UGH, yeah, I know...

Since I last posted...


Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
yes. read this. amazing book. biography of a WWII vet/olympian named louis zamperini...but his life was (is) so exciting that it reads like a page-turning novel. have gifted this book multiple times since i read it. 

One Day by David Nicholls

meh. read it on the beach in san diego. was a great beach read, but i don't really know that i recommend it otherwise. it was made into a movie this summer - the one with anne hathaway. i never saw the movie, nor do i really intend to. the story was uninspired. the layout of the book (checking in with two characters every year for 40 years on the same date) was quite creative, but the story itself was not. 

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

True story of two young men who grew up within miles of each other in Baltimore, both named Wes Moore. One turned out to be a huge success (decorated military vet, White House advisor, author), the other ended up in jail again...and again...and again. They became unlikely friends and this book describes the two paths the young men took and the influences in their lives that caused them to end up where they did. Very interesting but maybe not interesting to those who don't live in Baltimore. 

The Magician King by Lev Grossman

Very good but not as good as the original in my opinion. Still great. Focuses more on Julia than on Quentin. If you're going to read one of the two, read the first. Don't read the second without reading the first. 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I decided to read this because I was hearing a lot about it and I needed something to get me back in the swing of reading as passionately as I had been in years past. It's the story of a mysterious traveling circus that shows up in the middle of the night with no warning and disappears in the same manner. There's a love story thrown in there, as well as an ongoing story of rivalry and revenge. There were points in the body of the text that really pulled the reader into the text - but the relative level of creativity in the end of the book versus the body was disappointing. I didn't get the big finish I expected. It was almost as if Morgenstern just said "Well...that'll do." 

Is Everyone Hanging out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling 

I had high hopes for this book after how much I enjoyed Tina Fey's book, but I should have remembered that Mindy Kaling (Kelly on the Office, also a writer on the Office) is not yet Tina Fey. She may never be Tina Fey, in fact. Maybe my expectations were too high. There were many funny moments, but overall I expected more. And it was disappointingly short as well. 

And finally - I reread the Hunger Games trilogy over the last few days. If you haven't read the Hunger Games trilogy yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? So. Good. Love. 

Bossypants by Tina Fey

HAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I don't need to say anything else. Just read Bossypants.

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.