On my list

Currently on my To-Read List:


Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century, by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective and a World of Literary Obsession – Allison Hover Bartlett

“Quantum Man: Richard Feynman’s Life in Science,” by Lawrence M. Krauss

Just Kids by Patti Smit

A Covert Affair:  Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS  By Jennet Conant

Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout  By Philip Connors

I'm a stranger here myself By Bill Bryson

The Rescue Artist by Edward Dolnick,

Pink Boots and a Machete: My Journey From NFL Cheerleader to National Geographic Explorer by Mireya Mayor, Ph.D

author: Kathy Reichs  (the real life Bones)

Travel Reading

I'm still working on my non-fiction goal for April... not much progress has been made yet.
However, I leave tomorrow for a 10 day trip to India! I know I'll have a lot of downtime, especially during some long car and train rides, so I've stocked my nook with some new books!  Heres a glimpse:

• Lorna Barrett's Booktown series:  A mystery series set in a town with lots and lots of bookstores.  Can I please move there??  Seriously, I know people say when you see that lady from Murder She Wrote you should run the other way, but I could probably put up with a little crime if I got to live in a town of bookstores.  Here's hoping the books live up to the premise!
• Bill Bryson's 'I'm a Stranger Here Myself' - I randomly stumbled across this on my library's e-media site (Libraries Rock!).  I've never read anything by Bryson, but the title and subtitle (Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away) caught my attention. 
• Christopher Moore's 'A Dirty Job' - Another one that i stumbled on at the library, and again, I've never read anything by Christopher Moore... so we'll see!

I've also just finished handwriting several lists.  I have several series on my Nook that I haven't started because I wasn't sure which came first.  I am now better equipped to read the following series:

• Mrs. Pollifax
• Jack Ryan
• Sookie Stackhouse
• Anne of Green Gables
• Gabriel Allon 

So, I think I'm covered with Reading Options Yes?  Catch you on the flip side!

Spoiler alert: It doesn't work out.

The Paris Wife

 I just (an hour ago) finished The Paris wife by Paula McLain. And I have realized this about myself:  Melancholy books make me melancholy.  Right now, you’re probably saying ‘Duh, that’s what you’re supposed to feel’.  But you misunderstand.  Melancholy books make ME feel melancholy.  Not for the characters, or the story, but real life me.  I may have to trim them from my literary life all together.  I first noticed this with the 4^th Twilight book…for some reason it just made me feel grouchy all the time-but maybe that was just b/c it sucked and Bella is a whiney little B who shouldn’t get to live forever.  But then there was Cherie Curie’s autobiography Neon Angels, I was sick for days after reading that.  It has taken some serious meditation and pink bubbly thoughts to purge my memory of that book – hearing ‘Cherry Bomb’ still gives me the shakes.   And now The Paris Wife.  To be fair, it wasn’t on the level of Neon Angels, I don’t imagine I will still be feeling off tomorrow, but for a few hours, three letters sum up my feelings:  ugh.  I don’t even have the energy to put them in capital letters.  The simple act of pressing caps lock is too much effort to exert for such melancholia. 

Anyway, back to the beginning.  I picked up the Paris Wife (I used ‘picked up figuratively, as I’m using an e-reader) after reading a decent-ish review (I don’t remember where now, but it must have either been the New York Times or NPR).  I was initially struck by the cover art.  They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, and we all know it to be true, but something about the woman sitting at a café table- her dress, her jewelry, her shoes… I wanted to know about that woman, read her story, feel what life was like for her in Paris in the 1920s surrounded by culture, and art, and thought. 

The first 200 pages gave me fleeting glimpses of what I was looking for.  McLain imagines the café’s filled with absinthe drinkers, Gertrude Stein’s salon, and markets filled with fresh fruit and bread, and everywhere people putting their lives back together after the war.  But the glimpses are few.  More present are Hadley’s (the Paris wife herself) insecurities about not being an artist or about being alone when Hemingway goes off to write newspaper articles.  I don’t want to say she’s whiney—but I wouldn’t contradict someone else who said so.

The last 100 pages loses all of the beauty of the time and place and becomes a waiting game.  When will Hemingway take up with his mistress, when will Hadley find out about it, and surprisingly, how long will they exist as a threesome.  In this final third, Hadley becomes even more of a downer, she dislikes the fact that her husband has a mistress but continues to let the woman act as if they are friends: bike rides along the beach, shopping expeditions, etc.  Hadley does nothing.  And if there’s something I can’t stand (even in a fictional interpretation of a real person) it’s choosing to do nothing.  The last 100 pages are all angst, ending with Hemingway committing suicide.  I don’t know how I made it through as much schooling as I did without knowing that Hemingway shot himself, but I did-and I didn’t know that, and if I had, I probably wouldn’t have read this book no matter how chic the cover.

