My Fortune

I went out for Chinese food last night and as always, got a fortune cookie at the end of my meal. This one really made me smile.

"Expand your horizons by reading a new book"

The Tudors

I just received the third season of the Showtime series The Tudors. Watching it is reminding me just how much I am interested in that time period. I have read all of the 16th Century Phillipa Gregory books except the Other Queen and The Wise Woman. I love her books and have learned a lot about this time period through them. Can anyone suggest any other authors who write about this time period? Are the Alison Weir books any good? I have so many books on my TBR list that I'm not sure when I will get to them, but I am interested and curious.

Waiting On Wednesday "So Much For That"

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at ‘Breaking The Spine’, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Okay, here's my first Waiting on Wednesday Post!

The book whose release I am anticipating is So Much For That by Lionel Shriver.

Release Date: March 9, 2010

Harper Collins says: From New York Times bestselling author Lionel Shriver (The Post-Birthday World, We Need to Talk About Kevin), comes a searing, deeply humane novel about a crumbling marriage resurrected in the face of illness, and a family’s struggle to come to terms with disease, dying, and the obscene cost of medical care in modern America.

I really liked We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Post-Birthday World. I'm looking forward to what I hope will be another excellent novel from this talented writer! I think the health care system debate should play an interesting role in this new book.

What books are you waiting for?

The Post-Birthday World

Book: The Post-Birthday World

Author: Lionel Shriver

Short Summary:
This novel takes us into the life of Irina McGovern, a forty-something American children’s book illustrator living in London, at a time where she must make a possible life changing choice. She lives happily with her longtime loyal and intelligent, although sometimes dull, boyfriend, Lawrence. Each year, Lawrence and Irina go to dinner with a friend named Ramsey, a famous snooker player, on his birthday. This year, Lawrence is out of town on business and Irina hesitantly goes to dinner with Ramsey alone, worried they will have nothing to talk about. As the evening progresses, however, she finds herself helplessly attracted to Ramsey and has the desire to kiss him. The book continues on two alternate realities; one in which Irina gives in to her desires and one in which she resists. The chapters alternate between the two lives she leads based on the choice she made that fateful night.

My thoughts:
I absolutely loved this book. I’m not even sure where to start because there is just so much I can praise about it.

I’ll begin with the concept itself. I loved the alternating chapters showing what happens if Irina is faithful to Lawrence and if she chooses Ramsey instead. There was no either/or, we got to see both. We all have wondered “what if?” This book lets you explore the “what if” of Irina, seeing how both futures will unfold. You never get that chance in real life, so it was such a treat to have it through the pages of this book. Each chapter had many parallels including the amount of time that was covered and events that took place, but the reader got to see them in two totally different ways. Even the dialogue from the alternating chapters was often parallel, although different characters were speaking and it was often in a completely different context. Somewhat similar to the concept of Sliding Doors, but much more clever, I thought the idea of the two futures unfolding throughout the book was nothing short of brilliant.

Next, I’ll move on to the characters. Shriver developed each character so well, showing how they reacted in many important situations, like experiencing the fall of the twin towers on 9/11, to the smaller everyday situations such as the ritual of eating popcorn before dinner every night. Although I didn’t always love all the characters, they all had their flaws, I was truly invested in them throughout the book and very much cared what would happen to them next. Shriver brings you so deep into Irina’s head that I found it impossible not to like her.

This book had me questioning which version of Irina’s life was the right one, or was there a right one. I’ve tried to ask which one would I have chosen for myself. There really is no correct answer, and that was the point of the book. There will be ups and downs no matter what choices we make. Nobody is perfect. We can say ask ourselves “what if?” but even if we had chosen a different path there is no guarantee it would be any better than the one we are on now.

There are a few nit picky things I could say about this book, but I was so impressed with it overall, that I don’t even think they are worth mentioning. This book would make a fabulous choice for any book club, as there are endless possibilities of topics to discuss. This is the second book I’ve read by Shriver, and after this one, I can’t wait to get my hands on more.

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

Loving Frank

Book: Loving Frank

Author: Nancy Horan

Short Summary:
Loving Frank is the story of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, a woman devoted to the women’s rights, and her love affair with the well known architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. After Mamah and her husband Edwin hire Frank to build their hour in Oak Park, IL, Mamah and Frank quickly find they are attracted to each other. Mamah is unsatisfied with her relationship with her loyal husband and admits she mainly agreed to marry him because of his persistence and the fact that she wanted children. It is not long before Mamah and Frank start an affair, leading Mamah to leave her husband and children to travel to Europe with Frank. Mamah is not the only one to leave her family, as Frank has also left his devoted wife and former friend of Mamah’s, Catherine. This piece of historical fiction weaves factual characters and events into the story of Mamah and Frank throughout the time of their affair.

My Thoughts:
There were aspects of this book I really enjoyed and admired in the writing and others I could have done without. I had a difficult time with the characters, unable to find too many redeeming qualities in them. Mamah was in an unhappy marriage, and while I understood her reasoning for leaving her husband to be with the person she truly loved, I had a hard time with the fact that she left her kids to go to Europe with Frank. It wasn’t even that she left her kids that I found truly hard to swallow, but the disappointment she felt when seeing her kids again. She was hurt that they did not instantly bond with her or things weren’t as she remembered them. She left them for a significant amount of time. How could she not expect things to be different or strained between them? Frank was even less of a likable character. He was selfish, rude, and extremely unappreciative of others, not to mention a compulsive liar.

I realize that Horan was writing about real people and events, not just fictional characters, which to me would be an extremely difficult task. I did admire her writing style and telling of the story. She incorporated real newspaper articles and throughout the story to describe the scandal of Frank and Mamah’s affair.

Another aspect of the book I enjoyed was the building of Frank and Mamah’s home in Wisconsin, Taliesin. I’ve actually visited and toured Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona, Frank’s successful attempt to build a home out in the desert. When thinking about what I witnessed at Taliesen West, it matched closely to the detailed descriptions of Wright’s work throughout the book.

While I don’t want to give away the ending, this was also a part of the book I enjoyed because it was very unexpected if you know little about this couple.

In conclusion, I would say this book was good, but not great. If you are interested in the life of Frank Lloyd Wright or his architecture it is worth reading.

My Rating: 3/5 stars

We Need To Talk About Kevin

Book: We Need To Talk About Kevin

Author: Lionel Shriver

Short Summary:
In a series of letters written to her estranged husband, Franklin, the narrator, Eva, describes her thoughts, fears, and relationship with Kevin, their son. At fifteen years old, Kevin is in jail for the murder of several classmates and a teacher at his high school. Eva describes to Franklyn things she has told him in the past and fears and feelings she had never revealed about their son. Eva always saw a dark side to Kevin and struggled with feeling love for him, while it seemed to come easily to Franklin, who was clearly in denial. The book starts with Eva and Franklyn deciding to have children and follows Kevin’s growth through the incident Eva refers to as “Thursday”. This is the infamous day that Kevin performs the school massacre. The book also describes the aftermath and how everyone deals with the tragic events of the day.

My Thoughts:
It is difficult to say I liked this book because it was extremely disturbing and is without question one of the most haunting books I’ve ever read. I will never forget the character of Kevin and the way in which he murdered so many. That being said, I did find this book almost impossible to put down. Despite the difficult vocabulary, which could be distracting and unnecessary, I found myself turning page after page, unable to wait to find out what happened next. And when I did find out, no matter how hard it was to read, the build up did not disappoint.

This story also left the reader with some questions to ponder, which is always the sign of a good book. I wondered who really was to blame for the murders. Could Eva have done something to stop them? Is it possible to love a child if you can not find one thing about them you actually like? The questions could go on and on. This book, too, would make for a great book club discussion.

I am not a mother or married, which makes me think I most likely approached this book differently than people with dissimilar life experience. I think it was easy for me to look at this book from an outsiders view because I have not had to deal with the issues that mother’s must face. I do not know a mother’s love or lack thereof as described by Eva. This book did almost scare me into not wanting children, although I know it is a work of fiction. Although the writing was pretty convincing, I still have a hard time believing any child can be as apathetic or evil as Kevin appeared to be. He was an extreme.

This book, in my opinion, is definitely worth reading, but expect to be disturbed and haunted. Love it or hate it, We Need to Talk About Kevin is not a book that you will soon forget.

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone out in the blogosphere. I hope 2010 brings many great things to you all.

I look forward to reading many great books this year and seeing what others are reading.

The first book I'm reading this year is Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. I'm about 130 pages into it so far. It's moving a little bit slowly, but it's still a decent read. There are many Frank Lloyd Wright buildings near Chicago and I've been to his house in Arizona. There is also a beautiful building on the lake in Madison I would always walk by during college that was based on his work. It's interesting to get to know more about his life and his architecture.

Can't wait to see what you are all reading!

Julie