some old college friends and also makes new friends in the town. I felt like the title was a bit of a misnomer, since the book is essentially the story of her grieving with a little bit about pleasures.

I enjoyed the book. The writing was solid but the plot left a tiny bit to be desired for me. The theme of her grieving was well done, but the character development for all the supporting characters and their story lines felt a little unfinished to me. She does a good job introducing all these new characters (Betta’s old friends, an adorable 10 year old neighbor, a 20 year old guy and his Brazilian roommate…) and I was interested in their stories. Then all of a sudden it felt like the book was over without wrapping up any of it. Also? It bugged me a little that she had no friends. Rather than irritation, I should probably feel sympathy, but I don’t really. I feel like there are those couples out there that don’t make an effort to maintain outside friendships and I have a really difficult time relating to these people. That said, I’d probably read another of Elizabeth Berg’s books. Can anyone recommend one I’d maybe like?

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

2009-01-21T14:29:00.000-08:00

Like I mentioned in my last post, I haven’t been reading as much lately. That said, I was too tempted by The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao to not read it. It might have taken me longer than usual, but I did it! I started it while on a business trip with my Mom (long story) but then put it down when I got back home. I picked it up again over the long weekend when Jeff and I ferried our asses over to our Orcas Island hide-out (also known as his parent’s cabin).

I think I first read about this book on Raych’s blog and was intrigued. Then it appeared on the EW New Classics List. Then my sister-in-law gave it to me for Christmas. Obviously, I HAD to read it. And it was pretty amazing really. Very different from the stuff I’ve been reading lately. The whole book is centered around the Dominican culture, with the plot twisting in and out of New Jersey and The Dominican Republic.

Oscar Wao is a giant Dominican dork. Which is apparently a bit of an oxymoron because Dominican men are all supposed to be major players and have mad game. Oscar however is obese and loves, loves, loves anime and everything medieval and mystical. He lives in New Jersey with his angry Mother and lovely sister Lola and wonders if he’ll die a virgin. The story bobs and weaves (sometimes a little too much for my liking) so that you end up getting to hear about his Mother’s childhood in the DR, his grandparent’s destruction by the evil dictator Trujillo, his sister, and Oscar’s college roommate, Yunjior.

Truthfully the author had me hooked on page two when he used the phrase Fuckface. I know that’s a little inappropriate and maybe weird that I loved it so much. But fuckface is a funny thing to say! And he was using the word in a *footnote* which is ironic because footnotes are supposed to be all official and serious. The book is totally fresh and different and really brilliant. The stuff about Oscar’s interest in Elvish, Tolkien, role playing games and basically anything dorky was hilarious. Learning about Dominican history is heartbreaking and interesting and Oscar’s story in particular is captivating. Definitely not uplifting, but captivating (remember it IS his “brief” life). My only complaint about the book is that the narration was confusing sometimes. I couldn’t really tell who was narrating half the time. Was it Yunjior, Lola, objective third person? It felt like it skipped around constantly, but maybe this is more a symptom of my recent affliction with reading A.D.D.?

Eventide

2009-01-12T12:32:00.001-08:00

I’ve been awfully negligent about posting lately. I feel bad, but I think I’m going through a little bit of a reading drought. Maybe it’s the post-holiday coma I’ve been in, I'm sure it has to do with being on a business trip for the last 4 days, and maybe it’s also the promise of all my favorite TV shows coming back any day now, but reading’s been put on the back burner for now. That said, I still have a review that I owe you for Eventide, which I read over the holidays. So here goes:

For those of you who aren’t a giant Kent Haruf fan like I am, Eventide is a semi-sequel to Plainsong. I read Plainsong last year and I would rank it in my top 5 of 2008 (read my review here). I actually tried to read Eventide in October on my trip to New York. Some of you may remember that I accidentally left it at my friends’ house in Brooklyn after reading only a chapter or two. I think they meant to mail it back to me, but given that they have a 1 year-old, and jobs and all that, I’m pretty sure I need to forgive them. So when my friend Darrah (who originally loaned me Plainsong) gave me Eventide for Christmas this year, I was super excited. I couldn’t really remember how much I’d read on my trip to New York, so I started from the beginning.

Eventide picks up the story of the McPheron brothers who were my favorite characters in Plainsong. The McPheron’s are basically two crusty bachelor ranchers who took in a young pregnant girl in trouble during Plainsong. In this book, the girl is leaving for college with her daughter and the brothers have to figure out how to live alone again. There are also a few new story lines added to Eventide and some characters that were followed in the first book are dropped in this one. Per usual, Haruf has a heartwarming and honest way of writing that totally sucked me in. I balled like a baby at times and smiled to myself numerous times. It’s a great book that I think men and women would like equally. I wish Kent Haruf was my Grandpa.

