Under The Dome - Stephen King

Goodreads Summary: On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when -- or if -- it will go away.

Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens -- town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

Why I Read This Book: Honestly, this was an impulsive Chapters sale table purchase that I just eventually got around to picking up.

Review: It has been awhile since I read this book, so this isn't going to be very detailed (Goodreads says I finished it December 27, 2012!) Anyway, this book had a good, enjoyable story which I liked quite a bit. The story itself was probably 4 stars, but alas it only got 3 because it was way to freakin long!! The amount of unnecessary detail in this book is off putting. I don't know how many times I just stopped reading because it felt like nothing was happening. For an exciting plot, the book really dragged.

Rating: 

One Day by David Nicholls

Goodreads Summary: I can't actually access the Goodreads Summary, since apparently there is malware on that page and my computer won't let me... weird, but here is a summary I googled:

In 1988, the day after commencement, two college graduates briefly, romantically collide. The girl has pined for the boy for years; the boy is more aware of the girl than he lets on. She’s an earnest, outspoken lefty, he a handsome, apolitical toff who “liked the word ‘bourgeois’ and all that it implied” and “wanted to live life in such a way that if a photograph were taken at random, it would be a cool photograph.” Their chemistry is as inarguable as their differences, but because of the pride, carelessness and misplaced optimism of youth, they let time and distraction separate them. Yet they never lose track of each other. “One Day” checks in on their intersecting lives once a year, every July 15, from 1988 through 2007

Why I Read This Book: Like so many before it, I read the book in order to watch the  movie. I had never heard of it prior to that. Also, a friend of mine rated it well on Goodreads, which is how I think I actually got around to picking it up.

Review: To be honest, I found this book borderline infuriating. Dexter is such a fucking ass, I hated him so much. And I hated Emma a lot of the time too. But, I hated them in a good way, because I cared about both of them. The book sucked me in, and then, the end happened. And it was shocking, and stupid to the point that I hated this book. I will never read anything by David Nicholls again, because the way the end was written, it was so forced, and it just seemed like he wanted a book that people would cry over. It ruined the story. I did enjoy the book up to that point though (if you read the book, you obviously know what I'm talking about, but I don't want to spoil anything).

Rating:

Thumped by Megan McCafferty

Goodreads Summary: It's been thirty-five weeks since twin sisters Harmony and Melody went their separate ways. Since then, their story has become irresistible to legions of girls: twins separated at birth and living different lives, each due to deliver sets of twins . . . on the same day! In a future where only teens can "bump," or give birth, babies mean money, status, and freedom.

Married to Ram and living in religious Goodside, Harmony spends her time trying to fit back into the community she once loved and believed in. But she can't seem to forget about Jondoe, the guy she fell in love with under the strangest of circumstances.

To her adoring fans, Melody has achieved everything she always wanted: a big, fat contract and a coupling with Jondoe, the hottest bump prospect around. But this image is costing her the one guy she really wants.

Cursed by their own popularity, the girls are obsessively tracked by their millions of fans, who have been eagerly counting down the days to their "Double Double Due Date." Without a doubt, they are two of the most powerful teen girls on the planet, and there's only one thing they could do that would make them more famous than they already are:

Tell the truth.
Why I Read This Book: I read the first book in this 2 book series, so of course I was going to get this one too! You can find my review for book 1, Bumped, here.

Review: I didn't like this book as much as I had liked Bumped. Bumped wasn't the best book ever or anything, but the concept of the story is really great, and I even liked that the characters in Otherside were kind of superficial and thought it was really creative that McCafferty created a language basically of future teens. What got to me was how unrealistic Harmony and Jondoe were. I found it really annoying, and even the way Melody and Harmony interacted got on my nerves. The saving grace of this book was Zen, he was definitely my favorite character.

The most redeeming quality of the book, was I know that McCafferty's description of how humans would behave if a virus like this did truly exist, seems scarily accurate. I mean, pregging from profit? I can pretty much already picture it. Terrifying.

Rating: 

Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann

Goodreads Summary: In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in bestselling novelist Colum McCann’s stunningly intricate portrait of a city and its people. 

Let the Great World Spin is the critically acclaimed author’s most ambitious novel yet: a dazzlingly rich vision of the pain, loveliness, mystery, and promise of New York City in the 1970s.

