Book Reviews
I have no idea if this will be of interest to anyone at all, but since I did ask for book suggestions before I went away, I thought I'd give a little review of the books I read on our sunny vacation.
Perfectly True Tales of a Perfect Size Twelve, Robin Gold
I read this entire book on the plane ride down to Cuba. (Reading! On a plane! Can I tell you how many plane rides I've taken in the last five years which have involved no reading whatsoever [except, of course, of the "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" variety]? It was bliss, I can tell you.) A straightforward chick-lit novel featuring a woman who is unabashedly and happily a size twelve. Predictable but engaging enough for a plane ride. Nothing extraordinary.
The Wives of Bath, Wendy Holden
More chick-lit, this time with the theme of two very different women living in Bath, England, who have babies around the same time, and how they and their partners deal with it. You could see where things were going as the novel went on, and of course it had a happy ending, but it was good poolside reading.
Another Marvelous Thing, Laurie Colwin
The Sandman has recommended Laurie Colwin to me on a number of occasions, and I did read Happy All the Time a while ago, so on my trip to the library I found some more of her stuff to bring with me. This is a set of interconnected short stories about an older married man having an affair with a younger married woman. Perhaps it is an indication of Colwin's talent that she makes the story lovely instead of smarmy, which is how it sounds from that one-line description. There was a point where the woman had a premature baby, and I must say that this evoked tears on my behalf, and I had to put the book down until I was in a less-public area than the terrace café of the resort. The baby was fine; it was just the pregnancy hormones and my overactive imagination and empathy skills which brought on the tears. A lovely read, and a welcome diversion from formulaic chick-lit. (Also, things worked out exactly as they should have. I won't give the ending away, but it was exactly right.)
Alphabet Weekends, Elizabeth Noble
More British chick-lit. I had read one of her books in New Zealand, I think, so I picked up this paperback for a holiday read. Once again: by the first chapter, you knew who was going to end up with who; it was just a matter of how. Some parts were deeper than I thought they would be, and once again it was good poolside reading.
Victoria Line, Central Line, Maeve Binchy
This was a pleasant surprise for me. I haven't read much (if any) Maeve Binchy, but Rachel recommended her before I went away. I wasn't sure about the Bad Things Happening to Children factor, so I chose this compliation of short stories as an introduction. It was delightful. Binchy took each stop of these two lines on the London Tube and crafted a story about each one. Each story was distinct; the characters were engaging and interesting; and there was usually a little twist which added depth. I really, really enjoyed it.
Shopaholic and Baby, Sophie Kinsella
I love the Shopaholic books. Love them. I love the main character, and I think it's evidence of Kinsella's talent that she can make someone who could come off as just a materialistic idiot charming and empathetic and loveable. These books are a little like crack for me; once I start one, I can't put it down. This is the fifth book in the Shopaholic series, and by now the secondary characters are so well-developed that it feels like I'm returning to a group of people I know and love. Of course, everything always turns out well in the end, but there's lots of tension about how exactly that's going to happen, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object, Laurie Colwin
More Colwin! This one got put off until Jeffy had finished all of his dive excursions, because the plot synopsis made it clear that this book was about a 27-year-old woman whose husband dies in his boat during a storm. Once again, Colwin's talent is evident in the fact that this is not a morbid or depressing tale; it's realistic, and gentle, and once again just exactly right. She seems to have a talent for treating her characters like real people and exposing all of their foibles while making it clear that she loves them all very much. It's a lovely stance for a writer to take, and makes for writing that has depth without being heavy, if that makes any sense at all.
Wired
Reading Wired lets me have things to talk about with Jeffy (not that we ever really lack them) but when he says, "I was reading such-and-such in this month's Wired," I can say, "Oh yeah, I read that one too," and then we can talk about it and usually he can explain the technical bits to me while I provide my own non-technical take on things. It's a magazine that has really grown on me over the years. Plus I was running out of books. (I had one more Colwin book, but was a bit nervous about starting it because a) it was the book she wrote while she was dying and b) it features a softly-coloured picture of a mother holding a baby on the front. It's called A Big Storm Knocked it Over and is reputed to be lovely, but I was just a bit leery. If anyone's read it and can comment on how likely I am to be teary while reading it, I would really appreciate that. Sandman?)
