Super Fantastic Reading Group

Keeping Faith

I finished another Jodi Picoult book last night. Though I stayed up to read it, it didn't grip me the way some of her other books have.

Maybe that's because this centered around religion, and I'm not very interested in religion. Maybe it's because the father, one of the main male characters, appeared to act out of character, or the fact that too many religious characters were introduced (if i recall correctly, 2 priests, 2 rabbis, 1 theologian, 1 bishop, and someone else).

While I still stayed up to finish the book, I don't feel this was one of the better Piccoult books available.

The Kite Runner

Fantastic book. Everyone in it is flawed - some physically, some emotionally, some, I guess, mentally. The story takes place in Afghanistan, and normally I don't like tales in foreign places, but this one sucked me right in. I read it in two nights because I simply couldn't put it down.

Unlike a lot of books, there's no pat, happy ending - not everything comes together, full circle, all ends neatly tied. There's a lot of emotion within this book, and I cried more than once.

Definite two thumbs up.

Vampire Love

I just wrapped up the Twilight trilogy by Stephenie Meyer (which I now found out will have more books added - so hello? not a trilogy anymore) and I really need to talk to book loving people. The 13-year-olds crushing on vampires in the forums are making me a little squeamish. So anyone here read them and like to dish?

Eat, Pray, Love

This book is seemingly everywhere these days, and I hopped on the bandwagon before I knew such a wagon existed.

It's a book about a woman who travels to three countries to find...something. Herself. Peace. Faith. It's a spiritual book but not at all preachy, and it's a quick and interesting read. Some of what she learned healed me in a way I needed to be healed, and that's never a bad thing.

Two Recent Reads

I recently finished two good books. The first was "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See. While it spanned almost a century, it was a surprisingly quick read. Recommended by a friend, I was nervous that it was going to be all history and dates which is the reason that "Devil in the White City" will probably rot in the back of my closet* or become kindling next winter. The story traces the history of a friendship that spans a half century in China. It was the kind of book that made me turn on my computer at 11:00pm to check out pictures of foot-binding. Since I finished, I have thought about or spoken to someone about the book several times, which is always the mark of a good read. Highly recommended.

The other book I just finished was "Water For Elephants."  You know how some books are tough to get into. This wasn't. While there are a cast of characters, they are all introduced in spurts and you kind of pick them up as you go (like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz) and so it's not overwhelming. The author tells the story in flashback mode, so there's this toggle between his 2o-something  and 90-something self. Of course you want to skip the 90 year old part and get back to the juicy life with the circus, but you can't because it's also funny and sweet in it's own right. I bought it last week on sale (hardcover) but it's coming out in paperback next month.

* If anyone wants Devil in the White City leave a message with your email here!

Jane Austen

My sister and I have been reading Jane Austen's collected works. (Re-reading for her, but most of it was for the first time for me.) If you enjoyed the Pride & Prejudice movie, you should definitely read the book. You would also likely enjoy Persuasion. I liked Mansfield Park, but not quite as much as those two, and it is really long! I am moving on to Northanger Abbey soon. It has taken a few weeks to get the BBC production of Northanger Abbey out of my head. It was awful! Under no circumstances should you be tempted to watch it.

The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney

This weekend, I read a book that had been on my Amazon Wish List since I met the author two years ago. I finally received it last Christmas and finally started it on Saturday. I recommend The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney to the group. I enjoyed it but it didn't blow me away.

The book is about four women who have been close friend for ten years and all the things that their friendships go through during that time. There are romances in the book, but they aren't the focus. All of the characters are likable and I think that Patricia Gaffney did a good job of keeping their voices distinct, except for the fact that two different characters used the word "callow" in their thoughts. If I had to look it up, I don't think the word is in common enough usage to have more than one character use it so naturally, but it was a minor point and maybe just a personal peeve. If you do read this book, you should be prepared for the waterworks that will accompany the last 1-2 hours of reading.

Two New Books

While I can't seem to finish any of the group books on time (or at all) I did finish two others over the holiday. The Tenth Circle by Jodi Piccoult and "The Guy Not Taken" by Jennifer Weiner.  The Piccoult book is a scary wake-up call for mothers of teen or pre-teen girls. My daughter isn't even two yet and we are already afraid. I was a little disappointed with Weiner, not because of the writing, but because I didn't read the back to know it was a collection of very short stories. If you are looking for the usual mindless chick lit - this isn't it. Don't want to share too much here and ruin it for someone else.

Two (Sorta) Recommendations

I read two new books this week already: "Daughter's Keeper," by Ayelet Waldman, and "The Dive from Clausen's Pier," by Ann Packer, which always reminds me of PM, cuz we watched the made-for-TV movie (it was, wasn't it?) at the same time once.

Daughter's Keeper was dull. Touched on some good topics but didn't explore them enough for me. Also, I didn't really give a shit about the characters - or feel that significant evidence had been given to support the growing bond between mother and daughter. Not to mention, it was very predictable.