Since finishing Eventide, I’ve dabbled in a few books but nothing is sticking. Instead of soldiering trough and reading books when I’m not in the mood, I’m going to take it easy. When I feel like reading, I’ll read. When I don’t, I won’t. If you notice less frequent posting here in the next few weeks, but you still need something to read during your lunch break, you’re welcome to cruise my non-book blog (link is in the sidebar) where I will likely post updates about my horrible taste in television.

Marley and Me

2009-01-05T16:06:00.000-08:00

It’s possible that I’m being overly sensitive and maybe it’s totally cool to read Marley and Me. But I’m pretty sure not. And the few of you who were thinking it was maybe okay for me to have read this book, you will change your mind when I tell you that I read the short, fat airport-version with a big picture of Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson on the cover. Anyways, now’s the part where I explain WHY I chose to read this book. The reason is that it was snowing. Lots. And I was stuck with nothing to read. One day I got real desperate and decided to buy a book at Safeway. So there I was, totally book-deprived, standing in the “book aisle” of my grocery store and faced with an entire shelf FULL of nothing but Joanna Lindsey romance novels and 3 copies of Marley and Me. So really, given the alternative, I’m pretty sure I did okay.

Now that I’ve spent an entire paragraph justifying having read the book, I will spend about 3 sentences “reviewing” it. The book is sweet, but very simple in plot and style. It’s a true story about a nice couple who buy a poorly behaved puppy. Then the puppy gets old and it dies and it’s sad. The end. Oh, and there are pictures. Not childlike illustrations but like real pictures of the real Marley and the author.

Update and Apologies

2009-01-03T10:01:00.000-08:00

Jeff and I went up to Vancouver BC for the New Year to visit our friends Chris and Beth. We had a fantastic time tromping in the snow, getting the driving tour, watching old school movies and trying Sukiyaki for the first time - which for any of you fellow uncultured souls is basically a restaurant with a giant Asian crock pot on each table. You order a bunch of raw meat, noodles and vegetables and dump them in the pot with some sauce then you all eat directly out of the pot. Really fun and different, but as Beth pointed out, perhaps not the best meal for a germaphobe. Luckily, Jeff and I have been known to share a toothbrush on occasion and much to my friend Heidi's dismay I ALWAYS take a free sample when it's offered, even if someone else's dirty hands may have also been rummaging through the sample bowl. Apologies for the less frequent posts lately Unfortunately, I've been feeling a little under the weather since our return from Canada. I've read two books in the last week and cannot seem to motivate myself to review them. I'm hoping for a rush of energy and motivation later today, so stay tuned for reviews of Marley and Me (along with an explanation/excuse as to why I read this book) and Eventide.

While I Was Gone

2008-12-29T15:29:00.000-08:00

While trapped in my house during the great snow storm of ’08, I had lots of time to read. AND NO GOOD BOOKS! On a warm, sunny day I enjoy the walk to Half Price Books from my house. But in snowy, wet, windy weather I was totally disinterested in marching the 2 miles on packed, icy snow covered sidewalks. Let alone the uphill 2 mile walk back home. Therefore, I was stuck reading the scraps of literature I already had around the house when the snowfall began. One such scrap was While I Was Gone by Sue Miller. I had started it a few weeks earlier but lost interest. But after 3 days of being snowed in with terrible TV options, I decided I couldn’t afford to be fussy any longer. And I didn’t actually hate it. I didn’t even really dislike it. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I loved it, but I did like it.

While I Was Gone is about a woman named Joey. She’s in her early fifties with three grown children and a great husband. When an old roommate from college reappears, it gets her all rattled and distracted because, when they lived together in the 1960’s (with a bunch of other hippies), some horrible thing happened. Joey doesn’t feel like she has resolution on this horrible happening and thinks that the reappearance of Eli might be the answer. She makes a bunch of shitty decisions as a result of her semi-obsession with Eli's reappearance and eventually, things get creeeeepy.

Sue’s writing is very sophisticated, but I couldn’t help but think that I would have enjoyed the book more if I was my Mom. Or at least over the age of 50. The story is obviously well crafted, but I had a hard time getting past the fact that I didn’t really like the narrator. I didn’t hate Joey, but she wasn’t particularly likable either. The relationships are realistically complex and the descriptions of her marriage were really painful and yet beautifully truthful. I just had a hard time really investing in her as a character. I’d be interested in hearing from any of you who may have read Sue Miller – does she have any other books you’d recommend above While I Was Gone? And also? Why is it called While I Was Gone? I never really figured that out, which bugged. Part of my lack of enthusiasm about this book may be a result of my recent affliction with Reading ADD, but I’m not sure. Or maybe it was because it had an Oprah's book club sticker on it.

