What I've been reading

2010

2011-01-01T21:29:00.002-05:00

I read a lot less in 2010 than I have in previous years. Here's the list:

January 2010

1. Testimony - Anita Shreve

February 2010

2. Skeletons at the feast - Chris Bohjalian

3. Name dropping -Jane Heller

4. A reliable wife - Robert Goolrick (book club)

March 2010

5. Normal people don't live like this - Dylan Landis

6. Upside down inside out - Monica McInerney

7. True colors - Kristin Hannah (book club)

April 2010

8. The year of living biblically - A.J. Jacobs

9. The office of desire - Martha Moody (book club)

10. Confessions of a serial dater - Michelle Cunnah

11. The life and soul of the party - Mike Gayle

12. The wedding diaries - Linda Francis Lee

13. True love (and other lies) - Whitney Gaskell

14. Not quite a Mom - Kirsten Sawyer

May 2010

15. LoveHampton - Sherri Rifkin

16. The department of lost and found - Allison Winn Scotch

17. Everyone is beautiful - Katherine Center (book club)

18. Straight up - Deirdre Martin

June 2010

19. Nothing but trouble - Rachel Gibson

20. Sizzling sixteen - Janet Evanovich

July 2010

21. Wedding season - Katie Fforde

22. My name is Mary Sutter - Robin Oliveira (book club)

23. I am Ozzy - Ozzy Osbourne

August 2010

24. Simply irresistible - Rachel Gibson

25. Chasing Stanley - Deirdre Martin

26. Natural born charmer - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

27. The lucky one - Nicholas Sparks (book club)

28. Daisy's back in town - Rachel Gibson

September 2010

29. Orange is the new black - Piper Kerman

October 2010

30. The lace reader - Brunonia Barry (book club)

31. Wish you were here - Mike Gayle

November 2010

32. This charming man - Marian Keyes (book club)

33. The junior officer's reading club - Patrick Hennessy

My favorites were probably Skeletons at the feast & The year of living biblically.

July 2010

2010-07-30T15:51:00.003-04:00

Of the three books I read in July, I am Ozzy was definition the most interesting. In a sort of frightening and horrific way. Reading what his life has been like for the past 40 years, it's hard to believe he's still around. For some reason I enjoy the rock star bio. Of the three that I've read recently, I like Slash the best. I am Ozzy & The Dirt (about Motley Crue) were probably tied. Both held my interest and made me want to learn more about the people in the book.

We read My name is Mary Sutter for book club this month. It was pretty interesting although a bit slow at times. Mary was very socially awkward and didn't relate well to people, unless she was delivering their baby. It was really interesting to learn about the options that were and were not available to women at the time, and also to learn about the appalling conditions around the time of the Civil War.

1. Wedding season - Katie Fforde
2. My name is Mary Sutter - Robin Oliveira (book club)
3. I am Ozzy - Ozzy Osbourne

January 2009

2009-03-11T10:20:00.004-04:00

Here's the list of books I read in January.

1. The double bind - Chris Bohjalian (book club)
2. Testing Kate - Whitney Gaskell
3. Girl most likely to - Poonam Sharma
4. Accidentally engaged - Mary Carter
5. Celebutantes - Amanda Goldberg

None of them really stand out to me as great reads. Lots of light, easy reads. The Double Bind was pretty good and had an interesting twist at the end.

2008 - Part 2

2009-02-15T12:05:00.000-05:00

Here's the 2nd half of 2008:

July 2008

85. Ten-year nap - Meg Wolitzer (book club)
86. How to talk to a widower - Jonathan Tropper
87. Names my sisters call me - Megan Crane
88. More than it hurts you - Darin Strauss
89. Starting from square two - Caren Lissner
90. Queen of babble gets hitched - Meg Cabot
91. Up and out - Ariella Papa

August 2008

92. The Ice Man: confessions of a Mafia contract killer - Philip Carlo
93. The big girls - Susanna Moore
94. Not another bad date - Rachel Gibson
95. So much for my happy ending - Kyra Davis
96. The other side of the story - Marian Keyes

September 2008

97. The shack - William P. Young (book club)
98. Don't you forget about me - Jancee Dunn
99. Lost on planet China - J. Maarten Troost
100. The Ex-debutante - Linda Francis Lee

October 2008

101. Bel canto - Ann Patchett (book club)
102. The chocolate lovers' club - Carole Matthews
103. The blood of flowers - Anita Amirrezvani
104. The 19th wife - David Ebershoff (book club)
105. The breakup club - Melissa Senate

November 2008

106. Sleeping arrangements -Madeleine Wickham
107. A Cedar Cove Christmas - Debbie Macomber
108. Not yet drown'd - Peg Kingman
109. Jack with a twist - Brenda Janowitz

December 2008

110. The marching season - Daniel Silva
111. The last undercover - Bob Hamer
112. Being committed - Anna Maxted
113. The lost memoirs of Jane Austen - Syrie James
114. 21 steps to happiness - F. G. Gerson
115. Irish girls about town
116. The English assassin - Daniel Silva
117. I love you, Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle

A Year

2009-02-15T11:13:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I posted anything. I actually did a lot of reading in the past year. Here's the first half of the year.

January 2008

1. Becky: the life and loves of Becky Thatcher - Lenore Hart
2. The little lady agency - Hester Browne

February 2008

3. Big boned - Meg Cabot
4. Tangled up in you - Rachel Gibson
5. Plum lucky - Janet Evanovich
6. Just a taste - Deirdre Martin
7. First lady - Susan Elizabeth Phillips
8. The happiest baby on the block - Harvey Karp
9. Second chance - Jane Green
10. Matarese circle - Robert Ludlum
11. Undomestic goddess - Sophie Kinsella
12. Turning thirty - Mike Gayle
13. Learning curves - Gemma Townley
14. Lost and found - Jane Sigaloff
15. A girl's best friend - Liz Young
16. Dinner for two - Mike Gayle
17. What men want - Deborah Blumenthal
18. The girlfriend's guide to surviving the first year of motherhood - Vicki Iovine
19. School of fortune - Amanda Brown
20. The big question - Chuck Barris
21. Mr. Commitment - Mike Gayle
22. The last summer (of you and me) - Ann Brashares
23. Lady Macbeth - Susan Fraser King

March 2008

24. Remember me? - Sophie Kinsella
25. Fieldwork - Mischa Berlinksi
26. The dowry: a novel of Ireland - Walter Keady
27. The Accidental mother - Rowan Coleman
28. My legendary girlfriend - Mike Gayle
29. Joanna's husband and David's wife - Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
30. Nine months - Sarah Ball
31. The big beautiful - Pamela Duncan
32. The last empress - Anchee Min
33. Momzillas - Jill Kargman
34. Past secrets - Cathy Kelly
35. An arsonist's guide to writers' homes in New England - Brock Clarke
36. Mozart's sister - Rita Charbonnier
37. Mommy tracked - Whitney Gaskell
38. The outcast: a novel - Sadie Jones
39. Roommates wanted - Lisa Jewell
40. Acceptance - Susan Coll
41. The English American - Alison Larkin
42. Never on a sundae - Wendy Markham
43. Bidding for love - Katie Fforde
44. The guardians: a novel - Ana Castillo
45. What do you do all day? - Amy Scheibe
46. Spin cycle - Leslie Carroll

