West End Girls by Jenny Colgan and Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares
Oh man, are these really only the second and third books I've read this year? I guess I was kind of watching a lot of Buffy in January, then writing a lot of papers and traveling in February and March, and also there was that German book, Schule der Lügen, that I read 250 pages of and abandoned because it was hardcover and too heavy to carry around while traveling (in addition to the fact that it kind of sucked), and also I'm nearly done with The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which I'm reading in German because hey, Milan Kundera's in translation for me no matter what, but uh, yeah, enough with the excuses: these really are the first two books I've finished since the beginning of January. Oy.
2.
Title: West End Girls
Author: Jenny Colgan
Pages: 306
Year of publication: 2006
Category: Fiction -- chick lit
Grade: B+
Finished on: 7 April 2007
I read this standing outside of a kiosk in Stansted Airport between the hours of three and five in the morning. At first I was going to buy it, because it was only £3.49 and in a fit of fancy at the idea of getting to use a new currency I'd taken £20 out of the ATM a couple of hours before, but then I just stood there reading and after a bit I was a third of the way done and it seemed silly to buy the book when I could just stand there and read it for free, and the kid who worked at the kiosk wasn't giving me any crap about it, so hey. At any rate, it was pretty much the perfect read for the middle of the night in an airport, because there were no surprises and it required basically no thinking whatsoever. It's a story about a pair of 27-year-old non-identical twins who move from Brandford to a house in Chelsea after their grandmother goes into a home and decides she wants someone to house-sit for her. Unsurprisingly, all sorts of new and exciting things happen to them. There's some drama, but in the end even the jerky characters turn out to be kind of awesome, except for one, but that's not a surprise, either. There were some lovely food descriptions, though, and the occasional totally awesome line (upon the sudden arrival of a large number of people at his art gallery opening, the bitchy art gallery owner comments, "That was fast, even for Rentamob." ♥) and everyone gets with the right person at the end -- except oh wait, that's not news.
3.
Title: Forever in Blue
Author: Ann Brashares
Pages: 384
Year of publication: 2006
Category: YA fiction
Grade: A-
Finished on: 8 April 2007
This is the fourth book in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, and there really aren't any surprises here, either, although pleasingly Ann Brashares didn't back down from the girls having more or less on-screen sex. When Bridget had sex in the first book it was so hinted-at that if you weren't looking for it (a.k.a. if you're one of the series' pre-teen readers) you may well have missed it, but the sex in Forever in Blue is definitely there. The word "condom" appears at least three times. Other things happen as well, obviously, but you still come out of the book with the feeling that everything will be all right with the world, eventually, which is my favorite thing about this series, and reading it was a perfectly enjoyable way to spend my Easter afternoon.
All right, and now to watch some SPN, and then to wrestle with the short story (beginning of a novel, I should say; I don't write short stories, so who am I kidding?) I'm meant to be turning in tomorrow if I want to get into the fiction class next fall that's taught by the Actual Famous Author Person at my college. The story's kind of crap at the moment, though. Ever had the idea for a story in your head and it seems pretty awesome and then when you try to get it on paper it doesn't come out a third as good? I'm at that stage. Frustrating, but I have faith that Sam and Dean will make things better.
2.
Title: West End Girls
Author: Jenny Colgan
Pages: 306
Year of publication: 2006
Category: Fiction -- chick lit
Grade: B+
Finished on: 7 April 2007
I read this standing outside of a kiosk in Stansted Airport between the hours of three and five in the morning. At first I was going to buy it, because it was only £3.49 and in a fit of fancy at the idea of getting to use a new currency I'd taken £20 out of the ATM a couple of hours before, but then I just stood there reading and after a bit I was a third of the way done and it seemed silly to buy the book when I could just stand there and read it for free, and the kid who worked at the kiosk wasn't giving me any crap about it, so hey. At any rate, it was pretty much the perfect read for the middle of the night in an airport, because there were no surprises and it required basically no thinking whatsoever. It's a story about a pair of 27-year-old non-identical twins who move from Brandford to a house in Chelsea after their grandmother goes into a home and decides she wants someone to house-sit for her. Unsurprisingly, all sorts of new and exciting things happen to them. There's some drama, but in the end even the jerky characters turn out to be kind of awesome, except for one, but that's not a surprise, either. There were some lovely food descriptions, though, and the occasional totally awesome line (upon the sudden arrival of a large number of people at his art gallery opening, the bitchy art gallery owner comments, "That was fast, even for Rentamob." ♥) and everyone gets with the right person at the end -- except oh wait, that's not news.
3.
Title: Forever in Blue
Author: Ann Brashares
Pages: 384
Year of publication: 2006
Category: YA fiction
Grade: A-
Finished on: 8 April 2007
This is the fourth book in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, and there really aren't any surprises here, either, although pleasingly Ann Brashares didn't back down from the girls having more or less on-screen sex. When Bridget had sex in the first book it was so hinted-at that if you weren't looking for it (a.k.a. if you're one of the series' pre-teen readers) you may well have missed it, but the sex in Forever in Blue is definitely there. The word "condom" appears at least three times. Other things happen as well, obviously, but you still come out of the book with the feeling that everything will be all right with the world, eventually, which is my favorite thing about this series, and reading it was a perfectly enjoyable way to spend my Easter afternoon.
All right, and now to watch some SPN, and then to wrestle with the short story (beginning of a novel, I should say; I don't write short stories, so who am I kidding?) I'm meant to be turning in tomorrow if I want to get into the fiction class next fall that's taught by the Actual Famous Author Person at my college. The story's kind of crap at the moment, though. Ever had the idea for a story in your head and it seems pretty awesome and then when you try to get it on paper it doesn't come out a third as good? I'm at that stage. Frustrating, but I have faith that Sam and Dean will make things better.