Zorro, Isabel Allende
This is my favourite book story of all. While we were around the pool, we noticed another couple who were sort of like us: just reading and reading and napping and reading. I noticed the woman was reading one of the Shopaholic books (Shopaholic and Sister, which is my least favourite of the series), and later, a novel by Isabel Allende. I'd read some Allende in New Zealand on Sarah's recommendation, and quite enjoyed it, though there were some Bad Things That Happened to Children.
The day before we left, we were passing her on one of the bridges, and she stopped and asked when we were leaving, and said she'd noticed I was reading a Shopaholic book, and would I like hers. So nice! I declined, since I'd already read the one she had, but then later offered her my other chick-lit, since I didn't really feel the need to drag it all home again. We agreed to meet up after lunch by the pool, and she brought me this Allende book, and I gave her the Size Twelve book and the Alphabet Weekends book, and it was all lovely and great, though I definitely got the better deal since the Allende is much better than either of those formulaic chick-lits. The added bonus was that we discovered that this woman is the owner of Singing Pebble Books in Ottawa, which is my absolute favourite bookstore there! It was so funny to meet someone so far away who was also so connected to a place I knew and loved. Very, very cool.
Anyway, I absolutely loved Zorro, and would totally recommend it to anyone. Allende is a great writer anyway, but this is a fun and engaging story of Zorro's childhood and early years as a swashbuckler. Definitely worth reading.
My vacation reading over, I've moved on to a book I heard about on the CBC called Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. I'm only a short way in to it, but it's already so well written I can't wait to read more. It's about how the brain works and how we perceive happiness; he's very clear that this is not a "self-help" manual on how to be happy. More, it provides us with an understanding of why the things we think will make us happy sometimes don't, and why the unexpected sometimes is the biggest source of happiness for us. I'll keep you posted, but so far, it's a winner as well.
Perfectly True Tales of a Perfect Size Twelve, Robin Gold
I read this entire book on the plane ride down to Cuba. (Reading! On a plane! Can I tell you how many plane rides I've taken in the last five years which have involved no reading whatsoever [except, of course, of the "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" variety]? It was bliss, I can tell you.) A straightforward chick-lit novel featuring a woman who is unabashedly and happily a size twelve. Predictable but engaging enough for a plane ride. Nothing extraordinary.
The Wives of Bath, Wendy Holden
More chick-lit, this time with the theme of two very different women living in Bath, England, who have babies around the same time, and how they and their partners deal with it. You could see where things were going as the novel went on, and of course it had a happy ending, but it was good poolside reading.
Another Marvelous Thing, Laurie Colwin
The Sandman has recommended Laurie Colwin to me on a number of occasions, and I did read Happy All the Time a while ago, so on my trip to the library I found some more of her stuff to bring with me. This is a set of interconnected short stories about an older married man having an affair with a younger married woman. Perhaps it is an indication of Colwin's talent that she makes the story lovely instead of smarmy, which is how it sounds from that one-line description. There was a point where the woman had a premature baby, and I must say that this evoked tears on my behalf, and I had to put the book down until I was in a less-public area than the terrace café of the resort. The baby was fine; it was just the pregnancy hormones and my overactive imagination and empathy skills which brought on the tears. A lovely read, and a welcome diversion from formulaic chick-lit. (Also, things worked out exactly as they should have. I won't give the ending away, but it was exactly right.)
Alphabet Weekends, Elizabeth Noble
More British chick-lit. I had read one of her books in New Zealand, I think, so I picked up this paperback for a holiday read. Once again: by the first chapter, you knew who was going to end up with who; it was just a matter of how. Some parts were deeper than I thought they would be, and once again it was good poolside reading.