Gilead

2008-12-21T13:35:00.000-08:00

A coworker loaned this to me in order to help me finish the New Classics Challenge. Considering the NEVER ENDING snow storm Seattle is currently experiencing, you'd think I'd have finished it sooner. But the truth is that Gilead is a slow moving book and it took some time to read. So despite the pajama-clad lifestyle I've been leading the last 4 days, I just finally finished it this morning.

Gilead is narrated by a 77 year old pastor in Gilead, Iowa in the 1950s. The entire book is a letter written to his 7 year old son before the old man dies from a recently diagnosed heart condition. The story meanders a bit to tell the story of his upbringing, but for me the real focus was on his love for his wife and son. You learn that his first wife died in childbirth (along with the child) and after living alone for many years he falls in love with Lilla, who is roughly 40 years his junior and they get married and have a child late in his life.

The pace is verrrrrry slow, but the writing is really beautiful. I will confess to moments of boredom, but not because it isn't a good book. It's a book full of good quotes about love and pondering the meaning and purpose of life. Knowing that he'll die soon, the way he describes his young son and their interactions is simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking.

So while I respected this book, I can't say that I found it particularly enjoyable. The simple but eloquent prose bore occasional resemblance to Plainsong, which is still one of my favorite books read this year (reviewed here) but I enjoyed the reading of Plainsong ten times as much as Gilead. Sorry, Gilead.

Now that I've completed The NCC, I'd like to read a book or two that might be classified by my friend Maggie as a GP. This stands for Guilty Pleasure. The problem? I'm effing snowed in! For reals! I guess I could walk somewhere to get a book, but my options are limited by 1. how lazy I am and 2. by how cold it is and 3. by the fact that the nearest bookstore is about a 4 mile round trip walk and lastly, 4. going outside would involve changing out of the pajamas I've had on all day. I'm considering walking the 1/2 mile to the nearest grocery store to see if they have any interesting trashy books in the card aisle. Although considering my grocery shopping experience yesterday, which was something akin to the Y2K panic of 1999, I'm not sure I'm up for it.

ADD

2008-12-16T18:15:00.000-08:00

In the last 3 days (since finishing Eat Pray Love) I've tried starting no less than 5 books.

Drowning Ruth – Seemed good but I put it down to try and focus on finishing The New Classics Challenge.

The Road – Tried in a fit of commitment to the NCC, but wasn't in the right mood.

Out Stealing Horses – Started it after forgetting Drowning Ruth at the office. Seems interesting, but not something I'll love so I put it down.

While I was Gone by Sue Miller – The back description makes me stressed out and the first 15 pages were a little so-so.

Some Jodi Piccoult book – I can't remember the name, but it's about an Amish woman who has a sister with Leukemia and lives next door to an Indian burial ground where a murder is committed by a ghost with stigmata. Kidding! But I think I just successfully combined the plots of like 5 other Jodi Piccoult books in that description.

Finally, a coworker loaned me Gilead today and I'm thinking this book might save me from me reading-ADD.

Eat Pray Love

2008-12-15T10:48:00.000-08:00

I don’t know. I just can’t jump on board the popularity train for this book. In fact, about midway through the book, I almost put it down and actually started to draft a review that I titled, “Eat Pray Barf” which pretty accurately reflected my initial feelings on the book. That said, after reading the last 100-150 pages or so, I decided to take the ‘barf’ part back. But only just.

I really like the book’s concept – recently divorced woman in her 30’s takes a year off to travel through Italy, India and Indonesia to figure some shit out. But the execution was filled with so many clichés it was a little painful for me.

At one point she remembers going to a party hosted by her friend who recently had a baby. The sight of the tired mother taking care of a baby and doing the dishes leaves her literally shaking and so terrified that she locks herself in the bathroom. All she can say when a friend finds her cowering in the bathroom is, “I don’t know what to do.” Then her friend who has no background information on what's bothering Liz says, “Tell the truth, tell the truth, tell the truth.” Really? I hope this is an exaggeration to illustrate a point and not true because if so, then Elizabeth Gilbert is a grade A drama queen (and so is her friend). Same with the story used to illustrate her new found mental health in Italy when she wakes herself up by laughing out loud in the middle of the night. Annoying.

Also, the whole concept of taking off, leaving everything behind and travelling to “find yourself” isn’t really a novel concept. And having a spiritual “guru”? It just smacks of bougie celebs wearing red bracelets because it’s cool to be spiritual and “self aware”. Ditto on yoga retreats.

