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Category: books & reading

  • Books Make Me Happy

    Let’s talk about something that makes me happy, shall we? Get me into a conversation about books, and I can almost guarantee that I will forget whatever woes I had been dwelling on, at least for awhile. Here are some questions that I found going around the interwebs a long time ago, and have been meaning to answer:

    The book that’s been on your shelf the longest…

    Most of my childhood books are still at my parents’ house (I’ll have to get those back at some point), but I do have one: Heidi by Johanna Spyri. It was given to me in 1991, when I was 9 years old.

    A book that reminds you of a specific person, place, or time…

    My copy of Practicing His Presence by Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach was given to me in college by my friend Amanda. She’s not a sentimental type, so when she told me that this book had meant a lot to her I knew it must be special. I read it, and it blew me away. Undoubtedly, it changed the way I relate to God. Then a couple of years later, when I was dealing with the worst kind of breakup you can imagine, I read it again. It was exactly what I needed.

    A book you treasure the most…

    For Christmas of 1995, my grandmother gave me two books: Jane Austen The Complete Novels and Charlotte and Emily Brontë The Complete Novels. She wrote inside:

    To Kathleen–

    I hope you enjoy these novels as much as I did.

    B-Ma

    Even though we lived with her for several years when I was in elementary school, and spent a lot of time with her until she died my freshman year of college, I can’t say that I ever really got to know her. She was a doctor, very particular, and I never would have pictured her getting lost in the mystery of the Brontë sisters or the romance of Austen. They are gorgeous books, and some of my favorite stories. But the inscription is what I treasure.

    The newest book you’ve added to your shelves…

    It’s actually what I’m reading now, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. I got it from paperbackswap.com to read for the Rory Gilmore Book Club. I’ve been pretty good lately about not buying new books, and I’ve been getting all my book club books from the library.

    Your current read, the last book you read, and what you’ll read next…

    I just mentioned what I’m currently reading, and the last book I read was Labor Day by Joyce Maynard for book club. I’ll be reviewing it soon. As for what I read next, I’ve decided that I want YOUR input. Vote below and I promise it will be my next book to read other than those for book club, which have to be finished by a deadline.

  • Book Club: Schooled by Anisha Lakhani

    At least half of the members of our book club are teachers, or have been at some point. And those of us who aren’t happen to enjoy a good prep school book every once in awhile, so this was a natural selection for us.

    The simple storyline of this book is as follows: a recent Columbia graduate, Anna Taggert is passionate about teaching despite her parents’ protests about it being a waste of her Ivy League degree. She finds herself lucky to receive a position at a Manhattan Upper East Side private school, but soon discovers it’s nothing like she expected.

    First of all, she lives in what she considers poverty. Then the administration comes down hard on her when she starts teaching “real” lessons, saying that she’s trying to make the rest of them look bad. Everything caters to the families who are listed as “Friends” of the school (aka those who donate the most money). Her students boss her around, her students’ parents bribe her and threaten her, and she is pressured into not giving actual grades. More outrageous stuff happens.

    But then Anna discovers the mysterious and lucrative tutoring world. As soon as she realizes she can score $200 an hour or more, she’s hooked. She balks a little at first when she is slowly suckered into actually DOING her clients’ homework, but the justifications soon set in. Before long she’s not only a part of the private school world that she despised, she’s the epitome of it.

    Schooled was a quick, easy read that I found myself mildly fascinated with and appalled by. But in the end, it was too shallow. We only get to know a few characters, and they are one-sided. No real relationships are formed. There is a single plot without any depth. Although it was written to make a point, I have my doubts as to how realistic the story actually is.

    We get a picture of students who can barely write a coherent paragraph being carried through the most prestigious schools because tutors are doing their work for them. They make it into Ivy League schools and land big-wig jobs simply because of their name or their family’s money. While that may happen on occasion, I don’t think it happens in such a general way as this book made it seem.

    In the end, Anna returns to her morals and figures out a way to actually teach. The problem is, her solution was obvious from the very beginning.

    ***

    If you’d like to read along, next month’s book is Labor Day by Joyce Maynard.

  • Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover

    Isn’t that one of the oldest adages? Meaning, of course, don’t make up your mind about something based on what you see on the outside. I wholeheartedly agree with the principal and in most cases, such as with people, I do my best to adhere to it.

    But y’all, I totally judge books by their covers. I just can’t help it; I’m drawn in by a pretty design. Although I mostly buy books based on recommendations and reviews, occasionally I find myself wandering Barnes & Noble ready to make a random purchase. Those are the times I am susceptible.

