Sunday, October 31, 2010

Aspergers, patient mother, and murder. Dun dun dunnn


The title: 
House Rules


Who penned this work?:
Jodi Picoult


How did this piece find it's way to your nightstand?:
I'd heard she was a good author.  That's all there is to it.


Number of pages:
532


Time passed from start to finish?:
Two weeks, maybe?

Describe the cover:
A boy crouching near a lake, writing in the sand.


In what section of the bookstore would a reader find this?:
Fiction  

Summary of the basic plot:
Jacob is an 18 year old with Aspergers, he has a 15 year old brother, and his mother who works from home.  He's obsessed with forensic criminology, and likes to crash crime scenes to tell the police what happened to the victim.  It's all harmless until a victim is someone he's close to, and the crime scene makes every clue turn into making him into a suspect.  So most of the book is finding out what really happened to the victim.  Each chapter is from the perspective of a different character, which I thought was neat.


Background information on the story/author:
She is also a #1 bestselling author, who lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three kids.  Is that good enough?  

What did you think of it? (your general response, what you liked or didn't like, what you learned, anything else you want to share about it):
I actually liked it.  I wanted to turn the pages to find out what happens next! I didn't know much about aspergers, so it was neat to learn about something. 


Which page was your favorite? Share why:
I need to remember to keep track of that kind of stuff when i'm reading. because i couldn't tell ya. 532 pages is a lot to go back and find out which was my favorite.

If the story was made into a movie, who would you cast as the main characters?
i bet leonardo dicaprio, back in the day when he was in gilbert grape, would have been good as jacob.  I don't know many 18 year old actors that could pull off that right now.  

Share a quote that was worth reading twice. Explain why:
Again, i forgot to take notes, but looking one up online, here's a good one:

"I don't know what he means by that, but I nod and smile at him. You'd be surprised at how far that response can get you in a conversation where you are completely confused."   It shows how Aspergers works in his mind.  The line before that was most likely a metaphor, and Aspie's take everything 100% literally.  


           Choose your rating:

          - Changed. My. Life.
          
- I laughed, I cried, I want you to read it
          - A definite page-turner
          - Good to check out but don't spend the cash.
          - Why did I waste my weekend on this?
          - A disgrace to paper everywhere

Flip to page 2, 22, or 202. Share the 7th sentence on the page. 
It's the child who's supposed to cry, and the mom who makes it all better, not the other way around, which is why mothers will move heaven and earth to hold it together in front of their own kids.

I can't come up with a creative title for this waste of time book

The title: 
Fearless Fourteen


Who penned this work?:
Janet Evanovich


How did this piece find it's way to your nightstand?:
At Target every Tuesday we all head to electronics to see what the new releases are.  This author had a new book come out and my manager said she had read a different book by her and said it was "hilarious." So I head to the library, which is the smallest library in the world, and find a book by her.


Number of pages:
310


Time passed from start to finish?:
Three weeks or so, only reading it at work on my breaks. 

Describe the cover:
It's hot pink.  With the author and the title on it. Boring.


In what section of the bookstore would a reader find this?:
Fiction  

Summary of the basic plot:
(I had to steal this from a website because I couldn't come up with anything good to say)
bounty hunter Plum finds herself caring for a gaming-obsessed teenage boy, and embroiled in the middle of a bungled bank robbery.


Background information on the story/author:
She is somehow a #1 best selling author based on the books that are about this bounty hunter.  I'm pretty sure I won't read any more of these so called #1 books. 

What did you think of it? (your general response, what you liked or didn't like, what you learned, anything else you want to share about it):
obviously I've stated my dislike for this book enough.  It felt like i was listening to a boring acquaintance tell me a story, that really doesn't have a point, and even if it does have a point, it's a very very boring story that I try and find a way to get out of listening.  But since I can't do it, I listen to the very terrible end. 

Which page was your favorite? Share why:
Umm the last page. Because it meant I was done. 

If the story was made into a movie, who would you cast as the main characters?
Hmm who is an actress I don't really like?  Probably the mom from Weeds because I've watched 9 episodes of the show and still don't like her.  She could do this stupid role. 

Share a quote that was worth reading twice. Explain why:
Sorry, I can't do that to anyone.  Especially myself, opening that book again.


           Choose your rating:

          - Changed. My. Life.
          
- I laughed, I cried, I want you to read it
          - A definite page-turner
          - Good to check out but don't spend the cash.
          - Why did I waste my weekend on this?
          - A disgrace to paper everywhere

Flip to page 2, 22, or 202. Share the 7th sentence on the page. 
They are all stupid sentences.  I won't do it.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia.