But my biggest bone to pick is that I didn’t really like Elizabeth Gilbert. Her writing is … fine. But her? Pretty annoying and kind of boring. I know, I know. I’m a heartless bitch. She was just a nice girl going through a rough time. I’m not saying that I actively disliked her, I just didn’t find her particularly unique, or engaging, or interesting. Don’t get me wrong, there were definitely moments when reading the Italy chapters that I was swept away with an aching desire to take a year off and pig out on pizza and pasta. But then she’d go back to brooding over her tempestuous relationship with David (the man she shacked up with immediately after leaving her husband) and I’d feel the annoyance creep back. It bothered me how much more hung up on David she was than her ex husband. This is mostly because from what she told us of David, he bugged the shit out of me. I could totally picture her relationship with David before they broke up and I wanted to barf all over it. I liked that she was at least willing to own up to her desperate, neediness in relationships, but I’m not sure that being honest about something annoying makes it less annoying.

Anyways, I’m feeling like a total Negative Nancy so I’ll tell you what I did like. Everyone told me the best parts were in Italy (and I did enjoy the makeshift Thanksgiving chapter), but my favorite parts were actually in Indonesia. I loved Ketut the ancient medicine man and found the Wayan character entertaining (particularly when Wayan was “fucking with her” about buying a house). I think I also liked it because in general, Liz became less annoying towards the end. She wasn’t crying about not liking to chant, or moaning about David, or having dramatic convos with herself in her creepy journal. Basically, I think maybe the problem is that I’m sort of a hater of books about “finding yourself”. At which point you are perfectly entitled to ask me why the hell I decided to read this book. The truth is I didn’t really want to read it. But I needed to read two more books for the New Classics Challenge and when I sent a plea out to my coworkers, this was the first book that someone brought in for me to borrow.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

2008-12-09T20:53:00.000-08:00

I've seen this series all over the place and for some reason assumed it was all Janet Evanovich style. Which is when I guess I have to confess to having read one of the Stephanie Plum books. But I swear I didn't like it! Actually, now that I think of it, I think maybe I listened to it as a book on tape. More shameful? Not sure. Mostly I just remember a sassy, red-head type who solves mysteries that involve a handsome, surly man who ends up in the sack with her. After having read The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency it's pretty hilarious that I put it in the same category as the Plum series because they are totally unalike.

This book features Precious (Mma) Ramotswe, an enormous lady from Botswana. Her much adored father dies after working in the diamond mines for his entire life and leaves his fortune to his only child. She spends it all on starting her own detective agency. She has no qualifications other than being wise and observant, in a folksy, tea drinking sort of way. She is the only "lady detective" in all of the country and she solves an assortment of quirky cases in this book. None of them are particularly challenging and each is resolved in about 24 hours. I don't know. It was sort of uneventful. Some woman's long lost father reappears only to mooch off her for weeks. Detective Ramotswe tricks the father into admitting he's an imposter and tells him to go away. So he does. Then she follows a high school girl around because her father thinks she has a boyfriend and doesn't approve. She finds out the girl doesn't really have a boyfriend and tells the father to give his daughter space. He does. All mysteries are solved faster than an episode of Law & Order.

Then you get to the case of the missing 11 year old boy. This case is referenced on the back of the book as being "the big mystery" so I was looking forward to this part of the book. The boy is abducted on his way home. Then Mma Ramotswe hears from her mechanic friend about a bag of witchcraft medicine (ie; bones and skin) that was found in a car at his shop. The "medicine" is the finger bone of a young boy recently---

Woah! I have to take this review on a detour for a minute because some seriously questionable music just started playing on Jeff's computer. I swear a minute ago we were listening to something normal, but this song appears to be Mexican gangster rap interspersed with mariachi music. Um, wha? Jeff was at the computer before I sat down and I left his playlist undisturbed. Strangely, when I look at the iTunes window it says I'm listening to God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. I wish Mma Ramotswe was here to solve the mystery of why Jeff is listening to this terrible music. But she's not, so I will continue with my review.

Back to the finger bone. So she tracks down the medicine man who sold the finger bone to the car owner. He must be the killer, yes? But after a 5 minute chat with the medicine man's wife, she finds that, surprise! The boy isn't dead. It wasn't even his finger! They bought those bones at some other village. They're just keeping the boy as a forced laborer at a cattle ranch a few hours away. Mma Ramotswe drives to the cattle ranch and takes the boy home. Except what? If it wasn't his finger, than how does the solving of the mystery even make sense? The only reason she found the medicine man is because of the finger bone! Is anyone else smelling something not quite right? Maybe I'm the one missing something, but it seems like this book could have used a continuity director.

