Confessions of a Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella

April 7, 201030 Comments

Finished 4-4-10, rating 3/5, fiction, pub. 2001

Book 1 of the Shopaholic series.

Becky Bloomwood is a 25 year-old Londoner who has a job she hates, is deeply in debt, and can’t seem to stop herself from spending money she doesn’t have. She writes for a financial magazine but knows next to nothing about the field and she is just going with the flow even though her overdue notices are piling up. She decides to take control and curb her outlandish spending, but in doing this she spends even more money. Then she decides to find some part-time work, but is a failure at that too. Becky is a mess.

I expected a funny book and it was, but I could not seem to gather any love for Becky. She drove me crazy. She didn’t seem to have a clue. She lied a lot, threw away bills and considered them gone, and got fired from a job after a few hours for doing the stupidest thing. On page 256 she has an AHA moment, but I just didn’t believe it. There was nothing before that made me think she was capable of such insight. Do I sound judgmental enough?

Everyone seems to love this book and series, so I feel like a total scrooge in just thinking it was average. The writing was funny. It was just Becky that drove me crazy. Maybe it’s because I am not a huge shopper myself so I didn’t really get the compulsion. Or maybe I was expecting too much.

This book is from my personal library and was chosen for me by Kathy, Kerri, Julie H., Kathrin. Here’s what they had to say…

“Good, clean fun.” Kathy

“Funny.” Kerri

“Hilarious and a quick read!” Kathrin

“You won’t be able to stop and you’ll have to read them all.” Julie H.

Notable Villian Quiz

April 6, 2010April 9, 201032 Comments

I love the show Survivor. Jason and I like to watch and argue over who is going to win. He loves to watch the evil Russell and Russell makes me want to throw something at the tv or leave the room. So, this week’s quiz is all about literary villains. How many do you know?

No googling or cheating off other commenters. Your first answer is the one accepted. Each one is worth 10 points. You can answer until Thursday night.

Answers to last week’s quiz. Who is the new leader on the leaderboard?

1. This villain has the blood of Desdemona on his conscience if not on his hands. And no it’s not Othello. Iago

2. The world’s favorite wizard was the only one who dared speak his name. Voldemort

3. He famously said, ” A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.” Hannibal Lecter

4. White Witch (The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe)

5. First he wanted to be like Dickie Greenleaf. And then he became him. Tom Ripley (The Talented Mr. Ripley)

6. This housekeeper tormented the young Rebecca, but she did get her just desserts in the end, right? Mrs. Danvers

7. He wanted to control Middle Earth and The Ring at any cost. I don’t like anyone who beats up Gandalf. Sauron or Sarumon

9. This villian would not leave my beloved Jamie Fraser alone. Jack Randall (Outlander)

10. Name either of the two villians who ruined poor Lolita. Humbert Humbert or Clare Quilty

Monday Movie Memes – All About Ensembles

April 5, 2010April 5, 201020 Comments

Feature Presentation…

This week’s movie topic is all about Ensembles…There are lots of great movies that succeed not because of megastars and lesser known supporting casts, but because of incredible actors working together without any one person taking on a lead role.

Here are my favorite ensemble casts…

Crash (2004). An uncomfortable look at race. Cast includes Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Ludacris, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillipe

Love Actually (2003). Loved this cast from across the pond. Cast includes Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley

Ocean’s Eleven (2001). Movie okay, cast gorgeous. Cast includes George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Bernie Mac, Elliot Gould, Casey Affleck

The Usual Suspects (1995). Which one is Keyser Soze? Cast includes Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Stephen Baldwin, Chazz Palminteri

Lord of the Rings trilogy. Frodo wasn’t the only one worth watching. Cast includes Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellan, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom

What’s your favorite ensemble cast? Stop by The Bumbles and see what others have to say.

Caught, by Harlan Coben

April 4, 201030 Comments

Finished 4-2-10, rating 4.5/5, fiction, pub. 2010

I knew opening that read door would destroy my life.

First line of book

Dan Mercer is a social worker who spends his time helping neighborhood kids. One day, just like any other, he walks into a house to aid a teen and is stunned by the cameras and Wendy Tynes’s accusation of pedophilia. He escapes, but his life is shattered. When Wendy finds him after his court case is thrown out because of her, she is shocked to find that she believes he’s innocent. This is just where the craziness begins. There is also a missing teenaged girl who leaves a grieving family and community behind. When these two cases seem to connect things become only more confusing.

