The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares I don't know what took me so long to read this book. I have owned it since it came out when I was in high school. I suppose there are various reasons along the way that I avoided it. For whatever reason though I picked it up and finally started the series. It's a teen read so it's light and fluffy for the most part. I think if I had read it in high school it would have had so much more meaning to it. It was still a good read though and made me think of those years and how important friendships are. It made me think of the silly traditions my own group of girls and I have. It made me think a lot about how it's sad things can't stay the way they are when you are 15 and also how it's not really that sad because things can get even better even if they change in ways you didn't expect they would. I also remembered at some point that the conclusion of the series came out last year and am still curious on what that book will be like. Will the four girls stay best friends forever which is just so unlikely. Will the same boys be mentioned at 25 that are mentioned at 15? In any case though I have to read the other ones before I can read the last one, I ordered all from the library and am now making my way through them. I'm not sure if I am rooting for the last book to have the idealistic ending of BFFs or if I want some harsh reality where one of them is no longer in the group or whatever. Life changes, you make it work or you don't and maybe in the book world it would be better if these four "sisters" could stay together. One last note on the book, I never realized it's setting was Bethesda Maryland. This is interesting as I am about to move near that area and thought it a cute sign from the book that I finally picked it up right before I move to where the book is taking place.
Peony in Love by Lisa See I did not like this book. I've at the very least liked everything else I read from this author so I was disappointed that the last book of her's that I read was not very good. I guess maybe I should have known from the start that it wasn't going to be my cup of tea because it's so unrealistic and most of the time I need to at least be able to believe that the story could happen. The story is about a young girl who is sheltered from the world beyond the gates of her home in China. She is to be married but is not allowed to associate with men before her marriage. Her father brings a production of an opera to her home and she meets a man and disobeys so much to just go outside and speak with him. She then, like the main character in the opera she sees, starves herself to literal death because she does not think she can be with this man and will have to go on and marry a stranger. This is only in the first few chapters, then the book gets weird because the girl dies but we still follow her story. I found it interesting to read about what the Chinese believe happens in the afterlife but it was a bit much to base a whole novel on this and carry the reader through the spirit world. I really, if you haven't already figured it out, did not enjoy the journey.
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares You don't see as much change in this book from the first one. The girls still seem young and immature and caught up in boys and all the silly teenage drama. This one was very much a continuation of the second book and kept the story lines very similar. I have this weird thing where I have to read a series in order so I'm glad I read this book but I have a feeling it won't be my favorite in the series.
Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates Not my favorite JCO novel. Started off pretty strong and pulled you in as a reader but then the story just never really went anywhere. The first part follows a young girl who is caught between her divorced parents, her mother fearing for her safety with her father because he is the main suspect in a murder. You hear the story of her parents marriage ending from her perspective and gain knowledge as a reader that many of the characters don't have the ability to put together as easily. The second part is then told through the eyes of the murder victims son who is around the same age as the girl and who the girl had a huge, over lasting, crush on. The third part is then oddly the conclusion that wasn't what the reader expected to hear but was not the least bit shocking or climatic. I guess I feel as though this book was bits and and pieces of some of the other JCO novels I've read, all thrown together. Not my favorite of hers, but I'm definitely still a fan.
Eat, Cry, Poop by Rick Kirkman and Jenny Scott This was a Baby Blues comic book. Not sure if counts as a read, but I'm counting it. I saw it at the library while I was picking up my reserves and figured I might as well grab it too. It was nice to sit and laugh for a few hours. I don't know why I always liked this comic strip on Sunday mornings, but I did. I loved when they made it into a TV show, but must have been one of a few who did because it was cancelled so quickly. I also liked the title of this "album" of theirs, a nice play on a certain other really popular book right now...
Girls in Pants The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares I liked the 3rd one in the series much more than the 2nd. The characters graduated high school and this story was the summer before they leave for college. The characters have shown growth now since the first and second books where they were more or less the same. It was interesting to read about the new things coming up and the ways they are taking stands in their lives. They are over the silly boy giggling phase and more into actually looking at relationships and what they want from friendships, men and college and their futures. We got some more glimpses into their families too. Who am I kidding, this one was my favorite so far because the best summer of my life was the summer before we left for college. My group of 6 was whole and we had an amazing last summer together before the big changes started taking place. I wanted very badly to be able to keep Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen stuck in this last summer. Some quotes: "...like it's demise could swallow up her whole existence- like a change in the present could wipe out the past." "Whenever you did something because 'life is too short not to,' you could be sure life would be just long enough to punish you for it."
The Ten Make That Nine Habits of Very Organized People Make That Ten: The Tweets of Steve Martin by Steve Martin Okay so this wasn't really a novel or anything but another good book of laughs. I've always found Steve Martin to be funny and he seems like a genuinely nice guy too. You don't hear anything about some crazy thing or another that he has done. This book was a collection of his twitter account. From the start when he was confused on what he was doing with this new social media to when he started to have lots of fun with it. I'm not sure who came up with the idea of throwing them into a book but it was an interesting concept to read from start to finish. Lots of laughs along the way. No real order, other then time, to the book but a nice light hearted laugh for a few hours one afternoon can't be a bad thing.
The Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens I'm torn on this book. I really liked parts of it and related to a lot of it but I think overall I'm just not sure I got the message the author was trying to send. The book follows the story of a middle aged overweight woman who has only ever been with one man, her husband. On the eve of their 25th anniversary the husband disappears and the woman is on her own for the first time ever. She has never paid bills before, worked a cell phone, etc. She was totally dependent on this man. She tries to chase after him but along the way learns how to take care of herself. One maybe cool thing, I haven't decided yet, was that the author mentioned the characters of another book of hers in the beginning of the novel. She used the same town as the setting and was able to briefly mention them. I didn't really know I had read anything by this author until that reference but then I wondered why drop them in if all your readers haven't read that novel yet. It was a cool reference back but I'm not sure the purpose it served. The story was interesting and kept me entertained, but a lot of it was very unrealistic and I'm just not sure at the end of it all what the author was trying to say to her readers.
