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.