Precious

It's a good thing I decided to read something lighter first. Push by Sapphire was a tough read. I saw the movie Precious last month and knew going into the movie it would be tough to see. I'm a master's student in social work and lots of people were talking about this movie last quarter when it came out. The movie was tough to watch but for some reason the book was harder to read. Perhaps because seeing it on the screen you knew it was actors playing their role and nothing was really happening. In the book it was hard to remember this was a character. I guess this might be a compliment to the author who made it so real it was scary.

One of the most interesting things about the book to me is that it is written through Precious' perspective. It made it a little difficult to read through the spelling and grammar errors. It was interesting though because Precious was learning to read and as her reading skills improved the writing became easier to read. At times it felt like as the reader I was learning to read along with her. Many of the pages were hard to decipher just as they would be for a beginning reader. I again have to give the author credit for this creative way of placing the reader into the characters shoes.

As a social worker, the book was also interesting in seeing the character's extreme dislike of social workers. It gave me a reminder of viewing the system through the eyes of the clients and why so many of them have some trust issues or negative views with social workers involved.

Overall a heavy read but worth reading in the end.

Current Read: The Cinderella Pact by Sarah Strohmeyer

Should Have Skipped This One

Okay so I lied. I was going to read Push by Sapphire but when I actually went over to my basket of library books, I decided I was in the mood for something a little lighter first.

So I picked up The Breakup Club by Melissa Senate instead. It was definitely a lighter read. It's another book I can't figure out why it made my list but it's been on there for awhile. I do remember it coming through at the library and have to assume I must have been getting over or heading towards a break up to even consider reading it. While I guess I can't say it was the worst book I ever read, I really don't want to waste an entry on it, that's how bad it was.

Basically it's a light easy read with no substance to it at all. It read as quickly as a romance novel just without all the steamy sex scenes. It was pretty boring and I never quite got the point of the story. Perhaps you have to be in the breakup mind set or something to be reading it. Anyways, I do not recommend it.

Current Read (this time for real): Push by Sapphire

Witchy

Sometime in November my best friend called and was sad because she really wanted to go see Wicked. I didn't know much about the extremely popular play but I decided we should go because she wanted to see it so badly and because I hadn't been to see a play in such a long time. I really enjoyed the play, even without really knowing what I was getting into.

That said, short of the same characters and the same title, the play and the book have so few similarities. I've been listening to the book for the last few weeks and finally finished it. I enjoyed the book a lot more than I thought I would but I have some conflict with the fact that the play is so far from the book.

The book vaguely reminded me of the Harry Potter series, but might only be because of the magic/sorcery. I loved the introductions of new characters because the author came up with such creative names for each of his characters. I also was pulled in by the fact that this book was written with the ending somewhat already written. I found myself wondering how the author wrote the book. I'm also very curious about the next two books in the series Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men both also by Gregory Maguire.

Lastly, the book got extra points with me simply because there is an elephant princess, Nastoya. I love elephants and just about drove off the road when this character was introduced, it put a big smile on my face.

Current Listen: Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs

A Dog Story

(N if you read these, skip this entry)

I've been fortunate enough to have two wonderful dogs in my life. Sadly a little over a year ago we had to put down our first family dog. Then this past August we got another dog. We got Daisy when I was 9 years old, we had 15 wonderful years with her. It's amazing how attached you can become to a dog. It's amazing how they affect our lives. Laney is the complete opposite of Daisy, and we are still learning her personality. I still miss Daisy all the time. I knew we would need to get another dog at some point but I wasn't sure we could all love another dog. Laney doesn't replace Daisy by any means but somehow I've still fallen in love with her and her giant head and awkwardness.

Why am I talking about all this? A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas was my latest read. To be perfectly honest I couldn't remember why this book was on my list. I vaguely remembered it coming through the check in at the library and printing up its screen to add to my list. I couldn't remember anything about it though and I seriously considered just skipping it. I am so glad I didn't.

