Friday, July 27, 2012

book 27

Faking It by Elisa Lorello
288 pages


I purchased Faking It because I'm a Long Island girl.  I was very interested in reading a book that took place in my backyard (although I live in NJ now, I pretty much conduct 95% of my life on LI still).  I enjoyed reading about places I've frequented and that was nice.  Otherwise I wasn't terribly impressed.  I wasn't BORED, and I kept on reading (as always), but nothing about the story really enamored me of the characters or the tale being told.  I didn't think the story was especially believable.  I don't know if life is really like Andi's.  I enjoyed the writing in that it was extremely well-written and the characters were well-developed and generally likable.  However, nothing really GRABBED me.  I didn't feel for Andi much.  She kind of annoyed me.  I wasn't compelled to root for her.  The Devin character was somewhat believable, but the end result wasn't.  I'm trying not to give anything away here so what's happening is I'm being extremely vague.

Overall I would recommend this book to people who are interested in grammatically correct, technical fiction.  If you want a lazy, fun read, grab a Kinsella or a Weiner instead.

Friday, July 13, 2012

book 26

Then Came You: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner
338 pages


Then Came You is the story of four VERY different women.  Annie is a young housewife and mother.  At 24 years old, she had married her high school sweetheart straight out of high school as was the way in the town she grew up in.  Annie and her family have very little money and she wants to contribute to the household in order to have a nicer life.  Jules is a college senior who has trouble connecting to other human beings.  While she has relationships with others, they are all sort of at the surface - she has acquaintances and colleagues, not friends.  Jules' father is an addict, and she would do anything to help him get sober.  Jules is also a girl of limited means, attending Princeton on full scholarship.  India is a very wealthy woman from humble roots.  While looking for a rich man to marry, she meets Marcus and they do marry, giving her everything she ever dreamed of - except she cannot have a baby.  The worlds of these three women collide at Princeton Fertility Clinic, where Jules' sells her eggs to get her father into rehab, Annie becomes a surrogate to help her family with the much needed cash, and India is the one supplying both women with the money they are looking for.  Finally, Bettina is Marcus' daughter, who, upon meeting India, becomes very suspicious that she is a gold-digger and only marrying her dad for the money.

The story is told through each woman in a series of chapters from each perspective.  Something I really enjoyed about this book was the very complex relationships established between men and women - not only do the characters struggle within their romantic relationships, they have relationships with each other and must navigate through unchartered waters at times.  Each woman discovers something about herself as the story progresses, their layered and complex personalities and histories becoming clearer and more entwined as time passes.  Additionally, one finds the theme of class throughout the novel, something that isn't always addressed in "chick lit" (as Weiner notes in the interview at the end of the book).  I picked up on this theme prior to reading the interview, and I thought it was refreshing as well as adding another layer to an already complicated story.  However, the complications and complexities did not take away from the story - they only served to enhance the tale as it was told.

I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this book to women of all ages, all classes, and all genre-favoring groups.  Read it NOW!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

movie 15

Marley & Me

Ok, so I totally neglected to update my Netflix queue when I sent back my last movie and this is what came.  Now I love Jennifer Aniston, so it wasn't like I dreaded watching it, but I was like "oh, this might be lame."  I was wrong wrong wrong!!!  I really enjoyed the story, watching this couple from their wedding day, adopting a puppy, and starting/growing a family together all told through this crazy family pet.

As a cat owner I could relate to an animal getting older, how it is so intricately intertwined in your family, and how painful it can be to say goodbye.  I've had several cats and my current cat is now almost 7 years old, so the fragility of her life is always on my mind even though I know it's totally premature.

I watched alone, I laughed and I cried.  I know there is no way in hell that Steve would have watched this with me even though I don't think he would have hated it.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who loves animals!

book 25

Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger
368 pages


I recently read Everyone Worth Knowing and I loved it.  Last Night at Chateau Marmont?  Not so much.  It followed the structure of EWK so closely - a young woman gets thrown into the spotlight and tabloids overnight.  Celebrity names abound.  Yadda yadda yadda.  I felt like yelling "Hey Lauren, you already did this, just a little different!"  So that was lame.

Actually, it's kind of a strange coincidence that I read this book randomly right now.  My boyfriend is currently in Japan on tour with his band (that broke up in 2003.. apparently Japanese people still dig them) and I'm grappling with some of the same issues that Brooke struggled with while Julian was away.  In that way, I could REALLY relate to the story.. Feeling left out, how it feels bad to work so hard and not get to share in the rewards he is reaping.. So there's that, which kept me pretty glued to the book.

A couple of things annoyed me (as usual).  Well, I can really only think of one thing besides the above mentioned similarity to another book by the same author.. The book is told in third person, which I sort of enjoyed, but Weiseberger uses the same phrases repeatedly - "it was all Brooke could do not to [insert action]".. '[character] was holding court..." .. "[character] slammed the table with his/her palm".. it happened less as the book progressed, but I don't know, these things bother me.  Maybe they don't bother other people.  Maybe I'm crazy.

As I got to the last two-thirds of the book, I was anxious to finish and see how it all played out so that was also a redeeming factor.  Overall, it was a decent read and I think I'd have liked it much better had it not been a rehashed tale told differently.