New Book Announcement

Join us October 21st as we discuss -

The Bungalow by Sarah Jio

In the summer of 1942, newly engaged Anne Calloway sets off to serve in the Army Nurse Corps on the Pacific island of Bora-Bora. More exhilarated by the adventure of a lifetime than she ever was by her predictable fiancé, she is drawn to a mysterious soldier named Westry, and their friendship soon blossoms into hues as deep as the hibiscus flowers native to the island. Under the thatched roof of an abandoned beach bungalow, the two share a private world-until they witness a gruesome crime, Westry is suddenly redeployed, and the idyll vanishes into the winds of war.

A timeless story of enduring passion, The Bungalow chronicles Anne's determination to discover the truth about the twin losses--of life, and of love--that have haunted her for seventy years.

Bossypants by Tina Fey - Review

Bossypants was a fun read, although a little disjointed in its sections. The first part of this biography described Tina Fey's childhood and early years in improv. I really enjoyed her lists and stories about her life. The middle section wasn't my favorite. That's when she went into detail about her work on '30 Rock', a show I don't particularly care for - mostly because of my general 'eh' feelings toward Alec Baldwin (and that I find Tracy Morgan really annoying). The sections describing her role as Sarah Palin on SNL were pretty funny, and the final chapters about motherhood were priceless. As the newest pregnant member of book club (yup - that makes 4 of us!), I personally related to her poem, "The Mother's Prayer for Its Daughter" - even though I don't yet know if I am having a daughter, the sentiment is the same.

I believe Tina Fey is good mother, a good comedian, and an all around good, relatable person.

Also, our book club is growing! We've got a new member (a new mom to help all us moms-in-training). Welcome, newbie!

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James - Review

Greetings dear readers (if any)! I did not announce that my book club would be reading this book, because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to blog about it at all based on what I'd heard. And, for the PG reader, I will gloss over the details, to give you a brief synopsis of book 1 of this trilogy, Fifty Shades of Grey:

Average girl meets Fantasy guy - young, hot, incredibly rich man who finds her irresistible.
He has a twisted view of sex (S&M) because he's got some dark, sordid past.
She's wholesome and innocent but is captured by lust which she tries to make into love (because that works so well), and agrees to play his twisted game as long as she can be with him.
Yup, that's about it.
No B-plot of any kind. Even the A-plot is murky.

Now, I've been told that books 2 and 3 delve more into plot, but since I have no intention of ever reading them, I must take book 1 for what it is - a 100% character-driven story whose characters were completely unsympathetic to me. In short, I hated this book. It's taken me awhile to articulate exactly why so here goes:

1) I am offended that this female author thinks this a-hole (that's PG, right?) is "the ultimate fantasy" for average women everywhere. It just perpetuates all the worst myths of my gender - - Women always want the bad-boy, never the nice guy; Women are weak-willed and can easily be convinced to do anything; "Ok, so he's a jerk - but I can CHANGE him". Ugh.

2) I am bored with the sheer volume of steamy scenes in the limited page-count. Her knocking on the door is not enough build-up to get me psyched about an upcoming hot scene. I need flirtation and conflict.

3) I am dumbfounded at this British author's weak grasp of American culture -- "grab our rucksacks and go on holiday" - Really? Geez. Do your research.

4) As I said before, the characters are completely unsympathetic. She's weak and I don't respect her. As for him, ok so he had a traumatic childhood - boo hoo. That's no excuse for dragging a "good girl" down your path of sadism. I suppose from a psychological perspective, he's an interesting case study, but that's about it.

5) Women are not microwaves. Really? A light breeze across her chest and she's "gone" -- come on!

Fifty Shades has made me realize how much I missed strong female leads, intricate plot lines (both A & B!), and appropriately timed erotic scenes. Thank you Laurell K. Hamilton. This terrible book has renewed my enjoyment of your Anita Blake series, and it's time I jump back in to where I left off.

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - Review

I've read several reviews of The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley, and I'm a little surprised how many people loved this book. Maybe these people are more cultured than I am and could appreciate the amount of research that went into the writing of this - both in the historical facts and the dialect in which some of the characters spoke. Or, maybe these people aren't the sort who need to be swept away in a novel, have a ridiculous passion for history, and never see plot twists coming. I am none of those things, so for me, the book was, in a word, boring. I'm sorry, but I just didn't care about this book at all. I didn't care about the modern day writer who is channeling the memories of her ancestor in creating her latest novel. I didn't think her 'love story' was anything special. And, I didn't buy into the whole concept of "genetic memory", that some of her ancestor's actual memories were preserved and passed down into her DNA. Give me a BREAK!

But, as underwhelming as that story was, it was far better than the parallel plot... that of her ancestor, Sophia. The bulk of her tale was bogged down in history, and not the interesting kind of history where stuff actually happened - no, no. These were stories of people TALKING about something that MIGHT happen! Come on - chapter after chapter of ship Captains and other political figures of the times sitting around discussing strategy of some king returning to reclaim his throne! There's all this talk of war, but nothing ever comes of any of it - at least, not at the level that was needed to justify all the hours I spent simply ENDURING this book.

Then there was Sophia's love story, and while I must admit I found it to be more exciting than Carrie's love story, I found the whole thing painfully predictable. I saw the big "twist" at the end coming 200 pages before it finally unfolded. The only thing shocking about the plot (either of them) was that Sophia would leave her child with another family because she didn't want the burden or hassles involved with being a single mother. That did not sit well with me at all.

Hoping the next book will be more captivating.

What Happened to the Wines?

Just a quick note of explanation... You may be wondering what happened to the wine-element of this book club. Well, of the 5 women in our book club, 3 are currently pregnant! Perhaps we'll resume our wine tastings in the future.

New Book Announcement - The Winter Sea

Our next discussion will be on The Winter Sea by Susanne Kearsley.

Synopsis from Amazon.com:

History has all but forgotten...In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown.
Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next bestselling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors and starts to write.
But when she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction, Carrie wonders if she might be dealing with ancestral memory, making her the only living person who knows the truth-the ultimate betrayal-that happened all those years ago, and that knowledge comes very close to destroying her...

Check back for my post-club review on May 20th. Happy Reading!

Divergent by Veronica Roth - Review

Veronica Roth doesn't give much background as to why the world split into its faction-based society, but alludes to its formation as being the result of ultimate corruption dissolving the previous governmental system. In her world, there are 5 factions (Amity, Candor, Erudite, Abnegation, Dauntless), each consisting of members who value one quality above all else and live a life devoted to pursuit of that quality. Choosing a faction means choosing where you will live, what you will wear, what careers are available to you, and who your friends/family will become. At the age of 16, each teenager is tested to determine which faction most suits their personality but the decision is ultimately theirs. Most do not stray from whichever they were raised in, but our heroine did. She grew up in a family who belonged to Abnegation who was all about selflessness, wore only grey, avoided mirrors, etc. It was the safest (or so they thought), but to Beatrice (Tris), sounded like a total drag. She wanted adventure and surprised everyone by choosing Dauntless... a faction so tough that it can only be described as a gang. People actually died in the initiation process, and those who survived were forced to beat each other up daily to prove their strength. It was brutal. Of course, Tris had an advantage -- she was Divergent, which meant she possessed several competing traits and was therefore immune to the faction-control imposed upon her. However, as one would expect, this utopian society ultimately fails when one faction rises up to take control of the others and a fierce battle ensues...

This month's Book Club meeting was a little different. At the beginning of Book Club, we each took a quiz to determine which faction we would be in. Then, we guessed which faction we thought each other would be in and shared our results. It was great fun! I wasn't surprised to learn that I was Amity; I've always been the 'peacemaker' among my friends. Our group consisted of 2 for Amity, 2 for Erudite, and 1 for Candor. We also discussed what would be in our 'fear landscapes'. Some of the answers included sharks, driving off a bridge, snakes, drowning, and being murdered. I, of course, gave a list a mile long, joking that I'd have so many fears that it'd take me a week and a half just to complete the course!

I'm not a big reader of YA. As an adult, I've only read Harry Potter and Vampire Academy (another book club pick), so I really don't have much to compare this to. But overall, I enjoyed this book. It's Book 1 in a series, and from the preview chapters at the end, I learned that Book 2 picks up in the same scene as Book 1, which leads me to the conclusion that this isn't so much a "series" as it is one long book that was chopped into three parts. Still, I think I may give Book 2 a shot. After all, there are still so many unanswered questions...

New Book Announcement

Our next book discussion will be on Divergent by Veronica Roth. This is the 1st book in the series.

Here's the synopsis from Amazon.com:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, 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 to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating 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 a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

Our discussion on this book will be April 15th. Tune in for a review shortly thereafter... and possibly some other blogging along the way. Enjoy!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - Review

I must say that my hopes were high for this book. It was highly recommended all over the web and even spent some time on the New York Times Bestseller List. Unfortunately, this one fell short for me and for the rest of the group as well.

