September Reading
41. Teach Yourself: PowerPoint 2003
by Moira Stephen
Genre: Non-fiction
Pages: 171
42. Spilling Clarence
by Anne Ursu
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 277
43. Good in Bed
by Jennifer Weiner
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 375
44. American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood
by Marie Arana
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 305
45. A Fine and Private Place
by Peter Beagle
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 272
46. Dead Until Dark
by Charlaine Harris
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 292
47. The Virgin Suicides
by Jeffrey Eugenides
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 249
Possible spoilers ahead:
Spilling Clarence is a book with a fantastic, original premise. A fire at a pharmaceutical plant that manufactures anti-depressants releases a chemical into the air of the town of Clarence, which causes its residents to remember everything that has ever happened to them. This book could have been brilliant, but it's as if the author used up all her creativity on this one great idea. All of the characters are flat and cliched--the widower, the novelist, the WWII soldier. The plot is predictable and sappy. I wish the author could have given this idea to a better writer.
Good in Bed was okay for what it was--guilty pleasure chick lit with improbable plot twists. I will admit to being annoyed that the heroine, whose entire world revolves around how fat she is, is less than a handful of sizes bigger than I am. The author lets it slip that this character, Cannie, is 5'10" and a size 16. I know it's a skinny girl's world, but you would think that Cannie was extremely obese from the amount of weight-related issues she has. It's not exactly a positive message about body image.
I didn't like American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood, although it was critically acclaimed. For one, I take issue with a book being labeled a memoir when it has incredibly detailed accounts of events that happened when the author was four years old. When I was four, my preschool took a field trip to a dairy farm and we sat in a circle and drank chocolate milk. That's all I remember about being four. Secondly, nothing that happened in the author's childhood was interesting enough to justify writing a book.
A Fine and Private Place is a strange but well-written book about a eccentric man who lives in a cemetery and converses with the spirits of the recently deceased. The supernatural elements are never explained (and there's also a talking raven), but it is enjoyable and I found the ending quite moving.
The Virgin Suicides centers around the five Lisbon sisters, who commit suicide one by one in 1970s suburbia. This book is odd, even creepy, but I enjoy it and think that it has something to say about repression and sadness lurking just underneath a happy veneer. I particularly like the author's choice to tell the story from the point-of-view of the faceless neighborhood boys who loved the sisters.
I am loving the new vampire show, True Blood, on HBO, so I picked up Dead Until Dark, the first book in the series the who is based on. The book clearly sacrifices character development for action, but it's not bad. It cracked me up that the main character's (Sookie's) grandmother is excited to meet the vampire so he can tell her what the Civil War was like.
I noticed that the book has two dramatically different covers (this is probably thanks to devilwrites and her posts about book covers), presumably the original cover and the new cover to promote the TV show. The original cover depicts a blond woman and the vampire, wrapped up in a cloak, floating above a house that is on fire.
http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Until-Southern-Vampire-Mysteries/dp/0441008534/ref=sip_rech_dp_9
The new cover shows a woman's bloody mouth with a hint of vampire fangs and her tongue sticking out to lick away a drop of blood. It's almost pornographic-looking and when I was reading it at work, I turned it over whenever the old people came up to the desk.
http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Until-Southern-Vampire-Mysteries/dp/0441016995/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223858610&sr=1-1
I much prefer the new cover (not safe for work as it may be), because the old cover is kind of folksy and cheesy-looking, not to mention I don't remember a burning house being in the book and the vampire doesn't float. The sexed-up cover actually suits the story more accurately.
by Moira Stephen
Genre: Non-fiction
Pages: 171
42. Spilling Clarence
by Anne Ursu
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 277
43. Good in Bed
by Jennifer Weiner
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 375
44. American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood
by Marie Arana
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 305
45. A Fine and Private Place
by Peter Beagle
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 272
46. Dead Until Dark
by Charlaine Harris
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 292
47. The Virgin Suicides
by Jeffrey Eugenides
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 249
Possible spoilers ahead:
Spilling Clarence is a book with a fantastic, original premise. A fire at a pharmaceutical plant that manufactures anti-depressants releases a chemical into the air of the town of Clarence, which causes its residents to remember everything that has ever happened to them. This book could have been brilliant, but it's as if the author used up all her creativity on this one great idea. All of the characters are flat and cliched--the widower, the novelist, the WWII soldier. The plot is predictable and sappy. I wish the author could have given this idea to a better writer.
Good in Bed was okay for what it was--guilty pleasure chick lit with improbable plot twists. I will admit to being annoyed that the heroine, whose entire world revolves around how fat she is, is less than a handful of sizes bigger than I am. The author lets it slip that this character, Cannie, is 5'10" and a size 16. I know it's a skinny girl's world, but you would think that Cannie was extremely obese from the amount of weight-related issues she has. It's not exactly a positive message about body image.
I didn't like American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood, although it was critically acclaimed. For one, I take issue with a book being labeled a memoir when it has incredibly detailed accounts of events that happened when the author was four years old. When I was four, my preschool took a field trip to a dairy farm and we sat in a circle and drank chocolate milk. That's all I remember about being four. Secondly, nothing that happened in the author's childhood was interesting enough to justify writing a book.
A Fine and Private Place is a strange but well-written book about a eccentric man who lives in a cemetery and converses with the spirits of the recently deceased. The supernatural elements are never explained (and there's also a talking raven), but it is enjoyable and I found the ending quite moving.
The Virgin Suicides centers around the five Lisbon sisters, who commit suicide one by one in 1970s suburbia. This book is odd, even creepy, but I enjoy it and think that it has something to say about repression and sadness lurking just underneath a happy veneer. I particularly like the author's choice to tell the story from the point-of-view of the faceless neighborhood boys who loved the sisters.
I am loving the new vampire show, True Blood, on HBO, so I picked up Dead Until Dark, the first book in the series the who is based on. The book clearly sacrifices character development for action, but it's not bad. It cracked me up that the main character's (Sookie's) grandmother is excited to meet the vampire so he can tell her what the Civil War was like.
I noticed that the book has two dramatically different covers (this is probably thanks to devilwrites and her posts about book covers), presumably the original cover and the new cover to promote the TV show. The original cover depicts a blond woman and the vampire, wrapped up in a cloak, floating above a house that is on fire.
http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Until-Southern-Vampire-Mysteries/dp/0441008534/ref=sip_rech_dp_9
The new cover shows a woman's bloody mouth with a hint of vampire fangs and her tongue sticking out to lick away a drop of blood. It's almost pornographic-looking and when I was reading it at work, I turned it over whenever the old people came up to the desk.
http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Until-Southern-Vampire-Mysteries/dp/0441016995/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223858610&sr=1-1
I much prefer the new cover (not safe for work as it may be), because the old cover is kind of folksy and cheesy-looking, not to mention I don't remember a burning house being in the book and the vampire doesn't float. The sexed-up cover actually suits the story more accurately.