Book Review: Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

A friend asked me just the other day if I had a book recommendation. I was so sad to say that the most recent things I had read were a series of Pride and Prejudice continuing stories that I absolutely and positively could not recommend. And I had last cracked those open several months before Annabelle was born!

I don't know what it is about pregnancy and postpartum, but it took a long time for me to find the will to pick up a book during/after both my kids. Oh wait, I guess do know what it is. Exhaustion.

But that question was enough to shock me out of my postpartum reading funk to start on a list of titles I had been storing for when the time came.


First on deck: Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
by Maria Semple
Set in Seattle, this is a story about an eccentric woman who has lost the person she once was. It's narrated by her gifted 15-year-old daughter, during a pivotal time in the mother's life where she's really coming unglued. Or is she? It kept me up fairly late one night because I needed to know the ending. The author, Maria Semple, wrote for Arrested Development, and that probably tells you a lot about the humor. I found it entertaining and smartly written, albeit somewhat dark and sad at times.

There are a lot of digs on stereotypical Seattle culture: Microsoft, Subarus, helicopter parents (okay, those are everywhere,) coffee, rain, etc. There are also digs on private school parents, and parents who think their kids can do no wrong. Just a lot of satire.

While not always a light-hearted read, it was an easy read and moved along quickly for me. You know how sometimes a book is long and drawn out? This one wasn't. I think it would be a good one to pick up if you're going on a trip. Or anytime, for that matter.

So tell me, what book is hanging out on your nightstand these days? Should I add it to my list?

Click here for my past book reviews.

Reading Rainbow

Don't forget about my my Kendra Scott giveaway!
You could snag a beautiful pair of turquoise earrings!

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Both of the books below are some easy reads I've grabbed in the past couple of weeks. It's vacation season, and both of these would be a great addition to your hand luggage or beach bag.


The Overnight Socialite by Bridie Clark is My Fair Lady set in the 2010s. It's about a nobody who is approached by a wealthy gentleman to turn into a socialite. It's all about what "socialite" means in these days (being photographed in the papers, getting corporate contracts to promote the socialite's "brand") versus what it was back when being a socialite simply meant being a (wealthy) patron of different the charities and causes circuit.

This is the kinda of Cinderella stuff Lifetime or ABC Family movies are made of. It was a quick read--total marshmallow fluff--and completely predictable, just like I like it.


Now Divergent. What can I say about Divergent? Well, for one I liked it much better than The Hunger Games. Infinitely better. It's the same kind of dystopian young adult fiction as THG, but I liked the characters more and felt that the plot was better developed.

The easiest way to explain it is straight from the author's blog. That's right, Veronica Roth is a blogger too!

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris, and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together, they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes-fascinating, sometimes-exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret: one she’s kept hidden from everyone, because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly-perfect society, she also learns that her secret might be what helps her save those she loves . . . or it might be what destroys her.

My first reaction to Twilight was to read it again. That is the same urge I had with this one. Divergent is the first in a trilogy, so you have over a month before the second book, Insurgent, comes out May 1. I can't wait.

Happy reading, friends!

Dear Francine Pascal

Dear Francine Pascal:

I recently read your latest chronicle of some of my favorite fictional characters as a young girl. I can't decide if you deserve a shame on you or a well done, you. So for the purposes of this letter, I will give you both.

Shame on you for taking the bloom off of the rose of my opinion of some of my favorite Sweet Valley peeps, for introducing them as potty-mouthed, lying, cheating, backstabbing, soap-operatic style shades of themselves. Not even Elizabeth was spared from your black-eyed pen!

Well done, you, for redeeming some of the most heinous of the SVHS villains and giving me closure to the series that, quite honestly, I hadn't thought about in years until I saw the cover on Amazon. As much as I was disappointed with the main conflict in the book, you wrapped it up in a way that I could live with. That is to be commended since I nearly threw it at the wall when I realized who and what the conflict was about.

Thanks for the memories, and the board game.

Regards,
Mrs. Gentry

D.E.A.R.

via
We didn't call it drop everything and read time at my elementary school, but I wish we had because I'm a sucker for cutesy acronymns. I did a lot of reading, regardless. My first chapter books were the Little House series, and I still remember my first grade teacher marching me down to the library to check out the first one because I gone through all of her readers. Right now I'm going through Pride and Prejudice again because it's my default. (Jane has just found out that Caroline and Mr. Darcy have convinced Mr. Bingley to go back to town. So tragic.) I need something new. That's where you come in!

What are you reading, and do you recommend it?

Book Report: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

I finished a couple of books over Christmas, but I'll spare you the details on the project management one and just give you the better of the two. I had heard fabulous reviews about Unbroken from everyone who has read it, so I picked one up for myself and one for my grandfather for Christmas. I hope he likes it.


VIA
In Unbroken, Hillenbrand (author of Seabiscuit, which I never read or saw*) tells the extraordinary tale of Louis Zamperini, a former Olympian who was lost at sea, captured, and survived a Japanese POW camp during WWII. I had to keep reminding myself while I was reading that it was actually a true story, as in these things really happened. It gave me a renewed and incredible respect for the men and women of the Armed Forces who served or are currently serving our Great Nation. What amazing sacrifices they make and dangers they face to ensure freedom for citizens of the United States of America.

I'm not big into history reading, but this captured my interest and held it all the way to the end. It's just that compelling - similar to a movie! I feel like perhaps the ending was a bit rushed. (Funny, I felt the same way about The Hunger Games, but that, my friends, is another soapbox for another day.) But this is an amazing story of redemption and transformation, and I think you would love it too.

*Not all that into real-live animal movies, which makes it difficult to get excited to see Warhorse which everyone is raving about.

One Day, Reviewed

So of course I was inspired to read this book after seeing the previews for the latest Anne Hathaway movie. British accent? I am there! One Day was written by David Nicholls who I know nothing about other than he wrote One Day. Except now I just googled him, and it looks like he is a screenwriter and has adapted Tess of the D'Urbervilles and is working on Far From the Madding Crowd for the BBC. Fancy that.

Anyway, this novel centers on a couple who become entangled with one another on their last day of college and follows their friendship throughout their twenties and thirties. It's one of those geeky-girl-likes-popular-boy but they are friends, but then more, but then not. Until ONE DAY. Sort of.

It was an easy read, but I have to say it wasn't my favorite. I wasn't okay with the ending, although I don't know how I would've rewritten it myself. But, you know, Mr. Nicholls did not consult me so there is that. Additionally, it has some language and situations that Jane Austen {and therefore, I} simply would not approve of.

If you're interested in my copy (because of course, one woman's "meh" is another woman's "ohmygoodnessmyfaveever!"--feel free to crosstitch that on a pillow), leave me a comment. I will not judge you if you love it. Otherwise, this one's got a one way ticket to Half Price Books.

SLC Public Library

Public libraries have been on my brain lately. A library is so cool. Seriously. For all the taxes we pay, it's so nice to go and have all these free fabulous books to check out and read. Be a fan of your public library!

While our own local library system is wonderful, the facilities are not quite so fab, so I nearly died when I read up and subsequently visited the Salt Lake City Central Public Library.

It had me at the the bike rack. How cool is that?

READ BOOKS.

The inside

Bookshelves to the left, study/reading areas to the right. Amazing.
On the first floor, there is a Friends of the Library store (selling old library books and other fun literary paraphernalia), a coffee shop, and an art gallery.

The right wall slants inward, and the architecture is beautiful, although this pic doesn't do it justice. It's 5 or 6 floors. More details found here.

And up top, a rooftop garden.

Wow.



All my faves are there.

Fort Worth, I want this library.

Book Report: The Catcher in the Rye

I finished The Catcher in the Rye last week and have already taken up with the next book on my list, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. When I took it up to the counter at Borders, the college dude who rang me up told me he read it in high school. I told him that I probably should have but didn't, thankyouverymuch, but at least I was reading it now.

This reminded me of a time while I was dining with my wonderful husband and had my pager sitting on the table. (For those of you that don't know, I am often on call for work.) The kid also known as our waiter laughed at me and told me that the 80s called and wanted their pager back. And then I laughed and cut his tip in half. Moral of that story: don't make fun of paying Customers, especially those who might be sensitive about the 80s or their giant pagers..

