Beth's Bookshelf 2009

[DanC_84]

Thanks a lot for that review Beth, really helpful.

 

I think I will reverse my previous reversal and put this one on my wishlist.

[bethany725]

Thanks, Dan!

Your wishlist is growing everyday, isn't it? Amazing what this site will do to our TBR lists..

[DanC_84]

Thanks, Dan!

Your wishlist is growing everyday, isn't it? Amazing what this site will do to our TBR lists..

 

In all honesty it is horrible. I am trying to save but I continually find myself putting together possible Amazon shopping baskets on my lunch breaks.

[bethany725]

You're doomed!

[Janet]

Oh, I'm glad you ended up 'enjoying' it. Your review is excellent and it certainly is a book that is though-provoking!

[bethany725]

Thank you, Janet!

I DID "enjoy" it .. I can see myself buying a copy of this once I'm settling into a home and can actually collect books, and re-reading it many times. It's one of those that I can see the re-read being even better than the original reading.

[bethany725]

Mini Review of Ring by Koji Suzuki

 

Synopsis:

 

"One night in Tokyo, four healthy teenagers die simultaneously of heart failure. A journalist, Asakawa, is drawn to the inexplicable case and starts to investigate, only to discover that the four watched a videotape together exactly one week before dying. When the journalist watches the tape himself, and is warned that he too has only one week to live unless he can decipher the tape's hidden message, his work to solve the mystery takes on a deadly urgency. Chillingly told and shrewdly intelligent, Ring is a masterful mystery and a sensuously literary post-modern trip that will simultaneously horrify and delight all fans of the film..." (http://www.amazon.co.uk)

 

I didn't enjoy this book.. I found it boring from the beginning, and it never changed for me. No spine-tingling.. no chilling bits.. no nothing. I had no trouble putting the book down, and I wasn't motivated to pick it back up.

 

The writing style also seemed a bit stunted and elementary to me, with lots of short, choppy sentences, but that could definitely be the result of translation. Either way, made a boring story more difficult to read for me.

 

Sorry.. not many good things to say about this one.

 

My Rating: 6/10

[Charm]

Oh dear ... I think I'll give it a miss. Thanks for the warning!

[bethany725]

Haha.. sorry to discourage! Hopefully this way you'll be able to avoid my ill fate though..

[bethany725]

Mini Review of The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

 

Synopsis:

 

Imagine, if you will, New York City, 1899 . . .

Society's elite: the glamour, the grandeur, the glittering parties, the most handsome beaus, the most beautiful debutantes, the sounds of decadence, the rich girl, the humble boy, the forbidden love, the hushed whispers, the stolen glances, the secret rendezvous, the sin, the scandal, the mystery, the revenge.

You are cordially invited to step into The Luxe, where the secrets are dark and the sins are delicious . . .

 

 

All ball gowns and glitter and old money and seeming perfection.. but it isn't long before the facade starts to crumble, and out come the secrets, rumours, and betrayals. The story follows Miss Elizabeth Holland and her family, one of the finest families in Manhattan. After Elizabeth's mom reveals a secret that could lead to the family's fall, the burden of saving the Holland name falls on her shoulders. But that's not the only secret amongst this circle of wealthy socialites, and as secrets are revealed and knowledge falls into the wrong hands, it becomes quite the tangled web of deception.

 

 

The reading is fast and easy, which is no surprise since this was penned mainly for young adults. It wasn't long before I was sucked in completely, and it became really hard to put the book down. The tale and its characters are randy and rompy, and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. It's quite addictive, and one of those books that made me actually miss the characters once the story was over. Luckily, there are 2 more in the series, and I hope to pick them up soon. I'd recommend this book to anyone that enjoys escaping to a bit of mindless entertainment, loves not knowing quite who to root for in a book, and can deal with a bit of unabashedly gossipy, catty, and sassy fiction... all from "prim and proper" young debutantes of old Manhattan society.

 

 

My Rating: (on a scale similar to chick-lit scale) 10/10

[DanC_84]

Wow, glad to see you enjoyed that one so much Beth. I am considering it as my next read.

[Mac]

I'm not sure this particular genre is quite up my street, Beth. What do you think? Do I put it on my TBR pile, or avoid adding something else to my mountainous collection?

 

Hope you're very well.

[bethany725]

Wow, glad to see you enjoyed that one so much Beth. I am considering it as my next read.

 

I bet you'll like it, Dan.. and it will certainly be a lighter read than that 900 page brick you're working through now!

 

I'm not sure this particular genre is quite up my street, Beth. What do you think? Do I put it on my TBR pile, or avoid adding something else to my mountainous collection?

 

Hope you're very well.

 

Am very well, thank you.

I'd say rent this one from the library, if you're unsure.. I will be the first to say this one isn't for everyone, but it's great fun if you can just let go and let it be what it is. (That's assuming you can stomach this kind of mindlessness, which luckily.. I can with no troubles!)

[bethany725]

Mini Review of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

 

Synopsis:

 

Folksy and fresh, endearing and affecting, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is the now-classic novel of two women in the 1980s: of gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is also of two women--of the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth--who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, a Southern kind of Cafe Wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder. And as the past unfolds, the present--for Evelyn and for us--will never be quite the same again. . .