Two not-melancholy notes re: The Paris Wife

1.       1. The book of course covers Hadley’s losing of Hemingway’s manuscripts, but even knowing as little as I do about Hemingway, I was prepared for this thanks to a Gilmore Girls episode were Logan and Rory disagree over what happened.  Logan thinks Hadley lost them, Rory thinks she left them on a plane- In the end Rory discovers that the manuscripts were stolen while Hadley was on a train.  And then they make-out.  Probably.

2.       2. If you know me, this may amuse you, if you don’t…well then I don’t care:  My husband asked me why I was feeling melancholy-

Me: You wouldn’t ever leave me for a Vogue writer in Paris in the 1920s right?

Him: What the hell are you reading?

Me: A book about Hemingway’s first wife. You didn’t answer my question- would you leave me for a Vogue writer in Paris in the 1920s.

Him:  Well first I’ll have to build my time machine so I can go back and see how Hot she was, then I’ll tell you.

It made me laugh.  That’s probably the high point of this reading expedition for me. 

If you’re better than I at staying emotionally distant from a book, you might like this-this is just how I feel.

I tend to read several books at once.  I'll get about half way through one, and then decide I need a change of pace and switch to something else for awhile.  Most often this happens when I'm reading non-fiction.  It doesn't mean I don't enjoy the non-fiction that I'm reading, I just need a fiction break.  The problem comes when I forget to go back and finish the NF before I forget everything I already read.

Thus (I enjoy talking British) one of my goals for April is to finish some of the non-fiction books that have fallen by the wayside.  

My mom gave me Rogues' Gallery for Christmas last year (after I specifically asked for it).  The subtitle really describes the entire book:  The Secret Story of the Lust, Lies, Greed, and Betrayals That Made the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Sadly, although I've tried a couple of times, I've never gotten more than half-way through this book, its just so densely packed that I have to take a break.  

I'm still working on Keith Richards' Life.  I'm still liking it, Richards has continued his stream-of-conscious writing style and poetic descriptions of music.  Its easy to read, even if you're not a Stone's fan (which I am not).  But for goodness' sakes, its 576 pages!! I can't believe someone can be stoned for half their life and still remember enough to fill 576 pages. 

I gave Monuments Men to my dad for Christmas last year. Thereby starting my new tradition of giving him books that I want to read.  He finished MM in fairly short order, I've had more trouble getting through.  Again, the subtitle really gives you an accurate idea of the book:  Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.  Its about allied soldiers who were tasked with finding and protecting art, artifacts, and even monuments during World War Two.  

Julia Child's My Life in France is the final book on my list.  It really is a delightful read and I think perhaps I haven't finished it because I want to drag out the joy of it.  Or at least thats how I remember it...I haven't picked it up in months.  

So- My goal for April is to finish at least 2 of these.  I would have said three, but I'm pretty sure I will need to start some three of them from the beginning since its been so long.  Hopefully I can make a significant dent, b/c I have quite a bit on my 'wish list' including just about every book reviewed this week by NPR.

There's a monkey, a one-eyed cat, two guys with special powers, and a girl who bakes cupcakes.

Wicked Appetite

By Janet Evanovich

  I told you I was going to read some Janet Evanovich after finishing the House of Night series.  And true to my word, the moment I finished typing the previous post, I went straight to my nook and picked up where I left off with Wicked Appetite.  And it did not disappoint.  I can always count on Evanovich it seems. 

I already told you how much I love the Stephanie Plum Numbers series.  Adore Them!  But I wasn’t sure how I would find Wicked Appetite.  It was certainly a possibility that it would fall flat after the glory of Ranger & Morelli found in the Numbers.  Plus, according to the summary, Wicked Appetite had a mystical/magic element to it, and I’m really not into sci-fi/fantasy (B/c it’s too confusing and those conventions look scary).  So I actually held onto Wicked Appetite for awhile before starting it, afraid I would be disappointed.  But I wasn’t!  Yay! From 10 pages in the story grabbed me.  Yes, there’s some magic-but it’s not confusing, and the parts that are, the main characters are confused right along with you, giving J.E. a chance to explain herself. 

The story centers on a young woman named Lizzy who works at a bakery in Salem.  Lizzy makes the best cupcakes ever – Tangent: Why does Janet Evanovich want me to be fat?? Everything she writes makes me want to eat something sweet! If it’s not doughnuts then its cupcakes!  Ok, tangent over, but I really do want a cupcake…. So Lizzy is a chill ordinary girl who somehow gets caught up in a search for something mystical.  There’s of course a bad guy, Wulf, and a good guy, Diesel – both of whom are searching for a stone, the Gluttony stone.  Turns out there’s a stone for each of the seven deadly sins (which means at least 6 more books!!), and if a bad guy has all the stones, he can probably do bad things.  Anyway, Diesel and Lizzy pair up to search for the stone. 

The funniest parts, for me, are when Lizzy inadvertently picks up Gluttonous behavior.  I’m not saying anymore than that so you can experience the awesomeness for yourself- and you should experience it. But don’t start it right before you have to be somewhere, if you’re like me, you’ll devour it in a day.  It made me laugh out loud and chased away any icky book demons that were hiding in the caverns of my brain.  Run, don’t walk, to your local library and Read. This. Book.  

*I’ve read a bunch of online reviews panning this book because it was so much like the Plum series.  Apparently a bunch of readers found it unoriginal. Perhaps I’m in the minority or perhaps Amazon is full of grouchy pants, either way, I like it and still think you should read it.  It’s Fun and Fluffy, like a kitten playing monopoly.

Literary Crack

I've finished all 8 of the House of Night books (Marked, Betrayed, Chosen, Untamed, Hunted, Tempted, Burned, Awakened) by mother daughter duo P.C and Kristin Cast.
After reading all 8 (#9 is I believe set to be released in the fall), I'm more than a little undecided on my feelings for this series (yes, there are degrees to Undecided-ness just as there are degrees of wrong-ness as anyone who watches Big Bang Theory knows).
So here in a simplified Pro-Con list are my thoughts:

Cons: 

• My least favorite thing about this series is the fact that 8 books in, its the same story.  Normally in a series, I expect each book to have some type of conclusion to the story line.  Maybe there is an over-arching villain that we build up to, but each book addresses a smaller villain or problem and solves or addresses it.  That does NOT happen in this series.  The same bad guys exist from book one through book 8.  Just Kill the Bad Guy Already!  I'm begging you.  Kill him off and create another freaky threat to the world. 
• Going along with that point- You can't read just one of these books.  They suck you in, and then end with a cliff hanger.  I was always hoping that maybe in the next book there were would be some kind of resolution instead of a constant climax.  I knew it was futile. Its like wishing for Manolo Blahniks to go on clearance or finding a pair of jeans that fit on the first try.  Not. Gonna. Happen.  Maybe you can get through the first couple of books with out getting hooked- maybe.  But after the 3rd or 4th, you're doomed. 
• I mentioned this in my starter post, but it totally bugs me that these books are written for Teens and yet there is Graphic adult material (s-e-x).  I'm a bit of a priss, but I'm going to go ahead and say it- there's a Blow Job about 30 pages into the first book.  Phew, can't believe I just typed that...my mom might read this...geez.  Anyway, maybe its just that I grew up in a different time, but it wasn't that long ago that I was a teenager, we're not talking about Happy Days here, more like Home Improvement.  Although, in the interest of full disclosure, I was the kid more likely to be found reading for fun and hanging out with my fellow band nerds, so maybe stuff was more 90210 than I thought it was.  I'm sure a 16 or 17 year old would read nothing that they didn't already know.  But I always read above my grade level, so my concern is more for the 13year old picking this up.  Bottom line, read the series (the complete series) before giving it to a teenager.  Unless of course you already allow that teenager to watch Gossip Girl, in which case, the ship has already sailed. 

Pros:

• I think I already made this point as well, but the Cast duo does an exceptional job of making the books sound authentic.  By that I mean, the teenagers sound like teenagers.  As opposed to adults in teenagers bodies.  Judging from the acknowledgments, this was primarily Kristen cast's contribution to the book, and she did an extraordinary job, Glee references and all. 
• The books read Fast.  This is a good thing since you're going to need to read one after the other in rapid succession thanks to the cliffhangers.
• The stories are exciting and the characters are well developed.  That's a very short and small bullet point, but I don't have anything to add to it.

All in All, I think my friend Lisa said it best when she said the books are good, but emotionally draining.  I'm rather exhausted just typing this.  I don't think I'll be continuing with the series when the next book comes out. And now I need to go cleanse my pallet with some Literary Oreos (that would be Janet Evanovich).

Just Started

I just started Jane Evanovich's Wicked Appetite.  I'm only 55 pages in, but I am Very Excited about this one.  I adore the Stephanie Plum series, and this feels like it will be similar, but with a bit of Mysticism thrown in.  Similar to the Plum 'in-between the numbers'.  So far there's a girl who bakes stellar cupcakes, a hot guy, a bad guy, and several delightfully funny side characters.  High High Hopes my friends.