The Associate and The Broker by John Grisham (two separate books)

This is out of order. I read both of these after I read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years but I figured these would be easy to get off my plate and therefore make my list look like I'm more up to date on blogging than I currently am.

Have you read a John Grisham book before?

No? Where the hell have you been in the last 20 years? Read one. Any one of them. But if you choose Playing for Pizza you then have to read another one (one of the courtroom dramas) to really know what he's about.

Yes? Then I'm not going to waste your time writing about these books.

The thing about Grisham is that if you've read one, you've read them all. It's the same thing with Picoult or any other author who has written as many books as either of them. The details change but the general ideas and structure are the same. Is that bad? Some people think so. I don't. It's like knowing what your mom's spaghetti tastes like. Sometimes you'd rather have steak, but when you want spaghetti, you're eating it for the comforting sensation as well as the taste itself. Grisham is your mom's spaghetti :-)

I needed good books to read during the week between my old job and my new job as I laid around by the pool. These were perfect. Every book has a purpose. These served theirs well.

My name is Memory by Ann Brashares

If you want a romance novel that won't make you feel trashy, read this.

My name is Memory by Ann Brashares was, in a way, somewhat of a reinterpretation of Romeo & Juliet, which let's be real, is the greatest love story of all time. A little dramatic? Yes, but sometimes I feel like one can only be affected by other's experiences when those experiences are super dramatic and therefore have the extra emotion to go around.

ANYWAY. In a few words, this is the story of a love as old as time. The premise is that reincarnation exists, and that there are a few people who are gifted enough to recognize that fact and remember their previous lives. Those people find their true mates in some early life and then spend the rest of their lives searching for that person in the rest of THEIR lives. Does it always match up? No, sometimes he comes back as a baby and she's back as an 80 yr old woman (she doesn't just pop into the 80 yr old woman's body, she's actually lived the entire life. It's not always clear how long they spend in between lives before being reincarnated). Their strong connection draws them together life after life even though she's unaware of the connection. The problem is that the strong connection can go both ways - both positive and negative. Meaning that while your partners can follow you throughout your lives, so can your enemies. It wouldn't be as interesting if the sweet didn't come with the sour, right?

So it's a story we've heard before, but told in a completely different way, which I really appreciated. Oh, and one of the characters attends UVA in one of their lives. But the author clearly did not go to UVA, nor did she know anyone who went to UVA because the terms she uses (Jefferson Park Avenue instead of JPA, for example) are not terms a Wahoo would use. The student also appears to live in Hereford which is a little strange. But we'll give her an A for effort. When is it ever NOT great to have a romance and UVA in the same book?

The girl who kicked the hornet's nest by Steig Larsson

I am smiling as I type this because I know what I'm about to do to you.

I think The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest was the best of the three (two that came before already reviewed on this blog). Does that mean that you have to read all three? It means you should. Could you read the second or the third without having read what came before? Yeah, if you wanted to, but why would you do that to yourself? WHY?

I picked this book up a couple of months ago when I was flying around the country interviewing to get a new job. This particular purchase happened as a result of being marooned in Minneapolis due to a tornado. Well, back it up. I guess, really, I hope they serve beer in Hell was the airport purchase. This book was purchased the next day after I had finished I hope they serve beer in Hell (hey, I spent a lot of time sitting around at airports those two days) and needed something to get me through the rest of the weekend.

Something to note about me: I need to have the option to read at all times. I can have a book with me and not WANT to read it, that's fine, but not having the option at all is torture. Another note, I was so excited to buy this book that I sprinted up the stairs at the B&N in Old Orchard (Chicago) and fell down. Smooth.

But this is about the book, not me. Side note, I wonder if I just stopped writing about books on this blog if anyone would actually notice or if I'm seriously just doing this for my own benefit.

So the book. I can't say much unless I know you've read 1 and 2. Basically, in 1, there's a bad person trying to hurt a good person. A good person helps the other good person stop the bad person. In 2, there's a bad person trying to attack the other good person (the one who helped in book 1). So, the first good person helps the second. Also in 2, a bad person tries to help the bad person hurt the good person. Now in 3, the good people are trying to catch the bad person who helped the other bad person in 2. That was extremely confusing and clearly did nothing to describe how good these books are, but it did at least demonstrate one point - these three books are interconnected. You're able to develop complex relationships with and feelings about the characters as you follow them through the three stories (am I the only one who does that?), which I think always makes things more interesting. Oh, and no, I didn't give anything away...because you're never entirely sure who's good and who's bad. Which is kind of awesome.

All three books make you think, but in a "where is this book going?" rather than a "where is my life going?" way, and sometimes that's exactly what you need. They're a great escape.

I hope they serve beer in Hell by Tucker Max

I don't know if I ever would have picked this book up had I not been stuck in the Minneapolis airport during a tornado. I was pretty sure I was going to want to go on a murderous rampage once I finished the book, but then once I started it I realized that the very knowledge of the fact that I was probably going to hate the book made it easier for me to accept it. Low expectations, etc.

So if you haven't heard of Tucker Max - he's basically famous for being a womanizer. He became famous through his website (www.tuckermax.com) where he told the ridiculous (yet apparently true) stories of his sexual and drunken escapades, and eventually put up a date application for women who wanted to go out with him (for whatever reason) - I imagine that maybe these women thought that they could be the ones to tame the beast...yeah, they weren't.

This book is basically just a collection of all the posts from his website. It's disgusting, for sure, and I wouldn't recommend to anyone that they read this book only because I don't want to be responsible for exposing people to the types of things he's done. I read it more as research on the enemy than anything else. I'd say really it's just disheartening. Are there more men out there like Tucker Max? Surely, or he wouldn't be so famous - there are at least thousands of men who WANT to be like Tucker Max. And there are thousands of women who think that's ok.

Which is just kind of sick.

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin

Short and sweet: Giffin is a Wahoo (law school). If that's not enough to convince you that her writing is good, then take my word for it. It is. Read her books.

My affinity for Giffin's writing has nothing to do with her status as an alumna (alumnus? whatever) of The University. It doesn't hurt though.

I've read all of her novels. I've liked all of her novels. This one was interesting. It explores one single relationship from the perspective of two people (only one of whom is directly involved) who are affected by its existence -- the wife and the mistress. And get this - you don't hate the mistress. Do you hate the husband? Clearly. I don't know if I could ever find an author talented enough to make me like the cheating husband. But you don't hate the mistress, and I think that's a sign of what a good author Giffin is. Nothing feels contrived. It all feels like something that could really happen to someone you know (although I hope not to any of you...or myself).

It's not funny, it's not lighthearted, but it's not so heavy that you feel like you have to put it down (or in the freezer). It'll make you think.

My Fair Lazy by Jen Lancaster

Short and sweet: if you're looking for funny/sarcastic, this is the book for you.

You've heard of Lancaster before if you've read this blog (or hopefully even if you don't read this blog, but I'd appreciate knowing that you read the blog). Annie I believe was the one who gave me her first book (Bitter is the New Black) as a gift and I've been a fan ever since. I wasn't thrilled with her last book (Pretty in Plaid) mostly because I've come to expect so much from Lancaster - but My Fair Lazy really redeemed her. Keep in mind this is all relative. Lancaster is one of my favorite authors so what I would deem a disappointing effort from her is still better than most other authors.

ANYWAY - My Fair Lazy is about Lancaster's love for all things reality tv related - she watches the shows, talks about them, blogs about them, thinks about them, etc. Eventually she realizes that her addition to reality television may not be doing much to make her cultured. Maybe pop cultured, but not generally cultured. So she sets out on a self-assigned life mission (life steps, as my friend John would say) to step outside her comfort zone and learn more about herself and the world she lives in. The result is funny - and I think sends a really good message. It's always good to step outside your comfort zone, yes, but there's something to be said for examining your comfort zone in the first place and learning what it says about you. Are you ok with it? If you are, you're golden. If you're not, explore a little. And along the way, maybe read one (or more) of Lancaster's books.

Olive Kittridge by Elizabeth Strout

The word that immediately comes to mind when I think of Olive Kittridge is melancholy...but it's a beautiful kind of melancholy. You know how it is when it's a rainy Saturday in the middle of the summer? When everything is silent and all you can here is the pitter-patter of the raindrops on the roof, on the asphalt outside? That's what this book is like. It's cool breezes and raindrops.

Olive Kittridge is the story of a small town...somewhere...Massachusetts? I have no idea. Somewhere on the East Coast, I know that. So essentially it's a collection of short stories about different members of the community but every short story ties back to Olive. She's one of the members that holds everyone else in the community together - even though individual members of the community appear to not like her very much.

I love the way that Strout told the stories. She told 95% of the stories - she got you to a certain point, told you a certain amount about the characters, and let you get the rest of the way on your own, let you form your own assumptions. I loved that. I loved how much she inspired me to feel and think about the characters she introduced me to.

This book has nothing to do, really, with what happens to the characters throughout their lives - it has everything to do with the characters themselves and how they react to the world around them, and that's why I loved it so much - it was a study in personalities, an exercise in human nature. Don't you love stories like that? When it's like you're a fly on the wall and you learn things about people that you normally wouldn't get to hear?

This isn't one of those books with a happy ending or an unhappy ending, because it's not really a story that ends - it's just about people. How fragile people are, how delicate their egos are. Kind of makes you feel small...I like feeling that way every once in a while.