Showing posts with label Book Club. Show all posts
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*Disclaimer: Spoiler Alert*
Meh. That's all. Book #18 and it's almost April. I think I'll be lucky to make half of my goal by July 1st. In fact, I think that just became my NEW goal. 25 books because I'm such a slacker that I will never get 50 done in time. Boo me. It's been a busy year for me, okay?
Category
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons,
Book Club,
Books
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The next installment of this wonderful blog belongs to Tatiana de Rosnay's novel, Sarah's Key. This story is set in both current day France, as well as France during the Holocaust.
Sarah's a 10 year-old girl who locks her 4 year-old brother in a hidden cupboard in their apartment when the French (yes, French) police come to round up the Jewish families in the apartment building. She leaves him with his water and a book and promises to come back for him, not realizing there may be a chance that she might not be back. She and her parents are then taken with other Jewish families in France for the Vel' d'Hiv roundup. Her part of the journey then encompasses trying to find a way to get back to her brother.
This book also flips back-and-forth, every other chapter with the present time, Julia Jarmond, an American who has lived in France for over a decade. She, of course, is researching the Vel' d'Hiv for an article. As you can imagine, the two stories mesh together quite well by the end of the novel. As I'm not one for ruining books, I shall say no more regarding the content of the novel!
This is a book club choice and our meeting isn't until Wednesday, so forgive me for what little of a review I'm about to do for it. Don't want to give too much away!
For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I always enjoy historical fiction for some reason (does that make me a nerd?) and this book definitely has that element. I think that the author did a great job at bringing the two settings together and melding the parts in to one solid story. I feel as though de Rosnay did a great job at making me empathize with Sarah and the different characters from her part of the story. Obviously, I was not around at this time in history, but I feel that the way she told the story seemed to be a somewhat accurate portrayal of what I've learned about this and similar events taking place at the time.
And now for a few things I disliked hated about this book. The most annoying part for me was the fact that de Rosnay felt the need to name EVERY SINGLE STREET in France throughout the novel. Don't get me wrong; I loved France when I was there. I love reminiscing when I hear names/places that I recognize or have been to. I do NOT, however, need to read EVERY street name that Julia/Sarah encounter throughout the novel. Seriously... I bet 10% of this book was JUST street names.
Anyway, enough ranting about that. The other thing that annoyed me and landed this book with a lower Goodreads star-rating than it would have had from me otherwise, happened in the last 50 pages of the book. (This might not make sense if you haven't read it, but again, I don't want to give anything way either.) There was a point at or around 50 pages 'til the end, in which it either need to be more elaborate in bringing the story to a close, or it just needed to end there. There was a chance for a perfect stopping spot that I would have been more than happy with, but when she drones on and lengthens the story, she doesn't do enough. Does that make sense? Either she needed to quit earlier or elaborate further. That may be confusing, but if you read the book and want to know what I'm referencing, I'll be more than happy to share.
Needless to say, that is all I'm going to say at this time. I know I always say I'll write more after my book club meetings and I never do, so I'm just not going to promise it this time. :)
This book is RECOMMENDED.
First Line Teaser: "The girl was the first to hear the loud pounding on the door."
Up Next: Who knows? Seriously... I feel like I always lie to you. I currently have 15, yes 15, books going. (If your curious, you can friend me on Goodreads to find out what I'm reading/have read.) The next one that lands a blog will probably be the next book club book when we pick it on Wednesday. I'll keep you posted.
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Book Club,
Books,
Recommended,
Sarah's Key
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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
Category
Book Club,
Books,
Recommended,
Unbearable Lightness
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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)
Category
Book Club,
Books,
Recommended,
Such a Pretty Face
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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
Category
Book Club,
Books,
Goals,
The Circuit,
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
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First, I'd like to start by saying that blogger has added an underlining option! Yay! That makes me feel so much better about blogging about books. :)
Moving on... number "six" (I quote because you all know I'm getting out of whack with this whole thing) is a book called I Am Not a Serial Killer, by Dan Wells. Again, I remind you, this is a book club selection so I won't be giving away too terribly much. Gotta save that for the meeting! I will tell you this, as I know if for a fact, some of my book club members are going to absolutely HATE this book. I think it is a bit gorier than some of them can handle, or would like to handle.
