Cleaving by Julie Powell

I just finished this book, and despite it being late, I thought I should write about it. It took me several months to read this book. Initially, it was not interesting. I did not like reading about the butchery that Powell was learning about and finding out about the cuts of meat, particularly when she went into some vary gross details about butchering a pig, the only type of meat mentioned in the book that I actually do eat. I trudged through because I knew that I love Julie and Julia and I had to believe that something redeeming could come out of this novel as well. From the butchery, there came something else: details about a long-term affair Powell was having with a man she knew from college and the revelation that her husband was also dating someone else. As Powell attempts to work through her marriage, she has sex with various men and leaves her husband to travel the world and learn about meat.

I caught myself at one point wanting Powell to sleep with her guide in Africa, forgetting for a moment that she is married. When I remembered, I felt bad for even thinking such a thing. Powell stated that she felt she deserved the attempted rape just after a session making out with the guide. I don't agree with that at all, but I feel like something isn't right. This book just made me sad. I don't understand the ending either. As she and her husband cry with one another, they talk about how her meeting with her lover can be okay and, finally, that he is seeing his girlfriend again. I immediately personalized this and thought about how horrible it must be to have a relationship like that. I know that it can sometimes seem like the only way to end a relationship is to cheat, but with the relationship that Powell portrayed, how can her relationship be on that kind of ground. Perhaps I am not a good one to judge, as my heart still hurts when I think about reading that horrible book, something by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, I think, about a man with many wives, and I still can't wrap my head around the thought of being able to love two people at one time. My heart doesn't work just that way. All of this aside, I want to know what is next for Powell and her husband. I want it to be happier because I can't accept things the way this book left it. She may say she is okay now, but I am not. 

Teach Me

I read this book and my first thought was that it should be required reading for student teachers or those going through the program in college. It is not a feel good book. It is raw and gritty and shows how messed up a relationship with someone in power can really make you or make the student for that matter. I think this book is great. It is strange and there are parts that I think were put in the book in an attempt to be artistic, and those sections don't always totally work, but there are parts that do work. I think it is a book to read, but it is more for an adult than for a teen, even though the subject matter seems relevant to a teen.

Something Blue by Emily Griffin

I finished this a week or so ago after my sister loaned it to me. I read Something Borrowed and gave it to her. She told me I needed to read this book and I am slightly glad I did. It obviously painted Darcy in a much better light, but I already loved Rachael. This book was cute and sweet, but it just left me with a sour taste. Something Borrowed seemed to have some substance to it, but this book could have been a Harlequin book of the week. It just was too airy and fluffy and perfect. I need some imperfections, something I don't expect, and this book was amazingly easy to predict. I think this book is a decent sequel and you should read it, just to say you have, but I won't read it again.

Fish! Tales

I just finished this book, mostly because I want to pass it on to the CEO at my place of employment. I love the ideas in the book: play, be there, make their day, and and choose your attitude. I have been able to apply all of these in my real life and tried to employ these same principles at my last job. The people there didn't enjoy my gestures as much as I enjoyed doing these things for them, but they thought it was a ploy from the terrible upper management. I think this is a great book to read and to share. Please find a copy!

Dead Reckoning - Charlaine Harris

I read this book on my summer vacation. I liked it, but I feel like I could have liked it much more. It took on too many ideas, strands, themes, and had too many open endings to be satisfying. I miss Sookie, Alcide, and Eric when there is no book to read, but I just want the book that I do read about them to be good... This book was good enough. I do anxiously await the next one.

The Lost Symbol

I finished this novel today. It took me quite a while to actually read it because it seemed that it went on a little long. The book was based on uncovering Masonic secrets and highlighted the intelligence and code-breaking skills of Robert Langdon, who was previously seen in Angels and Demons and The Davinci Code. I really do like these books. I like to feel like I am solving a puzzle and am part of the adventure. The books seem to be slowing down, though. The action is not as dramatic as it was before and at a certain point, I am able to put down the book. To prove this point, I started reading this book the day it was released and stopped shortly thereafter, only to pick it back up this week.

Do I recommend this book? Maybe. It isn't a horrible read, but it is a long slow ride.

Falling Angels

When I started reading this book, I was shocked by all the sexual imagery and themes. When I got to the middle of the book, this abruptly stopped. The book was just strange. There were women fighting for the vote, children growing up, murders, affairs, and all sorts of strange things. I just did not like the book. I finished it and was ready to take it to work and drop it off immediately, but I waited until the next day.

I do not recommend this book at all and I have some hesitation about reading anything by Ms. Chevalier because of this book.

Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin

When I'm reading a really good book, I sometimes forget that I am not the main character. Last night, when I was reading a certain section of the book, I was overtaken by this sense of betrayal and sadness. I felt hurt and wronged. I was the main character, Rachel,  until I woke up this morning and went to work. When I got home, the excitement was building because I knew I could get back to the book. I jumped back into the book this evening and finished it. I was glad with where things went, but there was no happy resolution to the conflict that was presented. I suppose that is where the sequel, Something Blue, comes into play.

I highly recommend this book. When I read it, I experienced every emotion that Rachel did. I fell in love, felt scared and alone, felt happy. I related in a way that isn't always so easy. I want to give this book to my sister, but I also want to keep this book. It was  so much fun and so relaxing. This book was like taking a great spa day for me. I really, really liked it.

Sloppy Firsts

I started this book at the beach and finished it up today while a storm raged outside. The main character, Jessica Darling, is the same age as me, but this book is set during our sophomore year. I will go ahead and say I wish I had read this when I was in high school. I identified with Jessica in so many ways. The feelings that she describes related to Marcus Flutie, one of the leading male characters, remind me of the feelings for my high school crush. I cringed with her during the embarrassing moments, felt sad with her, felt unbelievably hopeful that her life would be great. The book was late '90s at their best. I wish I had my Delia's and Girlfriends catalogs again to really immerse myself in the times. It was a great time in life and I am so glad this book was here to take me back there. I want to pass it along to someone, but I don't know who. The book is slightly sexually explicit and there is a lot of cursing, so I can't really give it to one of my kids, but I don't know if my friends want to reflect on high school. Maybe a friend I'm having lunch with tomorrow will want to read it.

Verdict: Generation Y, read this book. You know you miss high school. Go back for a couple hours.

Love Letters: Perfect Strangers

I read this book in a couple of hours. I bought it because I thought it would be a good book to share with a kid of mine who has gotten herself into some sticky situations sharing letters with people she does know. I did end up giving it to her.

The book was highly predictable. It had the same basic plot as any teen romance. The girl has a problem. There are two guys who are main characters in her life. She has to make a decision that will land her love. Blah, blah, blah. It was a fun read, but nothing I plan on reading again.

Bottom line: If you have two hours to spare and you need to get away for a bit, read this book. Then again, if you have two hours and you want to read a cookbook, go bicycling, or garden, do that instead.

The Dress Lodger

I have tried to read this book for several years. I would start it and then put it down. This happened multiple times, but finally, on my vacation, I decided I was going to finish this book. I read and read, one the beach, on the balcony, in bed, but finally, I finished the book. It was a strange book, a book about a prostitute and a physician who harvested dead bodies, all in the midst of a cholera outbreak. The book reminded me of The French Lieutenant's Woman. I didn't enjoy that book very much, but I was able to see the enjoyment of The Dress Lodger. It was an emotional book, and it seemed to allow the reader to be omnipotent and observant. I saw all these hidden elements, repeated thematic symbols, the rat, the eye, the blue, all of which put me back in graduate school and inspired me. I was ready to write a paper about what I read, though I don't think I really will. I think this book is one that should be read, but pace yourself. It takes a while.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

I found this book at a Goodwill on my way to a relaxing weekend. I read it in a few hours as I listened to the waves crash on the beach. It was fun and easy and cute. I really liked seeing the character evolve and I do plan on passing this on to a kid I work with. It is accessible to a weak reader and it is entertaining. I even developed a game with a kid of mine based on the cheese touch that is fun to play in the pool. It is basically tag, but we can yell "Cheese Touch" loudly instead of "tag." I highly recommend this book.

Knee Deep in Paradise by Brett Butler

I think I have to preface this post with the fact that I am currently working as a substance abuse counselor. Reading this book was a chore, but after I started reading, I didn't want to stop. It detailed her tortured childhood and her struggle with alcoholism. She straightened out when she started working the program (AA). I feel like she started writing the book as an assignment while she was in treatment. I have heard the story many times, so I was not shocked or even engaged with her story.

I was incredibly shocked by how smart Brett seems. She has a writing style that is more reflective of someone much smarter than I thought she would be. Read it if you're not a substance abuse counselor, but if you are, steer clear. You've heard it before. It is not unique.

Dead in the Family

I really liked the last lines of the book - something like "I was with family. I was with blood." This book was the last one for a while, as far as I know. I thought it was a fun book, but I am glad to have a break from the series. As you know, from reading my posts, I have been reading about the incidents in Bon Temps for the last several months. I like the books well enough, but I am ready to read about something else, excited I have the chance to read something new.

In the book, Sookie and Eric are still together. There is trouble in the pack and there is still trouble in the ranks of the vampires. Nothing is coming to a resolution, so I see this series stretching out a bit longer than it needs to. I'll keep reading, though.

Stop Dressing your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank and Other Words of Delicate Southern Wisdom

I finished this book several weeks ago. I think the great thing about Celia Rivenbark's books is that you can read a little bit at a time. It is easy to read for five minutes, have a laugh, and then go on. When you come back, you have those few moments. Though I don't relate with this book as much as her previous book, mostly because she focuses so heavily on her child, I did find it funny and clever. I like what I read. I plan to read her other book and I hope to find more books that I can read in the five minutes between patients or when I am not with my animals at home.

My recommendation: Read this book for a dose of humor instead of eating your chocolates and taking that wind down.

From Dead to Worse

The fae are really introduced in this novel. I am not super excited with the addition of fairies in Bon Temps. The weres are in a war in this book and Alcide enters briefly. Sookie's relationship changes again. This was better than the last book, and it really starts to get interesting when she and her newest suitor start talking. Another fun part of the book is the introduction of Sookie to a new family member. This was a good book.

All Together Dead

I finished this book a while ago. What I really remember is that there was a summit. The fellowship had infiltrated the summit, blew up the hotel where everyone was staying. Sookie saved almost everyone. It was okay, but not a super exciting book.