 

I was really excited to read this book for two reasons:

1. I've never seen the movie, and the author of the book (who also co-wrote the screenplay for the movie) is from Alabama.

2. The Whistle Stop Cafe actually exists, and is located in a town in Alabama very close to where I grew up. I've eaten there numerous times, and it's been there as long as I can remember. It's sort of a cultural icon in our towns and I was excited to read the stories inspired by this little diner.

 

I have to say that I think the book fell a tiny bit short of my expectations. The characters are indeed endearing, and much of the story-telling is funny and clever. Mrs. Cleo Threadgoode infuses each little story with life and love, and she passes lessons to Evelyn in a way that only precious, old, grandmotherly women can. Those are the good bits, and what gives the book its sense of charm and southern hospitality.

 

For me, the bad came from the structure of the book. There's a few kinds of short "chapters" going on here.. One little community newsletter sent out by neighborly Dot Weems that keeps all of the Whistle Stop residents up to speed on what's going on in the neighborhood. Following that, there's a few pages devoted to revealing the details of those happenings. I like that part, but what got me is that there's a LOT of skipping back and forth in time, and I had a hard time getting the stories sorted out in a proper order in my mind. For example, the reader is informed of major events without any details provided, only to have that story really be properly told 70 pages later. Furthermore, along with those other two types of "chapters," are many chapters that are given from the perspective of Mrs. Cleo Threadgoode in Rose Terrace Nursing Home, telling some of the Whistlestop stories to Mrs. Evelyn Couch, who visits each week. With three different modes of telling stories, about 15 characters, and a complete lack of continuity in the stories being weaved together to form the overall tale, I got quite confused at points and it proved too difficult to try to flip back in the book to check back on some details or characters, since there was no telling where it would be because of that structure.

 

So there was definitely good and bad for me, but I wouldn't write it off. I seem to be one of those people that often has trouble with books that go back and forth in time constantly, so if you're a reader that can deal with that and not get too confused, you may really like the book. I still want to see the movie, as it's much easier to keep time shifts and different perspectives in order for 2 hours of film instead of 400 pages of book, and I really do think the story is endearing, sassy at times, and lots of fun. I just think that I may need it presented in a different way.

 

My Rating: 7/10

[frankie]

Thanks for the great review! I agree with you on the book, it's endearing and the characters are so warm and comby, but there are those short chapters. The movie has a straight plotline but the book meanders here and there.

 

I thought that you'd seen the movie! I highly recommend it

[bethany725]

I haven't, and now that I know it has a linear timeline, I'm even more excited to see it. I think this could be one of those rare times that the movie is going to be much better for me than the book!

[frankie]

I haven't, and now that I know it has a linear timeline, I'm even more excited to see it. I think this could be one of those rare times that the movie is going to be much better for me than the book!

 

Well hm, I obviously discribed it badly. It does not have a definite linear timeline, it varies between the events in the past and the 'today' when the story of the past is being told. And there are a couple of things that do not go straight but it's definitely easier to follow than the book. And there are not so many characters, the book had a lot of characters I hadn't even heard of in the movie. I've seen the movie maybe 5 times and when I first read the book I was really confused by it, the movie was way easier.

 

I hope you're not discouraged now

[bethany725]

Oh, don't worry.. I am certainly not discouraged! I just read it incorrectly; no worries!

It can't be any tougher to follow than the book's plotline.. And I've never heard of anyone who's seen the movie and didn't like it. I have high hopes still!

[frankie]

Phew! Happy movie watching, whenever you get to it. Remember to post your thoughts on it

[bethany725]

I surely will.

[bethany725]

Mini Review of Wedding Season by Katie Fforde

 

Synopsis:

Sarah is a wedding planner hiding a rather inconvenient truth – she doesn't believe in love. Or not for herself, anyway. But as the confetti flutters away on the June breeze of yet another successful wedding she somehow finds herself agreeing to organise two more, on the same day and only two months away. And whilst her celebrity bride is all sweetness and light, her own sister soon starts driving her mad with her high expectations but very limited budget.

Luckily Sara has two tried and tested friends on hand to help her. Elsa, an accomplished dress designer who likes to keep a very low profile, and Bron, a multi-talented hairdresser who lives with her unreconstructed boyfriend and who'd like to go solo in more ways than one. They may be very good at their work but romance doesn't feature very highly in any of their lives.

As the big day draws near all three women find that patience is definitely a virtue in the marriage game. And as all their working hours are spent preparing for the wedding of the year plus one, they certainly haven't got any time to even think about love; or have they?

 

 

Okay, I sort of dragged myself through this book, unfortunately. I've read a couple other Katie Fforde books, and sometimes the lighthearted, slightly predictable, fluffy chick-lit for which she's known is just the right thing. However, this is my least favorite Fforde book I've read. Here's why:

 

It's a pretty long book at almost 500 pages, and the length is aggravated by a complete lack of twists, turns, or anything remotely resembling unpredictability. I'm not kidding when I say that by page 50 (and that's a generous guess of page number), I knew exactly what was going to happen in the book: who would be paired up with who, what was going to happen to so-and-so, and how the story would wind up. In fact, the book and writing style makes no apology for that, and I'd be really suspicious if the author herself ever claimed to think that any reader could possibly be surprised by any of the happenings in the story.

