by Ann Brashares
This is the 6th book in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I think I missed book 5, but it didn't matter as this one took up the story 10 years later. I had enjoyed the first books in a quick-read-teen-book kind of way. They were not going to make my top ten book list, but they were entertaining. I couldn't resist this one as the girls were now about my age, and I was curious to see what had happened to them. The biggest surprise was that they were all still childish. At 28-29 year old, I expected more. Perhaps that's my own 29 year old self talking with three kids in tow. But even so, they all really struggled to make normal adult decisions, with perhaps Tibby as the exception. To be honest, if this is how our generation acts at 29, then I'm kind of ashamed to be part of it.
It was an emotional read, and one I finished rapidly, but this time I didn't feel as much a part of their life because of the divide between where they were at 29 and where I am at 29. I just couldn't relate. While I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt about their immature 18 year old selves, I was not willing to do that anymore. The whole time I repeatedly thought, "Just grow up. Act your age." By the end, they do, but the tragedy that had to happen to cause them all to grow up was so extreme. I'm left wondering if that tragedy never happened, then how long would these girls have clung to their childish ways?
Monday, March 12, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Book # 7: Madame Bovary
by Gustave Flaubert
This is one of those honors English books that is an obligation to read more than an enjoyment. It involves a disgruntled housewife who wasn't satisfied with what she had in life, and this led to her ultimate demise. These stories can annoy me at times because it's all about communication with her husband about expectations, and so many people just don't do that. I was fully expecting the story to end with the main character banging her head against the wall upset that she didn't see what she had until it was too late. So I will say that the end surprised me, but I'm not sure that her lack of repentence made the book any more enjoyable.
This is one of those honors English books that is an obligation to read more than an enjoyment. It involves a disgruntled housewife who wasn't satisfied with what she had in life, and this led to her ultimate demise. These stories can annoy me at times because it's all about communication with her husband about expectations, and so many people just don't do that. I was fully expecting the story to end with the main character banging her head against the wall upset that she didn't see what she had until it was too late. So I will say that the end surprised me, but I'm not sure that her lack of repentence made the book any more enjoyable.
Book # 6: Junie B. Jones books 9-12
I'm reading these with my daughter. We read a chapter a day before she does her quiet time. They are short, so I'm counting four of them as one book. I'm enjoying them as they make me laugh and bring up some good talking points with her.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Book # 5: Heaven is For Real
by Todd Burpo
Incredible book! It's about a four year old boy who "almost" died of an undiagnosed burst appendix. He was in heaven for "3 minutes", but the things he saw were amazing. I can't do the story justice as there are so many details, but seriously, this is one of those life changing books. I am an Orthodox Christian, so it's not like I haven't discussed heaven before and what all that means, but something about having a four year old matter of factly discuss it, is truly amazing. On another level, the whole hospitalization and roller coaster ride his parents went on is so relatable with what we have gone through with our son's diagnosis of infantile spasms that this book had me tearing up at times. Just wow. That's all I can say to having read this.
Incredible book! It's about a four year old boy who "almost" died of an undiagnosed burst appendix. He was in heaven for "3 minutes", but the things he saw were amazing. I can't do the story justice as there are so many details, but seriously, this is one of those life changing books. I am an Orthodox Christian, so it's not like I haven't discussed heaven before and what all that means, but something about having a four year old matter of factly discuss it, is truly amazing. On another level, the whole hospitalization and roller coaster ride his parents went on is so relatable with what we have gone through with our son's diagnosis of infantile spasms that this book had me tearing up at times. Just wow. That's all I can say to having read this.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Book # 4: Meditations in an Emergency
by Frank O'Hara
My husband and I are hooked on the TV show Mad Men ever since we discovered it on Netflix instants. We finished all the seasons on there, and have been going through withdrawal ever since. Thus this book. Don Draper sees someone else reading it and is promptly informed that he "wouldn't like it". So of course he reads it. It reminds him of one of his ex-mistresses, and he mails her a copy. I was intrigued because to be honest it's one of the only books mentioned in the show. I wondered why it was so pivatol for the time period. So I got it for my husband as a Christmas gift. Well I will be honest I still have no clue why they mentioned it. The poems are cryptic. I am a good past Honors English student--I promise-- I know you are never supposed to say I don't know. You should make up some reason using as many big words as possible. But I've grown since high school, I'm big enough to admit that a ton of these poems sounded to me like the mom on Peanuts--waaa waaaa waaa. Definitely would love to read a companion piece to this that would give me cliff notes into O'Hara's life and thinking. But here's one that I did sort of "get" and loved:
For Grace, After a Party
You do not always know what I am feeling.
Last night in the warm spring air while I was
blazing my tirade against someone who doesn't
interest
me, it was love for you that set me
afire,
and isn't it odd? for in rooms full of
strangers my most tender feelings
writhe and
bear the fruit of screaming. Put out your hand,
isn't there
an ashtray, suddenly, there? beside
the bed? And someone ou love enters the room
and says wouldn't
you like the eggs a little
different today?
And when they arrive they are
just plain scrambled eggs and the warm weather
is holding.
Now you explain it to me. :)
My husband and I are hooked on the TV show Mad Men ever since we discovered it on Netflix instants. We finished all the seasons on there, and have been going through withdrawal ever since. Thus this book. Don Draper sees someone else reading it and is promptly informed that he "wouldn't like it". So of course he reads it. It reminds him of one of his ex-mistresses, and he mails her a copy. I was intrigued because to be honest it's one of the only books mentioned in the show. I wondered why it was so pivatol for the time period. So I got it for my husband as a Christmas gift. Well I will be honest I still have no clue why they mentioned it. The poems are cryptic. I am a good past Honors English student--I promise-- I know you are never supposed to say I don't know. You should make up some reason using as many big words as possible. But I've grown since high school, I'm big enough to admit that a ton of these poems sounded to me like the mom on Peanuts--waaa waaaa waaa. Definitely would love to read a companion piece to this that would give me cliff notes into O'Hara's life and thinking. But here's one that I did sort of "get" and loved:
For Grace, After a Party
You do not always know what I am feeling.
Last night in the warm spring air while I was
blazing my tirade against someone who doesn't
interest
me, it was love for you that set me
afire,
and isn't it odd? for in rooms full of
strangers my most tender feelings
writhe and
bear the fruit of screaming. Put out your hand,
isn't there
an ashtray, suddenly, there? beside
the bed? And someone ou love enters the room
and says wouldn't
you like the eggs a little
different today?
And when they arrive they are
just plain scrambled eggs and the warm weather
is holding.
Now you explain it to me. :)
Monday, January 30, 2012
Book # 3: We Saw, We Came, We Converted
by Fr. Joseph Huneycutt
Based on his podcasts on Ancient Faith Radio, this book is a hoot. He just has a way of making a point that makes me giggle. Very fun for a fast read or a daily devotional type book. And might I say that his podcasts are great fun to listen to as well. :)
Based on his podcasts on Ancient Faith Radio, this book is a hoot. He just has a way of making a point that makes me giggle. Very fun for a fast read or a daily devotional type book. And might I say that his podcasts are great fun to listen to as well. :)
Book # 2: Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen
I read this for a book group. I was curious about it since it was made into a movie. I will say that it did not live up to my expectations. I loved the circus parts, and forming a good understanding of what the circus was like in the past. The love story though just didn't thrill me. It seemed forced or maybe too romance novelish. But let me also say that I did NOT like the book, The Notebook, for the same reasons. So it might just be me. I like a lot of substance, and I tend toward classics and books that border on too much desciption. I would have enjoyed reading a book filled with the circus stories and legends just as much, if not more because it would have been true. Spoiler alert: The end of the book was one of its redeeming qualities with the protagonist rejoining the circus to live out the rest of his life.
I read this for a book group. I was curious about it since it was made into a movie. I will say that it did not live up to my expectations. I loved the circus parts, and forming a good understanding of what the circus was like in the past. The love story though just didn't thrill me. It seemed forced or maybe too romance novelish. But let me also say that I did NOT like the book, The Notebook, for the same reasons. So it might just be me. I like a lot of substance, and I tend toward classics and books that border on too much desciption. I would have enjoyed reading a book filled with the circus stories and legends just as much, if not more because it would have been true. Spoiler alert: The end of the book was one of its redeeming qualities with the protagonist rejoining the circus to live out the rest of his life.
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