Here's the thing, the main character is pretty badass. She's enormously fat and all the men love her. At one point, she's looking at some blouses and when the saleswoman asks her to buy one, she proudly responds that they don't have a blouse big enough for her, like if I were to say to the Clinique woman, "I'm sorry, but I can't buy any of your foundation because it doesn't come in a shade as flawless as my natural skin tone." She's smart and sassy and the descriptions of Africa and her father are really endearing. I guess it's a sweet book. I was just so distracted by the simplicity of it all, I couldn't really enjoy it. I think if you're looking for an entertaining series starring a lady detective, I'd recommend The Bee Keeper's Apprentice over this series any day. But if you're thinking of picking up the Stephanie Plum series by Evanovich, put that thought out of your head right now. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency ranks higher.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

2008-12-07T17:22:00.000-08:00

I finished this book on Friday but have been having such a holidayrific weekend that I haven't had time to post. In fact, I have company coming in 45 minutes for a dinner party, so I'm going to make this snappy. And yes, I just said snappy.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a the second book by Jonathan Safran Foer (see my post below for his first book). ELaIC follows 10 year old Oskar Schell around New York as he tries to find the lock that fits a key he found in his dad's closet. His father died in the World Trade Center on September 11th and looking for the lock seems to be the only thing that lightens his "heavy boots". On his search he encounters all sorts of people, who are each going through their own trials. Also interwoven throughout the book is the story of his grandparent's survival of WWII up through present day.

This book is very much a story of grieving. It's beautifully written and sad as hell. There are many poignant moments and passages where you find yourself thinking that Jonathan Safran Foer is a genius for writing out loud things you've thought before as well as things that you would never even think to think about. The narration of Oskar was always fantastic, I loved everything about him and when he finally tells his whole story (I'm being intentionally vague to avoid spoilers) I was balling like a baby. I had a slightly more rocky relationship with the story of his Grandparents. I think reading this book when in the right mood might be crucial to the enjoyment of it. I loved the writing and how beautifully he captures what love is, but at times, the Grandparent story line was a just a little too melancholy for me. I think Jonathan has an amazing voice, but it would be interesting to see him try something a little different. His first two books are a little samsey for me, but I'd definitely read whatever he has up his sleeve next.

Something to Tide you Over

2008-12-05T11:06:00.000-08:00

"... she wants to know if I love her, that's all anyone wants from anyone else, not love itself but the knowledge that love is there, like new batteries in the flashlight in the emergency kit in the hall closet..."

Quote from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which I still haven't finished.

Everything is Illuminated

2008-11-28T23:14:00.000-08:00

Most people don't know this about me, but I have a pattern of behavior associated with finishing a book. I'm rarely conscious of it at the time, but immediately after I finish a book (and before I start a new one), I become incredibly annoying. My husband pointed this out to me a year or two ago and since then it's become a bit of a running joke in our house. Any time I'm annoying, Jeff will ask, "Did you by chance just finish a book?" At first, I was terribly offended by the question, but now I find it's almost a relief to know why I'm being so annoying. I've deduced that after reading a book, I go through some sort of weird withdrawal that results in needy behavior.

A few minutes ago, I finished brushing my teeth and got into bed where Jeff was already tucked in with a giant binder in his lap called Win Without Pitching. Though I love my husband deeply and dearly, he is, at his core, a massive dork and loves reading things called Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable (for serious, I just leaned over to look at a stack of books on his office floor and that was the one on top). Anyways, after brushing my teeth I ran, leaped into the air and dove head first into the bed, causing Jeff to highlight the wrong line in his reading material and the cat to make a pissed noise and leave the room. I then said something incredibly annoying like, "Do you love me?" And the second before he tore himself away from his stimulating reading to answer me I realized he was about to ask me if I'd just finished a book. And the thing is, I had! I just finished Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Jeff then suggested that maybe it would be helpful for me to post about it before going to bed (read: Please leave me alone with my nerd-alert binder and inflict your annoying on blogger instead of me). So this is what I'm doing.

I actually intended to buy Jonathan Safran Foer's other book - Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud (or is it Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close?) but Half Price Books didn't have it. They did, however have this book (his first) and it sounded good, so I bought it. And I must say it was pretty amazing. From the back of the book, here is the description:

With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man - also named Jonathan Safran Foer - sets out to find the woman who may or may not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war; an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.