Victoria Line, Central Line, Maeve Binchy
This was a pleasant surprise for me. I haven't read much (if any) Maeve Binchy, but Rachel recommended her before I went away. I wasn't sure about the Bad Things Happening to Children factor, so I chose this compliation of short stories as an introduction. It was delightful. Binchy took each stop of these two lines on the London Tube and crafted a story about each one. Each story was distinct; the characters were engaging and interesting; and there was usually a little twist which added depth. I really, really enjoyed it.
Shopaholic and Baby, Sophie Kinsella
I love the Shopaholic books. Love them. I love the main character, and I think it's evidence of Kinsella's talent that she can make someone who could come off as just a materialistic idiot charming and empathetic and loveable. These books are a little like crack for me; once I start one, I can't put it down. This is the fifth book in the Shopaholic series, and by now the secondary characters are so well-developed that it feels like I'm returning to a group of people I know and love. Of course, everything always turns out well in the end, but there's lots of tension about how exactly that's going to happen, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object, Laurie Colwin
More Colwin! This one got put off until Jeffy had finished all of his dive excursions, because the plot synopsis made it clear that this book was about a 27-year-old woman whose husband dies in his boat during a storm. Once again, Colwin's talent is evident in the fact that this is not a morbid or depressing tale; it's realistic, and gentle, and once again just exactly right. She seems to have a talent for treating her characters like real people and exposing all of their foibles while making it clear that she loves them all very much. It's a lovely stance for a writer to take, and makes for writing that has depth without being heavy, if that makes any sense at all.
Wired
Reading Wired lets me have things to talk about with Jeffy (not that we ever really lack them) but when he says, "I was reading such-and-such in this month's Wired," I can say, "Oh yeah, I read that one too," and then we can talk about it and usually he can explain the technical bits to me while I provide my own non-technical take on things. It's a magazine that has really grown on me over the years. Plus I was running out of books. (I had one more Colwin book, but was a bit nervous about starting it because a) it was the book she wrote while she was dying and b) it features a softly-coloured picture of a mother holding a baby on the front. It's called A Big Storm Knocked it Over and is reputed to be lovely, but I was just a bit leery. If anyone's read it and can comment on how likely I am to be teary while reading it, I would really appreciate that. Sandman?)
Zorro, Isabel Allende
This is my favourite book story of all. While we were around the pool, we noticed another couple who were sort of like us: just reading and reading and napping and reading. I noticed the woman was reading one of the Shopaholic books (Shopaholic and Sister, which is my least favourite of the series), and later, a novel by Isabel Allende. I'd read some Allende in New Zealand on Sarah's recommendation, and quite enjoyed it, though there were some Bad Things That Happened to Children.
The day before we left, we were passing her on one of the bridges, and she stopped and asked when we were leaving, and said she'd noticed I was reading a Shopaholic book, and would I like hers. So nice! I declined, since I'd already read the one she had, but then later offered her my other chick-lit, since I didn't really feel the need to drag it all home again. We agreed to meet up after lunch by the pool, and she brought me this Allende book, and I gave her the Size Twelve book and the Alphabet Weekends book, and it was all lovely and great, though I definitely got the better deal since the Allende is much better than either of those formulaic chick-lits. The added bonus was that we discovered that this woman is the owner of Singing Pebble Books in Ottawa, which is my absolute favourite bookstore there! It was so funny to meet someone so far away who was also so connected to a place I knew and loved. Very, very cool.
Anyway, I absolutely loved Zorro, and would totally recommend it to anyone. Allende is a great writer anyway, but this is a fun and engaging story of Zorro's childhood and early years as a swashbuckler. Definitely worth reading.
My vacation reading over, I've moved on to a book I heard about on the CBC called Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. I'm only a short way in to it, but it's already so well written I can't wait to read more. It's about how the brain works and how we perceive happiness; he's very clear that this is not a "self-help" manual on how to be happy. More, it provides us with an understanding of why the things we think will make us happy sometimes don't, and why the unexpected sometimes is the biggest source of happiness for us. I'll keep you posted, but so far, it's a winner as well.
| posted at 10:14 AM |
