Katherine's list

[KW]

I got 7 chapter into Hunger Games and put it down. I could see where it was going and the subject matter would be too disturbing for me. Then, I picked up The Knife of Never Letting Go and read the first chapter and put that down -- the language too harsh.

 

Sigh.

[chrysalis_stage]

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TBR:

 

Pirates, by Celia Rees

 

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oo i read the witch child and sorceress by celia rees years ago and enjoyed them, have you? I keep wondering if i should try pirates.

 

I saw you recommend 'The Vampire Chronicles' by LJ Smith and was wondering are they anything like Anne Rice vampire novels . I'm on the lookout for a good vampire read

 

oh i remember reading LJ Smith, enjoyed them alot i always think back to them every now and then, although i did read them as a young teenager.

[Charm]

oh i remember reading LJ Smith, enjoyed them alot i always think back to them every now and then, although i did read them as a young teenager.

 

Yeah, I didnt realise they were young adult books. I've added the Vampire Seduction series to my wishlist instead.

[KW]

Am re-reading OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon.

[KW]

Just finished The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

 

Really enjoyed it!! The first book I couldn't put down in quite some time. FINALLY.

[KW]

I was drawn to the book because I adore the film. And, I was curious about the fashion industry tell all.

 

The book didn't disappoint.

 

Andrea lands a job working as a junior editorial assistant to the world's most prestigious fashion editor, Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief of RUNWAY. Though she has no interest in fashion, she takes the job because she's promised by everyone she meets with in pre-interviews that the job will open doors to her anywhere she wants in the publishing industry.

 

What she becomes, however, is a modern day slave to a woman who is one of the most powerful women in New York City as well as the fashion industry world wide.

 

Andrea works her butt off, literally - losing weight because no one in the industry ever eats, running around NYC doing everything for Miranda from fetching fresh Starbucks at the woman's every whim to picking up the woman's dog, dry cleaning, lunch, breakfast, whatever the woman wants. There is no end to Miranda's demands and as a reader, you find yourself tearing through pages with your mouth open that any one human being deems herself above the rest of the world so as to think the rest of the world owes her everything.

 

Miranda's character is made more astonishing because she's based on real life VOGUE editor Anna Wintour. The comparisons in the book aren't meant to hide anything, the finger points unabashedly Wintour's way. After reading the book in its entirety, one wonders how Weisberger ever got the book published. The ugly truths revealed about Wintour via the fictional character of Miranda are shockingly unbelievable.

 

Andrea's character ( based on Weisberger's real life year-long stint ) is a 23 year old, immature young woman you want to smack sometimes. Narcissistic as most young people today, we often wonder why she endured such a punishing year even for the doors to open into a better job. ( I'd have been out of there at the first turned up nose and 'tude from the woman myself )

 

Miranda's character never changes. She starts out a horrible human being and ends a horrible human being. Still, she's soooo outrageously bad, she's one of the great villains to read.

 

Andrea's character sours. She can't help it -- she spends a year in starvation mode, surrounded by some of the most vain people in the world. Soon, she's treating everyone like peons, just like her boss Miranda.

 

I didn't care for the end. The movie end was better. The end in the book is a disappointment but I won't say why. Let's just say that Andrea's youth and immaturity speak volumes.

 

So what. The front row seat into the fashion industry is worth the read.

[KW]

Now reading RAINWATER by Sandra Brown. So far, so good.

[KW]

This book is a departure for Brown who usually writes romance suspense with graphic violence and graphic sex and foul language. That's why I stopped reading her.

 

But I read a review that SAID this book was different. Softer.

 

And it was.

 

Brown's writing style isn't anything out of the ordinary: very simplistic, so the read is pretty fast. I have to say, I am VERY hard to please when it comes to books. THE ROAD? Couldn't take the monotonous tone of the voice. HUNGER GAMES? The heroine's character was too much 'the author' not enough a young girl to be real. At least to me. These are just examples of why these huge books didn't hold my interest. That, and the subject matter was unpleasant.

 

In Rainwater, Ella runs a boarding house during the depression. A dying man ( we never know what he's dying from ) comes to rent a room. Their lives twine through mundane, every day events in an interesting, educational ( the details about the period are good, you get a realistic idea of life during this period of time ) and tighten as they become better acquainted.

 

It's a small town, simple story about love, family and hope with no swearing, some violence and no sex but plenty of tension between Ella and Mr. Rainwater.

 

I give it four and a half stars.

 

Will I read another Brown book? Probably not. One departure out of many books does not an author's general writing make.

[KW]

Am reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. So far, so good.

[KW]

This book came highly recommended by someone ( an author ) whose opinion I respect. The writing WAS beautiful. The story was interesting and engaged me until the end. I was sure all of the horror and gore would come to a redeeming close. Some reason, some profound insight. Something memorable. More than just the twisted weirdness of the creepy monsters. Something the magnificent writing would culminate into an "ahhhh" moment, sealing the reading experience into something satisfying.

 

No.

 

The grotesqueness was there for...what? Grotesqueness? To make us squeamish? Not leave the reader with nightmares because the monsters were so outlandishly out there, there was no way they could cling to your subconscious and give the reader bad dreams. So, that wasn't the upshot.

 

What was the upshot?

 

Still wondering.

[KW]

I picked this up because I collect Palos Verdes memorabelia. Where I was engrossed in the read, I found the timeline fuzzy. I was there in the mid 60's - the early 80's and the author never pinpointed when the story took place, only leaving vague suggestions. Not that that's a huge issue, just that Marineland closed and in the book it was open and her characters were using slang from the 80s - long after Marineland had closed.

 

Aside from that kind of detail, I enjoyed being in Palos Verdes again. I lived there when the fires broke out, during red tides, and a variety of other community experiences, so revisiting was cool.

 

At its core, this is a story of neglect. How a family disitegrates. What happens when people are neglected and they choose to do things that ultimately kill them or their relationships. It's a downer.

 

But I read it from cover to cover.

 

I know nothing of surfing and that thread of the story was interesting. I'd never, in all my years of school, seen girls be the mean they were to Medina - and that was 30 years ago....so, I had a problem with that.

 

I also thought her portrayal of the people in PV was a little over the top. Not ALL PV folks can be nicely swept into her bias of rich snobs.

 

I felt for the family, the choices, the decay, the death of their unit. Sad.

 

I hope for more literature with Palos Verdes as a character that is positive and beautiful, like the place.