Corrigan, a radical young Irish monk, struggles with his own demons as he lives among the prostitutes in the middle of the burning Bronx. A group of mothers gather in a Park Avenue apartment to mourn their sons who died in Vietnam, only to discover just how much divides them even in grief. A young artist finds herself at the scene of a hit-and-run that sends her own life careening sideways. Tillie, a thirty-eight-year-old grandmother, turns tricks alongside her teenage daughter, determined not only to take care of her family but to prove her own worth.

Elegantly weaving together these and other seemingly disparate lives, McCann’s powerful allegory comes alive in the unforgettable voices of the city’s people, unexpectedly drawn together by hope, beauty, and the “artistic crime of the century.” A sweeping and radical social novel, Let the Great World Spin captures the spirit of America in a time of transition, extraordinary promise, and, in hindsight, heartbreaking innocence. Hailed as a “fiercely original talent” (San Francisco Chronicle), award-winning novelist McCann has delivered a triumphantly American masterpiece that awakens in us a sense of what the novel can achieve, confront, and even heal.
Why I Read This Book: At some point I read some list on the internet somewhere that said this was a book people had to read, and I wrote it down somewhere and added it to some TBR list. Then, when I made my official 2012 TBR Reading Challenge list, I just added the first 40 books I had on my Goodreads TBR list. SO, with over half the year over, I was feeling guilty that although I had been crossing a lot of books of my TBR list, not many of them were coming off my official challenge list. I got this book from the library for that reason.

Review: When I first started reading this book, I didn't realize that it was mostly a collection of loosely connected short stories. I'm not really a fan of that style of book, because I hate only kind of knowing what happened to so many of the characters in the book. This book had that feel. I liked the POV switching, but I hated only getting the end of half the characters stories. Whatever happened to Blaine?
Otherwise, I did like the book fine enough. Lately I have been devouring anything set in NYC, and it was nice (and kind of depressing) to read about it in this time period. NYC certainly was not the city that it is today in the 70's, but at the same time parts of it sort of are. I don't know, it's hard to explain. Me and NYC have sort of become long distance BFF's as of late (although I'm not sure she knows that). In my 3 day visit there I decided I adore everything NYC there is to consume. I'm not sure this book really deserved to be on whatever list I found it on, but I did like it. It took me quite awhile to read though, as I was always supplementing it was a more fast paced book. I would recommend this to anyone who feels like picking through a book a bit at a time, as its not overly engaging. Or to someone who is in a love affair with NYC, like me.

Rating:

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

Goodreads Summary: When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time.  

The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her - but on his own terms. 

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success – his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving adoptive family – Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny.

Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds?

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever

Why I Read This Book: I might as well just be honest, I had to see what the hell all the hype was about.


Review: Apart from all the BDSM, I think I could write a better book. Don't get me wrong, the sexy parts are pretty sexy, but the story line in pretty poorly written. When I found out this was originally Twilight fan-fic I was very surprised, as this just doesn't fit the Twilight story at all, unless you consider that Ana always bites her lip like Bella. Which is probably one of the most annoying things about Twilight.

I do however like that this book received the hype that it did, not because it was deserved, but because it represents something for women that would have previously been too taboo to have published and spoken about on the news.

All I can really say is that James has a pretty wild imagination, or a very wild recreational side! I will finish the series, but really, I don't think I would recommend them to anyone unless they wanted some sexy time alone, cause it will at least do that much for you!

Rating: 

Modelland by Tyra Banks

Goodreads Summary: No one gets in without being asked. And with her untamable hair, large forehead, and gawky body, Tookie De La Crème isn’t expecting an invitation. Modelland—the exclusive, mysterious place on top of the mountain—never dares to make an appearance in her dreams. 

But someone has plans for Tookie. Before she can blink her mismatched eyes, Tookie finds herself in the very place every girl in the world obsesses about. And three unlikely girls have joined her.

Only seven extraordinary young women become Intoxibellas each year. Famous. Worshipped. Magical. What happens to those who don’t make it? Well, no one really speaks of that. Some things are better left unsaid.

