Books of Late #5

I'm still devouring books over here and these are the latest....



What Alice Forgot - Reading this book can feel frustrating, but ultimately that's what makes it such a good read.  This is the story of Alice and how she hit her head during spin class and forgot the last 10 years of her life.  As the reader, we regain Alice's memories essentially at the same time she does - this is what's frustrating...you will want to know what Alice is forgetting as much as she does.  I couldn't put this book down because I. Just. Wanted. To. Know!  This should be filed in the chick lit category, it's a good, fun, summer read.



The Signature of All Things - I loved the beginning of this book, with the adventure, travel and history as we the reader(s) learn about Henry Whittaker and his rise from boy thief to successful businessman. Then we meet Alma Whittaker, Henry's daughter and our true main character.  Alma is interesting herself, but her story dragged for me throughout the middle.  Once Alma becomes married some mystery arrives and the adventure, travel and history return.  This is a good book but was totally unexpected for me to have come from Elizabeth Gilbert.



The Silver Star - Jeanette Wall's The Glass Castle is one of my favorite books, so maybe my expectations for Silver Star started out too high.  The narrator of this book is 12 year old bean.  The story is good, but it definitely feels like reading a pre-teen/teen book.  Although I wasn't terribly disappointed in this quick read, I guess I expected more.



Where'd You Go Bernadette? - This book hit me from out of nowhere, it was so far from what I expected I was instantly hooked.  A compilation of e-mail messages, newsletters and other "media" writing combined with some narration from one of the main characters, a girl named Bee, this book was written in a way I have only seen one other time (in a book I can't remember the title of).  Part gossip, party mystery, part happy, part sad....I really liked this book because it caught me off guard.  I finished it in about 2 days I was so hooked.  Makes for great poolside enjoyment.

Books of Late #4

Hi Friends,
I've been on a reading tip of late, consuming books as the summer flies by.
Let's check out a few......



Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls

Ahhh David Sedaris.  Funny man and frequent contributor to This American Life.  My favorite David Sedaris book is Me Talk Pretty One Day, but Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls did not disappoint.  A collection of essays, this book is easy to read and good for a giggle.

As a side note, in the book David talks about his disgust for the amount of litter in the area he lives in, so he begins collecting trash on his own time.  I just saw this article, it looks like his work is paying off!



The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing

This was a re-read.  This is another collection of short stories, but pay attention, they overlap meeting certain characters at different points and taking sub-characters from one story and making them main characters in another story.  It is a short glimpse into others lives and I like that kind of book.




Everything Is Perfect When You're a Liar

I did not finish this book.  This is saying a lot considering I will read junk just to get to the end or learn the whole story no matter how bad it is.  Case in point: my Dad bought me the book by Pulitzer Prize Winning author Dog the Bounty Hunter as a joke; I read the whole thing just so I could go through and red pen all the grammatical errors.  Considering I couldn't even finish Everything is Perfect when You're a Liar I guess we can say I was not a fan.  I read that Kelly Oxford is popular on Twitter (?).  I was not aware of her until I heard about this book on another blog.  Based on the Amazon reviews it seems people like her better on Twitter than as an author/autobiographer.  I'm just going to tell you I (really) didn't like her book.



The Lowland

To put it simply, this story is beautifully told.  Spanning several decades, it is the tale of one family and the many changes they go through, both good and bad.  The story is told at different points from different characters perspectives.  It is very easy to get lost in this book.  I would not be surprised if this was turned into a movie and if it does I would love to see it.  If you have not read a Jhumpa Lahiri novel before, I would also recommend The Namesake, which is another great story....it was made into a movie.

So, what have you been reading this summer?

♥TCW

Books of Late #1

I think I've shared before that I'm a reader, but I haven't seemed to do much book posting around here.  So let's get to it!

I used to rely on our old friend Oprah for book suggestions.  I would also hit that front table at Barnes & Noble where you can "buy two & get the third free".  But more recently, I'm a big fan of my local library.  Yes, it takes longer to get the books, but I don't mind waiting while I read other stuff.  I also like that I'm re-using a book and not cluttering my house up.

Right now my sources for finding good books are Eat, Live Run, NPR and the librarians suggestion shelf.  I also won't lie.  Sometimes book covers catch my eye too....which results in good and bad experiences as the metaphor would indicate.

Here are some books that I've recently read....

Girl In Translation by Jean Kwok - When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Hong Kong to Brooklyn squalor, she quickly begins a secret double life: exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worker in the evenings.

I enjoyed this story; things happened that I didn't expect and the ending really surprised me.  (If you read a lot like I do you can get pretty good at guessing endings).  I was also appalled by the living conditions of the characters when they first come to the U.S.  Yes, I know this is fiction, but the author immigrated from Hong Kong herself, so I'm assuming some of what is in this book came from her personal experiences.  Sadly, it's probably not a far stretch from what really goes on and made me realize my naivete to what immigrants may be going through.  Last word - her aunt, wowza!

The Paris wife by Paula McLain - A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.

I saw this book on Eat, Live, Run, but admittedly, I didn't read her full post and I didn't really know what the book was about until I started reading it.  What a story!  Again, I know it's fiction, but I loved reading about Paris in the 1920's.  I have visited Ernest Hemingway's home in Key West (his cats have 5 toes) and it was fun for me to read this book and imagine him there...and as a real guy and not just the legend that he is.  Last word - it was pretty amazing how Hadley gains so much strength after the birth of her son, but shown in a very subtle way.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway - The quintessential novel of the Lost Generation, The Sun Also Rises is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. 

