Magnolia Kelly

100. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

2010-07-04T13:30:00.001-07:00

When I set up the different categories of books to read for the project, I decided to give Colin one pick. He could choose any book and I would have to read it. It didn't take him long at all to choose this one, so I've known for almost a year that I would eventually be reading Good Omens. I haven't read any of Neil Gaiman's work before, but I have seen two movie adaptations -- Stardust (yay!) and Coraline (nay!). So it seemed to me there was a 50-50 chance that I would like this book.

We hear the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner. Unfortunately, Sister Mary Loquacious of the Chattering Order has just misplaced the Antichrist. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles. And the representatives from Heaven and Hell have decided they actually like the human race...

Plot summary taken from the paperback back cover.

After I finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Colin said he felt a little bad that I'd be reading both that and Good Omens in the same week because they were somewhat similar. As you can see from the quote on the front cover, "A direct descendant of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." -- New York Times, he wasn't the only one to think so. I happened to like Good Omens more. I found it to be a little more accessible and I thought it was slightly more witty. The religious aspect made it more entertaining for me somehow, and I was pleased with what I found to be the overall message. My favorite characters were Crowley and Aziraphale, I would totally watch a buddy cop show starring the two of them. I thought the book could have been trimmed down about 50 pages but that's hardly a major complaint. Overall, a great recommendation from Colin. I may have to take a closer look at his bookshelf.

99. Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

2010-07-04T13:10:00.001-07:00

I first heard about the ABC Family show Pretty Little Liars a few months ago, and I eagerly looked forward to it. It's really good, too, you should watch it. I had one more my pick for the project, so naturally I decided to read the first book in the series that the show is based on. Yay! I love me some YA fiction.

In the exclusive Philadelphia suburb of Rosewood, Alison is the Queen Bee of her elite seventh grade hive. BFs Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily vie for her attention, even as each of them hides a hideous secret only Alison knows. So when Alison goes missing after a slumber party, never to be seen again, each girl is heartbroken, but also a little relieved. Now it is three years later, and though the four girls have grown apart, they are each still hiding something. Artsy Aria is carrying on an affair with one of her teachers, fashionista Hanna shoplifts to accessorize her trendy outfits, blue-blood Spencer is sleeping with her older sister's boyfriend, while straight-A Emily is trying to ignore her attraction to a new female classmate. When the girls begin receiving threatening text messages and emails from someone known only as "A," they must confront the fact that against all odds, it appears Alison is back. Could Alison still be alive? And if so, why is she so determined to uncover all their dirty little secrets?

Plot summary taken from amazon.com.

And it did not disappoint! It was so good! Really, really good! I can see this series being completely addictive, I didn't want the first one to end. If I didn't have a million other books on my to read list, I might run out and get the rest of the series. Even though I don't think I had many (any?) of the experiences that the girls in the book did, it was still relatable. There were good characters, all with secrets and bad deeds but all ultimately likeable and sympathetic. I do love reading about female friendships -- always so complicated and messy! Especially at that age... drama drama drama. I like to live a little vicariously through books like this, too -- I get to find out what the cool kids are into. Paper Denim jeans are apparently a thing. :)

Like I said, the show is really good, too. It's a good adaptation and I will most definitely keep watching. And I'm not the only one who loves the show, by the way. Check out one of Eric Stonestreet's (you know, Cameron on Modern Family) recent tweets.

98. Drama Queers! by Frank Anthony Polito

2010-07-04T12:56:00.001-07:00

I liked Band Fags! very much, and started reading Drama Queers! almost immediately afterward.

Meet Bradley Dayton -- a wickedly funny high school senior whose woefully uncool life always seems to be full of drama, even in the sorry little suburb of Hazel Park, Michigan. It's 1987, the era of big hair, designer jeans, and Dirty Dancing. George Michael has "Faith" and Michael Jackson still has a nose. Brad, on the other hand, has a thing for acting, and while his friends are trying to get laid, Brad's trying to land the lead in Okla-homo! and practicing the Jane Seymour monologue from Somewhere in Time.

Sure, he'd like to get laid too, but while Brad has known he was gay forever, the rest of "Hillbilly High" is not so forthcoming. Brad's already lost one best friend, Jack, who dropped out of the marching band to step into the closet. But lately, things are looking up. Not only has Brad made Homecoming Top Five, but Richie, a new, totally cute member of drama club, definitely seems to be sending signals -- and he's not the only one. Before senior year ends, Brad will know more about love, lust and friendship than he ever thought possible. Because if all the world's a stage, he's ready to be in the spotlight...

Plot summary taken from the paperback back cover.

I didn't have too strong feelings about Brad while reading Band Fags! -- Jack is so in his own head that you stay there, too. I ultimately found him to be more likeable than Jack and I think it's because he's more comfortable with who he is; his doubt about being gay is more short-lived and less tortured than Jack's. This is probably why other characters reacted to them similarly, you get better vibes from Brad. It was interesting to get the other side of the senior year story, they inform each other and fill in gaps of information -- if you read one, you have to read the other (and I recommend reading Band Fags! first because it covers a longer period of time). Both books are good, quick reads that you won't regret checking out!

97. Band Fags! by Frank Anthony Polito

2010-07-04T12:46:00.001-07:00

Both my friend Jeff and his roommate Ryan recommended Band Fags! (and its sequel Drama Queers!), they know the author Frank Anthony Polito (FAP, as I came to think of him). Jeff loaned me his copy, along with Vanna Speaks and a few other books. I have to tell a Jeff story here. We saw American Pie 2 together, and when the Jason Biggs character realizes that he loves the Alyson Hannigan character and declares that he is a band dork (nerd?), he just never joined the band, Jeff (master floutist) turned to me and said that I was a band dork (nerd?), I just never joined the band. Agree? Disagree? Discuss amongst yourselves.

September, 1982. John Cougar's "Jack and Diane" is on endless radio rotation, and Dallas and Dynasty rule the ratings. Jack Paterno is a straight-A student living in the Detroit suburb of Hazel Park, with his own Atari 5200, a Beta VCR, and everything a seventh-grader could ask for. The only thing he has is common with foul-mouthed Brad Dayton, who lives on the gritty south side near 8 Mile, is that both are in Varsity Band. Or maybe that's not the only thing. Because Jack is discovering that while hanging around with girls in elementary school was perfectly acceptable, having lots of girl friends (as opposed to girlfriends) now is getting him and Brad labeled as Band Fags. And Jack is no fag. Is he?

As Jack and Brad make their way through junior high and then through Hazel Park High School, their friendship grows deeper and more complicated. From stealing furtive glances at Playgirl to discussing which celebrities might be like that, from navigating school cliques to dealing with crushes on girls and guys alike, Jack is trying to figure out who and what he is. He wants to find real, endless love, but he also wants to be popular and "normal." But, as Brad points out, this is real life -- not a John Hughes movie. And sooner or later, Jack will have to choose.

Plot summary taken from the paperback back cover.

Ah, coming of age tales. I don't think I could ever write so much in the voice of a young adult, but I immediately recognized the writing of Jack as authentic. It rang true. I thought to myself while reading that FAP must have kept diaries from the time to reference because he wrote so convincingly. And of the gay coming of age fiction that I've read for the project (Sugarless, The Density of Souls, The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second), FAP's was most relatable -- even though band (and drama) was not my world at all, but being in my own group of friends aside from "popular" kids was my experience. Also the pop culture stuff was totes up my alley; it's nice to know there are other geeks out there who know actors in TV movies from the other TV movies they've done. And best of all, no boys are gross stuff! :)

While reading, I identified with Jack and empathized with him, found him likeable. But when I was done with Band Fags!, I started to feel a little differently -- especially because I started Drama Queers! almost immediately after finishing it, which is from Brad's point of view for his and Jack's senior year in high school. Jack is insecure and unsure of himself just about to the point of making him someone uncomfortable to be around; popularity and "normalcy" are so important to him that it's almost off-putting. I didn't feel that way while reading which is to Polito's credit -- it's when I stepped out of Jack's shoes and saw him from the outside that I started to feel that way. When you're on the journey with Jack, you're with him.

I highly recommend this one! Stay tuned for my Drama Queers! post, coming soon to a blog near you.

96. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

2010-07-04T12:26:00.001-07:00

My dad loaned me The Uplift War to read as one of my sci-fi picks months ago and he asks me every time we talk if I've read it yet. For some reason or another, I kept putting it off. Either a book came in from the library or something else that someone loaned me looked more appealing. But I was finally all set to start reading it a few days ago. I came home from work and Colin sat me down for a serious talk -- flipping though the book, he told me there was no way I would be able to finish it AND the other books I had lined up by the July 4 deadline (one year exactly from the start of the project). I think he thought it was longer and more dense that I was expecting. He suggested that I read another sci-fi book for the project, he came up with a list of titles to choose from, and that I read The Uplift War after the project is over -- that way, I could take the time to enjoy it, instead of rushing through it. Point taken -- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy it is. Dad, I promise The Uplift War is first on my post-project reading list.

Don't panic! Losing your planet isn't the end of the world.

Earth is about to get unexpectedly demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. It's the final straw for Arthur Dent -- he's already has his house bulldozed this morning. But for Arthur, this is only the beginning... In the seconds before global obliteration, Arthur is plucked from the planet by his friend Ford Prefect -- and together the pair ventures out across the galaxy on the craziest, strangest road trip of all time.

Plot summary taken from the paperback back cover. It took a surprisingly long time to type.

This book is hilarious! I don't know why, but I didn't expect it to be funny. Check out a couple of quotes as proof:

"And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, a girl sitting on her own in a small cafe in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything."

"It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars, and so on -- whilst all the dolphins had ever done was much about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed they were more intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons."

(This second one is the beginning of chapter 23; I would have quoted all of chapter 23 if room -- and my typing skills -- allowed.)

My second reaction is that this book is totally and completely bananas. Wackadoo, for sure. But it was very amusing and I really enjoyed reading about the purpose of earth, the plan of the mice, etc. Colin said that much of the book parodies other science fiction works, so it's possible that I wasn't going to get as much out of as the next guy.

Now, usually I get a photo of the book cover by searching for images on Google. I couldn't find the exact cover of the paperback from the library, so I took a photo with my phone. Why is it important to get a photo of the actual book that I read? Because of how the title is type set -- The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This didn't look weird to me, so when I created my Google Doc to keep notes, that's the spelling that I used. When I added this title to the Currently Reading box on the blog, that's the spelling that I used. Later, I noticed that the title on the book spine and on the back cover used "Hitchhiker's" -- being a proofreader, this inconsistency pissed me off a little. Which spelling was I supposed to be using? I copied and pasted the answer I found on Wikipedia below. My conclusion about the cover of the book I checked out of the library? Lazy art direction. But then, I'm a little judgmental, so there you go.

Spelling

The different versions of the series spell the title differently—thus Hitch-Hiker's Guide, Hitch Hiker's Guide and Hitchhiker's Guide are used in different editions (US or UK), editions of the novel, (audio or print) and compilations of the book. Some editions used different spellings on the spine and title page. The BBC's h2g2 style manual claims that Hitchhiker's Guide is the spelling Adams preferred.^[44] At least two reference works make note of the inconsistency in the titles. Both, however, repeat the statement that Adams decided in 2000 that "everyone should spell it the same way [one word, no hyphen] from then on." ^[45]^[46]

95. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

2010-07-04T12:05:00.001-07:00

When my sister Annie came home for my other sister Mollie's bridal shower in March, she had two books to lend to me -- Persepolis and this one. It's kind of funny that they both feature totalitarian governments, but I think it was just a coincidence. :)

Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years -- a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the unchallenged rise to power of Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the North Korean population.

Taking us into a landscape that most of us have never before seen, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today -- an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, in which radio and television dials are welded to the one government station, and where displays of affection are punished, a police state where informants are rewarded and where an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life.

Demick takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors. Through meticulous and sensitive reporting, we see her six subjects -- average North Korean citizens -- fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we experience the moments when they realize their government has betrayed them.

Nothing to Envy is a groundbreaking addition to the literature of totalitarianism and an eye-opening look at a closed world that is of increasing global importance.

Summary taken from the book jacket.

The information in Nothing to Envy was organized differently than I was expecting, so it took some time for me to get into it. It's hard to describe how it differed from my expectations; as best I can remember it seemed to jump around at first. Once I got used to the writing and organization, the book went really quickly for a non-fiction about a non-cheery topic like totalitarianism in North Korea and its effects on average citizens. I have to say, I kept mixing up Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il while I was reading; the names look too similar in print! That's a little embarrassing, but the really shame-inducing part is that I had no idea what the conditions were like in North Korea, let alone that there was a famine in the 1990s. A famine -- that just seems like something that can't happen anymore in this day and age. The limited electricity, no access to the Internet, a famine -- as Demick puts it, North Korea is where South Korea was fifty years ago. That's hard to wrap your mind around, even though the book describes average people's experiences very well. Reading about the ruling of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il reminded me of reading about cults. To generalize, cult leaders excel at isolating their followers. They cut people off from the rest of the world, taking away their resources --money, family and friends, information. They don't want you to want to leave and if even if you do, they make it so that you won't be able to leave and survive. This also seems to be the point of North Korean rule. Citizens are told repeatedly that they have nothing to envy in the world -- they have it the best of anyone. And because accurate information about the outside world is so limited, just about everyone believes it. On of the most interesting parts of the book to me was when Demick wrote about the efforts of South Korea to accommodate North Korean deflectors.

As serious as the book is, it's not altogether completely depressing. One thing that made me smile was reading about Jun-sang, one of Demicks' ordinary North Korean citizen interviewees, and his voracious reading habits. He read anything that he could get his hands on, something that led to his decision to defect to South Korea. I loved that he enjoyed reading Sidney Sheldon's Rage of Angels (I have much-loved copy of that one on my bookshelf) and that Gone With the Wind (also on my shelf) is his all-time favorite book.

This book was eye-opening for me, and a really valuable experience. I'm going to wrap this one up with some quotes that spoke to me while reading:

"For all the support provided by the government, defectors can sense the pity and fear and guilt and embarrassment with which South Koreans view them. The mixed welcome is part of what makes them feel like strangers in their homeland."

"Guilt and shame are common denominators among North Korean defectors; many hate themselves for what they had to do in order to survive."

"Choosing where to live, what to do, even which clothes to put on in the morning is tough enough for those of us accustomed to making choices; it can be utterly paralyzing for people who've had decisions made for them by the state their entire lives."

"Kim runs his country as though it were in the thick of the Cold War, churning out bombastic propaganda, banning most foreigners from visiting, threatening real and imagined enemies with nuclear weapons and missiles."

94. The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald

2010-07-04T10:28:00.001-07:00

I read about this book in People magazine and thought the premise was intriguing. I immediately placed a hold at the library. And then had to wait weeks and weeks. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought it sounded interesting.

It is the middle of the twentieth century, and in a home economics program at a prominent university, real babies are being used to teach mothering skills to young women. For a young man raised in these unlikely circumstances, finding real love and learning to trust will prove to be the work of a lifetime. In this captivating novel, Lisa Grunwald gives us the sweeping tale of an irresistible hero and the many women who love him.

From his earliest days as a "practice baby" through his adult adventures in 1960s New York City, Disney's Burbank studios, and the delirious world of Beatles' London, Henry remains handsome, charming, universally adored -- and never entirely accessible to the many women he conquers but can never entirely trust.

Filled with unforgettable characters, settings, and action, The Irresistible Henry House portrays the cultural tumult of the mid-twentieth century even as it explores the the inner tumult of a young man trying to transcend a damaged childhood. For it is not until Henry House comes face-to-face with the truths of his past that he finds a chance for real love.

Plot summary taken from the book jacket. I also suggest reading the Author's Note, which can be found on lisagrunwald.net.

Like Grunwald, this topic piques my interest. I would love to read some non-fiction or see a documentary about the practice of borrowing babies from orphanages to use as "practice" in university home ec departments. It sounds kind of barbaric, doesn't it? And yet, Grunwald writes sensitively from both perspectives, pro and con. Theories on child rearing have evolved and changed dramatically in the last hundred years, and it is the greatest fear of Martha, the head of the Practice House in the novel, that she and her colleagues were wrong all along. Even Henry, who grows to resent his upbringing and all it represents, finds it difficult to unlearn the teachings of the Practice House. Henry is a dynamic and conflicted character, and the reader is taken in by his charms as much as his conquests are. Grunwald's imaginings of Henry's reactions to his circumstances ring true, which I think is a great accomplishment.

I enjoyed reading this novel in part because Grunwald paid such careful attention to the settings -- the East Coast college campus, the wholesome Disney studios, swinging 60s London. You really get a feel for the times and places that Henry existed in. It was a quick read, which I wasn't really expecting, but I think that it's because you become so immersed in the story. I found myself looking up from reading and feeling somewhat disoriented, because my head was still in Henry's world. That's not to say that it's the easiest read. There is a lot deep sadness experienced by most, if not all, of the characters: Martha, desperate for Henry to need her as much as she needs him; Betty, who's made a complete mess of her life and can't completely ignore the fact; Mary Jane, aware of just how hard it will be for Henry to become the man she needs him to be; and even Henry, who does a good job of covering it up anger and feelings of betrayal. Their stories stay with you for long after you've finished reading.

This novel is beautifully and lovingly written. I highly recommend it.

93. Defining Conservatism by Jonathan Krohn

2010-07-01T13:44:00.001-07:00

I don't like to talk politics very much on the blog. I don't want to pretend to be the most well-informed person on current events and at the end of the day, this is for fun. It's not meant to be too weighty. But if you know me or have been reading for awhile, you're probably aware that I lean to the left. Some might say bleeding heart liberal. For the project, I have read some political books: The Audacity of Hope (definitely toward the left) and Game Change (more toward the left than the middle). So in the interest of fairness, I always intended to read something non-fiction that was from a conservative standpoint. Fair's fair, right? I wasn't sure how to start looking for something, though. Most of the conservatives that pop up on my radar don't appeal to me because they don't seem to be interested in a rational dialogue -- keep in mind, this mainly refers to people like Glenn Beck. I know there are serious-minded conservative voices out there, though; I just can't hear them over the noise of Beck et al. So when I saw Defining Conservatism on the new non-fiction shelf at the library, my interest was piqued. Maybe this was just the thing that I had been looking for?

Defining Conservatism is a passionate appeal to a political movement that is re-examining its identity as Republicans set their sights in 2010 and beyond. A dedicated young conservative, Jonathan Krohn presents conservative philosophy's basic tenets in this remarkably earnest and impeccably reasoned primer. This book, clear and informative, is a history lesson, a manifesto, and a roadmap for the future. It is Krohn's rallying call to action not just for conservatives, but for anyone interested in the political state of our nation. In Defining Conservatism, Krohn challenges "government expansionists," whose faith in Washington and the basic pillars of government exceeds their faith in the individual. At the same time, he boldly stakes out four unshakeable principles for conservatives to rally around:

Respect for the Constitution

Respect for human life

Belief in minimalist government

Insistence upon personal responsibility

Anyone interested in the basic differences between conservative and liberal thought will find Krohn's writing at once compelling, informative, intelligent, and -- for those who do not agree with him -- controversial. Defining Conservatism is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the basic principles upon which the United States was founded, and perhaps most importantly, for anyone who is concerned with the future of this country.

Summary taken from the book jacket copy.

This book was in no way, shape or form what I was looking for. I bolded parts of the book jacket copy to indicate what must have appealed to me as I read it while at the library. I think I must have been skimming, rather than really reading. I brought the book home with me thinking that I would be reading about those four basic tenets of conservatism, which I actually don't find much fault with. (Seriously. At the root, we're not that far apart.) I thought the book would be accessible to liberals, explaining conservative principles at least partly in an attempt at a greater understanding between the two parties.

Krohn does go into detail explaining those basic principles. But I found that at every opportunity, he took pleasure in also explaining why liberals (referred to in every instance as "government expansionists") were wrong -- and dangerous. I found his writing to be obnoxious and offensive. One of his assertions is that liberals have no moral compass. I think he puts it as conservatives believe natural law and morals to be inflexible, while liberals change their morals based on context of situations -- thus having no true (read: inflexible) morals. That's the best way that I can paraphrase, something may get lost in translation. I wrote down a quote about morals, maybe it will give you an idea of how he writes on the topic:

"The so-called tolerant left claims that in order to have tolerance, one must first and foremost deny morality a stake or even a claim in society."

I have never been so frustrated in my life. The book is about 170 pages long, and I cried for most of the second half. I could rant and rave about what Krohn said and the rude way he said it, but it's really my fault for now knowing what I was getting into.

I want to wrap up this post with a couple of quotes from President Obama's commencement speech at the University of Michigan, which took place earlier this year. As I said above, I don't have a problem with the basic ideas of conservatives. I don't feel so far apart from them to preclude understanding or cooperation. But I think we have different ways of looking at things, and the quotes below express (more eloquently than I could) some ideas that reading Defining Conservatism stirred up.

"It was the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, who said the role of government is to do for people what they cannot do better for themselves."

"...government shouldn't try to dictate people's lives. But it should give you the tools you need to succeed. Government shouldn't try to guarantee results, but it should guarantee a shot at opportunity for every American who's willing to work hard."

92. L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy

2010-07-01T08:48:00.001-07:00

Colin and I were looking for movie adaptation ideas, and he was reading titles off of some website. When he got to L.A. Confidential, he was all for it -- he said that I should really read this one and then we could watch the movie together. It turns out Colin loved the movie adaptation when it came out and thought it should have beaten Titanic for Best Picture. Okay, then: decision made. L.A. Confidential it is.

James Ellroy's L.A. CONFIDENTIAL is epic noir, a crime novel of astonishing detail and scope. It stands as a steel-edged time capsule -- Los Angeles in the 1950s, a remarkable era defined in dark shadings.

Pornography.

Police corruption.

Gangland intrigue.

A horrific mass murder that invades the lives of victims and victimizers on both sides of the law -- three cops treading quicksand in the middle.

Ed Exley wants glory. Haunted by his father's success as a policeman, he will pay any price, break any law to eclipse him. Bud White watched his own father murder his mother -- he is now bent on random vengeance, a time bomb with a badge. Trashcan Jack Vincennes shakes down movie stars for a scandal magazine. An old secret possesses him -- he'll do anything to keep it buried. Three cops in a spiral, a nightmare that tests loyalty and courage, a nightmare that offers no mercy, allows for no survivors.

Greed.

Perversion.

Ruthless ambition.

L.A. CONFIDENTIAL is incendiary, a novel as broad and explosive as its themes. Here is James Ellroy's masterpiece, his stunning gifts stretched to the limit, darkness to haunt you in shades of red, gray and black.

Plot summary taken from the book jacket. Laying it on a bit thick, aren't they?

Ellroy's writing style was extremely off-putting at first and I had a really hard time getting into this book -- a bad omen, considering its 500-page length. I can't describe it really, but the style just didn't make sense to me and it was difficult to decipher what the hell was going on. It's a good thing that the plot is so damn intriguing or I might have considered giving up. After about 150 pages, I felt more comfortable with the writing and desperately wanted to make it to the end. It went pretty fast after that first 150, and I ended up finishing the book in two days, surprising myself. I liked the twists and payoff of the exposition, but I didn't think this was the best mystery/suspense/thriller that I've ever read -- maybe at heart, I'm just not a noir person?

One thing that I found really interesting, and I'm not sure if I liked or disliked, was Ellroy's incorporating actual people and events into his fiction. The gangster Mickey Cohen was mentioned in the first chapter, and the name sounded familiar but I didn't think much of it -- until Johnny Stompanato, one of his associates, came up. Now that name I know for sure. I'm the proud owner of Lana Turner's autobiography and her daughter Cheryl Crane's autobiography -- and Johnny Stompanato takes up at least a chapter or two in each. Stompanato dated and abused Turner and was killed in her home. The official story is that Cheryl stabbed him to prevent him from beating her mother, but there were a lot of rumors and other theories about what happened at the time. It was a huge scandal. So once I saw that name, I did some online research and found that Ellroy used a lot of historical information in the book, most notably the Bloody Christmas affair, which puts several plot points in the book into motion. I'm still deciding it that was cool or confusing. Probably both.

And now for some trivia before I get into the movie adaptation that Colin loved so much.

At one point, the name Barney Stinson came up -- we never meet this character but his name is provided as a criminal's drug dealer. Who cares, you ask? Well, Coin and I are big fans of the show How I Met Your Mother, and Barney Stinson is the name of Neil Patrick Harris's character. Coincidence? Hm...

This may be a spoiler, so please avert your eyes if you wish to remain spoiler-free. Pierce Patchett, one of the big baddies in the book, was from Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Just like me! This fact doesn't have a lot of bearing on anything, but it was interesting to me. In another world, maybe I would have been the Grosse Pointe native that ended up running a Hollywood look-a-like brothel in Los Angeles. Who knows?

Now, those of you paying attention will know that I read L.A. Confidential immediately after No Angel. This is apropos of nothing, except that in both books the city San Bernardino, CA, is referred to as "Berdoo" and "San Berdoo." What's up with that? I thought it was just a Hells Angels things when I was reading No Angel, but then it comes up in L.A. Confidential? What does it mean? I did some preliminary research online, and it seems that it doesn't mean much of anything -- "Berdoo" has been a nickname of San Bernardino for over 100 years. Shrug. Mystery solved, I guess.

I had never seen the movie adaptation of L.A. Confidential. All I really knew about it was that Kim Basinger won Best Supporting Actress for her role and she wore a really lovely green gown to the ceremony and was still married to Alec Baldwin at that point. Colin and I watched it just a few days after I finished the book, so everything was still fresh in my mind. And every time the movie deviated from the book, I couldn't help but point it out. Yes, I was that guy. Even though I knew they would have to trim down a lot to adapt the book, I was still surprised by how much that was different. I'm not sure why Kevin Spacey agreed to play Vincennes -- his entire background was cut out, as well as his romance, and (spoiler alert!) he dies sooner in the movie than in the book. What's up with that? Also, it's more noticeable to me when a movie takes itself very seriously than when a book does. I'm sure the book did take itself very seriously, but I couldn't help but notice it during the movie. At one point, White is beating up Exley and Exley is trying to convince him that someone is setting him up. He actually yells, "Think, goddamn you! Think!" I laughed. This was one of those times when I couldn't watch the movie objectively, so if you want to discuss it I suggest you talk to Colin. I didn't appreciate it as much as he did.

91. No Angel by Jay Dobyns

2010-06-30T12:06:00.001-07:00

My friend Ken told me about this book he was reading and he sounded really excited about it. The more he told me, the more interested I became. He generously offered to loan it to me, so I took him up on it.

Here, from Jay Dobyns, the first federal agent to infiltrate the inner circle of the outlaw Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, is the inside story of the 21-month-long operation that almost cost him his family, his sanity, and his life.

Summary taken from the paperback back cover. It's pretty succinct, eh?

Okay, I want to get the bad out of the way because I have plenty of good things to say.

I usually don't despair when I read non-fiction books about bad people/things... it's generally an interesting topic and I can be a bit objective. But for some reason, this one got to me. I felt bogged down in the bad things that happen in this world -- a hand signal for gangbangs, a woman murdered for insulting someone in a clubhouse, so many people using/addicted to crystal meth. It just got to me. Not to sound naive, but there is just so much more to life, you know?

Also, I didn't get through this one as quickly as I usually do. It was good and interesting, but because it was taking longer to read, I felt frustrated and as if I didn't like it as much as I did.

And onto the good!

While reading, you become completely immersed in this world, which is pretty incredible. Not everyone can write that effectively. And I came away with all this knowledge that I never thought I would have:

people use the abbreviation "OMG" for "outlaw motorcycle gang" (tee hee)

it is, in fact, "Hells Angels" and not "Hell's Angels" (apparently there's more than one hell based on where you are)

they also say 81 (eight one, not eighty-one) to refer to the Hells Angels (8 for H [the eighth letter in the alphabet] and 1 for A [the first letter in the alphabet])

I love finding a Detroit connection, and this book has a great one. When describing Slats, aka Joe Slatella, who ran Operation Black Biscuit:

"He'd worked in Detroit in the eighties and nineties -- the Vietnam of federal law enforcement..."

Wowza, right? Also, Slats named it "Operation Black Biscuit" because he's a huge Detroit Red Wings fan, and "black biscuit" is slang for hockey puck. (This was new to me -- I've never heard that, and my parents said that they hadn't either. But we're none of us huge hockey fans.)

This is possibly the best quote from a rough-and-tumble undercover ATF agent ever:

"October 5. On the way to the Patch, I stopped at a Starbucks. They already had the Halloween seasonal, a pumpkin-flavored latte with brown sugar cinnamon sprinkles. I love the seasonals at Starbucks -- I get them with extra foam and low-fat milk. Totally lame, but there you go."

Ooh, and get a load of this quote on the back cover:

"Fuhgedaboudit! Moving and frightening ... The most informative and authoritative book on undercover work since Donnie Brasco."

--Joe Pistone, aka Donnie Brasco, and author of the New York Times bestseller Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia

Tee hee! That kind of quote takes balls, and I love that they put it on the back cover. I read Donnie Brasco forever ago, but I don't remember enough of it to compare to No Angel.

And those of you who enjoy the movie Hot Fuzz will understand that I'm completely paranoid that this post has "angle" instead of "angel" somewhere in it. And that's a mistake that spell-check isn't going to find! But in all seriousness, this book is pretty amazing. I recommend checking it out if you're interested in undercover work or motorcycle gangs or just want an incredible peek into a world that's completely different from your own.

90. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

2010-06-30T07:26:00.001-07:00

I decided to read The Big Sleep a long time ago when I saw it on one of my lists of classics. My interest was peaked because I had a vague idea of what it was but I wasn't sure. This work is referenced in pop culture all the time -- I heard the name Philip Marlowe pop up on Veronica Mars once -- so I thought it would be cool to go to the source, as it were.

There was no book jacket copy to speak of and I couldn't write a plot summary of this book to save my life, so please kindly visit Wikipedia to read what The Big Sleep is about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Sleep

The Big Sleep is a great read. I loved the writing style and the dialogue and it was fun to read. But here's the thing: I had the hardest time trying to follow the plot. Even the plot summary on Wikipedia -- I can't wrap my mind around it. So after a few chapters of reading and re-reading paragraphs trying to make sure I was taking all the action in, I let go a little bit. I tried to just enjoy the ride and stop tracking the details. I don't really like it when this happens, but sometimes it does and you have to decide not to get frustrated and give up entirely. Like I said, I genuinely liked the writing style and the dialogue so I didn't want to throw the book aside and choose something else. So all in all, I did like this one but I don't think I'll be picking up any of the other Philip Marlowe books any time soon.

89. Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain

2010-06-29T19:18:00.001-07:00

I went to the library a few weeks ago with a list in hand. I was on a mission. As I walked down the C aisle of the Fiction section, looking for Capote and Chandler, Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain caught my eye and I stopped. I read Cain's first two novels, Heartsick and Sweetheart, a couple of years ago and really enjoyed them.

Fun fact: I noticed that Nathan Fillion's character was reading one of them on an episode of Castle, although I can't remember which one. Probably Sweetheart.

So even though I had already somewhat decided that I had read enough mysteries this year, I decided to check it out. I was really excited to see there was another book in this series -- the second book was good in part because of a twist from the first one that must have been part of the plan all along. I really appreciate when authors have a grand plan, rather than continuing on for continuing on's sake or in an obvious bid for another payday.

Please note: The review below does contain spoilers. Stop here if you want to read this series (and it's a good one) without prior knowledge.

Gretchen Lowell is still on the loose. These days, she's more of a cause celebre than a feared killer, thanks to sensationalist news coverage that has made her a star. Her face graces magazine covers weekly and there have been sightings of her around the world. Most shocking of all, Portland Herald reporter Susan Ward has uncovered a bizarre kind of fan club, which celebrates the numbers of days she's been free. Archie Sheridan hunted her for a decade, and after his last ploy to catch her went spectacularly wrong, remains hospitalized months later. When they last spoke, they entered a detente of sorts -- Archie agreed not to kill himself if she agreed not to kill anyone else. But when a new body is found accompanied by Gretchen's trademark heart, all bets are off and Archie is forced back into action. Has the Beauty Killer returned to her gruesome ways, or has the cult surrounding her created a whole new evil?

Plot summary taken from the book jacket.

As far as mystery premises go, this is a pretty good one. Gretchen, a notorious female serial killer, posed as a psychologist consulting with the very task force working to track her down. She and Archie, the lead detective, had an affair. And then she kidnapped and tortured him because, well... that's what she does. Now the task force knows who they're hunting, but their lead detective is in bad shape. That's some good stuff, right?

This was a good installment in the series; it held up well against the the first two. Some effed up things happen, but it is a thriller about a serial killer, so that's to be expected and it wasn't too over the top. I did pick up on a clue, so I felt pretty good about that. I liked the ending because Cain could return with another book but if she doesn't, it's still a satisfying ending to series.

I read up on Cain on Wikipedia and was interested to learn that she's from Portland, Oregon. I love my Portland-raised authors! Apparently she described the Green River Killer as the "boogeyman" of her youth. I do have a bone to pick with her, though. I didn't realize that she is also the author of Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody. I read that book awhile ago -- I was intrigued because I have a lot of nostalgia for my days of reading Nancy Drew. This "parody" was more like a mockery, though. I thought it would be written kindly, but I was really off-put by the condescending tone. I do not recommend it even one little bit. I hope Cain sticks to thrillers in the future.

88. Proof by David Auburn

2010-06-29T19:14:00.001-07:00

When the movie version of Proof came out, I somewhat wanted to see it. I love Jake Gyllenhaal and loved Gwyneth Paltrow at the time, which was before she became British and insufferable. Ultimately I thought the movie would be too sad, so I decided not to see it. I didn't think much of it until my friend Peter showed me the copy of the play that he found -- in perfect condition -- at a garage sale. He thought it might be fun to include a play in my reading project, which I thought was both smart and sweet.

We had kind of a long conversation about the book cover, by the way. Peter mentioned that he thought the woman on the cover resembled Mary-Louise Parker and I disagreed. I thought it looked more like Kristen Stewart -- most likely because of the sad expression. Miss Stewart is not all sunshine and rainbows, you know. We debated it for awhile, and I conceded that I could see why he thought it looked like MLP but the resemblance wasn't jumping out at me. I read over the back cover while we were talking about something else and noticed this line:

Cover photograph of Mary-Louise Parker in Proof by Jean-Marie Guyaux.

As it happens, MLP originated the role of Catherine. You learn something new every day.

On the eve of her twenty-fifth birthday, Catherine, a young woman who has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, Robert, must deal not only with his death but with the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire, and with the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father's who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that Robert left behind. As Catherine confronts Hal's affections and Claire's plans for her new life, she struggles to solve the most perplexing problem of all: How much of her father's madness -- or genius -- will she inherit?

Plot summary taken from the back cover.

I haven't read a play since I was in school, not that I can remember anyway. And even then, I don't know that I've read one that's left me speechless, as Proof did. I felt completely blown away, and just sat to digest it for a few minutes. It is, quite simply, brilliant. Smart and witty, sarcastic but heartfelt -- I don't know how Auburn did it. And I really don't know how he managed to craft such a pitch-perfect relationship between the two sisters. I have to go on record and state that neither of my sisters is like Claire, but the way that Catherine and Claire interact and the sense of the history between the two of them is just staggering. He got it just, absolutely, perfectly right. In general, I don't even know how to articulate a response to the play. l was amazed.

Colin brought home the DVD of Proof that I had been so reluctant to see. And no, it did not end up being too sad. It was a very well-executed adaptation and in particular, well-casted. I recommend seeing it if you haven't already but I think the experience of reading the play is more enjoyable.

87. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

2010-06-29T08:24:00.001-07:00

I have always loved the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's -- not necessarily for the story/plot but for the style, look and feel, lingo, etc. And Audrey Hepburn. She is the epitome of class and grace, and I just love her in the role of Holly Golightly. I actually own three copies of the movie: one on VHS, one on DVD, and one DVD in a box set with two other Audrey Hepburn movies. So when I was trying to think of books to read for the movie adaptation category and Colin suggested Breakfast at Tiffany's, it was a done deal.

When Breakfast at Tiffany's was first published in 1958, Time magazine described its heroine, Holly Golightly, as "the hottest kitten ever to hit the typewriter keys of Truman Capote. She's a cross between a grown-up Lolita and a teen-age Auntie Mame...alone and a little afraid in a lot of beds she never made." Of all his characters, Capote later said, Holly was his favorite, and it is easy to see why. This wacky hillbilly-turned-playgirl who lives in a Manhattan brownstone shares not only his philosophy of freedom and acceptance of human irregularities but also his fears and anxieties -- "the mean reds" she calls them. For her the cure is to jump into a taxi and head for Tiffany's; nothing bad could happen, she says, amid "that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets," and her dream is to have breakfast in that soothing setting. "Holly Golightly is outre, funny, touching -- and real," remarked The Atlantic.

This is from the book jacket. It's not a plot summary per se, but I think it's great.

Relief! I really loved it. I had heard somewhere that they had to change a lot to adapt the book into a film, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought it might be grittier. But it was actually a really faithful adaptation, I even recognized some of the dialogue. The changes they made worked for the new medium very well. They changed the ending but really had to -- the novella ending is probably more true to life, but the movie ending is more satisfying and people can walk away happy, it feels more like an ending.

Side note: I didn't like the use of the n word, but I have a feeling it was accurate for the time and place/context.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is the first book of Truman Capote's that I've read, and I'm not sure if I will read more of his work... all I really need to know about Capote, I think I do:

1. he wrote this novella

2. he was the basis for Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird

3. he was in Murder by Death

Although I bet a biography of his celebrity years would be full of dish... and I do love reading about the scandals of New York society. (I'm kidding a little bit -- I saw the movie Capote, which doesn't really make the case for his being a nice person, you know? I think that's why I would be hesitant to delve more into his work.)

And a final note: both the book and the movie can make you feel a bit sad about life, which I HATE, but I really like them more for feeling of the time, the glamour and clothes, and the lexicon, you know? I don't think that either will give you a case of the "mean reds," but consider yourself forewarned.

86. Summer Sisters by Judy Blume

2010-06-29T08:03:00.001-07:00

I consider Summer Sisters a recommendation from one of my Facebook friends. Technically, she mentioned in a status update that she was reading one of her favorite books after a bad day. Tenuous? Sure. But recommendations were a little harder to come by than I was expecting, and I was excited to read a Blume novel that was aimed at adults. There you go.

When Victoria Leonard answers the phone in her Manhattan office, Caitlin's voice catches her by surprise. Vix hasn't talked to her oldest friend in months. Caitlin's news takes her breath away -- and Vix is transported back in time, back to the moment she and Caitlin Somers first met, back to the casual betrayals and whispered confessions of their long, complicated friendship, back to the magical island where two friends became summer sisters. Caitlin dazzled Vix from the start, sweeping her into the heart of the unruly Somers family, into a world of privilege, adventure, and sexual daring. Vix's bond with her summer family forever reshapes her ties to her own, opening doors to opportunities she had never imagined -- until the summer she falls passionately in love. Then, in one shattering moment on a moonswept Vineyard beach, everything changes, exposing a dark undercurrent in her extraordinary friendship with Caitlin that will haunt them through the years. As their story carries us from Santa Fe to Martha's Vineyard, from New York to Venice, we come to know the men and women who shape their lives. And as we follow the two women on the paths they each choose, we wait for the inevitable reckoning to be made in the fine spaces between friendship and betrayal, between love and freedom.

Plot summary taken from the book jacket.

It was an enjoyable read, but here's the thing: Caitlin is a right little bitch. I can't really mince words on this one. All of the "casual betrayals" mentioned in the copy above are things that Caitlin has done to Vix, none are the other way around. I don't really understand the friendship between the two, but I suppose that Vix's relationship with the Somers family is the reason that they never completely lost touch. We get peeps into other characters' points of view at the end of each chapter, which worked well for the most part and rounded out the story. The one person we don't hear from? It's no coincidence that it's Caitlin. I think I'm just past the point of finding someone like Caitlin to be mysterious or romantic or intriguing. She's damaged and she hurts people. Period. That shouldn't "dazzle" people.

Whew. Can you tell I felt strongly about that? Now that I've got it off my chest, I want to reiterate that Summer Sisters is an enjoyable read. It's great for a beach read or a lazy Saturday afternoon. I love Judy Blume and you can definitely see her in this book. It's not going to end up being one of my favorites, but that's fine. I still had a good time reading it.

85. My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D

2010-06-29T07:38:00.001-07:00

I saw My Stroke of Insight on my mom's book shelf forever ago, and thought it looked really interesting. It's been sitting on my coffee table for months now, so I figured it was high time I got started reading.

On the morning of December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist, experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain. A neuroanatomist by profession, she observed her own mind completely deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life, all within the space of four brief hours. As the damaged left side of her brain -- the rational, grounded, detail- and time-oriented side -- swung in and out of function, Taylor alternated between two distinct and opposite realities: the euphoric nirvana of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace, and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized Jill was having a stroke and enabled her to seek help before she was lost completely.

In My Stroke of Insight, Taylor shares her unique perspective on the brain and its capacity for recovery, and the sense of omniscient understanding she gained from this unusual and inspiring voyage out of the abyss of a wounded brain. It would take eight years for Taylor to heal completely. Because of her knowledge of how the brain works, her respect for the cells composing her human form, and most of all an amazing mother, Taylor completely repaired her mind and recalibrated her understanding of the world according to the insights gained from her right brain that morning of December 10th.

Today Taylor is convinced that the stroke was the best thing that could have happened to her. It has taught her that the feeling of nirvana is never more than a mere thought away. By stepping to the right of our left brains, we can all uncover the feelings of well-being and peace that are so often sidelined by our own brain chatter. A fascinating journey into the mechanics of the human mind, My Stroke of Insight is both a valuable recovery guide for anyone touched by a brain injury and an emotionally stirring testimony that deep internal peace truly is accessible to anyone at any time.

Summary taken from the book jacket.

Okay, once I started re-reading the book jacket to type up the summary, I got a little nervous. The book was sounding a little touchy-feely and almost like a how-to -- did I really want to read about how to access a part of my brain to achieve nirvana? Also, one of my relatives suffered from an aneurysm when I was eleven years old. Did I really want to know what she might have been going through before she got medical attention? I had to force myself to continue on, and remember that this did sound interesting and I should give it a chance.

My first reaction is that the science of the brain is a little beyond me. Taylor includes a section of background information, so that you can better understand how she writes about the stroke and her recovery. I gave it an honest effort, but after a few pages it was clear that I wasn't taking anything away from it. And she was dumbing it down! Sigh. It's just not my area.

Also, Taylor is a little... well, I would say hippie-dippie, but that's a little mean. I'm just not the type to walk around a park with my guitar and sing. So I had a hard time relating to her because we didn't have much in common.

However, this book was as interesting as I expected. Although it was nerve-wracking, reading about the experience of having a stroke was valuable to me. And the wisdom that Taylor imparts about how to interact with someone recovering from a stroke is priceless. You can be sure that I will pick up a copy for myself should I ever need a refresher.

84. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

2010-06-29T07:21:00.001-07:00

If you read this and this, you already know how much I was looking forward to reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Please note that this post has to be spoiler-free because Colin just started reading the second book in the trilogy.

Lisbeth Salander -- the heart of Larsson's two previous novels -- lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish hospital. She's fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers, she'll be taken back to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With the help of her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those in authority who have allowed the vulnerable, like herself, to suffer abuse and violence. And, on her own, she will plot revenge -- against the man who tried to kill her, and the corrupt government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life. One upon a time, she was a victim. Now Salander is fighting back.

Plot summary taken from the book jacket.

I read this book on the way home from North Carolina; I started it at around 7:00 a.m. and finished it as we drove into Delaware, Ohio (my college town!). Those nine or so hours went by really quickly.

Sigh. I am so sad this series is over! It's satisfying at the end, but I can see threads and characters that I know would be revisited and expanded upon later. I like the evolution of Blomkvist and Salander's friendship and would have liked to see where it progressed further. I just want to keep visiting this world, you know?

There's not much else I can write about and remain spoiler-free... Oh, Colin and I watched the Swedish film adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo the other night, and it was pretty good. I hear Daniel Craig is going to play Blomkvist in the American version, which would be fine. I think George Clooney could handle it, though. Just sayin.'

83. The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second by Drew Ferguson

2010-06-25T09:06:00.001-07:00

This book is another loan from Jeff, he threw it on the pile along with A Density of Souls when getting together the books I asked to borrow (including Vanna Speaks, for which I cannot thank him enough).

Being Charles James Stewart, Jr., AKA Charlie the Second, means never "fitting in." Tall, gangly and big-eared, he could be a poster boy for teenage geeks. An embarrassment to his parents (he's not too crazy about them, either), Charlie is a virtual untouchable at his high school, where humiliation is practically an extracurricular activity. Charlie has tried to fit in, but all of his efforts fail on a glorious, monumental scale. He plays soccer -- mainly to escape his home life -- but isn't accepted by his teammates who basically ignore him on the field. He still confuses the accelerator with the brake pedal and has failed his driving exam six times. He can't work on his college essay without writing a searing tell-all. But what's freaking Charlie out the most is that while his hormones are raging and his peers are pairing off, he remains alone with his fantasies. But all of this is about to change when a new guy at school begins to liven things up on the soccer team -- and in Charlie's life. For the first time in his seventeen years, Charlie will learn how it feels to be a star, well, at least off the field. But Charlie discovers that even cool guys have problems as he embarks on an unforgettable, risk-filled journey from which there is no turning back.

Plot summary taken from the back cover of the paperback.

I read The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second while we were in North Carolina for Mollie's wedding. We had a little more downtime than I was expecting, which was really nice, and I think I finished it the day before we left. I liked a lot, it's very funny. I especially liked Bink's mom with her examples of famous people that Charlie should emulate or use as inspiration -- her descriptions of them always started out well but ended tragically, with her supposing that maybe Charlie shouldn't look up to them after all. Ah, the best of intentions.

The format of the book is like a journal -- Charlie is attempting to write a college application essay, and his writing is basically the attempt to do so. I was impressed at how he grew over the course of the story and gained understanding of himself and some of the people around him; and the evolution of the college essay was a great way to show that. It's an interesting narrative device -- he's writing with hindsight about events that have happened, in extreme first person. I found myself wondering how the book would have been different if written in another format.

If you read my Sugarless review, you know how I feel about boys -- they're gross. Charlie is no exception. I felt a bit squeamish at parts, but nothing that made me want to stop reading. Oh, and in case you were wondering, here's how you can tell that I'm old: Sometimes, or a lot of the time, I find myself sympathizing more with the parents than with the teenagers. Charlie was frequently sarcastic with his parents, reacting to their questions about whether he started his homework as if being personally attacked. And so his dad was overprotective -- there are worse things than that! Buck up, kiddo!

82. A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice

2010-06-24T08:57:00.001-07:00

A Density of Souls is another book on loan from my friend Jeff. He highly recommended it, noting that he's read it eight times (and cried each one) and very much enjoys the frequent use of the word "portico."

The story of four young friends in New Orleans whose lives are pulled in drastically different directions when they enter high school. Meredith, Brandon, Stephen, and Greg, once inseparable, are torn apart by envy, secret passion, and rage. Soon two violent deaths disrupt the core of what they once shared. Five years later the friends are reunited, and, when one of the deaths is discovered to be a murder, secrets unravel and the casual cruelties of high school develop into acts of violence that threaten an entire city.

Summary lifted from the book jacket. Sounds good, yeah?

I read this book during the 12-hour drive to North Carolina for my sister's wedding, which was lovely, thank you for asking. Colin and I were really tired this day, we basically had no sleep the night before, but we actually had a lot of fun driving together. By the time we got into West Virginia, though, I couldn't wait any longer to read this book. (And Colin had the iPod hooked up to listen to, anyway.) That book jacket copy is really intriguing -- I thought it would be kind of delightfully soapy based on that.

A Density of Souls is much more serious and heartfelt than I was expecting. I finished it around when we got into North Carolina, and felt like I just needed to sit and think about it for a bit. It wasn't easy to move on from. The "casual cruelties of high school" is definitely an understatement. Nothing that I went through during my teen years even comes close to what these characters put others -- and themselves -- through. So much pain could have been avoided if they could just forget about their little society's expectations, and accept and embrace others -- and themselves -- for who they really are. The pain and suffering is just wasteful, there's no need for it. But that's somewhat of a simplification of the issues.

If nothing else, reading this book reaffirms my belief that it truly, genuinely matters how you treat people. Don't downplay the effects that a "casual cruelty" can have on someone. If you need a reminder, start with reading A Density of Souls.

Oh, and I did not notice an overuse of the word "portico."

81. Vanna Speaks by Vanna White

2010-06-23T13:19:00.001-07:00

I remember my friend Jeff telling me ages ago how good Vanna Speaks was. He kindly lent me a few books to read, and I made sure this was one of them.

At last, VANNA SPEAKS...and tells her fabulous story. You'll meet a celebrity it's impossible not to love...the girl-next-door who fantasized about being famous -- and worked to make it happen...the young model in Atlanta setting out in a rented U-Haul to see her fortune in Hollywood...the struggling starlet falling in love, surviving heart-breaking tragedy, and getting both lucky and tough breaks...and finally, the glamorous star, who after a decade of hard work, achieved "overnight success" and national fame on Wheel of Fortune. Sweet, sexy, candid and always herself, here is the real Vanna -- and the inspiring story of her breathtaking dream come true.

Summary taken from the back cover of the paperback published in (hold on to your hats) 1987. Have you ever seen so many ellipses in your life?

Can I just start out by saying that this book is fabulous? There are so many elements of the ridiculous! I love how unintentionally hilarious Vanna is. She starts out the book with her morning routine, includes her favorite afghan pattern and has an entire chapter on the inner workings of Wheel of Fortune, including answers to her top ten most frequently asked questions. And her cats are (or at this point were, I guess) named Rhett and Ashley -- and she claims that this is not after Gone With the Wind. Wowza. I love it.

Although Vanna has been dealt some tough breaks, namely the untimely deaths of her mother and boyfriend, she seems to have had an overall pretty vanilla, charmed, Norman Rockwell-esque existence. I think she's pretty anxious to downplay that; she's very insistent about the fact that hers was not an overnight success but rather took years of struggle. At one point, she describes feeling particularly low and not taking care of herself physically:

"At that rate it didn't take me very long to balloon up to over 130 pounds, between 20 and 25 pounds above my ideal weight."

Please keep in mind that Vanna is only 5'6". This is only about an inch taller than me and I hover between 130 and 135 lbs. Next time you see me, take stock and let me know if I should lose 20 to 25 pounds to achieve my ideal weight. Sigh. I may have cussed a little when I reached this point of the book. I mean, really.

But I can't stay mad at Vanna, because she goes to say stuff like this:

"Being on the show has also presented me with opportunities to do things that I'd never dreamed I'd do, like hula-hooping on national television."

Oh, Vanna. I'm very glad that you have finally spoken.

80. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

2010-06-23T12:22:00.001-07:00

Not to sound too much like a twittering tween or anything, but here is what I wrote in my notes about why I wanted to read The Girl Who Played With Fire:

l-o-v-e The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, totes excited to read the next two!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I'm funny.)

Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government. But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander -- the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played With Fire. As Blomkvist, alone in his belief of Salander's innocence, plunges into an investigation of the slayings, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to visit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all.

Plot summary lifted from the book jacket.

This book is similar to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but definitely set apart enough so it's not a retread. I can't even explain how masterfully Larsson interweaves the subplots and drops clues and hints. I caught on to a couple of things, but didn't figure anything out (which I didn't mind). I was extremely interested to delve more into Salander's past, and the book does not disappoint. I've read that the character Salander is somewhat inspired by Pippi Longstocking, but I was a little surprised to see the reference made in the book. Completely works, though. Honestly, I'm not going to wax too poetic about this one, even though I could go on for days. I'm too behind in my posting and too close to the deadline to spend hours and paragraphs saying what basically boils down to this one thing: this is a great f#@*ing read and you should definitely check out this trilogy.

79. Never Tell Our Business to Strangers by Jennifer Mascia

2010-06-23T08:51:00.001-07:00

I read about Never Tell Our Business to Strangers in People magazine, and was immediately intrigued. Reading The Godfather whetted my appetite for more mafia-related books, and I really liked the title and the cover. It took forever to get through the waiting list at the library, so I was pretty happy when I finally got it.

When Jennifer Mascia is five years old, the FBI comes for her father. At that moment Jenny realizes that her family isn't exactly normal. What follows are months of confusion marked by visits with her father through thick glass, talking to him over a telephone attached to the wall. She and her mother crisscross the country, from California to New York to Miami and back again. When her father finally returns home, months later, his absence is never explained -- and Jenny is told that the family has a new last name. It's only much later that Jenny discovers that theirs was life spent on the lam, trying to outrun the law.

Thus begins the story of Jennifer Mascia's bizarre but strangely magical childhood. An only child, she revels in her parents' intense love for her -- and rides the highs and lows of their equally passionate arguments. They are a tight-knit band, never allowing many outsiders in. And then there are the oddities that Jenny notices only as she gets older: the fact that her father had two names before he went away -- in public he was Frank, but at home her mother called him Johnny; the neat, hidden hole in the carpet where her parents keep all their cash. The family sees wild swings in wealth -- one year they're shopping for Chanel and Louis Vuitton at posh shopping centers in Los Angeles, the next they're living in one room and subsisting on food stamps.

What have her parents done? What was the reason for her father's incarceration so many years ago? When Jenny, at twenty-two, uncovers her father's criminal record during an Internet search, still more questions are raised. By then he is dying of cancer, so she presses her mother for answers, eliciting the first in a series of reluctant admissions about her father's criminal past. Before her mother dies, four years later, Jenny is made privy to one final, riveting confession, which sets her on a search for the truth her mother fought to conceal for so many years. As Jenny unravels her family's dark secrets, she must confront the grisly legacy she has inherited and the hard truth that her parents are not -- and never have been -- what they claimed to be.

Summary lifted from the book jacket. I typed it up, and it took forever.

It took awhile to settle into Mascia's writing style; it seemed over-written or over-dramatic or just over-something. The book eventually drew me in, but took its sweet time in doing so. I ultimately didn't connect to it in the way that I expected, so the experience was disappointing.

First off, we're supposed to know that her parents loved intensely and fought intensely. All I could feel was the fighting, I didn't get as strong a sense of the love. That just didn't come across as successfully.

Secondly, this isn't my world and I don't want it to be, so it was hard to settle into the book for that reason as well. My dad never kicked me in the shins for talking back to my mom, you know? There was no "busting" of credit cards in our house (to my knowledge). So much of Mascia's childhood is just unpleasant to read about, rather than interesting.

And finally, so much of the book is about the parents dying of cancer -- the two separate prolonged illnesses and deaths feature prominently and it is so sad. I was expecting to read more about her digging to find out about their past, and that's really a very small part of the book.

As I read, I kept wondering where the expression "on the lam" comes from anyway. What does it MEAN? As usual, Wikipedia was the fastest answer (even though -- I know, I know -- it's not always the most reputable).

78. Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

2010-06-22T15:28:00.001-07:00

Colin was so looking forward to the movie version of Fantastic Mr. Fox that he went to see in the theater. Alone. For whatever reason, it really wasn't on my radar. But Colin loved it, so when he brought home the DVD I sat down to watch it with him. I realized that I had never read the book -- we always had a lot of Roald Dahl books around my house, because my sister Annie loved them, but I don't remember this one. So I checked the library and was happy to learn that they had a copy waiting for me.

IN THIS BOOK YOU WILL FIND:

BOGGIS

An enormously fat man, a chicken farmer...and a mean man.

BUNCE

A pot-bellied dwarf, a duck-and-goose farmer...and a nasty man.

BEAN

A thin man, a turkey-and-apple farmer...and a beastly man.

BADGER

The most respectable and well-behaved animal in the district.

RAT

A rude creature and a drunkard.

MRS. FOX AND HER FOUR SMALL CHILDREN

A fine family.

and

MR. FOX

Our hero, a fantastic fellow.

If you're three years old or more you'll love this extraordinary adventure story, Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Plot summary lifted from the book jacket.

This book is really good! I liked it so much! I definitely want to have a copy to read to any future sons, daughters, nieces and nephews. Fantastic Mr. Fox is a really charming kids' story that adults will still enjoy (as I did). They made some significant changes when adapting the book, which I understand as necessary. The book is pretty slender, and a movie version needed more character development and background information. I think the movie works really well on a more adult level. Even with the changes and Wes Anderson's stamp all over the movie, it has the same tone and irreverence that the book has. Anderson complements Dahl's work beautifully and I have to believe that Dahl would be pleased with this adaptation. One thing that I really liked in the movie was the cussing -- every time a character would cuss, they literally said "cuss" instead of ... you know. Certain other four-letter words. The wit and charm really won me over, both the book and the movie. Definitely check out both!

77. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

2010-06-22T15:10:00.001-07:00

After I decided to split up the sci-fi and fantasy categories for the project (thanks to Annie for the suggestion!), I needed some help figuring out what to read for each. Armed with e-mailed recommendations, I sat down with Colin and my dad. We talked a lot about the difference between the genres and each of the recommendations that I got. They both mentioned that The Hobbit was funny, so I made sure to add it to the list of definites. I had a serious mental block about reading it for the longest time, though. I remember thinking that it would probably be boring and I wouldn't like it, so I kept putting off reading it. One night when Colin was at work, I decided enough was enough. I sat down to read it and finished it that same night.

Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit who wanted to be left alone in quiet comfort. But the wizard Gandalf came along with a band of homeless dwarves. Soon Bilbo was drawn into their quest facing evil orcs, savage wolves, giant spiders, and worse unknown dangers. [Side note: what could be worse than giant spider?] Finally, it was Bilbo -- alone and unaided -- who had to confront the great dragon Smaug, the terror of an entire countryside!

Plot summary lifted from the book jacket.

Sometimes it's good to have low expectations. I was dreading reading this book so much, and for so long, that it greatly exceeded my expectations and ended up being a pretty good experience. The writing style is more readable than I thought it would be (me and my preconceived notions about classics!), but not as readable as I would have liked; the saving grace was that it's fairly well-paced. I did enjoy the humor, especially how "Escaping goblins to be caught by wolves!" becoming a proverb along the lines of "out of the frying pan and into the fire." Here's the however: I don't feel like I got as much out of it as someone else would, it was a more superficial enjoyment. So while I liked The Hobbit, I didn't love it and I don't think that I'll be re-reading it any time soon.

Just for fun, here's what I wrote down during the giant spiders scene:

SPIDERS NO AWFUL I HATE THIS I HATE THIS I HATE THIS SO MUCH WORSE THAN ANYTHING ELSE EVER CREATED AWFUL AWFUL HEEBIE JEEBIES

(Hee-hee.)

76. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

2010-06-22T10:28:00.001-07:00

I wanted to read The Age of Innocence as one of my classics because I had a vague idea of the plot and it sounded interesting. I always like reading about New York City society and its rules and regulations. For some reason, this setting always gets me -- whether it's Gossip Girl or The Age of Innocence, I'll try it.

The rustle of silk, the glitter of diamonds -- here is New York society in all of its Gilded Age splendor. May Welland is pure and delicate, a vision of young American womanhood. Her fiancé Newland Archer is a dashing and wealthy young man. All of New York is abuzz with this perfect match. And then, into the midst of this very dignified and decorated world, the mysterious Countess Olenska, a scandalous divorcee, makes her entrance. Archer, upon his first sight of the beautiful Countess, is thrown into a whirlwind of passion and doubt over the woman in his life. Bowing to society's power nonetheless, Archer marries May, but the Countess never leaves his innermost heart. Highlighting the problematic nature of one of America's most glamorous eras, this is a human drama full of the lofty dreams of which society approves and dark desires that may never be brought into the light of day.

Pot summary taken from DailyLit.com.

This is the second time that I've tried the site Daily Lit.com. You can read about the first time here. It was a little smoother this time -- I preferred subscribing via e-mail because it was easier to request the next installment immediately. This is my fundamental problem with subscribing, though -- I can't read a little bit at a time. Especially when I'm enjoying something or if it's difficult to keep track of the characters. I prefer to read more at one time, which is why I don't think DailyLit is right for me. At least I tried it. I finally downloaded the book for Kindle on PC (for free!), re-read what I had read sporadically via e-mail, and finished it. It seemed like I was reading this one for forever!

As I think I've said in most of my classics posts, this book was surprisingly readable. Maybe I just have bad memories of English classes? I always expect "classics" to be boring or difficult to follow. Definitely not always the case! Although I had a hard time keeping everyone straight -- unlike with Pride & Prejudice, the Wikipedia entry only helped so much because in the book characters are referred to in different ways, not always their full names, and there are multiple generations, so there's more than one Mrs. So-and-So, etc. I really needed a Mingott family tree. I started taking notes on the family members, so I could keep track of them, but reading them over now I have to say the notes are pretty pathetic:

old Mrs. Manson Mingott

her daughter-in-law Mrs. Lovell Mingott and her daughter Mrs. Welland = sisters-in-law

mentioned two daughters, one married or Italian marquis and one married to English banker, they don't visit...

Medora Manson - Ellen's eccentric aunt who raises her after she's orphaned -- was Medora married to the Italian??

her daughter May Welland

(I gave up after a while.)

This is not to say that I didn't enjoy the book. I did! This story isn't really about what happens, per se, but Archer's observation of his world and how it changes after he meets Ellen. Some people may find it slow-moving or boring for this reason, but I didn't. The writing is well-paced and kept me turning the pages (or clicking through to the next screen, rather). I have to say that I don't feel sorry for May in that way that I expected to -- I think Little Miss Innocent knew the score and could take care of herself. I feel more empathy for Archer and Ellen. I'd be hard-pressed to expand on that very much, I just remember thinking about that when I was (finally) done reading.

I was curious to see how a movie adaptation would work -- so much of the story takes place inside Archer's head. It's not like he even had a confidant, really, to discuss things with. So I had Colin rent the movie for me and immediately saw how they solved for that problem -- a narrator. So simple! I'm not sure why I didn't think of that. I don't have much to say about the movie, except that Mrs. Mingott had three pomeranians. Love.

At some point, I'm going to read another of Wharton's novels, The House of Mirth, because according to the Wikipedia entry (linked to above), "Wharton considered this novel [The Age of Innocence] an 'apology' for her earlier, more brutal and critical novel, The House of Mirth." It's true that The Age of Innocence is pretty soft in its judgment of society, so I'm intrigued to read the brutal criticism of it in The House of Mirth.

I'm going to wrap this one up with some quotes that stood out to me while reading:

"Yet there was a time when Archer had definite and rather aggressive opinions on all such problems, and when everything concerning the manners and customs of his little tribe had seemed to him fraught with world-wide significance."

(this is after noticing that Lefferts was watching for violations of protocol at the wedding and recalling the argument over showing the wedding gifts at the breakfast that ended after Mrs. Welland cried and said she would just as soon turn reporters loose in the house)

Archer then reflects:

"And all the while, I suppose," he thought, "real people were living somewhere, and real things happening to them..."

"There was no use in trying to emancipate a wife who had not the dimmest notion that she was not free."

(during their honeymoon, as Archer gets to know his wife, he relaxes into his old attitudes toward marriage)

"...he was struck again by the religious reverence of even the most unworldly American women for the social advantages of dress."

he comes to think of it as armor, defense and defiance of the unknown

"It surprised him that life should be going on in the old way when his own reactions to it had so completely changed."

"His whole future seemed suddenly to be unrolled before him; and passing down its endless emptiness he saw the dwindling figure of a man to whom nothing was ever to happen."

75. Three Junes by Julia Glass

2010-05-31T12:52:00.001-07:00

After reading my reaction post about Ursula, Under, my friend Jeff recommended that I also read Three Junes, swearing up and down that I would love it. I added it to my list and then forgot about it completely for a few months. I checked it out of the library and began reading it after I finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. There was really no book jacket copy to speak of (see below), so I really didn't know what I was getting into.

A luminous first novel, set in Greece, Scotland, Greenwich Village, and Long Island, that traces the members of a Scottish family as they confront the joys and longings, fulfillments and betrayals of love in all its guises.

Summary lifted from the book jacket. (See what I mean?)

I read the first two chapters and it took forever to figure out what was going on. I had a really hard time getting into it. The book is in three sections, each devoted the month of June in different years. The whole of the book is about Fenno, the oldest son in a Scottish family. The first June is told from his father's point of view and lays the groundwork, setting the stage for the rest of the book. This first part was basically easing into the book and getting my bearings. The second June, told from Fenno's point of view, I really loved. I got used to and really enjoyed the cross-cutting between the past and the present, and how the past informs the present. I was a little confused when the third June began, because it was told from the point of view of someone on the periphery of Fenno's world who briefly meets him. I couldn't wrap my mind around why we should see what happens to Fenno in such a roundabout way.

Ultimately, this story was more about the journey than the destination. It wasn't so much about what happens, as the characters, how they relate to each other, and what they learn from each other. It was good, but I don't think I was in the right mood for it. After The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I was all about what is going to happen and the action but that really wasn't the point of Three Junes. It was like the right book at the wrong time. I do recommend you read this one, it's very well written, but maybe read a longer plot summary first.

74. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

2010-05-31T07:47:00.001-07:00

I heard about this series of books, but ruled it out for some reason for that I can't recall. Colin checked out The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo from the library and hadn't started it yet (and I was avoiding the other books I had lined up), so one night I decided to start it to see if it was interesting.

Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into a complex and atmospheric novel. Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hired Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of iniquity and corruption.

Summary lifted from the book jacket.

The first couple of chapters, with Blomkvist's backstory about the libel trial, are kind of boring and hard to get into. After that, it draws you in pretty rapidly, but that beginning pays off -- you're given lots and lots of info and it all pays off in one way or another; in this book, take nothing for granted. The mystery was completely engrossing and I liked all of the subplots as well because they added to story rather than diluting or detracting from it. I didn't solve the mystery myself, I was as in the dark as the characters were and that was fine with me. But when Colin read it, he kept theorizing aloud to me and I had to keep the best poker face possible because he kept picking up on all the right clues! He was reading in the bedroom one night while I was watching The Real Housewives of New York (Team Bethenny!) in the living room, and he came out to tell me what he thought happened to Harriet and he was right, and I just had to freeze my face so as not to give anything away. I don't know how he did it. He's so savvy.

The original Swedish title translates to "Men Who Hate Women" and that should give you an idea of what to expect. I didn't know going in that there would be such graphic scenes of violence against women, but it's necessary for the story that Larsson is telling and it's not gratuitous. These scenes are so well-written that I felt ill reading one. But Larsson is writing about things he is passionate about -- the devastating effects of such attitudes and violence (as well as integrity in journalism and the dangers of the right-wing Nazi movement). I read about Larsson on Wikipedia, and noted the many similarities between him and Blomkvist. I came away with a lot respect for him, and genuine sadness that his life ended so early.

73. Watchlist based on an idea by Jeffery Deaver

2010-05-31T06:50:00.001-07:00

I read about this book somewhere and thought it sounded really cool. But I got a little nervous once I got Watchlist home from the library -- I always get excited about stuff like this and then I don't like it (case in point: Portland Noir). So I put off reading it for awhile but once I started it, I couldn't put it down!

From the International Thriller Writers, comes Watchlist: two powerful novellas featuring the same thrilling cast of characters in one major suspenseful package. The Chopin Manuscript and The Copper Bracelet are collaborations of some of the world's greatest thriller writers, including Lee Child, Joseph Finder, Lisa Scottoline, and Jeffery Deaver, who conceived the characters and set the plots in motion. The other authors each wrote a chapter and Deaver then completed what he started, bringing both novellas to their startling conclusions.

In the first novella, The Chopin Manuscript, former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton possesses a previously unknown score by Frederic Chopin. But he is unaware that, locked within its handwritten notes, lies a secret that now threatens the lives of thousands of Americans. As he races from Poland to America to uncover the mystery of the manuscript, Middleton will be accused of murder, pursued by federal agents, and targeted by assassins. But the greatest threat will come from a shadowy figure from his past: the man known only as Faust.

Harold Middleton returns in The Copper Bracelet -- the explosive sequel to The Chopin Manuscript -- as he's drawn into an international terror plot that threatens to send India and Pakistan into full-scale nuclear war. Careening from Nice to London and Moscow to Kashmir to prevent nuclear disaster, Middleton is unaware that his prey has changed and that the act of terror is far more diabolical than he knows. Will he discover the identity of the Scorpion in time to halt an event that will pit the United States, China, and Russia against each other at the brink of World War III?

Summary taken from watchlistbook.com. It took a really long time to type. I wish Colin were here to type for me.

I really enjoyed reading Watchlist. It exceeded all of my expectations. The mysteries each had a solid, thorough backstory and well-developed characters. Switching authors kept the pace way up, and made for a fun read. The only disappointment I felt was a result of the typos I found. More than once, the quotes that indicate who is speaking were misplaced, making for some confusion. Also, I noted a who's instead of whose and a premier instead of premiere. I know that typos happen, but come on. I would think that a book of chapters by alternating authors would require a single, talented editor. (And I think that I would be right!) All in all, it didn't affect my enjoyment of the book. And I noted the names of several authors, so I can check out their other work. If you like suspense and mystery, this book is definitely worth checking out!

72. The Wedding Girl by Madeleine Wickham

2010-05-31T06:18:00.001-07:00

Madeleine Wickham is also known as Sophie Kinsella and as I said in my Twenties Girl post, "Sophie Kinsella knows from chick lit, and I will give anything she writes a chance. Although her characters can be a little zany and hijinks usually ensue (hello, Shopaholic series), her books are still well-constructed and just plain fun. I may roll my eyes a few times, but I like being along for the ride." I've been involved in wedding planning for almost two years now, because of my sisters' weddings spaced a year apart, so I was especially interested to read a chick lit book entitled The Wedding Girl. Please note: Some spoilers are included below but I don't think they would affect your enjoyment of the book, should you read it.

At the age of eighteen, in that first golden Oxford summer, Milly was up for anything. Now, ten years later, she is a very different person. Engaged to a man who is wealthy, serious, and believes her to be perfect, she is facing the biggest and most elaborate wedding imaginable. But one small episode from the past has the power to completely derail her her carefully planned nuptials. Milly has locked away this history so securely that she has almost persuaded herself it doesn't exist -- until, with only four days to go, her secret catches up with her... And when "I do" gives you deja vu, it could be a problem.

Summary lifted from the book jacket.

Let's start with good news. Wickham is growing as an author and trying new things, which I admire. This is the first of her books that I can recall using different points of view, and it worked very well. Instead of staying inside Milly's head the whole time, we experience events with her family members, fiance, etc., and most of the characters are pretty well-developed. I enjoyed that aspect very much. Also, like Twenties Girl, it was a bit weightier than expected. I wouldn't have been disappointed with a frothy, bubbly, unsubstantial chick lit book, but there are some more serious issues lying beneath the surface. I admire Wickham's ability to combine the froth with the substantial.

Okay, onto the not-so-good news. Milly is not as well-developed a character as I would hope for. She's your standard zany heroine, which is fine, but I don't understand her motivations. As a teenager, she marries an American gay friend so he can stay in England to be with his boyfriend. That I actually understand, her feelings are explained pretty well. But after she loses touch with them, she starts practicing denial to an insane degree. How does it not occur to her until the week of her wedding ten years later that this -- you know, ALREADY BEING MARRIED -- might be a problem? And she starts to hope that her husband of convenience has filed for divorce and somehow she wasn't notified. What? Also, her relationship with her fiance is never explained to my satisfaction. When she meets him, she speaks intelligently about a subject that she knows about basically by chance. So he gets an impression of her as more intellectual and upper-crust than she really is. And Milly just goes with it. And she's planning on just being someone she's not, you know, forever. Why? Why does she even love the guy? I don't know. There were a few other loose ends; the villain of the story is kind of cartoonish and I don't understand the motivations there either, and I was expecting more of a resolution between the fiance and his father, who have a troubled relationship but end the story on good terms somewhat suddenly.

And of course there had to be a simple solution to the main conflict because life always works out that way. Actually, that didn't bother me too much. It worked for the story, I guess. All in all, it's a fun read and I like seeing how Wickham develops as an author from one book to the next. But this isn't her best work, and there are better chick lit reads out there.

Progress report.

2010-05-29T17:53:00.000-07:00

My year of reading dangerously will be winding down to a close fairly soon, so I thought it was time for a progress report. Since July 4, 2009 I have read 79 books, posted 71 reviews, and been consistently behind the ideal pace of two books read per week. If all were going to plan, I would be sitting pretty at rate of 90 books read and 89 posts up, with ten books to go at my leisure. Alas. This is not to say that all is lost -- I have more than a month left to reach my original goal, and I intend to hit it. Or at least make a darn good effort. I went through my spreadsheets and made a plan to see me through. And as you can see in the photo above, I have a couple of books lying around to read. So if you need me, I'll be curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee, Monty and a cat or two, and a good book.

71. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

2010-05-26T15:15:00.001-07:00

I checked this book out of the library after reading this on my friend Sarah's Facebook page:

Currently in love with "The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks" by E. Lockhart. Seriously. Read it in 4 hours on Saturday evening. You all must read so we can discuss! LOVE IT!

How could I resist?

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:
Debate Club.
Her father's "Bunny Rabbit."
A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:
A knockout figure.
A sharp tongue.
A chip on her shoulder.
And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.

Frankie Landau-Banks:
No longer the kind of girl to take "no" for an answer.
Especially when "no" means she's excluded from her boyfriend's all-male secret society.
Not when her ex-boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.
Not when she knows she's smarter than any of them.
When she knows Matthew is lying to her.
And when there are so many, many pranks to be done.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 16:
Possibly a criminal mastermind.

This is the story of how she got that way.

Plot summary lifted from the book jacket. Intriguing, no?

It was so good! I love The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks! I also read it in one night, I couldn't put it down. For some reason, I'm always into stories set at boarding schools and I think there's usually potential for awesomeness when a secret society is involved. So this book was a good fit for me to begin with, and it was so clever and quick-witted that it completely won me over, hands down. I have great love and respect for Frankie, and would like to see more protagonists like her in YA fiction. (As much as I like Twilight, Frankie wipes the floor with Bella in the role model category.) I really enjoyed her fascination with words -- she's not only clever, but fun as hell. And while her ideas are so radical to the other characters in the book, they made complete sense to me (as I suspect they would to most young women). If you are a fan of YA novels in any way, shape or form, PLEASE read this book! I can almost guarantee that you will love it as much as I did.

70. I, Alex Cross by James Patterson

2010-05-26T14:35:00.001-07:00

I don't remember checking this book out of the library, but I have a feeling that I wanted a fun, light read to mix in with the rest of that week's books. Reading so many James Pattersons this year (actually, I think this is the third, so it's not "so many") isn't really following the spirit of the project, but I'm trying to give myself a break. Even though I want to try new things and challenge myself, that doesn't mean I have to give up what I already like.

THE BEST - AND SCARIEST! - ALEX CROSS NOVEL SINCE ALONG CAME A SPIDER

YOU CAN'T RUN
Detective Alex Cross is pulled out of a family celebration and given the awful news that a beloved relative has been found brutally murdered. ALex vows to hunt down her killer, and soon learns that she was mixed up in one of Washington's wildest scenes. And she was not this killer's only victim.

YOU CAN'T HIDE
The hunt for the murderer leads Alex and his girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, to a place where every fantasy is possible, if you have the credentials to get in. Alex and Bree are soon facing down some very important, very protected, very dangerous people in levels of society where only one thing is certain - they will do anything to keep their secrets safe.

ALEX CROSS IS YOUR ONLY HOPE TO STAY ALIVE
As Alex closes in on the killer, he discovers evidence that points to the unimaginable - a revelation that could rock the entire world. With the unstoppable action, unforeseeable twists, and edge-of-your-seat excitement that only a James Patterson thriller delivers, I, Alex Cross is the master of suspense at his sharpest and best.

Summary lifted from the book jacket. Colin typed it up for me because he can't stand my hunt-and-peck typing. You can always tell which of us has typed it because he uses a single hyphen for a dash whereas I prefer the double hyphen. Obviously, neither one of us knows how to create an actual dash in Blogger.

This is a good installment in the Alex Cross series; it's a solid thriller with a great twist. Patterson is nothing if not dependable for a few hours' enjoyment. However, the "beloved relative" is not someone familiar to audiences. This doesn't make the death any less tragic, but I hate it when the book jacket copy is misleading. Also, the violent crimes were a shade too violent for me. I don't know if the books are getting more graphic or I'm getting more squeamish, but some scenes were off-putting.

I would say more, but that's really about it. Onto the next!

69. Sugarless by James Magruder

2010-05-14T17:45:00.001-07:00

I found Sugarless on the new fiction shelf at my library and I'm not going to lie -- I checked it out partly because I like the cover. But I also thought it sounded interesting and a little different from the other books I've read in the my pick category, so I added it to my pile.

Things look bad for Rick Lahrem, a high school sophomore in a cookie-cutter Chicago suburb in 1976. His mother's second husband is a licensed psychologist who eats like an ape, his stepsister is a stoner slut, and his father is engaged to a Southern belle. Rick's only solace is his growing collection of original Broadway-cast LPs, bought on the sly at Wax Trax. After he brings two girls in speech class to tears by reading a story aloud, Rick is coaxed onto the interscholastic forensics team to perform an eight-minute dramatic interpretation of The Boys in the Band, the controversial sixties play about homosexuality. Unexpectedly successful at this oddball event, Rick begins winnings tournaments and making friends with his teammates. Rick also discovers the joys of sex -- with a speech coach from a rival school -- just as his mother, reacting to a deteriorating home environment, makes an unnerving commitment to Christ. The newly confident Rick assumes this too shall pass -- until the combined forces of family, sex, and faith threaten to undo him at the state meet in Peoria.

Summary taken from the Google Books overview of Sugarless.

I usually copy down the book jacket summary before I return library books but sometimes I forget, as was the case with Sugarless. The above summary is pretty close to what I remember reading on the book jacket with one key difference: the book jacket did not mention that this story takes place in the 70s. Or if it did, I skipped right over that part. So I started reading, expecting the story to take place in present day and it took a couple of chapters to figure out the actual setting. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have checked the book out if I had known -- in general, I don't find the 70s that interesting. Some time periods appeal to me more than others, and the 70s decade just isn't one of them. But I'm really glad that I didn't know about the setting beforehand, because I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure if I would at first but I found myself hesitant to put it down, and ended up finishing it in one night.

There is just something about coming of age stories. They just get me right there (imagine me pointing to my heart). And this is a fantastic one. I genuinely loved the arc of Rick's interpretation of the scene from The Boys in the Band; it was pretty effing incredible how his experiences and his performance of the scene were linked and over the course of the story, his understanding of both the material and his own sexuality evolved. This is Magruder's first novel, and you can't tell at all while reading; he's a skillful author and I'm interesting in hearing more of what he has to say.

I don't want to get too into gender stereotypes here, but I don't think many girl coming of age stories are physically graphic like boys' stories are. Or maybe they're physically graphic in other ways? Anyway, there were times when I felt a little squeamish because, well, boys are gross. They talk about masturbation and semen and all kinds of things that girls really aren't up-front about. Other than that somewhat unexpected aspect of the novel, I truly loved this one.

68. 212 by Alafair Burke

2010-05-13T09:14:00.001-07:00

I went to the library one day armed with a list of books to check out with the thought in mind that I should also choose something off the new fiction shelf as a my pick. I read the first few sentences of the 212 book jacket copy and was hooked, I thought it sounded sort of Gossip Girl-related and that was intriguing. The clincher for me was Alafair Burke is a former deputy district attorney from Portland, OR. I'll give any Portland author a try.

When New York University sophomore Megan Gunther finds personal threats posted to a Web site specializing in campus gossip, she's taken aback by their menacing tone. Someone knows her daily routine down to the minute and is watching her -- but thanks to the anonymity provided by the Internet, the police tell her there's nothing they can do. Her friends are sure it's someone's idea of a joke, but when Megan is murdered in a vicious attack, NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher is convinced that the online threats are more than just empty words.

With smooth, straight-talking partner J.J. Rogan at her side, Ellie tries to identify Megan's enemies, but she begins to wonder if the coed's murder was more than just a culmination of a cyber obsession. Phone records reveal a link between Megan and a murdered real estate agent who was living a dangerous double life. The detectives also learn that the dead real estate agent shared a secret connection to a celebrity mogul whose bodyguard was mysteriously killed a few months earlier.

Exposing the darkness that lurks beneath the glamorous surface of New York City, 212 delivers yet another "knuckle-biting journey that'll keep you turning pages until the very end" (Faye Kellerman).

Summary lifted from the book jacket. Do you see what I mean about it sounding a little Gossip Girl-y at the beginning?

I read this book in two days, I could not put it down. This is a perfectly constructed, intricate mystery and a great effing read. The hook that made me check out 212 in the first place wasn't really a big part of the story; it turned out to be something completely different but AMAZING. This post is going to be pretty short, because I don't want to give anything away! I want you to go read it for yourself.

I do have one minor complaint: I didn't think that Burke described the physical appearance of her main characters promptly enough. When I read something, I immediately start visualizing the characters in my mind either based on the author's description or on their actions if no description is included right away. I pictured Ellie's partner one way, only to find out a couple of chapters later that he was supposed to look and dress completely differently. And by this time, it's too late. I'm pretty stubborn and I want to keep picturing characters the way that I already have. But compared to my overall enjoyment of the story, I can let this one go. I will definitely be reading more of Burke's books, especially the second one featuring Ellie Hatcher.

67. The Little Black Book of Style by Nina Garcia

2010-05-13T09:12:00.001-07:00

I love Project Runway, always have. I think the quality has gone down a bit in recent seasons but it's still a really good show, which is due in part to Nina Garcia. She has impeccable personal style, high standards and a critical eye -- which makes her a perfect fashion design competition judge. You don't always like her, because it's not her job to be nice to the designers, but you always respect her. That's why I was excited to learn that my library carried The Little Black Book of Style and I was going to be let in on all of her secrets. I don't always have a lot to spend on my wardrobe, so I'm always interested in any tips and advice from people that I think are stylish.

Every time you dress, you assert your identity. With style, you tell the world your story. In that way, style affords you opportunities to think about your appearance as a quality of your creative character. The Little Black Book of Style helps you to explore your own fashion voice -- the piece of you that joyously revels in the glamorous experience of creating your best self. From cultivating good taste to guarding against definite fashion faux pas, Nina Garcia offers readers the ultimate guide to follow when it comes to dressing their best. Including tips on how and when to wear an outfit, occasion-appropriate wear, advice on how to combine colors and textures, and inspiration on how to achieve your own signature look, you learn how to experiment, storyboard, archive, and play. Timeless and universal, this book seeks to remind women that eternal style is internal style, and that everyone has what it takes to discover themselves through the colorful palette that is fashion.

Summary taken from the Harper Collins website.

Okay, let me get this out of the way: I hated this book. Hated! Such a disappointment. Like many people, I only know Nina from Project Runway, and as such, the jokes fall completely flat and seem completely out of character. There wasn't enough background information on Nina's personal life and personal style. There's a lot of emphasis placed on confidence and it being the most important aspect of style, but it all sounds empty without any advice on achieving that confidence. I guess this book isn't meant to be touchy-feely. I appreciated the repeated references to fit and the importance of making sure that clothes and lingerie fit properly but again -- there's zero practical advice on the matter. And the repeated references to wearing fur were off-putting -- fur really has nor relevance to my style or the style of anyone I know, yet Nina goes so far as to say, "And, PETA be damned, I am a huge fan of fur." Good for you, Nina.

I will give her this -- the look of the pages is very aesthetically pleasing, what one would expect of someone with her background as a fashion magazine editor extraordinaire. The first two chapters were about "being your own muse" and "the basics" -- which I guess I expected the whole book to be about. It seemed to me like she really didn't have enough to say, so she rounded out the rest of the book with lots of quotes, illustrations, spacing out copy. It's less than 150 pages, and she's really not saying much of anything. One chapter focused on inspirations, and it was seriously so boring. She listed 17 movies, broken down by scenes to watch for types of style; 10 musicians/bands and explained how they were stylish; and three artists that inspired three fashion designers. I almost fell asleep! The next chapter was about what to wear when -- it was pretty unnecessary in my opinion, but I think she included it because this is what people ask her about when they meet her. I really don't care about what I should wear to the Hamptons during a summer weekend, because I don't go to the Hamptons during any season. Whatevs. The overview of noteworthy trends and designers from every decade starting in the 1920s was especially pointless to me. She included it so that readers could sound knowledgeable around fashionistas -- um, this just sounds like filler to me. Sorry.

The last chapter is what cemented my negative opinion. I don't think that I was the target audience for this book -- it seemed to me that Nina and her fashion insiders are completely out of touch with mainstream/middle America. The "insiders tips and tricks" included in this last chapter have nothing to do with me or basically anyone I know. Nina doesn't take the time to explain who the people quoted are and while it's interesting to ask each of the 28 insiders who they think is the most stylish woman they know, I don't know who many of those women are either. It was frustrating and by this point I wasn't in the mood to do Google searches for that many people. Here are some examples, so you can see what I mean.

Q: How to dress to make an entrance?
Zac Posen: The same way you make an exit: with aplomb, shoulders back, and a withheld secret.

Maggie's reaction: WHAT THE F@#*?

Q: What one item should all women own?
Michael Kors: Brown crocodile stiletto pumps.

Maggie's reaction: Seriously? I have never heard anything so impractical in my life. Is this for real?

Q: What items, besides a trench coat, should every woman have in her closet?
Christopher Bailey: An iconic Burberry Manor bag (among other things)

Maggie's reaction: 1) Who? 2) Yeah, let me get right on that. Oh wait, that bag costs over $1,000. Never mind.

Q: Who do you find eternally stylish?
Heidi Klum: I think that non-fashion victims are eternally stylish...

Maggie's reaction: Um, what?

I got the feeling that Nina made a book deal after gaining notoriety from the show and then had to figure out what to write about, rather than coming up with this concept organically. This book didn't appeal to me and I'm really glad that I didn't spend money on it. Project Runway fans may want to check it out for themselves, but I personally didn't get anything out of it.

66. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

2010-05-12T18:51:00.001-07:00

I've referenced my geeky note-taking in the past couple of posts, and I just had to share the notes that I took on Persepolis:

recommended by Annie, she lent me her copy

super good, love the drawing, humor, serious moments

never fully understand middle east issues

That's it! That's all she wrote! :)

Wise, funny and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran's last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane's child's-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.

Summary lifted from the book jacket.

As you can see above, I barely took any notes while reading. I think this is because Persepolis is a fairly quick read and totally engrossing. It's rare that I don't want to turn away from a book long enough to tap away on the laptop for a few minutes. It's also rare for me to find something that I think is a valuable read, enriching my understanding of the world, that I also just plain enjoy reading. I love this line from the summary -- "It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity." -- because it perfectly encapsulates the tone of the book. I'm really glad that I decided to be open to graphic novels during the project, because each one that I've read so far has made me truly appreciate the story-telling in this genre. In conclusion, please read this book! It is amazing and I know you will love it.

65. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

2010-05-12T18:19:00.001-07:00

I first heard of Shutter Island when the movie trailer started playing before every single movie I saw in the theater. Colin and I were both intrigued, and he decided to check the book out of the library. He read it pretty fast and furiously, and really loved it. But he asked me not to read it before we saw the movie; he was interested to see what my reaction would be without having read the book first. I kind of owed him one -- I read The Reader before we saw the movie adaptation, and I came thisclose to telling him the big reveal while we were watching it in the theater. I almost had to sit on my hands to stop myself from nudging him during the important parts and winking. So I was dying to see Shutter Island by the time it finally came out (why they pushed it back from October to February baffles me, but that's why I'm not a big-shot movie exec). I read the book about a week after we saw the movie. Read on to see how they compared.

It's 1954, and U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule arrive at a small island in Massachusetts' Outer Harbor. It is home to Ashcliffe Hospital, a federal institution for the criminally insane, and one of the patients has escaped. Although the two men are new partners, they have already developed a wry, jocular relationship while also swapping personal, painful details. Daniels lost his much-loved wife two years prior in a fire, while Aule requested a transfer out of Seattle after being harassed over his personal relationship with a Japanese American woman. After interviewing the hospital's medical personnel, both men have the feeling they are being stonewalled, especially by the director, who seems to alternate between a cold authoritarianism and a sudden and sweeping compassion. When the island is hit by gale-force winds and Aule disappears, Daniels must go it alone, beset by the fear that he has been fed psychotropic drugs and the belief that the hospital is performing radical brain surgery as part of a secret-ops program. Lehane throws in one mind-bending plot twist after another in a psychological thriller that will leave readers in suspense right up to the end.

Summary lifted from amazon.com.

This is my first time reading one of Dennis Lehane's novels, although I've seen at least three movies adapted from his work so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. I was a little surprised when I first started reading because I didn't feel drawn in right away. This was probably due to my high expectations, because after a while it became more of a page-turner and I found myself thinking about it when I had to put the book down. I loved this quote below so much that I wrote it down to include here. I think it's pretty representative of the overall sense of humor:

WHO IS 67?
(This is written on a note that's being read by the characters.)

Chuck said, "Fuck if I know."

Cawley stepped up beside him. "Quite similar to our clinical conclusion."

Okay, tell me that's not funny. You can't, can you?

I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it to everyone. It is so good! As I said above, it's a page-turner and I love the subtle humor. One thing that I found interesting is that I expected one story and found a completely different one. I liked where the story went, but it could have gone in a completely different direction and been just as good. I wrote down in my notes "how much violence can a man carry before it breaks him?" but I don't know if a character verbalized that theme or if I did, I can't remember writing it down. It hits the nail on the head pretty good. There was a lot of flickering between reality and delusions in dreams, which is generally not something I enjoy. Stream of consciousness is just not my thing. But it worked in this book. And finally, I completely related to Daniels' main struggle, which I can't elaborate on, because it's part of a great reveal. Suffice to say, I understood what motivated him (to a point, at least) and that made me enjoy the read all the more.

So how did the movie adaptation fare? Pretty well, although I enjoyed reading the book more than watching the movie. I thought the reveal of the truth, and the circumstances surrounding the reveal and the explanations of the truth, in the book was more effective. For one thing, the migraine dreams in the book seem more related to the reveal at the end than the dreams in the movie. The movie focused more on Daniels' experiences in World War II, something I'm still a little puzzled by. Perhaps Scorsese was more intrigued by that aspect than Lehane was? Also, the movie was a little more gruesome in its depictions of violence than the book and it didn't add anything to the story or my reactions to it. It was just a little more gruesome. But that's not to say that I didn't like the movie -- it's definitely worth seeing, especially for the atmosphere it created. The look of the settings and costumes is beautiful. I just thought the book was a better experience, something that is usually the case.

64. New England White by Stephen L. Carter

2010-05-12T16:47:00.001-07:00

Colin read New England White awhile ago, and all I remembered about it was that it looked really long and the book jacket copy didn't sound that interesting. But I was complaining to him that I didn't have as many recommendations to choose from as I thought I might and on this particular day nothing on the list sounded intriguing. So he assured me that he really thought I would like New England White and I should give it a try. I trust his advice more now that we've been together for seven (seven!) years, so I checked the book out of the library and dove in.

When The Emperor of Ocean Park was published, Time Out declared: "Carter does for members of the contemporary black upper class what Henry James did for Washington Square society, taking us into their drawing rooms and laying their motives bare." Now, with the same powers of observation, and the same richness of plot and character, Stephen L. Carter returns to the New England university town of Elm Harbor, where a murder begins to crack the veneer that has hidden the racial complications of the town's past, the secrets of a prominent family, and the most hidden bastions of African-American political influence. At the center: Lemaster Carlyle, the university president, and his wife, Julia Carlyle, a deputy dean at the divinity school - African Americans living in "the heart of whiteness." Lemaster is an old friend of the president of the United States. Julia was the murdered man's lover years ago. The meeting point of these connections forms the core of a mystery that deepens even as Julia closes in on the politically earth-shattering motive behind the murder. Relentlessly suspenseful, galvanizing in its exploration of the profound difference between allegiance to ideas and to people, New England White is a resounding confirmation of Stephen Carter's gifts as a writer of fiction.

Summary lifted from the book jacket (this is what didn't sound interesting a few months ago). Colin typed it up for me because he can't stand my hunt-and-peck typing.

My first reaction is that I can definitely trust Colin's opinion. He knows me well enough to have a good idea of what I'll enjoy. This did not used to be the case! When we had been together for six months, he swore up and down that he thought I would like Pirates of the Caribbean. Um, not so. That's 143 minutes of my life that I'll never get back. But, I digress.

I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but I create a Google Doc for each book that I read. I take notes as I read -- nothing major, just to help me remember what I want to write when I begin the blog post about that book. Then I write the post in my Google Doc and post it to the blog from there. It's a good system, and it's especially handy when I don't write my post until a few weeks after I finish the book (like this one, for instance). Okay, getting to my point: I took a lot of notes while reading New England White. I mean, I haven't taken so many notes on a book since I was in school. I knew that if I didn't, I would lose track of who was who and what was going on. Also, I had to look up a lot of words while reading -- the vocabulary was just out of my range. I even started to look up words that I was pretty sure I knew what meant just to be sure. It was kind of fun, if I'm being honest. And now I have the definitions of over 35 words in my Google Doc. (So I pretty much just geeked out, huh?)

At the center of New England White is an intricate mystery set in a richly imagined world populated with expertly drawn characters. Okay, I'm just trying to sound smart -- but it's all true! The mystery was laid out perfectly over the course of the book and I never lost interest in trying to crack it. Although you can tell that Carter is writing from experience, he's created this history for his characters that's not based in fact but sounds eerily plausible. (Is that cryptic? Whatever, maybe I'm just trying to sound smart again.*) I love how satisfying it was to read this book; Carter reveals information and motivations slowly, bit by bit, and every question has an answer in due time. The pacing was perfect. I love this book and I highly recommend it. Even if you're not too keen on mysteries, you'll probably enjoy being in this world for a few hours.

*It's okay, I know that I'm smart. I'm just self-deprecating. (And modest.)

And as a special treat, here is my list of definitions! In case you're interested, or if you want to reference it when you read New England White yourself.

sinecure: an office or position that requires little or no work and that usually provides an income

abstemiousness

abstemious: marked by restraint especially in the consumption of food or alcohol

brio: enthusiastic vigor

hegemonic: the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group

conflagration: a large disastrous fire

logier

logy: sluggish, groggy

consternation: amazement or or dismay that hinders or throws into confusion

pique: a transient feeling of wounded vanity

dudgeon: a fit or state of indignation, often used in the phrase in high dudgeon

riposte: a retaliatory verbal sally

sally: a witty or imaginative saying

recalcitrance

recalcitrant: obstinately defiant of authority or restraint, difficult to manage or operate

desultory: marked by lack of definite plan, regularity or purpose

obsequity: state of being obsequious

obsequious: marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness

contretemps: an inopportune or embarrassing occurrence or situation

shirty: angry, irritated

ubiquitous: existing or being everywhere at the same time, constantly encountered

laconic: using or involving the use of a minimum of words, concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious

avuncular: suggestive of an uncle especially in kindliness or geniality

visage: the face, countenance or appearance of a person

maundering: a rambling or pointless discourse

implacable: not capable of being appeased, significantly changed, or mitigated

politesse: formal politeness

sally: an action of rushing or bursting forth, a venture or excursion usually off the beaten path

supercilious: coolly and patronizingly haughty

erudition: extensive knowledge acquired chiefly from books

anomalous: inconsistent with or deviating from what is usual, normal or expected
dulcet: sweet to the taste, pleasing to the ear, generally pleasing or agreeable

oenology: a science that deals with wine and wine making

factotum: a person having many diverse activities or responsibilities, a general servant

inexorable: not to be persuaded, moved or stopped

hortatory: using exhortation

exhortation: an act or instance of exhorting
exhorting: to incite by argument or advice, urge strongly, to give warnings or advice, make urgent appeals

paucity: smallness of number

synesthesia: a concomitant sensation, esp. a subjective sensation or image of a sense other than the one being stimulated; the condition marked by experiencing such sensations

concomitant: accompanying especially in a subordinate or incidental way

primogeniture: an exclusive right of inheritance belonging to the eldest son

mysophobic: a pathological fear of contact with dirt, to avoid contamination and germs

sanguine: confident, optimistic

63. Sweet Little Lies by Lauren Conrad

2010-05-03T11:28:00.003-07:00

You can refer to this post and this post to understand why I picked Sweet Little Lies as book number 63. On to the plot summary!

Jane Roberts was the average girl next door until she and her best friend, Scarlett Harp, landed their own reality show, L.A. Candy. Now the girls have an all-access pass to Hollywood's hottest everything. But there's more to life on camera than just parties and shopping... When racy photos of Jane are leaked to the press, she finds herself at the center of a tabloid scandal. She turn to co-star Madison Parker for help, unaware that Madison is scheming behind the scenes. She might be Jane's shoulder to cry on, but does Madison really have Jane's back? Scarlett's working on a scandal of her own. She's fallen for someone who is strictly off-limits -- which means Scarlett has a big secret to keep... from the L.A. Candy cameras, the paparazzi staking out her apartment, even from her best friend. Of course, nothing stays secret for long for the stars of the newest hit TV series, and all this drama couldn't be better for ratings. But can Jane survive another season in the spotlight?

Lifted from the Harper Collins website.

While Sweet Little Lies was total cotton candy fun, it's still solidly written, well paced and by no means a vanity project. I'm biased because I have loved Lauren on her reality shows, but I really think she's a good writer and she definitely knows her source material and target audience to a tee.

As I mentioned in my post about L.A. Candy, the events are more "inspired by" Lauren's experiences than a behind-the-scenes tell-all but you still get tons of insidery details on the production of this kind of show. Lauren delves a little deeper into this world, revealing how the stars of reality shows court the tabloid press instead of the other way around. Jane discovers that her sympathetic co-worker was hired by the show producers to encourage her to date someone and talk about it on camera. And at one point, Jane finds herself confused over whether her ideas were her own or driven by producers' suggestions. And I wonder how long it took Lauren to break this code that's explained in the book:

BFF = best friend forever

BFFN = best friend for now

BFFC = best friend for cameras

It's always fun for me to try and figure out who inspired the different characters, and what that might mean about Lauren's relationship with them. For example, I don't think she and Audrina are too close these days; the character of Gaby is clearly based on her and there are some choice words about Miss Gaby:

At one party, Gaby was "wasting her time with some emo loser. That girl had such foul taste in men." Yeah, that's definitely payback for Audrina accusing Lauren slept with Justin Bobby on The Hills.

Ooh, and at a different party "Gaby wasn't very good at about checking her cell or following Dana's directions, not because she was stubborn and rebellious (like Scarlett), but because her tiny brain really couldn't process too many thoughts at the same time." That comes from the Heidi Montag-inspired character's point of view, but STILL! The gloves are off now!

There's some mystery surrounding that Heidi-inspired character, Madison, and I love it. The clues are blended into the storyline with skill, and not all is revealed by the end -- so I'll just have to read the next one, too. (Yay!) And I have to mention the female friendship aspect of the story. Jane and Scarlett are fighting and growing apart for the first time in their life-long friendship, and neither are handling it very well. This comes across very genuinely, for Lauren knows that which of she speaks, and I think a lot of women will find this to be relatable. At one point, Scarlett thinks to herself that "It was like she was watching their relationship change and she couldn't do anything about it." and guess what? Been there, done that. It's sad. And Lauren writes about it really well.

If this is your type of thing, please read Sweet Little Lies. It's so good! You won't be sorry.

62. Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein

2010-05-02T17:29:00.001-07:00

I can't remember if I read about this book online first or if I saw Adelstein interviewed on The Daily Show first. Either way, I really wanted to read this based on what I was hearing about it. I had plenty of time to get excited about it because there was a 4 month wait at the library. 4 MONTHS! Sheesh.

From the only American journalist ever to have been admitted to the insular Tokyo Metropolitan Police press club: a unique, first-hand, revelatory look at Japanese culture from the underbelly up. At nineteen, Jake Adelstein went to Japan in search of peace and tranquility. What he got was a life of crime... crime reporting, that is, at the prestigious Yomiuri Shinbun. For twelve years of eighty-hour workweeks, he covered the seedy side of Japan, where extortion, murder, human trafficking, and corruption are as familiar as ramen noodles and sake. But when his final scoop brought him face-to-face with Japan's most infamous yakuza boss - and the threat of death for him and his family - Adelstein decided to step down... momentarily. Then he fought back. In Tokyo Vice, Adelstein tells the riveting, often humorous tale of his journey from an inexperienced cub reporter - who made rookie mistakes like getting into a martial-arts battle with a senior editor - to a daring investigative journalist with a price on his head. With its vivid visceral descriptions of crime in Japan and an exploration of the world of modern-day yakuza that even few Japanese ever see, Tokyo Vice is a fascination, and an education, from start to finish.

Summary lifted from the book jacket. Colin typed it up for because he can't stand my hunt-and-peck typing.

So, yeah. When I hear about Tokyo Vice, I thought it was going to be all about Adelstein's troubles with the Yakuza. I didn't connect that the title refers to the vice beat that he covered as a reporter. There's a lot of ugly stuff in this book about human trafficking, the sex trade in Japan, and the police force's dismissive attitude toward rape victims. There was one chapter in particular about an all-night tour he was given of the sex shop area that really got to me. Also, some very bad things happen -- a friend of Adelstein's disappears while helping him track down a story and someone shows him graphic photos of a murder victim, claiming that the murdered woman is his missing friend. Also, Adelstein didn't come off as very likeable to me. He never really explains why he went to live in Japan in the first place, which I found off-putting. He's very honest and upfront about the less sympathetic choices that he makes, and I respect that. But it doesn't really change the fact that he wasn't someone I was whole-heartedly rooting for.

Okay, I think that covers the cons. Let's get to the pros. Adelstein provides extensive background on journalism in Japan, which is very interesting. He's a talented writer, I give him that. And I don't know a lot about Japan, so I enjoyed learning more about the country as he experienced it. Here's one quote that I thought was especially interesting:

"It says a great deal about the safety of the country [Japan] that a murder, any murder, is national news. There are exceptions, however, and that's when the victim is Chinese, a yakuza, a homeless person, or a nonwhite foreigner. Then the news value drops 50%."

That's something I probably never would have known otherwise. So it wasn't a complete waste of time, even if the review makes it sound that way at first.

Ultimately, I was expecting to read part crime story, part memoir along the lines of American Shaolin by Matthew Polly. Not the case. Suffice it to say that I wish I had realized what I was getting into. A different mindset going in would have helped me enjoy this book more or get something more out of it.

Here's the interview with Adelstein on The Daily Show:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Jake Adelstein

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

If you're interested, give the book a shot. You might love it, even if I didn't.

61. Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

2010-05-01T07:34:00.001-07:00

I think most people felt the same way about the presidential election in 2008: The stakes were really high. Regardless of who they wanted to win, for a few months it was all people could talk about -- and talk they did, with a lot of passion. It was the kind of point in history that I think my kids will ask me about one day (when I eventually have kids, that is). So when I heard about Game Change, I placed a request for it at the library right away. I was still a bit late to the party, though; there were 24 people in line ahead of me. Now I'm here to tell you -- it was well worth the wait.

In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton - and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin. But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of this spellbinding drama, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines has yet been told.

In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country's leading political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain and Palin campaigns. How did Obama convince himself that, despite the thinness of his resume, he could somehow beat the odds to become the nation's first African American president? How did the tumultuous relationship between the Clintons shape - and warp - Hillary's supposedly unstoppable bid? What was behind her husband's furious outbursts and devastating political miscalculations? Why did McCain make the novice governor of Alaska his running mate? And was Palin merely painfully out of her depth - or troubled in more serious ways?

Game Change answers those questions and more, laying bare the secret history of the 2008 campaign. Heilemann and Halperin take us inside the Obama machine, where staffers referred to the candidate as "Black Jesus." They unearth the quiet conspiracy in the U.S. Senate to prod Obama into the race, driven in part by the fears of senior Democrats that Bill Clinton's personal life might cripple Hillary's presidential prospects. They expose the twisted tale of John Edwards's affair with Rielle Hunter, the truth behind the downfall of Rudy Giuliani, and the doubts of those responsible for vetting Palin about her readiness for the Republican ticket - along with the McCain campaign staff's worries about her fitness for office. And they reveal how, in an emotional late-night phone call, Obama succeeded in wooing Clinton, despite her staunch resistance, to become his secretary of state.

Summary lifted from the book jacket. Colin typed it up for me because he can't stand my hunt-and-peck typing.

When Game Change first came out, people were buzzing about it. It seemed to me that every reviewer, blogger, member of the peanut gallery all had comments about how gossipy and salacious the book was, especially because they were questioning the writers' methods of quoting and paraphrasing -- and leaving unnamed -- sources. Based on the buzz, I assumed that the book wouldn't be very substantial. (And believe me, I would have been fine with that.) It could not have been further from the truth. It's... well, substantial. I read a lot of gossip, because that's my thing, and this book isn't gossip. At least, I didn't get that vibe.

The main focus is the battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the primaries; you can tell that this pair of opponents fascinates Heilemann and Halperin. I would have been interested to read some more about the other major players, but the Barack-Hillary relationship dominates the story-telling. I didn't follow the primaries closely at all, especially after the downfall of Edwards, so parts of the book were actually kind of suspenseful, because I didn't know who won each primary. I was surprised by how invested I became during reading, because of course I already knew the ultimate outcome -- regardless of how you view their methods of quoting sources, you have to admit that that takes talent. I really wasn't expecting the book to focus on the primaries so much, and I was especially surprised that the election night was basically skipped over. The book concludes on the morning of November 5, and Obama convincing Clinton to come on board as Secretary of State. It wasn't an unpleasant surprise, but at the same time I would have been happy to read a book that zeroed in on the presidential election.

I liked reading about Obama because he comes across as a normal person. I think he's a great man, but at the end of the day he's still just a guy. And the writers recognize that, which is nice. Even though I do think he's a great man, I try not to drink the kool-aid on this one, you know? So it's refreshing to learn about the days when he lost his temper or complained about something, just like I've been known to do occasionally. (Right, Colin?) The Clintons are seriously fascinating. I think people will be writing about their dynamic and influence for years to come. And wow... I was so wrong about John Edwards. It's a little scary how off-base I was. Even taking everything in this book with a grain of salt, John comes across as a delusional pretty boy and Elizabeth is just plain scary. One staffer told the writers about one day when, after some crisis in the campaign, John left him a voicemail telling him that he did well and John understood that things happen and to keep his chin up (I'm paraphrasing, of course). The next voicemail the staffer received, basically moments later, was from Elizabeth chewing him out -- the staffer says that Elizabeth called him poison and "dead to them." Yeesh.

You can tell that the writers don't feel the McCain campaign was as compelling as the Democratic primaries. They do cover the trials and tribulations of McCain securing the nomination and fighting to keep his head above water during the presidential campaign, but not in nearly as much detail. It took a long time to get around to Sarah Palin, and when they did it fell a bit flat. I personally don't think much of her, but you can't deny that she's a lightning rod. No one's opinion of her is just "meh." Everyone has a strong and immediate love or hate of her. So I expected to be more invested while reading about her role, but I wasn't really. They try to make you wonder if she's mentally unstable, but their case is a bit thin. Don't get me wrong, there is some interesting stuff here, just not as much as I expected. (Expectations are everything, aren't they?)

I recommend that you check out this book if you're interested in learning more about this election. Enough time has passed to put events into perspective, and I think it would be interesting even if you had followed the news closely during this time.

60. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

2010-04-20T07:43:00.001-07:00

My friend Sarah recommended Shiver to me, and I immediately placed a request for it at the library. I will always, always take Sarah's recommendations. Not only does she have good taste but she's also a librarian and YA/children's author. She's currently revising her first YA novel, and I am dying to read it. Luckily, Sarah's in the market for a proofreader so I get to read it before she publishes. You should visit her blog, The Restless Writer, to read more about her writing adventures. (She mentions Shiver and its upcoming sequel in this post.)

The cold. Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf - her wolf - watches back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn't know why. The heat. Sam has lived two lives. As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of the girl he loves. And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace . . . until now. The shiver. For Grace and Sam, love has always been kept at a distance. But once it's spoken, it cannot be denied. Sam must fight to stay human - and Grace must fight to keep him - even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future.

Plot summary lifted from the book jacket. Colin typed it up for me because he can't stand my hunt-and-peck typing.

I liked Shiver, but I didn't love it. It's definitely well-written and tells an interesting story. There's one specific reveal of information that I was pretty impressed by -- looking back, the clues are there but the reveal wasn't spoiled. I love that. Stiefvater skillfully laid the groundwork for a sequel, without leaving issues unresolved in a way that would frustrate readers. All in all, I thought it was a solidly decent YA novel.

So why didn't I love it? Shiver is the first YA novel that I've read that I honestly felt like I was too old to read it. (For the record, I'm 29 years old. I'll have to change the About Me section of the blog come November!) For example, throughout the book Sam thinks of song lyrics to describe the way he feels. The song lyrics made me cringe a little. I'm too old and jaded to appreciate them! While I appreciated the story, it just didn't grab me whole-heartedly. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to read the sequel this summer, but I am a little curious about what happens next so I might have to. If you have love for the YA or paranormal romance genres, I recommend trying out Shiver. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on it!

59. If You Have To Cry, Go Outside by Kelly Cutrone

2010-04-19T19:06:00.001-07:00

If you watch as much reality TV as I do, chances are you know who Kelly Cutrone is by now. She terrorized the girls on The Hills (and, to a lesser extent, The City), popped up in Project Runway season one winner Jay McCarroll's documentary Eleven Minutes, and now has her own show on Bravo chronicling the ups and downs at her fashion PR firm, People's Revolution. (That last one is Kell on Earth, it's strangely addictive.) She makes for good TV, so I knew that I had to try out her book. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't too long and I figured this would be probably be a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Kelly Cutrone has long been mentoring women on how to make it in one of the most competitive industries in the world. She has kicked people out of fashion shows, forced some of reality television's shiny stars to fire their friends, and built her own company -- one of the most powerful PR firms in the fashion business -- from the ground up. Through it all, she has refused to be anything but herself. Kelly writes in her trademark, no-bullshit style, combining personal and professional stories to share her secrets for success without selling out. Let's face it: this is a different world than the one in which our mothers grew up, and Kelly has created a real girl's guide to making it in today's world. Offering a wake-up call to women everywhere, she challenges us to stop the dogged pursuit of the "perfect life" and discover who we are and what we really want. The she shows us how to go out there and get it. Much of our culture teaches us to muzzle our inner voice and follow the crowd; Kelly enables us to stop pretending and start truly living. With chapters on how to find your tribe (those like-minded souls who make your heart sing), how sometimes a breakdown is really a breakthrough, and how there is no such thing as perfection, Kelly also shares practical advice, such as how to create a personal brand and how sometimes you have to fake it to make it.

Summary lifted from amazon.com.

If You Have To Cry, Go Outside is part autobiography and part how-to. Kelly uses stories from her life to illustrate points she's making, and shares how she has learned from various mistakes. I found it to be a very effective writing style; I was engaged with the personal stories and that made me pay attention when she described her methods for succeeding. I have to say, though, reading this book made one thing abundantly clear to me:

I AM A TOTAL SQUARE.

Okay, not really. But I am mildly horrified by Kelly's life story. By my count, Kelly has: had problems with addiction, been married and divorced twice, been totally impractical in countless ways, and taken this absolutely crazy path to enlightenment. I am at my core a very practical person, and some of Kelly's "adventures" had me cringing and shaking my head. She also talks a lot about creating your own religion that honors you; she believes you should study many religions and practice the parts that make sense to you. Now, in theory this makes a lot of sense. But I couldn't help thinking that a lot of it sounded like hippie crap. So I won't be taking all of Kelly's advice but I enjoyed reading it and I did find the experience valuable. Although Kelly came off as kind of out there to me, I think reading what she has to say opened me up to some new ideas. And I appreciate that she seemingly genuinely wants to share what she knows to help the next generation of young women.

One last thing. The full book title is If You Have To Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You. I would just like to go on record that my mother did tell me that. (And it has come in handy a few times.) Thank you, Mom!

58. Cage of Stars by Jaquelyn Mitchard

2010-04-19T13:29:00.001-07:00

At some point I added Cage of Stars to my master spreadsheet that tracks what books I have read for this project and what books I might want to read for it. For the life of me I can't remember when I heard about it or where, but I have a vague memory of thinking the plot sounded interesting. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any articles or reviews about this book on my usual sites, so I can't recall exactly why it sounded interesting.

Ronnie Swan is a sheltered young girl from a deeply religious family whose childhood abruptly ends when she witnesses the murder of her two younger sisters. At not quite 13 years old, Ronnie is baby-sitting on a bright fall day, hiding in the shed as she waits for her sisters to find her. Instead of their excited laughter, there is only silence. When Ronnie opens the door, it is to a sight that will crack her life in two. The murderer, Scott Early, is a young graduate student suffering from schizophrenia who is given treatment, rather than punishment. Upon his release from the mental health facility a few years later, Ronnie's parents meet with Scott and his wife and find relief in forgiveness. Ronnie, who went from a carefree girl to an overburdened adult in a child's body in a matter in minutes, cannot. As she enters adulthood, she carefully plans out her revenge and sets out to hand Scott the punishment she feels he never received.

I drew from the (really long) plot summary on jackiemitchard.com while composing the above overview.

I really can't remember why I wanted to read this book, but I have a feeling that I thought it was more suspenseful. You know, will Ronnie be able to carry about her plan? That kind of thing. This book is really more about the process of grieving and ultimately very sad. I think you're supposed to find it uplifting at the end, but I didn't. I generally take away the sad instead of the uplifting, though.

I would advise you to steer clear of this book if you have no interest in the Mormon faith. Ronnie's family is Mormon, and there is a great deal of information about the religion and day-to-day life of a practicing Mormon family. It's as though Ronnie, our narrator, is telling this story to someone unfamiliar with the subject and has to take frequent tangents to put everything into context. I happen to have known most of the information already, so I got bored a lot. (Side note: I have a weird fascination with the FLDS cult and learned more about the LDS than I expected to when reading up on the fundamentalist off-shoot.) I don't know, maybe it was just that Ronnie's faith was such a big part of her life, motivations, world view that all of the background information simply couldn't be avoided. For whatever the reason, it didn't appeal to me.

There were bits of foreshadowing that I liked, as always, but they fell a little flat at the end. Overall, the pace was kind of slow and I felt bored most of the time. It became a book that I just had to get through, which is never good. I don't necessarily think this is a bad book, it's just not what I expected and not really what I'm interested in.

57. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

2010-04-18T09:12:00.001-07:00

I don't really remember why I chose to read The Godfather. I saw the movie once in high school; a few of my friends who took the film class were assigned to see a showing of the movie adaptation at the Main Art in Royal Oak and I tagged along. I vividly remembered the scene with the horse head, but other than that I just remembered it being really long. But for some reason, I thought of The Godfather when I was trying to find a book in the movie adaptation category and I suddenly felt really excited to read it. (And it didn't hurt that the edition for Kindle on PC only cost $6.39.)

I couldn't find a succinct plot summary anywhere, so I thought about attempting to write one myself... but come on. You know the basics, right? (If not, do a quick Google search and you'll find over 3 million results to sift through. Go ahead, I'll wait.)

I was not expecting to like The Godfather as much as I did. It is a definite page-turner, or whatever the equivalent is when you're reading on-screen, and each time I had to stop reading I was anxious to get back to it. The book opens with the wedding of Don Corleone's daughter Connie, just as the movie version opens, and it's a very effective way to immerse readers into this world. I found it easy to keep track of who the characters were and what was happening, which I was a little surprised by. After all, there is a lot going on. But Puzo doesn't overwhelm you with information, and I found myself hungry for more background and more information. I was completely engrossed in this new setting and then the story moved into the war between the five families, and it became very suspenseful. That was actually my favorite part of the book, which is unusual for me -- I've mentioned time and time again in these reviews how I get lost in action sequences. So I was pretty impressed while reading that I was so hooked during this part.

The filmmakers had to cut out a lot when putting together the movie, and I think they made smart choices. I re-watched the movie after finishing the book, and it seemed like they chose to include all of the parts of the book that I liked the best. But there's no comparison here for me -- I definitely like reading the book better than watching the movie. I don't think the movie envelopes you in this world as effectively as the book does. For example, Michael's trip to Italy. In the book, Michael spends a lot of time with one of men who he's staying with and learns from his stories about how his father's world works. He comes back to New York with this greater understanding of his father and is comfortable joining the family business. In the movie, Michael's trip is kind of pointless. I think they tried to make the murder of his wife Michael's motivation for working with his father, but I'm not buying it.

Also, I prefer the pacing in the book. This may be due in part to the fact that I didn't grow up loving the movie. I do know people my age who have seen the movie a million times and are totally devoted to it. I think watching it for the first time as an adult, you'll probably find the pacing of the movie to be extremely slow. That's one of the things that Colin mentions in his review of the movie, and I agree with. Although, he really didn't enjoy the wedding scene and thought it was overly long. After reading the book and re-watching the movie, I told him how much longer that scene could have been! But honestly, you don't even think about that when you're reading. For me, the time reading really flew by and I was sad when I finished the book. It's the kind of book that I wish I could read for the first time again.

56. Y, The Last Man, No. 1 Unmanned, by Brian K. Vaughn

2010-04-17T14:55:00.001-07:00

I knew about this series of graphic novels because of Lost. I'm the type of viewer that reads four or five blog recaps after each episode, because I can't possibly take in all of the details and wrap my mind around the bigger picture at the same time. (It's a tough show.) After one episode, last season I think, all of the posts I read mentioned that Hurley was reading Y the Last Man in one scene. For some reason, that title stuck in my mind and I recognized it when I asked around for graphic novel recommendations and a couple of people brought it up. I could tell that Colin thought it would be cool if I read it, and I love when he thinks I'm cool, so I checked out volume one, Unmanned, from the library.

Yorick Brown is an escape artist; has a fabulous girlfriend who's traveling in Australia; and possesses a genetic make-up that's allowed him to survive a plague that killed every male being on the planet except for him and his pet monkey. Yorick is the last man on earth, and in the resulting chaos, he must find a way to help save the human race. At least that's what the (now all-female) government thinks. Yorick would prefer to find his girlfriend, but it's hard to get a flight halfway around the world when almost all the pilots and mechanics are gone. It's hard enough to drive down the block, since the streets are jammed with the cars of men who were behind the wheel when the instantaneous plague hit. Furthermore, the entire social fabric has gone to hell, with gun-wielding wives of Republican representatives insisting on getting their husbands' seats and tribes of latter-day Amazons claiming males were meant to die. Since Yorick's mother is a congresswoman, he's protected by secret spies. And his escape skills come in handy when he's trapped first by a marauding garbage-woman and then by his mother, as she tries to keep him from doing anything stupid. Meanwhile, who are the mysterious Israeli soldiers who seem so gratified by the situation, and why is Yorick's sister so intent on joining the Amazons?

Plot summary lifted from amazon.com.

I can sum up this review in one sentence: Dude, it was awesome! No, really it was. I loved it. This world is intensely interesting; I love reading about these characters and how each react to this bizarre situation. Unmanned has a little bit of everything: tongue-in-cheek humor, action, intrigue, pathos. I was really disappointed when I found out that the library doesn't carry all of the volumes, because I immediately wanted to devour the rest of them. I'll probably invest in buying them at some point; I can see tearing through them and then re-reading more carefully every once in awhile. I highly recommend checking this series out.

Oh, and here's a screen grab of Hurley with his copy on Lost:

w00t!

On an unrelated note...

2010-04-05T14:24:00.001-07:00

This is totally how I act when Colin's making dinner.

Hitting the Wall.

2010-04-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

I've gotten to the point in this project where it's starting to feel like work and it's not as fun. I'm not really excited about the books that I have lined up to read next. I feel kind of blah.

Yup, right on schedule: I've hit the wall.

And to be honest, I'm not surprised. When I was training for the Breast Cancer 3-Day, the same thing happened. I got training fatigue. If you commit to a big, long-term project there's going to come a point (or two) where you don't feel inspired anymore. It happens. So I'm trying to put this in perspective and not take this feeling too seriously.

I decided to read something fun and quick -- I would liken it to cotton candy -- to give myself a jump start back into the fun mode. And seriously, what better way to do this than to read Sweet Little Lies by Lauren Conrad? Yes, the sequel to her first YA novel that I loved, to almost embarrassing degree.

Stay tuned. This project is far from over -- in a good way.

55. How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gates Gill

2010-03-24T18:13:00.001-07:00

I think I first heard about How Starbucks Saved My Life when I heard about the movie adaptation that's in the works. Tom Hanks is slated to star, and I love Tom Hanks. So I figured that I would read it for the project, but it seemed silly to count this as one of my movie adaptations since I don't even know when the movie will be released (it's still listed as "In Development" on IMDb.com). So I added it to the biography tally (a category that I know I wouldn't have trouble finding books for).

In his fifties, Michael Gates Gill had it all: a big house in the suburbs, a loving family and a top job at an ad agency with a six-figure salary. By the time he turned sixty, he had lost everything except his Ivy League education and his sense of entitlement. First, he was downsized at work. Next, an affair ended his twenty-year marriage. Then, he was diagnosed with a slow-growing brain tumor, prognosis undetermined. Around the same time, his girlfriend gave birth to a son. Gill had no money, no health insurance, and no prospects.

One day as Gill sat in a Manhattan Starbucks with his last affordable luxury, a latte, brooding about his misfortune and quickly dwindling list of options, a 28-year-old Starbucks manager named Crystal Thompson approached him, half joking, to offer him a job. With nothing to lose, he took it, and went from drinking coffee in a Brooks Brothers suit to serving it in a green uniform. For the first time in his life, Gill was a minority -- the only older white guy working with a team of young African-Americans. He was forced to acknowledge his ingrained prejudices and admit to himself that, far from being beneath him, his new job was hard. And his younger coworkers, despite having half the education and twice the personal difficulties he'd ever faced, were running circles around him.

The other baristas treated Gill with respect and kindness despite his differences, and he began to feel a new emotion: gratitude. Crossing over the Starbucks bar was the beginning of a dramatic transformation that cracked his world wide open. When all of his defenses and the armor of entitlement had been stripped away, a humbler, happier and gentler man remained. One that everyone, especially Michael's kids, liked a lot better.

The backdrop to Gill's story is a nearly universal cultural phenomenon: the Starbucks experience. In How Starbucks Saved My Life, we step behind the counter of one of the world's best-known companies and discover how it all really works, who the baristas are and what they love (and hate) about their jobs. Inside Starbucks, as Crystal and Mike's friendship grows, we see what wonders can happen when we reach out across race, class, and age divisions to help a fellow human being.

Plot summary lifted from the back cover, per usual.

I enjoyed reading this book so much! I picked it up during a lazy Sunday morning, thinking I would start it and then watch some TV, and I read it straight through until the end. I couldn't put it down, which is kind of unusual for autobiographies. I enjoy the genre, but they don't always grab you like that. This is partly due to Gill's writing skills; he grew up in a famous New York literary family and started his 25-year career at JWT as a copywriter. It shows. Although the book is mainly about his first year working at Starbucks and how it changed -- sorry, saved his life, he cuts back and forth between the present and the past. Gill has lived what most would call a charmed life, and the stories from his childhood to adulthood are fascinating. For example, a friend from the secret society Skull and Bones set up his job interview at JWT. Maybe that's common in some circles, but to me that is crazy.

Side note: OMG! My friend Jeff and I heart the movie The Skulls with Joshua Jackson; our favorite quote is "If it's secret and elite, it can't be good." Well, apparently it was good to Mr. Gill!

I think this book especially appealed to me because I could relate to both of Gill's professional lives -- I work in the advertising industry, so reading about his advertising career was interesting, and I worked at a Caribou Coffee for over a year, so the insider info on Starbucks was interesting, too. By the way, this quote kills me:

"Almost all ad clients took about ten minutes to decide they knew better than you."

I have a tiny chip on my shoulder after reading about some of the Starbucks stuff. For example, Gill and his coworkers got scheduled breaks. Not me! I think it may have been in the rules at Caribou, but it wasn't enforced. Also, Gill didn't have to count down his cash drawer at the start and end of each shift -- they had a money weighing machine! What the what? I spent hours of my life counting down those drawers, and Starbucks has money weighing machines? Ugh. Okay, I'll get over it. Eventually.

I highly recommend this book. It's a quick read with an incredibly likeable narrator. The journey that Gill goes through to adjust to this new chapter in his life and the lessons that he learns make for a valuable yet entertaining read.

54. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

2010-03-21T08:35:00.001-07:00

I subscribe to NPR and New York Times book reviews through Google Reader, and that's how I learned about Sarah's Key. I know that I've mentioned this before, but I am endlessly fascinated by this period in history. It seems like each time I read about this era, I learn something new. I had never heard of the Vel d'Hiv' Roundup -- have you?

Here's the brief summary included in most reviews of the book online:

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.

Paris, May 2002: On the Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel' d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

Let me start by saying that this review is going to be fairly glowing. I fell in love with this book (although it does have some flaws, which I'll get into). De Rosnay starts out by alternating the points of view of Sarah and Julia in each chapter, and at first I found that Sarah's chapters were much more compelling. But by the time that Sarah's chapters end and Julia narrates to the book's conclusion, we're in the same boat as Julia -- desperate to know more. I would definitely describe this book as a page-turner; I read it one night while Colin was at work, I couldn't put it down. And not only does this book grab you while you're reading, but it stays with you, under your skin, for a few days.

De Rosnay doesn't shy away from describing what Sarah goes through when her family is arrested and detained, then sent to a concentration camp. Horrible events are relayed in detail, but not gratuitously so. I felt that the overall message of the book is that we should, no we need to remember what happened. So it made sense to me that de Rosnay would want her readers to truly understand the unbelievable anguish that people were subjected to. I thought it was very smart to show the horrors of this time through the eyes of a child; it seemed like everything took on more significance, and it was a good way to demonstrate what de Rosnay wanted to. For many chapters, Sarah was referred to only as "the girl" which I didn't fully understand -- it's no secret that the girl in those chapters and the girl that Julia is trying to track down are one and the same, so why bother not identifying Sarah from the start? The only explanation that I could come up with was that de Rosnay wanted to make Sarah's experiences universal, as it could have been anyone going through the same things. That's valid, but it irritated me a little bit because it wasn't readily apparent. It almost seemed like de Rosnay was trying to stave off a reveal in a mystery, which wasn't necessary. Also, I thought some of the writing from Sarah's point of view was a little heavy-handed, although I could understand that de Rosnay was trying to clearly express her message. Those are fairly minor complaints, though, considering how much I enjoyed reading this book.

I didn't really like Julia at the beginning and there were times when I didn't understand her motivations. But I grew to like her as the book went on, and I can completely relate to her fascination with the roundup. When I become interested in a subject, I react the same way; reading up on it as much as I can, almost to the point of obsession. (Needless to say, I've never had this kind of experience, though.) I was put off by Julia's relationship with her husband -- he was so insufferable -- but de Rosnay slowly and subtly showed that they were both at fault for the problems in the marriage, and I really appreciated that. It would have been much easier to make Bertrand the villain. The progression of Julia's relationship with Bertrand's family was one of the many elements of the book that really worked. It felt very natural and real to me.

I don't want to give away too much, because I want you to read this book if it sounds interesting to you, but I will say that the ending is very satisfying, and everyone ended up where they were supposed to. The question that de Rosnay wants us to ask, and that various characters in the book do ask, is whether or not Julia was right to try to track down Sarah and apologize for benefiting from her misfortune. I think many readers will come to the conclusion that you just know de Rosnay wants us to: Yes, Julia was right to pursue this because in the end it is better to know and remember the past.

Oh, and by the way -- apparently there's a movie adaptation in the works, with Kristin Scott Thomas playing Julia. I don't know if it's going to be released in the U.S. though. Details on the internets are sketchy. Boo.

53. Old Man's War by John Scalzi

2010-03-20T18:54:00.001-07:00

I think part of the reason that my dad has taken such an interest in this reading project of mine is that I'm finally giving science fiction and fantasy novels a chance. He and my sister Annie have given me great recommendations and we've been able to talk about the sci fi and fantasy books that I have read and might read at great length. It's been fun. Old Man's War was one of my dad's suggestions, and I've had his copy of it for at least a couple of months now. (It looks good on my coffee table.)

I was pretty much hooked just by reading the back cover:

John Perry did two things on his seventy-fifth birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army. The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce -- and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding. Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Forces. What's known to everybody is that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed the return. You'll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets. John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine -- and what he will become is far stranger.

Intriguing, right?

I really, really liked this one. We're completely immersed in this fully realized world from the first paragraph. John Perry is a great protagonist; he's smart, practical, with a good sense of humor. He explains his simple reasons for embarking on the journey into the CDF so well that I started to wonder how old the author was -- aging and the effects and consequences thereof play such a large role in Perry's motivations and are expressed so eloquently that it seemed like it must have been written by someone close to John's age (75 years old). I was surprised, and impressed, upon learning that John Scalzi was only 35 when the book was published in 2005. Wow.

We experience the transition and orientation to the CDF along with John, and it's really interesting. It takes a long time to get to the more action-packed sequences, but that's how I prefer it. I would much rather read about the people that John encounters and their reactions to this strange new world they find themselves in. Early on, John makes friends with a group of fellow recruits who promptly dub themselves the Old Farts. My favorite line in the whole book is the opening sentence of Chapter 10:

Maggie was the first of the Old Farts to die.

Sorry for the spoiler, but isn't that funny? No? Guess you have to be named Maggie to get the same kick out of it.

Once I got to the section of the book with more action, I wasn't any less involved. I was so invested in this story and these characters that I had a very easy time reading and following the action. It was also cool to see how naturally John developed into not only a good soldier, but a great leader. Seventy-five years' worth of experience and knowledge from his life on Earth couldn't have fully prepared John for his new role, but definitely laid the ground work and helped him build skills that he could tap into for his new responsibilities. I don't want to give away too much about where the story leads John, but it is good. I promise.

If you try this book, I think you'll have a very hard time putting it down and it will stay with you for a few days, in such a good way. I can't say enough good things about it. Go check it out!

52. The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life by Bethenny Frankel

2010-03-20T17:12:00.001-07:00

I should start by explaining that I love Bethenny Frankel. When the Real Housewives of New York City premiered on Bravo, I thought it might be lame but I checked it out anyway. Well, I can admit when I'm wrong about something -- the show is frickin' fantastic. And Bethenny is by far my favorite housewife. I just love her. So when I found out that she wrote a book, Naturally Thin, I immediately went to the library and picked it up. And it's really good! It's all about changing the way you approach food, breaking down all the emotional baggage that most of us carry concerning food and diets. It's not rocket science, just good, simple strategies to help you take control and approach food in a healthy way. In promoting The Skinnygirl Dish, Bethenny made a series of of YouTube videos showing her making recipes from the book. In the first one I clicked on, Bethenny made "guilt-free faux fries" -- a recipe almost identical to one for baked french fries that I got from my mom. So I figured, if this is the kind of easy, healthier recipe included in her book I should definitely read it.

Here's the summary lifted from the back cover:

In her New York Times bestseller Naturally Thin, Bethenny Frankel shares her ten real-life rules for enjoying healthful natural foods and escaping the diet trap. Now, in The Skinnygirl Dish, Bethenny joins you in the kitchen and shows you how to stop the "cooking noise" and put an end to the anxiety about how and what to cook and eat. The Skinnygirl dishes on how anyone can:

Get in touch with your "inner chef" and make the Skinnygirl philosophy yours
Use Bethenny's list of kitchen essentials and the core concept of using what you have at hand to enjoy creating healthy, satisfying meals
Take your basic cooking skills to the next level with practical tips for saving time, money, and sanity
Make personalized gourmet recipes from celebrity chefs, including Bobby Flay and Top Chef stars Lee Anne Wong, Hosea Rosenberg, and Ariane Duarte
Light up -- and lighten up -- holidays and special occasions with tips and recipes for throwing the perfect, stress-free party

Over sixty recipes become more than a thousand recipes with Bethenny's "Use What You Have" substitution charts. Enjoy Breakthrough Breakfasts, Delicious Dinners, Simple Snacks, To-Die-For Desserts and Skinnygirl Cocktails, plus tips to turn almost any dish into a vegetarian delight. With the famous wit and real-world sensibility that made her a breakout star, Bethenny reveals her kitchen adventures and inspires readers to cook the Skinnygirl way with taste and style.

I was expecting a straightforward cookbook, but this is so much more. In addition to giving recipes with extensive guidance on substitutions, Bethenny writes about organizing your kitchen and what kitchen equipment to invest in as well as giving advice on ways to simplify recipes. She really wants people to not be afraid of the kitchen, or of trying new things in cooking. She wants you to be able to walk into the kitchen and prepare a satisfying, healthy meal with what you have. So really, this book is a much better investment that I originally thought.

I think I'm going to have to read it one or two more times to really wrap my mind around it. See, I never really "learned" to cook. My mother is an instinctive cook, she understands food and doesn't need a recipe in front of her to make an amazing meal. I did not inherit this gift. I need a list of ingredients and precise directions to feel comfortable in the kitchen. And so this book is actually perfect for me, but there's so much information to absorb that I couldn't take it all in. This is one of the few books that I bought without having read it first and I'm glad that I have a copy to keep on hand. It might take a long time to feel perfectly at ease in the kitchen on my own, but I definitely think the lessons in this book will help me get there.

Oscar Picks!

2010-03-05T19:39:00.000-08:00

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

I have loved Christopher Plummer since The Sound of Music; Woody Harrelson has been doing some good work lately; Stanley Tucci is incredibly talented, I love that his range extends from the gay fashion editor in The Devil Wears Prada to the virile husband in Julie & Julia; and Matt Damon looks AMAZING in Invictus; but this is Christoph Waltz's Oscar to lose. Seriously, have you seen Inglourious Basterds? I thought his acceptance speeches at the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards were kind of cheesy, but I'm still excited to hear what he has to say on Sunday night.

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

I think Penelope Cruz and Maggie Gyllenhall fall into the "honor to be nominated" category and that in another year Anna Kendrick might have had a real chance, since the Academy loves to award promising young ingenues. And while Vera Farmiga was fantastic, it's no surprise that Mo'Nique will take home the Oscar. I have no plans to see Precious because the commercials were so sad that I wanted to off myself -- and frankly, it really bothers me how long the stupid title is -- but from what I've heard, she totally deserves it. Well played, Mo'Nique.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Jeremy Renner and Colin Firth already won just by being nominated, and I think that if George Clooney hadn't won for Syriana a few years ago, he would be a more serious contender. I haven't seen Invictus, but I'm willing to bet that Morgan Freeman would be a deserving winner and I kind of hope he pulls off a win. However, the time -- and the role -- is right for Jeff Bridges to win and I think he will.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourney Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Neither Helen Mirren nor Gabourney Sidibe have any buzz going for them whatsoever, so I'm counting them out of the running. In another year, Carey Mulligan might have had a shot with her role in An Education. But we all know it's coming down to Bullock v. Streep, Oscar Death Match 2010. Now, if Meryl doesn't win, it will be a travesty. It's gonna be her, or I will lose my faith in humanity.

WRITING -- ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche, In the Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

This looks like a tight race to me. An Education has an outside chance at best; if Precious wins anything aside from Supporting Actress, this may be it; but don't count out District 9 and Up in the Air. I say In the Loop should win but District 9 will win.

WRITING -- ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Bob Peterson and Pete Docter, Up

Again, a tight race! I don't think the Coen Brothers are at the front of the pack, and the writers of Up should feel honored with the nomination. The Messenger could pick up a win here, but don't count out Quentin Tarantino or Mark Boal for The Hurt Locker. I think that this award will go to one of those two pictures, and I think it will go to one whose director does not win. (Does that make sense? It does in my head.) I'm not sure who it's going to be in the end, so I'm going to guess Quentin Tarantino, since I doubt he'll get the Directing award but the Academy should recognize the achievement that this movie is.

DIRECTING

James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air

I think Jason Reitman has a long career ahead of him and will be nominated again in the future, so he shouldn't feel bad if he doesn't win. I doubt it will be Lee Daniels, I don't think there's that much... affection? for Precious. Tarantino is not a great fit with the Academy, I don't think. He's probably like their red-headed stepchild. That leads us to the other main "feud" this year, between exes Bigelow and Cameron. I'm not going to lie, I would just plain rather see Bigelow win for The Hurt Locker (since I think it may be the only major award it will receive), so that's my pick.

BEST PICTURE

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Ugh. I am hating the whole 10 nominees thing! And seriously, if there are 10 Best Picture nominees there should be 10 Directing nominees. It's a little preposterous. I really have no idea who's leading the pack in this category, but I'm going to guess Avatar. I don't feel great about it (that movie was SO long, and unnecessarily so!) so I'm not going to elaborate.

51. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

2010-02-25T18:33:00.001-08:00

I told my friend Stacey that I needed book recommendations and she thought of Firefly Lane right away. She told me that she read it in three days, and that she laughed AND cried while reading. I borrowed her copy, and read the whole thing one Saturday while Colin was working. I couldn't put it down! Every time I tried, I couldn't stop thinking about it and what was going to happen next.

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all - beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, stepped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable.

So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives. For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship - jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart...and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

Plot summary lifted from the book jacket. Colin typed it up for me because he can't stand my hunt-and-peck typing.

I'm a total sucker for stories about life-long female friendships. Nothing against my own gender, but I think female friendships can be tricky. Let's say you're lucky enough to find a friend that totally gets you -- knows exactly where you're coming from, knows what to say and when not to say anything. It's rare. Now try to hold onto that friend -- it's not always easy. Maybe your old best friend is jealous of your new best friend. Maybe you like the same stupid boy. Maybe one of you moves away. There are a million little things that can get in the way if you let them. It's a minefield! Now, I have friends and my sisters and Colin, but I don't really have a best girlfriend and I miss it. So reading Firefly Lane was very satisfying. And it really is a page-turner, I could not put it down and walk away. And like Stacey, I laughed AND cried while reading. That happens less often than you think. This book would be great to take on vacation or to spend a lazy Saturday reading, like I did. I highly recommend it!

50. Enemies of the People by Kati Marton

2010-02-25T18:06:00.001-08:00

I read about Enemies of the People by Kati Marton somewhere, and kept seeing the title pop up on book blogs and review sites. It sounded really interesting, so I placed a request at the library and waited my turn. The day that I went to pick it up, Marton was interviewed on The Colbert Report (which is practically required viewing in our home). This seemed fortuitous to me somehow, so I started reading the next day.

"You are opening a Pandora's box."

Marton was warned when she filed for her family's secret police files in Budapest. But her family history -- during both the Nazi and the Communist periods -- was too full of shadows. The files revealed terrifying truths: secret love affairs, betrayals inside the family circle, torture and brutalities alongside acts of stunning courage -- and, above all, deep family love. In this true-life thriller, Kati Marton, an accomplished journalist, exposes the cruel mechanics of the Communist Terror State, using the secret police files on her journalist parents as well as dozens of interviews that reveal how her family was spied on and betrayed by friends and colleagues, and even their children's baby-sitter. In this moving and brave memoir, Marton searches for and finds her parents, and love. Marton relates her eyewitness account of her mother's and father's arrests in Cold War Budapest and the terrible separation that followed. She describes the pain her parents endured in prison - isolated from each other and their children. She reveals the secret war between Washington and Moscow, in which Marton and her family were pawns in a much larger game. By the acclaimed author of The Great Escape, Enemies of the People is a tour de force, an important work of history as it was lived, a narrative of multiple betrayals on both sides of the Cold War that ends with triumph and a new beginning in America.

Plot summary lifted from the book jacket. Colin typed it up for me because he can't stand my hunt-and-peck typing.

First, let me get the negatives out of the way. In my experience, expectations have an enormous effect on your enjoyment of a book. For some reason, I was expecting to be riveted while reading Enemies of the People. While this book is interesting, I wasn't riveted and that made me feel like it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. The subject matter and the way that Marton chose to write about it was a bit dryer than I expected. You hear about secret police investigating and arresting journalists and you expect suspense and intrigue. In actuality, the surveillance of the Martons must have been tedious for the state. It doesn't seem like very much is happening. And Kati made extensive use of her research, quoting from informants and reports in the files. I can see why she made this choice -- the book is in essence a result of this journey to uncover what the files contained. And those contents are extraordinary, but I felt a bit mired down in the excerpts at times.

In the end, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. What happened to Kati Marton and her family almost seems like fiction; the fact that it's all true and the evidence is right in front of us is incredible. I appreciated Marton's sense of humor and her willingness to share how her past has shaped her life -- that is to say, the past as she knew it and the past as she now knows it. The most valuable part of the book for me is the very clear sense you get of the atmosphere in Hungary at the time. Marton relates the day-to-day life in a police state eloquently, making the unimaginable imaginable. If you're at all interested in this time period or subject matter, I recommend you give this book a try.

Here's a clip of Marton's appearance on The Colbert Report. It's very entertaining, even if you're not a Colbert fan.

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Kati Marton

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Skate Expectations

(I especially like the part when Marton calls her baby-sitter a bitch.)

50 down, 50 to go! And the highlight reel, sort of.

2010-02-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

I still have to post the review, but I officially finished my 50th book tonight! Holy accomplishment, Batman!

Life has been getting in my way lately, as it is wont to do. Between work and family stuff, I haven't kept on pace with my project. And if you read the sidebar, you'll notice I'm reading four books at the moment. That's unusual for me; I'm very orderly about starting one thing and finishing it before moving onto the next. Usually. For some reason, I'm having trouble finishing books right now. I think I'm just distracted.

I am going to try and get back on pace, because I really am enjoying myself. This is something that I chose to do and am excited about. Although, when I think about the amount and variety of books that I've read in the past seven months, I feel like I've already won (regardless of how cheesy that sounds).

I was going to try and do a whole "highlights of the first 50" post, but I think I'm too tired. So I'll just include the first few that come to mind.

I'm really glad I discovered the author Tana French. Read my reviews of In the Woods and The Likeness if you want to know why. I am eagerly anticipating her next book. I love it when I want to read absolutely everything a certain author writes.
I should be more open to my family members' suggestions. Kudos to my dad for recommending 1632 and Old Man's War, which is very good so far. And I loved American Shaolin, which my sister Annie suggested.
That leads me to my next point -- apparently, I enjoy science fiction and fantasy. This is entirely contrary to my previous self-image. But giving new things a chance pays off sometimes. I have the sequel to A Game of Thrones saved on my laptop, and I'm itching to read it.
I have to work on not biting off more than I can chew! Sometimes I set myself up for failure. See Public Enemies, An American Tragedy.
Although I am benefiting from trying new things, I do like what I like. That's not going to change. I'll always be excited about books like Bobby and Jackie and L.A. Candy. That's me.

I feel like I have more to say, but I can't think of anything. Let's end with a really awesome photo of my sisters and me from childhood, okay? This will be fun.

Mollie, Annie, Maggie

Apparently someone confiscated my pacifier in order to get a better photo. Well, here's proof of how contrary I can be. Look how distraught I am without it! And Mollie and Annie are so happy. Delighted, from the looks of it. At least Annie is reaching out to me. I'm also just noticing how cute their sweaters are, while mine is the color of oatmeal. Maybe that's another reason I look detached and bewildered?

49. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

2010-01-29T10:15:00.001-08:00

A couple of people recommended this book to me after learning that I read and enjoyed Pride and Prejudice. My sister Mollie and her fiance Kevin gave Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to Colin for Christmas, and he graciously allowed me to read his copy before he did. Warning, love: There are minor spoilers below.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.

So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton -- and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers -- and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield. Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.

Plot summary courtesy of the paperback back cover. (And in regard to the last sentence, may I say, "Oh snap!")

My first reaction while reading was that the book wasn't quite as fun or funny as I was expecting. I was expecting more laugh-loud-loud humor, but the writing is witty and the humor more subtle. I did have some laugh-out-loud moments starting with Elizabeth's visit to Collins and Charlotte, but that's more than 100 pages in. Also, I thought this would be a more fast-paced read, but it's very faithful to the pacing of the original. It took longer for me to read -- and become invested in the story -- than I thought it would.

That being said, I still enjoyed the book tremendously once I adjusted my expectations. I think Grahame-Smith's approach was wildly clever, especially in the plot points he took more liberties with. I especially liked Charlotte's storyline and Elizabeth's bewilderment at no one's noticing Charlotte's deterioration. This is the point at which I really became invested and had fun reading. I didn't really think it was necessary to include Collins' intentions to hang himself after Charlotte's beheading, but apparently Grahame-Smith felt Collins deserved to be killed off. I loved the comeuppance that Wickham received at Darcy's hand; I thought it very fitting. And as surprised as I was when Elizabeth and Lady Catherine began their duel, it worked very well in this alternate universe. The tailoring of the world of the original Pride and Prejudice to Grahame-Smith's zombie-ravaged version was thorough and creative, although I think he could have taken a few more chances with the source material.

Side note: I particularly enjoyed the repeated mentions of the Bennet sisters' training in kung fu at the Shaolin temple in China. I was pleasantly reminded of American Shaolin, and felt clued-in to how difficult said training would have been. I appreciated Grahame-Smith's changing Lady Catherine's questioning Elizabeth about not having a tutor to questioning her about why the sisters trained in China instead of Japan, the lady's preferred choice. I just thought that was hilarious.

I would absolutely recommend this book, but expect the pace to be very consistent with the original and that the humor is more quiet and subtle. I think you will probably enjoy Pride and Prejudice and Zombies more if you have already read Pride and Prejudice, but you can still enjoy it on its own. Oh, and I checked imdb.com and as I expected, there's a movie version already in the works. Natalie Portman has been cast as Elizabeth. What do you think? I think it will probably rock it out.

48. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

2010-01-28T08:52:00.001-08:00

When I asked for book recommendations for this project, my sister Annie sent me an e-mail with a lot of suggestions. Many of them were science fiction and fantasy books, since those are genres that she knows better than I do. A Game of Thrones, the first book in George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series, was near the top of her list. I checked Amazon's Kindle store and saw that I could buy A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings, the second book in the series, for the price of one. I figured there was a decent chance that I would become invested in the story, so I went for it and bought both. So far, I have only read the first book. Warning: there are a few spoilers below.

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades, and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean beauty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

Plot summary courtesy of towerofthehand.com.

The first thing you need to know about A Game of Thrones is that it's long. (Very long.) I don't know the page count, but it's up there. I wanted avoid another An American Tragedy situation (wherein I get caught up in one book for a length of time and fall behind in my pace), so I decided to read other books at the same time. It took about a month to read, and I think I got through eight other books in that time. I told my dad about this strategy, and he sent me a quote from Ambrose Bierce that he thought I would enjoy:

"The covers of this book are too far apart."

Well said, Mr. Bierce.

The next thing you need to know about this book is that it's complicated. I looked up the Song of Fire and Ice series on Wikipedia before I started reading, so I could see what I was getting into. There was a summary of events that took place before the action in A Game of Thrones, and it seemed like a tangled web to me, even after I started reading. There were times when it seemed like the cast numbered in the thousands, and many of them had long, interwoven histories with other characters.

So you see, the book requires a commitment. And while that may sound like a bad thing, it's not. If you dedicate the time and attention to A Game of Thrones, you will be rewarded with a genuinely enjoyable and fulfilling reading experience. Martin has created an entire world filled with unique customs, history, settings, and characters. It's so well-developed and thought-out; I can't imagine being able to do that. I think I may have to read it again at some point; there are so many details that I'm sure I wasn't taking them all in. Oh, and I should mention something that Annie included in her e-mail: You need to give this book a good hundred pages before it really starts to get awesome. Agreed! But it's definitely worth it once you get past that initial hump.

If you've read my previous reviews, you're aware that I can't keep track of action sequences very well. That's true for me in this book as well. There are grand-scale scenes of battle as well as smaller-scale scenes of swordplay between children that I struggled a little with. What really interested me were the motivations of the characters and the wealth of intrigue included in the plot. It's hard to give examples without getting into the whole plot, but suffice it to say that the struggle for power brings out the best in some people and the worst in others. How they interact and plot against each other is fascinating to me. I love the idea of these power plays being a "game of thrones." I think that's very apt, and I liked when characters referred to that:

At one point, a character who yearns for the power his family previously had told someone that the people were secretly waiting for him to seize control of the kingdoms. The other character responded that the people didn't care who won the game of thrones, they wanted to stay out of it and be left to their day-to-day lives. That resonated with me, and I wondered how true that might be for modern-day conflicts.

At another point, the queen remarks, "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground." If you didn't already have a firm grasp of her character, that statement would probably give you a good idea.

And finally, one character asked, "...why is it always the innocents who suffer most, when you high lords play your game of thrones?" Again, this resonated and made me think about modern-day conflicts and who truly pays the consequences.

I really liked the way that Martin alternated between different characters' points of view in each chapter. It was very effective, and rounded out the story. He is an incredibly skilled writer to be able to tell his story from multiple well-developed characters' perspectives. It was a great way to subtly drop clues and hints to the reader that not all of the characters were privy to. Although I don't mind saying, there were a few surprises that I didn't see coming at all -- for those of you who read the book, my jaw dropped when Eddard figured out why Jon Arryn was killed. And the scene leading up to Eddard's execution had my heart pounding! Not all writers can achieve that level of suspense. I did become really invested in the story after all; the instances of unfairness (when Robert ruled that the direwolves had to be put down, for example) made me so mad that I was shaking my head and muttering, much to Colin's delight.

Annie told me that the Song of Fire and Ice series are the best fiction books -- of any genre -- that she's ever read. I'm on my way to agreeing with her, and I highly recommend you check out A Game of Thrones.

47. A Cup of Christmas Tea by Tom Hegg

2010-01-27T06:57:00.001-08:00

This book was a Christmas gift from my aunt, Marj. She left a sweet note inside the pages, explaining that this is one of her favorite Christmas stories and she hoped that I would enjoy it. I was touched and happy to receive such a thoughtful gift, and decided that I wanted to include it in my Magnolia Reads project.

A Cup of Christmas Tea is the story of a young adult invited to tea by an aging aunt at the holidays. After dreading it, he goes to visit his aunt and is surprised by what a great time he has visiting with her and seeing her house filled with decorations. He is amazed at how alive her Christmas spirit is even though her body is worn and aged.

As a young adult who has witnessed the deteriorating health of aging grandparents, I really appreciated the message in this book. We all need a reminder to value those people in our lives, and seek out their time instead of neglecting them. As simple as it sounds, that can be hard to remember.

I really enjoyed the writing style; it was lyrical, almost like a poem or a song. And it was clever and witty, which for some reason I wasn't expecting. Here is one of my favorite passages:

The cards were in the mail,

all the gifts beneath the tree,

and 30 days reprieve

'til VISA could catch up with me.

While this is a nice story for Christmas for all ages, I think it's aimed a bit more at adults. It is definitely a great addition to my collection of books, and I highly recommend that you add it to yours.

46. Heat Wave by Richard Castle

2010-01-16T15:53:00.001-08:00

I really like the show Castle. Colin and I watch and enjoy it every week. Nathan Fillion is at his charming and ruggedly handsome best, and the supporting cast has had a great rhythm down from the first episode. It resists traditional labels; it's a procedural, but infused with wit, romance, friendships, and family. A smart and funny show with an incredibly likable cast? Count me in. In case you're not watching, the basic premise is this: Richard Castle is a best-selling mystery writer. Feeling somewhat uninspired and having killed off his most popular character, he's looking for something new and exciting to write about. He meets Detective Kate Beckett when she's investigating a series of murders that are eerily similar to those in one of Castle's books. He acts as a consultant on the case and decides to write a series of books about female detective based on Beckett. After pulling some strings, he arranges to shadow her on the job as research. Heat Wave is the first book penned by Castle about Detective Nikki Heat, aka Kate Beckett.

A New York real estate tycoon plunges to his death on a Manhattan sidewalk. A trophy wife with a past survives a narrow escape from a brazen attack. Mobsters and moguls with no shortage of reasons to kill trot out their alibis. And then, in the suffocating grip of a record heat wave, comes another shocking murder and a sharp turn in a tense journey into the dirty little secrets of the wealthy. Secrets that prove to be fatal. Secrets that lay hidden in the dark until one NYPD detective shines a light.

Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly best-selling Derek Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City's top homicide squads. She's hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York's finest. Pulitzer Prize-winning Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. His wise-cracking and meddling aren't her only problems. As she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them. The one called heat.

Plot summary courtesy of the book jacket.

This book is a great complement to the show, but I don't think it could stand on its own independently of it. Maybe it could, but I think the fun is in knowing that "Castle" wrote it. There's no mention anywhere in the book or on the book jacket of another author, even the acknowledgments are written in his voice (the cast members do get a shout-out there, Castle thanks a list of friends whose first names match up with the main cast members' first names). I liked the way the story was adapted from the real life portrayed in the show to characters and events in the book -- the changes, including Castle's profession and the facts of Kate's mother's murder, work well and are entirely believable as how Castle would change events as he writes. I didn't realize there would be an actual heat wave going on, I thought that was just a play on Nikki Heat's last name.

I only have a couple of complaints. Nikki is attacked in her home late one night by a suspect, who had already made threatening comments of a sexual nature toward her earlier in the day. She had just finished a bath and hadn't dressed yet when she discovered that he was in the apartment, and had to fight him off while naked and hearing more sexual taunts. Castle airs on ABC and is a fairly family-friendly show, so this felt like too drastic a shift in tone to me. As a woman, I found it to be way too creepy, especially because I wasn't expecting it. Also, I lost track of the mystery a tiny bit toward the end. This happens to me sometimes, especially when the mystery revolves around art theft, so I don't think it was necessarily the fault of the author but it still made me feel a bit dumb.

Aside from those complaints, I thought it was a good, fun read for fans of the show. Not an essential read, but a good, fun one. I want to close with a couple of quotes from the book which may explain in part why I liked it:

The neighborhood lunch rush was over, and tourists were either across the street cooling in the American Museum of Natural History or seeking refuge in Starbucks over iced coffees ending in vowels. Her disdain for the coffee drinkers dissolved into a mental note to get one herself on the way back to the precinct.

Rook brought a Dean & DeLuca cup to Heat's desk. "Here, I got you your usual. A nonfat, no-foam, double-pump vanilla latte."
"You know how I feel about frou-frou coffee drinks."
"And yet you have one every morning. Such a complex woman."
She took it from him and sipped. "Thanks. Very thoughtful." Her phone rang. "And next time remember the chocolate shavings."

I love that! See, the humor from the show is intact in the book and they poke fun at fancy coffee drinks. It's like they're writing this for me, you know?

45. Columbine: A True Crime Story by Jeff Kass

2010-01-14T09:52:00.001-08:00

A few months ago, I read and reviewed Columbine by Dave Cullen. As you may or may not remember, the review was fairly glowing. I rarely get comments on my blog posts (I find that people usually prefer to discuss books with me in person) so I was surprised and happy to get the e-mail notification that someone commented on the Columbine post. The anonymous commenter copied and pasted quotes from two positive reviews of another book about Columbine without stating who they were, why they were commenting, or adding any thoughts of their own about either book. It was weird and creepy. I placed a request at my library for the other book, Columbine: A True Crime Story by Jeff Kass, and considered it a recommendation. The book finally came in and I read it over a weekend. I started to get really curious about the anonymous commenter, mainly because I thought that Cullen's book was vastly superior to Kass's. I did a lot of searching online, and found eight other blog posts about Columbine by Dave Cullen that received the exact same comment that I did, sometimes signed with initials and sometimes not. Eventually I found one that also had a comment from Dave Cullen, explaining that the anonymous comment was from the founder of the publishing house that put out the Kass book -- it seems the guy has a Google Alert for Cullen's name and has been leaving similar comments for months. I cannot tell you how much this pissed me off. If someone had commented that they knew of another book about the subject and thought it was better researched or more comprehensive or whatever, I still would have been interested. Why go for creepy and weird -- and anonymous? I don't get it and I don't appreciate it.

I'll be honest, I was not excited to read this book when I picked it up. I hate the cover, especially because I thought the cover of Columbine was flawless. I was interested to find out what the sub-sub-title meant -- the title in full is Columbine: A True Crime Story: a victim, the killers and the nation's search for answers. Why "a" victim? As I read, I grew more confused about this. Once I had finished, the only conclusion I came to was that Kass was referring to the family of Isaiah Shoels, who he profiles in detail. But I'm not even sure that I'm correct; maybe I'm just missing something. And while we're on the topic of the Shoels family, I'm not sure why he chose them to represent the victims' families. Because they're the most controversial? Because they believe the tragedy was part of a larger conspiracy? Maybe Kass felt the Shoels' story had not been told properly -- but I'm sure families of the other victims have stories that are just as compelling. Why not tell them?

The book opens with a foreword by Douglas Brinkley (something touted on the front cover). This foreword is also included verbatim on Kass's website. Um, just one thing: Who is Douglas Brinkley? There's no explanation as to who he is or why he's qualified to the write the foreword anywhere in the book or on that page of Kass's website. According to Wikipedia, he's a noted historian and professor. I felt really stupid for having had to look the guy up on Wikipedia, and I resented it. Seriously, is this guy so well-known that it's not necessary to identify him in any way? Is it just me being ignorant? In his foreword, Brinkley writes, "Like any journalist worth his salt, Kass provides lots of minute detail which adds immeasurably to the saga..." Sounds promising, yes? Kass begins the book with a cursory overview of the events of April 20, 1999. Throughout, he adds some humanizing information about each victim -- that minute detail we were promised, I presume. Here's one example: "He wears glasses, and loves homemade tortillas and cats." Um... really? That's the most ridiculous sentence that I've ever read. It's not quite as humanizing as one might think.

When I described Kass's overview of the events of the day as cursory, I really meant it. This was a very brief rundown of the action, so to speak. For example, Kass states at one point, "When did teacher Dave Sanders die? Police interviews of the two students who tended to Sanders -- whose death remains among the most controversial -- are among the briefest." Rather than going into actual detail concerning Sanders' ordeal or explaining exactly why it was controversial, Kass tells us what his outfit looked like. The story of Patrick Ireland's escape from the school library is given a short paragraph. There is no mention of the widespread myth that Cassie Bernall said yes when asked if she still believed in God. After reading this chapter, I found myself wondering when Kass would revisit the events and fill in the gaps. He never did, in my opinion. When compared with Cullen's Columbine, there is very little information provided on what exactly happened in the school; the stories of Dave Sanders, Patrick Ireland and Cassie Bernall are told with much more background information and detail by Cullen. The conclusion that I came to is that Kass must have felt it would be redundant or exploitative to write about the events of the day in detail. He may have thought it unnecessary considering the ten years' worth of reporting the events that has taken place. I can't say that motivation isn't valid. But when reading something billed as "A True Crime Story" I would have preferred more information about the actual crime.

Kass and Cullen appear to agree on one thing: Bullying was not the one motivation behind the killers' actions. Both explore the mental history of the two boys, but Kass also presents another theory. He begins his first chapter after the overview of April 20th with background information on the attitudes toward honor and violence in the American West and South. He makes an argument that you can attribute school shootings, at least in part, to these traditional attitudes. I don't think he sells this theory effectively. In my opinion, that would have been a great premise for a book on its own. But the theory isn't given enough attention for me to have been convinced. Kass also provides more background information on the two boys' families -- going back to one's great-grandfather. I didn't find this to be very effective either. I didn't think it added anything to the book, although I'm sure many people will be interested in the mental health history of one of the boy's mothers.

"If a thermometer could measure their psyches, Eric would shoot the mercury up. He had a hot anger. Dylan's sadness would drop the mercury to negative. But they were joined at zero -- touching each other in their disillusionment, and their social standing."

This is one example of Kass's writing that I shook my head at. (It's a bit of a reach, isn't it?) I don't think the book is particularly well-written. Kass obviously has passion for his subject, but that doesn't necessarily translate into good writing. I was also very put off when he criticized both the police department and social workers for their bad spelling and grammar. Normally, this would not be off-putting for a professional proofreader and copy editor. Normally, I might even applaud. But Kass himself could have benefitted from better proofreading and copy editing. For example, on page 41 Kass writes, "...his smile appears contended..." Although that would pass a spell-check, Kass clearly means "contented." I also noted inconsistent use of both "Web site" and "website" as well as usage of "victims families" and "victim's families" when "victims' families" is the intended meaning (don't worry, he used that one a few times too). I made note of other examples, but I won't bother listing them all here. For someone who calls into question the intelligence of social workers (stating "Their written notes that have been publicly released are full of misspellings and might show them to not be too bright."), Kass's own work should have been above reproach. Sadly, it is not. Also, his use of [sic] seems fairly arbitrary (which I found odd), to say the least. I noticed typos in quoted materials that went without the [sic] and yet when quoting one report, he inserted it after "self motivated" -- I don't find the lack of a hyphen to be so incorrect or unusual, but that's just me. And from a typesetting point of view, this book is sorely lacking. The length of em dashes and the spacing around them are totally inconsistent, there are random extra spaces throughout, and at least two paragraphs with line breaks that I can only describe as seriously wonky.

As you can probably tell, I had a very strong reaction to this book. I'll try to wrap this up soon, so I can close the book on this one (so to speak).

I don't think that book contains any significant information overlooked by Cullen. I think that Kass had more of an ax to grind, and was less objective. I don't think this book is well-written. I don't think Kass has a clear enough focus in this book; I don't have a good sense of what his objective is in writing it. In my opinion, it's not worth the time it takes to read. But I have to say, I don't get any enjoyment out of writing such a negative review. I have no desire to trash someone's life work, and it's not as though I consider myself a Columbine expert. It is simply my opinion that your time is better spent reading Columbine by Dave Cullen, which is elegantly written and certainly at least as well-researched as Kass's book.

44. Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham

2010-01-08T09:44:00.001-08:00

I think I read about this book in an issue of People magazine. Apparently someone ran a website as if it were a receptionist named Holly's e-mail inbox, and it was hugely popular. I'm not sure if this book is mainly a compilation of entries posted there or original writing. I tried going to hollysinbox.com (as I was directed by a note from "Holly" in the book) but the link doesn't appear to be active anymore.

Holly's Inbox starts on Holly's first day as a receptionist at a major bank in London. It's readily apparent that she's total crap at the job, and struggling to keep her head above water. Holly's story unfolds through her To: and From: e-mails over the next four months, as she improves at work, begins a new relationship, deals with an impossible washing machine repair company, and keeps tabs on her friends and family.

(I think I'm going to leave the plot summary at that, as it would be really easy to include major spoilers.)

I read this book on New Year's Day while Colin watched three (four?) college bowl games. (He really loves college football.) The e-mail format was easy to fall into, I think because the e-mails are pretty short and the story is fairly fast-paced. Definitely a page-turner, which is good considering it's 600+ pages long! The stories are really entertaining, and Holly is a sympathetic main character. Her supporting characters fulfill the usual cliches (gay best friend, meddling mom, scoundrel boyfriend) but still feel fresh and original as you're reading. You're not privy to all of Holly's past from the beginning, and the author (whoever it actually is) does a great job of gradually giving the reader bits of information to piece together. I have a feeling that a sequel is on the way; there was at least one plot point left unresolved.

If you're looking for a good chick lit book, you should give this one a try! It's entertaining and at times silly, but weighty enough that you won't feel silly for having invested time in it.

43. The Restless Sleep: Inside New York City's Cold Case Squad by Stacy Horn

2010-01-08T09:39:00.001-08:00

Once again, I have no recollection of who recommended this book to me (I have to start keeping track better!). I was excited to hear about it because I used to watch that show Cold Case, and thought it was really interesting. Although, ultimately it was too effing sad. It's like the producers wanted to give viewers a reason to slit their wrists or something. Seriously, have you seen it? So sad, every week. But again, the idea of a cold case squad and how it works is really interesting to me, so I was happy to get the recommendation (from whoever it was!).

Stacy Horn first heard New York City's Cold Case Squad when she met a detective who worked in it and who briefly described the purpose to her. She was so intrigued, she arranged a meeting with members of the squad to see if writing a book would be feasible. I'm not sure how long she spent writing and researching The Restless Sleep, but it must have been at least a couple of years. The history of the formation of the squad and information about its protocol is extensive, as is the research included on homicide statistics in New York City this century. This information is interspersed with accounts of five different cases worked by the squad. The book is broken down into three parts, and each includes one chapter about each of those five cases. The first part is called Catching the Case and explains the various ways that cases are assigned to the squad and the beginning stages of investigations. The second part is called Banging on Doors and covers the middle of the investigations, comprised mainly of tracking down witnesses and suspects and visiting them over and over. The third part is called The Blue Five and centers around closing the case -- or having worked the case until all leads have been investigated and there's nothing left to do. ("The Blue Five" refers to the final piece of documentation in the police file that signals the end of the investigation.)

I can't tell you how much I liked this book. It's not always easy to find a non-fiction book that classifies as a page-turner, and this one definitely was for me. The writing was only very rarely dry, which I thought was understandable considering how much information was relayed. I thought the format was very effective, and I really liked how Horn used real-life detectives and their cases to demonstrate how the procedures and protocol are used in practice. I think anyone who is interested in police work or enjoys watching procedural TV shows would enjoy reading about the inner workings of this squad. One caution: If you mind occasional bad language or crude colloquial phrases, be forewarned that both are included in this book. I didn't see it as vulgar, though; I thought Horn was writing in tune with how the detectives spoke with each other. At least, that's my take on it and I thought it really worked in context.

42. Invisible Sisters: A Memoir by Jessica Handler

2010-01-07T09:49:00.001-08:00

I saw Invisible Sisters on the new non-fiction shelf at my library, read the book jacket, and decided to check it out. As it turns out, I misread the book jacket. I thought this was a memoir about two sisters, one of whom was sick and one of whom was not. It's actually about three sisters, two of whom are sick and one who is not. Being the youngest of three sisters, I felt nervous about reading this book once I read the book jacket properly. I didn't want to start imagining scenarios in which my sisters became sick and were taken away from me. So it was with slight dread that I started reading.

Jessica Handler recounts growing up with her mother, father and two younger sisters, Susie and Sarah, in Invisible Sisters. Susie is diagnosed with leukemia at age eight. Sarah suffers from symptoms of Kostmann's syndrome from birth. At one point, Jessica found herself clarifying her status to a nurse, "I'm the well sister." Jessica's family soon becomes accustomed to illness; their family is doctor is also a close family friend, calls and visits to the hospital are routine. Sarah has to learn to swallow pills as a toddler, and all of the sisters practice with candy. Things begin to fall apart when Susie passes away after two years of treatment. The remaining family members don't quite know how to deal with their grief individually or as a group. Jessica's father begins a slow decline into addiction and estrangement from the family, and Jessica herself experiments with alcohol and drugs as a teen. Sarah lives until the age of 27, at which point she succumbs to her illness. Jessica is left the sole surviving sister, haunted by her "invisible sisters" and fantasies of memories they could have made together with their children, had Susie and Sarah lived. Jessica eventually reconciles with her father, forgiving him for past mistakes, and marries in her hometown of Atlanta.

I'm going to start my response to this book with a quote from the About Me section of my sister Mollie's blog:

"The oldest of three sisters, I am somehow always aware of how similar and different we are from each other, and that no one can really know me without knowing them."

I really couldn't have put it better myself. From the day I was born, I was part of a set. The three of us are still known as The Sullivan Girls in some circles. Although Jessica writes eloquently about her experiences, I still can't quite imagine my life if Mollie or Annie had become sick or passed away. I don't want to think about. We still have our whole lives ahead of us, Mollie is getting married this year and none of us are mothers yet. And we're each older than Sarah Handler was when she died. I left the book feeling shaken and sad, but above all incredibly, effing lucky.

This memoir is very well-written and incredibly moving. Even though I was scared to read it and I still don't want to put myself in Handler's shoes, I read the book in one sitting and then felt very appreciative of all that I have. I would definitely recommend it anyone.

41. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

2010-01-06T11:40:00.001-08:00

I know that I read about this book somewhere and noted the title, but I can't for the life of me remember where. It took awhile to get to the top of the requests list at library, which I think is a good sign. I have found that if a book is in demand at my library, there's a chance that it'll be pretty good. This one was no exception.

The titular character of The Uncommon Reader is Queen Elizabeth II, who stumbles upon a mobile library van outside the palace while in pursuit of her runaway corgis. Trying to be polite, she checks out a book and, with a weighty sense of duty to follow through on her folly, reads it from start to finish. In her continuing attempts to be polite, she checks out another book and another. She takes a liking to Norman, a kitchen worker who also frequents the mobile library, and promotes him to be one of her assistants. The Queen and Norman begin a "to be read" list and set out on a journey of discovery. This ruffles the feathers of many higher-ups at the palace and in government, who are confounded by the Queen's new passion and suspect senility.

This is a very clever novella that I got quite the kick out of. Bennett pokes fun at the proper behavior and protocol at the palace, and the results are subversively funny. But I sense a fondness for the Queen in his writing, and it stops short of being unkind. I think I would have appreciated some of the humor more if I had read more of the books that the Queen was reading, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment. The message that reading opens one up to new worlds in a delightful way is expressed loudly and clearly, but Bennett wasn't superior or pedantic about it. I highly recommend this one; it's short, clever and fun, even if you're already aware of the many benefits of reading for pleasure.

40. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

2010-01-06T09:21:00.001-08:00

I went to the library one day with a list of books to get, having checked online to see if they were available in the library. Maybe I was distracted when I was checking, but one had been checked out when I got there and another was at the other library location in my town. Sheesh! One of the books I was looking for was by Jonathan Safran Foer. Colin suggested that I get Everything is Illuminated because he loves the movie, and would watch it with me when I finished the book. So I shook off the disappointment of my less-than-stellar fact-checking and took his suggestion.

Everything is Illuminated is comprised of two stories. The first is about a young American, named Jonathan Safran Foer, and his journey to the Ukraine to find the woman, Augustine, who may or may not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. He is accompanied by Alex, a young Ukrainian translator; Alex's grandfather, also named Alex, their driver; and Sammy Davis Jr. Jr., Alex's grandfather's seeing eye dog (for Alex's grandfather, depressed since the death of his wife, insists he is blind). The second is the history of Jonathan's grandfather's shtetl in the Ukraine and his ancestors who lived there.

I loved this book. I had so much fun reading it, which is a little surprising considering that some parts are quite dark. I thought the format was very clever. The book is written after the majority of the action takes place -- Jonathan is writing a book about the experience, and Alex sends him chapters from his point of view as well as letters in response to Jonathan's feedback (which we are not privy to). The history of the shtetl is written by Jonathan, and chapters of it are interspersed with Alex's writing. Alex's English is quite broken, and I thought it was insanely annoying for the first two pages -- but once I got into the rhythm of it, I really enjoyed it. The subtle humor in the mistakes and literal translations had me laughing out loud. I thought the history of Jonathan's ancestors was going to be really boring, but it was entertaining for the most part and only dry occasionally. There was some emphasis on the idea that the choices and decisions people make affect the lives of their descendants for years to come, which reminded me of Ursula, Under. While the book was funny and entertaining, there were serious undertones throughout and it left me thinking about the characters and their choices.

I enjoyed Everything is Illuminated the movie, too. I thought it was probably the best adaptation that could be made. I knew the film makers would have to cut the back story on Jonathan's ancestors, and they did (it would have been too complicated to cut back and forth to, in my opinion). I'm trying to avoid spoilers for anyone who hasn't read the book, but I will say that I didn't really think they needed to change the grandfather's story but I did like the closure on Augustine in the movie. All of that being said, having read the book before seeing the movie made the movie seem incomplete. As is often the case, the book being adapted was so rich with details and humor and well-developed characters that the movie paled a bit in comparison.

39. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

2010-01-04T13:01:00.001-08:00

At some point, my father-in-law gave Colin his collection of James Bond paperbacks. (Or Colin "borrowed" them, I'm not sure.) They've been sitting on our bookshelf for awhile now, and I don't think Colin has made a point to read any of them yet. We were talking about the Bond movies one day, and Colin mentioned that when they rebooted the franchise with Daniel Craig, they used Casino Royale as the basis for the story because that was the first book published. For some reason, that intrigued me. I thought it was a pretty cool move on the film makers' part. I asked him if we had a copy of Casino Royale and we found it sitting on the bookshelf with the others.

In Casino Royale, James Bond has what seems like an unusual assignment. MI6 has learned that a criminal named Le Chiffre is running a baccarat game at Casino Royale, in an effort to recover money he lost in a failed chain of brothels. Bond, the agency's best player, is sent to prevent Le Chiffre from winning, in hopes that Le Chiffre's gambling debts will provoke a Soviet spy agency to kill him. All goes to plan until Le Chiffre kidnaps Bond and his beautiful assistant, Vesper Lynd. The money is safely hidden while Le Chiffre tortures Bond for it, only to be assassinated by a Soviet spy. The spy spares Bond's life, and it takes weeks for him to recover. Bond and Vesper are vacationing afterward and Bond notices that Vesper is acting strangely. He begins to suspect her, and wakes one day to find that she has killed herself. In her suicide note, she explains the circumstances that led her to be a double agent. Bond, who had fallen in love with Vesper and hoped to retire and marry her, is devastated. Betrayed and hurt, he reports to MI6 that "The bitch is dead now."

