This book begins with a terrible, scary tragic crime. The back cover of The Lovely Bones promised that by the end I would feel uplifted, but quite frankly, I found the whole book depressing from start to finish. Then again, as I was looking for an easy read, crime/mystery novel at Target on vacation last week, I thought this fit the bill, and it really didn’t, so perhaps that’s where my disappointment lies. Sebold’s writing style feels very precious, whether that’s her shaping of the characters or her own style. Despite feeling lukewarm about this book, I am curious to read Sebold’s memoir, Lucky, now.
Don’t let the 500 page size of this book intimidate you. More than half the book is drawings that tell the story of orphan, thief, and clock keeper, Hugo Cabret. I adored this story so very much. Whimsical and lovely, Selznick captures this dreamy world of steampunk and plops it into old timey Paris. Yes, yes, do check this one out.
This book was light and fluffy and airy. The author gives lovely little anecdotes about authors and the dedications in their novels. Most are pretty straight forward bios of the author and the person(s) the book is dedicated to. I liked this book, but I found it difficult to read from cover to cover. I read other books while reading this one because I could really only read a few chapters at a time, lest I get bored and fall asleep. A great premise for a book and definitely recommended for bibliophiles and avid readers.
Initially, I was ashamed to be seen reading this book in public. I don’t know why, but I’d rather that people on the subway thought I read Harry Potter before the memoir equivalent of chick lit. Um, okay, so this book was enjoyable and fine. There are no secrets to the universe in here, and I wouldn’t even say there’s much pop-religion in here either. This book did appeal to the person I was when I felt like a sad lonely panda- the lady I was that needed to go to Spain and France and anywhere far away to find some new adventure in life. Eat Pray Love seems to have very polarized opinions on Goodreads- people love it or hate it- and I while I liked it, I neither loved nor hated it. It was a nice, easy, enjoyable summer read.
I loved Election (the book, the movie was alright). I must have read it about 7 times a few years ago. Maybe that’s why I thought The Abstinence Teacher was such a huge disappointment. Boring: no plot, no character growth, and hardly what I’d classify as character study either. Perrotta gets so lost in his message, that whatever point he’s trying to make gets muddled into oblivion. It took me forever to read this book because it was thoroughly mediocre. Skip this one.
This is really more a long essay, than book, easily read in one sitting. E.B. White, author of Charlotte’s Web, wrote this beautiful love letter to New York City in 1949 and so much of what he wrote then still rings true 60 years later, despite NYC’s rapidly changing landscape. If you have ever lived in NYC, want to live in NYC, love NYC, or currently live here, you should read this loving tribute to my favorite city and its inhabitants. I may need to buy my own copy of this so I can underline and mark my favorite passages, but I’ll share a few with you here:
“It carries on its lapel the unexpungeable odor of the long past, so that no matter where you sit in New York you feel the vibrations of great times and tall deeds, of queer people and events and undertakings.”
“The city is like poetry: it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines.”
“New York is nothing like Paris; it is nothing like London; and it is not Spokane multiplied by sixty or Detroit multiplied by four. It is by all odds the loftiest of cities. It even managed to reach the highest point in the sky at the lowest moment of the depression. The Empire State Building shot twelve hundred and fifty feet into the air when it was madness to put out as much as six inches of new growth.”
“New Yorkers temperamentally do not crave comfort and convenience- if they did they would live elsewhere.”
“The city at last perfectly illustrates both the universal dilemma and the general solution, this riddle in steel and stone is at once the perfect target and the perfect demonstration of nonviolence, of racial brotherhood, this lofty target scraping the skies and meeting the destroying planes halfway, home of all people and all nations, capital of everything, housing the deliberations by which the planes are to be stayed and their errand forestalled.” (I wonder what White would say about this in a post 9/11 world. He discusses the possibility of planes and death for only a few paragraphs, but his words seem eery now. White died in the 80s, so we’ll never know, I suppose.)
Oh Paul Auster, you really know how to stick to what you know. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked this book, but well….everything about it is SO PAUL AUSTER. In a good way. In a way that makes me wonder if he knows how to write without using those thematic settings- Vermont, lonely old guy, self-autobiographical. But Brooklyn Follies takes place in my neighborhood, so bonus points. All that said, I really want to read Auster’s New York Trilogy now.
What a clever idea for a story. Told from the perspective of an autistic 15 year old boy, there is something very endearing about this book. Its impressive how realistically Haddon creates the world as seen by an autistic person. This isn’t a mystery novel (as the back cover would have you believe), but it is a quick read and well worth it.
Hey! Did you see that movie Slumdog Millionaire? Yeah! That movie is based on this novel. The premise is the same (18 year old waiter from Mumbai is accused of cheating), but that is where the similarities end. Slumdog Millionaire made for great cinema, but Q&A is far more literary and less linear than the movie. I enjoyed reading this book, but the author’s focus on luck and how everything always comes together so perfectly for the main character was over the top at times. But considering that is his main thesis of this book, I guess that’s what he was going for in the end. Not to sound like the quote on the back of a book, but Q&A is both funny and heartbreaking. So that’s that.
The story of two people just trying to make it through life and love and the New York subway system in the 21st century, as told by an incredibly large cast of characters. This book toes the lines of being cute, but never ever comes across as trite or vapid. The characters are flawed, but likable. Delson tells the story from a variety of perspectives and it adds to the humour that the same events are told from frequently differing opinions. A warning though, this book takes place in the months before and after September 11th, so if that’s a tender subject, you may want to skip this. That said, Delson’s use of September 11th in the story does not fall flat like so many other books and movies that have depicted those events. Largely, this book is not about that day, but how it played out in the lives of the title characters. This book won’t change your life, but it is funny and warm and touching and lovely.
Oh my oh my. I was not expecting this book to be so heart wrenching. Completely honest in his story, Sheffield recounts his love story with his wife- this bouncy, strong, creative lady who you want to grab onto and be best friends with for the rest of your days. This book’s main flaw is that I wanted more: more about the significance of the songs on the mix tapes, more about his wife, more about what happened after she died, more more more more more. As someone who has framed many lost loves, lost friends, past heartaches with music, I appreciate that Sheffield frames his love and loss story with music too . I haven’t listened to all of the 80s & 90s music he talks about, but I can relate to that sentiment, that holding on to memories through music.
I read this book at the recommendation of my favorite Southern Lady, Erica. Its not a book of advice so much as life philosophy of Southern Ladies in this modern age. It was funny and fun and reminded me to stop caring so much about junk and start doing what makes me happy. Boys, you won’t read this book. Ladies, this is a good book for the beach or the park or easy summer reading.
Post-apocalyptic sci-fi YA fiction at its best. Really, this book was excellent. Christopher has an amazing way of creating a world where you aren’t sure if its the distant past or the uncertain distant future. This book also speaks to my inner adolescent, desperately trying to simultaneously fit in and stand out, rebelling against doing what we’re always told we’re supposed to do. A fairly quick read too.
Now here is a good vampire book (ahemTwilightahem). Second in the Sookie Stackhouse mystery series as well as the basis for the show True Blood. I liked this even better than the first because I didn’t have to muck through all that exposition. I appreciated the author’s straying from the typical WhoDunIt? mystery formula. Fourteen thumbs up on this one.
This book is so full of whimsy and magic and happy glowing positivity. There’s really no plot, except that some magical 16 year old creature named Stargirl bops around small town Pennsylvania and spreads her magic to agorophobics, tomboys, donut sellers, and 6 year olds. This is a YA fiction though, so it is absolutely a quick read. Oh yes, this is the sequel to Stargirl. You could read that first, and you should because its better than this one.
