Monday, January 11, 2010

Recommendations?

Hello fellow readers,
I'm going on vacation for the week of Jan 18-22, and I would love to hear what you think I should read. I'll be on the beach so anything too heavy/depressing/life changing is probably not going to be what I'm going for. I already have two recommendations from trusted friends in the queue:

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love)
Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos

probably will also get Nanny Returns, the sequel to The Nanny Diaries, but I would love to have any other recommendations you would like to throw my way! I will be downloading books on the Kindle to ensure that I don't have to pay the overweight luggage fee (it's happened before, solely due to books).

Thanks, can't wait to hear what you have to say!
B

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

I read a lot.

Just in case you doubted that I do, in fact, like books more than people- I just counted. I read 53 books in 2009. Slightly more than a book a week, not including those books that I read and forgot to blog about. A little bit sick. But a lot bit awesome.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

I could write a very short review of this book. Basically, it's The DaVinci Code in DC. Obviously the details of the plot are very different - while this book does touch on Christian themes it has nothing to do with the search for the Holy Grail. Given that it is another novel with Robert Langdon as the main character, it spends a lot of time discussing symbology as is relates to secret societies, and given that it is set in Washington, DC, it has much to do with the government of the United States and how the aforementioned secret societies could be involved in matters of national security.

I'm not going to lie, I fall for Brown's work hook, line and sinker. I loved DaVinci Code and I may have liked The Lost Symbol even more given that it was set in my hometown. I love learning about symbology and secret societies (while Brown's plot details are fictitious, the societies and rituals he references are factual), and Brown manages to write fiction that is just as thrilling as watching an action movie. I may or may not have stayed up until 4 am last night/this morning to read this book. No, it's not as redeeming as The Help, but it's wonderful in its own way. There is a place for thrillers and heartwarmers in the book world just like there is a spot for each in the movie world, and The Lost Symbol fills its appointed place splendidly.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Have you heard of The Help? It's been on the Best Seller list, so I'd be surprised if you hadn't. That is, of course, if you're a huge book nerd like I am. Anyway, I put myself on the waiting list at the library and tried to be patient while I waited for my turn to come. I was so excited...and when my day came I raced to the library to pick it up and start reading.

I wasn't disappointed. I don't think you'd be either. The Help is a story about race relations in Mississippi in the 60s, specifically relationships between black maids and their white employers. I don't claim to know anything about that type of relationship, but I suppose now I know more than before I read the book. Obviously it was a sensitive topic, a little bit uncomfortable, but I feel like usually the exploration of uncomfortable topics provide the reader with greater benefits in the end than staying in one's comfort zone.

It's told from multiple different points of view - 2 different black maids and 1 white employer. The white employer is somewhat of a social radical and she sets out to write an expose about what it's like to be a black employee of a white person in Mississippi. She interviews over a dozen maids and compiles their commentary into a novel. Her exploration of this topic, while secret, eventually leads her to cut off ties with the people she has always called her friends.

I've never been to Mississippi. I can't say how far the culture with regards to race relations has come since the 60s, but luckily most of the views found in The Help have long since gone out of style. It makes you wonder, though, what beliefs do we have today that will be viewed as comparably ignorant in 40 years?

The story is compelling and the narrative is beautiful. The plot sucks you in and makes you think about your own beliefs, and what you would be willing to do, how far you'd be willing to break out of your own comfort zone to stand up and fight against something you thought was wrong but everyone else thought was right. Definitely worthy of its spot on the best seller list.

The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow

I was really excited to receive The Girls from Ames as a Christmas gift. I had seen it mentioned in magazines and on the internet and wanted to read it, and it was especially fitting to receive it from a girlfriend since it is the true story of a group of friends from Ames, Iowa.

The book made me really happy to have a group of close girlfriends. It tells you all about the different benefits that women who maintain close friendships with other women throughout their lives enjoy, including a longer life span. Part of this particular group of women has been friends since elementary school, but the group was complete by high school, and they've stayed friends into their forties. Reading this book, you learn about the role that the group has played for each individual member throughout their life, supporting them through unimaginable hardship some of them have endured. It's heartwarming and inspirational - it reinforced for me just how imperative it's going to be throughout my life to make sure the women who are important to me know how important they are.

Read it, and pass it along to a girlfriend (or guy friend? I guess I shouldn't exclude them, although the book does state that the occurrence of this kind of lifetime friendship among men is much more rare than among women) when you're done. Pick up the phone and remind your friends how much you love them. To my friends - I love you guys and I can't wait until we're in our 40s and we can have a book written about us and how we've always been there for each other.

Being Committed by Anna Maxted

I have not told you about Anna Maxted on the blog before. I should have, as I adore her. As far as I can tell, she has 5 published novels –

  • Getting over it
  • Running in Heels
  • Behaving like Adults
  • Being Committed
  • A Tale of Two Sisters

I have now read at least 3 of them…possibly four but it was a while ago so I’d have to go back and check. I know I’ve read A Tale and Behaving like Adults, and I just recently finished reading Being Committed. I think I’ve also read Running in Heels but I’d have to check again to be sure. Regardless, I really enjoy her work and do plan to read all of her novels.


She’s a fiction author based in the UK, and while her work is usually mostly humorous, it always deals with a bigger, deeper issue at some point in the novel. It comes across as very British – dry, sarcastic humor used to cover up a deeper issue until it comes to a head. Her work is entertaining and insightful.


Being Committed is the story of a young woman (Hannah) who is having commitment issues at age 31 and is forced to dig into her past (including an infidelity in her parents marriage as well as a failed previous marriage of her own) to discover what is preventing her to move forward into her future. Hannah is selfish, sarcastic, unmotivated, and quite funny. Rather how I imagine I would come across were I to be a character in someone’s novel. It was somewhat refreshing to find a character who, at age 31, wasn’t particularly bothered to get married. Finally, someone acknowledges that there are things that should be dealt with prior to marriage – and it’s better to get them out of the way first. Then again, I’m dragging my own opinion into this instead of giving it an objective review, so I should probably back up (but not enough to delete what I just wrote. Anyway, point is, this isn't a romantic comedy of a novel. It's better than that. It doesn't give you, or its characters, all the answers on an unrealistic platter (or any platter for that matter).


I think when it comes down to it, I like Anna Maxted so much because she writes life the way that I would like to live it - dealing with the big issues when necessary, but with humor.