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Hey :)
I've posted here before but not since the end of February, so I'm updating.
Books 1-4:
http://community.livejournal.com/readplease/374755.html
http://community.livejournal.com/readplease/2007/02/27
And the newer books I've read are :
-Just Checking: scenes from the life of an obsessive-compulsive (5/5)
Thoughts: Cute, light, and funny. The contents are self-explanatory. It's really short, so I finished it in 2 days.
-Amazing Gracie (4/5)
It's a love story. A story of salvation. And a rags-to-riches story about a dog-yes, a dog-who launched Three Dog Bakery, the burgeoning international retail chain with 31 stores and counting. There is Dan, trapped in a dead-end job and grieving the loss of his pet of eighteen years. And there is Gracie, a deaf and partially blind albino Great Dane with a delicate constitution and penchant for small miracles. In the middle of a bitter Kansas City winter, Dan would save the loneliest pup in the litter, Gracie. And over the next ten years, Gracie would save Dan-helping him learn the meaning of happiness.
A moving, funny, inspirational tale, AMAZING GRACIE is a dog-lover's treat. There is the moment of meeting-Gracie getting to her feet like a clumsy foal and nuzzling Dan's nose. The first day in a new house-Dan's roommate and business partner Mark calling the police thinking a burglar was trapped in the back room. Gracie's romance with her next-door neighbor, a Boston Terrier named Byron. And the eureka moment-born of necessity (Gracie's anorexia-producing dislike for commercial dog food), Dan teaches himself how to cook, and within three days is baking her the cookies that will transform their lives. Though several more years would pass before The WallStreet Journal discovered Three Dog Bakery, Oprah ate one of their dog cookies on national television, and Gracie and the gang appeared on Conan O'Brien, the germ of their success was right there-in this heartfelt relationship of a man and a dog.
Thoughts: Adorable success story by the owners and creators of Three Dog Bakery. If you love dogs, you'll love this book. There were little drawings/doodles on the pages and although they added to the charm of the book, at the same time I thought they were un-necessary and also lowered the book down a level. By comparison, Marley & Me was just as cute, but it didn't have doodles.
-Prep (5/5)
Curtis Sittenfeld's debut novel, Prep, is an insightful, achingly funny coming-of-age story as well as a brilliant dissection of class, race, and gender in a hothouse of adolescent angst and ambition.
Lee Fiora is an intelligent, observant fourteen-year-old when her father drops her off in front of her dorm at the prestigious Ault School in Massachusetts. She leaves her animated, affectionate family in South Bend, Indiana, at least in part because of the boarding school's glossy brochure, in which boys in sweaters chat in front of old brick buildings, girls in kilts hold lacrosse sticks on pristinely mown athletic fields, and everyone sings hymns in chapel.
As Lee soon learns, Ault is a cloistered world of jaded, attractive teenagers who spend summers on Nantucket and speak in their own clever shorthand. Both intimidated and fascinated by her classmates, Lee becomes a shrewd observer of-and, ultimately, a participant in-their rituals and mores. As a scholarship student, she constantly feels like an outsider and is both drawn to and repelled by other loners. By the time she's a senior, Lee has created a hard-won place for herself at Ault. But when her behavior takes a self-destructive and highly public turn, her carefully crafted identity within the community is shattered.
Ultimately, Lee's experiences-complicated relationships with teachers; intense friendships with other girls; an all-consuming preoccupation with a classmate who is less than a boyfriend and more than a crush; conflicts with her parents, from whom Lee feels increasingly distant, coalesce into a singular portrait of the painful and thrilling adolescence universal to us all.
Thoughts: Extremely well-written. Awesome story and plot. I could really relate to Lee alot of times. The author depicts a teenager's life during high-school so well.
-The Truth About Diamonds(1/5)
In her electrifying first novel, Nicole Richie tells the sensational story of Chloe Parker, a rock royalty princess and a card-carrying member of Hollywood's inner circle. At the age of seven, Chloe was adopted by a music superstar and his wife, transforming her life from rags to riches. What followed was a wild childhood distinguished by parties with movie stars and rock idols, run-ins with the press and the police, and a subsequent stint in rehab.
Suddenly Chloe shoots to instant fame as a spokesmodel for a national ad campaign. When her long-lost birth father appears out of nowhere and her best friend betrays her, she must struggle to keep it all together -- her sobriety, her friendships, and her integrity despite the betrayals of those around her. Ultimately, Chloe comes spectacularly into her own, achieving stardom in her own right and finding true love.
Through the eyes of the captivating Chloe and the talented voice of Nicole Richie, we are given a no-holds-barred look at Hollywood's new elite, behind the velvet ropes, inside star-studded premieres and parties. Whether they're doing the "circuit" (begin with shopping at Barneys New York, Marni, and Fred Segal, then end with the grilled vegetable salad at the Ivy), or ending up on the front page of your favorite weekly magazine, Chloe Parker and her fellow A-listers never fail to dazzle, their larger-than-life dramas more riveting than any reality show.
Thoughts: An autobiography thinly veiled as fiction. Very amateurish and self-indulgent. Not only are the front and back covers pictures of her face, but but halfway through the book there were about five or so full page pictures of her as well. The whole thing is nothing but am ego boost. Totally unexpected from a book by Nicole Richie, huh? But I was curious and the story turned out to be kind of okay.
Can you Keep a Secret?(5/5)
With the same wicked humor, buoyant charm, and optimism that have made her Shopaholic novels beloved international bestsellers, Sophie Kinsella delivers a hilarious new novel and an unforgettable new character. Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets:
Secrets from her mother:
I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur.
Sammy the goldfish in my parents' kitchen is not the same goldfish that Mum gave me to look after when she and Dad were in Egypt.
Secrets from her boyfriend:
I weigh one hundred and twenty-eight pounds. Not one eighteen, like Connor thinks.
I've always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.
From her colleagues:
When Artemis really annoys me, I feed her plant orange juice. (Which is pretty much every day.) It was me who jammed the copier that time. In fact, all the times.
Secrets she wouldn't share with anyone in the world:
My G-string is hurting me.
I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is.
Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.
But come Monday morning, Emma's office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company's elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from the plane, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her. Things couldn't possibly get worse--Until they do.
Thoughts: Sophie Kinsella is by far one of my most favorite authors. Her work is just amazing and so addictive. I always have trouble putting her books down. Can You Keep a Secret? is no exception.
Currently reading: In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez