Recent Reads

As I have mentioned a few times now, since we've moved to Monterey, the library and I have become fast friends. Kev studies often at night, so once I am done blog reading and crafting the next day's post, I usually cozy up with my latest book. In January, I knocked out four books  and have added 5 more in the past past six weeks.

1. Lunch in Paris By Amanda Bard
 I really didn't enjoy this book. It is a memoir, written by a woman who has sex with a man on their first date, continues a secret casual fling with him over the course of 2 years, moves to Paris to be with him with establishing a real relationship, decides she loves him, doesn't answer his proposal for 6 months and then realizes she is bored and lonely living in France. So she starts cooking and then writes a book about it. The end. The book has rave reviews on Amazon, but I just never found Bard interesting enough to sympathizes with.

2. Juliet By Ann Fortier
I wouldn't tell you to run to the library for this one, but if you had some spare time, and you are a fan of the story of Romeo and Juliet, this is a quick and entertaining read. The story revolved around an introverted woman, Julie, who, after her Aunt who raised her dies, is sent on a hunt in Italy for an important family hierloom. Laced throughout the story are ancedotes from the 'real' Romeo and Juilet and the answer to whether or not Romeo and Juliet live still today.

3. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
The true story of Olymic runner Louis Zamperini, as he becomes a WWII legend by surviving 47 days on a raft in the Pacific Ocean after his plane crashes, subsequently followed by 2 and a half years in Japanese POW camps. The story itself is incredible. Zamperini's will and ability to survive are nothing short of a miracle, and the brutal truth of how the prisoners were treated is difficult to read. However, for me, the book dragged on. I think it would have been more poignant had it only been 100 pages (similar to Night, where the language is powerful enough to convey the message without overbearing details). If you are a history buff and want to know every last detail about the plane that flew overhead once, then you will love this book. If you just want the story, you will find it slow at points. I have to admit, I found myself skimming often. (Sidenote: This book was recommended to me by two friends who loved it, and its general reviews are very good, so this is definitely my personal opinion that it wasn't a page turner.)

4. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
You know how every Monday I tell you that our weekend started with bloody marys on Saturday morning? Well, they have turned into book club bloodies and my friend Steven and I get to sit in the leather chairs and talk books while my hubby and his wife laugh at us for being nerds and make plans to watch the movie for whatever book we are discussing. This week it was The Godfather. This is not a book I would have picked up on my own and I have never seen the movie, but I loved it. I was thinking it was going to be nothing but violence, but to be honest, the violence was quick and really took backseat to the amazing story of the Corleones. By the end of the book, I was completely on their side. I understood and empathized with all their Mafia reasoning. I was sad when their friends turned on them. I cried when a family member dies. My heart hurt when their love didn't make. I was moved, people. We are watching the movie tomorrow and I am looking forward to seeing how it compares.

5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
This is one of my favorite new reads, and it took me exactly one nap time to get through. In this book, we follow 15 year old Charlie as he navigates the world of high school and tries to figure out who he is in reference to his past, present and future. The twist is, the entire book is written as a series of letters, from Charlie to an anonymous friend. We never see a return dialogue, there is no break in the narration to see any other point of view, sometimes Charlie doesn't even finish the story he begins the letter with. And yet, you feel like you know and understand each individual character. It reminded me, in a way, of the narration of Room, where you see everything through the eyes of a 5 year old boy. I appreciate stories that are all at once one-dimensional and complex because that is such a difficult thing to do. Charlie is so simple, yet he sees people, and the world in ways that others can't. My one issue is that Charlie is made out to be an incredibly smart, but his writing is too simple to make me believe that he is a genius. (However, I also think I am incredibly smart and I spent my last post making up thoughts for a 3 year old and a 10 month old, so who am I to talk?)

6. Dead Until Dark: The First Sookie Stackhouse Novel. By Charlaine Harris
You know I rarely don't finish a book that I start, but y'all, this was awful. Awful. Like 4th grade book report (if that 4th grader was a sexually charged hick waitress who was telepathic and in love with a vampire) bad. Here is an actual sentence from the first few pages, "And it's not because I'm not pretty. I am. I'm blonde and blue-eyed and twenty-five. And my legs are strong."

Have you read anything good lately? Today is librabry day, so I would love some suggestions!