Wendy was a character easy to dislike at first, but she also grew on me until I was completely rooting for her to find out the truth. Not just for herself, but for me too 🙂

Harlan Coben has done it again. I’ve read all of his books and this is up there with his best. I know when I start reading I’m not going to want to stop til I’m done and this was no exception, I finished it in a day. He’s a master at twists and turns and even when you get to the end there always seems to be something there to surprise you.

I also find that he is very timely. As a book blogger I can appreciate the importance that blogging and social media played in this book. It will make you think twice about things you might read online. And the role parents play in their kids lives. This is definitely one that you shouldn’t miss.

This is a great thriller that I paid for with my very own money.

Free Books for April

April 3, 2010April 4, 20106 Comments

Leave a comment, tell me which book you want and I’ll get the book to you for FREE either by mail or personally if I’ll see you soon. The first one to request each book wins. Once you’ve ‘won’ the book I can get your shipping address if I need it. Also, you can come back and get a free book every month if you want. These have all been read a time or two.

1. The Stars Shine Down by Sidney Sheldon. I’ve read every Sheldon book. (B&N review) for Mariska

2. Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught. McNaught is my favorite romance writer. This is one of her classic historicals. (B&N review) for Linda

3. The Devil & Tom Walker and Other Selected Stories by Washington Irving. This is my review from this week. for Sarah

4. Fox River by Emilie Richards. My review from last year. for Linda B

Good luck and Happy Reading!

10 in ’10 with Maria Semple

April 2, 2010April 2, 201012 Comments

Maris Semple, author of the fabulous novel This One is Mine, has graciously agreed to answer a few questions. This is her first novel, although she was a writer for many very good tv shows, like Arrested Development and Ellen. Why not stop by her website and have a look around? On to the questions…

1. In your book bio it says you “escaped from Los Angeles” and now live on an island off Seattle. What was it about Los Angeles that made you want to escape?

It’s a company town, and I was done screenwriting. And in my mind, if you don’t have to be in LA, you really shouldn’t. The usual gripes… traffic, infrastructure collapsing, people in Porsche’s honking at you.

Plus the sun. I’m not a fan of the sun.

2. You wrote for television before writing this book. Which of these shows are you most proud of?

Mad About You, because I think there was the most of me in it than any of the other shows.

3. The characters in This One is Mine are deeply flawed. Tell us what Violet saw in Teddy?

Hey, methinks you fall into the category of readers totally puzzled and repulsed by Teddy. In my mind, Teddy saw a “twinkle” in Violet that she thought had been snuffed out by too many years of being married to David, not working, being a new mother. And as happens with love, circuits get crossed and Violet thinks that Teddy makes her twinkle. He makes her feel beautiful, sexy, funny, needed. So by chasing him, she’s chasing that part of herself she is desperate to keep alive.

4. Did you have any input on the cover? The trade paperback cover is deliciously beautiful.

So glad you like the paperback cover. My friend, the very talented Kimberly Brooks painted the cover for the hardback, which I really loved. Little, Brown decided to go for something poppier for the paperback and I think they did a great job. How can you not reach for that book?

5. Who or what inspires you?

Any artist who experiences failure and rejection and keeps going. I find bouncing back very moving.

6. What’s the last book you read?

Les Liasions Dangereuses. I had read it a few times, and always considered it one of my favorite books. I picked it up again and it thrilled me. A work of total genius. It’s the only book that has left me feeling scandalized. Three hundred years after the book was written! And you read my book, full of sex and immorality, so that’s saying a lot.

7. What’s your favorite non writing hobby?

Trying to stay off the internet.

8. I love quotes. Do you have a favorite?

The Gods of Discipline are benevolent. My boyfriend and I made this up yesterday. We were remarking that anytime we exercise discipline– with work, exercise, speech, anything where we don’t act impulsively, but show restraint– it always pays off.

9. If you were trapped in the life of one fictional character who would you choose?

That’s so hard to say, because most fictional characters go through so many highs and such lows. I guess I’d like to be any smart heroine who’s vexed and maddened by love, and who doesn’t end up killing herself. Elizabeth Bennett, Dorthea Casaubon, Jane Eyre, Isabel Archer.

10. And finally, what are you working on now?

I’m working on my new novel, and it’s finally coming together. To make an embarrassingly lowbrow analogy– there’s that reality show star named Heidi something who I just read had ten plastic surgeries done to her at once? I feel like the plastic surgeon who performed that work– I’m sitting at the computer and I have this living thing open in front of me but it needs attending to on ten different fronts… wait I have to stop, this analogy is going to make me sick.

How’s this: I’m in the process of figuring out my second novel.

Thank you, Maria!

War & Peace & Death

April 1, 20106 Comments

This week Molly and I read Part One of Volume 4. It was only 50 pages and yet we both lost one of our characters! So, Moscow is burning as the French invade, but in the high circles of society of Petersburg, life goes on as usual, with the requisite balls and social obligations.

The majority of the people of that time paid no attention to the general course of things, but were guided only by the personal interests of the day. And these people were the most useful figures of that time.

Those, however, who tried to understand the general course of things and wanted to take part in it with self-sacrifice and heroism, were the most useless members of society; they say everything inside out, and everything they did to be useful turned out to be useless nonsense, like Pierre’s and Mamonov’s regiments, which looted Russian villages, like the lint that young ladies plucked and that never got to the wounded, and so on.

page 944

The three of my characters in this section all came together for the first and last time. Prince Andrei had been badly injured and was staying the Natasha and the Rostov’s, where his life hung in the balance. Natasha stayed by his side nursing him back to health, both of them hoping for a future together. Princess Maria, meanwhile in Voronezh, saw her true love Nikolai again and learned from him where her brother was. She and Andrei’s 7 year-old son went to him immediately (or as fast as they could which was 2 weeks). When they arrived at the monastery where the family was staying it was obvious from Natasha’s face that Andrei was not well. As the two women, past enemies, bonded over their love for Andrei they kept vigil. Andrei himself was prepared for death. By the end he had lost real meaning with his current world.

“Love? What is love?” he thought. “Love hinders death. Love is life. Everything, everything I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is connected only by that. Love is God, and to die-means that I, a part of love, return to the common and eternal source.” These thoughts seemed comforting to him. But they were only thoughts. Something was lacking in them, there was something one-sidedly personal, cerebral there was no evidence. And there was the same uneasiness and vagueness.

page 984

In the end Prince Andrei died and I’m sad. I thought he was a wonderful character full of life and troubled by darkness. He was a man to admire, flaws and all. So what will become of Natasha and Maria? I think Maria has a real chance at happiness with Nikolai. As for Natasha, she continued to grow up this week. She was able to redeem herself a little of her terrible treatment of Andrei when they were engaged, so maybe she’ll find happiness too.

So who died over at Molly’s? You’ll have to click on over to find out.

The Devil & Tom Walker and Other Selected Stories, by Washington Irving

March 31, 20108 Comments

Finished 3-31-10, rating 3/5, Short Story Collection

I haven’t read short stories since I was student teaching back in college. I’m not sure this was the place to start back in again. I’ve owned this for a long time and I’ve always wanted to try Washington Irving, so I convinced Jason to read this one together. There were a few hits, more misses and lots in the middle. I think I’ll just focus on the ones we liked.

We both loved The Devil and Tom Walker, even though his disregard for women was evident in this and other stories. It’s a ghost story where the Devil makes a deal with the ‘hen-pecked’ and poor Tom Walker. The wife was almost as evil as the devil and there was really no sympathy to be found. Only the lesson that the Devil only makes deals that are bad for you.

We also both loved The Mutability of Language. It was about a man walking into a very old and exclusive library where original manuscripts were kept and he takes up a conversation with one of the books. It’s a discussion about the written word and authors and the mortality of both. Very fun story for book lovers. Written in the 1800’s this has even more relevance today.

The Specter Bridegroom was another winner. It had mistaken identity, love at first sight, ghosts, soldiers, and forbidden love. This was my favorite, but then I’m a sucker for a good love story.

And we did enjoy the story of Rip Van Winkle. It wasn’t exactly what we expected and the legend is more interesting in some ways. It was fun to read the original and then try to figure out how it came to be such a hit. I understand there are older similar stories, but this is the one on which our American knowledge is based. Worth a look just for that.

We loved reading this book aloud. Lots of big, new words to try and it was fun listening to each other try to sound them out. If we had marked them all we’d have pages of new words. I looked up a few, but for many of them the context was enough. I did like Irving’s style, although many of these ‘stories’ were really essays about life in England or the traits of Indians and the French.

My Monthly Movie Thoughts and an Open Invitation

March 31, 2010April 8, 201724 Comments

These are the movies I’ve watched this month and I’ve given each one a grade and 5 words to describe it. There are two ways to actively participate. One, if you’ve seen any of the movies leave me your 1-5 words in the comments and I’ll add them to the post. Or, if you are feeling ambitious and want to do this on your own blog leave me a link in the comments and I’ll add it to the bottom of the post. Of course, you can just browse and enjoy too 🙂

I’ve noted airplane movies because I’m not sure a nervous flyer like me should be completely trusted to give an accurate grade.

2008 Grade A