Playing with Boys

This was a fun read about 3 woman trying to make their way in Los Angelos. One is a "star" manager but her biggest client is this Mexican mariachi band who's side job is being major drug runners and of course her firms boss is also included so all of sudden she's out of a job when they get busted. So then it's about how she makes her own company with this other woman actress who becomes her client and another woman who's a new screenwriter. It's cute and it leaves you feeling good at the end. Some of the woman drama that is portrayed gets slightly monotonous but overall I enjoyed it and it made me smile.

Shanghai Girls

Hmmm...as a big fan of Snowflower and the Secret Fan, I have to say that Lisa See really let me down on this one. the beginning of the book was engaging and the middle...well...nothing ever happened. Then at the end she just left you hanging. It was as though she was as tired of this book as I had become and just needed to end it. So she did. Mid plot she just ended it.
Sorry guys...but I would really not even bother with this one! On to the next one!!

Shanghai Girls

Hmmm...as a big fan of Snowflower and the Secret Fan, I have to say that Lisa See really let me down on this one. the beginning of the book was engaging and the middle...well...nothing ever happened. Then at the end she just left you hanging. It was as though she was as tired of this book as I had become and just needed to end it. So she did. Mid plot she just ended it.
Sorry guys...but I would really not even bother with this one! On to the next one!!

The Time of My Life

I listened to this book, which was read by the authors, and enjoyed it very much. You know, when you hear someone has a fatal disease, you always wonder, why them? Well, after "reading" this, I have a bit of an idea why!

First off, Patrick was a HUGE smoker. He smoked right up until his death. His wife was also a smoker and they would fly in their airplane and smoke in the cockpit, which resulted in two near plane crashes because the smoke damaged the plane! Seriously. Makes you realize how lethal smoking is if it can do that kind of damage to an airplane.

And he was also just plain brutal to his body. As both a dancer and a football player in his youth, he damaged his body to great extremes. He had a "suck it up" mentality which I thought was interesting when he said, near the end of the book, that Swayze men (who live with this mentality) never live very long. The oldest living Swayze man he knew was his father, who died at 57 *which is the same age as Patrick was when he died this past summer.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book very much and even more so hearing it in their own voices. I would highly recommend it!

World Without End

AMAZING book! It's really really long and I read it straight for like a week! I was so involved I would be sitting at work thinking about how much I wanted to pull it out and read! I love Follett's writing but the characters in this story just make you feel so much. They go through so much heartbreak and are given so many obstacles and still manage to find the good and enjoyment in life. Persistance was a common thought I had while reading. Be persistant and anything can happen.

Loved reading it!

0 to 60

This is another self-published book that sucks you right in and makes you feel for the main female character. her husband of many years tells her he is leaving her to marry a much younger woman because she had his child. So then the rest of teh book is about how she makes it on her own. It's very funny becuase she starts online dating and has experiences with pretty much every typical male figure you can think of (the bad boy, the nut, the married guy, etc) and keeps ending up getting hurt when they end. Then she swears off guys and of course the perfect one is right there in front of her, very predictable but still enjoyable.

Saturn Return

This book is a self-published novel about "Saturn Return" which is the mentality that for a certain period you are out of sorts with the universe and then it all becomes right including your love life and work, etc. The whole idea was rather fanciful to me because it suggested that we don't really have any control in how our life turns out and that things will happen to make it right when it is the right time for it to. And to a point I agree with that but this was just so far beyond for me that it got a little annoying. The main characters of the book are fun to get to know and read about, a little too oh everything is so great at a few points but overall a good read. And quick.

Note: the author is mark Levine and there is a website where the book can be bought if wanted.

An Echo in the Bone

I was so excited to read this book because I absolutely love the first 6 in the series. Unfortunately it def wasn't as good as some of her previous ones. There was a lot more of the other characters talking and switching around and mainly just a lot of info that I am not as interested in. Towards the end though it def picked up and became the books that I remember so I have hope for the next one (in a year...lol).

