The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Have you heard the song "Beautiful Disaster" by Kelly Clarkson?

That's how I'd describe the relationship between Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley. This relationship is detailed in a fictionalized account based on true events in the book The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. I don't know that it really mattered to my enjoyment of the story that this was based on true events, or that it was about the Hemingways - I'm not a particular fan of Hemingway's work. Really I just picked it up because I'd heard good things and it was high on the bestsellers list.

I read a quote somewhere that said Ernest had said of Hadley after their marriage ended (sorry, but I don't count that as a spoiler given that it's widely known that Hemingway had 4 wives and Hadley was the first) something along the lines of wishing that he'd not lived long enough to love anyone other than her. I thought that was such a tragically romantic thing to say, so I had to find out what happened in their story. I think that's how I'd describe the whole book - tragically romantic. Melancholy. How else can a love story be when you know it's going to come to an end? I think I just wanted to find out how it happened.

The book is wonderfully written. It really sucks you in. It makes you feel wistful and nostalgic. It would be perfect to read on a rainy Sunday, but there haven't been many of those in Baltimore lately and I enjoyed it just the same :) McLain sketches the characters clearly and powerfully. It's not light reading, but it's not heavy either. It moves quickly, and it's not hard to understand. It's dramatic and engaging.

The thing is, for all the melancholy and the drama and the tragic romance, it's not a sad book per se. Maybe because I believe it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all - maybe that's the most accurate thing to say about Ernest and Hadley Hemingway as well as this book describing their relationship.

Room by Emma Donohue

Eesh.

Get a glass of wine. Actually, get a bottle of wine, pour some into a glass, and then drink the rest from the bottle. The amount reserved in the glass just allows you to say that you didn't drink an entire bottle of wine yourself.

Smart, no?

Anyway. Room. Dude this book is intense. I definitely would not have picked this book up had it not been a book club selection (yes, I'm in a book club, aren't you proud of me? I say you as if anyone reads this blog. My mom doesn't even read this blog).

Room is a story told from a 5 year old boy's perspective about his and his mother's life in captivity. The thing is - he has no idea they're being held captive. Room - the room they live in - is his whole world.

The book is fascinating - but fascinating in the way the life stories of serial killers are. It doesn't make you feel happy or fulfilled. It just makes you feel...horrified? Well, it made me feel horrified anyway. The rest of my book club really liked it. It's a quick read, but again, not a happy one. It is a story of hope, so there's that, at least.

I dunno, this post is useless so I'll try to wrap it up and be more direct and concise - the book is well written, and it's interesting. I respect the work, but I don't like it. I didn't enjoy it. Take from that what you will.

Keep in mind, I hate children. Would I listen to a 5 year old talk for the period of time it took me to read Room? Hell no. So maybe I was just really annoyed at having to listen to this story from his perspective. Definitely an option.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

I attended the Baltimore book thing on Saturday and got a bunch of books - the first I chose to read was The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. I mostly picked it up because it was made into a movie last year and I like to read books then see the movies and compare them - and I figured if the movie was as popular as it was, the story must be good.

It's a quick read - only 218 pages - so if you are looking for a short one, this could be your thing. But typically if you're looking for a short read, you're looking for something light - and this isn't a light story. This is the story of a relationship between a young man and an older woman - so not the typical May/December relationship. I appreciate that fact, the attempt to tell a different story. Maybe you could consider it a serious cougar story. Basically discusses the ramifications, the ripples throughout the young man's life of his relationship with the older woman. More far reaching than I would have thought. Interesting, well written, nostalgic and poetic.

Favorite quotes from the book posted on the other blog.

Oh, and I'm not even going to mention the fact that I haven't blogged in months. Whoops.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Hands down, this should be the next book you read.

Did you know that during the Holocaust, thousands of French Jewish citizens were rounded up by French (not German) authorities, held in a stadium for a few days in inhumane conditions, and then shipped to concentration camps? That the men were separated immediately from the women and children? That the children then were separated from their mothers? They weren't sent to be held until further notice, they were sent to be executed. No work camp...just death.

Me neither.

This book is interesting enough because it educates you about a subject that, in my opinion, has mostly been hidden from public knowledge in the past. Sure, materials about it exist (See Wikipedia page here) but, much like the Armenian Holocaust, it's not something most people learn about in school. Heck, maybe it was just the schools I went to, but no one I've talked to knew anything about this particular event. Just quite interesting to me, the events from the past that get sort of glazed over in favor of exploring other horrors.

Anyway, the book is fiction, so it's definitely not an entirely accurate historical account, but as I understand it it sticks to the facts as much as possible. It's told from two points of view - one of a little girl named Sarah who is part of the roundup in 1942, and one of a female journalist in present day who discovers Sarah's particularly tragic story.

Honestly the best book I've read in a while.

I mean...

I could make excuses but they would take a long time to type so I'll just admit I'm a bad blogger and leave it at this. I'll give you the short and sweet of the books I didn't blog, and honestly, unless they were included in the list on the side of my blog, I've forgotten that I read them and will not be telling you about them...sorry :-(

1. A million miles in a thousand years by Donald Miller - I believe this is the newest book by the author of Blue Like Jazz (he's a pretty famous author of Christian books) but this one is notably not about themes of Christianity, etc. The essential premise of this work of non-fiction is that it should be your mission to make the story of your life one worth telling. It's all about the author's own self-exploration of whether or not his own life meets that criteria. Interesting but not so interesting that I couldn't put it down.
2. To Have and to Hold by Jane Green - Listened to this on tape as I drove from Ohio to Maryland. Definitely kept my attention. About a woman whose husband cheats on her, she knows he cheats on her. Basically the idea of whether a cheating husband who you love is better than no husband at all. Interesting and moderately trashy.
3. Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland - In the vein of The Girl with the Pearl Earring, a book about the story behind a painting. Great book, very interesting read.
4. Born Round by Frank Bruni - LOVE. Love anything about food, honestly, but especially love this as it's the (true) story of Bruni's life from childhood, his lifelong struggle with his weight, his identity, his sexuality, etc. All intertwined, he's a hilarious and introspective author. AND while I was reading it I tweeted at him and he tweeted me back!! Therefore even if I had hated the book in reality I would have loved it from then on. But really, good reading.
5. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - Conclusion of the Hunger Games series. Awesome. Downloaded exactly at midnight on my Kindle the day it was released, read it very quickly after that. Very good. Have you read the Hunger Games series yet? What are you waiting for?!?
6. Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore - Meh. Basically trashy gossip-rag literature set on Capitol Hill. Only interesting because it was written by the daughter of former vice prez Al Gore so you have to wonder if it was (way) more accurate than if it were written by anyone else. As a former Congressional intern, it was an interesting read and quite accurate when it talks about the social life of Capitol Hill staffers, but let's be real, the ending could be seen roughly 20 pages into the book.

What else have I read since the above books? I promise that if I could remember, I'd tell you. I re-read Harry Potter books 1, 2, 3 and 7 in anticipation of the release of Deathly Hallows Part 1. Prior to that...you know, I know I was reading something good because I can remember the bookmark I was using while I was reading it, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. I hopefully will remember soon and then will tell you what it was. Hopefully.

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?