Aside from this fact, I also did not enjoy this book. Mind you, it was a very fast read and I finished it quickly, but I did not really like it. As those of you who actually know me know, I am not one to be a huge fan of things that I don't think are real or that I don't think could actually happen. Having said that, I actually was enjoying this book until around page 100 or so. Said serial killer turns very unrealistic. I won't elaborate for now. (Let's face it... I probably won't elaborate later either. Have I managed to do that for any of my other book club books?)
I have a problem with things being too unrealistic. I mean, ghosts? They might be real... you don't always see them but you've got to wonder when you have those freaky happenings going on. Serial killers? I'm all about learning about them. Sasquatch? Yetis? Chupacabra? Probably not, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that they exist. Demons? I'm over this book.
Honestly, I think I would have been okay with it had I known what I was getting in to. But with a name like "I Am Not a Serial Killer", you expect it to deal with just that. At least I did; don't you? I think had I known the actual topic, I might actually have enjoyed the story, because I do like a mini-man sociopath trying to take on demons. (Okay, really I just like anything dealing with psychology; sociopathic children included.)
That all being said, if you like the previous paragraph of this, then perhaps you would like this book. It's just not for me.
First line: "Mrs. Anderson was dead."
This book is: not recommended.
Next up: I am going to finish Eat, Pray, Love. Oh yes, I am.
Category
Book Club,
Books,
Eat Pray Love,
I Am Not a Serial Killer
.
So I just wrote an apology the other day for not blogging on my other blog, and here is my apology for this one. I'd like to say that I haven't been posting because I've been too busy, but I'm not entirely sure that's true. Maybe, kind of.
I just wanted to update you all on my current reading situation. For some reason, even though I really like the book, I am struggling to get through Eat, Pray, Love at a quick enough pace for this challenge. Thus, I have added my P90X guides (I know... I will try to cancel them out further down the road). They are very informational though and this program is going to complete kick my tush since I am not in shape, whatsoever.
Bringing me to now. We had the book club meeting on Monday and chose our new book. I am taking a break from Eat, Pray, Love in an attempt to be more loyal to it after this book is over. Our new selection is I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells. I started it last night and am probably somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the way done with it. It's a super easy and fast read so far. Does it make me a freak that I compare myself to the little sociopath in the book?
Anyway, I promise to get back on track with my booking blog.
Category
Book Club,
Books,
Eat Pray Love,
Goals,
I Am Not a Serial Killer,
p90x
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The fourth book of my challenge was a book club selection. Lisa Scottoline's "Look Again". The book was pretty good. Not excellent, but not horrible.
The short of it is basically, a reporter gets a "missing child" postcard in the mail and he resembles the son she had adopted a year and a half ago. She is then faced with the moral dilemma of where to go from there.
There were things that I liked about this book and things that I didn't. I loved that it had super short chapters. That always makes for a really fast read and it keeps me interested because I can always squeeze in that one last chapter. I also liked that it dealt with a topic that I am all too familiar with due to my line of work, adoption. (Along with the psychological mumbo-jumbo that comes along with it.)
A few things I did not like. First off, I don't like it when an author over does it with descriptions. Yes, I like a book to be descriptive, but I don't like it to feel forced. I felt this way several times throughout the book. I don't need to have a complete description of something that matters NOT to the story, whatsoever. Granted, this wasn't through the entire book, but I definitely felt this way at different points. Also, for the most part, the book was extremely predictable. From the moment the main character started talking about the family she adopted from as well as the family of the missing child, I theorized the ending of the novel. I got it 100% correct. But I am very smart. :) It doesn't mean you shouldn't read it. You might not be as smart as I am... (I'm kidding, I promise... or AM I?)