Anyway, back to the book. I knew there was some controversy regarding The Catcher in the Rye so that's one reason I decided to read it this year. I can definitely say that while I am not a proponent of censorship, I am definitely a fan of good judgment, and not every book is suitable for its intended audience. I think this one would be most appropriately read on a college level for content, not difficulty, so that is my thought on that front. It's about a young man who keeps flunking out of different boarding schools. I could talk about the realities of coming of age, loneliness, etc. but that's not why anyone reads this blog, so we'll keep it simple and say I thought it was a sad story.

So far A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man hasn't captured my attention, but I have high hopes that it will get better.

Almost everyone I know has a book going at all times. What are you reading right now?

Book Report: Vanity Fair

I mentioned last month that my first book of 2009 would be Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. I could make this little book report short and say "longest, most verbose book ever written," but I feel like that would be a disservice to Mr. Thackeray and his classic satire, even though it was indeed long and verbose. The story was written in installments for a contemporary periodical of his day, so I was able to forgive him a little bit. I liken it to LOST--get on with it! (Seriously, how many times is the island going to skip?)

The narrator describes it as "a story with no heroine" which is completely true. We follow the main character Becky from her selfish, terrible late teenage years to her selfish, terrible middle age years. She was a backstabber, a crook, and shameless through the whole thing. But of course, it has a little romance with the drama, and I was totally satisfied with the ending.

(But let's be honest, the only reason I read it was to have a frame of reference to the Reese Witherspoon movie version.)

I'm hopping back on the reading rainbow--this time with something a little shorter, The Catcher in the Rye.

Required Reading 2009

Being the listmaker that I am, I've created my own personal reading list for 2009. I'm slowly (keyword here: slowly) working through this list of 1,001 books to read before you die, so I took the titles from there. I decided I would set a goal of one per month, with one to grow on. Looking over the titles of the many classics I haven't read makes me sad, so I must face reality: I need to step away from Jane A. This is the year I will finally read Anna Karenina. I'm sure I'll do plenty of non-self-required reading in 2009 too, so I'm keeping my options open for some good chick-lit, and I always have a copy of P&P bookmarked at my favorite spot for a pick-me-up!

Emily's Required Reading for 2009 (in no certain order)
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Winifred Watson
Billy Budd Herman Melville
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce
Treasure Island Robert Lewis Stevenson
Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
The Mysteries of Udolpho Ann Radcliff
Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray
Last of the Mohicans James Fenimore Cooper
Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott
Agnes Grey Anne Bronte
The Mill on the Floss George Eliot
The End of the Affair Graham Greene
The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger

In case you're wondering, I've kicked it off with Vanity Fair. Here's to a year of literacy!

Regarding Twilight

I would call this a book report, but it's probably closer to a commentary on the fact that I read a book (or really 4 books) about vampires, rather than a synopsis of the story itself.

I'm not sure what's more shocking to me: the fact that little conservative Baptist me read them or the fact that they were written by a Mormon housewife. But guess what? I liked it.

I had heard a murmuring about the series when they announced that the movie was coming out. I dismissed it immediately, but someone else gave me just the little encouragement I needed, so read them I did. I bought the book on the way out to New Orleans last weekend and finished it that night. By Monday I had purchased the last three books and finished Breaking Dawn Tuesday night. They are an easy read and really good. I don't think it's the best writing ever or that the characters are amazing, but I had just had to know how it ended, you know? Good story.

I kept thinking about Jane Eyre throughout it, so I was not surprised when I did some research and saw that the author was a fan of Bronte.

Was Bella a weak character? Yes. Girl needs to get a backbone and quit the whining. Would I recommend this for teenagers? I would say no, but I can think of several books that were accepted reading for me in high school that had much less wholesome story lines. (One author that sticks out in my head is D.H. Lawrence.) Are there some dark themes? Of course there are--it's about vampires. However, the whole book is about struggling to be good, even though you have a nature to be bad. And in the end, it's about the triumph of that good.

Have I seen the movie? How could I stay away? As I stood in the bathroom after the movie listening to three teenage girls remark (in so many words) how Kristen Stewart was a terrible Bella, I had a hard time restraining myself from jumping into their 15-year-old conversation. I agree, like, totally. But it was still really good.

And just in case there could be any question about it--I am totally Team Edward.