January 6

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - I have a general rule of watching movies based on books only after I have read the book.  My theory is that I want to form my own visual images of the characters and settings before allowing someone else to do it for me.  Sometimes it makes me mad to even see the previews because then boom the visual is there and even though I haven't seen the movie the characters are formed.  I make very few exceptions to my rule but I did make an exception for this book turned into a movie.  My mom really wanted to watch it with me over the holidays so we did.  I then got the book on disc to listen to since I've wanted to read it for some time.  I have to say I think the people who made the movie did a great job of turning the book into a movie.  The timing was way different (understandable for the time constraints of a movie) but all the important elements were in it.


In general both the movie and the book make the viewer/reader think.  It's hard to imagine a time where this book would have been real and yet it was.  As a viewer and a reader you cheer on the characters and hope for their victory.  It's sad though because it's easy to cheer on the characters that you want to get through this tough time because it is so evident now how wrong the time they were in was.  And yet the characters you don't root for, the Hilly Holbrook like characters, thought they were right at the time too.  They thought they would be proved right and that the others were so wrong.  It's scary because some of those people are still around.  I am not naive enough to think there won't always be some group that people are prejudice against, but I wish there always was a happy ending in these situations.  


The Submission by Amy Waldman- Such an interesting book.  I can't recall what landed it on my to-read list but I'm so glad it ended up there.  I don't quite know where to start with this book.  The plot unfolds easily and yet is complex.  The story takes place a few years after a terrorist attack in NYC.  A committee has been brought together to vote on a memorial for the victims.  The submitted memorials remain anonymous until the voting process is complete.  It is then found out that a muslim man has won the rights to build the memorial.  The story unfolds from here.  Readers hear from several family members of victims, from the muslim man, from the head jury member who is responsible for telling the public what has happened, and many many others.  My favorite character, Asma, was the wife of a man who cleaned in the towers that fell in the described terrorist attack (if memory serves me correct the author never says 9/11 though the reader can only conclude it).  Asma is not a US citizen and neither was her husband.  The points this brings up in the book are thoughts I never imagined having.  How many victims went nameless because they couldn't be discussed?  This book had so many twists and turns it kept you guessing and wanting for the ending the whole time.  I have to say too that the ending was one of the best endings I've read.  I tend to hate book endings and give this author immense credit for finding such an excellent way to end such a thought provoking, well written, and well thought out book.


While I'm Falling by Laura Moriarity- I didn't necessarily dislike this book so much as I didn't really get it.  It told the story of a young woman over the course of a few days in her junior year of college that went terribly wrong and had a big impact on her life.  I liked the way the book flashed back to unfold more to the story and sometimes even spoke from the future to give the reader an idea of how some things turned out.  The story was also about the main characters mother who had recently divorced her father and was struggling to regain control of her post divorce life.  One thing I truly didn't understand was that the book was told 90% from the daughters perspective and 10% from the mothers, and I might be being generous with 10%.  If it was meant to have both voices in it I don't understand why one voice over powered the other so significantly.  If it was meant to serve some purpose to have the mom narrate so little, I missed the purpose.  Overall the book didn't really flow and led to a dull ending.  I like the author and other books of hers that I've read but this one was just not a favorite.


The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern-  This type of book is normally not my cup of tea, but I guess I better start trying new teas more often because this book was all kinds of amazing.  I was immediately sucked in and didn't want to leave.  It was the kind of book where you get closer to the end and start reading slower because you don't want it to end.  I'm still pondering the ending to this book too and it's been several weeks since I read it.  I also give the author major credit on this one for coming up with such a fantastical world.  The book is unique also in that it is told by many narrators but before each section the reader is told where and when this part of the book is from.  The years skip around quite a bit so that sometimes the reader knows things the character does not and vice versa.  It threw me off a bit at first but after finishing it I really understand why the author did it that way, just still have no clue how she came up with the idea to do so.  I also was very convinced when I first started reading this that this book was the start of a series, I was so disappointed to find out I had misunderstood, but at the same time it's almost better that it's just the one.  Also in checking out the authors website there is a "trailer" but the trailer is for the book and not for a movie which I really got excited about and then extremely disappointed to realize was not in existence.  Though I'm still fairly certain it's only a matter of time before this one becomes a movie.  I would love love love to see it taken from all the visuals my mind has made and see it on film.  I realize I have said almost nothing about the plot or characters but the fact is that this book is too good to sum up, go read it!