Thrown into a world where she doesn’t seem to belong, Tookie glimpses a future that could be hers—if she survives the beastly Catwalk Corridor and terrifying Thigh-High Boot Camp. Or could it? Dark rumors like silken threads swirl around the question of why Tookie and her new friends were selected . . . and the shadows around Modelland hide sinister secrets.

Are you ready? Modelland is waiting for you. . . .

Why I Read This Book: I initially added this to my TBR list because I thought the cover was pretty, and since I like the show America's Next Top Model, I just figured this would be decent. I'm not even sure I noticed it was actually written by Tyra, that's how little thought I put into it. One day at the bookstore, I just bought it.


Review: I'm still surprised I actually went there with this book. Take a minute and actually read that synopsis. I will give Tyra credit though, this is one of the most creative books I have ever read. But, it was not always creative in a good way. Much of the book dragged on, and when things finally started happen that made the book half enjoyable, it was so off the wall ridiculous that that also took away from the story. The book isn't BAD per se, but it definitely isn't good. It needed to have the language cleaned up a lot, and someone needed to tell Tyra when her ideas just didn't work. The editor was probably a little too much of a pushover in my opinion.

Rating:

Hana by Lauren Oliver

Goodreads Summary: The summer before they're supposed to be cured of the ability to love, best friends Lena and Hana begin to drift apart. While Lena shies away from underground music and parties with boys, Hana jumps at her last chance to experience the forbidden. For her, the summer is full of wild music, dancing—and even her first kiss. 

But on the surface, Hana must be a model of perfect behavior. She meets her approved match, Fred Hargrove, and glimpses the safe, comfortable life she’ll have with him once they marry. As the date for her cure draws ever closer, Hana desperately misses Lena, wonders how it feels to truly be in love, and is simultaneously terrified of rebelling and of falling into line. 

In this digital story that will appeal to fans of Delirium and welcome new admirers to its world, readers will come to understand scenes from Delirium through Hana's perspective. Hana is a touching and revealing look at a life-changing and tumultuous summer.

Why I Read This Book: I wasn't going to read this originally, but after I finished Pandemonium I kind of just felt "why the hell not?" about it.


Review: This was a pretty short story and I read it in 2 sittings. I orginially wasn't planning to get it, because I didn't have a huge Hana attachment. However, while reading Pandemonium I realized I had sort of forgot some of Delirium's events, so instead of doing a re-read (I have way too many unread books to re-read things) I though this book would help to remind me of some of Delirium's event which I had maybe forgotten. It definitely worked, which was nice. The book's language was a little too flowery and descriptive for my tastes. I did really enjoy reading Hana's perspective of one of the more exciting events, although it was too much imagery and not enough of wtf actually happened. Anyway, I think it's worth a read for fans of this series, and it made me appreciate some of Hana's actions which made her look like kind of a jerk before.

Rating:

Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger

Goodreads Summary: Emmy is newly single, and not by choice. She was this close to the ring and the baby she's wanted her whole life when her boyfriend left her for his twenty-three-year-old personal trainer -- whose fees are paid by Emmy. With her plans for the perfect white wedding in the trash, Emmy is now ordering takeout for one. Her friends insist an around-the-world sex-fueled adventure will solve all her problems -- could they be right?

Leigh, a young star in the publishing business, is within striking distance of landing her dream job as senior editor and marrying her dream guy. And to top it all off, she has just purchased her dream apartment. Only when Leigh begins to edit the enfant terrible of the literary world, the brilliant and brooding Jesse Chapman, does she start to notice some cracks in her perfect life...

Adriana is the drop-dead-gorgeous daughter of a famous supermodel. She possesses the kind of feminine wiles made only in Brazil, and she never hesitates to use them. But she's about to turn thirty and -- as her mother keeps reminding her -- she won't have her pick of the men forever. Everyone knows beauty is ephemeral and there's always someone younger and prettier right around the corner. Suddenly she's wondering...does Mother know best?

These three very different girls have been best friends for a decade in the greatest city on earth. As they near thirty, they're looking toward their future...but despite all they've earned -- first-class travel, career promotions, invites to all the right parties, and luxuries small and large -- they're not quite sure they like what they see...