The 19th Wife

This is two different stories about members of the Mormon community "The Firsts" who escaped from the religion and what their experiences were within. It was interesting to a point, but kept jumping around and had a lot of extraneous information that was tiring to read and didn't add anything to the story. I was also confused throughout most of the story about who's point of view we were reading from or who they were talking about.

I believe The 19th Wife (a different one) is just a single story of one woman and then they took her story and combined it with a few so maybe just hers would be better, but I was not a fan.

Devil in a White City

HALLIE: This book was the entwining of the stories of two different people during the World's Fair and Exposition located in Chicago in 1893. One of the men was David Burnham, the director of all works of the Exposition. It showed his trials, obstacles, and processes of creating/designing/constructing one of the biggest fairs in the world's history in just under 2 years. The other story is of one of the biggest serial killers the world had known then.

The way the author tied together the stories and many of the facts and interesting tidbits that happened was rather confusing and he would mention something, only to mention it again right away with a little add-on telling you to remember it. Now for most readers maybe that is nice but hey I can remember what happened earlier on in a story and I don't need an author to make it foolproof for me. It also makes me want to know what it is suggesting right away.

Other than that, I enjoyed reading about the fair in a historical sense and I recognized a number of inventions that were new then and are commonplace now, as well as many of the people who came to the fair and our famous these days so that was cool. Read it if you're interested in the history of the World Fair and Chicago but then again I'm sure there are better books about it out there as well.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

HALLIE: So good!! Pleasant and enjoyable the whole way through, this book had the perfect pace. Switching between two different time periods and settings, the author makes sure you never get bored. The ending is the best part by far, but the entire book is satisfying. Awesome!

TOMASEN: LOVED the entire book and there could not have been a more perfect ending!!!

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

This was pretty good, but slow at parts. A ton of my friends rave about this author, but she definitely isn't one of favorites. This is the second one I've read of hers, and I think (if I remember correctly) I liked the other one-This Lullaby-better. Easy reads, and good moments, but not great.

Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand

I loved this book because it was just easy and fun to read. Claire, the main character finds herself in the midst of having an affair with an older man to which she can't seem to say no to. The part that is interesting is that she appears to "have it all" with four children and a husband and the house and so on. Doesn't everyone? But the near loss of her fourth child forced to to retire from a part of herself that she desperately needed. She is an artist, a glassblower, and it is this same gentleman who encourages her to get back to what it is that feeds her soul. It is the classic mothering story of finding that balance between what makes us happy and what makes the rest of our families happy. Finding balance is eventually what Claire does...almost anyway. It ends as the affair winds down and Claire rediscovers a sense of peace with her family and herself as an artist.

A great beach read...

Tomasen: I could identify with Claire on many levels...although the intense glassblowing while pregnant bothered me!!

Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett

Well...this summer I read both of Ken Follet's books that are the doorstoppers...literally. Lugging them to and fro was a bit much, but the truth is that I just loved them both. I also love how the characters in the second book are related to the characters in Pillars. They are generations apart, but Jack the builder and Aliena are referred to and remembered. I loved the strength of Aliena and how she maintained such a level of independence. It always amazes me when male authors can do this. He did the same thing with the female character in World Without End, Caris. She was, however a bit extreme for me, always sacrificing her own wants and needs for that of any and everyone else. But that idea of independence was appealing, especially considering the time period in which these two books were set.

And so I set them both heavily into my bookshelf where I store only my all time favorite books.

I would absolutely recommend both of these books!!

Pope Joan

This was a really amazing read and I know everyone's first comment is that a female can't be Pope, but the truth is this woman becomes Pope by pretending she is a male her whole life. The story starts with her as a young girl whose older brother begins to teach her her lessons. She has an incredibly stunted father who doesn't believe woman should learn so they have to keep everything secret. Basically this girl is incredibly intelligent and curious to learn but she keeps running into these incredibly huge obstacles because no one is used to a girl being this intelligent, they think it's pretty much the work of the devil. Finally she takes over her brothers persona and the whole world opens up for her. It is a really interesting read, as said before, the only thing that annoyed me is the names of the characters. They were awkward to say and that totally annoys me! lol

Hornet Flight

Yet another Ken Follett book. Shorter this time. It was centered around the beginning of the Danish Resistance Movement during WWII and it was very sad because since it was the begginning you kept relating to these characters and then they would die because they sucked at actually being spies. But overall it was a great read again.

Pillars of the Earth

I was not as enamored with this book as everyone else I had heard but I did really enjoy reading it. It was a thousand page book and yet I still didn't want it to end. Ken Follett is a great writer who really knows how to make you relate with each and every character whether or not you agree with their beliefs/actions. Certainly reccommend this for everyone!

Tomasen: One of the BEST series EVER!!

Moon Shell Beach

Yet another quick read, based on Nantucket and about two women who in the end end up with the people that they were meant to be with. Just takes a few pages to get there!

Barefoot: A Novel

You might be seeing a bit of a pattern here -- and you would be right! This was yet another great "beach read," though I found myself reading it mostly in the living room because it rained out. Again. This was about three women -- two sisters and a friend, who go to Nantucket for the summer with their issues. Oh, and do they have issues! Vicki has lung cancer (and two children) Brenda just got fired from her job as a professor at a college for sleeping with her student and Melanie is pregnant but her husband is having an affair. Then of course, there is the cutie patootie island townie who wants them all. Yeah, like that happens.

Anyway, good read.

Tomasen: Great beach read...and hey...it COULD happen!! LOL

The Beach Club

This was another great read! I stayed up late two nights in a row, unable to put it down.

Mack Peterson has been working at the Beach Club and Hotel for the past 12 years, and has been dating Maribel for six of those years. They are both now 30 and she wants to get married. Badly. Mack lost his parents in a car crash when he was 18 and just left the farm in Iowa and ended up on Nantucket because it was the farthest point East he could go. He is now indispensable at the establishment that is owned by an aging couple with an 18 year old daughter who they want to leave it all to. And she doesn't want it. Maribel wants Mack to ask for profit-sharing, he doesn't care. He also needs to deal with the farm in Iowa. Poor Mack. All he wants to do is his job, and everyone wants him to grow up.

Which he is forced to do. And of course there are other characters who flesh out the book nicely.

Totally recommend it!

A Summer Affair

This was a true beach read, and yet, it had some depth. I enjoyed it a lot. It is about Claire Danner Crispin who lives on Nantucket with her husband and four children. Due to an accident while pregnant with her fourth child, she has decided that she will not work, but instead will just raise her children. As a well-renowned glass blower with pieces in museums, it is a decision that leaves her empty inside. And when she is asked to co-chair the Summer Gala, a huge charity event, she goes from being the perfect mother to having an affair with the rich man who also convinces her to return to her art. The fact that she doesn't realize that it is her art that is making her feel alive -- not the balding, slightly pudgy man she is sure she is in love with; only makes the reader want what is best for Claire and her family.

In fact, I just downloaded a couple of other books by Hilderbrand to my Kindle -- and I am lucky, she has written 8!

A World Without End - Sequel to Pilars of the Earth

This one started out really great, as great as The Pillars of the Earth. But the last 100 pages or so were pretty predictable. In fact, a lot of the things that happened were predictable. But that was okay -- it is still a GREAT read and I was very sad for it to end.

Respectable Trade

I really like Philippa Gregory as an author. I think she is an amazing historical fiction writer, she knows how to pull you in and keep the story interesting. This was a different type of story than she normally writes (King Henry 8th), but because I like her I decided to give it a try.

It's about a woman who marries this man because she really has no other prospects and this guy wants to move up in the world by marrying her. He owns a shipping company with three ships and quickly moves onto slave trade. They also devise a scheme where they will bring a few good looking slaves back, train them in english and household chores and then sell them. Now of course the woman has no say in any of this because she is "owned" by her husband, so she gets stuck training these slaves and falls in love with one of the male slaves. Then the husband goes way too far into debt and you can probably guess how the story plays out.

It was nicely written but really not that great. I wasn't able to connect with any of the characters.

Moloka'i

This book is about Hansens Disease, more well known as leprosy. It tells how way back when Hawians were so frightened of this disease that if anyone got it they were shipped off to this quarantined settlement and had to live their lives out there. Didn't matter your age or anything, you were immediately shipped off and potentially might never see your family again. Many times the family were then shunned because people blamed them that someone in their family had gotten this horrible disease.

It is a beautifully written book, I never wanted to put it down, and the story of this one girl, taken from her family at age 7, and how she still had a wonderful life. She never let her disease get her down and it really was such a beautiful story.

I would most definitely suggest reading this!!!

The Thirteenth Tale

I read this book immediately after finishing The Pillars of the Earth. Normally, after finishing such a good read, it will take me some time to get into another book. But this one happened to be laying around and I picked it up. I had started to read it before, but it didn't draw me in. I thought when I picked it up that it would be perfect since it wouldn't draw me in.

I was wrong.

Within a few chapters I was completely absorbed, and once again fell into another reading marathon. The way this book teases you with its strict adherence to following the story (the story within the story) keeps you running after the carrot, believe me.

Loved it.

The Pillars of the Earth

LISA: Wow. Is all I can say. This book is long, it takes hours and hours and hours and hours to read. And it is near impossible to put down. What that equation turns into is a lot of sleepless nights and bleary eyes!

It is epic, it is historical fiction at its best. Seriously, could hardly put it down.

A MUST read!

Never Let Me Go

This book is very well written and easy to read. Keeps you interested. I can't really talk about the book because the whole point is that you don't know what's going on but it's a good read. It is all fiction but the ideas it suggests are very thought-provoking and almost to the point of being disturbing.

Bitter is the New Black

This book takes a while to get into becuase it is exactly what the title suggests which is a spoiled female (Jen) who loses her job and doeesn't know what to do with herself becuase she then can't afford her designer accessories and expensive salon days. Then her boyfriend loses his job and they have to move out of their exorbitantly priced apartment with teh private roof deck, etc. But once you get past all of that annoyingness it is actually a very pleasant and humorous read. I enjoyed the dynamics of their relationship (and the fact that they got married so she could get her parents car!) and I enjoyed seeing how they were able to support each other and find the humor in their situation even at the worst of times. Jen warmed up to me when it didn't even take a second thought for her to sell every single designer piece she had the second she found out her husband had stopped taking his depression medicine (and this is just an example, they were without an incoem for easily a year and they got to the bottom of the barrel).

I think my favorite thing about the book though was that Jen never ever stopped being herself through it all. When she got really bored and frustrated she created her own website and started ripping on the companies that were denying her positions. She had posts about dumbing down her resumes, the hippies living below, everything. Well written and humurous (unique with the use of footnotes). A good beach read.

Always Looking Up, by Michael J. Fox

I love this guy, always have. But he is more than a celebrity who has been stricken by an awful disease. The man is a writer. He has such a beautiful command of the English language that I was so sad when the book ended.

His view point on how this disease has formed a life he never would have lived if he had remained healthy is so refreshing and while it would seem that whining might not be such a bad idea from time to time, he never does this.

I highly recommend this book.

Stolen Innocence

I'm sure everyone remembers the polygamous sect that was all over the news two years ago now or so about when over 400 children and young women got taken away from their families because they had been forced into a young marriage or weren't being properly taken care of. They were taken from a religion called Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They obey the prophet and it's a very dictatorship like religion.

This book is about a woman who grew up in this religion and at age 14 was forced to marry her first cousin. It's about her experiences growing up and living in a family with like 20 siblings just from her own biological mother. Then her father had two other wives with a similar number of children. Things happen and their family gets torn apart because of the dictations of this "prophet" as well as the fact that her siblings had powerful questions about their faith. Ultimately she ends up losing many of her siblings who defect because they don't 100% believe in the faith and then she is forced to marry and her mother does nothing to help her. She spends 4 years or so with this "husband" where he continually forces her to have sex and numerous other problems. Through this all she is meeting with the prophet asking to be granted a release from her marriage because deep down she knows that what she is experiencing is wrong, but he won't let her.

Elissa Wall speaks very eloquently about her experience within FLDS and why it took her so long to leave the faith, even with a number of her siblings telling her how great life outside of it all was. She was really able to represent the fear of being condemmned to hell if she stopped believinng in the faith and I found myself throughout her story actually sympathizing and understanding why she continued to stay in this horrible life. And I do not do religion.

Well written and enjoyable.

The Lords of Discipline

I absolutely loved "Beach Music" by Pat Conroy. It's a book I've read multiple times and will probably reread for my entire life. So I thought how could I not like another book by him right?

Well this book is all about a military institute and what it takes to get through college there and though I usually find books like this interesting, the entire story tended to get lost in the over-writing and description that Conroy uses. At points it almost felt like he had used a thesaurus or something in order to find the most intelligent sounding words and the description was INCREDIBLY lengthy and boring. Towards the last quarter of the book Conroy actually starts telling the story and it got rather interesting, but for sure not enough to make the book worthwhile.

Even through all the wordiness though you do care about the characters and want them to make it through the horribleness that is "plebe" year. haha

Anybody Out There

This book is about how a woman deals with losing her new husband in a horrible accident and it's a nice story when you consider only that. You can really relate with her pain and depression as she figures out she doesn't need to email Aidan (husband) anymore etc. Unfortunately the author also throws in random other side lines that seem to be there so that she is distracted from her pain, but it just ends up being fluff that you have to read through. Not fantastic writing either.

Handle With Care -- by Jodi Picoult

This has been on my Kindle for weeks, I started it on the flight home from Arizona and never seemed to be able to finish it. It is typical Picoult -- the same formula with the lawsuit and the medical issue. I enjoyed it, it is less over-written than her last few books (I believe her editor is actually working for her instead of kissing her ass!) always a good thing. But just like the past few books, I HATED the ending. It is becoming her formula ending. She needs a new formula or I am not going to be a devoted fan anymore.

Time to get out of the box Jodi!

Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society

HALLIE: This book is a collection of letters from a number of town members who all belong to this Society that they created during WWII while occupied by the Germans. The letters are mainly between one woman, an author, who is trying to write a book about the Society and the members. The characters in the book are fun and curious, they are all from a small island so each of them have their quirks and special characteristics but above all they are truly good people and it shines through.

Pretty easy read, doesn't make you think to much but you def start feeling for the characters. I would consider it a good beach read.

TOMASEN: Not sure what the big hub bub was about this book. I actually found it quite boring at times!! So many other great books to read, but this one seemed to hit many people much differently than me!!

Firefly Lane

Loved this book! Two completely different girls who meet in like 8th grade and are friends for life. One gets married & does the family thing (had a great family during childhood), the other has a completely absent Mom and ends up becoming famous and rich. How they keep their friendship and everything. Sounds like a typical story but the writing was great and I absolutely loved it! For only reading one book during the month of March this was def the way to go.

ps. don't know what is up with blogspot right now but it will not let me get rid of the underlined and blue thing. meh

The Thirteenth Tale

This book was absolutely nothing like I expected it to be. The general story is that this woman who is obsessed with books, works with her father running an old book store, and she is hired by an extremely famous author to write her biography. This author, Vida Winter, is beloved by the public and she has had numerous people try to tell her story, but she always made up her past. Now she is finally about to pass and she wants to tell her real story which involves how she grew up, a twin.

I really don't want to give any more away because the whole story works because of the twists and turns and veils it has. The woman who is listening to Vida's story and will eventually write it is a lonely woman who has known no other life except reading day in and day out. Thus seeing her step out of her comfort zone and taking in this other person's story as well as being able to see it from her view point. She becomes so involved in the books she reads and it's incredible. In fact a little joke in the book is that she won't read standing up becasue once she got so distracted she fell down and hurt herself.

Very very good book, a little confusing to follow until you get a hang of the storyteller, but it's been one of the best reads I've had in awhile. Please check it out.

The Waiter Rant

This is a book that is written by a guy who has spent years waitering. He started out talking about his experiences on a blog, waiterrant.com, or something that is still going as far as I know and this is a compilation of some of his posts. I was interested to read it as I've been a waitress and my roomate is waitressing right now so I know both sides of the story here.

I was rather dissappointed though by the book. Number one the guy repeats himself and some well known beliefs easily 4 or 5 times throughout the book. I understand that waitering is a very hard business and alot of times they aren't respected and it's one of the only jobs where they really don't get paid anything but their tips, but I felt like he almost kept putting himself up on a soapbox because he was willing to do this while also calling himself a loser every 5 pages becuase here he was a 30's age guy who was still waitering. Some of the stories were good and funny to read. There were def parts that I could relate to and laugh at, but overall I was annoyed with this guy. I feel like maybe his blog might be better because it wouldn't be him imagining himself as a waiter so much as just him writing what happened that day at work. I do believe his worst problem was that he kept imagining that this book would be the thing that got him out of his rut in the service industry when in essence he is not that good of a writer and his thoughts are not interesting. His stories are what were interesting and they got lost in all his ramblings.

I would suggest check out the blog rather than the book if you want a laugh, and man, get a better editor cause your book sucked.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

I wanted to read this book because I loved Harry Potter. It is a small book, with huge font, and the pages aren't even completely filled with words. I read it in maybe an hour while sitting at Barnes & Noble which would be what I would suggest rather than paying the $13. Though it does go to a charity organization so if you have the money, go for it.

It was cute. It was a collection of 5 short stories (fairytales but with wizards) and then it had documentation from Dumbledore's point of view after each tale sort of telling the moral of the story as he saw it. Cute stories, the writing was nice and good just like J. K. Rowling. If you have some time to kill, which we did, it's amusing and fun.

Those Who Save Us

The story of this book is about a woman (Anna) who is German and lives in Weimar, Germany at the time of WWII. She falls in love with a Jewish Doctor, gets pregnant and then it follows through how she existed during the war. It is also written in a second viewpoint of her daughter (Trudy) as a grownup who is a professor whose special study is WWII and how the german females were affected by the war.

It's interesting because Anna does not speak to her daughter at all about how she became a mistress to an SS officer or anything that happened before they moved to America after the war. She is ultimately shut down and pretends as if Trudy's life started the day they moved when in essence she was probably 4 or so before they did.

I never really fell in love with any of the characters. It was interesting to me to read a WWII book from a German viewpoint, and Anna's story was interesting, but I just never really cared what happened. I mean here we have a woman and her daughter who could potentially die at any minute and for some reason I just didn't believe it. Anna never really struck me as an actual person, and neither did grown up Trudy, so maybe that was what the author was going for.

And then, the ending just sucks. So overall, not a very good book. Plenty better ones to read!

T is for Trespass

This is the first of the Kinsey Millhone stories that I've read. I only chose it becuase it was cheap on Kindle and I thought why not. I had heard a good amount about them and considered that it would be at least a semi interesting read.

It did not disapoint. The first 50 pages or so was slow moving and it took awhile for me to get connected. I think this is because Grafton gives you everything, good guy/bad guy, so you can totally see what the premise of the book is about and since I read a lot I knew enough of this type of book to see how it would be. But the events that bring it around and the actions of the characters did pleasantly surprise me.

I had a little bit of a problem with Kinsey's character because it didn't seem like she really acted as a private investigator would. She seemed to be very wimpy to me in a way. I'm not sure if it was just this book or maybe I wasn't able to relate to her enough. I probably should have started with one of the beginning letters where more of her background is provided, but I still did end up enjoying the read.

And watch out, come the last 100 pages or so you do not want to put it down! The villian is a little phyco, keeps you on your edge! Easy read, good vacation book

Loving Frank

Loving Frank is the story of the relationship between Frank Lloyd Wright and Martha (Mamah) Borthwick Cheney. They both left their significant others and kids to go traveling abroad and try to have a life together. This happened at a time where woman had no liberties and thus most of the story is how they dealt with the repercussions of this hugely monumental choice to leave and live together openly flaunting the norm. Then they also had the troubles of Frank Wright who was bad with money and living a real life. He was rather eccentric and focused largely on his architecture.

I enjoyed reading about Mamah and how she was able to make very hard decisions that were incredibly painful but ultimately allowed her to live a happy and fulfilled life rather than just settling. I am still rather unsure how I felt about how she went about it. When she finally left her husband she did it by going abroad. Thus she was unable to see her children for the next two years. And they were very young when (3 and 7) so by the time she came back the youngest one didn't even remember her. And even when she was finally back in the states her ex husband there only allowed her to see them once a year or so. I think it's very important to live your life, but I did not like how the kids faired.