April 2008

47. Best of friends: two women, two continents, and one enduring friendship - Sara James
48. Babyland - Holly Chamberlin
49. I hope they serve beer in hell - Tucker Max
50. Covert: my years infiltrating the mob - Bob Delaney
51. Breaking news: a stunning and memorable account of reporting from some of the most dangerous places in the world - Martin Fletcher
52. Songs without words - Ann Packer (book club)
53. Those who save us - Jenna Blum
54. The cure for modern life - Lisa Tucker
55. Everyone else's girl - Megan Crane
56. Knitting under the influence - Claire LaZebnik
57. Frenemies - Megan Crane
58. Certain girls - Jennifer Weiner
59. Anonymous lawyer - Jeremy Blachman
60. Working at the ballpark - Tom Jones

May 2008

61. When Washington was in vogue - Edward Christopher Williams
62. Whatever makes you happy - William Sutcliffe
63. Practically perfect - Katie Fforde
64. Letters from Yellowstone - Diane Smith
65. Restoring Grace - Katie Fforde
66. Paradise fields Katie Fforde
67. The Kommandant's girl - Pam Jenoff
68. The gold coast - Nelson DeMille (book club)
69. Summer of my Southern discomfort - Stephanie Gayle
70. Accidental It girl - Libby Street
71. Hollywood girls club - Maggie Marr
72. Going Dutch - Katie Fforde
73. Wanderlust - Chris Dyer

June 2008

74. Chasing Harry Winston - Lauren Weisberger
75. How Nancy Drew saved my life - Lauren Baratz-Logsted
76. You'll never nanny in this town again - Suzanne Hansen
77. Happiness sold separately - Libby Street
78. Moloka'i - Alan Brennert (book club)
79. A good Indian wife - Anne Cherian
80. Second thyme around - Katie Fforde
81. Passion, betrayal and killer highlights - Kyra Davis
82. The diplomat's wife - Pam Jenoff
83. Fearless fourteen - Janet Evanovich
84. Alphabet sisters - Monica McInerney

LibraryThing

2008-04-22T14:17:00.003-04:00

I've been keeping track of what I've been reading on LibraryThing, so I haven't been posting too much here. Or at all, I guess. I joined the 50 book challenge in 2007 and again in 2008. So far this year I've read over 50 books, so I guess I've already achieved my goal. Yay me. For some reason the past few days, I haven't been able to update the thread where I'm keeping track of the books I've read so I decided to post them here so I won't forget that they were. Hopefully the problem is fixed soon so I can update my list.

Knitting Under the Influence - Claire LaZebnik
Everyone Else's Girl - Megan Crane
Frenemies - Megan Crane

I'm currently reading Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner and I'll probably finish that today.

Long time

2007-09-25T09:12:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since I've posted, but I have been reading.

Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife by Irene Spencer - This was an interesting book. For some reason I'm fascinated by polygamy, probably because it's something I can't imagine ever doing and don't understand anyone else agreeing to be part of. I guess if you grow up with something and are taught to believe that it's the right way to live and the only way you're going to get to heaven you might have a hard time going against it. I did think it strange that even though she saw how awful it was for her Mother and her Mother was actively against it for her own children, she did it anyway. I'm glad she had a happy ending and found a relationship that was more fulfilling for her, and that most of her children chose a different path than she did.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - I read this for book club and probably wouldn't have otherwise. It's one of those books where there was so much hype I was sure the actual book wouldn't live up to the high expectations. It was actually really good. It's hard to believe that people actually live in conditions like that. I can't imagine living in a place where it's possible my friends or families will be killed by a stray bomb. I also can't imagine living in a place where I'm not allowed to walk down the street by myself and have to wear a head to toe covering. I understand that other cultures are different from my own, but it makes me glad that mine isn't like that.

Inside the Crips: Life Inside L.A.'s Most Notorious Gang by Colton Simpson - I'm fascinated by gangs and by prisons. I love watching the Supermax shows on tv. I'm not sure why. This book gave an inside look at both of these. Again, this book showed a life that is so far removed from my daily experience it's hard to even imagine. There was so much random killing and for what seemed like no good reason.

Right now I'm reading Getting Stoned With Savages by J. Maarten Troost. I had previously read The Sex Lives of Cannibals by the same author. So far I like it and I like his style of writing. His titles kind of crack me up, but I wonder what people thought in the dentist office this morning when they saw the title of the book I was reading!

Killing Pablo & The Grand Complication

2007-04-26T16:22:00.000-04:00

I recently finished Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden. It was lent to me by a friend and was a really good book. I didn't know a thing about Pablo Escobar before reading this book so everything was new to me. It really is a different world in Columbia and it's hard to even imagine how common kidnappings and murders must have been at that time. It doesn't seem like it's that bad now, but maybe we just don't hear about it. I was interested to read how much control Pablo had over everything, including the jail he had built for himself and his friends! The leve of corruption was horrible. It was also amazing to read about the resources that went into the manhunt. All of the different police and military acronyms got a little confusing, but that shows the extent of the manhunt. Mark Bowden also wrote Black Hawk Down which was made into a movie of the same name. The incident in Black Hawk Down actually took place at a similar time and is mentioned in Killing Pablo.

I also read The Grand Complication by Alan Kurzweil recently. Several people in the Librarians who LibraryThing group posted that this was their favorite Library/Librarian book. I can't think of what mine would be, but it probably won't be this one. I thought it was okay. Maybe I had high expectations because of what other people had written about it.

I also have checked out:

Room for Improvement, Stacey Ballis - This is just sitting on my shelf. I probably won't read it.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah - This is our next book club book. It looks really good. It's the memoir of a boy soldier (ha!) from Africa. He now lives in the US and is attending school.

Secret Society Girl: an Ivy League Novel, Diana Peterfreund - I just checked this out. I think it's about a woman who is invited to join a secret society at Yale, or maybe another Ivy League school.

Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky - I've heard really good things about this book. It's about a Jewish woman in Paris in the 1940s. While not autobiographical, there are many similarities between the author and her character's lives. The author was sent to Auschwitz where she died a month later. Her daughters took her incomplete novel with her and it was published 60+ years later.

The True & Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters

2007-04-09T14:55:00.000-04:00

I just finished The True & Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters for book club which meets tonight. Since I chose it, I'll lead the discussion. While I was at my parents house I read Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy. I always enjoy her descriptions of life in small town Ireland and her characters. They're real people with real problems.

Other books that I have checked out:

The Third Victim & The Next Accident by Lisa Gardner - my Mother in Law is reading them on vacation. I'm not sure I've read anything by Lisa Gardner.

I Stink! by Kate McMullan, The Big Book of Things that Go, A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman and Road Construction Ahead (video) - These are all for Ryan (shocker!) I should probably get him his own card. His favorite, by far, is Road Construction Ahead. We'll watch it and he'll ask to watch it again, which has never happened. He can always hope.

The Grand Complication by Allen Kurzweil - Several people in the Librarians who LibraryThing Group posted that this was their favorite Library/Librarian book so I had to read it. I'm not sure if it's my favorite, but it's interesting and different so I'll probably finish it.

The Midnight Choir, Gene Kerrigan - I don't even recognize this title.
Room for Improvement, Stacey Ballis - Haven't started it.
The Man of My Dreams, Curtis Sittenfeld - I picked this out as a book club suggestion and didn't suggest it. I started reading Prep by the same author and never finished it. I'm not sure if I'll read this.
The Quality of Life Report, Meghan Daum - A book club suggestion that wasn't chosen. Not sure if I'll read it.
A Hole in the Universe, Mary McGarry Morris - Another book club suggestion that wasn't chosen. Not sure if I'll read it.
Lion Eyes, Claire Berlinski - Another possible book club suggestion that I didn't suggest. Not sure if I'll read it.
Jacob Have I Loved, Katherine Patterson - There is a book discussion group at the Library that is reading this. I checked out the Library copy to myself in case we needed an additional copy for the group. I think I read it years ago.

But Enough About Me...

2007-03-19T12:27:00.000-04:00

We discussed The Fig Eater at our most recent book club. Only two of us finished the whole book and one woman read about half of it. It was a strange book, lots of references to gypsies and their superstitions. I would say that overall I didn't like the book, but it was fun to discuss it. There was a lot of "how about that part when the woman did this" and "why would somebody do something like that" and I think the other women at book club that night were wishing they'd read the book so they had some idea what we were talking about. I suggested the three books for next time:

The True & Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters, by Elisabeth Robinson (this is what we're reading)
The Quality of Life Report, Meghan Daum
A Hole in the Universe, Mary McGarry Morris

I've read several other books recently. The first, On Wings of Eagles, by Ken Follett. This book had been on my shelves with the other Ken Follett books and I had assumed it was fiction. I was surprised to find when I started reading it that it was a true story. It was a story about breaking two men out of an Iranian prison. The crazy thing was that they worked for Ross Perot's company and he was the one who decided to pursue the rescue mission after diplomatic efforts failed. It's still not clear why they were detained, but it appears that the Iranian government didn't want to pay for work that had been done and also thought that Perot's company had been involved in bribing officials. I really enjoyed the book and can't believe a movie wasn't made of this crazy story.

I also read But Enough About Me... by Jancee Dunn. This book was laugh out loud funny to me at various points. The parts I enjoyed most were her stories of growing up in New Jersey with her family and some of the interviews that she described. She grew up in the 80s so a lot of the things she described I remembered from my own childhood. It was very funny. She also went to the University of Delaware, which was a coincidence.

This morning I finished Nearlyweds by Beth Kendrick. It was cute and an interesting premise. Three women find out that the paperwork for their weddings wasn't properly filed and they're not really married. Two of the women stay with their "husbands" and one doesn't. It was predictable in that the two I hoped would stay together, did. I enjoyed it though.

2007-03-08T09:51:00.000-05:00

Someone posted a link to this on LibraryThing and I thought it might be fun to do. A friend of mine posted this, or something similar, on her blog a while back but I never finished it.

Instructions: In the list of books below, bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won't touch with a ten-foot pole, put a + in front of the ones on your bookshelf and * the ones you've never heard of. The books in regular font I haven't read and am not sure I want to.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. +Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. +To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) a favourite
15. +Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. *Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. +Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. +The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. +Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. +The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. +1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True(Wally Lamb)
39. +The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. +Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. +Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. +The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. +The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. *The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime & Punishment(Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. +War and Peace(Tolstoy)
64. Interview with a Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. *Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) -
69. Les Miserables (Hugo) Saw the play, does that count?
70. +The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. +Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the time of cholera (Marquez)
73. +Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. +The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. *The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. *The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. *Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. +Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. *Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. +Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. +Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. *Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. *In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. +Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. +The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. +The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

The Fugitive Wife, The Calling & The Fig Eater

2007-03-07T21:21:00.000-05:00

The last book I read, The Fig Eater by Jody Shields, was the one I liked least of the three most recent books I've read. It's our book club book for this month and we meet on Monday. I finished it much sooner than I usually do b/c another woman in my book club asked to borrow it. There were a lot of things I didn't like about it. I didn't really like a lot of the characters, I didn't like all the flashbacks and the sayings that were spread throughout the book. It just seemed like a lot of different things were thrown together, and then not really followed up on later in the book. I'll be interested to see what other people thought about it on Monday.

I did like both The Fugitive Wife and The Calling. In The Fugitive Wife, by Peter Brown, Essie has run away from her husband and ended up in Alaska. You don't find out until quite a ways into the book why she ran away, and it wasn't as a result of a single, dramatic event. It seems like it built up for her and then after her son died, she had just had enough and couldn't go back. Even though Leonard sounds like an awful husband, I couldn't completely dislike him. When he shows up in Alaska and she chooses to stay with him instead of Nate, I couldn't really blame her for her decision. I wanted to believe that he had changed, and at least wanted to have a good life with Essie. Then again, I wasn't too upset when she ended up going to Nate after all. I skimmed some parts of the book, mainly dealing with the birds, but did enjoy learning about life on the farm and in Nome.

The Calling: A Year in the Life of an Order of Nuns by Catherine Whitney was very interesting. I didn't go to Catholic school so I haven't had much experience with nuns. I'm fascinated by them and was interested in learning more about how exactly they live. One thing that surprised me was learning that, at least in the order that she was describing, they did not receive support from the diocese and had to support themselves. One question that she asked that wasn't answered was whether or not this type of life is dying out as fewer and fewer people join these orders. It seems like that will eventually be the case.

I'm not reading anything right now, but have a few books waiting for me at the Library. Hopefully one of them will appeal to me. I have to pick out three books to present at book club on Monday night and really don't have anything in mind yet.

Innocent Man

2007-02-22T14:18:00.000-05:00

We discussed Innocent Man by John Grisham at our last book club. I liked it. For the most part it held my interest and I wanted to know what happend, even though the title clearly told you he's innocent. It's so hard to believe that people are convicted, even today, on such flimsy evidence. It seemed that because the police and detectives wanted him to be guilty, he was, regardless of the evidence or lack thereof. What was really interesting was that even at the end, they were still considered suspects! We're reading The Fig Eater by Jody Shields for next month.

The other book I read recently was How This Night is Different, a book of short stories by Elisa Albert. In general, I like short stories and I enjoyed this book. The stories were about different people, all Jewish, and their experiences in life. I'm not Jewish so it was interesting to read about customs and events that are different than what I've experienced.

Currently I'm reading two books One is The Fugitive Wife by Peter Brown about a woman who ran away to Alaska to escape a bad marriage. The other is The Calling: A Year in the Life of an Order of Nuns, a memoir by Catherine Whitney. I am Catholic, but didn't go to Catholic school, so I haven't had much experience with nuns. Should be interesting.

I've been reading a lot more lately, partly because I joined the 50 Book Challenge group at LibraryThing. As of January 26th when I started the challenge, I'd read one book. Since then, I've finished seven more and feel like I will probably be able to do it.

Dearly Departed & A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies

2007-02-04T15:15:00.000-05:00

I recently finished Dearly Departed by Elinor Lipman and A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies by Ellen Cooney. I bought Dearly Departed a while ago at Atlantic Book Warehouse and it's just been sitting on my shelf. I'm not sure why I hadn't read it yet. I've read a few other books by Elinor Lipman and reading this one made me remember why I had enjoyed the others. I like her style of writing and enjoy her dry humor. This wasn't necessarily a funny book, but certain passages made me laugh out loud. She seems to write the way she's thinking and that's something I can never do. My writing always seems dull and stilted to me, and I don't think that's how I'm thinking. If that makes any sense. While I did enjoy it, I was left with a few questions at the end of it. If Miles was paying child support the whole time, why didn't he ever acknowledge that he had a daughter. Sunny never seemed to consider that. I think she would've liked to have had a father.

I didn't like A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies as much as I'd hoped to. The premise is interesting and certainly made me want to read it! The hotel in the title is a women's hotel where the male porters discreetly visit the women guests, if you know what I mean. The book went on too much in Charlotte's head and not enough in the present. I would've liked more development of some of the other characters, the guests at the hotel, Mrs. Petty, Hays. You only saw them from Charlotte's persepctive which wasn't enough.

Right now I'm reading The Innocent Man by John Grisham for book club. We meet next Monday.

Plum Lovin' & Braving Home

2007-01-28T13:25:00.000-05:00

I recent finished 2 books, Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich and Braving Home by Jake Halpern. Plum Lovin' is sort of an offshoot of the Stephanie Plum series. This was had a Valentines Day theme and there was another one that had a Christmas theme. I liked this one better than the Christmas one, but I definitely like the numbered books better than either of these. Again, her car didn't blow up which is something I keep waiting for. Someone did get chained in a bathroom which happens quite frequently. Or at least more often than you would imagine it happening.

The second book, Braving Home, was really good. It told the stories of 5 people who lived in what other people might consider impossible to live locations, and have actually stayed there through horrible weather and natural disasters. The one that interested me the most was the man who lived in Grand Isle, Louisiana. He, and others on the island, mentioned Hurricane Betsy and the destruction that came with it many times. They also seemed resigned to the fact that there would be other hurricanes, and that a bad one was due to come sometime soon. This book was written and published pre-Katrina and I can't imagine that much of the island was left after Katrina came through. The few articles I've read say that the residents are rebuilding their homes and their lives. I can't even imagine.

One of my favorite parts of the book was the epilogue. I often wonder when I finish books, even ficition books, what happened to the characters after the book ended. The author went back and revisited each of the 5 people he had spent time with before. All 5 of them were just as determined to stay put in their homes and never leave.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

2007-01-11T16:45:00.000-05:00

We had an interesting discussion about The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards. A few questions that got everyone talking were:

1. What could Caroline have done differently? Mainly she could have told Norah the truth from the beginning. I think she was right to take the baby instead of leaving her in the institution, and obviously she loved her and raised her well, but she should've told Norah at the start.

2. How would Norah and David's relationship been different if he'd told her the truth? I think Norah would have wanted to raise Phoebe at home. There wouldn't have been this big gulf between them and maybe they would've had a good marriage. Maybe not. In any case, even though she didn't know what was causing the distance between them, Norah realized early on that something was not right and she didn't know how to fix it.

Judy suggested 4 books: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King, The Faith Club, by Ranya Idliby, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and The Innocent Man, by John Grisham. I voted for The Faith Club. We're reading The Innocent Man, so I was obviously outvoted!

I haven't read very much of The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank, but I am going to try to finish it. Right now I'm busy with birthday party preparations so I haven't had much free time to read.

Ryan still loves reading. He's made up his own titles for some of his favorites. Very cute. Here are a few titles. Left Foot (The Foot Book, by Dr. Seuss), How Much (Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam McBratney), Mother (Are You My Mother, by P.D. Eastman), and La La La (Moo, Baa, La La La!).

Long time

2007-01-06T18:44:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I posted. I had a rough fall. I didn't read a whole lot and what I did read was mostly a bunch of crap to keep me occupied without making me think too much. I didn't read either of the last 2 book club books, Marley and Me or a book by Anita Shreve that I can't even remember the title of. I'm not much of a dog person, and parts of Marley & Me hit a little too close to home, so I didn't finish it. Anita Shreve is generally kind of a downer, and I just wasn't in the mood, so I skipped that one too. I actually finished this month's book club book ahead of schedule. Usually I'm up late on Sunday night trying to be ready for Monday night's book club. I finished The Memory Keeper's Daughter over Christmas. We meet on Monday night and I'm looking forward to discussing it.

Right now I'm reading The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank. So far so good.

What I've been reading

2006-08-31T12:33:00.000-04:00

Book club last week was interesting. Most people loved the book My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult. One woman even said it was the best book she'd ever read! I didn't love it, thought it was okay. One thing everyone did agree on was that the Mom had no redeeming qualities. She clearly favored her oldest daughter (and maybe she had to), ignored her son and used her youngest daughter. Nobody liked her. Next month we're reading Secret Girl, a memoir by Molly Bruce Jacobs. One of the women in the book club sold her house for her last year, so there's a local connection. I heard the book is pretty good.

I don't feel like I've been reading a whole lot lately, so I was surprised when I looked at what I had checked out. There's quite a bit on there including several books I know I'm not going to read.

My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult - Last month's book club book. Better get that back in!

Saving Agnes, Rachel Cusk - I started this book but I'm having trouble getting into it. I need to decide if I'm going to commit to reading it, or put it aside for something else. So far it's okay, just hasn't grabbed my attention.

Crossing Over: One Woman's Exodus from Amish Life, Ruth Irene Garrett - I enjoyed Rumspringa so much I thought I'd try another book about Amish life. I didn't get very far in this one. It's very anecdotal and not quite what I was looking for. I need to return it.

Coupon Girl, Rebecca Motew - This is another book that I've finished and haven't returned yet because I'm lazy. It was a light read that was okay. It took me a while to finish it. At one point, Mark saw me reading it and said "Haven't you been reading that forever?" I'm usually a pretty speedy reader, so if he noticed that I was still reading it, it must've taken too long. What was interesting was that it gave a sort of behind the scenes look at those coupon mailers that you get every so often and immediately throw out. Or at least I do. Kind of interesting. I didn't get her attraction or interest in Barton though. After the first weirdo scene in her apartment, I'd be running from him.

Babylon By Bus, or, the true story of two friends who gave up their valuable franchise selling "Yankees suck" t-shirts at Fenway to find meaning and adventure in Iraq, where they became employed by the Occupation in jobs for which they lacked qualification and witnessed much that amazed and disturbed them, Jeff Neumann - I just started this book and I think the title basically says it all.

Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder, Lawrence Weschler - This is a strange little book about The Museum of Jurassic Technology in California. I haven't read much of this book, but from what I can gather, the exhibits are mostly made up but have intrigued many people, including the author of this book. I think farther along in the book they discuss the early history of museums, which I'm interested in, but I'm not sure I'm going to get that far.

What do you Do All Day?, Amy Scheibe - I haven't started this one. It's a book about a stay at home Mom and I heard it's similar to I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson.

Swapping Lives, Jane Green - I started this last night so I haven't read very much yet. There are 2 women, a career woman in London and a former lawyer, current stay at home Mom in CT that are both not quite happy with their lives, and think they each want what the other has. They switch places through a magazine contest and... I don't know what happens yet. I've read and enjoyed other books by Jane Green so I thought I'd read this one too.

I'm embarrassed to admit there are probably one or two books around the house that I own and have also started and not finished. Off the top of my head, I know I'm reading Topaz by Leon Uris. I really need to commit to finishing one or two books at a time and not have all these books going at once.

My Sister's Keeper

2006-08-20T10:56:00.000-04:00

I finished the latest book club book last night, 2 whole days early! It was My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I didn't want to read it and voted for another book. It's about a young girl who's dying of cancer. Her parents went to a geneticist and had another baby who was a genetic match to be a donor for this girl. The idea was to use the cord blood, but Anna ended up being a donor for most of her life. She finally decides she doesn't want to be a donor anymore, even though it means her sister will die. There's more to it than that, but I'm not going to ruin it for someone who wants to read it.

The part about the donor made me think a lot, but that wasn't why I didn't want to read it. Since becoming a Mother, I've found it very hard to hear or read about kids who are dying or have died. I love my little guy so much I can't imagine my life without him. Can't even imagine. Being a Mom is the best, but it's also terrifying. There are so many things that go on that are a danger to your child, and most of them you can't control. I do everything I can to make sure his world is safe and happy and it's not enough. Anything could happen - an accident, disease, whatever - and it's out of my control and that makes me sick to my stomach. This book was one big reminder of this and it was really hard for me to read.

We meet Monday night and I'm sure we'll have an interesting discussion.

Right now I'm reading two other books. One is a biography of Edith Wharton, one of my favorite writers. The other is Saving Agnes. I can't remember the author's name. I'm not very far into either of them.

Dinner with Anna Karenina

2006-08-08T13:01:00.000-04:00

Two books I've read recently are Dinner with Anna Karenina by Gloria Goldreich and Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst. Dinner with Anna Karenina interested me because it's about 6 women in a book club and I wanted to find out what they read, how their book club was organized, how they interacted. I didn't really like it as much as I had hoped. The women in the book club seemed too...something. Like they were characters (which I know they are) and not like real people. The author certainly did try to explain why they are the way they are and show how they changed over the course of the year, but I didn't find them particularly likeable or believable. They didn't seem like people I'd want to be in a book club with, and it wasn't the kind of book club I'd want to be in. The author mentioned several times throughout the book that this book club was different and somehow more literary and insightful than other book clubs. This is probably true, but I'd rather have my casual fun book club than one that was more like homework. It just didn't appeal to me.

Speaking of book club, in my last post I mentioned that I must have missed where the book came back to the point that the main character was going to die if she didn't make changes in her life. Well, as it turns out I did because I'm a moron. It was where the main character's roommate says something like "if we hadn't taken that trip, you would've been in your room when the fire started and you would've died." How I missed that when it was so obvious, I have no idea. We had a really good discussion about the book and I really enjoyed our last meeting. This month we're reading My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. This is the second book we've read by Picoult. The first was Vanishing Acts.

I wanted to read Lost & Found because it was based on The Amazing Race, which is one of my favorite shows. If I ever went on a reality show (which I won't) it would be that one. The book was pretty good. It gave a behind the scenes look at how a reality show like that works, how the production staff interacts, or could interact, with the cast. I'm sure the interaction between the camera crew and a contestant in the book hasn't happened in a real show. The cast of the show was also similar to the usual cast on The Amazing Race - a mother/daughter team, a gay couple (although this one had a twist), best friends, brothers, the couple who wants to see if their relationship will work out (it didn't). All in all, an entertaining book and more serious than you might expect.

I Did but I Wouldn't Now & The Sad Truth About Happiness

2006-07-15T15:06:00.000-04:00

I recently finished I Did (But I Wouldn't Now), by the same author who wrote I Do (But I Don 't). I can't remember her name right now and don't feel like looking it up. I definitely liked I Do better than I Did. Or maybe I just don't remember the first book that well. Lauren (I think) was the main character from I Do and I don't remember her has being as neurotic and insecure as she seems to be in I Don't. Her sister, Lily, is the main character in I Don't. I never got around to liking her, which really impacts how I feel about a book. If other things in the book, like plot, setting, secondary characters, etc. can make up for how I feel about the main character, there's a chance I might end up liking the book. That didn't really happen in this book. I just found myself not liking her when she did horrible things to her ex-husband. And her explaining away that she was a bad person, and that's why she did them, didn't make it any easier to excuse her behavior.

The other book I read, The Sad Truth About Happiness, was this month's book club book. We meet on Monday, so I'm pretty pleased with myself that I finished the book on Saturday afternoon. I had to sit in on a Yu-Gi-Oh! event (don't ask) so it was a nice way to pass the time. The book itself was a little odd and left a few things kind of open at the end that I wish had been a little more summed up. One of the main things in the book was that she took this quiz that said she was going to die by the end of the year unless she was able to change the answer to one question: are you happy. After taking that quiz you hear about her life, but it doesn't seem like she makes any changes in her life overtly to be happier. It's kind of hard to explain, but there doesn't seem to be enough explanation about how she goes about being happier. Obviously she is b/c she doesn't die, or maybe the quiz was flawed to begin with, but those questions are never really answered. Maybe I'm supposed to be more intuitive and glean that from the events in the book, but it was all rather vague. I'll be interested to see what other people at book club thught about it.

At the moment, since I just finished my book club book, I'm not reading anything. I have a few books lying around though, so I'm sure one of them will appeal to me.

Twelve Sharp

2006-06-27T15:50:00.000-04:00

I finished three books this week. Somehow I'm finding more time to read these past few weeks. It's kind of nice. I read Twelve Sharp, the latest in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. I thought it was good. The books are becoming very similar. I think in a previous book she was kidnapped, taken to a remote location and chained in a bathroom. I could be wrong. I still liked it, but it wasn't as laugh out loud funny as some of the earlier books. Also, I kept waiting for her car to blow up, and it never happened! She did have to accompany her Grandma to a funeral, so that hasn't changed.

I also recently read Baby Proof by Emily Giffin. I had read her Something Borrowed and Something Blue and really enjoyed them. This one was a bit of a disappointment. I didn't like the main character at all. I wasn't crazy about the storyline either. It just didn't do much for me.

Earlier today I finished Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot. It was a bunch of fluff, but I liked it. The main character was very flaky, which I usually find annoying. I found it annoying this time too, but I liked the supporting cast of characters. Parts of the book reminded me of Sophie Kinsella's Can You Keep a Secret? The ending was kind of open-ended, so I'm wondering if there might be a sequel in the future.

Rumspringa & Welcome to the Real World

2006-06-15T16:15:00.000-04:00

I recently finished two books - Rumspringa: To Be or Not To Be Amish by Tom Shachtman and Welcome to the Real World by Carole Matthews. The Carole Matthews book was one of the freebies I got at the Book Expo.

Rumspringa was really good. I'm fascinated by the Amish, so I thought it was really interesting. It was mainly about the period in an Amish person's life after they turn 16 until they decide to join the church. Or, in some cases, not to join the church. I think the retention rate is something really high, like 80-90 percent eventually join the church. The focus was on teenagers, but the author interviewed a lot of Amish people, so it provided a broad picture of Amish life. It really is a crazy thing to suddenly be exposed to all these new things and be able to do things you've never been allowed to do before, and never will be allowed to do again, if you join the church. As the Mom of a one-year-old I've given no thought to the upcoming teen years. Now I'm terrified! Reading this book made me realize how hard it must be for parents to let go as your kids get older. Right now, I control so much of Ryan's little life. I guess it's a gradual process, but you get to the point where you have to let your kid make the big decisions and take responsibility. I'm not looking forward to that! I guess I have a few years to prepare myself. Anyway, I really enjoyed the book.

I also enjoyed Welcome to the Real World. It was a typical chick lit kind of love story, with one twist. The basic story was aspiring singer sings in bar with her good friend who she's known forever, dated briefly a long time ago, and he's been in love with her ever since. She meets this other, older, rich man and sparks fly. Circumstances keep them apart and you're sure she'll wise up and realize she loves the friend that's been in love with her. Surprisingly, that doesn't happen and she ends up with the other man. It was entertaining.