One Saturday night at the Waverly Inn, Adriana and Emmy make a pact: within a single year, each will drastically change her life. Leigh watches from the sidelines, not making any promises, but she'll soon discover she has the most to lose. Their friendship is forever, but everything else is on the table. Three best friends. Two resolutions. One year to pull it off.

Why I Read This Book: I read this book for a chick-lit fix, and someone lent it to me. I liked some of Weisberger's other books as well.


Review: This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't a good book either. The characters were kind of flat, it lacked any sort of exciting plot as well. It didn't make for a very entertaining read as I had hoped. Some elements of the book were amusing, such as Emmy's pact, and a few of the scenes but overall it came across very stereotypical and the characters main points were overdone and annoying. For example, Brazilian Adriana was extremely self centered, loved herself and her looks way too much, and if I had to read the word "querida" one more time I was going to throw the book through a window. I was surprised that this book was basically a flop, because The Devil Wears Prada was a book I really enjoyed. I guess, it wasn't horrible, I did however supplement it by reading other books while I was reading this one at the same time. I probably wouldn't recommend it to my friends, but I wouldn't go out of my way to trash it to them either (unlike my current read, which you will hear about if I ever manage to finish it!!)

Rating:

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

Goodreads Summary: Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?” 
 
Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly!
 
In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.

Why I Read This Book: I picked this one up as something humorous between more serious books that I was reading.


Review: I liked the flow of this book, and it definitely did deliver in the funny department. Kaling writes in a very conversational way, which was enjoyable. As with my recently read Bossypants by Tina Fey, I was a little lost on places as I did not have a firm grasp on Kaling's acting background, however it wasn't as much about her past acting experiences, and I thought she did a better job of explaining them for people who may not have know about 'Ben and Matt' or watch 'The Office' regularly. I like the book, but I didn't love it. I thought it was going to be better from what I had heard from friends who had read it, so for that reason I was left a little bit disappointed.


Rating:

Vampire Diaries 2, 3, & 4 by L.J. Smith

Goodreads Summaries: 
Book 2 The Struggle: 

Torn between two vampire brothers
Damon: determined to make Elena his, he'd kill his own brother to possess her. 

Stefan: desperate for the power to destroy Damon, and protect Elena, he gives in to his thirst for human blood.
Elena: the girl who can have anyone finds herself in the middle of a love triangle . . . one that might turn deadly.


Book 3 The Fury: 
A Love Triangle of Unspeakable Horror...
Stefan: Tormented after losing Elena, he' s determined to end the feud with his brother, Damon--whatever the cost. 
Damon: Mocking Stefan and Elena, he laughs in the face of doom. 
Elena: Wild with her craving for blood, she confronts the ultimate evil. 
The terrifying story of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.


Book 4 Dark Reunion: 
The Final Conflict...The Last Deadly Kiss 
Elena: Now she rises from the dead to recreate the powerful vampire trio. Stefan: Summoned by Elena, he keeps a promise to her and fights the most terrifying evil he' s ever faced. 
Damon: Joining the brother he once called enemy, Damon battles this new horror with strength, cunning, and deadly charm.

Why I Read These Books: Basically I read these three books because I read the first one, and I liked it.

Review: I didn't like the second book as much as I liked the first. I think I can attribute this to the fact that not a lot happened in most of the book, and it was kind of boring. Also, I started watching the TV show after I finished book 1, so was watching it and reading this book at the same time, and the book really wasn't as good. I still liked it though, so I will give it 3 stars. The 3rd and 4th book got more excited, and I enjoyed those a lot more than the 2nd book. Also, the TV show and the books as SO different at this point that I wasn't trying to compare them at all anymore, which helped. There was a lot of spooky twists and turns in the last two books that kept you on your toes. After seeing the TV show actors, I don't think I will ever picture a lot of the people the way Smith describes them, but I am now enjoying the book series quite a bit, and look forward to starting 'The Return' series about them, I would give both book 3 and book 4 four stars.

