Before I Fall

Overall opinion:  This book sucked me in and it was a very enjoyable read.  It was a guilty pleasure type book and I couldn't put it down.  It was like a mix of the movies Groundhog Day and Mean Girls.  Very interesting.  However -- all the build-up led to a really disappointing ending.  Not what I was expecting to happen at all, and it totally failed the entire book. 

The premise:  Samantha Kingston is a high school senior and is part of the most popular group of girls in the school.  Her BFF's are Lindsey, Ally, and Elody; and the four of them are definitely "mean girls."  They call underclassmen sluts and whores, and even pick on others in their own class by spreading nasty rumors or dumping beer on their heads.  They smoke, drink, wear inappropriate clothing, flirt with teachers, and of course have sex because apparently this is all the most normal behavior for teenagers nowadays.  I think that's why I was so drawn into the story -- because it was just all so shocking. 

The story starts with Samantha's alarm clock going off on Friday, February 12.  The entire day is described in minute detail, ending with a terrible car crash.  This is when we are to assume that Samantha dies.  However, she wakes up the next morning and realizes it's Friday, February 12... AGAIN. 

This happens for seven days.  As Samantha relives the same day over and over again, she slowly begins to realize how shallow her life is and begins to change.  She spends more time with her family and starts to find love with a boy that she normally brushed off as a "freak." 

It's an intriguing story and I believe there are some good lessons to be learned by young adult audience for which this book is aimed. 

A Moveable Feast

I should have read this book before I read The Paris Wife last year, but in a way, reading that one first helped me understand this one a little bit better I think.

This is a beautiful book about Hemingway's life in 1920's Paris.  Right there are three of my favorite things ever:  Hemingway, Paris, and the 1920's.  I loved this book.  I do admit it took me a bit longer to read it because I kept getting distracted by new, exciting book recommendations from my Entertainment Weekly magazine, but finally I finished it today while sipping cafe au lait (almond lait by the way) outside on the back patio.  I could just imagine I was at an outdoor cafe on the Notre Dame des Champs with "Hem" and Scott (Fitzgerald) watching the Parisians go by and pining away about writing stories.

A Moveable Feast is the posthumously published memoir of Ernest Hemingway.  Although most of his books could be considered to be loosely based on his life, this is truly the autobiographical account of an important part of Hemingway's life.

I have to include some of my favorite passages from this book:

"Now that the bad weather had come, we could leave Paris for a while for a place where this rain would be snow coming down through the pines and covering the road and the high hillsides and at an altitude where we would hear it creak as we walked home at night. (7)"

"All you have to do is write one true sentence.  Write the truest sentence that you know. (12)"


"But Paris was a very old city and we were young and nothing was simple there, not even poverty, nor sudden nor the moonlight, nor right and wrong nor the breathing of someone who lay beside you in the moonlight. (58)"

"'I've been wondering about Dostoyevsky,' I said.  'How can a man write so badly, so unbelievably badly, and make you feel so deeply?' (137)"

"When I saw my wife again standing by the tracks as the train came in by the piled logs at the station, I wished I had died before I loved anyone but her.  She was smiling, the sun on her lovely face tanned by the snow and sun, beautifully built, her hair red gold in the sun, grown out all winter awkwardly and beautifully, and Mr. Bumby standing with her, blond and chunky with winter cheeks looking like a good Vorarlberg boy. (210)"

I almost cried when I read that last passage.  It was at the very end of the book when his marriage was about to fall apart because he was having an affair.  That was the part of The Paris Wife that made me cry too.  Hemingway was such a passionate writer and it shows in his work, but his life was so messed up!  That's how it always is with the brilliant artists isn't it?

Room

This story is told completely from the point of view of a five year-old book named Jack.  I listened to the audio version and the person reading Jack's voice actually sounded like a little boy, which I believe enhanced the story greatly.

Jack and his mother live in an 11 x 11 foot room.  The room is all Jack has ever known.  His mother was kidnapped and placed as a prisoner in this room two years before he was born, and he has never stepped foot outside in all his five years of life.  Every other day or so, Jack describes a man he calls "Old Nick" coming into the locked steel door.  He hides in the wardrobe while Old Nick grunt and the bed where his mother sleeps creaks. 

This was one of those audio books I couldn't stop listening to even when the car stopped and I had reached my destination.  I love these kinds of books.  It's a very interesting story; very moving and chilling. 

Second Chance

Thing thing about Jane Green novels is that they are really boring for first half of the book.  They're kind of like those indie movies that just show a bunch of people gathered together for some reason for the entire weekend and they're just sitting around the dining room table talking the whole time and you're sitting there watching this wondering when something interesting is going to happen and if there's a point to this whole thing.  

I read all of Jane Green's earlier novels when I was in my early twenties and I loved them!  Now, however, her writing has become a bit stale.  I keep reading them because of my loyalty, and also because I have really long work trips where I need something to listen to, and these make semi-decent audio books once I get past the boring beginnings. 

In Second Chance, we see a group of old college friends reuniting after twenty years at the funeral of one of their mutual friends.  There you have it.  They sit around at a table sharing memories of their lost friend and catching up on each others lives.  We don't reach the the point of this novel until half-way through when we finally start to see everyone's current lives falling apart.  Each of the characters goes through a self-discovery period that was apparently brought on by the death of their friend and in the end they indeed receive their "second chance." 

Not that thrilling, but it turned out to be a cute and easy read.

Summer and the City, A Carrie Diaries book

Okay, I know this is a Young Adult, frivolous and girly book, but I loved it!  I'm a huge fan of Sex and the City so I love these books that tell the story of Carrie Bradshaw as a teenager.  I read the first book last year which takes place is Carrie's hometown of Castlebury, New Jersey.  In this one, however, she makes her entrance into New York City and her future is born.  This is where we are introduced to an already fabulous and glamorous 20's-something Samantha Jones, and the still teen-aged Miranda and Charlotte. 

It's a very charming story of how Carrie Bradshaw becomes a writer in New York City.  She has just graduated from high school and is spending the summer taking a writing course at the New School in Manhattan.  She meets Samantha within the first two hours of arriving in the city.  Samantha instantly whisks Carrie off to a very chic afternoon "tea" party at the house of someone famous.  The next day she meets Miranda standing in front of Saks protesting pornography.  Miranda proclaims she is a feminist and hates all men.

I know it's silly and obvious, but I was delighted by all the references to the future Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha as we know them.  For example,  I giggled with glee when Miranda and Carrie have this providential conversation:

Miranda:  "That's what happens to women when they go against the system...and I, for one, plan to do something about it."  
Carrie:  "What?"
Miranda:  "Haven't decided yet. But I will.  You're lucky you're going to be a writer.  You can change people's perceptions.  You should write about marriage and what a lie it is.  Or even sex."

Also when Carrie had this little foreshadow of a thought:

"Maybe someday I'll be like Samantha, able to afford my own shoes."

When Carrie and Charlotte meet, Charlotte is reading a bridal magazine and explains she's not engaged but is hoping to be soon.  Oh, Charlotte, always dreaming of getting married!

This was a very cute book and fun to read.  Perfect for a lazy afternoon, sipping coffee on the patio.

The Winter of our Discontent

This is definitely not one of my most favorite Steinbeck books ever.  In fact, it was quite agonizing to get through.  But since it’s Steinbeck, I willed myself to finish it.  Now that I’m done, I have no idea what it was about.  I just didn’t get it.  So how do I explain this book?  I do not know.

Ethan Allen Hawley is the main character.   The year is 1960 and Ethan is a simple store clerk at a small town market.  The owner of the store is Marullo, a native Italian who we come to find out is an illegal.

Ethan in married to Mary and has two teenage children, Ellen and Allan.  They are just the typical happy family of the sixties, although his children resent him for being only a store clerk and for being “poor.”

One day Mary’s friend Margie Young-Hunt, who is a fortune-teller, reads Mary’s tarot cards and announces that Ethan is going to become a rich and powerful man.  Although Ethan doesn’t believe in that kind of thing, he realizes the next day that a change has come over him.  He therefore starts his journey of becoming a rich and powerful man.

That’s what I got out of it.  To me, it was a story of a tormented father and husband trying to overcome his self-pity and find a way to better provide for his family.  There was a lot going on in this book, and I’m sure there was some other deeper meaning hidden in there somewhere, but I must be too dense to figure it out right now.  I guess I could say in this book there were in place the themes of morality, familial love, and honesty.  Ethan struggles with the idea of robbing a bank while his son similarly struggles with the task of writing an essay without plagiarizing.  In the end, both do something very dishonest and humiliating. 

Of course it wouldn’t be a Steinbeck novel without his lovely descriptions and beautiful imagery.  For phrases like these, I was deeply satisfied with this novel.

“How strange the sound of heel-taps on pavement, striking in anger.” (20)

“A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has an many version as it has readers.  Everyone takes what he wants or can from it and thus changes it to his measure.  some pick out parts and reject the rest, some strain the story through their mesh or prejudice, some paint it with their own delight.  A story must have some points of contact with the read to make him feel at home in it.” (75)

“Even if teen-age children aren’t making a sound, it’s quieter when they’re gone.  They put a boiling in the air around them.  As they left, the whole house seemed to sign and settle.  No wonder poltergeists infest only houses with adolescent children.” (82)

“In poverty she is envious.  In riches she may be a snob.  Money does not change the sickness, only the symptoms.” (109)

“Farewell has a sweet sound of reluctance.  Good-by is short and final, a word with teeth sharp to bite through the string that ties past to the future.” (218)

 

Anne of Green Gables

There are just so many wonderful things to say about the story of Anne Shirley and the beautiful little town of Avonlea.  I was gripped by this beautiful story the entire way through.  Reading things like this make me wistful for a simpler, more peaceful life.  How many times did I day-dream with Anne as she gazed out her gable window!  I wished I could have been her bosom friend with Diana Berry! 

I don't know why I never read these as a kid.  I definitely watched the TV miniseries made from these books and loved it.  I watched it so many times I could see the scenes from the movie as I was reading this book.  I can see how accurately the movie/miniseries portrayed the book because it was exactly as I remembered. 

Lucy Maud Montgomery is an excellent author.  She provides perfect detail and description for these characters and their picturesque Prince Edward Island.  I laughed out loud so many times at the antics and ramblings of Anne!  She truly touches the heart of everything with whom she comes in contact!  I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

Four Great Movies

I had the unusual opportunity to watch four movies this week; and I absolutely loved all of them.  Apart from Sarah's Key, all of them left me feeling incredibly happy and wonderful.  My faith has been restored in movies!  Hallelujah, there are good ones still out there!  As for Sarah's Key, it was an amazing movie with truly great acting in it.  I really liked it.  The subject, however, was simply not a happy-go-lucky subject.  Therefore instead of feeling wonderful and happy like after all the other other ones, I felt very quiet and somber, and a little spent from crying so much.

Here we go -- four great movies to watch ASAP!

Midnight in Paris-- Hello Paris in the 1920's!  I can't describe two more of my favorite things ever!  Not only that, but this movie was about all of my favorite American Authors and their lives in the Paris in the 1920's.  I read The Paris Wife earlier this year which was about this same subject, so I was thoroughly pleased with this movie depiction of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes -- A classic Marilyn Monroe movie.  Why had I never seen this before?!  I loved everything about it: the fashion, the music, the 1950's Hollywood sound stage set and backdrops.  Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell are absolute perfection!

The Arist - Amazing.  Absolutely amazing.  I have always been fascinated by the 1920's.  When I found out about this movie, I desperately wanted to experience what it would be like to see a silent movie in the theater.  Just like it was the 1920's!  I was the only one in the theater under the age of 70, but that's okay.  I loved it so much I could have been the happiest person in that theater.

Sarah's Key -- Like the book I read earlier this year, the story of 1942 Sarah Starsinzky was pieced together with the modern-day story of Journalist Julia Jarmond.  For the movie, this provided much needed relief from the devastatingly sad story of the Jewish roundup in Paris.  If not for the break-aways to Julia's story, I would have cried my eyes out.  The young actress who played Sarah Starsinzky portrayed such powerful emotion, I was brought to tears every time she was in a scene.

The Seamstress

The Seamstress is the memoir of Seren Tuvel, a Romanian Jewish girl who survived the holocaust.    What more is there to say about this book?  Just like any other holocaust story, it's a chilling account of the horrendous things that happened to Jews in Europe during World War II.  What makes this one different is that it takes place in Romania and Hungary, two countries I personally had never heard much about when pertaining to this subject in history.  While Jews were being shipped to Aushwitch as early as 1940, Seren doesn't get sent to a work camp until three years lately.  Meanwhile, she and her family were basically unaffected.  They were displaced several times until they finally ended up in a Jewish Ghetto in Budapest.  Throughout this whole experience, Seren served as a seamstress to wealthy Jews and Gentiles alike.  When the war finally reached Hungary, she was rounded up with ten thousand other woman and sent to Ravensbruk.

I couldn't put this book down.  After reading so many dystopian/end-of-world books lately, this one seemed like it could actually fit right into that category.  After all, it was the end of the world for almost six MILLION innocent human beings -- killed at the hand of an evil dictator.  Sounds like a theme straight from young adult fiction today.  But unlike zombies, killing arenas, or supernatural occurrences, this was real life.  This actually happened.  Every time I read a book about the holocaust I just can't believe it.  I can not believe the hatred portrayed against this race of people.  For what reason?  I don't understand it.  The passages below stood out to me so much because they show the cruelty of non-Jews.  When I read these passages I started crying because I just couldn't believe how people could be so brainwashed and cruel!

(Seren is talking the the teenage daughter of one of her clients.  The daughter doesn't know that Seren herself is a Jew.)
"If you must know, my brother and sister and I turned her in last night.  The police came and took her away."
Seren "You did such a thing?  Why?"
"She's a Jew.  Isn't that reason enough?"
Seren "But she's your mother!"
"She's not my mother any longer!  How could a Jew bitch be my mother!"
(Page 152)

(Seren and her father were temporarily taken into custody for questioning.  This occurred on the train to the prison.)
"One of the worst of the tormentors was an enormous Hungarian woman who was in the last days of her pregnancy, her belly greatly swollen and bulging from her coat.  Every time we passed her she held up her two small children, one in each arm.  The little girl spat at us and the boy flailed his feet into each passing arm.  Their mother urged them on, crying, 'Vermin!  Vermin!  Vermin!'"
(Page 98)

(After the war, Seren rented a room from a German widow who was terrified of her and avoided her at all cost.  Seren finally confronts her.)
"The widow was now covering her face with her hands.  'Please look at me,' I continued in a softer tone, knowing she was terrified.  'I have hands like you.  I have a face, like you.  I am human."
(Page 311)

This is an extremely powerful story of one woman's intense will to survive.  It will make you laugh and cry and perhaps come to an understanding of just how insane the human race is. 

Chick-Lit Mania

It's been awhile since I've immersed myself in some fun and frivolous chick-lit.  And that's exactly what these books were.  I had a long drive for a work trip, and these were perfect to listen to while I drove; not too serious and not too boring. 

In Goodnight Nobody, one housewife discovers another housewife murdered in her kitchen.  I was NOT expecting that from Jennifer Weiner, author of In Her Shoes (which moved a little too slowly for me.)  This book was a pleasant mix of feminine self-realization and cliche suburban murder mystery, a la Desperate Housewives.  I use the word cliche, but it's not such a bad thing in this instance.  Kate Klein finds herself a mother of three children under the age of five and living in a sickeningly idyllic Connecticut suburb.  While she tries to rediscover her 30-something identity ("how did I get to this place?" etc, etc.), she happens upon an unprecedented murder in her otherwise sleepy neighborhood.  She thrives in the opportunity to do some investigating on her own to see if she can come to the bottom of this mystery.

The story was face paced and exciting while still remaining true to the genre of chick-lit.  However, as soon as the audio book ended, I realized it was abridged and that really annoyed me!  I can't stop thinking about what I missed by not getting an unabridged version!  Ugh.

Anyway.

The next book was Promises to Keep by Jane Green.  Again, we find ourselves in an idyllic suburb of New York City.  For awhile, I kept getting the story mixed up with Goodnight Nobody because the characters and family profiles were so similar.  However, there was no murder to solve in Promises.  Instead, it was a heartwarming, tear-jerker of a family drama.  I usually hate family dramas, but I actually really enjoyed this one!  The characters were beautifully developed and wound together to form a wonderful tale of the importance of family and friends.  First we have sisters Callie and Steffi and Callie's best friend Lila.  Then there is Callie's adoring husband Reese, and her two children Jake and Eliza.  Finally there are Callie and Steffi's parents who have been divorced for 30 years and don't even speak to each other.  When one of them ends up with a terminal illness, the entire group comes together where they all discover something about themselves and how they relate to each other.

Now that I write it down, it kinda sounds like a pretty common storyline.  The whole time I was listening to it, I kept imagining some kind of movie starring Claire Danes, Anne Hathaway and Ryan Gosling or some other dramatic Hollywood cast.  My favorite part of the book was the vegan recipes at the end of each chapter! (Although some of the recipes weren't totally vegan.)  Hello, how awesome is it to find a book that features a vegan chef as one of the main characters?! 

I would recommend both for a fun, easy read.

Warm Bodies

I am addicted to reading end-of-the-world tales.  The idea that this greedy world we live in no longer exists due to an all-governing power, plague or natural disaster is thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

In Warm Bodies, a combination of natural disaster and epidemic plague have destroyed the world.  Now the majority of inhabitants are zombies.  The small number of human survivors live in abandoned sports arenas of large, desolate cities.

This particular tale is told from the point of view of a zombie named "R."  He meets Julie when he kills and eats her boyfriend.  Suddenly R's life is turned upside down.  He starts seeing his victims memories and somehow starts feeling his emotions.  R decides to spare Julie and takes her back to his zombie home.