Right now I'm reading Anybody Out There? by Marian Keyes. I haven't read that much of it. It's part of a series about the Walsh sisters that includes Rachel's Holiday, Angels and Watermelon. She's written quite a few other books that I've enjoyed.

Queen: the Definitive Biography & Chang & Eng

2006-06-06T11:03:00.000-04:00

I finished Queen: the Definitive Biography last week. It was really interesting. I love Queen, so I enjoyed reading about how the band formed and the path their career took. I didn't start listening to them until college, so I missed the time when they were really popular, and I really had no idea how big they were, at least how big this book made them sound. Very exciting! I have been a diligent Queen fan recently - I've seen both the Queen musical, We Will Rock You, and went to see Queen with Paul Rodgers in DC just a few months ago. Both were excellent!

For book club we read Chang & Eng by Darin Strauss. I think 4-5 people finished it, a few more read part of it and 2 people didn't start. I think that's about average. While I like reading all the books, I think it's nice that in this book club, you can go even if you don't finish the book. Or even start it! I really like this group of people and enjoy getting together with them once a month. I thought the book was ok. It was written from Eng's perspective and went back and forth through different periods in their lives. I thought that was an odd, and unnecessary way to write it. I'm probably missing some important parallels that were obvious to everyone else, but I found it distracting. The book left me with more questions about Chang and Eng than I had before I started. I guess that's a good sign since I wasn't so sick of them, I never wanted to hear their names again! We had a good discussion about the book and their miserable lives. Since the book was fiction, based on their lives, I'm not sure which parts were fiction and which were reality. Were their marriages as awful as the book made them out to be? Was Chang a drunk?

Our book for next month is The Sad Truth About Happiness, by Anne Giardini. I voted for One Thousand White Women: the Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus, but was outvoted. Oh well.

Red Dress Ink Jackpot!

2006-05-24T10:19:00.000-04:00

I went to the Book Expo in DC last weekend and stumbled upon a Red Dress Ink book signing. I was so excited! You can tell I don't get out much. There were a bunch of my favorite authors from that publisher signing their books. Some of the books I got signed were:

Girls Night Out, a short story collection I had signed by Marian Keyes (one of my favorites!), Meg Cabot and Laura Caldwell. I read this already and really enjoyed it. The stories were really good for the most part, and I wanted to read more.

Me vs. Me, by Sarah Mlynowski. I read this as well and really enjoyed it. I was happy with the "Me" that she chose in the end and (spoiler ahead) was happy that she and Cam ended up together. I was also pleased that Cam was not the same guy who refused to elope at the end of the AZ part of the story, but seemed to have changed as well.

I also had books signed by Carole Matthews, Mindy Klasky and one or two others whose names escape me right now. All in all, a great surprise for me!

I also had a book called My Father the Dog signed by the author. It's a very cute children's book I"m going to give Mark for Father's Day. He'll really like it. I had it signed for Ryan.

Otherwise, I'm still reading the Queen biography which is really interesting. Their lives at the time sound like all they did was record and tour. It's hard to imagine how they had a personal life outside of that. I need to start reading Chang & Eng, but I still have 2 weeks until book club.

In the Company of the Courtesan, Sarah Dunant

2006-05-12T10:39:00.000-04:00

At book club this past Monday, we discussed In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant. It was pretty good. The story is told from the perspective of the courtesan's dwarf. I learned a lot about the profession of courtesan in the 16th century, the life of a dwarf in the 16th century and about Venice in general. We spent some time discussing how the profession of courtesan/prostitute has changed from then until now. Pretty funny. After we finished the discussion we got in the hot tub and set a new record with 7 people!

Since it was at my house I had to suggest books to read for next time. I suggested The Bingo Queens of Paradise by June Park, Big City Eyes by Delia Ephron and Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss. We chose Chang and Eng, which is a novel based on the lives of the Siamese twins. It looks really interesting.

Outside of book club I just finished Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty. This is the third in a young adult series. The first two are Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings. It took me a long time to get into this third one. I didn't like it as much as the first two. It's set over her entire time at college. I did get into it more the farther I read and found myself caring what happened to her. I was happy that Marcus reappeared, since I find myself liking him better than Jessica, but thought she was quick to take him back. Jessica did seem to mature over time and come to some realizations that made her more likeable.

This morning I just started reading Queen: the Definitive Biography by Laura Jackson. I'm only a few pages in, but so far so good!

Killing me Softly

2006-04-20T08:47:00.000-04:00

I haven't been reading all that much lately. Too busy! My last book club book was Killing me Softly, by Nicci French. It was kind of disturbing. It's hard to imagine being caught up in that sort of dysfunctional relationship. I couldn't help wondering why her friends didn't do more to help her when it was obvious that it wasn't a healthy relationship. I guess they were in a difficult position since they were all close to her ex as well. Anyway, it was interesting, but I'm not sure I really liked it.

While I was at my parents and had two built in babysitters, I read Vince & Joy, by Lisa Jewell. Another book about people in dysfunctional relationships. And again, I don't know how they let that happen to themselves for such a long period of time. Especially Joy. I've read a few other books by Lisa Jewell, and really enjoyed them, so this one was a little disappointing.

Right now I'm reading Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns. Mostly I'm reading it because it's one of the few books on my shelf that I've never read. I'm not sure when I got it or why, but I'm basically reading it out of desperation! Funny, because I work in a Library and have my choice of thousands of books. Must start finding better books to read. This book actually is pretty entertaining and I'm enjoying it more than the other two I mentioned. I used to work with a woman who absolutely loved this book and that's stuck in my head all this time. There's a sequel, but I'm not sure I'm going to read it.

For book club this month we're reading In the Company of the Courtesan, by Sarah Dunant. I haven't started it yet, but it looks good. Previously for book club we read The Birth of Venus, which I really liked. Hopefully this one will be as good. Book club is at my house next month so I'll have to pick out three books to suggest. My goals are to 1) not leave book selection until the day of like I usually do and 2) not wait until two days before book club to start the book like I usually do. I have a problem with procrastination.

Father Joe by Tony Hendra

2006-02-27T13:13:00.000-05:00

I finished this month's book club book Father Joe by Tony Hendra last night, just in time for tonight's book club. It was good, better than I expected. I found myself more interested though, in the story of Father Joe than I was in the story of Tony Hendra. I've never heard of him, either of them, actually, so I didn't really have any preconceived notions of who Tony Hendra was or what he was like. It was really interesting at the end to find out that Father Joe has had such an influence on so many people's lives. I would've liked to have heard more about that. It was also interesting to read about life at Quarr and I found myself wanting to learn more about how monks live. That's often how I find things to read - I take one aspect of a book I'm reading and want to learn as much as I can about it.

Other than Father Joe I've read a few trashy novels. Nothing I'd really like to report on! I'm betting that we'll pick something on the lighter side at book club tonight. Our last two books have been nonfiction and not exactly happy reading.

In other news, Ryan's really starting to enjoy reading, or at least rapidly flipping the pages of his books. Every morning after I feed him, he picks out a few books and brings them to me and he sits on my lap while I read to him. Some of his current favorites are: I Love you as Much, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Binky, and Blankie. So sweet!