The book is interesting to read, but it doesn't keep you reading. I didn't have a problem putting it down and the writing sometimes got bogged down in descriptions and Mamah's melacholiness as she ruminated over her choices, but as long as you make yourself pick it up it's enjoyable. The ending is completely unexpected and very very sad. I actually needed to look it up to make sure it was fact because of how horribly random it is. But that's life.

I read this for a book club and I do think it's a good choice for that. There are certainly numerous different discussion points that are available from it.

Marley and Me

I actually went to see the movie before reading the book, and I have to say that I equally enjoyed them both. John Grogan is an excellent writer and this book is very easy to read.

At first I kept having the two actors, Luke Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, in my head, but the book really is so much more in-depth then the movie. And I often wondered why they changed things in the movie, just for the sake of changing things, when the events that happened in the book would have actually been better.

It makes you wonder sometimes why they even use a book to create a movie from, when the changes are just so random. Ego probably.

Anyway, whether you've seen the movie or not, this is a good read.

Tomasen: Loved it...especially having a dog. Have yet to see the movie though!!

The Lady Elizabeth

The Lady Elizabeth is about Queen Elizabeth's life before she was crowned. I've always loved historical fiction and the time era of the Tudors and Queen Elizabeth is one of my favorites. Thus I have read everything by Philippa Gregory as well as many other books about this time period. This book doesn't really have much new information except for one main thing. She suggests that Elizabeth actually got pregnant by the Admiral and had a miscarriage. This was something I had never heard of. Elizabeth is always protrayed as being very sickly at times so I believe all the other books I've read just passed off the time when Weir suggests she was pregnant as a time she was merely ill.

Other than that it was a an interesting read and it was definetly a different point of view than others I have run. Elizabeth intruiges me greatly at how much she enjoyed being a leader, but also in how much effort and hard work she put into everything in order to be the greatest leader she can be. So if anyone else is interested in her as well, I certainly reccomend this book.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

This is an unbelievably short read -- like a couple of hours and poof, it is done. It seemed a little scattered, like she would say something, like "aliens landed on our front lawn, no kidding." And then the next paragraph would talk about something else, like her mother is her neighbor. Kind of a lot of those "huh?" moments. Maybe she was drinking when she wrote it?

Anyway, it was fine and I am sure growing up in her world was pretty freaky, and from where I stand it seems that the majority of celebrity children are pretty screwed up, so I think my children should thank me everyday that I am NOT a celebrity. But then again they lost the opportunity to write a book about it. Oh well.

Oddly enough, this morning Carrie Fisher was on the Bonnie Hunt show, and as I was making my smoothie I was listening to her spout the words verbatim that I had just read. Like, the woman needs new material! I guess the book is just a hardcopy of the act she takes on the road -- and as I watched her saying them, I realized that what the book lacks is her SAYING them! Because you can jump from subject to subject and not finish sentences when you are speaking -- and it works. But when you are reading it it seems disjointed.

So, she has written novels before, so she has the capacity to write. I think this is just a lazy version of her act on paper. To be a book it needs more depth.

So I would not recommend it.

Another Mother's Life

I finished this book over a week ago but was unable to post about it because of holiday happenings.

This was a pleasant non-action type of read. It definetly kept me interested and wanting to keep going. I was able to relate with both the main characters, Allison & Catherine, though probably not in the way the author was planning as I don't have a husband or kids, but they were both very likable woman. I was a little appalled by Allison's actions in the beginning of the book when she steals her best friends guy, but after that I really respected their decisions to step out of the rut their life had become and work to make it better for themself and their children.

I did not like one of the male main characters Mark. I was not a fan at all of him. I don't find cowardness or the will to prove yourself great qualities. And then of course hitting kids. But luckily he is not too present and you can focus on the woman. Def a good read.

Twilight (1-4)

I have been being told to read these books for awhile, but pushed it off until christmas vacay so that I didn't need to buy them for myself or anything. I read the first two each in one day and then the next two over the next week.

