A Year of Books

Another one today!  Lucky you!

Then next book in my lineup was Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi.  This book was very good.  Unlike the last book where I complained about the title character's insecurity, I felt much different about the EXTREME insecurity of Portia de Rossi throughout this book.

For those of you who don't know, Portia de Rossi (Arrested Development, Ally McBeal, Better Off Ted) suffered severe anorexia.  The book chronicles her history with bulimia and anorexia throughout her life, beginning with her adolescent years.  I wasn't sure what I was going to think of this book before starting it, given the topic and the fact that I am not big into learning about the lives of celebrities, but I really enjoyed this book.  Well, as much as you can enjoy a book where a person starves themselves to the point of practically dying.  Let me say, it was not a GOOD book... it was very interesting.

Portia de Rossi does a great job at showing what it feels like to have the insecurities that come with bulimia and anorexia.  The book is almost written as a novel at times because she does an amazing job at bringing you in to the lives of the "characters" throughout her life.  I am willing to say that if de Rossi wrote a fictional novel, I might just pick it up and read it.  She is surprisingly a fantastic writer.

I can't delve too much in to this book as it is our latest book club book and I don't want to make all of my great points before our meeting, but I will say that I really do have a lot of thoughts and feelings on the book.  Get in touch with me if you want to know more about my thoughts (and you aren't a member of the NIBC).  Definitely get in touch with me if you've read it, because I'd like to know your thoughts as well.

This book is definitely RECOMMENDED!

First line teaser:  "He doesn't wait until I'm awake."

Next Up:  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I know... it's been a while, but I'll be writing two reviews today!  I just haven't gotten around to blogging!

This is a review of Cathy Lamb's Such a Pretty Face.  It was a book club selection, but alas the meeting has come and gone already in my non-blogginess.  

The book is about a woman who is trying to come in to her own after getting gastric bypass surgery.  She has to deal with weighing 325 lbs. and then dropping about 165 lbs. of it.  It basically describes her battle with insecurity and overcoming that insecurity.  Oh yeah, did I mention that when she was a child her mother was schizophrenic and threw her, her little sister & herself over a bridge, leaving Stevie (our main character) as the only survivor?  That's just a little added bonus for you.

I liked this book.  At times I became very annoyed with Stevie's insecurities, which may sound somewhat ignorant or bitchy, but I was.  As she got more confident I found that I liked her much better than in the earlier parts of the book.  This book is very good for character development. 

There are a lot of strange characters throughout it and Lamb does a fine job at giving you a good picture of who each of the characters really are.  Stevie is really the most normal of all of the characters.  Between the seriousness of some characters (a verbally abusive demeaning adoptive uncle, an equally abusive ex-husband, a bitchy lawyer/co-worker, an anorexic cousin) and the absolute comedy of some of the others [the hyper-sensitive super athlete cousin who sells blow-up dolls, Stevie's mother - the schizophrenic (also very sad, but rather humorous throughout the story), the co-worker who was a roller derby queen], this book had a nice even tone for what was really happening in the story.  In all seriousness, the book was really tragedy, but the comedic efforts made for it to give you the lightness you needed so that you didn't need to put the book down and take a break every 5 seconds in order to protect yourself from slitting your wrists out of grief.  (Maybe that was a bit of an extreme example...)

Anyway, this book is RECOMMENDED.  You just need to get past some of Stevie's whiny insecurities.  :)

First line teaser:  "I know when it started."

Next Up:  Portia de Rossi's Unbearable Lightness  (Book club selection)

*Disclaimer:  spoiler alert.  Trust me, you won't care that I spoiled it.*

For my twelfth book, I chose The Circuit:  Stories From the Life of a Migrant Child by Francisco Jiménez.  This book was, well, it was a book.  It was okay.  I chose it based on the fact that it was short and I need to make up for some serious time in this challenge.  (Even though it still took me over a week to read because I've been in such a lull with reading lately!  Hopefully that will improve this winter.)

Anyway, this is a semi-autobiographical story about a family of illegal Mexican immigrants who come in to the States, written from the perspective of a child.

First complaint:  The family is living in poverty in shacks/tents/whatever on the farms that they are working for.  The dad smokes like 6 packs a day.  This pisses me off.  This is one of my biggest pet peeves that I have for families that I work with.  Do not sit there and complain about money issues while you chain smoke right in front of me.  3 packs a day?  That's $20 people.  You could FEED your entire family on that for a day, easily.  Grrrrr....