Come Again

2006-02-10T09:38:00.000-05:00

Book club was really interesting. We discussed A Million Little Pieces in between James Frey's appearance on Larry King and his appearance on Oprah. One of the women had taped the Larry King show so we watched that. Interesting. Kind of funny that on that show Oprah's still defending him and a few days later is ripping into him on her own show. Hopefully this whole debacle doesn't send James right back to the bottle. Otherwise, he probably shouldn't have made up so much and then tried to peddle it as nonfiction. It wouldn't have been a bad fiction book, but once you know he made it up, it's hard to take seriously. The part that amuses me the most is that he exaggerated how much of a badass he was in rehab. That to me is funny, b/c that really is what he tried to convey. As someone at book club pointed out, once you hear him talk, it's hard to imagine anyone taking any of his threats seriously.

I also finished Party Season which I really liked. Hopefully Sarah Mason will write something else soon since I really enjoy her books. I've also recently reread 2 books that I own - Come Together and Come Again by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees. I liked both of them, but definitely liked Come Together better than Come Again. Come Together is the story of Jack and Amy and how they got together (hence the title). It's the basic plot of boy and girl meet, fall in love, something terrible happens or there's a big misunderstanding so they break up, true love conquers all and they get back together. Cheesy, but I enjoyed it. Come Again is about 4 of Amy & Jack's friends and it's a little harder to follow and as there are 4 main characters, you don't get to know them as well. Also, Jack & Amy are planning their wedding at this point and come across as kind of lame. I didn't like the 2 of them as much in this book.

I just finished this morning a book called The Prince of Central Park about a young boy who ran away from his abusive foster mother to live in Central Park. It was good, if a little unbelievable. Shockingly, I'm not reading a single book at the moment since I finished this last one. Must find something good to read...

Wedding Day by Catherine Alliott

2006-01-22T15:04:00.000-05:00

I recently finished Wedding Day by Catherine Alliott. It was pretty good. There were a few loose ends that were tied up a little too neatly. Namely the main character conveniently getting out of her upcoming wedding by her fiance letting her off the hook and then moving to South America! Yeah, that could happen. I did like the main character, even though she was a bit of a pushover throughout most of the book. I also never got the amazing chemistry between the main character and her love interest that seemed obvious to everyone in the book, but not to me as I was reading it. Can you tell I've already forgotten the names of the characters? I did actually like it, even though I don't seem to have many nice things to say.

Right now I'm reading two books. I'm almost finished with my book club book A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Unfortunately, as I was about a third of the way through it all the allegations of him fabricating large parts of the book surfaced. I read the entire Smoking Gun article on it, and it was a long one. Now as I'm reading parts of it, I just get irritated and think about what a big liar he is! It might just be me, but he's also very arrogant and for someone who supposedly needs as much help as he does it seems actually stupid for him not to take the advice of people who have been through it and overcome their addictions. He is quick to call bullshit on other people and other people's beliefs, but seems 100% certain that his way is the right way. Anyway, it should make for some very interesting discussion on Monday night!

The other book I'm reading is The Party Season by Sarah Mason. This is the third book by Sarah Mason that I've read recently and I really like them. I'm not too far along in this one, but I'm really enjoying it. One thing I like is that I know something is going to happen with Isabel and Simon, but I have no idea what! Most books are so easy to predict. Also, Isabel's roommate Dom is involved with someone, but I don't know who. My wild guess is Isabel's sister, but I'm not sure about that.

Irish Girls are Back in Town

2005-12-29T14:18:00.000-05:00

I've been reading, just haven't been posting. Sometimes it's hard to find the time. Book club last week was a little random. Half the people read The Myth of You and Me and the other half read To Kill a Mockingbird. I read The Myth of You and Me and about half of To Kill a Mockingbird. I've read it at least 20 times, so I felt okay leading the discussion. Most of the discussion of The Myth of You and Me was about whether or not you'd ever broken up with a friend, and the two women's relationships with their parents. All the breaking up with friends was over a guy, either a friend hooked up with your boyfriend, or a recent ex. Interesting. We didn't really discuss To Kill a Mockingbird very much. As I was reading it I realized what a great book it is and how much I enjoy reading it every time I pick it up. I'm going to finish it as soon as I get a chance.

Book club meets again on Jan. 23rd. We're reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. I probably wouldn't have picked this because it's so popular since Oprah chose it as one of her selections. I don't usually have any great desire to read the popular book of the time. That's why book club is good for me, I never would've read Da Vinci Code either. If there's too much hype, I assume (sometimes wrongly!) that a book will never live up to it, and it's not worth my time to read it when there are so many other books out there to be read.

I just finished Irish Girls are Back in Town, a collection of short stories by Irish women authors. Some of them were good, but overall it wasn't one of the best short story compilations I've read. A few of the stories were really just kind of boring. I'm pretty certain I've read a few other books recently, but I have a hard time remembering what they are. Since the baby arrived, my memory has been kind of iffy. Oh well. Honestly, he gets cuter every day!

Waiting

2005-12-09T12:09:00.000-05:00

We sort of discusses Waiting, by Ha Jin, at book club the other night. Only 3 people actually read it, so the discussion was kind of short. Maybe 15 minutes. Then we spent an hour and a half in the hot tub talking about non-book related things. A good time was had by all. I suggested The Myth of You and Me, A Long Way Down and To Kill a Mockingbird. For some reason, we ended up selecting 2 books, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Myth of You and Me so I get to prepare questions for both books. That also means I need to read both of them. Better get started. Book club meets again on Dec. 19th.

Right now I'm reading Snowed In by Christina Bartolomeo and I'm still plugging away at First Families. I think it's time I acknowledged that I'm just not going to finish it. It's not that it's a bad book, I just never pick it up before bedtime. Maybe if I moved it downstairs I'd read more of it. Snowed In is about a woman who moves from DC to Portland, Maine with her husband. Their relationship isn't the greatest, so it talks a lot about what she does and he is more of a peripheral character. It's alright.

I feel like I must have read something else recently, but I can't think of anything. Snowed In is taking me quite a while. Ryan's eating less or more quickly, so my reading time is decreasing.

Everyone Worth Knowing

2005-11-28T09:01:00.000-05:00

Everyone Worth Knowing was pretty good. Again, people doing crazy jobs that I'd never even knew existed and sound a little far fetched. It's hard to believe people actually live like that and have those kind of lives. I also finished Waiting yesterday. Just in time for book club tonight! For different reasons, this was also about a complete different lifestyle and culture that is hard to imagine. I don't know if I felt bad for Lin, the main character, or not. I guess I feel worst for his wife, Shuyu. I'm not sure how I feel about Manna Wu either. It seems like they all ended up in situations that they couldn't really do anything about. That frustrates me b/c I feel like people should have more control over their lives. We'll have a lot to discuss at book club tonight.

I'm going to suggest The Myth of You and Me and Long Way Down and I need to come up with one more. I'm considering A Town Like Alice, or To Kill a Mockingbird, my two favorite books. I doubt either would be chosen but I still might suggest them.

The Mommy Fund

2005-11-22T09:11:00.000-05:00

I recently finished The Mommy Fund by Madeleine Jacob. It was okay, a little hard to believe. There was also a whole lot of nothing in it. The whole shopping spree part was sort of long winded but unimportant. It could've been summed up a lot more succintly and not drawn out as much. I got that they went shopping and had their hair done and bought all these nice clothes, but ho hum, sort of boring. It also wasn't very believable, which is one of my pet peeves.