Sooo sad, smart, and also really quite funny at times (as Dolly Parton said in Steel Magnolias - laughter through tears is my favorite emotion). Jonathan has such a strong voice as a writer. Sometimes when I read books I think to myself, "Self, maybe you could write a book." But when I read this book, I thought, "Dude, you might be able to write a book, but in comparison to this book, yours' will be one that sits on the back of people's toilets as bathroom reading." There might have been a moment or two where things seem just a teensy bit pretentious, and I will confess to feeling very frustrated by the fact that we never get the answers to the questions Jonathan travelled to the Ukraine to answer, but then I would get to a chapter written by Alexander and all would be forgiven. The way he used bad English to say beautiful things was relentlessly awe inspiring. And I loved the passages from the Book of Recurrent Dreams, it was like reading the best kind of poetry.

It's late and I need to get to bed. I'm not sure this was the most informative review, but at least it kept me from annoying my husband, right?

Quick Update

2008-11-23T10:39:00.001-08:00

This is just a quick update to let you know that I really appreciated your book recommendations last week. I brought them all to Half Priced Books yesterday afternoon and they only had 2 or 3 of them in stock. I ended up buying Everything is Illuminated by the same author as Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud, which Raych recommended. A coworker was already planning to loan me ECaIL next week, so I will read it soon, but Everything is Illuminated sounded good too so I picked it up.

On a side note, it recently dawned on me that I still have 2 books to read for the New Classics Challenge. I'm running out of time, so I better get my shit together and pick them out. I think a friend was going to loan me On Beauty by Zadie Smith, and I believe my plan was to also read The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I need to get my hands on a copy of that soon. That said, I did hear a pretty persuasive argument over dinner last night to read The Road by McCarthy which is also on the challenge list. Thoughts?

World Without End

2008-11-23T10:07:00.001-08:00

World Without End is the sequel to Pillars of the Earth, which I read last June and reviewed here. Pillars of the Earth followed the townspeople of Kingsbridge, England in the 1100's. World Without End picks up in the same town with a new cast of characters in the 1300's. In every way possible, this book is the same as the first one. It has medieval romance, royal scandal, cathedral building and gothic architecture, and it is very, very long. I believe in my review of Pillars of the Earth I awarded it the title of longest-book-ever. Well, it will now have to release that title and hand it over to its sequel because this book is 1014 pages long.

I finished this book yesterday afternoon while wearing my cloak and sipping a goblet of Meade. It's rare that I let my medieval side win out, but this book was worth it. It's not the best book ever, but it's very entertaining in a mildly educational way. The book appears to be well researched, and I found the story line following the nuns and monks in the town to be highly entertaining. In general I think Ken Follet paints a very thorough and seemingly accurate picture of life in the 1300s. The book explores the difficulties of being a woman during these times, the struggles the Catholic church faced, war and the politics surrounding battle, and the plague that ravaged Europe in the mid 1300s.

Probably because the book is so long, Ken Follet is able to really take a story lower than you think possible. By page 500 or so, you're thinking, "Dude, this book is a DOWNER, is it ever going to get better for these people?" But then you realize that the book isn't even half over yet, and he still has plenty of time for things to improve. At times, the simplicity of the "bad guys" and the goodness of the "good guys" gets tiresome, but after my second goblet of Meade, I forgave this.

Basically, if you liked Pillars of Earth, I can pretty much guarantee that you'll like World Without End.

Wish me luck

2008-11-15T18:48:00.001-08:00

Well, the night isn't over yet, but it certainly doesn't look like I'll be finishing World Without End tonight. But not because I'm not enjoying it! The book is great, but since I'm only at page 620 and there are over 1000 pages total (and because maybe I'm watching Center Stage for the second time this weekend on the Oxygen Channel) I'm gonna say it's not happening.

I have to get up painfully early tomorrow for the conference I'm running for work this week. It only happens twice a year, but I'll be working an average of 15 hours a day tomorrow through Thursday. Wish me luck that everything goes well (and maybe that I'll be so busy running around that I lose the 5 pounds I've gained in the last month stuffing my face with Halloween candy and chocolate chip cookies out of the freezer). I'll be back to post on the 21st!

PS: After I finish this book, I'm officially out of reading material. Can you leave recommendations of what I should read next in the comments?

Update

2008-11-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

If you are observant, you may have noticed the more infrequent posting I’ve been doing recently. In the real, non-blogging world, work is CRAZY while I get ready for a giant conference I’ll be running next week. I normally get a good 20 pages in during my lunch break every day but lunch breaks are soooo three weeks ago and as a result, my reading has been making tortoise-like progress of late.

