Another group of books

I was on vacation last week (well, not last, but the one before) so I had a lot of time to read...here are all the books I read while on vacation. I was afraid I wouldn't remember all the titles so I took a picture before I returned them all to the library yesterday:


Already wrote about GirlCook in the last post. The day after GirlCook, I read Dedication by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (the pair who wrote The Nanny Diaries). Dedication tells the story of a young woman whose heart was broken by a boy who went on to become a pop sensation. It's a fun read, a great vacation read - and the BEST PART OF THE BOOK (in my humble opinion) is the section in the middle that describes the main character's years at the illustrious University of Virginia! The book describes UVA as only a student could - using words like O'Hill and the Corner, First year and Second year - but I checked and neither McLaughlin or Kraus attended the University. In fact, they met when they were both attending NYU. I'm not sure who they know who was in fact a Wahoo, but it added a lot to my enjoyment of the book. Yes, I would have preferred that they draw that portion of the book out a little longer, but just like Nanny Diaries, the story was dishy enough to keep my attention beyond the portion set in Charlottesville (ah, Charlottesville). Recommended to readers in general, highly recommended to fellow Cavaliers.


After Dedication, I read There's No Place Like Here while sitting on the beach in Hilton Head (mmmm). There's No Place Like Here was written by Cecilia Ahern - daughter of the Prime Minister of Ireland and author of PS I love you (previously made into a movie). I read PS I love you a long time ago, but from what I can recall, this book was completely and utterly different - which is something to be said for a modern author. Recently I've found that an unfortunate trait many modern authors share is the inability to create multiple unique works (more on that later)...but it seems that Ahern has managed to accomplish that feat. At age 28, or something similarly ridiculous that makes me kind of hate her. My petty hatred aside, the story was interesting - about a private investigator obsessed with finding the Place where all the Lost Things go. Whimsical and occasionally moving - all in all a good read.

And, most recently, I finished Things I want my Daughters to know by Elizabeth Noble. The story of a mother who has four daughters...as well as terminal cancer. She writes letters to each of her daughters leaving them with her final words of wisdom. The story follows the girls after their mother passes away...and I am partly but not wholly embarrassed to say that I was left crying on the beach, on the plane, and at the pool when I returned to Columbus. There are a number of funny parts of the book, but overall it's just a touching story.

So I really liked the book - but the problem is that I just started reading a 2nd novel by Noble and it appears to use almost exactly the same contextual details to familiarize the reader with the characters as she did in the other book...which just makes me squirm a little bit. I guess Noble didn't intend for her readers to read the books back to back, but still, I don't like wondering if I'm thinking about the characters from the first book or the second. I guess I should stop reading books by the same author one after the other, but if I liked the author's work, why wouldn't I want to continue reading it as soon as possible?

Anyway. Will keep you posted.