Summer and the City by Candace Bushnell

Goodreads Summary: Summer is a magical time in New York City and Carrie is in love with all of it—the crazy characters in her neighborhood, the vintage-clothing boutiques, the wild parties, and the glamorous man who has swept her off her feet. Best of all, she's finally in a real writing class, taking her first steps toward fulfilling her dream. 

This sequel to The Carrie Diaries brings surprising revelations as Carrie learns to navigate her way around the Big Apple, going from being a country "sparrow"—as Samantha Jones dubs her—to the person she always wanted to be. But as it becomes increasingly difficult to reconcile her past with her future, Carrie realizes that making it in New York is much more complicated than she ever imagined. 

With her signature wit and sparkling humor, Candace Bushnell reveals the irresistible story of how Carrie met Samantha and Miranda, and what turned a small-town girl into one of New York City's most unforgettable icons, Carrie Bradshaw.

Why I Read This Book: I really liked the first book in this series, so I continue with it.

 *caution - small spoilers*


Review: I don't normally do this, but I actually revised my rating of this book down a star on Goodreads after I took a little more time to think about it. It went from being a book I thought I really liked, to being only a book that I liked. I enjoyed the story, and since I'm planning a NYC trip in 2 months, I enjoyed the setting, and I think I got caught up in the meeting of Miranda, and the Carrie/Samantha friendship, that at the time I didn't notice how much teenage Carrie, well, kinda sucked. I couldn't really picture the older Carrie making some of these decisions, and I also couldn't picture a 17 year old being the way that Carrie was in these books. I was also sorely disappointed that there was brief mentions of the Castlebury crowd, if they were mentioned at all. I know that at 17, I wouldn't have completely left my friends in the dust for an entire summer without thinking about/talking to them at all. I still enjoyed the book, I just didn't like some things.


Rating: (Because I still did like it, even if it doesn't sound like it above)

The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell

Goodreads Summary: Before Carrie Bradshaw hit the big time in the City, she was a regular girl growing up in the suburbs of Connecticut. How did she turn into one of the most-read social observers of our generation? 

The Carrie Diaries opens up in Carrie's senior year of high school. She and her best friends -- Walt, Lali, Maggie, and the Mouse -- are inseparable, amid the sea of Jens, Jocks and Jets. And then Sebastian Kydd comes into the picture. Sebastian is a bad boy-older, intriguing, and unpredictable. Carrie falls into the relationship that she was always supposed to have in high school-until a friend's betrayal makes her question everything. With her high school days coming to a close, Carrie will realize it's finally time to go after everything she ever wanted. 

Rabid fans of Sex and the City will love seeing Carrie Bradshaw evolve from a regular girl into a sharp, insightful writer. They'll learn about her family background -- how she found her writing voice, and the indelible impression her early friendships and relationships left on her. We'll see what brings Carrie to her beloved New York City, where the next Carrie Diaries book will take place.

Why I Read This Book: I was a lover of the show, and have read almost all of Candace Bushnell's other books, except, surprisingly, Sex and the City, so I picked this one up for my e-reader.

Review: I thought this was a pretty good book. I kept trying to picture a teenage SJP as the character, and I could kind of see it. The only thing I didn't really like about the book was that it seemed that the main feature of the book was not the people, but smoking. It seemed unnecessary  how much Bushnell talks about smoking in this book! Like I said, I didn't read SATC, but was it like that too? I know you want to be able to picture what a character is doing, but god, this was overkill. I liked most of the characters, and I liked the story though, I thought it was a good read for chick-lit and SATC fans. The last line is the best, because it gives you the exciting tie you were hoping for :)

Rating:

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."

Rating:

Life Updates

So today was a pretty big day for me, it was the first day of school :) I started my MBA today! Yahoo! So in 3-4 short years I will have a few new letters after my name. This time next year I will also (hopefully) be starting my CMA (Certified Managerial Accountant - don't know if it's called the same thing outside of Canada) designation. I write the entrance exam for that in June, and will need to start studying in approx. April.... ugh.

Other than that I also had an interview for a part-time job I mentioned I was looking for awhile back. So hopefully I hear back from that soon - I need some extra $$$!!

I didn't get much reading done over the long weekend as I had anticipated. We decided to remodel our half bathroom which was in pretty rough shape. It was pretty interesting, we refinished the counter tops, changed the flooring, got a new faucet, and gave it a fresh coat of paint. I will post some pics later when I get them loaded on the computer.

I have however updated my Goodreads TBR list... I think its almost at 300! Lots to read. I'm almost done One Fifth by Candace Bushell too, so I can review that (and mention a few of her others as well) and I'm about a 1/4 way through the 2nd Sookie Stackhouse Novel by Charlaine Harris, but I'm going to wait to do a post about a few of them together.

Well, that's really all I have to say today, I'll leave you with this picture for the day:

I'm delightful and cute and so happy to be reading my book
- unlike Jessica who will have to cook and study school things, I have nothing else to do!