Posts tagged ‘women’s lit’

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March 25, 2011

Book Review: #27 – The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus by Sonya Sones

The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus by Sonya Sones

Recommended by: My friend Brittney, who has a new book blog!
Source: Kindle
Finished: 3/21/11
Rating: 8 out of 10
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Pages: 432
To Be Published: April 5, 2011

Synopsis (Publisher’s Weekly): Holly is a writer grappling with menopause, with a daughter about to go to college, a husband who drives her crazy, and a crippling case of writer’s block. Her mother is ill and in the care of an ineffectual doctor who puts her on steroids that make her violent and forgetful. In the midst of the everyday chaos, Holly has to figure out how to redefine herself as life keeps on changing on her. Sones mixes things up by writing the entire story in verse, with different anecdotes related in different types of poems.

Overall Impression: There are two main reasons that I would have never picked this up without the high praises and recommendation from Brittney. 1) It’s a coming-of-middle-age story — the main character, Holly, is 50 years old. And 2) It’s poetry.

Hey! Don’t stop reading. Because this truly was a wonderful book. The poetry often reads like prose, and it’s not super…poetry-y. Read: I totally understood it and thought it was delightful and, in many places, very touching. I majored in English in college and pretty much loathed poetry, but I thoroughly enjoyed Sones’ writing. Second, even though I really couldn’t relate to Holly at first glance (she’s 50, her mother is ill, her husband may be cheating, and her daughter is off to college…while I’m 30, my mother is in fabulous health, and I have no husband or children), there was a lot about being a woman, in general, that I found to resonate with the deepest parts of me. Plus, I saw a bit of my own mom in Holly, and it made me wonder if she felt the same way Holly did when I went off to college. Broke my heart in places.

Also, don’t judge this book by its cover. The cover exudes more youth and vapid-ness than the actual content.

Positives: Gave me a new (first?) appreciation for poetry. The medium gave Sones’ more room to play up Holly’s feelings and thoughts.

Negatives: Sometimes it got a little over the top (see: Dr. Hack) and felt a wee bit like a soap opera.

Other books I’ve read by Sonya Sones: none

Other blogger opinions:

Brittney (Hardkover): “I loved the narrator’s voice and style of expression, often alternating among wit, nostalgia, and raw emotion with ease.”

Esmerelda’s Book Thing: “I think this is a fun little book and you will enjoy it especially if you are interested in seeing what poetry can do for a narrative.”

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April 20, 2010

#31 – Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern

Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern

Read: based on some recommendation, way back in the day. It’s been on my Bookins request list for ages and it finally came. (Hyperion, 464 pages)

Rating: 7 out of 10 (finished 4/1/10)

Synopsis: Ahern’s engaging follow-up to PS, I Love You is the tale of two best friends who are meant to be together. Rosie and Alex have been best friends since childhood, so when Alex’s family moves from Dublin to Boston, Rosie decides she’ll venture to the States for college after she graduates from high school. But those dreams are dashed when the night of her final high-school dance leaves Rosie pregnant. She decides to stay in Dublin and keep the baby. When Rosie comes over to visit Alex during his last year at Harvard, she finds herself falling for him–just as he announces his engagement to a fellow student. Thus begins a back-and-forth that goes on for years, as Rosie raises her daughter and pursues her dream job while Alex builds a life for himself in Boston. The book’s length is indicative of the many obstacles in the couple’s path, but readers will enjoy the breezy epistolary style and likable characters.

Overall Impression: Let’s first of all make a grumblecakes face in the general direction of Cecelia Ahern, who was 24 when she started publishing her best-selling books (see: PS I Love You). Plus she’s freaking adorable, and Irish, and daughter of the former Most Important Leader of Ireland. Come on, now. That ain’t fair. Spread the love, Cecelia. 

Anywho, this novel, written in a series of emails, IMs, chat rooms, and letters, reminds me of Meg Cabot’s “Boy” series of books. It was sort of like eating cotton candy. The novel, at 450+ pages, looks big and delicious, but because it’s these strings of messages, it’s as light as air. I gobbled it up one evening in one big, pink bite. The characters were likeable and realistic, which I think must have been hard to do in a series of IMs. The relationship between the two main characters, which spans 50 years, was well thought out — I didn’t spend the whole book thinking, “WHY OH WHY aren’t these two people together?” Instead, their reasons for being apart seemed realistic — sometimes the timing just sucks. I’ve been reading heavier books lately, so this one just sort of wafted by, smelling like cherries.

Pros: Great when your brain needs something sweet.

Cons: Even now, half a month later, I’m having trouble remembering the details.

Other books I’ve read by Cecelia Ahern: none

Other blogger reviews: none (have you reviewed this? I’ll link your review here!)

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March 9, 2010

#21 – Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Read: based on the recommendations of practically everyone in the book blogosphere (Harper, 416 pages)

Rating: 8 out of 10 (finished 3/7/10)

Synopsis: This first-in-a-trilogy is a frilly valentine to Manhattan’s picturesque West Village, starring a boisterous and charmingly contentious Italian-American family. Valentine Roncalli, adrift after a failed relationship and an aborted teaching career, becomes an apprentice to her 80-year-old grandmother, Teodora Angelini, at the tiny family shoe business. While Valentine struggles to come up with a financial plan—and shoe design—to bring the Old World operation into the 21st century, her brother, Alfred, is pushing Gram to retire and sell her building for $6 million. It’s not all business for Valentine, of course: handsome and sophisticated Roman Falconi, owner and chef at a posh restaurant, is vying for her heart.

Overall Impression: My mom handed me an ARC a while back of Brava Valentine (book #2 in this series), but I somehow buried it under a mound of cooking magazines — and Lord knows I rarely go near my kitchen, so it remained hidden for a while. But I needed a quiche recipe the other day, and I found the book! I was going to start reading it, but a blogger (I can’t remember who — was it you?) recommended I start with the first in the series. A few days later, I held a library copy of Very Valentine in my hands.

Hmm. That was an unnecessecarily long introductory paragraph.

Anywho, I can see why so many people liked the book. Valentine is a great character — she’s real, she’s smart, she’s realistically emotional, and she’s funny. Watching her navigate her grandmother’s failing business, her ridiculous but lovable Italian family, and her burgeoning romance with Roman was a delight. I found myself laughing out loud quite a bit. I particularly liked that this was about so much more than her romance with Roman. It was about Valentine’s journey to find out both who she is and how she wants to balance her life and her career. I loved her relationship with her grandmother, and how the two of them face their business problems and relational problems. It was all very well done. My only little gripe is that sometimes things felt a little old fashioned. But that might just have been Old Italy at work.

Side note: my mom tells the story of a time when she had one too many Harvey Wallbangers while drinking with her friends. I always sort of thought she was making  up this silly drink name, that is until Valentine’s mom drank them at a wedding toward the beginning of the book. They do exist!

Pros: Lovable, realistic characters; a fun plot that sort of sallied forth without effort; I learned a lot about shoemaking.

Cons: Some loose ends; I sort of wish there had been a dictionary of shoe terms in the back of the book; sometimes there were just one too many descriptions of things.

Extras: Adriana’s website and follow Adriana on Twitter

Other books I’ve read by Adriana Trigiani: none

Other blogger reviews: S. Krishna’s Books and Too Fond of Books (I know there are others but I can’t seem to find them — let me know if you’ve reviewed it and I’ll add your link here)

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July 31, 2009

#44 – Austenland by Shannon Hale

austenland

Read because: it was on the library rack and I needed an audio book. And it’s hard for me to say “no” to anything with “Austen” in the title.

Borrowed from: the Sacramento Library

My rating: 6 out of 10

Synopsis: Thirty-three-year-old Jane Hayes, who has a fairly serious addiction to the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice, inherits a trip to Pembrook Park, Kent, England, the location of a resort where guests dress, talk, think, and act in ways that Jane Austen would approve. Refusing to lie about her age, even on vacation in a place right out of Austen’s England, Jane finds herself quickly overcoming the obsession with Mr. Darcy that may very well have jeopardized her 13 “relationships” over the years. Left to walk in last to dinner, mildly obsessed with one of the hotel’s gardeners, and annoyed by another guest’s overeager attempts to bag a man, Jane is eager to return to Manhattan. Then she decides to give it all one more chance, since Great-Aunt Carolyn did see fit to pay for the entire vacation.

My Review: Oh, Chick Lit. Welcome back to my life. It’s been a while. I thought this book — the plot is pretty much The Best Dream Ever for me and many of my English major friends — was a fun little novel about a modern girl who gets to go live with Mr. Darcy, wear corsets, read a lot, take walks, and eat wild game. Most reviewers liked it more than I did. I thought the main character was a little too dense (a common problem in this genre) since Mr. Darcy was staring her in the face for, well, the entire novel. And her obsession with Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy didn’t seem as dire as the author wrote it (OMG, she owned the DVD version!). But it was fun and the writing was neat and tidy and I didn’t find myself overly frustrated with flat characters or a boring plot. Now if only a real Mr. Darcy would come a’calling, eh? (Finished 6/23/09.)

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April 26, 2009

#29 – She’s Out of Control by Kristin Billerbeck

control

Read because: I finished the first book in the series a few weeks ago and had enjoyed it.

Borrowed from: the Sacramento library

Rating: 6 out of 10

Synopsis (from Amazon): Having discovered rats in her luxury apartment, Ashley Stockingdale is living with her friend Kay, a.k.a. Martha Stewart But With Scruples. Soon Kay wants Ashley to buy out half the house so they can remodel it in style. With no hint of a proposal on the horizon from her commitment-phobe boyfriend, Ashley goes on an independent-woman streak. She sinks her savings into the deal. As Seth squirms, wondering if the investment into Kay’s house indicates Ashley doesn’t see a future with him, the nightmare of remodeling begins. Meanwhile–in lieu of a diamond?–Seth gives Ashley a darling if ill-advised gift: a puppy! More than a trendy accessory, this puppy requires nearly constant attention and more food than a family of four. He’s out-growing his pink collars faster than you can say Diva Dog! The mayhem is escalating, but like everything else, Ashley knows she can handle it…or can she?

My Review: I really liked the first book in this series, but this one didn’t do it for me as much. Ashley seemed more flighty in this book, although I really did feel bad for her as she deals with Seth and his commitment issues. I just wanted to shake her and say, “GIRL. The hot doctor likes you! Hello!” But I can understand why she wouldn’t believe that. Anyway, I wish I’d waited a little longer between books. I might have had some Ashley overload. I’ll wait for a while before I hit book #3 in the series — which is Sheena’s favorite. (Finished 4/15/09)

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