On a similar note, when the family moved to the States there were 2 children with a 3rd born shortly after.  In the span of the time that they were in the US during the book (estimating a span of maybe 7 years tops), they increased this amount to 7... SEVEN KIDS.  If you are this poor and are working for a total of $15 a day and spending $20 of that on cigarettes, HOW CAN YOU AFFORD TO FEED YOUR KIDS?!?!  GRRRRRRRR (again)!  (OH and might I add that at one point, when there were 5 kids, all 7 of the family members were sleeping on one mattress... how is that even possible?)

Another big complaint I had for this book were the random Spanish words throughout it.  I know very little Spanish and there were several words per page that were written in Spanish without explanation of what they meant.  I was able to figure some of them out (without translating) due to context, but it was a major annoyance for me.

Now, I don't condone illegal immigration.  I understand that people feel that life is better in America and that there is more opportunity for them here, but it doesn't mean it's okay.  I don't feel that it is the fault of these children that they were brought to America, and I don't necessarily feel that they should have to leave, but I do feel like the parents should know that, while they think they are making a better life for their children, they are greatly jeopardizing the childrens' success.  These kids are bounced from town to town, school to school, and sometimes are not in school at all due to work.  Every time they make a friend, they have to leave.  Every time they build a rapport with a teacher, they have to leave.  They are living in complete poverty and receive no health care.  The parents would rather let the child get as close to death as possible before getting them health care.

While reading this book, I faced a lot of the same issues I deal with every day in my job.  I get so angry.  I loved the main character, Panchito.  He seemed to be a great kid in spite of every thing he was going through.  I don't get angry at these poor kids that are going through this trauma, showing poor behaviors due to it.  I get angry at the parents.  Take care of your children. 

Anyway, I'm ranting.  I'll make sure to post a blog on my other blog, ranting more about this some time.

Oh yeah, one last thing.  This book ends with the kids being collected by immigration from their various work sites.  Like... it just ends.  In the middle of the story.  It's like he was in mid-sentence and just decided that he was done with the book.

This book is NOT RECOMMENDED.  It was interesting to read from the viewpoint of a migrant child, but at the same time it was very stereotypical and didn't hold much content for the things that most people don't already know about migrant workers.  (Or maybe I just think that since I'm in the social work field.)

First Line Teaser:  '"La Frontera" is a word I often heard when I was a child living in El Rancho Blanco, a small village nestled on barren, dry hills several miles north of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Next Up:  Elie Wiesel's Night

Okay, so I know I am now notorious for not reading what I say I am going to read but I can't help myself.  This was a book club selection, so again, I may not post much about it here, but I will say a bit!  :)  The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was not conducive to my challenge.  At nearly 600 pages, I could have read 3-4 books in that amount of time!  However, it was a VERY good book.

This book has an interesting setting.  It has the elements of being an investigative journalism novel, a suspenseful "find the murderer" novel, as well as a psychological thriller, all tied up into one neatly well-written book!

I rather enjoyed this book.  It starts out very slowly but after the first 2-3 chapters, it picks up pretty quickly and sucks you in.  It is by no means a "fast" read, but I got through it pretty quickly because I didn't really want to put it down.  I will say also, this book is not for the faint of heart.  There are a few rather graphic sexual scenes in the book, that you really can't "unread", if you know what I mean.  That aside, it brings in an extra element of suspense and while the perversion is real and intense, it also makes you want to know more about the characters involved as well as their backgrounds.

My only real complaint with this book is that there are parts of it that seemed to drag on.  While one of the main goals of the characters is to uncover the dirty deeds of a local businessman; I feel that the real story was found within the personal relationships of the characters in the novel.  This being said, I feel that there was a lot of unnecessary information surrounding the "Wennerstrom Affair", as it is referred to in the novel, and other information regarding unveiling all of Wennerstrom's negative deeds, as opposed to what I really wanted to read about:  The Love Triangle... (or maybe I should say Quadrangle, or Quint...angle?  What am I even saying anymore?)  This is not a love story in any way, shape, or form... but that element is there.  I guess I'm just saying that I was more interested in that (as well as everything within the Vanger family).

I apologize, I know this is vague and if you haven't read it, you have no idea what I'm talking about.  Like I said though, it's a book club selection!  Perhaps I will write more thoughts later, but let's face it... probably not.  :-(

This book is RECOMMENDED!

First line teaser:  "It happened every year, was almost a ritual."

Next up:  The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez

That's right; I skipped The Catcher in the Rye again.  Give me some credit though, I read this entire book today!  That should help me catch up with where I should be in this challenge a bit!  :)

The tenth book for my challenge is called Such a Pretty Girl and it was written by Laura Weiss.  I picked it up based on the cover at the Planned Parenthood book sale on Friday.  There is something sort of haunting about the picture (which fits well with the book topic).

