Two for one!

So...remember when I said I was going to take a little break from reading? Yeah, it didn't last long. I've read two books since my last post and I'm reading another currently. Though the last two books have nothing in common, I'm still going to review them in the same post.

It took me less than a week to read Bossypants by Tina Fey. It's not a long book, but it is so worth the read. I always liked Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live, but once I fell in love with 30 Rock, I gained a new respect for her. She's hilarious! I think I love her because she has the same sarcastic and sometimes down-right nerdy humor that I also possess. I mean look at this cover...

On the back she quotes her dad saying "I hope that's not really the cover. That's going to really hurt sales."


The second book I read this past week is one I've been holding off on because [I'm cheap] it's a best-seller and therefore more expensive to get on my nook. The Help by Kathryn Stockett is absolutely now one of my favorite books.



I don't know why, but anything that has to do with the South and civil rights just gets me everytime. Naturally, I consider myself a southern girl...my Papa was from Alabama so occasionally that thick accent comes out. The Help takes place in Jackson Mississippi and tells the story from the perspective of Skeeter, Minny, and Aibileen. It's one of those heartfelt, sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious kind of stories that I am always a sucker for. Just last night I found out [while watching the previews at the movie theater] that there is going to be a movie made based on the book. I just about wet my pants with excitement. I seriously can not wait for it!

The Virgin Suicides

It started with the movie. Instant netflix. I liked the movie despite its morbid subject matter. When I mentioned it to my sister she told me the book was better. I did not even know it was based on a book...so I quickly snatched that up. It took me awhile to get through it, already knowing the plot there wasn't much thrill in reading this book. There are some differences between the two but I would suggest reading the book, then seeing the movie. I got to a point where I just wanted to be done with this one so I can move on to the next.

I'm moving next month so my reading time will probably be occupied with packing time. We'll see...for now I'm not really reading anything. (gasp!)

A Vintage Affair

This was a fun novel to read. Sometimes I struggle with British writers, because..well, I'm not British so when I see the word "colour" or "favourite" I think TYPO! Haha. But the reason I think I enjoyed this so much is because the main character, Phoebe, quits her glamorous job to open up a vintage clothing shop. She gets to meet cool old people who tell her stories of their pasts and travel to France to go to markets where she finds things for the shop...and in the meanwhile meets (and begins to date) two guys who are loaded...it basically sounds like a fairy tale life.

Appropriately, while traveling this past weekend I got to check out some fun vintage shops and found myself wishing I had the expertise of Phoebe Swift so that I could know what's legit and what is phony. I liked this book and it was a good break from all the historical fiction I've been reading lately. Just an easy-going and enjoyable read.

Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution

I think I have a new favorite..."historical fiction". I just finished reading Madame Tussaud and the nerd in me just didn't want it to end.

I saw this novel on display in Target one day and instantly the name caught my attention. I thought "Isn't that the wax museum lady?" I had no idea the history behind Madame Tussaud's career as a wax modeler. This novel tells the events of the French Revolution through the eyes of the Third Estate (the lower of the French class system). Marie is the main character and the woman who we know today as Madame Tussaud. Her family straddles the two worlds of Royalists and Revolutionists. Based on her experience, you really get to see both sides of the story. At the end of the novel Moran gives you a breakdown of what is true and what is fiction.
This really comes in handy if you're lazy like me and don't care to look up the historical truths yourself. I REALLY enjoyed reading this novel. It's definitely going on the favorites list!

Cindy's Recommendations Part II

Remember when I said my mother-in-law recommended two books...well today I finished up "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak.



The best part about this book is that it is narrated by death. It takes away all the preconceived notions that we have about death (black hooded cape, long ghostly face, etc...) and turns him into what I felt was just a regular guy doing his job. He's telling the story of Liesel Meminger a.k.a. "the book thief". Her story takes place during World War II...and I don't know if I've mentioned it before but I'm kind of a history nerd. But the book focuses less on the historical aspect and more on the adventures of a 13-yr-old girl living in Nazi Germany...oh and there's a jew living in her basement. I won't spoil anymore for you, but it's definitely worth picking up.

The Twilight Saga...