Clausen's Pier was okay. I never watched the entire movie, so I didn't know much of what took place after the dive (but then, not sure how much of NY, Kilroy, etc the movie actually delved into). I cared about the characters a little more here, but again, it was fairly predictable and I didn't care for the ending.

Drunk Knitters

I am not a knitter, but I do wish someone would knit me a fabulous wrap sweater with built-in fingerless mittens that I could wear at work since it is always freezing here.

When I first started this book, I was concerned that we were going to have another unsympathetic character. (I forgot all their names now, but it was the one who is part of triplets.) Thankfully, the other two characters' storylines were able to pick up the slack in the beginning until I started to like the triplet. Overall, I liked the book. It was a fast, enjoyable read and I am glad that everything worked out nicely for everyone and they all ended up with the right mates.

As for why the scientist didn't dump her loser boyfriend sooner, I can tell you from personal experience,that if you are a late bloomer and are suddenly able to land a hot guy, you are willing to put up with more crap from him than you would from a normal guy just to be able to sleep with the hot guy for a little while longer.

Friends Don't Let Friends Knit Drunk

I hope we're allowed to start posting about this book; I don't remember whether we got a start date, but I thought I remembered that Thanksgiving weekend was the end point.

I really enjoyed this one.  It was an easy read, in my opinion, and I liked each of the main characters.  The neatness with which each girl ended up with her respective man (and the pairing of who would end up with whom) was quite easy to predict, but not so much of an anvil that it took away from the storyline.  All of the girls had their flaws, but I felt like they also had positive qualities to balance them out so that they were not unsympathetic at all.

I thought James was a big, honking jerk from the very beginning, and didn't fully understand why Lucy put up with his crap for long.   I think Lucy was my favorite of the three knister girls, and I was wanting her to show her spine and kick him to the curb earlier than she did!

I also thought it was cute to include the knitting-theme names to the drink recipes at the end of the book.

After the Rice, Consider Lily & Full of Grace

I just finished 3 books that were rather different from each other and I found them all rather enjoyable.

After the Rice is the story of a newly married couple who have all sorts of newly married issues - in-laws being the primary one.  The other issue they are faced with is an unplanned pregnancy.  Neither of the two ever wanted to have children so now they must figure out what they are going to do.  (mtlm - not to give away too much but you would not like this one).

Consider Lily is churchy chick-lit.  Really I have to start reading the back more carefully.  Interestingly I didn't find this one as annoying as I found the last one I accidentally found myself reading.  Lily is the daughter of a couple who runs an extremely high end retail establishment in San Francisco.  She also writes a blog.  She talks about her trials and tribulations of dating and trying to fit in.  I liked it.  The churchy bits were more along the lines of going to youth group and just saying they were Christians.  There were no whole speeches about "God's Plan" and all that so I appreciated that fact.  I don't mind characters who go to church and believe in something, I just don't like it proselytized.  In fact, I found this one rather refreshing in that she wasn't falling into bed with the guy 10 minutes after meeting him. 

Full of Grace is drama chick-lit.  The main character is from an Italian Catholic family and she is living in sin with her boyfriend who is Irish and not Catholic and worse a stem cell researcher.  It is about her family and her relationship with them and with her boyfriend.  The only tiny part that bugged me was her assumption that her family wouldn't recognize him and so she never brought him to family dinners.  I suppose they were the type that one had to be invited but she never just said "I'm bringing him, cope."  Otherwise I enjoyed it, even though it is a bit churchy.  Tears did well up in my eyes in a couple of places.  All in all a good read.

Other book discussions

To encourage more participation, I think people should also feel free to post about books that they have recently read and enjoyed (or didn't enjoy). 

People can also post about a theme they particularly like or something that bugs them they have discovered while reading several books.  For example, on my own blog I posted a rant about how fat chicks are portrayed in chick lit, including in their own sub-genre of chick lit. 

Please also feel free to post about favorite authors or your anticipation of a new book coming out by a favorite.  Basically everything you want to talk about about books. 

I tried...

But I could not finish this book.  I am only 1/3 of the way through and I do not care about these people.  I do not care about their lives.  They are not interesting.  And the bulk of the book is about people who have extra-marital affairs. 

I can't like Nora because her husband was obtained through an affair.

I can't like Agnes because she is actively involved in an affair. 

I don't like Harrison because (at least where I am right now) he wants to have an affair. 

The man Bridget is about to marry left his wife for her so while it is nice that he is there for her during this whole cancer thing, he left his wife and daughter for another woman.

These are not good people.  So it is getting returned to the library unfinished.  I've read others from her so I know she isn't all icky, but this one was just not for me.

Bait and Switch

When Joanne and I were returning from Hawaii last year, we had a lot of extra time at the airport and spent much of it in the bookstore. There was an Anita Shreve book there that I had not seen before. When I read the book jacket and discovered that it was all about cheaters, I put it back and was disappointed that I would not be reading this book by an author whom I admire. When Chatty chose A Wedding in December, at first I was concerned that it was the book that I had passed over, then I read the description online and it didn't sound familiar. Now, I believe that the publishing company changed the book description for the paperback version in order to give a boost to lackluster sales of a book that is all about cheaters.

