Another Picoult book...I had a few bad runs with choosing random books (don't judge a book by its cover and all that) and I had to choose one by a trusted author to get myself back on the horse.
Picoult didn't disappoint. Second Glance was an interesting read - pretty fast paced and with all kinds of things that automatically make it a good story...ghosts, mystery, romance. It's actually a pretty long novel (especially as Picoult's books run) but it really doesn't feel like it drags on. One of the things I love about this novel is that it tells a bunch of seemingly separate stories and then weaves them together towards the end - yes, with Picoult you should really know they'll all come together eventually...but this one seemed to have even more separate plotlines than I had come to expect.
As I said above, it was a good read. But it wasn't phenomenal. There are books - characters - that stay with you after you finish a book. You miss them like old friends. You want to know what's going on in their lives (is this just me? I hope not, because it's a sign of a great novel and it would be a shame if I were the only one who had experienced it). This is unfortunately not one of those books. Which may or may not be a good thing - say that you had just read one of those novels, one of the ones that stays with you - you don't necessarily want another right away...so that would be a perfect time to read Picoult.
I can't believe I'm about to say this, but...for a book about ghosts, it wasn't very haunting.
HA!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
If I'd Known Then: Women in Their 20s and 30s Write Letters to Their Younger Selves (What I Know Now) by Ellyn Spragins
Yeah, I'm posting close to midnight on Valentine's Day, which happens to be on a Saturday this year. So what? Single people unite blah blah blah other bullshit.
ANYWAY this book was better than the last - it was in the same vein (people writing about/to themselves at a younger age) and yet the letters spoke to me more than the essays in the previous book. It did bother me slightly that most people were writing to themselves around their teenage years though (just in case the concept is lost - the whole idea is that adults write letters to themselves at earlier, harder points in their lives to show how much they've grown since that point...the idea that it does in fact get better) - I mean, let's be honest - teenage girls are a lost cause. Is it really worth writing anything to them? Seriously, let's just put them all in cages until they're like...I dunno...22? 23? Sometimes I think I should still be in a cage somewhere so we could possibly extend that age limit to 24.
So people write these letters to themselves and tell them to hang in there, it won't be so bad for long, they will come out of the awkward phase they're in and eventually become people famous enough to have a letter to their younger self included in a compilation. Yeah, the essays are good, inspiring, etc, but....really...we don't all grow up to be celebrities. We don't all win gold medals in the Olympics, we don't write bestselling novels, we don't release platinum albums. I think it may have been better - more inspiring - to read a compilation of letters from normal people to their younger selves. To say, yeah, it gets better, even if you don't turn out to be a celebrity, you will be happy, and life still turns out to be pretty darn great. So, keep that in mind.
That is, unless you happen to also be a celebrity. In that case, read this book. It will probably speak to you and reassure you that your life is great and not awkward anymore...which may or may not be because you're rich and famous.
ANYWAY this book was better than the last - it was in the same vein (people writing about/to themselves at a younger age) and yet the letters spoke to me more than the essays in the previous book. It did bother me slightly that most people were writing to themselves around their teenage years though (just in case the concept is lost - the whole idea is that adults write letters to themselves at earlier, harder points in their lives to show how much they've grown since that point...the idea that it does in fact get better) - I mean, let's be honest - teenage girls are a lost cause. Is it really worth writing anything to them? Seriously, let's just put them all in cages until they're like...I dunno...22? 23? Sometimes I think I should still be in a cage somewhere so we could possibly extend that age limit to 24.
So people write these letters to themselves and tell them to hang in there, it won't be so bad for long, they will come out of the awkward phase they're in and eventually become people famous enough to have a letter to their younger self included in a compilation. Yeah, the essays are good, inspiring, etc, but....really...we don't all grow up to be celebrities. We don't all win gold medals in the Olympics, we don't write bestselling novels, we don't release platinum albums. I think it may have been better - more inspiring - to read a compilation of letters from normal people to their younger selves. To say, yeah, it gets better, even if you don't turn out to be a celebrity, you will be happy, and life still turns out to be pretty darn great. So, keep that in mind.
That is, unless you happen to also be a celebrity. In that case, read this book. It will probably speak to you and reassure you that your life is great and not awkward anymore...which may or may not be because you're rich and famous.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
It's a Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths About Life in Your Twenties by Emily Franklin
I read this book, hoping that it would help me understand exactly why I'm not as happy in this, the most...highly anticipated of decades of my life...as I expected to be. Believe me, I'm happy. I am honestly probably happier than most people deserve to be - happier than I deserve to be - but I am trying to accept this happiness and these blessings with as much bumbling grace as I can. I'm just not...skipping through fields of flowers with my beloved by the hand, getting paid truckloads of money to do something that is a perfect expression of my hearts desire.
The book is a compliation of essays written by women who have "survived" their 20s and lived to tell about them...and to tell the lessons they've learned about how your 20s aren't exactly all they're cracked up to be. So I read this book, hoping for some sort of validation. Some sort of...relief, maybe, from the guilt I feel from having all this happiness and yet still not quite feeling completely fulfilled. This book was good at making me feel more normal than I previously felt - the essays compiled to make up this book each spoke to me for different reasons, but as a whole I found the book to be less than what I was hoping it would be. Granted, I may have been hoping for something to speak to me in the same way SATC did, but this wasn't it. There were essays that spoke to me more strongly than others, but only one or two that truly "got it" or truly moved me.
All in all, the predominant themes were all the same - the details varied, but all in all the story was the same. Quit worrying. Give up the drama. Let go of the idea of what your 20s are supposed to be and relish instead what exactly your 20s are. Your 20s. Not the life your mother lived, or your sister lived, or your friend is living. Just yours. Love them for what they are, because they'll be gone soon enough, and then you can start worrying about what your 30s are supposed to be.
I think I will choose to take the advice of those ladies, and I will live my 20s and make the mistakes now that I can live to regret later.
Note to the other 20something ladies reading this blog - pass this one up. Watch reruns of SATC instead.
The book is a compliation of essays written by women who have "survived" their 20s and lived to tell about them...and to tell the lessons they've learned about how your 20s aren't exactly all they're cracked up to be. So I read this book, hoping for some sort of validation. Some sort of...relief, maybe, from the guilt I feel from having all this happiness and yet still not quite feeling completely fulfilled. This book was good at making me feel more normal than I previously felt - the essays compiled to make up this book each spoke to me for different reasons, but as a whole I found the book to be less than what I was hoping it would be. Granted, I may have been hoping for something to speak to me in the same way SATC did, but this wasn't it. There were essays that spoke to me more strongly than others, but only one or two that truly "got it" or truly moved me.
All in all, the predominant themes were all the same - the details varied, but all in all the story was the same. Quit worrying. Give up the drama. Let go of the idea of what your 20s are supposed to be and relish instead what exactly your 20s are. Your 20s. Not the life your mother lived, or your sister lived, or your friend is living. Just yours. Love them for what they are, because they'll be gone soon enough, and then you can start worrying about what your 30s are supposed to be.
I think I will choose to take the advice of those ladies, and I will live my 20s and make the mistakes now that I can live to regret later.
Note to the other 20something ladies reading this blog - pass this one up. Watch reruns of SATC instead.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
I was recently on vacation outside of the country and found myself out of books...and out of hope that I might be able to find a good book in English to carry me through the rest of my vacation. Reading books in Spanish, while a noble pursuit, was not really what I was hoping for on my beach vacation. I was pleasantly surprised when I found a Jodi Picoult book on the shelf in the resort gift shop (strangely, none of the books in the shop were even in Spanish).
I'm trying to think of what I would compare Picoult to in order to effectively communicate how I feel about her as an author. I guess I might compare her to my car - she's reliable and at times surprisingly powerful...and there's usually nothing ordinary about her (I might be overestimating people's opinions of VWs right now, but anyone else who owns a VW will tell you that they consider their car to be anything but normal).
I've read a number of Picoult's books (7 of what I believe are 14 she has released to date) and she never disappoints. Her books are usually sensational (and I mean that in the most literal sense), focusing on controversial topics. One thing I really like about Picoult is that she does her homework, and it's obvious - she always thoroughly researches the topics she's writing about and you are definitely left with more knowledge after reading her books. Granted, that knowledge is usually about rather obscure things such as the different methods of hanging used in Capital Punishment, but it's knowledge nonetheless.
Change of Heart tells the story of a young man named Shay Bourne who is on Death Row and wants to donate his heart post-execution. Picoult's work isn't full of deep, meaningful metaphors (at least if it is, they're too deep for me because I haven't caught them), but it is full of interesting stories that can at times be deeply moving (I do not recommend that you read My Sister's Keeper in any public place). I would confidently recommend any of her books to a friend - regardless of whether or not they were titles I had read. There's something to be said for an author who can instill such confidence in her readers. Picoult, as an author, is like a smoldering flame - she won't burn bright and die quickly. She'll continue to throw heat.
I'm trying to think of what I would compare Picoult to in order to effectively communicate how I feel about her as an author. I guess I might compare her to my car - she's reliable and at times surprisingly powerful...and there's usually nothing ordinary about her (I might be overestimating people's opinions of VWs right now, but anyone else who owns a VW will tell you that they consider their car to be anything but normal).
I've read a number of Picoult's books (7 of what I believe are 14 she has released to date) and she never disappoints. Her books are usually sensational (and I mean that in the most literal sense), focusing on controversial topics. One thing I really like about Picoult is that she does her homework, and it's obvious - she always thoroughly researches the topics she's writing about and you are definitely left with more knowledge after reading her books. Granted, that knowledge is usually about rather obscure things such as the different methods of hanging used in Capital Punishment, but it's knowledge nonetheless.
Change of Heart tells the story of a young man named Shay Bourne who is on Death Row and wants to donate his heart post-execution. Picoult's work isn't full of deep, meaningful metaphors (at least if it is, they're too deep for me because I haven't caught them), but it is full of interesting stories that can at times be deeply moving (I do not recommend that you read My Sister's Keeper in any public place). I would confidently recommend any of her books to a friend - regardless of whether or not they were titles I had read. There's something to be said for an author who can instill such confidence in her readers. Picoult, as an author, is like a smoldering flame - she won't burn bright and die quickly. She'll continue to throw heat.
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