You Have To Kiss A Lot Of Frogs

Um, You Have To Kiss A Lot Of Frogs? It was a frog. But not a magic frog. I tortured myself and finished it, because I kept hoping it would get better. Somehow. But it didn't. It's gone. I can't believe I spent $4 on it. Ugh. Maybe I'm too far removed from it...I don't know...because it got some good reviews on Amazon. But I didn't like it. It was just not me.

It Sucked and Then I Cried

October...almost there...

I have followed Heather B. Armstrong's blog, dooce.com for a long time. I wanted to get the book when it first came out and didn't and then I forgot about it.

And then I found it in the bargain section of the bookstore.

Even though it's a pretty serious subject, I found myself laughing a lot. I recognized the early days of having a kid. I loved the voice. I'm trying to convince Alex to read this...actually, if you have kids or might have kids one day, this is a great book that honestly addresses postpartum depression.

And this is why I should post these as soon as I read the book...I can't remember anything else!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

SPOILER ALERT (but I think most of you have already read these books)

This is September's second book. I devoured it after I read the Half-Blood Prince. And then I was done with Harry Potter for a long time I thought. It's December and I'm already thinking it's time to reread these. I've read the Deathly Hallows three or four times now and every time I discover a whole bunch of things I didn't notice before (or at least that I'd forgotten). There is so much packed into those pages that I feel like I have to read it a few more times before I grasp all of it...

And now, as an aside, I need to talk about the movies. And how the last three really piss me off. I feel like they left out a bunch of details that were important. Like the horcruxes and Dumbledore's pensieve. And where was Harry's Mokeskin pouch? And why didn't he repair his wand at the end of the movie? I hated the final battle scene. And the lack of evacuation of Slytherin and subsequent return of Slughorn and the humanity that takes over the Malfoys and the way they kill Voldemort and I could go on and on and on. I know that there is so much in the books that there was no way it could all be in the movies, but I really feel like there were some key things missing...

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

SPOILER ALERT (but I think most of you have already read these books)

Okay, so we're finally into September and with September comes the end of the Harry Potter series.

I reread the first four books of the series so many times that I could recite the plot lines in my sleep. I can tell you what happened in the Order of the Phoenix but not in as much detail as the other books. When I get to the Half-Blood Prince, I find myself thinking, oh, I didn't know that or gee, I forgot that.

Half-Blood Prince is so dark and there is so much information packed into it. I know it annoys some Harry Potter fans that the concept of the Horcruxes isn't introduced until this book, but like so many of the other devices J. K. Rowlings uses, they're well placed.

I liked how the relationship between Harry Potter and Dumbledore grows in this book and I like how Dumbledore is real. He made some big mistakes where Harry is concerned and he acknowledges them. The relationship between a teacher and a student is always tricky, especially if there is a potential for (real or perceived) favouritism.

I still cry every time I get to the end. I hate that Dumbledore dies. I hate that Snape kills him. I hate that Snape kills him even though I've read all of the books and I know what really happens. I hate that Dumbledore didn't tell Harry the curse was killing him. And I hate the funeral. It feels real and raw and it makes me cry again. I can't read the end of this book when J is around because it worries her (yes, I found that out the hard way. I thought I could control my tears, but apparently I can't). 

I feel like I should go back and reread the series, but I think I need to go back and just read books six and seven a few times so that they can catch up with the rest of the books in my brain!

Bonus Book: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

SPOILER ALERT (but I think most of you have already read these books)

This book, along with the Goblet of Fire, is my least favourite of the Harry Potter books. I still like it, but it's not one of the best. I feel like J. K. Rowling padded this one up too. My copy is starting to fall apart because it's so heavy the spine can't handle all the pages!

I remember when this book came out - I had just moved into my own place and my birthday was a few days away. I used my birthday money to buy the book and spent the weekend inhaling it. I was SOOOOOOOO sad when Sirius died. In fact, I cry every time I read that part.

Harry annoyed me to no end - he was so cranky. I get that it was a combination of hormones, not knowing what was going on and the whispers at school and Voldemort, but hey, he didn't have to be that cranky.

I ended August with Harry Potter, just as I started August...phew. Five sevenths of the way into the series...after writing these, I feel like I need to read the books again. I'm going to try to wait until the new year though!

Bonus Book: Sarah's Key

It's time for me to get moving...it's now less than a week before the end of October and I still have part of August, all of September and now all of October's books to post.

I saw Sarah's Key ages ago, but the book diet was still being enforced (common theme or what?) I needed a book to keep me entertained when we went to Manning Park for my cousin Amy's wedding and I thought this would be the perfect book to take. Except one evening I picked it up and started reading. And that was the end of that plan. It only took me a couple of nights to devour this book.

I inherited my love of reading from both of my parents, but my strange love of all books World War I and World War II and Holocaust and Russian Revolution I'm going to attribute solely to my mom (my dad introduced me to the Hardy Boys and spy and detective novels and Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell and books of that genre). So this book was definitely on my radar for a while before the book diet ended.