When "the game" was introduced and the children were bound into a magical competition with each other, I thought the plot would lead to some sort of showdown of magical talent. Instead, "the game" wasn't a game at all and it just. dragged. on. - spanning some 30 years before reaching a stalemate. Talk about anticlimactic. And, the love element was so watered down! I mean - Yawn. I found myself more intrigued by Bailey's crush on Poppet than on the primary "love story" between Celia and Marco.

And, as I mentioned in my prior post, the jumping around between time and space made this very difficult to follow. But, I have a theory that the author did this on purpose. I do not believe it is coincidence that she chose a clockmaker to be her person on the outside, nor do I believe she so elaborately described the clock used in the circus because she likes clocks. Sure, she may have been making some general statement about time in relationship to the circus, like time passes differently inside the circus or something to do with the sustainability of illusion or the circus itself. But more than that, I believe she was sending the reader a message. Given the amount of exquisite detail in her descriptions of the magic contained within the circus, her background in theater, and the clock with all its moving parts that breaks and reforms like a puzzle, I suspect the author wanted somebody to deconstruct the chaos of her novel and re-work it into a linear screenplay. She clearly wrote some scenes with visions of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp dancing in her head. Well, I believe she got her wish. The Night Circus, the movie, is apparently in development. Overall, I felt this book was more like a painting than a story. It was beautiful to look at, but  lacked the richness and depth I was wanting.

The Night Circus - Word of Caution

Granted, I'm new to the Kindle, and frankly, I don't care for it. I prefer to feel the heft of a book as I hold it and the grit of the pages as I turn them. But to save time and money, I opted to borrow my husband's Kindle to purchase this book rather than wait for a used copy to ship to me or pay $26 at the local bookstore for a hardback copy.

Anyway, just a word of caution to anyone who is considering embarking upon this journey via Kindle... This book is not linear. And for some reason, my sense of the timeline is completely thrown off by a combination of short, choppy chapters and that stagnant Kindle screen which gives me no real sense of how the book is constructed. As a result of this, my enjoyment of the book thus far is somewhat stifled.

I may have to buy the hardback copy afterall.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

For anyone who might be reading along with us, our February pick is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.


Synopsis on Amazon.com:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

Happy Reading!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - Review

I'm sure we were probably the last book club to read this book, and even more surprising, none of us had seen the movie yet, so we had the benefit of starting this with a completely clean slate. Personally, I hadn't  paid much attention to the trailers, so the only actress I knew was in the movie was Emma Stone who played Skeeter. Try as I might, I could not get the image of Emma Stone out of my head as this book unfolded in my head, but I was able to put whoever I wanted into the other roles, which was quite fun. (P.S. I don't know who was cast for Hilly but in my mind, Rachel McAdams channeling her role in Mean Girls was dead-on!)

The Help is about a 20-something woman named Skeeter who in trying to become a journalist decides to write a book about what it is like to work for white women in the South from the point of view of the maids. Skeeter herself was raised by a maid for whom she cared dearly, but whose sudden departure from her family was shrouded in mystery. After listening to her friends discuss the colored bathroom initiative (which dictated that maids use their own bathroom in their white employers' garages to prevent the spread of "diseases"), Skeeter begins to think about this notion of racial separation and goes about her mission interviewing the maids and in the process, gathering some great stories - both touching and heartbreaking.

Skeeter's story, which chronicles the writing of her book as well as her relationships with her friends, boyfriend, mother, and maids, is interwoven with the tales of the two main characters - Aibileen and Minny (maids to two very different white women). For me, the most touching part of Aibileen's tale is the bond she forms with her white lady's child juxtaposed against the relationship between the mother and child. Minny's story had two themes that really struck me - the tough exterior she projects in her employers' homes while suppressing the fragile, weak woman inside, and of course the 'Terrible Awful'. You'll have to read the book to learn what that is. Ha!

My only complaint about this book is that it ended without any resolution. Skeeter's book was published and she became a journalist in NYC as a result, but the tension between the maids and their white employers continued. But, I think maybe that's the point. Skeeter's book didn't change the world. The desegregation battle raged on for far too long...

Our discussion of this book mainly circulated around the idea that this actually happened all over America only 50 years ago, and that in parts of our own city, the high society women still treat their staff like this, which begs the question, how far have we really come?