Rating:

Book 2 - 

Book 3 - 

Book 4 - 

Bossypants - Tina Fey

Goodreads Summary: Tina Fey’s new book Bossypants is short, messy, and impossibly funny (an apt description of the comedian herself). From her humble roots growing up in Pennsylvania to her days doing amateur improv in Chicago to her early sketches on Saturday Night Live, Fey gives us a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of modern comedy with equal doses of wit, candor, and self-deprecation. Some of the funniest chapters feature the differences between male and female comedy writers ("men urinate in cups"), her cruise ship honeymoon ("it’s very Poseidon Adventure"), and advice about breastfeeding ("I had an obligation to my child to pretend to try"). But the chaos of Fey’s life is best detailed when she’s dividing her efforts equally between rehearsing her Sarah Palin impression, trying to get Oprah to appear on 30 Rock, and planning her daughter’s Peter Pan-themed birthday. Bossypants gets to the heart of why Tina Fey remains universally adored: she embodies the hectic, too-many-things-to-juggle lifestyle we all have, but instead of complaining about it, she can just laugh it off.

Why I Read This Book: I read this book because I love funny people, and I love when they write books, and Tina Fey is adorable in her dry, witty comedy. Plus, there was pictures!


Review: I liked this book, however not as much as I was expecting to. It was funny, it was really funny in a lot of places. I kept BF up at night while I giggled in bed over Don Fey, the cruise, and other stories. What kept me from loving this book was that it had the underlying assumption that I love 30 Rock and SNL, which although I would say I watched a lot of SNL in high school, my sleeping schedule sort of keeps me from seeing it very often these days. As for 30 Rock, as much as I bet I would love it, I spend way more time reading than watching TV, so there were parts of the book (big chunks) that I found kind of boring to get through. But it's worth the read anyway, I was just expecting to pee myself, that's all.

Rating:

Little Women by Louise May Alcott

Goodreads Summary: Meet the March sisters: the talented and tomboyish Jo, the beautiful Meg, the frail Beth, and the spoiled Amy, as they pass through the years between girlhood and womanhood. A lively portrait of growing up in the 19th century with lasting vitality and enduring charm.


Why I Read This Book: I like to read classic books every now and again just so I have read them. That is the reason I chose to get a Kobo, as it came loaded with 100 classic books for me to make my way through. I chose Little Women to read, because it seems silly that I never had.


Review: I thought this book was pretty good, but not great. I have no plans to read Alcott's sequels "Little Men" or "Jo's Boys". It is a good story, with many lessons, and a nice look at growing up a couple centuries ago. I don't regret reading it, but I'm glad I'm done. I felt that the latter part of the book was a bit rushed compared to the first. Or rather, I think I felt the first part of the book was too long. I could have done without reading the stories that Jo wrote, and the plays the girls did. I was nice to read about them growing up.


Rating:

Weddings by Bella Trilogy - Janice Thompson

Goodreads Summaries:


Book 1: Bella Rossi's life is just starting to get interesting. When her Italian-turned-Texan parents hand over the family wedding-planning business, Bella quickly books a Boot-Scootin' wedding that would make any Texan proud. There's only one catch--she doesn't know a thing about country music. Where will she find a deejay on such short notice who knows his Alan Jackson from his George Strait? And will Bella ever get to plan her own wedding?

Fun, fresh, and full of surprises, this flavorful combination of Italian and Tex-Mex highlights the hilarity that ensues when cultures clash.

Book 2: There's a fine line between ambitious and crazy.

Bella's just not sure where it is.

Bella Rossi's life is nearing perfection. Not only does she have the perfect guy, but she's also running a successful wedding-planning business and is about to plan its most ambitious wedding yet--a Renaissance-themed fairy tale come true, complete with period costumes and foods, horse-drawn carriages, and even a castle. There's only one hitch. The best man just happens to be Hollywood's hottest and most eligible bachelor, and he's showing an interest in Bella. Oh, and did we mention he's staying at her house to avoid the paparazzi?

With all the pressure surrounding this wedding, Bella's not sure she's going to make it through. Add her starstruck sister and her feuding aunt and uncle, and you've got a recipe for disaster--and a lot of laughs.

Book 3: Bella couldn't be happier that two of her long-feuding relatives have finally admitted their love for one another and are getting married. Their forties-style wedding is sure to be a night to remember. But when the Rossi house begins to fill up with family from Italy--and an old mobster from New Jersey--life starts to get complicated. Will a friend from the past drive the happy couple apart once more? And will Bella ever have time to think of her own rapidly approaching wedding amid the chaos?