Again, this is a book club selection so I am not going to talk too much about the actual content of the novel because I do not want to give anything away to my fellow NIBC'ers.
So, here's a first line teaser for you: Ellen Gleeson was unlocking her front door when something in the mail caught her attention.
This book is: Recommended for some. Not for others. I will tell you to base that completely on what I've written in this little "review".
Next up: "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert
Category
Book Club,
Books,
Eat Pray Love
.
I've finished my first book of the challenge! "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon! I don't know that I'll type a whole lot about it today, only because it is also our book club book and I've got to save some of my ramblings for our meeting! (Maybe I'll share more of my thoughts after that!) I must also comment that I chose this cover for my blog image because I like it better than the actual cover of my book! : )
I will say that I would recommend this book to most people! There's something about reading the point-of-view of a child/teen that gets me. Maybe that makes me somewhat immature with my reading selections, but I loved it in this book, loved it in Jonathan Safran Foer's "Everything is Illuminated" & loved it in Stephen Chbosky's "The Perks of Being a Wallflower". I think it is something about an author being able to capture the innocence of the youth that makes it so appealing for me. Not just any adult is able to really capture and relay that for me. I mean, I will admit that I've read the Twilight series and the Harry Potter series and those are child/teen P.O.V.'s, but it's in a different way. Upon typing that I think I've discovered that it's when dealing with kids with psychological issues. Given my chosen profession I suppose that makes sense.
Here's your first line action (a lil' taste): "It was 7 minutes after midnight."
Anyway, possibly more to come on this book after my book club meeting. As for my next book, I will be reading "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. Yes, I know that is a classic and I should have read it by now, but I haven't, so I am going to. : )
This book is: RECOMMENDED
Category
Book Club,
Books,
Recommended,
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
.
So, I've made my decision. Well, technically my book club made my decision... kind of. I will be starting my first book of the challenge in two days. I've decided to read our first book club selection as my first book, mostly so that I can pass it along to someone in the NIBC (New Improved Book Club!) when I am done with it since I SHOULD have it done in a week or less, right?
The book we/I have chosen is "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon. Not only is it our first book club selection since restarting book club, but it was also a recommendation for one of my challenge books, so why NOT start out with it, right? Plus, it looks like it will be an fast & easy read, which will only motivate me to keep on keepin' on, if you know what I mean.
My plan with this blog is to keep you posted on what I am reading as well as any thoughts/comments/questions that I have about the book. All feedback will be welcome. I'm looking forward to the motivation & feedback from all of my faithful followers to push me along in this journey!
Category
Book Club,
Books,
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
.
It's getting closer folks. One week until I reveal which book will be my first of the challenge. I know you are all on the edge of your chairs just waiting to find out.
I've decided that my first book will be one of your fine recommendations. I plan to (hopefully) read most of your suggestions at some point during the challenge. Chances are, if we choose a book club book by the 1st, that may just be my first book I read. We'll see.
I will say that I broke down and bought "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer yesterday. I've been itching to read it but have been trying to convince myself that I'm too poor to buy books. I just read "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" though, so I've got to read a couple others before I read another JSF book. It will definitely probably make it in to my first couple months worth of reads. (Has anyone read it yet? Alice, I'm mostly talking to you because I think that I saw on goodreads that you did and I know that you are also a fan of JSF. Enlighten me with your thoughts.)
Category
Book Club,
Books,
Recommended
.
In lieu of the challenge I am going to restart book club. Formerly YESS book club, the book club is now being called "book club" as I no longer work at YESS. Deal with it people.
This being said, I will be emailing you all soon. I know I already posted this on my other blog, but I felt it only made sense to post it on here as well.
If there is anyone in the DSM area that meets the following qualifications and would like to join, please let me know!
Qualifications:
- You must be a reader.
- You must not be annoying.
- At least one of the former members should probably know you. (We don't need any creepsters in our lives, thanks.)
Former members, suggestions for further qualifications are welcome at any time.
Category
Book Club,
Books