I really enjoyed this book, more than I expected to. I've never been a big fan of the movies, and probably would never have seen Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace if Colin hadn't been so excited about them. For the most part, the stories and action were very interesting and I had a hard time putting the book down. I especially liked the background information provided on Le Chiffre, in the form of a file provided to Bond. I was not as into the card playing, at least not at first. Some scenes of the card playing were a bit dry and I got bored easily. But when it came down to the end of the game and Bond battling it out with Le Chiffre, it was very suspenseful (a pleasant surprise). Although this was the first book in the series, it didn't seem like it. The exposition seemed like that which would be included in any of the books, to help the reader keep up. It just doesn't seem like a beginner's effort, with its tightly woven plot and well-developed characters. Fleming tied everything together incredibly well at the end.

One last thing in response to the book: I was surprised at how blatantly sexist Bond was. I've always heard that criticism leveled toward these stories, but somehow I didn't expect it to be so outrageous. I'm used to living in a time when people trip over themselves trying to be as PC as possible, so it was quite a shock to read some of Bond's thoughts on women. Mind you, it's not as though this is a main emphasis in the book but it still took me by surprise.

We watched Casino Royale the movie after I finished the book, and it stacks up very well. They added minor plot lines and background info, including a couple of insane action sequences, but for the most part the plot of the movie hews closely to the plot of the book. The information on Le Chiffre that I liked so much in the book? Gone in the movie, but somehow it worked. It made him scarier in that format, which was effective. The torture scene? Basically line for line the same as the book. Colin thought I wouldn't be able to handle this scene as he obviously has a better appreciation for how painful that particular torture method would be. Apparently I have a harder heart than he thinks I do, because it didn't really bother me in either format -- it was appropriate to the story. Although I have to say, I really don't care for the actress that played Vesper. At least they didn't cast Scarlett Johansson.

In conclusion, I recommend both -- very highly!

38. L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad

2010-01-04T11:44:00.001-08:00

I've been on Team Lauren since the first season of the now-defunct Laguna Beach (which I loved). Lauren Conrad seems like the kind of girl you want as a best friend -- she comes across as loyal and kind, fun and fashionable. (And yes, I realize that writing those two sentences makes me a complete dork. I've accepted it.) So when I heard that she was writing a trilogy of YA novels about a girl who moves to L.A. and gets a reality show, I was pretty excited -- and skeptical. Every famous-for-doing-nothing celebutante thinks she can write, but that doesn't mean that she can. I checked my library's website and they didn't have a copy, so I kept checking back periodically for the next few months. (I may be a dork, but I'm a cheap dork. No way was I buying it without having read it first.) It finally came in, and then I had to wait for the six people who managed to request it before me to finish. At this point, I really don't even remember when the book came out.

The heroine of L.A. Candy is Jane Roberts, a 19-year old who moves to Los Angeles with her BFF Scarlett. Jane has scored an internship with event planner to the stars Fiona Chen while Scarlett enrolls at USC. The girls are approached by a reality TV producer one night at a club and (once that they've determined that he's legit) they decide to interview for his next project, a Sex and the City-type show about young women in L.A. They get the show, and their world is turned upside down. The show moves them into a new apartment; Fiona promotes Jane -- on-camera, of course; and it readily becomes apparent that this is going to be a lot more work than either of them expected.

All in all, this was a pretty good book. (Yay!) The fact that Lauren Conrad wrote it isn't distracting at all. And while the events are more "inspired by" her experiences than a behind-the-scenes tell-all, you still get tons of insidery details on the production of this kind of show. Jane's producer sent her text messages while filming with prompts to speak up or be nicer to her date. I wonder what kind of texts Lauren received from her producers... I was definitely trying to read between the lines for veiled references to actual people, but I don't think any of the characters are carbon copies of her former cast mates (although the repeated references to one of the characters' stupidity makes me wonder how close Lauren and Audrina Patridge really are). The writing stands up to scrutiny, although it's not so good that you wonder if she had a ghostwriter. I think that Lauren showed a lot of self-awareness and an awareness of how people see her when she created Jane. And the use of other characters' first-person points of view was very effective. As this was the first book in a series of (at least) three, it ended on a bit of a cliff-hanger. I will definitely have to keep a better eye on my library so I don't have to wait as long to read the second one!

37. Sorcery & Cecilia, or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer

2009-12-16T12:08:00.001-08:00

After deciding that I wanted to read one of my suggested books, I chose this title from that list basically at random. I hadn't saved the e-mail from the family friend that suggested it, so I couldn't really remember why she liked it and thought I should give it a try. So I started reading this one without knowing much about it except that it was in the Young Adult section at the library. The book jacket copy was no help -- Colin read it, and said it was the worst book jacket copy he'd ever seen. I wasn't that surprised when it took some time to get invested in the story.

This story is told in a series of letters between two cousins, Cecilia and Kate. The year is 1817 and Kate is making her social debut in London while Cecilia is at home in the English countryside. At first, they describe commonplace occurrences to each other, complaining about their siblings and deciding what dress to wear to which party. However, in their world magic and sorcery are accepted facts of life. The young cousins soon become entangled in a complicated web of competition and deceit amongst a dashing wizard and a ruthless witch and wizard who are attempting to rob him of his powers. Keeping each other apprised of events and advising each other on courses of action through their letters, Cecilia and Kate manage to defeat their enemies -- and become engaged to the men they love.

I was surprised at how invested I eventually became. While I wouldn't really call this book a page-turner, I really did want to know what was going to happen and how all of the events were connected. I grew more comfortable with the letter format as I read, but it's not something I prefer. I am the type of person that sets a book down once I've ended a chapter -- and there were no chapters in this book! I kept setting it down after one letter ended and having to back up a few pages to remind myself of what was going on before starting the next letter. I also had some trouble keeping track of the many secondary characters, although it was easier by the last third of the book.

I appreciated the Authors' Note at the end of the book, although I almost wish that I had read it first. Wrede and Stevermer didn't set out to write a book together, this project started as a writing exercise -- a game, really. They took turns writing letters in character to each other, never discussing plot points in person. Once their game was over, they went back and read through the story. They edited and made some changes, but the book is entirely representative of their game. This made complete sense to me. I think it explains why the beginning is a little slow, and hard to get into. The two authors seem to be very compatible; the overall tone of the book was really very cohesive. It would have been easy for two characters who know each other intimately to fall into the short-hand of their friendship and leave out details, but for the most part Wrede and Stevermer did a good job of including exposition naturally.

I would recommend this book, although I recommend reading the Authors' Note first! Also, it really is appropriately YA. If there's a young girl in your life who enjoys fantasy novels, I think she should give this one a try. (Boys will probably want to skip it -- there's a lot of girly stuff about dresses and courting and stuff.)

36. Animal Husbandry by Laura Zigman

2009-12-16T11:12:00.001-08:00

I really like the movie Someone Like You, which is based on this book. Ashley Judd is gorgeous and charming, and her wardrobe is fantastic. Hugh Jackman is very appealing. And Marisa Tomei has never played a better sassy best friend. So I was a little apprehensive about reading the source material -- would I like it as much as the movie? What if I liked it better than the movie and didn't watch to watch it again? I actually put off reading it for a few days after I got it from the library! Shrug -- it was a little silly, but whatever.

Animal Husbandry is about Jane, a TV talent scout who falls madly in love with and is then unceremoniously dumped by a new co-worker. After the break-up, Jane moves in with Eddie, another co-worker and post-love survivor. She is desperate to understand the why -- why did he leave, why didn't he love her as much as she loved him? Why? In order to cope, Jane throws herself in to a new theory about men and their inability to commit. She finds research to support her hypothesis that men have the same instincts as male animals -- they have the same "copulatory imperative" as well as the urge to move on to better pastures after mating, so to speak. After obsessing about her theory and lost love, she eventually recovers from the break-up and moves on with her life.

I didn't dislike the book, but I appreciate the story more in movie format for a few reasons:

In the book, there was too much foreshadowing at the beginning. The "if you'd asked me then" and "if I'd known then what I do now" portion dragged on a bit. A simple and brief voiceover at the beginning of the movie was more effective.

There is actually a lot of scientific information in this story. If you know me, then you know that this isn't really a selling point for me. Each chapter of the book began with an excerpt from a book or magazine with scientific facts about that stage in Jane's theory. To be honest, I think I only read one. So boring! I thought the use of the scientific facts that Jane uses to support the theory were used more effectively in the movie -- mainly shared in Jane's conversations. It was almost as if the theory was a character in the book, and it was a bit more secondary in the movie.

In the book, Jane commiserates with a gay male friend who is just as perplexed as she by male behavior. This character was cut from the movie and replaced with a sister and brother-in-law who are trying to have a baby. I liked this change a lot. Jane's friend in the book didn't really add very much to the story (I don't even remember his name). I really liked how in the movie, Jane is completely caught up in her "men are animals" theory, and she realizes toward the end that she hasn't given proper credit to her brother-in-law, who is good man and a very caring husband.

I felt that the movie explained Jane's obsession with the theory better. Eddie is appalled by her research, and demands to know why Jane can't just let her ex go. She replies that if the theory isn't true, then men don't leave all women -- they just leave her. It's a fairly powerful moment, which I think the book was lacking.

The main difference between the book and the movie lies in Jane's relationship with Eddie. In Animal Husbandry, Eddie and Jane are roommates and friends, somewhat united in the battle to recover from their break-ups. At the end of the book, they have managed to heal somewhat and move on with their lives. In Someone Like You, Eddie and Jane are roommates and friends, somewhat united in the battle to recover from their break-ups. And at the end of the movie, they fall in love. I admit, I prefer the romance of the movie to the reality of the book.

In the end, I think the story is better told in the movie format. Or maybe I just prefer that version of the story, I'm still not sure. I am relieved that I will still want to watch Someone Like You occasionally, I really do like it a lot. Colin watched it with me after I was done reading the book, and he claims that he liked it. I'm waiting to read his review, though. He's a little behind on posting movie reviews on his blog, so I'm not sure how long until that will be.

35. The Likeness by Tana French

2009-12-09T07:59:00.001-08:00

Remember when I read In the Woods? And it was awesome? Imagine my excitement when Colin told me there was a sequel. Yay! I thought Colin would be eager to read it too, but he felt so burned by the ending of In the Woods that he literally scoffed at me when I brought it up. (So touchy.) I read this book over a Saturday night and Sunday while he was at work, so as not to bother him. I was a little stupid to start reading a mystery while I was home alone on a dark and stormy night (as I am a big scaredy cat) but it was so good that I couldn't put it down.

The Likeness isn't a straight-up sequel. Rob's partner Cassie is the narrator of her own story, which takes place about six months after the events of In the Woods. Cassie's past work as an undercover officer comes back to haunt her when the body of an identical woman is discovered in a remote area in a small town. Cassie's boyfriend, Sam, and her former undercover boss, Frank Mackey, call her to the crime scene. After learning that the woman, who was in no way related to Cassie, was using the fake identity created for Cassie's undercover work years before, Frank decides that they should pretend the woman was only injured instead of killed and that Cassie should infiltrate the dead woman's life to figure out who killed her and why she was using Cassie's fake name. After a week's preparation, Cassie assumes the identity of "Lexie" and movies in with her four roommates. After almost a month of undercover work, "Operation Mirror" comes to a shocking close.

This book was great! A total page turner. I could not put it down. French somehow found a way to make her crazy premise work -- by the end, you don't even remember being doubtful about it. Not only was the mystery engrossing, but the characters were well-developed and totally drew you in. For anyone like Colin who didn't get enough closure at the end of In the Woods, I recommend that you give this one a try. French gives you more answers and closure this time, and the payoff at the end is satisfying and credible.

I felt a personal connection to Cassie. She is the only child of a French mother and an Irish father, and the combination of those heritages gave her a unique appearance. Living in Ireland, she never met anyone who truly resembled her. That makes the discovery of "Lexie" so intriguing -- who is this woman and how is it possible that she look so much like Cassie? My experience is a bit different, but with similar results. I look a lot like my mom, but the shape of my eyes and my tiny nose (there's almost no bridge to it) give me a slightly Asian appearance. More times than I can count, people have mistaken me for Asian or part Asian. We went to a party given by family friends when I was seven years old, and someone remarked what kind people my parents were to adopt a Korean orphan after having two children of their own. (Indeed.) I felt as though I could relate to Cassie and possibly have similar reactions in the circumstances.

If you're in the market for a good mystery, or just a good read, pick up The Likeness. Oh, and I read online that French is writing a third book in this series, with Frank Mackey as the narrator. I'll be first in line.

34. Bobby and Jackie by C. David Heymann

2009-12-08T09:23:00.001-08:00

I love Jackie Kennedy. I really do. It's mainly her iconic sense of style, but I also admire the fact that above all else she was a survivor. I have a few biographies written about her, including one called A Woman Named Jackie by C. David Heymann, who also wrote Bobby and Jackie. [Side note: I keep trying to type Jackie and Bobby, which shows my clear bias.] When I read a review of this book in People, I clipped it and saved it until I was ready for another biography.

If the Kennedys -- and Jackie in particular -- interest you at all, you should definitely read this book. It's a fairly quick read, only covering in depth the time period of the alleged affair (1964-1968). Heymann quotes numerous members of the Kennedys' inner circle, many of whom he states are only now willing to go on the record about the "open secret" of Jackie and Bobby's affair. According to those interviewed, so many people were in on the secret that it's amazing the story didn't break at the time. Jackie and Bobby are portrayed as close friends whose bond deepened after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, eventually leading to a long-term affair and the realization that they were each the love of the other's life. The affair came to an amicable end while Bobby was running for president. It's an interesting read, although you have to decide for yourself how much of the story that you believe. Although Heymann is careful to provide sources, there is no concrete proof or evidence of the relationship.

I didn't really plan to read this book directly after In the President's Secret Service, but I'm glad that I did. It was interesting to read about the circumstances of the JFK and RFK assassinations with a stronger grasp on Secret Service protocol. For example, Bobby was entitled to Secret Service protection while running for president, but opted not to use it. Instead, he hired two bodyguards -- neither of whom he allowed to carry guns. Both of the brothers -- especially Bobby -- felt that if someone wanted to get to them, they would find a way. And neither wanted to be separated from the public that they were trying to connect with.

I have to mention that this is the first book that I've read using Kindle for PC. It's awesome! You can install Kindle software on your computer for free and buy Kindle books (usually $9.99 each) to read onscreen. Many thanks to Annie & Doug for the idea!

33. In the President's Secret Service by Ronald Kessler

2009-12-07T09:02:00.001-08:00

Colin loves watching The Daily Show. I like it too, but it's not must-see TV for me. I'm usually around while he's watching it, and pay attention when something is especially funny or interesting. A few months ago on the show, Jon Stewart interviewed Ronald Kessler about this book. It sounded really interesting, so I made a note of the title and placed a request at the library. It came in last week, and I was excited to start reading (in part because it was a welcome change of subject from honor killings). I was expecting a serious and objective history of the Secret Service.

That wasn't what I got. As it turns out, an objective history was not Kessler's goal in writing this book. He does provide information on how the Secret Service was founded and how it became the agency it is today, including an official timeline of events. He also spends time explaining procedures and training. However, the bulk of the book is comprised of personal anecdotes about the presidents who have been protected by the Secret Service and criticism of its current management.

The personal anecdotes read a bit like good gossip, which I am not opposed to. Although I really wasn't expecting to read dish about our nation's leaders, I'm definitely not above enjoying it. In part because I agree with the idea that how one treats people behind closed doors is indicative of their overall character. Politicians work very hard to maintain a public persona that will instill confidence and get them votes, and it's always interesting to learn how that persona compares the person behind it. For example, Jimmy Carter made a show of arriving to work at the Oval Office by 6:00 a.m. and carrying his own baggage onto Air Force One, so that Americans would respect his hard work and common man attitude. In reality -- according the agents interviewed for the book -- Carter would nap for a couple of hours after arriving at the Oval Office and the bags he carried onto the plane were empty, his agents being left to carry his actual bags. I also enjoyed learning Secret Service code names, such as Renegade (Barack Obama) and Renaissance (Michelle Obama).

In shining a light on the problems within the agency, Kessler states that he hopes to be a catalyst for change and reform. It's obvious throughout that he has utmost respect for individual agents and the work that they do. However, according to Kessler, in the last decade managerial problems have compromised our presidents' safety. The Secret Service became part of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, which created more competition for funding. While increased competition for funding is a serious concern, the real problem is that Secret Service management is not aggressively pursuing the funding necessary to properly provide protection. Management expects agents to step up and compensate for lack of funding with unimaginable hours and an ever-increasing workload. The attitude is that agents should be able to handle whatever is thrown at them, to the point that retaining agents is difficult -- especially since the private security sector is booming, offering more money for fewer hours. And a higher turnover rate should mean additional money and time spent on training new agents, but often training falls by the wayside due to the workload.

Kessler also clearly has little respect for protectees who attempt to limit their Secret Service protection. He shares stories about the Bush twins attempting to lose their agents, and states that they would probably regret doing so should they be kidnapped by terrorists and end up on Al-Jazeera. He also provides numerous stories of campaigns and administrations objecting to metal detectors at public events, especially in recent years. The instances when Secret Service acquiesced to such demands seem to baffle Kessler, who strongly feels that this is a dangerous compromise to the protectee's safety. He blames the current agency management for allowing such security breaches and attempts to make a case for the dismissal of the current agency director in favor of an outside hire, reasoning that an objective outsider could begin the necessary reforms.

As I said, In the President's Secret Service was not what I expected. I enjoyed reading it, but I think the information and stories within are best taken with a grain of salt. Not only does Kessler have a clear agenda and attempt to persuade his readers, but many of his sources elected to remain anonymous. While this doesn't mean that their stories aren't true, I think it's worth remembering while reading and coming to your own conclusions.

I want to include a link to an interesting Q&A with Kessler about the recent breach of security at the White House State Dinner (you know, the social climbing party crashers?). Also you can go here to watch the interview from The Daily Show.

32. Murder in the Name of Honor: The True Story of One Woman's Heroic Fight Against an Unbelievable Crime by Rana Husseini

2009-12-03T19:17:00.001-08:00

I saw this book on the new non-fiction shelf at the library and was intrigued. I know a little bit about honor killings -- I've heard of the practice happening in the Middle East and in immigrant communities here and in England (and once saw a Law & Order: SVU episode featuring the topic). I was interested to know more, mainly because I don't understand the concept of honor as a motivation to kill someone. In my experience, losing face or not having honor doesn't have the same significance that it does in other cultures. There are a lot of conservative people in our society, as well as an endless amount of people willing to judge you, but the things that might cause someone to lose honor are becoming more and more commonplace and accepted. Even when you hear about someone who has been disowned by their family, the word "honor" isn't really used in talking about it. So I checked out the book in the hope of gaining some insight.

Husseini starts her book with an account of the first honor killing that she reported on in 1994. She swiftly adopted the cause, investigating and reporting on as many honor crimes as possible. In this, her goal was to humanize the victim and break the taboo surrounding the practice. She expanded her efforts into campaigning against the laws in Jordan that allowed for lenient sentences of the perpetrators. The second half of the book explores the nature and frequency of honor crimes throughout the world -- from other Middle Eastern countries (Iraq, Iran), to European countries (Sweden, Holland) to both South and North America. Husseini's writing is accessible for the most part, although she tends to get mired down in statistics. She offers suggestions for prevention and dealing with the matter throughout, which I appreciated but would rather have read about in one cohesive chapter. The history of honor killings is not extensive, although I'm not sure how much documentation exists past the last twenty or thirty years. All in all, it's a fairly well-written introduction to the topic.

I was incredulous at the defense of this tradition documented in the book. Many honor killings happen in broad daylight, within sight and earshot of bystanders. People who are aware of what's happening don't try to stop it and speak of it casually after the fact. Many people feel that there was nothing else a family could do after losing their honor; they had to restore it and an honor killing was the only way. Husseini was told by one man that the the male perpetrators of honor killings were the ones who suffered the consequences, rather than the female victims -- clearly demonstrating the value he placed on a woman's life. While most people involved in honor killings feel no remorse and would gladly repeat their crimes, some do experience mixed emotions. As one person put it to Husseini, no one wants to kill their sister. And yet the society they live in is so rigid, they don't feel they have another choice.

So what can lead to a loss of honor so great that it could lead to one of these murders? Some examples from cases covered in the book: if a woman is raped, has a consensual sexual relationship before marriage, commits adultery, becomes pregnant out of wedlock, dates or marries someone that their family has not approved, tries to divorce a husband that the family does approve of, is seen walking down the street with a man that her family does not know. Or, most distressing of all, if there is gossip about a woman having done any of these things, even if there's no proof. And for many women whose families have emigrated to Europe or North America, the reason is often that a young woman became too acclimated to the West -- wore revealing clothes, spent time with people not from their community, rebelled in any way against their parents' way of life. And that's what's really at stake for so many people -- the preservation of a way of life that is increasingly becoming outdated. A way of life that devalues women and relegates them to property.

The stories in Murder in the Name of Honor will break your heart. Not only are the many accounts of honor killings graphically violent, but the senseless loss of life will weigh on you. I can't shake the story of one young woman who was beaten to death in front of a crowd of twenty people -- including members of law enforcement -- some of whom recorded the murder on their cell phones. After thirty minutes of this brutal attack, the killers buried the woman in a shallow grave with the corpse of a dog, to show how worthless she was. It makes me sick to think of it.

If you re-read the book's subtitle, you'll probably be able to understand the main problem that I had with this one. As Husseini puts it, this is the true story of her heroic fight against an unbelievable crime. I thought perhaps that was something that her publisher suggested, a simple marketing ploy. But throughout the book are subtle and not-so-subtle pats on her own back that are ultimately off-putting. I fully acknowledge that her work is important and that she has done a great deal to raise awareness and be a catalyst for change. But I hate bragging in any form. Why not tell me what happened and let me decide that you're heroic? It's a more gracious approach that won't detract from your cause.

Pink glove dance!

2009-12-02T08:01:00.000-08:00

I had to share this video that a co-worker forwarded to me. Apparently it was created to promote breast cancer awareness and this line of pink gloves in particular. If the video gets 1,000,000 hits, the glove manufacturer will make a huge contribution to this hospital in Portland as well as offer free mammograms to women in the community. That's what I like to call win-win-win. Pass it on!

31. Alex Cross's Trial by James Patterson and Richard Dilallo

2009-12-01T10:44:00.001-08:00

I placed a request for this book at my library after coming across the title somewhere. As previously mentioned, I enjoy James Patterson and his Alex Cross series especially. There were a lot of people in line ahead of me, so I didn't think I would be able to read this one for a couple of months. But I got the call, and so here I am with another James Patterson response.

Alex Cross tells the incredible story -- passed down through the generations -- of an ancestor's courageous fight for freedom.

Separated by time.

From his grandmother, Alex Cross heard the story of his great-uncle Abraham and his struggles for survival in the era of the Ku Klux Klan. Now Alex passes the family tale along to his own children in a book he's written -- a novel called Trial.

Connected by blood.

A lawyer in early-1900s Washington, D.C., Ben Corbett fights against oppression and racism -- and risks his family and his life in the process. When President Theodore Roosevelt asks Ben to return to his hometown to investigate rumors of the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan there, he cannot refuse.

United by bravery.

In Eudora, Mississippi, Ben meets the wise Abraham Cross and his beautiful daughter, Moody. With their help, Ben discovers that lynchings have become commonplace. Ben vows to break the reign of terror -- but the truth of who is really behind it may break his heart. Written in the fearless voice of Detective Alex Cross, Alex Cross's Trial is a gripping story of murder, love, and unparalleled bravery.

Plot summary courtesy of jamespatterson.com.

I didn't know anything about the plot before I picked up the book and read the book jacket. Based on the title alone, I thought Alex Cross's Trial would be about Alex Cross being put on trial (right? and that sounded good to me). But no, this is really a book called Trial by Alex Cross. Okay, got it. My first reaction? Alex Cross and James Patterson have remarkably similar writing styles. I have a feeling that Patterson had this story in mind and the use of the Alex Cross name was just a way to guarantee book sales. He certainly got me, although I almost always go to the library first and bookstore second. There really wasn't any other good reason for the Alex Cross angle. Patterson could have cut back and forth between scenes of Alex writing and his chapters or included a chapter at the beginning and end showing Alex decide to write and finish up. Instead, there was a short introduction from Alex explaining why he wanted to write the story. Take that page out, and the book can stand by itself. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't take away from the book. It's just funny to me that Patterson even bothered with the pretense of Alex Cross as the author.

I highly recommend this book. It was a good read with a good message, although it's not a mystery per se (as I was expecting). However, you might want to skip this one if you're squeamish. Patterson really didn't shy away from the grotesque in this book. There are graphic descriptions of lynchings and corpses, as well as ugly instances of discrimination. It serves its purpose of awareness, but is fairly disturbing. The only complaint that I have is pretty minor -- I thought that Patterson/Cross didn't really follow through on the problems that Ben was having with his wife; after setting up a marital crossroads of sorts, the book ended as soon as Ben returned home from his trip south to his wife's apparently waiting arms. I would have liked to see them begin to address their differences.

Actually, I do have one more complaint. In the plot summary above, Moody is mistakenly identified as Abraham's daughter when in fact she is his granddaughter. Let's get some fact-checking on that website, Patterson!