The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate- This was an interesting read in lots of ways.  It tells the story of a family struggling with addiction with it's male members.  The main character allows for other characters to chime in every once in awhile too and it makes for an interesting writing style.  One really cool part about the book for me personally was that it took place in Cleveland OH where I am from.  It made it that much easier for me to visualize the childhood scenes the narrator discussed.  Oddly enough she also discusses the aquarium that used to be and is no longer, only they just opened a new one!  The sad ending was somewhat predictable but the story moves quickly with flashbacks and some surprising moments.  The female narrator loves the ocean/water and winds up as a marine biologist as an adult which also made me feel connected to her as that was once upon a time a dream career of mine.  I related a lot to the main character and really wanted a happy ending for her even though she did a great job of screwing up some things and then also had things happen way beyond her control.  I still can't quite decide if the book was meant to be a sad story with a happy ending or a happy story with a sad ending.  I did enjoy it though.  Some quotes from the book that stuck with me enough to write down:

“There’s this hollow place in me- this place that needs to be alone, this place that vibrates and can’t sit still... sometimes, in my hear, I feel that toe impatiently tapping, waiting for the other shoe to drop, lonely, scared.  I don’t know how to explain that to anyone.  I’m not sure how to explain it to myself.”

“I could never really believe that it didn’t matter how I behaved.  That my father’s drinking had nothing to do with me.”

“The truth was not to be spoken.  I got that.”

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh-  This book seems to be wildly popular right now.  I loved how it started off.  The story of a foster child aging out of the system and her rough start into the adult world but that turns into finding wonderful people and starting to understand how to open up and begin a life for herself.  In the meantime we get to also hear a background story of the one and only foster home she had that seemed to work out but all the time knowing she didn't stay there permanently and something tragic happened.   As a social worker I laughed as the narrator told the terrible stories of her social worker and how much she hated her.  As a professional I was sad to hear it but I also agreed with her assessment that she had gotten a bad worker to some extent.  The story changes around the halfway point of the book and suddenly it's almost as though it's a brand new book with one underlying theme.  The title refers to the meaning behind flowers  and the passion the narrator has for these meanings and putting together flowers as she develops both into a young adult and a florist.  I liked the book a lot until the halfway point, then I sort of got confused and felt like it changed directions so sharply.  In the end though when it all came together it worked as a whole.  

2011- 40

40 books, that's all! I'm so disappointed. Or at least I was at first when I added up the yearly total. My goal for 2011 was to read more than the 66 books I read in 2010. Well this clearly didn't happen. When I look at all I accomplished in 2011 though, it's hard to be too mad at myself. The first half of the year I finished up my Master's degree, yes I would much rather have been reading then writing final papers, redoing my resume, and taking licensing exams, but it just wasn't possible. 2012 promises to bring lots of excitement and adventure with all it's going to offer. I hope it offers more of an opportunity to read and depending on how things turn out it just might give lots of time for me to read. I know wherever these adventures lead, the first thing on my list will be to find a library ;)

December 4

I loved Jeffrey Eugenides first two books so when I saw he had a new 3rd book The Marriage Plot out, I knew I had to read it. It's a shame Eugenides novels are so far and few between when they are just so good. Usually authors have underlying similar themes and you can find connections to writing styles/etc. Not with Eugenides, none of his novels have any similar theme running through them, but it makes it all the better to pick one up and know you are getting something truly original and well thought out. His 3rd novel follows the lives of a woman and two men after they graduate college. The love triangle has unexpected twists and turns and doesn't follow any traditional pathway. Readers get to watch the college graduates fall in and out and go on their way. The characters grow and develop in new non typical coming of age ways. Have yet to be disappointed with a novel from this author, only wish he had more out there to read.