All in all, okay, not great. They could've cut way down on the New York trip and expanded the part at the end where the Mommy Fund (hence the title and, you would think, an important part of the book) is developed. They kind of glossed over exactly what the Mommy Fund is and how it worked.

I'm still reading First Families: The Impact of the White House on Their Lives by Bonnie Angelo and have started Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger. I'm not that far into it. What I should really be reading is Waiting by Ha Jin, my book club book. We meet on Monday. Ack!

Speak Softly, She Can Hear

2005-11-14T12:05:00.000-05:00

I just finished Speak Softly, She Can Hear, by Pam Lewis. This book sort of snuck up on me. I started reading it while I was feeding Ryan and found it so disturbing, every time I picked it up I planned to get another book and read something else. Then I'd forget to bring another book up with me and would just keep reading it. It was disturbing b/c the first scene is a major scene in the book and the subject was not only disturbing, but something that made me feel uncomfortable to read while feeding my sweet little baby. I kept reading it though, mostly just because I didn't have another book handy, and found myself really wanting to find out what happened! Throughout the book, I kept wanting to make different choices for Carole. I wanted her to tell someone (her Mother, Father, Will?) not sure who, but understanding why she felt she couldn't. The end was tied up a little too neatly, and the fact that the author tried to redeem Naomi was a little annoying, but all in all it sucked me right in and kept me interested until the end, after I got past the wanting to put it down part. That was more b/c of the proximity to the baby than the content of the book though. I'll have to do a better job picking the books I'm going to read while feeding, although if that had been the case, I probably never would've read it. Outside of feeding time, I don't have a whole lot of time to read.

That's why it's taking me eons to read First Families: The Impact of the White House on Their Lives, by Bonnie Angelo. That's one of two books I'm reading right now. The other is The Mommy Fund by Madeline Jacob. This is an extremely light read that I'm not sure I'll finish. Although, based on my reasoning in the above paragraph, I probably will!

The book I should be reading is Waiting, by Ha Jin, this month's book club book. We meet on Monday at my house and I don't even have a copy of it yet. A friend from book club started it and couldn't finish it. That doesn't make me want to run out and get started. I will though. Maybe tomorrow...

I've been too busy

2005-10-28T13:50:00.000-04:00

I've been too busy the last few weeks to post. Work's been hectic and outside of work I've just been running around. I'm going to just post a quick list of some books I've read lately, the ones I can remember!

War Reporting for Cowards, Chris Ayres
A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City, Anonymous

Always a Bridesmaid
Bono in conversation with Michka Assayas

It's a combination of nonfiction and very light reading. Sometimes I'm in the mood for a light, easy read! I recently read the first two and am currently reading the last two.

We had book club the other night and briefly discusses Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner. It was okay. Next month we're reading Waiting by Ha Jin. I've heard good things about it so I'm looking forward to it. I suggested The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart, which also looks good.

Twins of Tribeca & 84, Charing Cross Road

2005-10-03T08:56:00.000-04:00

I finally finished Twins of Tribeca. It turned out to be better than I thought it would be. It took me a while to get into it. It's one of those books, like The Devil Wears Prada, where you can hardly believe that people have that kind of work environment. Crazy. I read a really interesting book, nonfiction, a while ago about the history of a talent agency. That's another of those ridiculous jobs where people have to do the strangest things as part of their normal work day. It's so far removed from what I do. I can't for the life of me remember what that book was called and it's going to bug the crap out of me until I figure it out.

I also finished 84, Charing Cross Road. It was okay. Really, that's all I have to say about it.

Ok, I finally found it. The book is called The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up. I really liked it. It was a history of talent agencies and how people start out in the mailroom doing all kinds of grunt work and work their way up in the company. It's a series of interviews with various people who have worked in mailrooms over the course of the last 50 years or so. Very interesting.

September Book Club

2005-09-27T10:20:00.000-04:00

Book club met last night to discuss Life of Pi. Everyone liked it. I liked it, but I wouldn't read it again, and it's not the best book I ever read. There was quite a bit of discussion about the two different versions of what happened on the boat. The consensus was that the animal version was the better, if not the true, version of what happened. There was some discussion of religion but not a whole lot. We talked quite a bit about the island and how unbelievable that sounded. The one part I didn't really like was that the island ate a person. Now, really. And then the person's teeth were wrapped up in leaves that Pi pulled apart? That seems a little ridiculous. I guess he needed a good reason to leave the island that was otherwise so good to him, but a people eating island? For some reason, after all the potentially unbelievable things in the book, that was the one that stood out to me!

The three books suggested for next month were:

Goodnight Nobody, by Jennifer Weiner. This is what we're reading.

Empire Falls, by Richard Russo

Lucky, by Alice Sebold

This rarely happens, but nobody had read any of these books. I actually had already checked out Goodnight Nobody and planned to read it, so that's the one I voted for. Next month is our 2 year book club anniversary! Wow! Instead of meeting at someone's house we're going out to dinner. Everyone's going to suggest a book since there's no hostess, except for Judy and Chrissy who suggested last and this month's books.

In other reading news, I'm still reading Twins of Tribeca. It started out really slow for me. It's gotten better, but it seems to be taking me a very long time to read. Ryan keeps reaching out to grab whatever is behind him so I end up holding the book up in the air and my arm gets kind of tired! I've also just started reading 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff which is an epistolary novel (which I love) containing the correspondence between a London antiquarian book dealer and a New York journalist. I'm reading it before I go to bed, so it's just a few pages every now and then.

Twins of Tribeca

2005-09-20T09:13:00.000-04:00

Society Girls was a fun, easy read. It went really quickly. The main character, Clemmie, reminded me a little of the main character, Becky, from the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. She is a little more self aware and doesn't get into as many ridiculous situations though. She is also a little more believable. For people who hated Becky (I'm talking to you Brooke :) ) you might like Clemmie a little better. I also liked Sarah Mason's previous book, Playing James. It has the same family as Society Girls, but focuses on another daughter, Holly. Very cute.

This morning I started Twins of TriBeCa by Rachel Pine. I'm not sure about it yet since I'm only a few pages in.

Society Girls

2005-09-19T09:14:00.000-04:00

I finished Life of Pi over the weekend. I really liked it, again, much more than I thought I would. It's nice not to be able to predict exactly what's going to happen. I also like books that are believable. Even if something is completely fantastic, like surviving for 200+ days in a lifeboat, if you can make me believe it could actually happen, I'm perfectly happy going along with it. If you tell me a stupid story about walking down the street that doesn't make any sense, that irritates me.

Right now I'm reading Society Girls by Sarah Mason. Another book I'm liking more than I thought I would. It's a light read set in Britain. It's funny in a way that I really like. The characters can laugh at themselves.

Life of Pi

2005-09-16T16:24:00.000-04:00

I'm reading Life of Pi for book club. So far it's pretty good. It's funnier than I thought it would be. It was always one of those books that I'd heard too much about and was sure it could never be as good as the hype. I felt the same way about The Da Vinci Code.

I'm also reading Thicker than Water, Coming of Age Stories by Irish and Irish American writers. I read a story while I pump at work. They're Young Adult stories. Pretty good.

My new blog

2005-09-16T09:35:00.000-04:00

I don't know that I'll have time to keep up with this, but what the heck!