Yes, the book perpetuates the stereotype of mindless, grunting zombies in search of human brain, but at the same time, the author goes to prove that maybe there is much more to zombies than meets the eye.  I actually started to sympathize with these zombies and their personal battles with the state of world in which they "live."

This book is much more meaningful and poetic than you would accept a zombie tale to be.  It's not about gore, horror and eating brains.  It's about human love and emotion and how precious those things are when everything around you is falling apart.  The zombie R becomes a lovable creature as the story progresses and you find yourself rooting for him.  What does that say about humanity?  In every zombie there is a trace of human emotion and perhaps in every human there is a mindless grunt and blank stare.

The Host

I didn't know what to expect from the author of Twilight, but this looked like it had potential since it claimed to be a dystopian novel, one of my favorite genres. 

In the end, I loved, loved, loved this book!  It is so much better than the Twilight series!  It's kinda sad, really, that all the Stephanie Meyer hype is over that famous vampire trilogy, when this one is by far more superior.  The Host was published in 2008, but is virtually unknown of by the masses.  The only reason I found out about it was by googling Stephanie Meyer and coming across a list of her publications.  Meyer's writing style is much more mature and easier to read in The Host.  Instead of making me want to gag with her romantic love triangles, Meyer portrays the relationships in The Host with true emotion and sentiment. 

As with all dystopian novels, this one opens with a bleak look at the destruction of human life as we know it on planet earth.  In this case, alien life forms from the planet Origin take over earth by inserting themselves into human bodies, or "hosts."  Their intention is to take over the world by doing away with the violence of humans and instead live in happiness.  They are kind aliens and only wish to bring peace to planet Earth.  However, to do so, they must eliminate all humans and use their bodies to survive.

As sci-fi as this sounds, it's actually sweet story of human kindness and how much we are willing to sacrifice for the ones we love. Wanderer is the alien soul that inhabits the body of a Melanie.  Wanderer discovers that the former human inside of her is somehow still alive.  The former Melanie's brain still functions as a separate entity from that of the alien Wanderer.   As Wanderer relives Melanie's memory and starts to actually communicate with her, she realizes there could be a glitch in the system, not to mention the possibility that there could be humans that actually exist free of alien soul inhabitants.  Following Melanie's instructions inside her head, Wanderer starts on an adventure into the unknown in search of human life.  She does not have the intention of killing them or taking over their bodies.  In fact, she doesn't even really know why she's so interested in the human thoughts in her head or why she's actually listening to them.


I don't want to give away too much, so I recommend you read this book as soon as you can.  It's a fun read!  I felt connected to the characters in that way where you don't ever want the book to end.  I want to get into my on Monday to drive to work and still hear the story of Wanderer and Melanie! 

This should have been made into the trilogy that made Stephanie Meyer famous.  As unrealistic as it is, that character development made it much more believable than Twilight. 

The End of Harry

I just finished the Harry Potter books.

It was a great journey.  Once I started in August of 2011, I couldn't put them down.  Yes, there was about a six week break between when I finished book one and started the rest of them, but after that it was non-stop.  In the span of four months, I covered the seven exciting years of Harry Potter and his dear friends Hermione and Ron. 

I loved the relationship between the three young characters.  They showed so much loyalty to each other, it made me cry in every book.  They were all just so sweet and lovable, I want to be best friends with them too.  One of my friends who actually read the books when they came out, commented that everyone should have Harry in their life.  I agree.

Movie: Water for Elephants

This movie made absolutely no sense to me.  I've even read the book and was still totally confused throughout the whole thing!  For one, the storyline was very loosely based on the novel and speaking of the storyline -- it was so jumbled and disjointed I was left scratching my head as to what just happened.  And I'm sorry to say, but Rob Pat and Reese had zero chemistry.  I didn't feel the love; Not to mention the anger or any other human emotion.

I was so bored with this movie, I paused and started it three times over three days.  It was like a drag trying to get through it.  Usually with movies (or books) like that I just give up and stop wasting my time.  However, I was intrigued enough with how hot Rob Pat looked as not a vampire, and I loved Reese's 1930's costumes.  As for any other character, they weren't even developed enough for me to remember who they were or what their role was in the story.  I liked Rosie the Elephant too.  I mean, who wouldn't?  She was great. 

I'm not surprised this movie was so bad.  I never expect much from books-turned-into-movies, so I wasn't even really disappointed.  The one thing that bothers me about situations like this though is that I wish the movie people would at least try to stick to the actual book's storyline as much as possible.  I mean, come on!  It's already there!  The script is already written!  How difficult is that?