The situation probably isn’t being helped by the fact that I am slowly chugging my way through World Without End, which is the sequel to Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet that I reviewed here and this hefty tome is over 1000 pages long! Unless a miracle happens and I breeze through World Without End in the next two days, a review is going to have to wait until after my conference is over on the 20th. Starting Sunday I’ll be sleeping just 4 miles from my house at the Grand Hyatt so as to be on call and will likely be reading nothing more interesting than the conference agenda and hotel rooming list. In better news, it will all be over just in time for me to wait in line with a hoard of gothy 15 year olds wearing cloaks to see Twilight.

Belong to Me

2008-11-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

I actually finished this book Friday night, but have been struggling with reviewing it all weekend. I really liked this book, but the words to review it just aren't coming. Maybe I'll start with a plot summary and it will get me rolling?

This book is a follow up to Love Walked In, which I read ages ago and also really liked, but don't remember much of. The good thing is that that was okay. The story of Belong to Me didn't require me to remember anything except the most basic of facts from the first book and really, they could each stand alone if you didn't want to read them in order (although they're both good books, so why not read both?!).

The book follows Cornelia and her husband Teo as they move to the suburbs. Her stepford-wife-style-neighbor, Piper also has her own story and there's a third story line that follows a 13 year old boy genius, Dev and his single mother as they move from California to the same suburb where Teo, Cornelia and Piper live (run on sentence much?). Eventually the story lines weave together and everyone in the story ends up connecting with everyone else and while it's maybe a tiny bit convenient, it's not too contrived.

The plot is interesting and I liked the twists it took, but for me, this book is more about the writing. I loved the author's writing. The story can get a little syrupy every once in a while, particularly when it focuses on the main character of Cornelia, but the writing was so beautiful that I forgave it.

I particularly loved Piper's story line, which initially seemed like it was going to be my least favorite. Piper is a perfect suburban house wife with two perfect children and basically a perfect life, until her best friend is diagnosed with cancer. I loved the way she describes Piper's grief and even though I finished the book on Friday, I'm still thinking about how eloquent certain passages from Piper's chapters were.

If you're looking for a book that bares a vague resemblance to chick lit, but that's a few shades more serious and many shades more articulate, I highly recommend Belong to Me.

Mystery Book

2008-11-04T10:52:00.000-08:00

So I finished the unpublished novel for a friend of a friend that I mentioned in my last post. It was quite lengthy and it feels wrong to not be able to review it here, but I’ll just have to wait in the hopes that it gets published and I can tell you about it then.

I started Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos last night, so I’ll let you know once that’s done. I liked her other book, Love Walked In, but remember very little of it now. This appears to be a quasi-sequel, so hopefully it doesn’t require me to remember tooo much.

The Janissary Tree

2008-10-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

The Janissary Tree is a Turkish mystery novel; the first in what appears to be a new series that stars the character of Investigator Yashim. A coworker loaned it to me and I loved the descriptions of Istanbul in the 1800’s, the culinary detours it took describing Turkish food, and I really enjoyed the character of Investigator Yashim, who is a eunuch (crucial to the plot, not just a middle school fixation on a minor detail).

That said, I was sort of over-stimulated by all the different characters and their titles. Sometimes it seemed like each chapter was its own little story, introducing a whole bevy of new characters with confusing titles that you may or may not see reappear later in the book. By the time one character would reappear in the story, I couldn’t remember if they were new or if maybe we’d met them 10 chapters ago for like a second – and then I’d wonder, “Am I supposed to remember something important about this dude that is crucial to the solving of the mystery!?”

The story follows corruption and murder within the Ottoman Empire of 1836. Yashim is summoned by the city’s military leader to solve the mystery of 4 soldiers who recently disappeared and are feared murdered. One by one, the corpses of the soldiers appear in public ala Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. While Yashim fights the clock to solve the mystery before all 4 soldiers are killed, one of the sultan's harem girls is murdered and the jewels she was wearing stolen. Yashim is left to wonder if the murders are connected, or if he has two separate mysteries on his hands.

This book has murder, a sexy Russian princess, coups, sparkly jewels, lots of eunuchs (no jewels), and clashes between traditional Istanbul and western modernization. But even with all of this, The Janissary Tree fell just a few steps short of being awesome for me. I’m pretty sure the author Jason Goodwin isn’t reading my blog to see what I thought and he’s probably already finished his next book starring Yashim, The Snake Stone but my advice would be to eliminate all the extraneous characters and further develop only the best ones. I hope the future books have more of Preen, Stanislaw Palewski, and Murad Eslek, these were my favorite supporting characters.