Full of humor, plenty of Italian passion, and a bit of Texas gumption, It Had to Be You will have you laughing out loud and wiping a tear from your eye.

Why I Read These Books: During a time when I didn't have anything new to read, and I had recently gotten my Kobo, I decided to check out the free books available. The first one was called "Fools Rush In" and I immediately assumed it was the book version of that movie with Matthew Perry, which I also didn't see, but assumed it was probably pretty funny. So, I downloaded this books. Turns out, it wasn't that, just a same name coincidence. This book is actually Christian Fiction, a genre that I didn't really know existed. I noticed the book did mention God a lot, but I didn't really focus on that, just figured the writer liked God a lot, fine by me. I'm not overly religious, but I'm not the anti-Christ either, so I kept reading. The book is about a girl named Bella who runs a wedding planning business, something that I would love to do (I actually have another blog about it, but I have put that dream on the back burner to pursue my MBA, but you can check it out if you are interested here). Anyway, being one to see a series through, I finished the books, and they weren't bad.

Review: This book made me not only long to get engaged, be married, but also continue working on my event planning business, and have a great big Italian family with tons of delicious food around at all times! The book did talk a lot about God, and if that is something that you would focus on (and not enjoy) then this book isn't for you. I thought it was a cute story, that made me appreciate what I have (instead of reading books about 5th avenue and feeling poor!!). They weren't overly exciting, however they were a nice read and free books are nice too! Not great, but not bad.

Rating:

Mini Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella

Goodreads Summary: Nothing comes between Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) and her bargains. Neither act of God nor budget crunch can shatter her dreams of wall-to-wall Prada. Every milestone in her well-shopped life (travel, long-lost sister, marriage, pregnancy) inspires new vistas to explore in the name of retail therapy. But now she faces her greatest little challenge yet: Becky’s two-year-old daughter, Minnie.

While motherhood has been everything Becky dreamed it would be—Baby Dior, Little Marc Jacobs, and Dolce & Gabbana for toddlers—adorable Minnie is wreaking havoc everywhere she goes, from Harrods to her own christening. Her favorite word is “MINE!” and her penchant for Balenciaga bags, Chanel sunglasses, and online purchases has no rival under age five.

Becky is at her wits end. On top of this, she and her husband Luke are still living with her parents. Thankfully it appears house buying attempt number four is a go! Until a huge financial crisis causes panic everywhere, and nobody wants to shop—not Becky’s personal shopping clientele, not her friends, nobody. And with Luke in the doldrums, it’s time for Becky to step in—with a party: A surprise birthday party for Luke (on a budget) is the perfect antidote to everyone’s woes. At first.

Will Becky manage to keep the party of the year a surprise? Can she hire jugglers, fire-eaters, and acrobats at a discount? Will enlisting the help of Luke’s unflappable assistant to convince him to have another baby realize her dream of matching pom-poms? Will Minnie find a new outlet for her energetic and spirited nature (perhaps one with sixty percent markdowns)? She is, after all, a chip off the old shopping block. And everyone knows a committed shopper always finds a way.

Why I Read This Book: Next in a series that I have been keeping up with.

Review: To be honest, I found the majority of this book to be rather annoying. I would have classified the first few Shopaholic books as some of my favorite chick lit, so this disappointed me. I used to adore Becky, but her parenting got on my last nerve. Even more so than her, Becky's mother annoyed me in this book. I'm not sure if it's because I innately HATE bratty children, and I could see that Minnie was heading down that road, or if the addition of Minnie just ruined the story a bit. When it got nearer to the end of the book, I began to like it more, with most of it talking about the party rather than the child. Also, Becky's lying habits are getting annoying too, she lies to EVERYONE!! I get it sometimes, like trying to hide a party, but a lot of times its just so... well annoying (maybe I should get a thesaurus for the word 'annoying' for this post!!)
I think the only reason I even enjoyed this book enough to give it 3 stars is because of its predecessors instilling nostalgia, otherwise, it would have been a 2 for sure.

Rating:

Unbearable Lightness - Portia de Rossi

 Goodreads Summary:"I didn't decide to become anorexic. It snuck up on me disguised as a healthy diet, a professional attitude. Being as thin as possible was a way to make the job of being an actress easier . . ." 

