December 29, 2009 - "...Give Me a Book I've Never Read"

Applicable to nothing in my weight loss journey, for the next few days I'm going to be posting the list of books that I've read this year.  I've always been a reader, averaging 1 or 2 books a month, but with the unemployment thing this year, I got quite a bit more reading done.  Because the comprehensive list would be too long to post as one blog, I'll break it into chunks starting with January to May before the deluge begins.  Each book listed contains my review.  Take it for what you will.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "My best friend is a person who will give me a book I've never read."  Hopefully at least by giving you my reading list for the year you'll find something you want to give a whirl.

January:


Family Trust by Amanda Brown, 336 pages (*** ½, From the author of Legally Blonde, which I didn’t know was a book, this story finds over-worked Becca suddenly tied to Edward, a male socialite whose only job is to attend charity functions with stupid names, through a little orphaned girl named Emily. Named co-guardians of the four-year-old, Becca and Edward must learn to handle not only a small child but also each other. Formulaic with hyperbolic characters, but it was still a fun read. Emily, the four-year-old, is a hoot! And you can’t help rooting for Edward and Becca.)


February:

Don’t Look Down by Jennifer Cruisie & Bob Mayers, 384 pages (** ½, I’m not a big fan of books written by more than one individual. I think it tends to muddy the writing, and while I didn’t see it here, it did feel like there were two different genres trying to be packed into one book. On one hand you had total chick lit, but on the other there were explosions, and snipers, and CIA operatives. Plus, the end had way too many twists and turns (not all of them believable or really adequately explained). I didn’t really hate the book, but I didn’t really like it either.)


March:

Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Cruisie, 416 pages (***, Of the two Jennifer Cruisie books I’ve read lately, this is the better one. It’s the same storyline, just packed in a different setting with different names. But, I liked her characterizations better in this one. The independent woman has more depth, a little something more to hide. The standoffish guy is a little less Rambo, a little more chauvinist, which for some reason makes him more likeable. Or maybe that’s just my issues surfacing. The plot’s convoluted like the last one, but a little more believeable. Sort of. Fluff, but a pretty good read.)

Bleachers by John Grisham, 176 pages (** ½, Not at all what I was expecting, but ok. An injured, damaged high school football player returns home to say goodbye to the dying coach that in turn made his life hell and made him who is he, good or bad. Some of the relationships seemed genuine, others seemed too superficial to be included as thoroughly as they were. But, there’s something about the book that makes you realize you can’t escape your past, no matter how hard you want to, and sometimes you just have to embrace it to be able to move on.)


April:

Little Pink Slips by Sally Koslow, 400 pages (*** ¼, An editor of a venerable ladies magazine, Magnolia Gold finds herself being progressively pushed out of the position by which she is almost singularly identified. And as the story goes along, the mayhem that exists around her escalates. I found myself enjoying the craziness, but hoping for more in the way of fulfillment for Magnolia. Still, it was a very enjoyable read.)

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore, 444 pages (** ¾, The concept is unique: a narrative of the “lost” years of Jesus’ life. And the protagonist is likeable, but I couldn’t get past the crazy way that Jesus, and Biff, roam the earth in search of the Wise Men, and end up discovering all Eastern religions and incorporating them into Christianity upon return to the Middle East. Nor could I get past the fact that Jesus Christ is an unrepentant swearer. It just seemed wrong to me. The first third of the book was great. The rest was ok.)

May:

The Summons by John Grisham, 304 pages (**, I think I was expecting too much. When Ray Atlee is summoned home by his dying father, a hardened judge, only to find him dead upon arrival, Ray’s life is turned upside down. But not in any real emotional way though he’s dealing with the death of his distant father and the appearances/disappearances of his addict brother. The ending was disappointing. It was my second Grisham book of the year, and I’m really not inclined to give him a third chance based on this one.)

The Birth House by Ami McKay, 416 pages (*** ¼, The story of a young woman, the first girl born in her family for generations, who is pulled into a life of midwifery is strangely compelling. I was sixty pages in before I realized it, and I didn’t really want to put the book down. The story leads you through the life of Dora Rare, from her first encounter with childbirth at the side of the local “witch” Miss B, through her struggle against the all-knowing doctor from the larger town at the bottom of the mountain. Dora encounters not only prejudice from the doctor but from people she’s known all her life who think she’s too independent and too much influenced by Miss B. But when there’s need for her, the women of the community seek her out, and you experience medicine in the early 20th century through Dora’s eyes.)

Ivy Briefs by Martha Kimes, 288 pages (** ½, The amusing neuroses of the author as she battles first the amazement that she got into Columbia Law School followed by her near-insanity as she struggles through her classes gets lost with all of the legal mumbo-jumbo. Granted it gives you a realistic picture of what anyone in law school, forget the ivy league, #4 in the country law school, is up against, but sometimes you feel as bored as she is, slogging through terms that have no meaning, and you don’t get a set of ancillary materials like she does. Still, it is rather entertaining to watch Martha struggle through Year 1, enjoy the slight sense of knowing what she’s doing in Year 2, along with her summer internship at the Lavish Law Firm that wines and dines her spectacularly, and see her senioritis of Year 3. I wish a little more emphasis would have been put on the people she encounters in school. The diverse population was what made Legally Blonde really pop. It would have added a whole new layer here.)

Stay tuned for more tomorrow...