    The thing is, I know the cover doesn’t mean anything about the quality of the book. Here are a few of my absolute favorites, for example:

    enders-game

    Ender’s Game. Okay, this cover is completely outdated and screams “geek” when in reality, I think it is palatable even for those who aren’t into sci-fi like I am. I’ve had several friends verify that assertion.

    a-prayer-for-owen_l

    A Prayer For Owen Meany. There’s nothing special going on here. In fact, it’s quite boring, and completely opposite of the genius that lies inside.

    rebecca

    Rebecca. This looks like a sappy romance novel, something I would normally stay far, far away from.

    Do you have any examples of your own? A deceptively bad or good cover, or one that is right on? How do you feel about book covers?

  • Ten On Tuesday: All About Books

    rr10tuesdayI can’t resist answering questions related to books!

    1. Favorite book(s) when you were a child and why?
    The one that stands out most to me is Matilda by Roald Dahl. I read it over and over again until my copy was in shambles. Matilda was reading advanced books at age 4, and I think I wanted to be just like her.

    2. First “grown-up” book you remember reading?
    One day when I was in middle school I decided to peruse the adult fiction books at the library, and I took home an armful of thrillers in my attempt to be grown up. One of them was Mindbend by Robin Cook. In the opening chapter, a woman starts hemorrhaging during a sexual encounter (if memory serves). I was so disturbed that I put the books in a box, in the corner of my room, and covered them with a blanket. I left them there for months because I was ashamed.

    3. Favorite movie that came from a book?
    I’m going to go with Chocolat. I’ve never read the book (although I probably should), but I adore the movie.

    4. Movie that you loved so much that you WISHED there was a book out so that you could find out more about the movie.
    I have never once had that thought. Most of the movies I loved that don’t already come from books don’t lend themselves to book form, but I could see Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon as an amazing read.

    5. Worst book you’ve ever read?
    I have finally come to a happy place in my life where I can allow myself to stop reading a book if I hate it. The ones I have abandoned include Don Quixote, Crime & Punishment, and One Hundred Years of Solitude. Out of the books I have finished, Big Trouble by Dave Barry was just terrible. I read it because I promised a friend I would, and I cringed the entire time.

    6. Book that everyone raves about that you either a) haven’t read and feel slightly dumb for not having read it or b) have tried to read and hated and so feel slightly dumb that everyone is getting something you don’t?
    Anything by James Patterson. Apparently people eat his stuff up, but I think that anyone who pumps out ten books a year can’t be writing quality. (Incidentally, he doesn’t even write most of his books, just comes up with outlines.) I refuse to read a single one.

    7. If you were forced to choose only 3 books that you could read for the rest of your life, which ones would they be?
    The Lord of the Rings, War and Peace, and The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Three nice, long books that I loved.

    8. Name one book that you would recommend everyone you know read.
    I’m going to name three, so deal with it. A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

    9. What is your “guilty pleasure” reading?
    I don’t read hardly any chick lit or romance novels, which is what I think most girls would consider their “guilty pleasure” reading. When I want something easier to read, I choose something written for young adults. I don’t feel guilty about it though.

    10. What book (excepting the Bible or other major document of your religion/faith) has changed your outlook on life the most?
    The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis changed the way I live my life. Practicing His Presence by Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach changed the way I experience God.

  • Book Club: A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

    goolrickI finished reading A Reliable Wife a couple of weeks ago, but we just had our book club meeting this week. I suggested this one based on the description of it, and I had high expectations. It sounded to me like one of my favorite novels of all time, Rebecca. I love a good romantic mystery.

    The story is about a rich businessman named Ralph Truitt who has had a difficult life, and has been living alone in rural Wisconsin for years. Finally he can stand it no longer, and places an ad in the paper for “a reliable wife” motivated by practical, not romantic, reasons. A young woman named Catherine Land accepts his offer, although her plan is to slowly poison him with arsenic and inherit his wealth. But she is unaware that Truitt has his own plans for her.

    Overall I liked the book okay, and it was a quick read, but unfortunately it did not meet my expectations. For one thing, I wish it had left more to the imagination. I think Truitt’s lustiness was overdone in the beginning, and the salaciousness of Catherine and her lover was kind of disgusting. There was no buildup of sexual tension, it was just…there.

    Also, there were aspects to the writing style that bothered me. The author used a lot of short sentences, which at times felt choppy. I also noticed that he would make drastic, sudden, absolute statements about a character which would be reversed on the next page. It was strange.

    I will say that the rest of the members of my book club really liked the story, and it is kind of haunting. I think I was just expecting too much, so I give it three stars. If you’ve read it, let me know what you think.