I haven't read that many books yet this year but so far this one was my favorite. It's a memoir of the authors and it mostly details her tragic loss of her husband to a brain injury. Her husband chased their dog into a New York street and was stuck by a car. I say loss not because he died but because he suffered a severe brain injury and was never the same. I related to the book in so many ways.

Every time I thought wow this book was written for me, I turned the page and found another reason to think the same thing again. After her husbands injury she ends up adopting two more dogs. The stories of how they come to her and the stories of the three of them together had me laughing and tearing up. She also briefly mentions her schizophrenic aunt and connects this experience with her current experience with her husband.

I cannot praise the book enough. Certainly not the greatest read ever, but for me it really fit. I have to say too, I'm somewhat glad I didn't read it over a year ago when it was added to my list, I read it at the exact right time.

Current Read: Push by Sapphire

Books as Movies

Usually I'm disappointed by books made into movies. Very rarely do I like a movie more than the book version. This is one of those rare moments though. I liked reading The Jane Austen Book Club, but I really liked the movie version.

I tend to always have to read the book first too before I go and see the movie based on the book. Once in awhile though I see a movie that I didn't realize was based on a book. More often than not I suddenly have a new book to read. This is what happened with JABC. I saw the movie some time ago, enjoyed it and wanted to see how the book read. It was added to the list and now I finally get around to reading it.

I guess it just wasn't as interesting as the movie to me for some reason. I also really didn't like that one of the women (spoiler alert) ends up going back to her cheating husband. I struggled with that part of the book. Each of the group members was portrayed as a strong capable woman and then at the end the cheater sticks a note under his ex's door and she takes him back. Which isn't to say I really have a right to say this makes her less strong a character I suppose. After all I've never been married so what right do I have to say she should have torn the note up. It just didn't sit well with me.

Honestly my favorite part of the book was an added part at the end titled "The Novels" which gave a short explanation of each of the Austen novels. Overall the book wasn't a waste of my time but I was in surprise to not enjoy it as much as I had liked the move.

Current Read: A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas

M is for Mystery

So in general I’m not that big a fan of mystery books. They just aren’t my cup of tea. Having worked in a library though I know there are many many fans of mysteries. I also had to shelve them quite often. Two series caught my eye and I thought I should give them a try. The first was the Bubbles series. Certainly not the best-written books ever and way too cute and unrealistic for me but they did make me laugh a lot. I also loved that the main character was Lithuanian, like me! I’m also not usually all for the fairy tale unbelievable endings, but in this case I made an exception. (Spoiler alert) the series ends with Bubbles finding out she is a Lithuanian princess. For a while I was pretty disappointed but the more I thought about it, it really fit the series.

The second series that interested me was the Kinsey Millhone mysteries. If for nothing else I have to give author Sue Grafton credit for coming up with a series for her own job security. The series works it’s way through the alphabet. "A" is for Alibi, "B" is for Burglar, "C" is for Corpse… and so on.

I of course had to start with the first one. Published in 1982 A is for Alibi is older than I am. In fact I was worried our library wouldn’t have a copy, but thankfully we have several. The copy I got is a very old paperback barely keeping itself together. I love old books like this. I have to say I wasn’t too impressed with the book to begin with and it was hard to keep reading.

I did notice right away though that you could easily tell the book was written some time ago. Kinsey talks about leaving messages all over the city for people she is looking for. When she leaves to travel to LA she leaves the motel number with her secretary in case anyone is looking for her. I constantly had to remind myself that the book was written in the 80s, pre e mail and cell phones. There is also a point in the beginning where she is filling up her gas tank at a self service gas station and marveling at how she can do this. I was thrown off but then realized that perhaps that was the newest thing then. Also when she does get to LA her hotel room is a mere “$11.95 plus room tax in the off-season and includes a ‘Continental’ breakfast…” $11.95! These little finds kept me interested for most of the book.

