I can't count how many times in my life I've said the words "I LOVE Chelsea Handler!" but let me tell you, it's somewhere around 1000. I was SO excited when my book club chose this in December, but soon disappointed to find out that it was available neither in my local library nor Barnes & Noble. I decided to wait until one of my friends finished her copy and lent it to me. I was so excited when I finally got it that I read the entire thing in one day.
This is Handler's first book, a memoir of her many one-night stands, and it is HILARIOUS! If you've never seen/heard/read anything by Chelsea Handler, this is as good a place as any to start. She's got a very crude sense of humor that not everyone can appreciate, but personally, I LOVE Chelsea Handler! There, I've said it again...make it 1001 :)
Would I recommend this book? Only if you think you can handle her...definitely not for the conservatives among us. I've just picked up her 2nd book, "Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea." and CAN'T WAIT to get started!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Love Walked In by Marisa De Los Santos
Having just finished Belong To Me, I was excited when my request for this book came through. This book secured a place for Marisa De Los Santos as one of my newest favorite authors. Her style is unique, her stories unfold with believable yet unpredictable twists and she obviously has a clear picture of the complexities of relationships.
Love Walked In is the debut book for this author, but I was in no way disappointed to have read it second. In fact, I think I may have liked this book EVEN MORE because I was already in love with several of the characters who re-surface in Belong To Me. This book is told by two narrators--Cornelia and Clare--and is the story of how they became a family. I'm not going to go into detail but I love how De Los Santos shows that it's not a choice to fall in love and that sometimes, you become a family without the bonds of marriage or blood.
Would I recommend this book? YES!
Love Walked In is the debut book for this author, but I was in no way disappointed to have read it second. In fact, I think I may have liked this book EVEN MORE because I was already in love with several of the characters who re-surface in Belong To Me. This book is told by two narrators--Cornelia and Clare--and is the story of how they became a family. I'm not going to go into detail but I love how De Los Santos shows that it's not a choice to fall in love and that sometimes, you become a family without the bonds of marriage or blood.
Would I recommend this book? YES!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky
This author was on a read-alike list for Jodi Picoult, whose work I love. From the beginning, the similarities were obvious. The story evolved similar to Picoult's, but without a legal battle or "big" surprise twist at the end--neither of which I missed.
This book is the story of four women and their daughters, all best friends. The girls, instigated by one's attempt to hide her own unplanned pregnancy, agree to a pregnancy pact. Because they love their own mothers, they want to create another generation and they want to do it together. As their secrets unfold, we learn the details of the pact, as well as the complexities of their relationships with each other, their families, and the community.
As principal of the small town's high school, one of the mothers, Susan, is dealt the majority of the blame for the girls' pact. Because she was pregnant at 17 and overcame many obstacles to rise to her current position, some of the town's elders push Susan to resign because they think she is not the right type of role model for their children. Ultimately, Susan's friends, students and the majority of the community rally around her and help secure her position.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, and I, for one, will be reading others by this author.
This book is the story of four women and their daughters, all best friends. The girls, instigated by one's attempt to hide her own unplanned pregnancy, agree to a pregnancy pact. Because they love their own mothers, they want to create another generation and they want to do it together. As their secrets unfold, we learn the details of the pact, as well as the complexities of their relationships with each other, their families, and the community.
As principal of the small town's high school, one of the mothers, Susan, is dealt the majority of the blame for the girls' pact. Because she was pregnant at 17 and overcame many obstacles to rise to her current position, some of the town's elders push Susan to resign because they think she is not the right type of role model for their children. Ultimately, Susan's friends, students and the majority of the community rally around her and help secure her position.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, and I, for one, will be reading others by this author.
Monday, April 12, 2010
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson
After listening to Between, Georgia, I was hooked on Joshilyn Jackson and couldn't wait to get to this book! Like Jackson's other books, this one is set in the south--partly in Victorianna, the gated community that is home to Laurel Hawthorne and partly in poverty-stricken DeLop where her mother grew up.
When Laurel finds her 13 year old daughter's best friend floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's pool, she turns to her unpredictable sister Thalia for help in solving the mystery that surrounds the death. With Thalia's "help" Laurel discovers the truth behind her family's secreted past, the state of her marriage, and what happened in her back yard.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, I absolutely love audio books that are read by the author and this one even comes with an interview after the conclusion of the story.
When Laurel finds her 13 year old daughter's best friend floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's pool, she turns to her unpredictable sister Thalia for help in solving the mystery that surrounds the death. With Thalia's "help" Laurel discovers the truth behind her family's secreted past, the state of her marriage, and what happened in her back yard.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, I absolutely love audio books that are read by the author and this one even comes with an interview after the conclusion of the story.
Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson
This author was listed on a Read-Alike list, so I picked up a couple of her audiobooks for a recent trip; I was pleasantly surprised. The story follows Nonny Frett, who is in the precarious middle of a feud between her biological family and the one that raised her that has been raging for decades in the tiny town of Between, Georgia.
Nonny's story began when 15 year old Hazel Crabtree shows up in the middle of the night on the Frett's doorstep after hiding her pregnancy for the past 9 months. After giving birth, Hazel doesn't want to be a mother while Stacia Frett, a deaf and blind sculptor, has claimed the baby (Nonny) as her own. When Nonny is 5, her biological grandmother discovers that the Frett's "stole" the child she feels belongs to her, adding to the tension that has been building between the families.