 

The unpredictability stems from more than just formula chick-lit "happy ending" writing, as the characters are given absolutely no depth at all. The characters' actions and words seemingly serve to do more than divide the characters into "good" and "bad," and each character's perspective placement into those categories is done in no less than one sentence.

 

So incredibly early on, I knew which characters were good, which were bad (no there is no 'grey area' or 'in between' here), and exactly what was going to happen. The biggest problem came in at that point: I still had 430 pages to read and hope against hope that somehow, miraculously, a story with at least one twist or surprise would be developed in the huge span of pages still left to read.Nothing doing, unfortunately. The book ended exactly as I'd expected.. the characters were never blessed with any depth.. and I took 4 days to read a story that could have been told in 5 sentences.

 

I like chick-lit, and I've read, and will continue to read, much of it. But with so much chick-lit and women's fiction options available today that manage to push (and even create new) boundaries of the genre, provide characters that can be complex and engaging, and spin tales that can make readers not only laugh, but really think, this comes in near the bottom of the pack for me. I'll even take some mindless entertainment some days.. but this wasn't entertainment at all. When you take the fun and entertainment out of chick-lit, you're only left with "mindless".. and that's just not a good read.

 

 

My Rating: 6.5/10

Edited August 10, 2009 by bethany725

[bethany725]

Mini Review of Testimony by Anita Shreve

 

Synopsis:

At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora's box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voices--those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal--that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment.

 

I have to say I'm a bit torn on this one. I really enjoyed the story, the plot line kept me reading, and I feel like it was a pretty solid read. But it left me feel like something was missing.. maybe it's that there wasn't that much closure provided to me, and I still had a lot of unanswered questions after the final pages were turned. I felt like the book should have/could have had a bigger impact on me, and it's hard to put my finger on just what cause me to feel this way.. but (as my for my sake as anyone else's) I'm going to ramble a bit here and try to sort through it in my head.

 

What could have been better for me:

1. The book isn't that long in length (305 pages) but introduces LOTS of characters.. probably 20 or so, at least half of which are responsible for providing at least 1 chapter of narrative from their own points of view. In that few pages, with that many story-tellers, it's hard to get as much depth from most of the characters as I would have liked, and I think that could be what led to the feeling of lessened impact for me. It became more of a 'surface' story, without much in the way of how many of the characters really FELT.

 

2. This ties pretty closely to my first point, but I'm rambling, so this is what ya get. The constant changing of point of view and perspective slowed down the suspense of the story. I wanted to keep reading the story, sure, but it hit me towards the end that I wasn't in any suspense, despite the fact that a huge scandal occurred and the readers aren't given that many details,

some participants aren't named until the very end

, and other intriguing storylines are woven into the threads of the story. All that drama could lead to some pretty good intensity and suspense, but the ever-changing style of the narratives slowed that suspense down to where it was pretty much nonexistent for me. The book has enough strengths to where I wanted to keep reading regardless, but.. I could have done with some of that left in there.

 

3. The lack of closure:

What happens to Noelle? What eventually happens to J. Dot, Rob, Mike? What were 'Sienna's' motivations, and who was she REALLY? What happened to Silas' family?

Tons more questions where those came from..

 

I don't want to take anything away from this book.. Like I said, I did enjoy the reading, and I certainly had no trouble finishing this book. And I don't think it's even necessarily a bad thing that I leave a book still thinking about it, wanting closure, or asking questions. From what I've read on the internet from other readers, fans of Shreve REALLY like this book, and place it up there among another popular, "The Pilot's Wife." I liked this book, but can't help but think about what it may have been in the hands of other authors, maybe Jodi Picoult.. Even though she often tells stories from multiple POVs as well, the suspense and continuity usually still has its rightful place in her books. I felt like a bit more exploration could have been done, more depth could have been provided, and more closure could have occurred. The potential was definitely there, and I wanted it to blow me away.. but it just fell a TINY bit short for me.

 

Despite all this, I'd say if you're a fan of Shreve, pick up this book. You may just love it. I have to give it a "like"... But still a good book that I would recommend.

 

My Rating: 8/10

[Mac]

This is a great review, Bethany. You empty your mind the same way I do. I like this thread.

[chesilbeach]

I was interested to read your review of Wedding Season, Beth. I read it earlier in the year, and agreed with pretty much everything what you said. The bigger problem for me, was that the characters attitudes and situations felt so dated, more like early chick-lit novels I read, not the latest ones out now. In fact, if you'd told me it was set in the early 1990's and was written in then, I'd have been more generous towards it. I don't think Katie Fforde has matured in her writing at all, and unlike other chick-lit authors who've allowed their characters to grow up and their writing to develop over the years, she seems to be stuck writing twenty something rom-com, but she's out of touch with that social group.

[Inver]

I so nearly picked Anita Shreve one up for my sis birthday (just so I could have read it) maybe I still will get it.