Overall I guess my issue with mysteries is that nothing really happens until the last few pages. The whole book is maybe this happened maybe that happened and then boom in the last five pages you have the whole story. My other issue is that so far I’ve read two series with strong female leads (yay!), but somehow they always have a man involved to save the day or to end up being the bad guy. Either way though, this strong female character always falls into bed, like magic, with this man. It just bothers me.

"A" is for Alibi was worth reading and I’m glad I finally managed to start a second mystery series. No thoughts yet on whether "B" is for Burglar will make it on the “to-read” list.

Current Read: The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

The Triple Bind

So, 1 down 99 to go.

First book of the New Year to be finished was The Triple Bind by Stephen Hinshaw. Overall an excellent read. Dr. Hinshaw explores the pressures facing today's teenage girl's and explains his theory of what he has termed the "triple bind."

Though I am no longer a teenage girl I certainly related to the book. I enjoyed the pop culture references used to illustrate his points as well. Some of them did make me feel a little old though as they were not the same things I grew up with during my teen years. The author references Gossip Girl and the A List Novels which I only have very limited former library worker knowledge on.

Bratz Dolls and Pussycat Dolls: Teaching our Girls to become Sexual Objects was definitely my favorite chapter. I have been complaining about the Bratz Dolls since I first saw them. Hinshaw words what I've never quite been able to put in words in this chapter when it comes to oversexed musical groups and pimped out dolls.

My least favorite chapter was The Wired Child: How Cyberculture Interferes with Girl's Identities. In all fairness the chapter itself wasn't poorly written or uninteresting by any means. It was my least favorite because the opening story is one I have hated since I heard about it when it first happened. It's the story of the suicide of Megan Meier. I was disgusted and saddened when I first heard about this and still three years later just reading about it again upset me. Hinshaw makes valid points in this chapter but they are quite scary to think about.

The book also includes many stories from teen girls and since it's a recent book it's pretty applicable. I found it fascinating to read and have a feeling I'll be thinking about it at least for the next few days.

Current Read: "A" is for Alibi by Sue Grafton

New Year

I'm not a big believer in New Year's resolutions. They never seem to work for me and usually just leave me feeling more guilty about whatever I wanted to change that I didn't succeed in changing. A few year's ago though, 2004, I came up with this idea of instead of making a specific resolution that I would challenge myself to do things I feared. That year ended up becoming my "Year of No Fear."

I challenged myself all year to do things I would normally have been too scared to do. Some of the highlights of the year were going para sailing in the Bahamas, getting my driver's license, and going back to college after having left for what I thought would be forever (proud to say it only turned into a 9 month break).

Each year since I've tried coming up with new whole year challenges instead of some resolution I'm bound to give up on by February. It seems to have worked, though YoNF remains the best idea I've had thus far.

This year I've decided on a pretty crazy challenge for the year, to read 100 books. The goal overall makes sense as I love to read. It's also a little crazy since I work full time and I'm in school full time for my master's. One of my least favorite things about college was that I no longer had time to read for pleasure. I still read over breaks but for the most part I was only able to read textbooks (so not fun).

That changed a few years ago when I started working for the Library. Suddenly I had books surrounding me and long lists of books I wanted to read. Still though it was hard to work time in for them. After I graduated I had more time on my hands and resumed my love of books.

Last year I found out about Goodreads. It was awesome to finally have a place to put my never ending "to-read" list. Sadly though my list just keeps getting longer and my "read" list is not keeping up with it. I'm also a bit worried because a few months ago I stopped working for the Library. I still go quite a bit but it's not the same as being there almost daily.

So perhaps because I needed a new challenge or perhaps because I want that list to shrink, I've decided to read 100 books this year. Honestly I'm a bit worried, but I'm also excited. Also because another challenge I gave myself this year is to write more, I've decided to blog about my journey. I honestly haven't given much thought to rules for this other than that my textbooks do not count but books on disc do. Other than that I'm leaving the options open. I really hope this is a success and if not, well at least I'll have read some (hopefully) great books.

Current read: The Triple Bind by Stephen Hinshaw

Current Listen: Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire