Showing posts with label jane green. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jane green. Show all posts

Thursday, April 11, 2013

How to graduate college without reading.

Fun reading, that is.

I recently read a pretty great blog post by Stormy over at Book.Blog.Bake (here!).  Stormy's in college, and she outlined what her reading life has been like since she started her college career.  Her post made me laugh a little because when I was in college...

...wait for it...

...I didn't HAVE a reading life.

I know!  THE HORROR.  I feel guilty even admitting it to myself.  But alas, it is true.  College is the one time in my literate life when I had a near-cessation of all pleasure reading.

From my conversations with others, I've found that I am not alone in this.  A lot of people lose their pleasure-reading mojo in those four (or five, or seven...) years on the way to a university degree.  On the flip side, other students go on total reading binges in college.  I actually read several very active book blogs run by current college students, and I have to admire them for it.

Reason #1 why I wasn't reading in college: I was busy dancing like an idiot in dorm rooms.
Other faces blurred to protect the innocent.  You know who you are.
But why did my reading life shrink to nothingness in college?  Here are the main reasons I can pinpoint.

1. Too much OTHER reading to do.
Freshman year, I was a pathobiology major (nerd alert!) and spent all my time trying to figure out what a derivative was and not blowing things up in chem lab.  Sophomore year I switched to family studies, and for the rest of my collegiate life, I was left with the hell that all social science majors are familiar with: NEVER-ENDING TEXTBOOK READING.  No time for novels, that was for sure.

2. Too much socializing to do.
What can I say?  I lived on campus all four years, and there was always a party, concert, or midnight pizza run to attend to.  And even when I wasn't out and about, I was on AIM in my dorm room IM'ing everyone I knew and coming up with witty, pithy away messages.  Those were the days, AMIRIGHT?

AIM away messages: practice for future Facebook statuses
3. Too much work.
I worked 3 jobs simultaneously while I was in college, in addition to taking a full courseload.  I was fairly well booked all the live-long day.

4. Too tired.
With all the aforementioned stuff going on, I rarely went to bed before 2am and rarely woke up after 7am (on weekdays, anyway).  When I DID have downtime, the last thing I had energy for was a book.  Instead, marathons of West Wing (BARTLET FOR PRESIDENT!) and episodes of Late Night with Conan O'Brien were pretty much the only activities that could hold my attention for more than 30 seconds.

My senior year college dorm room.  NARY A BOOK IN SIGHT.  West Wing DVDs, 35mm film, and an overabundance of fluorescent colors are there to date me though.
THANKFULLY, during the last semester of my senior year, I reconnected with my love of literature.  I had a serious case of senioritis, and spent a lot of my free time getting back into the world of Reading For Pleasure.  What were some of the books that knocked me out of my funk?

Angels and Demons, and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

One of my friends let me borrow these, and I remember sitting at one of my jobs, DEVOURING them.  Nothing like a quick and dirty mystery to get you back in the groove.

Jemima J by Jane Green

I randomly picked this up at the bookstore and read it during my solo spring break vacation to Los Angeles (another story for another day).  This started my love affair with Jane Green, and was probably the beginning of my women's fiction addiction.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

My then-boyfriend-now-husband let me borrow this right before I graduated, and I was fascinated.  I quickly jumped into Krakauer's other available books afterwards.  And we all know about my adoration of JK.

So, collegiate readers, I salute you.  College is not an easy time to get lots of fun-reading done.  For those of you that do, keep on truckin'!  And for those that have lost their reading mojo, please have faith that your break is temporary, and the library will be waiting for you after graduation.

Now go down that Jager shot your roommate just poured for you, and don't give it a second thought.
Graduation day.  That face says, "Thanks for the memories, now where's my library card?"

Friday, December 28, 2012

Christmas Extravaganza!

I don't normally take part in the "stack your shelf" or "mailbox Monday" posts, because sharing book hauls isn't my usual cup of tea.  But thanks to some lovely gift cards this Christmas, I raided Amazon and Barnes and Noble this week, and I had to share the spoils!

Generally, when I use gift cards, I try very hard to stick with bargain-priced and marked-down books, because I figure I can always borrow the full-price hardcovers from the library (or wait until they go on sale).  I'm not impatient enough with book releases to spend the $$ on new arrivals.  So I'm fairly proud of the amount of books I was able to get with just two $50 gift cards!

First up, my Amazon haul for my Kindle:

The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Twelve by Justin Cronin
Why Have Kids? by Jessica Valenti
Don't Breathe A Word by Jennifer McMahon
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler
One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf

Amazon doesn't let you search by price (BOOOOO), so I never do as well there as I do at B+N.

Here's my B+N haul (shipping this week!):

Fragile by Lisa Unger
William Shakespeare: Complete Plays
Dracula by Bram Stoker (with a very cool cover design)
The Inferno by Dante
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Crashers by Dana Haynes
Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
The Brightest Star In The Sky by Marian Keyes
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok
I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
The Promised World by Lisa Tucker
Promises to Keep by Jane Green

I also received one book as a gift from my husband: July 7th by Jill McCorkle. 