Portia de Rossi weighed only 82 pounds when she collapsed on the set of the Hollywood film in which she was playing her first leading role. This should have been the culmination of all her years of hard work—first as a child model in Australia, then as a cast member of one of the hottest shows on American television. On the outside she was thin and blond, glamorous and successful. On the inside, she was literally dying.

In this searing, unflinchingly honest book, Portia de Rossi captures the complex emotional truth of what it is like when food, weight, and body image take priority over every other human impulse or action. She recounts the elaborate rituals around eating that came to dominate hours of every day, from keeping her daily calorie intake below 300 to eating precisely measured amounts of food out of specific bowls and only with certain utensils. When this wasn't enough, she resorted to purging and compulsive physical exercise, driving her body and spirit to the breaking point.

Even as she rose to fame as a cast member of the hit television shows Ally McBeal and Arrested Development, Portia alternately starved herself and binged, all the while terrified that the truth of her sexuality would be exposed in the tabloids. She reveals the heartache and fear that accompany a life lived in the closet, a sense of isolation that was only magnified by her unrelenting desire to be ever thinner. With the storytelling skills of a great novelist and the eye for detail of a poet, Portia makes transparent as never before the behaviors and emotions of someone living with an eating disorder.

From her lowest point, Portia began the painful climb back to a life of health and honesty, falling in love with and eventually marrying Ellen DeGeneres, and emerging as an outspoken and articulate advocate for gay rights and women's health issues.

In this remarkable and beautifully written work, Portia shines a bright light on a dark subject. A crucial book for all those who might sometimes feel at war with themselves or their bodies, Unbearable Lightness is a story that inspires hope and nourishes the spirit.


Why I Read This Book: I decided to read this book because I liked Ally McBeal, and I liked Arrested development, and I like Ellen and Portia. Really for no other reason. I don't have an eating disorder, and I don't know anyone close to me that does either. It had decent reviews, so I said, why not?!


Review: This book was good. It was a compelling read, and it was very eye opening to a disorder that I do not know much about. In my mind anorexia and bulimia are such easy fixes - eat some food! But I know this isn't true (not from the book) but I did like the way she wrote about how that is a lot of societies attitude. When she described Christmas with her family and how her eating that day made people relax I could fully understand that. I think the book would have benefited from a good editor (which I have read in a lot of reviews) but I don't think the story suffered because of it. I would have liked to have read more about her day to day now as a survivor (and had hoped to read more about here and Ellen, because I love Ellen, but it wasn't that kind of book). I guess that my biggest complaint, and why it didn't get more than 3 stars, is I felt like the book was too focused on the meticulous review of food, and not enough of what people around her were thinking. I would have loved to have read more about other Ally cast members account of it (Calista is pretty think herself!) and less about calories. I think someone with even a basic understanding of calories would get bored by the descriptions.


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One Fifth Avenue - Candace Bushnell

The past few days I have spent a lot of time reading. I also finally got my Pottermore welcome email and got access to the site. Mind-blowing. There is SO much detail, its hard to let it all sink in.

So, in my recent book thirst, I have finished up One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell. I have read all of her novels except the 3 about 'Sex and the City'. I haven't bothered because I love the show so much, I don't want one to taint the other in anyway. I am very curious about the 2 newer ones though, so I may pick them up some day. My favorite by her has been 'Trading Up', for no real particular reason. Bushnell is a sassy writer, and puts in just enough sex to keep it interesting.

Back of the Book Summary: Where your zip code is as important as your handbag... Another look at the tough and tender women of New York city from Candace Bushnell, the author of Sex and the City, Trading Up, and Lipstick Jungle. In One Fifth Avenue, Bushnell tells the intertwined stories of five women at one swanky Manhattan address. One Fifth is the building--the chicest, the hottest, the one with the best pedigree, the one with all the most interesting people. And within its gorgeous pre-war walls, fortunes fall and rise in the early days of the new millennium. Here, as in her previous novels, Bushnell turns a gimlet eye on the social and sexual politics of New York's elite, this time through the lens of where they live.

Why I Read This Book: I read this book, because as I said above, I have read most of Bushnell's books, and although not my most favorite books of all time, I like them. So, I was over at a friend's house and she had it on her bookshelf, so I borrowed it.