Yes I read all the Twilight Series and have seen all the movies. No I am not obsessed with Vampires. The summer before the first movie came out, a family friend noticed I was doing a lot of reading at the beach and recommended the Twilight series to me. Having no clue what it was about or that it would become such a big deal, I snatched up the books (there were only 3 at the time) and immersed myself in the world of vampires, werewolves, and...half-breeds?

I have a personal tradition where if I read a book that is then made into a movie, I MUST see the movie to compare the two. More often than not hollywood screws up the story, but I think they did a pretty decent job with Twilight. That is if you don't mind under-budgeted movies with cheesy effects (first film) and Kristen Stewart.

While I do love the Twilight books I have yet to read all the twilight "wanna-be" books that are so cleverly merchandised at B&N. No thanks. One...make that four... vampire books are enough for me.

Oh, and in case you're wondering. I'm team Edward.

Cindy's Recommendations

My mother-in-law is an avid reader. In the time it takes me to read one book, she's probably read three or four. The last two books I read came recommended by and borrowed from her.


The Thirteenth tale by Diane Setterfield started out so slow. I've had experience reading British literature and have found that it tends to get annoyingly detailed to the point where I am screaming just get to the point already! This book had it's moments but as the story developed, it got really intense! Things get really twisty and when "the truth is revealed" I admit I had to go back and re-read because my brain was just going "Wait...what?!".

The Weird Sisters

One night my sister sends me a picture text of the book "The Weird Sisters" by Eleanor Brown. I have three sisters (no brothers) so although it was intended as a joke, I immediately added it to the mental list of books I want to read.

The Andreas family is one of readers. Their father, a renowned Shakespeare professor who speaks almost entirely in verse, has named his three daughters after famous Shakespearean women. When the sisters return to their childhood home, ostensibly to care for their ailing mother, but really to lick their wounds and bury their secrets, they are horrified to find the others there. See, we love each other. We just don't happen to like each other very much. But the sisters soon discover that everything they've been running from-one another, their small hometown, and themselves-might offer more than they ever expected.

I've never read a book where the narrator was a group of people speaking as one. Would you call that first person plural? The sisters as a whole are narrating the story, which took some getting used to.

The book had a slow start but as it picked up (and the sisters started to reveal their secrets to each other) I really got into it. I was much more interested in the drama between the sisters than in their ability to spit out Shakespeare references at the drop of a hat.

I thought this book would be a hilarious interpretation of sisterhood that I could easily compare to my own siblings but it turned out that there were not many similarities at all.

I felt the book had a pretty abrupt end. Some parts were drawn out and then you get to the end and it seemed like everything got summed up pretty quickly. I'd probably recommend this book but I wouldn't say it's one of my favorites.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

I've read about 6 or 7 books since I got my Nook this Christmas. That's all...

Recently I downloaded "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford. It was on the B&N recommended list and turned out to be a really great story. I mostly like to read fiction novels and every once in awhile I come across a fictitious story that will have some historical truth to it. The story takes place in the US during World War II and focuses a lot on our treatment of the Japanese American citizens during the war. In history classes I feel like you learn "Japanese people were sent to internment camps" but they never go into depth over it so I never really thought about what that must have been like. It's really sad and makes me wonder what my stance would have been had I been living back then. Would I have been scared like most people who were satisfied by having the Japanese americans round up and sent to internment camps?...or would I have realized how wrong that was? I don't want to give too much of the book away but it was really good and I would definitely recommend it.

The Beginning

I've always been somewhat of a book worm. My favorite day of week in elementary school was library day. The problem I've found as I get older is that I tend to forget what books I have read, and whether I enjoyed them or not. So I thought this blog would be a fun project to review books I've read and hopefully others might find it useful.

For as long as I can remember I've always thought of reading as my favorite past time. For a short period during high school I absolutely despised reading. We were forced to read "the classics" in our English classes and I found them to be well...boring! I know some people will be highly offended by that statement. But I am not claiming to be some literary expert. I took all of ONE literature class in college (and LOVED it!). While I was in school I did mostly text book reading, but during the summers you'd find me at the beach with a stack of books next to my chair. Now that I have finished school I have more time to devote to reading books I enjoy and so I am a constant reader. I do not read for enlightenment or for some higher understanding of life. I read for fun.