I did not fall in love with these books the way that everyone else did. I do understand being sucked in. Stephanie Meyer has the perfect romantic novel timeline set up and her writing makes you feel very strongly for all characters so no matter what is happening you want to read on and see what comes out! To look at the actual storyline though as it went I was mainly annoyed. First you have Bella who falls in love with a vampire. ok that's fine and swell but then when he leaves she falls in love with a werewolf. And then the vampire comes back but by then I myself had fallen for the werewolf so now there is a ton of the book where you're stressed out because you can't decide which one she should go for. And she can't decide. And to top it all off there are many other people trying to kill her!! It's very stressfull, I actually had stomachaches while I was reading.

Finally we hit the fourth book!!! I actually enjoyed the secondhalf of this book. Putting away the fact that she is willing to die herself to let this child live, we finally get to see a strong Bella and Edward and Jake working together for the better. I didn't feel like I was always being told that Bella needs watching or she's bodily sick because Edward is in trouble or grieving because she's hurt Jake through her own actions. They actually stand up and fight!!!! Woohoo and she makes her shield! Which is awesome. Overall I only wish I could have seen the little Renessme because she seemed very sweet.

Oh and I also was frustrated because I could not get the actor guy out of my head whenever I thought of Edward and I do not think he is hot!!!! NO WAY JOSE!

So good, very interesting books to read. You will def be sucked in and I will probably find myself re-reading them somewhere down the line because even though they do irritate me, Meyer has a fabulous writing skill and you are intrigued the whole way through. I mean even Harry Potter annoyed me at times....

Testimony, by Anita Shreve

Lisa

I read this book cover-to-cover on a cold January day, beside the fire. But before that, I read two chapters that pushed me to my computer so I could rant and rave about the unfairness of the world towards boys. It started out as a blog but became far too personal and angry, so it will remain in the private archives.

But it is easy to say that this book struck a chord with me.

The setting is a private school in Vermont and the story is about a tragedy that strikes when three boys have sex with a freshman and how the consequences of that one simple action destroyed a web of lives.

Shreve does not hand you the story on a silver platter ... no, you must go through chapters with new character voices and try to figure out who they are, occasionally returning to a familiar character, only to be tossed back into the hands of maybe the school lunch lady. You see, small actions affect everyone one way or another.

What touched me at the start of the book was you are told straight up that the girl knew what she was doing. She might have been 14, but she was out trolling for these guys, and due to really one catalyst, these otherwise smart, ambitious and well-meaning boys ended up drinking too much and doing things with the girl that were caught on tape and then put onto Youtube. It's something that could happen to anyone ... and the mother's in the book broke my heart. As one mother said:

What do I want to say to the mothers of sons? Something hurts these boys, and I don't know what it is. Take away the alcohol. If you suspect a problem, there is a problem. Don't let them get away with even the very first lie. Be vigilant."

Because what she is saying is that if you just let them be ... it could turn out very bad. Made my hair stand on end!

And this from one of the "rapists."

I just don't get it. You take all those other days of the year -- 364 of them. And all that pressure to get into a good college. And three hours a night of homework, plus all those hours of practice and games and Saturday school ... So you take all those hours and you put them up against one hour of getting wasted and acting like a jerk, and that one hour defines your life? Forever?

I understand I have to pay. I get that part. My question is this: For how long?

It's a very rich book in that it touches on so many layers. Like I said, Shreve doesn't hand it to you, you have to think about it. But she gives you all the ingredients.

I recommend it. And don't forget to stoke the fire!

Hallie

A very intense and frustrating read. I always find it hard to read about peoples lives being destroyed for a reason that could have been avoided if someone had just spoken out. It was very well written and you feel for the three boys who are accused of this horrible act. The book ties together very nicely with a letter written by one of the nicest, most respectful guys and leaves you feeling hopeful as the boy states that yes this changed his life from the path he and everyone was expecting to follow but it did not ruin it. From now on he will just move in a direction that was never expected. A very truthful and amazing truth to recognize when he could have just continued to be a bitter guy or the rest of his life.