July 7th is my son's birthday, so my husband snagged me a copy when he found it online!

What are your book shopping strategies?  Did you receive any good reads this holiday season?

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Top 10 Most Anticipated Books of 2013

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted each week by The Broke and the Bookish.  I haven't participated in it for a while, but I'm pretty excited about this week's topic of
Most Anticipated Books of 2013

There's a lot of good stuff on the horizon next year!  Here's what I'm most looking forward to:

1. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
I am SO STOKED to re-read The Shining in anticipation of this sequel!

2. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

One of my favorite authors, I look forward to her new releases every Feb/March.

3. Family Pictures by Jane Green

JG does great women's fiction, and this one sounds excellent.

4. Joyland by Stephen King

Another King release!  I am unapologetic in my adoration.

5. Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans


Lenore is a fellow (though much more seasoned) book blogger, and her first release comes out in January!  Plus, I won a signed copy of the UK edition from her blog, which I cannot WAIT to read and review for you all very soon.

6. And The Mountains Echo by Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns were captivating...I can't wait to see what Hosseini has in store next.

7. Untitled by Veronica Roth
I know, this one is on EVERYONE'S list...but of course I want to know how the Divergent trilogy ends!!

8. When She Was Gone by Gwendolen Gross

This book, about a 17-yr-old's disappearance just before she leaves for college, sounds exactly like the type of modern drama I'd be into.

9. Cooked by Michael Pollan

If you haven't read Pollan's first two books (The Omnivore's Dilemma, and In Defense of Food), do that now.  Then come back here and be excited about his new release with me.

10. The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates

I've read only a fracton of Oates's long library of books, but I've enjoyed every one that I've picked up.  Her new one, set in Princeton, sounds haunting.
What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Monday, October 1, 2012

September 2012 in Review

Here's my wrap-up for September...another great reading month!  The blog is definitely keeping me motivated these days.

I read and reviewed 7 books (click links for my reviews):
Sometimes It Snows in America by Marisa Labozzetta
The Confession by John Grisham
The Beach House by Jane Green
Where We Belong by Emily Giffin
A Drink Before The War by Dennis Lehane
Beneath The Glitter by Elle & Blair Fowler
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

I also posted a full review for 1 past read:
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb

And 5 mini reviews of past reads:
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Plus, I met Dennis Lehane, and celebrated my anniversary, my birthday, Bloggiesta, and Banned Book Week.  Does it get any better?

I have a lot of good books I'm looking forward to in October--can't wait to share them all with you!  I'm especially trying to find some good spooky reads for Halloween.

What are your favorite Halloween reads?

And don't forget, my Banned Book giveaway is still going on...here!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Book Review: The Beach House by Jane Green

Title: The Beach House
Author: Jane Green
Publisher: Viking Adult
Release Date: June 17, 2008
Source: e-book loan from my local library

Plot summary from Goodreads:

Known in Nantucket as the crazy woman who lives in the rambling house atop the bluff, Nan doesn't care what people think. At sixty-five-years old, her husband died twenty years ago, her beauty has faded, and her family has flown. If her neighbors are away, why shouldn't she skinny dip in their swimming pools and help herself to their flowers? But when she discovers the money she thought would last forever is dwindling and she could lose her beloved house, Nan knows she has to make drastic changes.

So Nan takes out an ad: Rooms to rent for the summer in a beautiful old Nantucket home with water views and direct access to the beach. Slowly, people start moving into the house, filling it with noise, with laughter, and with tears. As the house comes alive again, Nan finds her family expanding. Her son comes home for the summer, and then an unexpected visitor turns all their lives upside-down.

My Review:

I have a love/hate relationship with the phrase "chick lit".  I don't like it, because it implies a genre that is vapid, silly, and full of hot-pink-spined books.  While I find this true of SOME books in this genre (AHEM, Shopaholic series), it is most definitely not true for all (or even the majority).  However, I still sometimes use the term because it's easy and less clunky than saying "women's literature" or something of that sort.  Go ahead, call me lazy...

Anyway, I suppose you would say this book falls under chick lit, but I have to immediately follow that by saying this is SMART chick lit.  It's women's fiction that deals with relationships realistically, and makes an effort to get in the heads of each of its characters.  And oh yeah, I LOVED IT.

The story centers primarily around Nan and her 3 boarders (names withheld because I don't want to spoil).  However, it starts off following them well before they all end up in Nantucket, so the first chapter or two are a bit disorienting as you follow the lives of these seemingly unrelated people.  But once you figure out who's who, the variety of perspectives in this story is awesome.  Not only do you get the POV of each of the 4 main characters, but you get short snippets from their spouses' perspectives, their kids' perspectives, etc., creating a narrative that puts you in the head of nearly every character, and giving you a look at each of the 4 main characters from a whole host of different vantage points.  I love books and movies that do the whole we-don't-know-each-other-at-the-beginning-but-soon-our-lives-will-collide thing, but that paired with this crazy multi-person perspective?  Genius.  It's the #1 reason I loved this book so much.

By the end of the book, I felt like I knew each character so well.  Green spends a lot of time making sure you really understand the emotions of each person, in every chapter.  It doesn't take you long to start feeling invested in their well-being.

Themes of infidelity, being true to self, and "everything happens for a reason" were strong throughout the novel.  There are some GREAT plot twists, and the ending is perfect.

I only had 2 small beefs with this book.  Number one: the themes of the novel are highlighted WAY too much.  I think every character said/thought something along the lines of "she felt like she was coming home" or "he finally felt at home" or (enter cliche statement about home here).  Halfway through, I was like, "OKAY, GOT IT, THE BEACH HOUSE IS A METAPHOR, WE'RE GOOD".  Same goes for the "everything happens for a reason" theme.  I prefer it when authors assume I am smart enough to figure out the embedded themes on my own, cuz I is purty intellijent.

My other (very minor) complaint was that the American characters would sometimes use British-style language in conversation.  Not a huge deal, but it was noticeable...I'm sure it snuck in because Green is British.  It was just a little awkward in the dialogue when I picked up on it.

But overall?  The rest of the book was so good, I don't even really care about those 2 small complaints.  This is not my first Jane Green novel, and while I have really enjoyed most of them (Jemima J is definitely another to check out), this one might be my favorite so far.  This would be a great summer read, so quick--go get it before summer officially ends!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Feature and Follow (2)

Hi all!  I had a lot of fun meeting some new people during last week's Feature and Follow, so I figured I'd do it again this week.  F+F is hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read--stop by either of their blogs to check it out!

This week's question: What are you reading right now?  How do you like it?

Right now, I'm reading Jane Green's The Beach House (book cover photo in sidebar).  So far, I love it!  I enjoy women's fiction that feels "smart"...books that go beyond shopping and dreamy boys and impossibly silly situations, and that deal with real-life relationship issues.  This book does that.  I'm about 50% done, so I should have a full review for you next week...but so far, it looks like it will be a good one!



I also just started a new audiobook--The Mermaid Chair, by Sue Monk Kidd.  I am still only on the first disc, so no big review yet, but I will say I enjoy the narrator quite a bit.

What are you reading this weekend?

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

August 2012 Reads (and other stuff)

On my old personal blog, I used to do a monthly post recapping all of the books I read that month.  I figured I'll continue that here, because even though I'm reviewing every book on the blog as I go, it's also nice to see what kind of progress I made over the last month.  Here's what I read in August (three were pre-blogging, so I included Goodreads review links):

The Other Woman by Jane Green (here's my Goodreads review)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Goodreads review)
Still Alice by Lisa Genova (Goodreads review)
Gold by Chris Cleave (blog review)
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (blog review)
Look Again by Lisa Scottoline (blog review)

Definitely one of my more productive reading months this year!  I know that's not much compared to many other bloggers, but I think many moms of babies/toddlers will agree that reading habits inevitably get harder to maintain when you have a crazy (though adorable) banshee running through your house 24/7.  (Speaking of which, I saw this excellent post on Book Riot last week; mom book bloggers, check it out!)

I used to average about 75 books/year...now I'm closer to 50.  But I'll trade those 25 books for time with my little banshee, no questions asked.  Also, since this is still a new blog, I should warn you that I am also an obsessive mommy photographer, and any mention of my son requires me to immediately share a heart-melting photo of him (well, it melts mine, and so I naturally imagine it melts all others).  Ooooo, here it comes!

Le sigh.

Anywho.  I'll end here by saying that I'm quite enjoying this book blogging venture so far.  Thanks to all those that have welcomed me to the blogging community (book bloggers and book readers alike!).  If you haven't yet, follow me on Twitter @TheWRRedhead...I'm still working on being witty in 140 characters or less.  Twitter is not for the verbose.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Happy Monday! What Are You Reading?

Happy Labor Day to all my fellow laboring (and non-laboring) Americans!  I was hoping to do a few other posts this weekend, but it's just been way too beautiful outside to be at the computer.  Never fear though, I've got lots o' reading going on, and a few new reviews should be coming your way this week.

What Are You Reading? is hosted weekly by Book Journey.  Here's what's been on my reading plate (and will be soon):

Read This Week:

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline (see my review here)

Reading Now:

The Confession by John Grisham (audiobook, currently finishing up the last CD)

The Beach House by Jane Green (awesome so far!)

Sometimes It Snows In America by Marisa Labozzetta (ARC from Guernica Editions, almost done)

Reading Next:

Mystic River, and A Drink Before The War (both by Dennis Lehane)
My local library is holding a reading/signing with Lehane on 9/24, and I got a seat!  So I want to hurry up and read these beforehand (already own both but never read).  The only book of his that I've read so far is Shutter Island, which was fan-effing-tastic, so I am looking forward to these.

So, what are YOU reading?
 
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