Author Jennifer Weiner's newest book Then Came You tackled a more intense subject matter than any of her other books, but in the same light and airy way that makes her books easy pleasurable reads. This book follows four women. An egg donor, a surrogate mother, the woman who the baby is meant for, and that woman's step daughter. In general I liked the book and it's statements on the new modern non traditional families being formed all the time these days. On the negative side though many parts were just simply not believable even in a fictional reality. The novel provides the reader the opportunity to ponder what it means to be a family especially for women, which I did appreciate. This was not one of my favorite Weiner novels but it did give me a good memory and I will certainly continue to read whatever this author has to provide, as she is always good for a break from reality for a few hundred pages.

When Will There be Good News by Kate Atkinson was a confusing listen at first. I'm not sure if it was the heavy English accent of the reader or the confusing twisting plot, but it really took me a big chunk of the book to become interested. The first chapter draws readers in by flashing back to many years ago when a young girl loses her mother and two siblings and her dog in a traumatic random stabbing by a stranger. This shocking start leaves readers to wonder what happened to the sole survivor of a horrific tragedy. The book then becomes far less interested for many chapters. I'm glad I didn't give up on it though as it did get interesting again and then in such an intense way that I was unable to put the book down until I finished it. I suppose I might try another of Atkinson's books sometime, but I would definitely want it to keep my attention throughout rather than only at the start and end.

The last read of the month was a Christmas present. Woman's Best Friend edited by Megan McMorris is a collection of short stories about women and their dogs. The stories range from typical heartwarming animal stories to sad stories to the unique and interesting ways dogs affect our lives. After reading this book I starting thinking about the two dogs I have been blessed with and what they have meant to me. I tried to come up with what I might write about when it comes to the first dog we had, Daisy, or what I could write about our current dog, Laney. The fact is though that it would be so hard to sum up in just a few pages what my dogs have meant to me. As the book constantly reminds the reader, they are a part of our families, our lives, our hearts.

November 5

Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos is an interesting book about life after college and growing up into the "real world." I can't quite recall how it ended up on my to read list, but I'm glad it did. The novel was enjoyable to read and reminded me of some of my own lost friendships throughout college. The thing about friendships, especially women's friendships, is that the idea of "best friends forever" is really just not a reality for most women. I am so fortunate to have the friends I do and to continue through the years with them. But there have been plenty lost along the way. Grown apart from, full out "break-ups", or active decisions to disengage. In any of the cases parting ways with friends is never easy. The novel appealed to me in that the main character spends most of the book trying to piece together why her two best college friends and her split ways at the end of college. They are all brought back together again unexpectedly and the book often flashes back to the college years and important events while also moving forward in the present day. It wasn't a predictable journey but also some of the unpredictability meant reading some parts that just didn't seem plausible. Overall though a very enjoyable read. Some quotes from the book that stuck with me...

"Since you left there's been a you-shaped space beside me all the time. It never goes away"

"You are like me. You like your pockets of solitude, but you're not made for being alone for long...there were people... who needed the falling together, the daily work of giving and taking and talk and touch."

"She has moved on... we are only part of who she used to be, not of who she is now."

Second read for November was a light read, Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close. It took a bit to get into this book and I almost gave up on it a few times. I'm glad I didn't though as it had such appeal to me. The book is supposed to be about a group of women who are falling into that age category when their friends start to get engaged, married, and pop out babies. Some of the girls though are not falling into any of those groups and give a Sex and the City take on life without fiances, wedding planning, and baby talk. The book although given to the reader in chapters was almost to me more a book of short stories that all interconnected. Some of the girls get their own happily ever afters by the end and some get happily ever afters that don't involve men at all, imagine that! A good read, especially for anyone who is in their mid 20s and surrounded by friends who are taking steps they aren't quite ready to take yet.

Books 3 and 4 for November were mentioned in a talk show, I can't quite remember which, and I'm glad I picked them up. The Book of Awesome and The Book of (Even More) Awesome both by Neil Pasricha are fun reads about the little things in life we forget to take moments to stop and notice. Both books have a page or two devoted to then explaining the reasons these things are so awesome. Some of my favorites from the two books: the other side of the pillow, when someone lands on a hotel you just built in Monopoly, finding out your birthday is on a Friday or Saturday next year, waking up before your alarm clock and realizing you've got lots of sleep time left, picking up a q and u at the same time in scrabble, a long hug when you really need it, the smell and sound of a campfire, celebrating your pet's birthday even though they have no idea what's going on, the three-paycheck month, finding money in your old coat pocket, when it feels like the lyrics to the song you're listening to were written just for you, taking your high heels off at the end of the night and walking home in bare feet, when you open a book to the exact page you were looking for, seeing old people holding hands, the extra time you get when the clocks roll back, an inbox of personal emails when you wake up in the morning, the moment of anticipation before the first kiss, looking at the clock and seeing that it's 12:34, the airport pickup, appreciating the beauty of all your body's scars and scratches.

