Well-Read Cities

I came across this article - Cambridge, Mass. tops Amazon's list of 'well-read' cities - and while that's great and all for Cambridge, I couldn't help but notice that number 10 on the list is Arlington, VA, where I live!

Book Review: Bossypants

Bossypants is the new book by Tina Fey. It's more a collection of essays than it is a straightforward autobiography but I thought it would be perfect to listen to while I drove to Ohio and back a few weeks ago. Also, considering I haven't read a book since the first week of January, I thought it would be a good way to ease back into things. (Does listening to an audio book count as reading?) Anyway, it was a good way to ease back into reading. It was perfect for a road trip with enough funny anecdotes to keep me entertained but stories that weren't too long to make me lose concentration. I love comedians who are not afraid of making themselves look like fools and Tina certainly does this. She even includes some embarrassing photos of herself. I think I found most interesting the parts about Saturday Night Live because it gave a little insight to how the show is done. I highly recommend the book for anyone interested in some easy reading.

Book Review: Unbearable Lightness

In the midst of holiday preparations and Christmas movie watching, I read Portia de Rossi's Unbearable Lightness. Portia is an actress, probably best known for Ally McBeal or Arrested Development. She is also married to Ellen DeGeneres. The book sort of covers her whole life but really focuses on a few years in her twenties when she was first cast on Ally McBeal and had a major eating disorder. She got down to less than 90 pounds and was really resistant to efforts of help. It was fascinating to sort of get in the mind of someone who has an eating disorder, how little she ate, how much she exercised, the delusion. I thought there would be more about her life as an actress or her coming out as a lesbian but it really focused primarily on the eating disorder. It's definitely required reading for anyone who thinks they might know someone who has an eating disorder.

Currently Reading: L.A. Candy

Should I be embarrassed that I'm reading L.A. Candy? Not only is it a teen book but it's written by The Hills star Lauren Conrad. I'm curious and it should be a quick read, so don't judge me!

Book Review: Addition

Our book club met tonight and the book was Addition by Toni Jordan. It tells the story of a girl who is obsessive-compulsive about numbers. She counts everything she owns and times everything out to the minute. Her life is very controlled and borderline insane. She's lost her job and can barely function in society at times. Then she meets a guy (she steals his banana at the grocery store because she had an uneven amount of bananas) who is willing to put up with her wackiness but also suggests she go to a therapist, who promptly puts her on some drug therapy and sends her to group sessions. Slowly, she becomes "better" and turns into a TV addict, gains a lot of weight and barely remains conscious. But at least she doesn't count things anymore!! I guess it plays into the definition of what's healthy and what isn't healthy. One day, she kind of just snaps out of it (there is a reason I guess but it's really not worth getting into) and dumps the boyfriend, dumps the pills and gets back to who she was and finds out life wasn't so bad with her OCD. It's kind of an odd book, difficult to read at times when she's in full-on OCD mode and none of us particularly liked it. Bottom line, I do not recommend it.

Book Review: The Forgotten Garden

My book club met last Monday and our book was The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I was not looking forward to the book because it was nearly 600 pages (ugh!) and there was a lot of mention of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett in reviews, which was a kid's book I don't remember enjoying. But this new book I really enjoyed. It was a very quick read, considering its length, there was a mystery to unravel, and there were three generations of stories that are told in various orders throughout the book so it switches up the characters a lot. Basically, it's about an Australian woman who tries to investigate her grandmother's past when she inherits a home in England after her grandmother passes away. It turns out she didn't really know her grandmother like she thought she did! There is a lot of references to and symbolism of fairy tales throughout the book, which is pretty cool. Because who doesn't like fairy tales? And, perhaps best of all, I don't think there are really too many similarities to The Secret Garden.

Why waste the time?

So I've come to a big decision the last couple of weeks - I'm not going to try to force myself to read books that I just cannot get interested in. I always feel guilty or slightly like a failure if I don't finish a book that I start and I know it's a silly feeling to have but I have had it nonetheless.

This might make it difficult for my book club, which met tonight to discuss Atmospheric Disturbances and will read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for June. I was not the only one who did not get through this month's book, although I'll venture to bet I was the only one who gave it only about 20 pages. I tried it a few different times and struggled with every paragraph so I said "Screw it!" I'm not sure what June's book will hold for me since I haven't gotten it from the library yet but it's apparently there to educate me how to properly eat and grow food and start my own farm (I'm exaggerating slightly), complete with recipes, and it does not sound the least bit interesting to me. So if I start it and cannot stand it, I'll say "Screw it!" I've also recently gotten a few books out of the library that I've started and struggled with (Mennonite in a Little Black Dress is the latest and I heard rave reviews about it yet I cannot stand her writing style) so I say, "Screw it!" I have two shelves of books I haven't read, a list a mile long on Amazon, a couple boxes of books still at my parents' house and four public library districts within ten miles of my house. So I really don't need to force myself, you know? Give it a shot or two and then give up. No biggie. Thanks, I feel better.

Book Review: I'm Hosting as Fast as I Can

I picked up I'm Hosting as Fast as I Can by Tom Bergeron at the library because I love a good celebrity autobiography, especially by comedians, because they are usually remarkably good writers and the books are usually one of the quickest reads around. I guess it comes from having to write jokes that are worded perfectly. One of the best books I read in the last year was Craig Ferguson's autobiography, American on Purpose. So, since I watch Dancing with the Stars sort of religiously and am a big fan of Tom's, I thought why not check out his book. He's great at what he does (live host) but he's not a comedian and his book is not really funny or especially well-written. That's not to say it's awful but I did think it was slightly disjointed and had some big gaps in it. I think he was trying to keep it under about 220 pages but also provide as much information as possible so it left me feeling like he must have a ton more stories to share that I wished he would share. He keeps referring to this huge temper he used to have but only briefly gives one example. I also think he was trying not to say anything mean about anyone - possibly to not burn any bridges - when I'm sure he's got some great stories. After all, he's dealt with interviewing celebrities for about 20 years. So while it was interesting to hear how he became who he is today and see the path he took, I would suggest waiting for his second or third book when he might share some more dirt!

Book and Movie Review: The Blind Side

I finished reading The Blind Side by Michael Lewis a few weeks ago and finally watched the movie, starring Sandra Bullock, about a week ago. I like to read the book before I see the movie. It probably wouldn't have made that big of a deal with this one, though.

The gist of this true story is that this wealthy white couple in Memphis take in a poor black kid, Michael Oher, who attends the same school as their children and then provide him with a home, help him improve his life and then lead him on the path to becoming a multi-million-dollar professional football player. The titles of the book and movie refer to the position of left tackle, which protects the blind side of the quarterback. The book contains a lot more football speak than does the movie and I actually found that pretty interesting. It explains a lot about the history and development of the left tackle position, of which I knew very little. I knew that was going to be mostly cut out of the film, though, and it was. I can't blame them. The three sentence narrative they provided was good enough for most viewers.

The story of Michael Oher and the Tuohys who take him in is the typical tug-at-your-heartstrings type of story and I won't lie that I like those types of stories. The depths of Oher's poverty and shoddy childhood are astounding. The openness and kindness shown to him by the Tuohys is amazing. You really can't go wrong there and it was interesting in the book and perhaps more interesting in the movie. I won't lie that I felt the book dragged at times. They always change things when they make a movie out of a book and I found myself wondering about a few of the seemingly senseless changes (like when certain events happened or the fact that they did not have Michael and the Tuohy daughter graduate together). I don't think the movie truly depicts how much work Michael had to put in to get his grades up and I guess that's fine. I also found the book's description of how the various colleges wooed him way more interesting than they showed in the movie. But overall, I liked both the book and the movie. If I have to recommend just one, however, I would recommend the movie.

Book Review: The Lace Reader

The Lace Reader was my latest book club book. I actually chose the book because it had been on my list of books I wanted to read for awhile and I had seen something about the Salem Witch Trials recently and this book takes place in Salem, Mass.

But first, as an aside, I'm getting pretty sick of my book club. The gal who organized the whole group has probably not read the book in the last 6 months at least. She always tells us something else she's read recently but it's never that month's book. So if you have time to read, why are you never reading our group selections? While I don't think it's required that a person read the book to attend our meeting, what always happens is that she starts it like two days before our meeting so she's just barely into it and then she either asks us not to spoil it or we feel guilty spoiling it as she intends to finish it eventually. That leaves us with trying to talk about events only up to as far as she's read. I'm just getting aggravated now that it's been going on for months because I bust my ass to finish the books that are selected, even ones I don't enjoy, so I can at least talk with the group and she seems to not even try to finish them. It's a recurring pattern with her. So what happened is that I wanted to talk about the book because it's got a lot of interesting events that take place but we couldn't really talk about it. Ugh.

Anyway, this book had a lot to talk about because there were some interesting twists. The main character is clearly crazy, or at least has had a history of mental illness, so she's not especially credible so it's an interesting way to tell a story. You're always kind of wondering if what she's describing is really happening or not. It's got some mystery, some romance, some magical qualities (for instance, the lace reading itself is a type of fortune-telling), a villain.... so a little bit of everything. I wasn't sure as I was reading it if I liked it or not - there are some slow spots - but it really stuck with me afterwards, even now that it's been a week later, so I think that means I did like it. It stuck with me in that I was wondering how the characters were doing and their "voice" was one I missed once I put the book down. I guess it's been optioned into a movie so I'll look forward to seeing that when it's released. I'd recommend it.

Book Review: Loving Frank

Loving Frank is our latest book club book. We met on Monday, although I finished it last week! Woo woo. I really struggled with it, though. I found parts of it really boring. It's a historical fiction novel based on the period of Frank Lloyd Wright's life when he was with Mamah Borthwick Cheney, from like 1908 to 1914. Both were married when they met - Frank was hired to do the Cheney home of Mamah and her husband at the time in Oak Park, IL - and they fell in love and ran off to Europe together. Mamah left her children for years and Frank's wife refused to divorce him so the whole event was quite a scandal for the time. While it's written from the perspective of Mamah, I found her really unsympathetic. I realize the times were different and a divorced woman couldn't easily (if at all) get custody of her children, but it seems unforgiveable that she chose her own pleasure over even attempting to work something out to see her children. She met a tragic end so I guess there was a tiny bit of sympathy for her then but overall it was a so-so book about a very unsympathetic historical figure. Blech.

Book Review: Your Big Break

I have a large collection of chick lit because 1) that's what my mom buys me and 2.) those are the types of books that I buy for myself, mostly because those are the ones I want to read if I go on vacation. Seeings as how I rarely go on a vacation, they just sit here and pile up. So it is one of my New Year's resolutions to go through some of them this year. That's where Your Big Break came in. A lot of chick lit is pretty formulaic but I'm writing about this one because it sort of wasn't! Instead of being all about finding a guy, this one had a girl dealing with her parents breaking up. Don't worry, she found love, too. But, it was sort of a minor occurrence. The main character works at a company called Your Big Break Inc., which lets you hire specialists to handle break-ups for you. This might be quitting your job or it might be dumping a girlfriend. It's an ingenious idea, really. Pay someone else to do your dirty work. I'm surprised there aren't real companies that do that (there probably are). Anyway, I did enjoy this book. It was kind of mindless, like most chick lit but which I enjoy sometimes, but besides that, it kept me interested and was a little unique.

Book Review: Under the Banner of Heaven

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer was our latest book club selection, although our meeting has been postponed for weeks due to the snow. This is a nonfiction book that discusses the Mormon religion, particularly fundamentalism and their beliefs in polygamy and blood atonement. Now, I've read quite a few autobiographies of women who had grown up as FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) and lived in plural marriage and I find the topic fascinating. And although most of these books do try to provide some historical background for their faith (even though the only reason these women have written books is because they no longer are part of that faith), none of them provide the detail that Under the Banner of Heaven provides. So, I was thankful for that, and learned about founder Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, the Mormon trek across the United States to find a place to fit in before ultimately settling in Utah. But, it also was kind of boring, as historical records can be.

All in all, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the book. Parts were very interesting, but other parts were boring. Some parts were thorough, others were lacking. At the heart of the story, the author talked about one family who committed murders but felt absolutely just about doing so due to the concept of Blood Atonement - basically the justification of the death of sinners. And Krakauer did a good job of explaining how this theory has been carried out by Mormons throughout their history. But, I guess I feel like there were points of view that were missing. Did anyone change their mind about the faith after seeing Blood Atonement carried out? I also guess I realized that I'm definitely more fascinated about the polygamous lifestyle than I am about anything else that the FLDS believes and that wasn't what this book was about. So, while it definitely served to inform me about the Mormon beliefs, it also kind of left me with more questions than answers.

