31 & 32

The Best Man to Die by Ruth Rendell: Unbelievably, this is one of the books that I had to return before I was finished. It was heartbreaking - but then it came back to the library pretty quick so not so heartbreaking. Oh, and the novel...

It was one of Rendell's earlier books and set in the 60s. I didn't realise that at first so it was weird reading something so...antiquated? But the story was good. Of course.

Next, I read The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin. I got a notion that I'd like to read the book. And it was very good. I'm glad I've never seen the movie so I had no idea what was supposed to happen. Though, it was pretty easy to figure out. I think I might order something else by him.

29 & 30

The other day Andrew and I were in Chapters. I never know what to do with myself in there anymore. I have a hard time window shopping. But eventually I went and grabbed Andrew's blackberry and started looking at books. I made a list of all the ones that looked interesting to me.

First, I remembered Lawrence Hill, author of Book of Negroes. I looked him up and saw that he had two books I hadn't read yet. I finished Any Known Blood this week. Unfortunately, I didn't find this story as gripping as Book of Negroes (well, actually, the last 200 or so pages were good, but that might be because there was finally some action in that part of the story). Mostly this was the story of someone trying to uncover his family history.

Which is kind of funny because the next book I read, also a Chapters find, was Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. Wow, I loved this book! I can never decide whether books would be good for my book club. This is just a love story. But I devoured it, and cried almost the entire time I was reading it. Does that make it book club worthy?

Here's how the dust jacket describes the book:

Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time—and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya’s life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother’s life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.

28: The last of the Chick-Lit

At least for a while.

When I order books from the library, I always seem to get a whole bunch from one author at once. So this time it was a group of Jennifer Weiner books.

This one was a bit of a mystery book (Goodnight Nobody), but with lots of mommy stuff thrown in. The mystery part was good, but the chick lit stuff was a bit unsatisfying. Or maybe I've just read to many of this sort of book at once?

The good news is, I have four books waiting for me at the library and I don't think any of them are chick lit.

26 & 27 Lots and lots of chicklit

I didn't even realise that I'd missed one of Sophie Kinsella's books until Bec commented on one of my previous postings. At which point I rushed to my computer and ordered a copy of Undomestic Goddess. Which was just what I needed to get over the war book I'd just finished.

And when I picked up my copy of Goddess, I found a copy of Jennifer Weiner's Best Friends Forever.

Now, when I read my first Weiner book, I thougth she wrote chick lit for moms. But the entire time I was reading this book, I just kept thinking how much it was like a Douglas Coupland book. Girlfriend in a Coma or Life After God. Not really chick lit at all. But good.

25

While I love being able to order books from the library and know that I can read them for free, the one problem I seem to have is that they don't come in an orderly, timely manner. So I have long gaps between books and then they'll all either come at the same time or during a particularly busy period of time.

That happened to me recently and two books I really wanted to read had to be returned half read. Because if you keep a hold book past the due date, the fines are CRAZY.

So, not counting the two I've re-requested, I did read a book this week, Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi. This was a book I found during one of my used book store scavanges last year. I'm not sure what exactly drew me to this book (maybe the fact that the cover said she hid Jews in her basement?) Here's a synopsis of the book from Chapters.Indigo:
A charming and quirky novel set in a small German town and spanning the two World Wars, Stones from the River follows the story of Trudi Montag, a dwarf. Living in Nazi Germany isn't easy for Trudi, but neither is living with her slowly teetering on the edge of insanity mother, or seeing her best friend, Georg, dressed as a girl and continually humiliated by his parents who wanted a girl.

See? Not sure why I wanted to read it. But the book was brilliant. At least, I could barely put it down. I was sucked right into the story and unfortunately it was one of those heavy books that just sucked my spirits down with it. Though I think that's a personal quirk of mine. Almost anything written about war makes me sad.

I loved this book though, just next time I read it I probably should wait till we don't have houseguests. I was a little too emotional this time!

24: Little Earthquakes

First off, I have a confession to make. I have this mild fear of earthquakes. Okay, major fear. I'm trying to get it under control. But when my sister recommended this book to me, I almost didn't read it because of the earthquake. Apparently along with my crazy phobias I also have some psycho superstitions that prevent me from doing anything associated with my fears. Ugh!

I finally overcame myself and read Jennifer Weiner's book. And you know how sometimes you read a book and the characters resonate really strongly with you and it just makes the story that much better? Well, Little Earthquakes was like that.

Until I got about half way through.

The back of the book says, "Jennifer Weiner's richest, wittiest, most true to life novel yet tells the story of three very different women as they navigate one of life's most wonderful and perilous transitions: the journey of new motherhood."

Is this a sub-genre of chick-lit? Maybe Momlit? Anyway, every single character (well, except the gorgeous daughter of a model married to a football pro who cheated on her) resonated with me. The fat foodie who suffered through all sorts of indignities both pre and post baby because of her weight. Who was diagnosed with poly cystic fibroids simply because she was chubby (yup, happened to me too). Whose husband just had to look at her and she was pregnant (oh wow. Happened to me too).

And the other one. Kelly. I won't go into her story but let's just say that when you've had non-stop house guests all spring and your kids are waking up regularly in the night and you're barely able to drag your tired butt around AND it's mother's day and you're not getting spoiled, you do not want to be reading about someone like this!

I spiraled into a pity party of epic proportions. Luckily, everyone in the book had a happy ending and the sun was shining so the day was salvageable!

Next up is a nice, juicy murder mystery. Shouldn't be anything depressing in there. And meanwhile, I'm gonna order another book or two from Ms. Weiner's collection...

22 & 23

Sophie Kinsella (of Shopaholic fame)'s latest book, Twenties Girl may just be my favorite by the author. My sister is a huge fan of Kinsella's books and pretty much gave me a running commentary as she read the book and then practically foisted it on me to read myself. Even with her rave reviews, Twenties Girl sat on my dryer for about two months while I gorged myself on mysteries, Rollins and book club reads. Finally last week I found myself with no library books in my book basket and nothing to read for book club (it's still on order at the library). So I picked up TG and started reading. Like I said, it's probably my favorite. A light, fluffy, but satisfying read.

Since I had so much success with Kinsella's book, I rooted through my sister's shelves and came home with Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger. I didn't enjoy this one as much. I liked the idea - the story is based around a girl who chucks in her boring job with a bank (they call it banking, but she manages portfolios as far as I can tell) to work for a PR/event planning company in Manhattan. There's a lot of heavy partying, credit card usage and shady business ethics and in the end she walks away from this job too. But it was a little too light and fluffy and a little too neat and tidy in the end.