The last book I read (well really listened to) in November was The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates. I love Oates as an author and was drawn to this book as I also love Niagara Falls. The plot seems simple at first glance, but as with all of Oates' novels, is anything but. A bride marries and sets off on her honeymoon to Niagara Falls, her husband of one day jumps over the falls in the morning to his death. She then ends up staying in the fictional town in Niagara and marrying for a second time. The book is told from just about every characters perspective at one point or another. The story turns from being about the suicide to an almost Erin Brokovich story. It includes family relationships, religion, suicide, murder, and coming of age themes. I liked the book even though it wasn't quite what I was expecting. That being said though, Oates' doesn't give readers a clear idea of which character we are supposed to be rooting for. The protagonist continually changes and just when you think you like a character the author shows you as a reader why you shouldn't. It was tough to root for anyone, and just as I started thinking this I thought well okay you have to root for the children then, only the children are suddenly grown and also not so easy to root for. It's a bit odd to spend a novel not really liking any of the characters. The cool thing though is that after it ends it's clear on who the good guys and bad guys were, just a little odd to read through.

October 3

October's first read was Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen Degeneres. I love, and still love, Degeneres as a comedian. I have read all of her books as they are light hearted and good for a few laughs, even when discussing serious topics. That said, I really did not enjoy her newest book. It didn't flow at all and while some individual parts were funny, I didn't really get the overall point of what she was trying to convey to us as readers. She included lots of stuff along the lines of her great motto of being kind to others, which is of course good, but the thoughts/chapters were very disjointed and did not have any consistency to them. As I was reading it I got the image of a bunch of post its scattered on a desk and then thrown together in a book without really connecting them in any way. Lots of topics were covered and individual chapters weren't bad, but I didn't see a "book" anywhere in there. In any case I'll still watch Ellen's show when I have the chance and continue reading books she puts out. She just seems like a genuine celebrity who isn't totally self absorbed in her own unreality world.

Awkward Family Photos is a website I found a few years back. It's good for laughs and for some extremely funny family stories. When my boyfriend discovered it a few months ago I got back into checking the posts and laughing along with the stories. So when I saw that they had put together a book collection I of course reserved it. Awkward Family Photos as a book collection doesn't really offer more than the website. It is however, a good collection of some of the funniest photos/stories they have and therefore a good starting point for anyone who doesn't want to weed through all the past stuff on the website. A quick easy fun read.

In September boyfriend and I went to see Magic Trip which was a good documentary that then inspired us to read On the Road by Jack Kerouac. This book had always been on my to read list and I of course didn't know at the time that it was also on his. It took me a bit longer to get into it but the book was pretty amazing once I did. Kerouac really makes you as a reader fall back into the world he creates. It's easy to visualize everything, even for a reader like me who wasn't even around during that time period. As the book progresses you want to be in the moment with the characters, hitch hiking back and forth across the country. Previous to reading the book I thought it was just about the journey of hitch hiking across the country and that was it. It has so much more involved though and includes many trips to and from. The book was great and definitely worth reading. The best part for me though was that I got to read it along with one of my favorite people. It was so much fun to have "book club" and to spend some time chatting about where we were in the book. He was ahead of me for most of the book but then I ended up finishing it first, it was fun to have this little "competition" going on throughout. It was also really cool afterwards to discuss it together.

August- 5

Author of the Sweet Valley series, Francine Pascal, took up many hours of my childhood. It wasn't so much that I got lost in the Sweet Valley books almost weekly, but more so that I wanted to be just like Liz and Jessica. I wanted to have a twin sister, be blonde and tall, and live in California. I always wanted to be the "good" twin, Liz. A friend and I had the exact same Barbie and used to turn them into Liz and Jessica and act out some of the books or create our own story lines. So... when I heard that Pascal was releasing a sort of reunion book I was super excited. I wondered if it would be as cool as I remembered it being or if the book would be silly. I wondered how the characters would have ended up. Sweet Valley Confidential did not disappoint. I thought perhaps I'd have forgotten all sorts of details but just a few chapters in so much came back to me and I continued to get excited as old characters came back to life. It's a sort of high school reunion/ 10 years later recap story that allows readers to find out what happened after the twins "grew up." What a good reminder that so often high school sweethearts don't end up staying together, we lose people we love, "bff" doesn't always mean "forever" and though families grow and change, they more or less stay the same. It was a nostalgic look back at characters that always made me smile or taught me a thing or two.

Chelsea Handler has always amused me. She can be a bit much sometimes and she doesn't seem like her comedy would be my cup of tea, but yet I enjoy her comedy, her show, her books. Lies that Chelsea Handler Told Me was her newest book release. Instead of Chelsea writing another book she had her friends/family/staff write short stories about their experiences with her. My favorite entry in the book is the last which is "written" by Chelsea's dog. Some of the stories seem like they couldn't possibly be true and yet they are believable on some level. Even with such horrible stories that sometimes I read and thought "how are these people still friends with this person" all ended showing you that even though she might pull some pretty big stunts, she truly loves her friends and family. Not my favorite of Handler's books, but an interesting concept nonetheless and a good listen.

I heart Jimmy Fallon. Perhaps this started in his SNL days, I'm not sure. In any case I can't remember where I saw that he was putting out a book of his "thank you notes" based on a segment he does on his late night talk show, but I requested it immediately. Thank You Notes is a cute quick read of funny thank you notes that only a comedian could think up.

I'm also not certain when or why I started liking Paul Reiser, perhaps from his Mad About You days, a show my family sometimes watched together, but I've read all of his books. The newest one, which came out way way way after his others, Familyhood shares some of Reiser's thoughts on his family and what it means in general in today's world to be a family. The reader gets to see Reiser write in such a genuine honest way about his wife and children. There's also a chapter about his dog in which he loving describes what his dog must be thinking as far as chasing squirrels through their yard. As a dog lover this chapter won extra points with me and had me laughing and thinking of my own squirrel chasing dog.

I was young when the story of Jaycee Dugard's kidnapping was making news headlines many years ago, but I was very aware of it being in the news in the last year or so. What a terrible and in some ways warming story. What an incredible person she must be to have endured all of this and be able to pick up and continue on with her life. As a professional I'm well aware it can't be easy for her, but it always intrigues me when someone can find a way to do it. A Stolen Life: A Memoir shares the story from her perspective of her kidnapping, capture, and release. The book was so intriguing I stayed up late and finished it the same day I started it. It really makes you think about the things in life that matter and the day to day things we take for granted. It's odd to be able to look at a book that sort of starts from the ending. You know as a reader throughout the book that she eventually gets found and released, but you still as a reader are rooting for that throughout. You still hope that will be the end, that she will stop having to endure. I had to stop a few times and remind myself this is a true story this happened and she gets to leave but not at this moment. What a terrible terrible ordeal this family went through. It was nice to have a moment to be thankful for all the day to day stuff that is taken for granted.

July- 2

I'm honestly not certain why The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams ended up on my list. But how nice it was to read a childhood classic. What more can I really say about a book that almost everyone has read. There were a few things I read this time around that I didn't quite remember from reading it in childhood, but other than that it was as good as I remembered it being as a kid, and though it wasn't one of my favorite childhood books, I'm glad I took a look back at it.

Author Sarah Strohmeyer always seems to end up on my list. I've read numerous of her books and while the writing is always fine and I'm never disappointed I took the time to read or listen to one of her novels, they are never quite what you think you are getting based on the book jacket description. The Penny Pincher's Club was not quite what I expected to find, but was a good listen. It also made me think quite a bit about adult relationships and reasons for divorce and how marriages can sometimes fall apart. This isn't quite what the book leads you to believe it will be about, but nonetheless it was a worthwhile listen.