Nonny is in the middle in every way--between her two families, between her soon-to-be-ex husband and her best friend, between her life and job in the city and her love of the child who captured her heart in Between. This book is a good illustration of non-traditional families...and the non-blood ties that bind them.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. It's an interesting tale about the South and what it's REALLY like to be in your 30s and "between" your past and your future.
Nonny's story began when 15 year old Hazel Crabtree shows up in the middle of the night on the Frett's doorstep after hiding her pregnancy for the past 9 months. After giving birth, Hazel doesn't want to be a mother while Stacia Frett, a deaf and blind sculptor, has claimed the baby (Nonny) as her own. When Nonny is 5, her biological grandmother discovers that the Frett's "stole" the child she feels belongs to her, adding to the tension that has been building between the families.
Nonny is in the middle in every way--between her two families, between her soon-to-be-ex husband and her best friend, between her life and job in the city and her love of the child who captured her heart in Between. This book is a good illustration of non-traditional families...and the non-blood ties that bind them.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. It's an interesting tale about the South and what it's REALLY like to be in your 30s and "between" your past and your future.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Hillcrest Journal by John Schreiber
When I was home for Christmas, my good friend Annie lent me this book. Annie and I went to school together, and during our senior year, sat through countless hours of AP English class taught by John Schreiber. I was also active in several plays during high school, all directed by John Schreiber. Knowing Mr. Schreiber, I knew this book would not be one I'd choose myself...but even after a cautionary summary from Annie, my curiosity won and I took the book. It took me 3 months to open it, and the whole time I was reading, I could hear Mr. Schreiber's voice, but I am glad I gave it a chance.
This book would be categorized as Christian Fiction and is written as if we are reading the journal of Hillcrest High student Chad Wilson. I liked the format, but everything about it was inauthentic. Specifically, the entire time I was reading, I was thinking that it was written like an adult who was trying to write like a teen...I never once felt like it was actually a 17 year old boy's journal from the 1980s, but rather that it was what an adult might imagine a very naive 17 year old boy might write about.
I can guarantee you that Mr. Schreiber has read more than his fair share of journals over the years, but I'm pretty sure there weren't any written like Chad's. I understand that the point of the book was to help kids relate to someone else who was struggling to understand his relationships with God, his family, and
This book would be categorized as Christian Fiction and is written as if we are reading the journal of Hillcrest High student Chad Wilson. I liked the format, but everything about it was inauthentic. Specifically, the entire time I was reading, I was thinking that it was written like an adult who was trying to write like a teen...I never once felt like it was actually a 17 year old boy's journal from the 1980s, but rather that it was what an adult might imagine a very naive 17 year old boy might write about.
I can guarantee you that Mr. Schreiber has read more than his fair share of journals over the years, but I'm pretty sure there weren't any written like Chad's. I understand that the point of the book was to help kids relate to someone else who was struggling to understand his relationships with God, his family, and
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
This is the story of friendship overcoming everything. Hannah does a remarkable job of illustrating the ways in which women relate to each other--as mothers, daughters, wives and friends. This book illustrates the friendship of Tully and Kate from the time they met at age 14 and the 3 decades that followed.
As adolescents, they are very different girls with very different family backgrounds who come together during a time in there lives in which each girl is struggling to discover who she is. After a traumatic night, popular Tully confides in shy, friendless Kate. When Kate keeps Tully's secret, they become inseparable... tullyandkate, friends forever.
Though they face many challenges, the girls remain friends through high school and go to college together. Tully remains focused on her dream of them becoming a successful tv journalism team, forgoing the "college experience" of sorority life, parties and dating that Kate has chosen. As they near graduation, Tully's career takes flight and Kate discovers that she'd rather be a wife and mother, a concept that Tully can't understand.
Throughout the decades that follow, the pair finds ways to maintain their friendship though they are leading very different lives. Hannah manages to capture the spirit of friendship, how our lives can become so intertwined that we can't see where one ends and the other begins. She shows us how to swallow our pride and forgive the faults of those who we love unconditionally, the ones who are so much a part of our identity that we don't recognize our lives without their presence.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, without quesiton.
As adolescents, they are very different girls with very different family backgrounds who come together during a time in there lives in which each girl is struggling to discover who she is. After a traumatic night, popular Tully confides in shy, friendless Kate. When Kate keeps Tully's secret, they become inseparable... tullyandkate, friends forever.
Though they face many challenges, the girls remain friends through high school and go to college together. Tully remains focused on her dream of them becoming a successful tv journalism team, forgoing the "college experience" of sorority life, parties and dating that Kate has chosen. As they near graduation, Tully's career takes flight and Kate discovers that she'd rather be a wife and mother, a concept that Tully can't understand.
Throughout the decades that follow, the pair finds ways to maintain their friendship though they are leading very different lives. Hannah manages to capture the spirit of friendship, how our lives can become so intertwined that we can't see where one ends and the other begins. She shows us how to swallow our pride and forgive the faults of those who we love unconditionally, the ones who are so much a part of our identity that we don't recognize our lives without their presence.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, without quesiton.
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