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[c-lando]

1. "Fangirl" - Rainbow Rowell - I think I've turned into a Rainbow Rowell fangirl. Sigh.

[Zafer Kaya]

Ha.  That's been bouncing around the fringes of my "to read" list. 

[trixi]

I just read Landline and didn't care for it as much as others I have read by her

[c-lando]

I just read Landline and didn't care for it as much as others I have read by her

Oh Man. I loved "Landline" and not just because it has my name in it.

[c-lando]

Ha.  That's been bouncing around the fringes of my "to read" list.

BTW - I read "Fangirl" on my Kindle because the cover art was way too immature for me to be carrying around at my age. You'd never guess the book was about college freshmen based on that cover.

[daytime drinking]

1- the heart of darkness/ the secret sharer- joseph conrad.  surprisingly i enjoyed the secret sharer more than heart of darkness.  probably because i've seen apocalypse now about a dozen times. 

[MissKitty]

1. Ardennes 1944: The Battle of the Bulge - Antony Beevor

Well I had written a quite lengthy piece about this book and it got lost in the cyberspace ether somehow, so fuck it, I'm not writing all that again.

Good book, could have been better. Usually love Beevor's stuff, this one, not so much.

[trixi]

1.  Finding Audrey--Sophie Kinsella
2.  Watermelon--Marian Keyes

[Zafer Kaya]

1.  Finding Audrey--Sophie Kinsella

How was this?  I once made it through about 1/3 of a Shopaholic book.  I thought she was a good writer, but the premise annoyed me so much.

I kept trying to soldier on, because I wondered if my disdain for it was because I was pro-feminist or horribly chauvinist.  Did I not like it because I think frivolous shopping is stupid and girly, or did I not like it because I think it portrays a negative and annoying stereotype of women as being stupid and girly?

In the end, it was the cutesy tone that got to me.  "I'm a financial analyst, and yet I spend stupidly because I just can't help buying shoes! Teeheehee!" was too much.  I thought, okay if this were a book about a dude who is a financial analyst but spends too much time and money hanging out in bars talking about sports, football tickets and picking up women would it annoy as much?  And yes, it would bother me as much. 

But I did think she was a good writer.  So I might be interested her non-chicklit offering even though I'm also not too big into YA.  Unless it's going to be about a girl who develops a crush on a boy and talks about boy bands all the time.

[trixi]

1.  Finding Audrey--Sophie Kinsella

How was this?  I once made it through about 1/3 of a Shopaholic book.  I thought she was a good writer, but the premise annoyed me so much.

This is the first book I've read by her.  Audrey was bullied in school and an event leads to 3 people being thrown out and Audrey basically having a breakdown.  The book starts after this event.  Audrey is recovering though still has an anxiety disorder.  Her therapist has her doing various tasks to try and get her ready for returning to school but Audrey is having problems with them.  Her brother's friend comes over and she develops a crush on him.  With his help she starts to come to terms with some of her issues.  Kinsella does a pretty decent job of dealing with anxiety disorder in a light-hearted, but realistic manner.  The side story revolves around Audrey's brother who's a gamer--which the mother does not approve of and the multitudes of steps she tries to get him to stop.  I gave it 4 stars on goodreads.

[c-lando]

1. "Fangirl" - Rainbow Rowell - I think I've turned into a Rainbow Rowell fangirl. Sigh.

2. "The Overlook" - Michael Connelly - That was an abrupt ending.

[MissKitty]

1. Ardennes 1944: The Battle of the Bulge - Antony Beevor

2. Krazy & Ignatz 1939-1940: A Brick Stuffed with Moom-bims - George Herriman

Collection of Herriman's Sunday Krazy Kat comics, drawn for Hearst Newspapers. Gorgeous, witty and brickalicious.

3. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon

I have loved this book since it originally came out (as Cross Stitch) in England around 25 years ago, and it still stands the test of time. Such exquisite writing. Sigh.

4. Tit For Tat and Other Latvian Folk Tales - Retold by Mae Durham

Some of the stories in this collection from 1967 were similar in theme to folk/fairy tales many of us grew up with and are already familiar with, like Jack & the Beanstalk. Others are simply bizarre.

[c-lando]

1. "Fangirl" - Rainbow Rowell - I think I've turned into a Rainbow Rowell fangirl. Sigh.
2. "The Overlook" - Michael Connelly - That was an abrupt ending.

3. "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" - Benjamin Alire Saenz - This was a beautiful coming of age story. Didn't hurt that I listened to the audiobook narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda. I've enjoyed spending a week with him in my car.

[daytime drinking]

1- the heart of darkness/ the secret sharer- joseph conrad

2- blacking up; the minstrel show in 19th century america- robert c toll.  thank god baseball came along.  i didn't realize how immensely popular this form of entertainment was back in the day.  folks were starved for distractions as they were leading pretty rough lives.  minstrelsy came along and allowed white folk to a least consider that, if that's what black folk are like, i suppose i don't have it so bad.  it was fascinating how minstrelsy was even popular with black folk.  once black people were the principal actors they modified the routine inherited from white black face performers which were mostly outrageous plantation scenes.  they couldn't change the script too much in fear of upsetting the man, so they subtly made jibes at white people akin to the slave songs having double meanings. 

while black people where exaggerated beyond belief and cruelly depicted, i don't necessarily view it as racist.  biggoted for sure.  not knowing any better certainly isn't an excuse, but i let a product of the times slide on occasion.  minstrelsy had mass appeal that is still reflected today.  i don't know if the black stereotypes were born out of minstrelsy, but they were at least popularized.  the image was etched in the fabric of america. 

[trixi]

3. "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" - Benjamin Alire Saenz - This was a beautiful coming of age story. Didn't hurt that I listened to the audiobook narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda. I've enjoyed spending a week with him in my car.

That was a great book!