Review: This has probably been my least favorite of all Bushnell's books. Maybe I'm getting tired of the recipe, but this one seemed a little dry, and perhaps a bit predictable. It had some unexpected parts, but there is only so many times you can read about Manhattan's elite and not feel like you already know what's going to happen. I do like Bushnell's writing style though, I love how she can change the point of view so quickly, turning the words from one persons head to another's in the same paragraph, at times in the same sentence. I like a lot of different perspectives. The characters in this book are pretty boring, they may be writers, and movie stars, and gold diggers, but they aren't at all exciting people really. This is probably more real, but in a story I don't want to hear about boring people (isn't that why we have real friends? haha). I also felt it was unnecessarily long, with the only reason I was able to read it so fast being that I was stranded in an airport for about 6 hours. I did like the book fine though, maybe in the same way as when you can't sleep you will watch your favorite TV show again at 12pm, even though you already watched it when it was on the first time at 9pm. It's a good book, but it definitely isn't something you "can't put down."

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Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

Summary: When Alice tumbles down a rabbit hole one hot summer’s afternoon in pursuit of a White Rabbit, she finds herself in Wonderland. And here begin the fantastical adventures that will see her experiencing extraordinary changes in size, swimming in a pool of her own tears and attending the very maddest of tea parties.

Alice journeys through this Wonderland, trying to fathom the meaning of her strange experiences. But they turn out to be “curiouser and curiouser,” seemingly without moral or sense.

Why I Read This Book: When I was deciding on which e-reader I would like to have, I went for the Kobo as it came loaded with 100 classic books. Not being one to normally go for the classics when picking out a new book to read, I thought that having them available to me in that way may broaden scope. For that reason I decided to read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Review: For some reason I didn't expect this book to be such an easy read. Most classic books have very different language from what we are used to today, and I have to be very alert when reading to make sure I can follow what's going on. With Alice I didn't have trouble with the language being used, but I still didn't have a clue what was going on most of the time. I found myself using my memory of the Disney movie to be able to relate to what was happening in the book. In addition to that, the book does not contain Tweedledee and Tweedledum as the movie did, which I found strange. Overall I didn't think it was a bad book, but if Disney had not already interpreted it for me, chances are I wouldn't have been able to follow a lot of the story, as it just didn't make any sense at all! This is supposed to be a childrens' book, but I can't see me having passed the first chapter if I had picked up this book when I was a child.


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The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Back of the Book Synopsis: While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, a baffling cipher found near the body. As Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci - clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.
The stakes are raised when Langdon uncovers a startling link: The late curator was involved in The Priory of Sion - an actual secret society whose members include Sir Issac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. Langdon suspects they are on the hunt for a breathtaking historical secret, one that has proven through the centuries to be as enlightening as it is dangerous. In a frantic race through Paris, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu find themselves matching wits with a faceless powerbroker who appears to anticipate their every move. Unless they can decihper the labyrinthine puzzle, the Priory's secret - an explosive ancient truth - will be lost forever.

Why I Read This Book: I got this book as an Easter gift the year after I had traveled to Paris. I asked for it, it was very popular at the times.

Review: I read this book with rose-coloured glasses. Having been back from my trip to Paris less than a year, images of the Louvre and other areas the book discusses were still fresh in my memory. I enjoyed reading this book, however I don't think it was that well written. It was a good read because it was fantastically researched, which is not the same as being well written. There was no real character development, rather it relied heavily on through descriptions of history and places, and the cliffhangers found at the end of almost every chapter. Because of this it was a smart novel, and it easily captivated my attention. It is an easy read, Dan Brown takes topics that are often complicatedly written by other authors and makes it capable to read by the masses. This book does not fall in the genre of books I normally read. I like a good mystery, but I wouldn't necessary classify this as one, it's more of a research paper with characters. As I said in the first lines, I did enjoy this book when I read it, which was in 2004 when I was 18 and just back from a trip to this same location. I believe that heightened the appeal of it for me. If I were to read it today I may not enjoy it quite so much, but still don't think it's a bad book. I'm also not much for strong religious beliefs, so although I recognized and appreciated that it was a 'controversial' book, it really didn't have any impact on me in that sense.

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