not so perfect fifths

Read the last book in Megan McCafferty's series about fictional character Jessica Darling. Perfect Fifths disappointed me big time. I was pretty bored by it and it took awhile to be able to get through it. I don't necessarily regret reading the series as it was on my list and all, but the series started out strong and empowering for teens and turned into a fairy tale romance series. Pretty lame if you ask me.

There was really nothing I liked about the last book other than it the was the end of the series so I wanted to see how things turned out for the characters. The format, the story line, and the actual end of the series just didn't connect for me. It was almost a whole new series or just a separate book with the same characters.

I am possibly being too harsh, but I just wasn't impressed.

Current Read: Vision in White by Nora Roberts

Movie versus Book

Finished listening to The Reader by Bernhard Schlink . This doesn't happen very often, but I have to say I enjoyed the movie version better. The book wasn't bad by any means, and perhaps it is because I saw the movie first and then read the book (hate doing this), but it lacked so much of what the movie had. It just didn't paint the picture as wonderfully as the movie had. I still enjoyed it and it was a quick listen, only four discs, so I don't regret sticking with it, but I do feel a bit disappointed.

That said, the concept of this fiction book is pretty amazing. I can't imagine how the writer came up with this story and put it to paper. It is a well written book and I can easily see why it was picked up to become a movie.

Current Listen: Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey

Son of a Witch

Finished listening to Gregory Maguire's Son of a Witch. I guess I foolishly thought I would get the happy ending missing in the first book Wicked. No such luck at least for the main character Elphaba from the first book. I'm still extremely confused on how the book evolved into the play. Either way I'm still drawn to this series for some reason. The second book about the son of Elphaba was just as odd as the first. It also continued to remind me of the Harry Potter series in some subtle ways.

The book is a bit more gruesome then the first in describing a dragon problem across OZ. There are several images I could have fast forwarded through and still been okay with what was going on. The ending however was more optimistic then I had anticipated which has made me want to read the next one in the series A Lion Among Men though I have no idea what more needs to be said about the world of OZ.

Current Listen: The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

Laugh

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang is the newest book by Chelsea Handler. I have to say I really like Handler a lot. I tend to fall asleep with her show on these days. I like that she is a strong female and has such confidence in herself. Sometimes I find her jokes to take it a bit too far and sometimes she is a bit too vulgar for my own taste. That said though if she were a man no one would think twice of her vulgarity so I tend to keep that in mind and continue to be a fan of hers even when I don't necessarily like everything she does/says.

I first fell for Handler a few summers ago when her first book My Horizontal Life The book appealed to me because of the original concept and because I didn't think anyone could seriously write an entire book on his or her one night stands. Handler not only wrote an entire book on her one night stands, but she wrote a hysterical memoir on an unusual concept. It was easy to relate to the book even if the reader couldn't fill the book the same way. Ex's and friends stories seemed evident in the chapters.

Her next book, Are you there Vodka? It's me Chelsea was also good but not quite as good as her first book. At his point she was also on TV and I was getting my fix weekly so perhaps that contributed. I still liked this book a lot though which is why I was looking forward to a third book.

I hate to say this, but the newest book was pretty disappointing. I'm almost at the point where I don't know how much of what she writes is for comedic affect and how much is actually true. Either way the newest book didn't really have any flow. I enjoyed most of the stories but it seemed a bit forced. It seemed as though she felt she had to put out a third book and they couldn't come up with a real concept so they threw a bunch of stuff together and bound it.

I'm still a big fan of Chelsea Handler, really wish I could see her live sometime, but I hope if she does put out a forth book she goes back to her old creative energy instead of this newer busy and lacking energy.

Current Read: Perfect Fifth's by Megan McCafferty

Fourth is the Worst

Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty is the fourth book in the Jessica Darling series. So far my least favorite and I'm kinda glad to almost be done with this series. Jessica's boyfriend proposes to her and the book is about the week after while she decides what answer to give. It's another journal style book but written to the boyfriend to capture the past few months and current week and reasons she gives for her answer.

If you want to read the book stop reading here...

The only good part was that she doesn't end up saying yes. The character is a strong feminist in the first three books and not that feminists can't get married but it would have been very disappointing if after three books of her commitment to herself and her dreams to realize she gave them all up to move away and marry a boy.


That's really all the time I want to spend capturing the book.

Current Read: Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler

Thirds

Finished the third Jessica Darling book by Megan McCafferty, Charmed Thirds. Overall I enjoyed this more than the last. I don't know what it was about the second one that wasn't as interesting, perhaps the super slow predictable plot to start, but I think the third book has brought me back to wanting to finish the series. The third book was much faster and covered more time than the first two. The first two covered Jessica's last three years of high school and this book covered her entire college career. The ups and down she experienced seemed accurate and the beginning and end of friendships and relationships were very similar to what everyone goes through. I don't really have much else to say about this one, though the ending was a bit off putting so I am not sure what to expect from the fourth book. Guess I'll find out this week.

Current Read: Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty

Cupcake

A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown is a wonderful memoir. This true story is heart wrenching and hard to read/listen to. I have been listening to it for a long time now and finally finished it this week. I had to continually turn off the CD and listen or read something else to be able to get through it. It is a great book in that it makes you laugh, cry, smile, and think. The entire time I was reading it I was routing for a happy ending. I had a feeling there was one as Cup is now a successful attorney and public speaker, but it took long hard work to get to that point for her.

Brown is one of the strongest women I have ever read about. She is a true survivor and an inspiration. This book was listened to at a time that I think was right for me to be listening to it. I have no idea how it ended up on my list but reading it, especially as a social worker, was very informative.

Current Listen: Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire