Life Drawing for Beginners

 Finally, I'm back!  I have such a back log of books to write about that I have forgotten things I wanted to write about.  I really hated trying to type on the iPad and so just left things slide.  I bought a bunch of new books but really should work on my TBR list.  What can I say?  I love buying cheap books. 



Title: Life Drawing for Beginners
Author: Roisin Meaney
Published: Hachette Book Group,Inc; August 2012
Genre: Fiction, Chick-Lit
Source: Library
From Goodreads:

 "From the author of Semi-Sweet comes a delightful new novel about the art of friendship, love, and (still) life. When Audrey Matthews offers an evening class in life drawing, all she's looking for is a little extra pocket money and something to fill her Tuesday nights. So she hires a model and recruits five students - each of whom have their own reason for being there. For Zarek, a Polish immigrant, the class is a welcome distraction and a place to escape his dull cafe job and noisy roommate. Then there's the handsome, mysterious James who has moved to the small town of Carrickbawn looking for a new start for himself and his daughter. He's vowed to keep to himself, but then his interest in Jackie, the class model and single mom, takes a more personal turn. While Audrey has just fallen in love -- with the adorable puppy in the window of the local pet shop. Will she be put off by the store's brusque owner or does she find out that his bark is worse than his bite? As the weeks pass, it becomes clear to the members of the drawing class that their fellow students aren't exactly who they seem..."

I put this book on my TBR list because I saw a goodreads giveaway for it who knows when.  I was really attracted by the title and cover.   I thought this would be a fun romantic comedy and  a quick and easy light read.  I really expected some girl-meets-boy and they fall in love with a good sprinkling of quirky side characters.  Jacket blurbs are obviously not a criteria in picking out a book. I'm shallow and judge books by their covers.  This was more of a general relationship novel.

The story telling shifts from Audrey to each of her class members and a few others.  Even though the characters are strangers to each other, they have connections outside of class through family and friends.  Kind of like the story lines in Love, Actually are all connected. Some of these connections were apparent right away and others didn't reveal themselves until almost the end of the book.

I enjoyed this book.  Sometimes I had to remind myself that things weren't happening as quickly as the timeline my brain had.  The story stretched out over six weeks.  I liked seeing the relationships develop and characters find their footing in the world.  I even questioned the tough decisions one character made about his son and wondered what I would do in the same situation.

Sometimes the story lagged but I mostly enjoyed the book.  I wanted to find out what secrets certain characters were keeping and that kept me reading to the end.  Meaney was able to bring a human side to the more despicable characters and make them likeable.  As for my final verdict, I was charmed by the characters. I would probably only recommend this to bookworms and not the casual reader.  But who knows, my husband never picks up a book and really enjoyed The Count of Monte Cristo.  So tell everyone to read it.  They just may like it.

 

The Bride Wore Size 12

Title: The Bride Wore Size 12
Author: Meg Cabot
Published: William Morrow; September 2013
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Romance
Source: Library digital loan
From Goodreads:

"Heather Wells is used to having her cake and eating it too, but this time her cake just might be cooked. Her wedding cake, that is.

With her upcoming nuptials to PI Cooper Cartwright only weeks away, Heather's already stressed. And when a pretty junior turns up dead, Heather's sure things can't get worse—until every student in the dorm where she works is a possible suspect, and Heather's long-lost mother shows up.

Heather has no time for a tearful mother and bride reunion. She has a wedding to pull off and a murder to solve. Instead of wedding bells, she might be hearing wedding bullets, but she's determined to bring the bad guys to justice if it's the last thing she does . . . and this time, it just might be."

I was turned on to Meg Cabot after watching The Princess Diaries. I loved her Boy series (The Boy Next Door, Boy Meets Girl, and Every Boy's Got One) and Queen of Babble series.  They are fun, easy, quick reads and the characters are very likeable.  I read about half of the Princess Diaries series about ten years or so ago.  Meg Cabot's books are the sweet, fluffy cupcakes of the literary world.  I've also read the first two books in the Heather Wells series and liked them a lot.

This book begins about a month before Heather's wedding.  So of course, I expected Heather to be up to her ears in wedding prep.  I remember what the month before my wedding was like.  I was finishing up last minute details and double checking that everything was in place.  It was pretty much all I thought about.  There were really only a few mentions of the wedding until the end of the book, when she and Cooper finally tied the knot.

Granted, she is the assistant hall director of a dorm residence hall (nicknamed Death Dorm) at a fictional New York City college.  She's busy with making sure all the incoming freshman are settling in and keeping said freshmen's parents happy with roommate assignments.  Oh, and one of her students is a prince of a fake Middle Eastern nation.  When a RA is found dead in her room, it adds that much more to Heather's already full agenda. 

I wanted to love this book.  Since I really liked a many of Cabot's other works, I was certain that this would be along the same lines.  The first few books of this series were engaging and really fun.  I liked the idea of an adult spending the majority of her time around college students.  This book just seemed to fall flat.  I kind of feel like Cabot just wanted to finish the series up because she was tired of it.

I can't really say why this book wasn't as good as the first few in the series.  Maybe I'm the one who changed, although I still love fluffy chick-lit and a good murder mystery.  I just wasn't feeling it.  The murder mystery didn't have me reading well into the night to find out who committed the crime.  I only finished this book a few days ago and I can barely remember the details. 

Underwhelmed.  That is the best word to describe how I feel about this book.  If you are a fan of the Heather Wells series, I would recommend this just to have some closure for the series.  Otherwise, pass it by for some of Cabot's better series.

Buy at Amazon/Barnes & Noble

The Rosie Project

Title: The Rosie Project
Author: Graeme Simsion
Published: Simon & Schuster; 2013
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Humor
Source: Amazon Kindle store
From Goodreads:

"An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges."

Sheldon (from Big Bang Theory, for those of you who don't watch) searches for a wife.

That is how I would describe this book.  Don Tillman is socially inept, due to not being diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum.  I can't write much more about the story that the goodreads blurb doesn't say.    At least not without giving away the entire story.

I fell in love with the characters and the storyline.  It was charming and sweet.  I loved seeing the evolution of Don's feelings towards Rosie.  His goofy mistakes due to his lack of interpersonal skills were funny.

The book is written from Don's point of view.  This was really the only way to write a book about a character like him.  How else would the reader know why he was doing the things he did without knowing his thought processes?  I especially loved his attempts at using logic to explain Rosie's very obvious emotional responses to him.

This book is great.  I breezed through it in less than a day.  It's fun and light-hearted without making fun of autism spectrum disorders by taking low blows.  This book makes you smile and think.  It would make a great book club selection, especially after reading a more literary novel.  Buy this book because you will want to reread it.

 

Divergent

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Published:Katherine Tegen Books; 2011
Genre:Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction
Source: Amazon Kindle store
From Goodreads:

"In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, 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 alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating 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 unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her."

When I went to see Catching Fire back in November, the preview for Divergent looked pretty good.  My friend and I agreed to go see it together in March.  I knew  I would have to read the books first.  I got a new Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas so this was one of the first books I bought.

Honestly, I was a little dissappointed in the first installment of this trilogy.  I wish that there was more back story.  What events lead up to this point? Why did the citizens decide that people should be divided into factions?  I also didn't understand why people would have to choose one particular virtue.

I don't want to give away what faction Tris decides to join, but I had a hard time understanding what her faction did.  I get that they had certain jobs but I didn't think that the size of their faction could find employment for that many people.  Her faction seemed much more reckless than actually embodying the spirit of their virtue.

This was Roth's first book that she wrote rather quickly.  You can tell.  The plot of the book just seems to meander along until the sixty pages or so.  However, once I reached those last pages, I was hooked and am definitely going to read Insurgent.  The meat of that last part of this story was very exciting.  I needed to find out how Tris' and company are going to deal with the very major complications.

Roth's writing did have some good points.  I found her depiction of Albert to be incredibly touching and a realistic portrayal of an adolescent placed in that situation.  She wrote very descriptive scenes that weren't overly wordy.  Her training scenes were exciting and I couldn't put the book down in the middle of them.

If you loved The Hunger Games trilogy and want to read this thinking it will be like them, it's not.  It's nowhere near as good as The Hunger Games.  It is an entertaining read and I have higher hopes that Insurgent and Allegiant  will fill in the gaps that annoyed me and will meander less now that the antagonist has been identified.

 

Brave New World

Title: Brave New World
Author: Aldous Huxley
Published: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006 (first published in 1932)
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Source: Library Used Book Sale
From Goodreads:

 "Aldous Huxley's tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric version of a "utopian" future - where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment."

I picked this book up solely based on the cover.  I knew absolutely nothing about this book.  It has been wallowing on my bookshelf for the last year or so.  I finally decided to pick it up because I have a whole bunch of books that I promised myself I would read last year.  I wish I would have read this sooner.

I was very surprised to find out that this book was first published in 1932.  It is way ahead of it's time.  If I hadn't looked at the original publish year, I would have thought it was written in the last twenty years.  In this society, people are genetically manipulated to be a member of a caste system (Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Epsilons).  They're created in a lab and gestate in bottles, where things are added to physically create the differences that caste members have.  That's just the beginning of lifelong conditioning for each person.

The story focuses on Bernard, an Alpha who is not as tall as the other Alphas.  He understands why society runs the way it does but questions certain things.  A lot is explained about how society runs.  Bernard is attracted to Lenina, another Alpha.  He takes her on a trip to see the Savages, Native Americans in New Mexico, who live rather "primitively".  There reactions to the people there are worth reading about.

Buy this book.  Seriously.  Brave New World should be a must-read for everyone.  I would even have this as required reading if I was a high school English teacher.  That is how much I recommend this book.  Just read it.

Big Fat Disaster

Title: Big Fat Disaster
Author:Beth Fehlbaum
Published: Merit Press, 18 April 2014
Genre:Young Adult
Source: NetGalley*
From Goodreads:

"Insecure, shy, and way overweight, Colby hates the limelight as much as her pageant-pretty mom and sisters love it. It's her life: Dad's a superstar, running for office on a family values platform. Then suddenly, he ditches his marriage for a younger woman and gets caught stealing money from the campaign. Everyone hates Colby for finding out and blowing the whistle on him. From a mansion, they end up in a poor relative's trailer, where her mom's contempt swells right along with Colby's supersized jeans. Then, a cruel video of Colby half-dressed, made by her cousin Ryan, finds its way onto the internet. Colby plans her own death. A tragic family accident intervenes, and Colby's role in it seems to paint her as a hero, but she's only a fraud. Finally, threatened with exposure, Colby must face facts about her selfish mother and her own shame. Harrowing and hopeful, proof that the truth that saves us can come with a fierce and terrible price, Big Fat Disaster is that rare thing, a story that is authentically new."

WARNING; This book has triggers regarding suicide, abuse, eating disorders, and rape.

I didn't know what to expect from this book.  I must not have read the description very well because I thought it would be a a bit more light-hearted.   Okay, I admit that I went into this book thinking she would have something bad happen to the family and she would love herself and lose weight and the story would have a happy ending.  I probably would not have read it if I would have read it if I had read it if I had paid attention to the blurb.

This book doesn't pussyfoot around the issues covered.. Rape, bullying, fat-shaming, depression, suicide, disordered eating.  I had some triggers and admit that I was up at three in the morning crying because of the raw emotion regarding the main character Colby's depression and suicide attempt.  It frightened me how easily I could identify with Colby and her feelings.

I was hooked from the get go.  Even with the difficult content, I was rooting for Colby and hoping she would find a happy ending.  Her dad basically abandons her and her mother and sisters after his affair and embezzlement come to light.  Her mother constantly fat-shames her and very obviously favors Colby's thinner sisters.  She's bullied at her new school.  Her cousin shows open disdain for her.  It's a lot to put on one person's shoulders.   In the end, there wasn't the happy ending I expected but there was plenty of hope for Colby to have a good life.

*I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.  Any opinions are my own.

My 2014 TBR List

source

Happy New Year!

I'm a little disappointed in myself.  I had set a goal of reading 60 new-to-me books.  At the beginning of the year, I set a goal of sixty books for the Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge.  I only hit 33 books.  In addition, I probably reread about fifteen to twenty other books. Definitely a respectable amount of books but I am not happy with myself for not making reading a priority this year.  In comparison, I set a goal of fifty books in 2012 and read 58 new-to-me books.

For 2014, I am going to stick with a more modest goal.  I think fifty books is doable.  I am also considering rereading all the books I was assigned in high school English class.  So I will probably be reading about one and a half books a week.  I really hope I can do this.

I have a lot of books that I really wanted to read this last year.  A lot.  I'm going to attempt to read all these and then some.  Here's a peek at my list in no particular order.


 The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth


Even though just about everyone was raving about these books, I really didn't want to read them until I saw the movie preview for Divergent.  Now I need to read all three before the movie comes out in March.





Murder Most Austen by Tracy Kiely

I love me a good Jane Austen fanfic.  Hopefully this one doesn't fall flat.









Life Drawing for Beginners by Roisin Meaney

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

I didn't realize that Louise Brooks was a real person when I first heard of this book. I love books that speculate on real lives.








How Wide the Divide?: A Mormon & an Evangelical in Conversation by Stephen E. Robinson and
     Craig L . Blomberg

As a Mormon, I find Evangelicalism a bit fascinating.  I'm very interested to see what these two authors have to say about the similarities and differences.






Consider the Fork: How Technology Transforms the Way We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson

I love to eat.  I love food.  I find the history of mundane objects interesting.









I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb

I picked this up at last summer's used book sale at a local public library.  I've picked it up once and read the first few pages but misplaced it and didn't read any more of it.  Now that it's found again, I need to put this back on my to-do list.







Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

I have a silly reason for wanting to read this. It all has to do with the Audrey Hepburn movie, Funny Face.  She plays a frumpy bookstore worker who is picked as the new fresh face of modeling and is whisked off to Paris where she does loads of photo shoots.  One of them is inspired by the Anna Karenina scene at a train station.  I have no idea what the book or even that scene is about.  But hey, it's a classic and I need to read a few more of those.




American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

I read Sittenfeld's Prep ages ago and really enjoyed it.  Being from a politically divided marriage, I am really curious as to how this novel handles a wife who holds her own private views while putting on the image of a good Republican wife.







Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

I have a weird confession.  I am fascinated by death.  My favorite field trip in school was to the cadaver lab at the University of Wisconsin.  After hearing about Roach's Gulp on NPR, I knew I had to read it.  When I heard she wrote a book about dead bodies, I was chomping at the bit to read it.






A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

I bought this book about ten years ago because of the cover.  I have picked it up a few times over the years and gotten about a quarter to halfway through it before neglecting to finish.  This will be the year to finish it.  Plus, it really appeals to the part of me that has the sense of humor of a twelve year old boy.






Bossypants by Tina Fey

Yet another book where I am late to the ball.  It's Tina Fey.  I don't think I need to say more.








Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple


Let's face it.  Sometimes I'd like to disappear too.









Parasite by Mira Grant

Sometimes I wish I had a tapeworm just to make me skinny.  The idea of having one that would rebel is kind of scary.  I really look forward to reading this.









The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Terminal cancer and romance.  Sounds like a movie to me.









The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I love me a book set in Nazi Germany.









The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane by Kelly Harms

Two women with the same name are told they win a dream home in Maine.  This is another book that I heard about on NPR and the author interview really made me want to read this.







The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer

I had to stop going to my library's book club because of my work schedule.  This was the last book that I remember them picking to read.  They always have good taste.







Fangirl, Attachments, and Landlines by Rainbow Rowell

After reading Eleanor & Park, I have found myself wanting to binge read everything Rainbow Rowell has written.  Landlines is expected to come out in July.







The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family
     by Josh Hanagarne

A memoir about a weight-lifting, Mormon librarian with Tourette's Syndrome.

Yes, please.







Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

Sometimes I choose to read things just because they've received a lot of buzz.  I don't think Lean In will be like my experience with the Twilight series.







Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem and Other Things
     That Happened by Allie Brosh

I don't know if I can express how much I love Allie Brosh.  I found her website by way of her posts on depression.  They expressed so much how I was feeling that I bawled while reading them.
She's also just downright funny.  I still don't start to clean at home without raising my broom and yelling "CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!"





The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

I've been hearing good things.  Like that this is one of the novels from 2013.  Can't pass that up.








Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

The main character is born, dies, and is reborn as another person, over and over.  I'm really curious to find out the character's purpose in the world.







Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

I have only heard of orphan trains in passing but want to learn more.  Not that I read a novel to educate me.







The House Girl by Tara Conklin

You know what?  I've been writing little commentaries about why I want to read every book on this list.  I'm tired of typing out in 50 different ways "I just want to read this."  No more commentary unless I find it worthwhile.





The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker

My Story by Elizabeth Smart

Elizabeth seems so poised and grateful for life in the interviews she has given lately.  Her book is a must read.








The Astronaut's Wives Club: A True Story by Lily Koppel

Another NPR find.








A Red Herring without Mustard, I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, Speaking from Among the Bones, and
     The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley

These are books number 3 through 6  from the Flavia de Luce series.  I fell in love with the chemistry loving, nerdy little heroine and can't wait to read these.  Book #6 comes out in January.



I know this is an incredibly long list and I've probably bitten off more than I can chew.  I am perfectly willing to admit that I probably won't be able to read all of these, just because I will probably reread some books (especially the Hunger Games Series right before Mockingjay comes out) and I will find other books that just need to be read.

What's on your TBR list for 2014?

(photo source for all book jackets)