The title: 
Eat Pray Love

Who penned this work?:
Elizabeth Gilbert

How did this piece find it's way to your nightstand?:
Well, I first started reading it when I picked it up at Powell's for my boyfriend.  Then I got addicted to it (and half way through it) exactly at the time when I had to send it to him.  Luckily, my sister also received it as a gift for her birthday, so I may or may not have sneakily swiped it from her room for a week.  Pretty sure she had no idea, although now she knows. And now she'll say she knew the whole time. 

Number of pages:
334

Time passed from start to finish?:
About two weeks
 
Describe the cover:
'eat' written in pasta, 'pray' written in prayer beads, and 'love' written in flowers.  Not much else going on.

In what section of the bookstore would a reader find this?:
Based on my experience, Travel Writing.  Also sometimes in biography.
 
Summary of the basic plot:
(from the back): In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want - husband, country home, successful career - but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion.  This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outwards marks of success, and of what she found in their place.  Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.

Background information on the story/author:
Um, pretty sure the summary covered some of that.  The author is an award-winning writer, and in 2008 was named by Times magazine one of the one hundred most influential people in the world.  Basically, everyone loves her book and wants to be her friend.  And I don't blame them.
 
What did you think of it? (your general response, what you liked or didn't like, what you learned, anything else you want to share about it):
I understand why this book has been so popular, I really do.  The author is honest and open with us and herself, sometimes brutally so.  There's nothing preachy or didactic about this story...it truly is HER story and that's the reason she wrote it. I think the appeal is that she speaks to undeniable truths we all struggle with and want to understand.  She also speaks to the imperfect person we all feel like we are.  I love the way the book was laid out (with purpose and meaning), as well as the way she realized retrospectively some of the significant meaning behind numbers and letters involved in her journey.  I definitely want to read it again.  And of course, I'm now trying to figure out what My Word is.  (you'll see)
 
Which page was your favorite? Share why:
Page 274.  This is where we realize (or rather, the author realizes) the largest lesson of them all (a very cyclical one at that)...and someone else has to point it out to her.  By setting out to help yourself, you end up helping Tutti.  (you'll see)
 
If the story was made into a movie, who would you cast as the main characters?
Kinda beat me to the punch there, didn't ya, movie industry?  I haven't seen the movie so I can't really speak to how well they cast the characters.  I can easily see Julia Roberts being a good fit, however. 
 
Share a quote that was worth reading twice. Explain why:
"Sofie is Swedish and in her late twenties and so damn cute you could put her on a hook and use her as bait to catch men of all different nationalities and ages."  (made me laugh)

"How many people have I heard claim their children as the greatest accomplishment and comfort of their lives?  It's the thing they can always lean on during a metaphysical crisis, or a moment of doubt about their relevancy -- If I have done nothing else in this life, then at least I have raised my children well."  (reminded me of many significant people in my life)

"There's a cat who lives here who is enormously affectionate to me for the half hour every day before I feed him, then moans crazily the rest of the time like he's having Vietnam War flashbacks.  Oddly, I don't mind this."  (made me laugh)

"Before dawn the roosters for miles around announce how freaking cool it is to be roosters ('We are ROOSTERS!' they holler.  'We are the only ones who get to be ROOSTERS!')"  (made me laugh)

"And then I remember a story my friend Deborah the psychologist told me once.  Back in the 1980's, she was asked by the city of Philadelphia if she could volunteer to offer psychological counseling to a group of Cambodian refugees - boat people - who had recently arrived in the city.  Deborah is an exceptional psychologist, but she was terribly daunted by this task.  These Cambodians had suffered the worst of what humans can inflict on each other - genocide, rape, torture, starvation, the murder of their relatives before their eyes, then long years in refugee camps and dangerous boat trips to the West where people died and corpses were fed to sharks - what could Deborah offer these people in terms of help?  How could she possibly relate to their suffering?
'But don't you know,' Deborah reported to me, 'what all these people wanted to talk about, once they could see a counselor?'
It was all: I met this guy when I was living in the refugee camp, and we fell in love.  I thought he really loved me, but then we were separated on different boats, and he took up with my cousin.  Now he's married to her, but he says he really loves me, and he keeps calling me, and I know I should tell him to go away, but I still love him and I can't stop thinking about him.  And I don't know what to do...
This is what we are like.  Collectively, as a species, this is our emotional landscape.  I met an old lady once, almost one hundred years old, and she told me, 'There are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all through history.  How much do you love me? And Who's in charge?'  Everything else is somehow manageable."  (made me think, plus an interesting return to the start of my learning about people and the world through books)

           Choose your rating:

          - Changed. My. Life.
          
- I laughed, I cried, I want you to read it
          - A definite page-turner
          - Good to check out but don't spend the cash.
          - Why did I waste my weekend on this?
          - A disgrace to paper everywhere

Flip to page 2, 22, or 202. Share the 7th sentence on the page. 
"My thoughts have become like old neighbors, kind of bothersome but ultimately rather endearing -- Mr. and Mrs. Yakkity-Yak and their three dumb children, Blah, Blah and Blah."