Book Review: The Book of Fred

The Book of Fred is a quirky little work of fiction that tells the story of Mary Fred, a teenager who was raised in a bizarre fundamentalist religious cult and is sent to live with a foster family when her parents are sent to jail. Mary Fred is thrust into this bizarre world and with a foster family who was pretty disconnected with each other. The family has a teenage daughter about the same age as Mary Fred, a single mom who still hasn't gotten over her divorce, and Uncle Roy, who appears to be a jobless, lazy mess-up. The writing style is unique in that all four main characters serve as narrators at different points so you get to see the story from each person's viewpoint. But, I think it works really well. In fact, the last section repeats someone's point-of-view and I found myself wishing that things were wrapped up from everyone's point-of-view. Anyway, the story isn't particularly unique - how Mary Fred changes these person's lives and how they in turn change hers - but the writing style is unique enough and interesting to make this a pretty good read.

Book review: Open

Open is the autobiography of tennis great Andre Agassi. I'm not sure what my opinion was of Andre when he was in his prime (probably apathy), but after reading his book, I can't stand him. All he does for 90% of the book is whine. He hates tennis. He must tell you 8000 times in his book how much he hates tennis. Okay, I get that at first - his dad pushed him way too hard to basically follow his own dreams, regardless of what Andre wanted. But okay, by age 18, Andre was an adult and had probably a million dollars (or at least way more than a typical teenager with a high school diploma, which Andre does not) so if you hate tennis so much, find something else to do. Or, for the next 18 years while you remained a professional tennis player, you could have gotten out at any time. No one wants to hear your sob story when the biggest problem in your blessed life was your overbearing dad. I just feel like Andre has spent a lot of his life feeling sorry for himself and not making any real effort to change. Well-written but a totally unsympathetic autobiography.

Book review: The Lost Symbol

I'm going to try to write more book and movie reviews in 2010. We'll see.

Anyway, I read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown over my vacation. My book club selected it for our next meeting. I'd read Dan Brown's earlier books (Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code) years ago - for another book club - and remember enjoying the first one but thinking the second one followed the exact same formula. Like those earlier ones and the movies that have been made from them, this was a fast-paced action thriller starring symbologist Robert Langdon, who is brought to Washington, DC, under odd circumstances and finds himself embroiled in a mystery regarding Masonic legends and a box he's been asked to hold onto by his mentor, who is the Director of the Smithsonian or something powerful like that. Beyond being interested in the locale, I did not enjoy the book at all. I felt like it was at least 100 pages too long. Literally, some of the chapters kept saying the same things. Even once the bad guy was caught, there were another like 40 pages before the book ended! Who needs that? Some of the symbology and science (the Director's sister studies Noetic science) was quite interesting but even that seemed to get shoved down your throat in an almost condescending tone. The book almost seemed like an advertisement for Noetic science. And the major "reveal" about the villain was so obvious that I can't imagine that anyone didn't see it coming from a mile away. I'm sure the movie will be much better, as they'll be able to edit out all the crap and make it into a more streamlined story. So my suggestion to all is to wait for the movie!

'Time Traveler's Wife' Series Travels to ABC

Woo woo, this is my 1000th post! Too bad it wasn't a bit more substantial. But I am excited to hear that they might turn The Time Traveler's Wife into a TV series. Makes more sense than a movie because it's a confusing tale to tell to trim down to 2 hours. And I loved the book. (via)

"Top 10 Longest Novels in the English Language"

In other words, here are ten books I will definitely avoid. I hate reading long books. (via)

Sell your books online!

Book store Powell's Books has started allowing people to sell their used books to them online. Instead of putting your books up on something like eBay or Half.com and waiting for them to sell to some prospective buyer, you can enter the book's ISBN on the Powell's Web site, they'll tell you how much they'll give you for the book and if you accept, will send you a postage paid envelope in which to mail them your books. Instead of getting cash money, however, you get store credit. So it seems pretty win-win if you have any books you want to get rid of!

Back in NoVa

I'm back in northern Virginia after a 4-day trip back home to Cleveland. In Cleveland, I did a little shopping with my mom (of course), visited with my brother & his family (including newborn power sleeper Mia), caught up with some old friends, saw the Browns beat the defending Super Bowl champs, finished my book club book, and worked my way around the mess that is my parents' kitchen while they remodel it.

Back in Arlington, I came home to:
1.) a kitchen light that has all of its fluorescent bulbs burned out. Thanks roommate!
2.) a book club that has been postponed for two weeks - to a date that I can't make. Thanks for making me read a book I didn't enjoy for nothing!
3.) the girl I manage back to her old ways of doing absolutely nothing. She was gone for about two weeks dealing with the death of her father and had a really productive first day and a half. Now she's returned to her useless ways.