I was halfway through the book and remarked to my husband, "Nothing has happened yet." Beyond not containing sympathetic characters (other than Agnes), this book was just plain boring. The most interesting part was the story-within-a-story that Agnes was writing about Innes Finch.

If this was your first introduction to Anita Shreve, please give her another shot. Her writing style is similar in her other books, but all of the ones I have read before contained actual plots.

Next Book

I was having a hard time picking a book, so I went to Target and looked under their recommended titles.  This one looked cute without being too heavy.  It's called Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik.   I believe it is due by the Monday after Thanksgiving, but I'll let Joanne confirm that.  Enjoy!

Now That's Better

Sorry for the late post.  I started this on the 10th and then forgot that I didn't actually publish one.

This book was generally an enjoyable read.  I liked the different perspectives of all the main characters with more believable plotlines.  Anya and Claire were the most relatable for me.  Claire was the most level-headed and her hang-up was the most believable.  The portrayal of how a 40ish woman would feel in her situation was great without being totally bitter.  The younger ones all seemed to have more self-made problems that blinded them to the world around them: Anya was very insecure, Parker was obsessed with herself and Kelah was a little nuerotic. 

I like that Claire got back together with her husband.  She had her fling and saw that you can love someone, make mistakes and still get through it.  She realized it would take a lot of work but it was worth it in the long run.   It was also great that she went ahead with her career and didn't slide back into her old role.  She grew as a person through her adversity and it made her stonger.

Anya was also a likable character.  Although it was a struggle for her, she was very mature in the way she handled the ex-girlfriend's sudden appearance and blatant attempts to steal her boyfriend back.  (Men are so clueless about that stuff). 

My complaints about the book are similar to what others have said:  Iit would've been nice to have more notice when switching characters and it was a little graphic.

The R-NC17 language in the last few books made me think my internal definition of chick lit was off but since Michelle thinks the fluid removal was a little much, it makes me feel better.

A New Book to Read

Hi all. I started reading a book a couple of weeks ago, and now have a reason to just sit and read it.  It is called,  A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve.  We begin discussing on November 6th.

I've been told it is a good book...one that makes us reflect.  I hope so. 

Happy reading!

Not a Fan

I didn't like this one. While I thought that the author did a good job of distinguishing the voices of the characters in dialogue, she did not do well in distinguishing them in narration. I find it hard to believe that four supposedly different women have the exact same thought patterns and would all make such liberal use of annoying parenthetical descriptions. Additionally, I thought the plot was crap. The only good thing that came from reading this book was that I added the name Parker to the list of baby girl names I suggested to my boss for his incubating fetus. (That's another thing. Who the hell knows that Parker Stevenson was in The Hardy Boys and even if you do know, how on earth would meeting a woman named Parker immediately make you think of that? The answers, respectively, are no one and it wouldn't. Parker isn't that unique a name.)

One more thing -- a description of a man sucking his junk out of his girlfriend's cooter is not generally included in my definition of light chick lit.

I want to summer in Greece!

The Outsiders reference alone was enough to make me love this book.  For some reason, though, this book took me a lot longer to read than normal.  I couldn't get into it.  I enjoyed what I read but the jumping from narrator to narrator felt very disjointed to me.   

Anya's killed someone secret was completely obvious.  I was kind of hoping that there was some accident and the guy got killed right after having sex and it wasn't an abortion story.  I think I probably feel that way because it seems like every teenager in any story anywhere on TV or in books gets knocked up on their first or second time trying sex.  In the real world it isn't that easy to get pregnant.  And for some reason now the prevalence of this storyline bothers me.   I get the whole Catholic guilt thing, but they could've easily given her the same 'curse' through another way.  That being said, I actually liked Anya.  And I liked that she worked for part of the summer.  It gives it a little more of a 'real' feel, although I don't know what the labor laws are for immigrants and all that.  (Clearly I work in HR, I get bogged down by thoughts about that sort of thing.)

I'm glad Parker didn't take her icky husband back.  I'm not sure how I feel about Claire taking her philandering husband back.  I suppose they were contrasted to give us kind of a broader view of marriage and all that.  Since Claire had all sorts of history with her husband I can see how it wouldn't be so easy to be done with it.  At the same time, though, I don't know that I bought that it was THAT easy to forgive and forget.  I would think having been together that long his affair would've cut a whole lot worse than Parker's husband's. 

I agree with Heather who wasn't sure what to think of Kelah.  She was definitely the least developed of the characters.  I don't know that I would have been so okay with someone writing about my life in articles, even if I were 'disguised.'  (Hint Michelle. ;) )

Finally, throughout the whole book I kept thinking I want to eat at that Greek Restaurant Corfu Island in Westlake when I go visit Michelle, except I'm pretty sure it has closed down. :)