OK, here's the deal.  I started reading this.  I was inspired to read an actual Hemingway novel after finishing The Paris Wife, so I picked this up at the library.  The language is much easier than I anticipated and the story is good.  But, The Paris Wife talks about a trip they took in which Hemingway was writing The Sun Also Rises, which is partially about the trip they were on....so, I sort of felt like I already knew the story and I got a little bored.  Also, the next book on the list came available and so I grabbed it and read it quick before I had to return it.  Last word - I need to re-start and finish this at a later date.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games," a fight to the death on live TV. 

No, I'm not a teenager.  Although I have read (and own. in hardback.) all of the books about a certain wizarding boy....and I also read (but don't own.  really.) all of the books about a certain girl, vampire and werewolf (which a friend cleverly coined as "Sweet Valley High meets The Lost Boys")....OK, so, yeah, I read those other books too, so it was sort of natural that I'd read this one....right?  Well, I was not disappointed.  Actually, I can't wait to get my hands on the next two of the series.  The writing in this book is much better than the Twilight series.  Like way better.  The story is violent, more than I expected, but that sort of thing doesn't totally bother me either.  There were so many things going on in this book, love, survival, politics.  I can see why everyone has been talking about the series and why they made a movie of it.  Last word - Katniss, helllooo?  How can you not tell this boy loves you?

These is my Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner - A moving, exciting, and heartfelt American saga inspired by the author's own family memoirs, these words belong to Sarah Prine, a woman of spirit and fire who forges a full and remarkable existence in a harsh, unfamiliar frontier.

I just devoured this book on our trip to Chicago.  It reads like a diary (obviously) but I love this - I love reading because it's like peeping into another world or life....reading a diary is the ultimate version of that.  Sarah's story is an amazing and interesting one set in the wild west.  The author started this as a school paper based on a family member and it evolved into a novel.  I left this book feeling like I wish I could have known Ms. Sarah Agnes Prine.  Last word - the subtle improvement in the language and writing skills of the "author" throughout the book make it so realistic.

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown - Three sisters have returned to their childhood home, reuniting the eccentric Andreas family. Their father-a professor of Shakespeare who speaks almost exclusively in verse-named them after the Bard's heroines. It's a lot to live up to.

What can the shy homebody eldest sister, the fast-living middle child, and the bohemian youngest sibling have in common? Only that none has found life to be what was expected; and now, faced with their parents' frailty and their own personal disappointments, not even a book can solve what ails them...

I found this book on NPR, I'm about half-way through now, and I'm enjoying it.  It took a bit to "get-going", but now I'm involved and I want to know what will happen next.  Word for now - it is narrated by all three sisters in a very creative way.

That's all for now!  Any suggestions for me??

Oh yeah - and today is the last day for the giveaway!

Book Review - Room

Something new to learn about me, I am a reader, or book nerd if you prefer.  I am always reading something, usually a book (I'm not much of a magazine person).  To The Cyclist's dismay I also must read before I go to sleep which invites complaints for my light being on too long.  Whatevs.  This is one I won't budge on.

Because I read often and pretty much anything I can get my hands on, I sometimes end up reading stuff that is dumb or just plain bad, but I always finish them anyway - I can't help it, I have to know the end.  (Room was definitely not in either of these categories).  I'm not going to spend time on this blog reviewing books that are crappy, but I will keep a running log of what I'm reading in the nifty GoodReads widget that I added over there →
Additionally, I won't review a book here unless I've just read it.  There are lots of books I would recommend, but I don't want to write about them unless they are fresh in my head.  I'll be adding some of my favorite books to the nifty widget over the next couple of weeks, and I'll give them a star rating on GoodReads.

Room was the first book I've read on the Kindle.  I was kind of opposed, because I like having a real book, but the Kindle was actually pretty sweet.  Easy to travel with and not so heavy.  If you haven't used a Kindle, they are not back-lit (this was first pointed out to us by Mrs. Bestie) meaning they don't look like a computer screen and you need a light to read on it.  What's cool about that though is it's OK for your eyes and looks like a real book.  Another feature I liked about the Kindle is it holds the page for you.

On to the book review...

Room is told from the perspective of one of the two main characters, Jack, who is a five year old boy.  We quickly figure out that Jack and his "Ma" are living in a very small room and from Jack's perspective, certain physical items in the room are like people or characters.  He talks about "Lamp" and "Wardrobe" like thy are his friends.

After some time goes by it becomes clear that Jack and Ma are being held captive in Room.  I'm not going to do any spoilers here, so don't be afraid to read on. 

I thought Room was really a great book.  It depicts the horror of the situation, but because it is told from Jack's perspective, there is quite a bit of humor as well.  Additionally, there were some things that happened in the book that I was absolutely not expecting, which is nice for the reader (I think).  As much as I wanted to know what was going to happen to Jack and Ma, I also didn't want to put the book down and was a little sad when it was over.  I could see someone trying to make a movie out of Room someday, which I'm not so sure about.....it might kind of wreck it.  I think the special part of the book is that you see the story through Jack's eyes, which the author did a great job writing.  I don't think this would be easy to convey in a movie.

So, if it sounds interesting to you, I suggest you read Room!