This story is about a girl whose father is sent to jail for sexually abusing her (as well as neighborhood boys and girls).  He is supposed to be there until she is eighteen but is let out after 3 years for good behavior.  While her father is in jail, Meredith begins a relationship with a boy who is a bit older than she is but was also abused by her father.  This story tells the struggle of both of the teenagers dealing with Meredith's father's return to the neighborhood.

My honest thoughts on the story?  I'm not sure.  It was definitely a fast read and I found myself connecting with it on a professional level.  (I'm sure most of you know that I am in the social work field, so this type of situation holds a special place in my heart.)  However, I also felt dirty at times, as though I was actually reading a book that would excite a pedophile.  More often than not, this was not the case, but it was more graphic than it needed to be at times, all the while needing that information to really drive home what was going on for Meredith.

One recurrence that really annoyed me was the mother's ignorance.  I can not handle mother's who are so obsessed with being loved by their husbands that they completely ignore what might be happening to their kids, whether it is physical, emotional, mental or sexual abuse.  The mother in this story remains completely ignorant throughout.  Sadly, when it comes to these types of situations, I know that this happens more often than not.

Would I recommend this book?  Well, this book is definitely not for the faint of heart.  I know I would not recommend this book to most people, but at the same time, I know several of my blog readers work in the same field as I do and for such people I would recommend it.  So, I guess it depends on who you are.

First line teaser:  "They promised me nine years of safety, but only gave me three."

Next up:  The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (I think...)  :)

Yes, I surpassed The Catcher in the Rye to read a Dexter book in lieu of Dexter starting next Sunday.  So what?  As you can see, I don't stick to my "next up:  books" very well; I'm okay with that.  Deal.

Anyway, Dexter Dexter Dexter.  This book is the second in the Dexter series.  I read the first a couple of years ago and have owned the second and third for the same length of time and just haven't gotten around to reading them.  The fifth book was just released (or is soon to be released... I don't remember which for sure.)

After reading the first book I was discouraged.  The story went about the same as the first season of the show, yet the show was much better than the book.  (How often can you say that?  Maybe it's different with TV shows than movies...)  Anyway, I assumed the latter books would follow suit.  (A book seems to come out each season.  It only makes sense, right?)  Wrong.  The second book has a few similarities to the second season of the show, but really is nothing like it.

I liked this book for the most part.  It was hard for me to get into in the beginning, but once I got a bit further, it turned out to not be so bad.  I still like the show better.  I mean, come on... it's Michael C. Hall.  Love!  (Although it weirds me out that his wife plays his sister in the show.  I guess it would be stranger if his sister played his wife though...)

This book is twisted and a bit gruesome, yet oddly humorous in parts.  You'll still fall in love with Dexter, even though he is a murderer.

My biggest complaint with this book (other than it not being as good as the show) is that the climax of the book happened in the last 5 pages or so and was resolved and the book was ended all within those 5 pages.  That's a bit quick.  It was almost as if Lindsay decided he just wanted to be done writing it.

I plan to read the third book, since I own it and will judge at that point whether I will read #4 or #5.

This book is:  Recommended on the basis of it being a quick read and if you don't like it, you will decide so in the first couple of chapters and can quit reading it.  (Does that make it a true recommendation?  Probably not, but meh... what can you do?)

First line teaser:  "It's that moon again, slung so fat and low in the tropical night, calling out across a curdled sky and into the quivering ears of that dear old voice in the shadows, the Dark Passenger, nestled snug in the backseat of the Dodge K-car of Dexter's hypothetical soul."  (Yes, first sentence AND first paragraph!)

Next Up:  Finishing The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (but probably also starting something else.)  :)

The eighth book of my challenge is one that I've wanted to read for a while and have owned for probably close to a couple of years and just hadn't gotten around to yet.  That would be David Sedaris's Dress Your Family in Corduroy in Denim.

I liked this book.  It's witty and clever and made me laugh out loud several times.  Sedaris has no problem making himself look... bad.  It's one thing to degrade yourself, but Sedaris takes it to a whole new level.  It's brilliant really.

This book is actually a collection of essays that Sedaris wrote about his life.  They range from stories about his early childhood well in to his adult life.  Some stories are touching, some are morbid and most are hilarious or at least bordering on so pathetic that they are funny.

I enjoyed this book a lot.  I wouldn't say I struggled with it in the beginning; it was just sort of a slow start for me.  Once I got in to it though I got through it pretty quickly.

This book is:  Recommended

First line teaser:  "When my family first moved to North Carolina, we lived in a rented house three blocks from the school where I would begin the third grade."

NEXT UP:  The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger  (Yes, I've never read this book.  I know...)