For my next read, I have a top secret assignment. Well, not totally top secret, but kind of! A friend of a friend (or really, a daughter of a friend of the family who I've never met) wrote a novel and I've volunteered to read it and make suggestions to help trim it down. The secret part comes in because I was told for now not to mention the book title. I was a little nervous when the weighty envelope arrived on Saturday because I really had no idea what the book was about and maybe I would hate it! But imagine my relief after reading 60 pages tonight and discovering that it is GOOD! Whew. Bullet dodged.

Pssst

2008-10-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

Come here.

No, a little closer. I have to tell you a secret.

I’m a little worried about posting this for fear of all the exclamation points that might appear in the comments, but I’m just going to squeeze my eyes tight and hit the “Publish Post” button quickly. Here's the thing:

I’ve never read a Jane Austen book. Ever.

I’m not exactly sure how I’ve managed to be such an avid reader for so long and avoid these books, but I have. I suppose it started to feel like it was too late to jump on the Jane Austen love train, but maybe not? Also, as long as I’m doing the whole full-disclosure thing, I will admit to my fear that I won’t really like them. I have this weird reaction whenever I hear or read something about Jane Austen where I metaphorically stick my fingers in my ears and sing an annoying song to myself. I sort of put them in the same category as other things that "aren't my thing". You know, like babies breath (the flower, not the real breath of real babies), horses, magic shows, and displays of glass trinkets in the home. Apologies to all the horse and glass-trinket-loving-peoples out there. No apologies if you like babies breath, because there is no excuse.

Tell me the truth -- would I hate Jane Austen? Or would it be the second best thing that ever happened to me (slipper duvets are the best)? If I were to try and read one Jane Austen book, which would you recommend starting with? Is there an order to them? I honestly have no idea…

Google Search

2008-10-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

I just thought you should know that someone actually found this blog on Google by searching for "blogspot horny wife lover".

A Prayer for Owen Meany

2008-10-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

A Prayer for Owen Meany is about the character of Owen Meany. It's hard to describe the plot of this book without numerous spoilers, but since every single person I mentioned I was reading it to either immediately put their hand over their hearts and said something like "Aaaaw, Owen Meany..." in a wistful manner OR muttered something about having only read half of it, I'm guessing I'm not really "spoiling" it for anyone. In fact, I feel like I'm the last person on earth to have read this book.

Owen Meany is an unnaturally tiny boy with a super weird and loud voice and Johnny Wheelright, who tells the story is his best friend. They grow up together in a small New Hampshire town in the 40s and 50s. Much of this book is standard coming of age stuff, but what gives it an edge is the how uniquely self assured the tiny Owen Meany is from an early age. There's a lot of religious context that was largely lost on me, but basically you come to learn that for various reasons, Owen Meany believes he is a messenger, or instrument of God. You follow his story from the age of about 10 to his death in his early 20s. Since the book is about a million pages long, this is a grossly oversimplified version of the plot, but it's the best I can do.

This book took me forever to read. I'm still not exactly sure why that is. There's the obvious reason of the book being a million pages long, but I will also admit to being kind of bored at times. Even as I type that though, I feel guilt. I wasn't bored because it was a bad book, but Mr. Irving tended to wander off subject for long periods of time and the sections of the book that focused on John's current life were Bor to the ing. I think maybe my most fundamental "issue" with this book was that I really didn't care for the narrator, Johnny Wheelright. He was such a lump! And even in adulthood, he was tedious and disappointing and I started to wonder if Judd Apatow based Steve Carell's character from The 40 Year Old Virgin off of him (only NOT funny). But I digress.

Despite my confessing to being bored on occasion, I was also entranced by Owen. Growing up, I was more than a little on the runty side myself and I most certainly had a loud and unique voice that I gradually (mostly) grew into. But I never thought I was a messenger of God. And through the telling of the story, you do start to wonder - was he? And the story of his death (which is sort of overly alluded to for like 900 pages) is soo sad. I loved the story of the armadillo and I really liked the latter half of the book, when Vietnam and the events of the 60s play a major role in the development of the characters. It was sad, but poignant and many of Owen's opinions during this part of the book felt more than a little relevant to the current social and political climate in the US (the idiocy of some politicians, the excitement of JFK's election, the embarrassment over Vietnam and the bitterness and sarcasm needed to cope).

I was thankful that I hadn't seen the movie and couldn't even remember a preview for it, so I didn't have any weird preconceived ideas of the story. I must confess that I'm just the tiniest bit curious to see it now, despite everyone having told me that it is a terrible adaptation.

This was my 4th book read for the New Classics Challenge. For a monster of a book, I feel like I should have something more to say. But I think I've spent so long reading this book, my thoughts on the issue are sort of exhausted. Sorry to disappoint.