The Actor and the Housewife, Finished 5-9-12, rating 3.75/5, 339 pages, pub. 2009

Becky is a happily married mother of four who flies from her home in Utah to Los Angles to sell her screenplay.  That fact alone is very fortuitous, so imagine her feeling of good luck that she should meet her celebrity crush while there.  Felix Callahan, he of the romantic comedy that Becky watches over and over.  Sparkly conversation ensues and the two find themselves drawn to each other, even though both are happily married.  They each recognize an understanding in the other and suddenly it doesn’t seem all that strange that a stay-at-home mom and an A-list actor are the best of friends.

Their story encompassed almost a dozen years as their relationship goes through highs and lows, working together for months at a time to long absences where they are not speaking.  The book aims to cover the oft asked question of whether men and women can just be friends.  Becky’s initial waffling on the issue went on too long for me.  As much as I loved the dialogue between Becky and Felix, the actual story and the going back and forth started to bore me.  I loved the friendship itself and when Becky was on the page with Felix it was fun.  The rest of the time seemed to be almost filler.  As much as I liked her family, not one person was as interesting as Felix so they sort of blended into the landscape of the story.

This is ultimately Becky’s story and I had mixed reactions to her.  I liked her quick wit and committment to family.  She did not take her friendship with Felix lightly and with a heavy heart walked away from it when her saintly husband had a problem.  I guess my problem with Becky is that I just didn’t believe her.

The story was pure fantasy, except for the chapter that made me cry-that was just wrong.  If you look at it like a fantasy you might not be bothered by the improbability of it all.  Oh, I did like the Mormon aspects to the story.  I thought it was well done and wish more stories could incorporate religion this well without becoming a religious story.  It was refreshing.

I feel like I’m vacillating as much as Becky!  I liked it, but was put off by the back and forth and the complete ridiculousness of some of the plot.  This book from from my own shelves.

So, fess up.  Who is YOUR celebrity crush? Over the years mine have ranged from Joe Montana to Johnny Depp.

Finished 4-18-12, rating 3.5/5, mystery, 223 pages, pub. 1976

“I don’t know why I’m telling you all this-probably because I’ll burst if I don’t tell someone, and you look so-so human-but Africa’s having the most tremendous impact on me.  Ever since we arrived I’ve been having the strangest dreams at night, and seeing life and myself in the most astonishing perspective.  This country’s returning me to something I lost, it’s disinhibiting me.”

Chapter 7

Mrs. Pollifax is a widower in her 60’s and instead of settling down to garden club meetings she has become an improbable asset to the CIA.  The missions never seem to be dangerous, at least until Emily arrives on the scene, and this assignment is no different.  She is excited to be assigned the job of taking pictures on an African safari.  Not bad, right?  Well, it ss a great experience until she goes and gets herself kidnapped.

I read a few of the Mrs. Pollifax series way before I became obsessed with reading series’ in order, so I was happy to find her future husband on the safari.  Cyrus is a big man instantly smitten with the seemingly retiring Mrs. Pollifax.  It was nice to see Emily appreciated.

There was a safari tour full of suspects and an old CIA friend in the area somewhere, causing Emily to come under suspicion from many quarters.  The mystery was good, as was the description of Africa’s political plight (circa 1976).  I love the feisty Emily Pollifax.  She is smart, resourceful, and full of sass.  She is constantly underestimated and always rises to the challenge.  I enjoyed visiting with her after all these years.  A quick and satisfying read.

I recommend this series to cozy mystery fans and fans of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple.

I checked this book out of the library.

Finished 4-7-12, rating 4.5/5, fiction, 293 pages, pub. 2011

The moving story told in its pages, of love and loss and acceptance, of secret passions and the weight of private thoughts, forever changed the way I viewed my own writing.  It may have been why I stopped writing.  Joel had never read the book, and I was glad of it.  It was too intimate to share.  It read to me like the pages of my unwritten diary.

Chapter 1

Emily, author of one bestselling novel years ago, has just signed her divorce papers.  Not able to write and not sure what to do about it her best friend convinces her that a change of scenery will help, so Emily contacts her Aunt Bee on Bainbridge Island, Washington.  Once she’s back on the island where she spent the wonderful summers of her youth, she finds a hidden journal written by the mysterious Esther, and Emily wonders if she is somehow connected to her family.  Totally immersed in Esther’s story and frustrated by her aunt’s refusal to talk about family secrets, Emily found the perfect way to forget about her divorce and the muse to start writing again.

The story in the journal parallels current day Bainbridge Island and as Emily pieced together who was who I tried to keep up.  I admit I had some ideas, but did get a bit confused by the large cast.  I didn’t really care though, I was just happy to be along for the ride.  One of these days I hope I find my way to Bainbridge Island.  The place felt magical.

I loved this book.  The writing was beautiful, there was such depth and beauty on every page.  The awesome writing coupled with the two addicting storylines make this one easy to recommend.  I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump (probably because I have so little time for it these days so I tend to choose shorter books) but this one had me reading well into my sleep time and that’s not something I give up lightly!

There are two things that kept this from being perfect for me.  I wish there could have been another chapter to wrap things up a little more and I was surprised by how fast Emily recovered from her divorce.  She did not waste any time jumping back into the dating pool and seemed to think very little of her old life.  This felt a bit odd, but I’ve not gone through a divorce so maybe it is that easy to forget (and I mean forget a week later).  Both of these are minor complaints.

This is my favorite book this year, so far, and it was from my personal library.

Enter to win a copy of The Day the World Ends by Ethan Coen here.

Finished 3-27-12, rating 3.5/5, graphic reference?, 170 pages, pub. 2009

Have you ever wanted to know what people were talking about when they discussed a classic novel like Moby Dick?  Well, now there’s no need to waste your time reading the behemoth novel,  just pick up this book to find out what happens. In 3 frames!!  Yes, every one of these classics is covered in 3 frames.  Some are funny, some are serious, and all left me feeling smarter than when I started.

I warn you that it is addicting which is okay since it won’t take long at all to flip through 90 pages.  I should also warn you that endings will be given away, so if you want a surprise later you may want to skip that page!

This is more entertaining than detailed (obviously) so as addicting as it is (kind of like donuts) it doesn’t give enough substance to be truly outstanding (kind of like donuts).  There are actually a few books in here I’d never heard of and more than a few that aren’t really classics.  Unless you think Pet Sematary by Stephen King and The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown are modern classics.

The descriptions of the classics I hadn’t read were funny and some of images convinced me to read the book and some convinced me that reading it would be a waste of time (Steppewolf and The Stranger come to mind).  As a matter of fact there were several classics that I enjoyed more in this book than when I actually read them (I’m thinking of Heart of Darkness here).  Are you curious how he could possible cover The Bible in 3 frames?  Let’s just say he had to do a lot of condensing.

I liked this book a lot and think it would be PERFECT for a fun graduation gift, especially if they are headed off to college.  Kind of like a gag gift, but one they’ll actually use.

I borrowed this from the library.