I loved how the first part of the book alternated between the stories of Sarah and Julia and then Julia picked up the whole story and became Sarah's voice. Sarah is a young Jewish girl who locker her young brother in a secret cupboard when the rest of the family is arrested in the Vel d'Hiv. She struggles to survive and return to Paris to save her brother. Julia is an American journalist married to a Parisian who is assigned to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vel d'Hiv, a piece of French World War II history that is seems many know little about.

Julia's investigation into the Vel d'Hiv leads her to Sarah's story and in turn a story of her own.

I really liked this book. I flew through it and I think I will go back and reread (parts) of it. I have this bad habit of reading really quickly and enjoying what I read, but then I can't remember what the story was, or I mix two or three stories together.

Definitely a book I recommend - has anyone else read it?

The Help

EDITED TO ADD: SPOILER ALERT IN THE COMMENTS

Oh look, a break from Harry Potter!

I saw The Help a long time ago in the bookstore and read the back and thought, hmmm, I might want to read that. But I was still on the book diet, so I put it down and figured that I'd ask for it for my birthday or borrow it from someone or visit the library. And because there are eighty million books out there to choose from, I promptly forgot about it (that's how excited I was to read it).

Then Alex and I went to a movie. In the movie theatre. And it had trailers. And because we went out like regular grownups, we watched the trailers. And one was for The Help. And I thought, hmmm, I might want to read that.

And then it was my birthday. And then it was summer. And then I was in the bookstore after going out for dinner with Alex the day after being sent home from the emergency room for the second time and we stopped at the bookstore on our way home, as we often do. Weird? Maybe. Maybe not.

And I saw The Help sitting there. And the book diet had been lifted. And I was feeling miserable and pathetic and sorry for myself, so I decided to engage in a little retail therapy. Okay, maybe a lot of retail therapy. And then I came home and a couple of days later all the internets could talk about was The Help (I think maybe because of the movie...but seriously, it felt like two out of every three blogs was talking about The Help)

I enjoyed it. I didn't really get the Gone With the Wind or To Kill A Mockingbird comparisons, but did enjoy the book. I felt like the relationship with Stuart was somewhat underdeveloped and I wanted more about it (not more relationship, just more about his previous relationship and his motivations...)

The end felt a little too contrived for me. It was as if she didn't want to go with a happily ever after ending, so she threw if off a bit, but it didn't feel right...anyone else feel that way?

I would recommend The Help for sure. I will be reading it again, when I get it back from my mom!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

If Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is possibly my favourite Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is one of my least favourite of the series. This is the book that created all the hype that eventually led to me finally and reluctantly to read the first three books.

But it's too long. There's too much description (I can't believe I just wrote that). I like the plot. I wish there was more Sirius in it, but I understand why there isn't. The descriptions of the tasks are great. But it's too long. I know. I said that already. And it's heavy. I have the hardcover and it's hard to read in bed. And because of the weight, the binding is starting to loosen.

(Yay! I made it to August. I should be caught up by Christmas at this rate!)

Bonus Book: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Last July book...This was the last book out when I read the Harry Potter books for the first time. I liked it best of the three. I think I might still like it best...although, except for the last few pages, I liked the Half Blood Prince too.

Once I got back into the Harry Potter books, I just couldn't stop. There were many nights this past summer of going to bed at 10:00 but not turning the lights off until after midnight because I was reading Harry Potter. And I've read the series so many times...

Bonus Book: Still Alice

Still Alice is the story of Alice, a woman in her late 50s who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. It was well written and easy to read, but so difficult to read too. Lisa Genova did a great a job of making me feel like I was in Alice's head with her...This is another July book that I happened to read this right after The Disappeared and right in the middle of my brain having a temper tantrum. So I had strange dreams about strokes and Alzheimer's and blood clots and ambulances. I did enjoy the book and I felt like it was probably something anyone who knows someone with Alzheimer's should read - I feel like my Alzheimer's empathy quotient has gone up dramatically.

My recommendation? Read this with a box of tissues and be prepared to laugh and cry and feel uncomfortable...sometimes all on the same page...and if your brain is having a temper tantrum? Well, wait until it's calmed down a bit. Just so you don't go nuts (although, I felt like even though my brain and Alzheimer's are two totally different things, the book did give me a little insight into what might be going on in Alex's brain).

The Disappeared

Oh, July book number two, The Disappeared by Kim Echlin, you were tough on me. I read the first half very quickly and then it languished beside my bed. I'd read a couple of pages a night and give up. I'm not sure what it was. I think it started when Anne went to Cambodia and found Serey. You can sense the foreboding from the beginning, but it becomes overwhelming once Anne gets to Cambodia and starts to (she thinks) settle in.

I don't know about this book. I loaned to my sister, so we'll see what she thinks...I finished it during the week that started all the crazy health stuff, so it may have just been the wrong time to be reading this book...

Has anyone else read it?

31 Dream Street

Oh look, we're into July! This is the book that ended the book diet and all challenge rules pertaining to said book diet. I picked it up for a whole $2 at the big box bookstore one evening. And I read it all the next night.

Lisa Jewell's 31 Dream Street is a typical British chick-lit book. It's set in London and, predictably, it made me homesick. Of course it did. I don't learn! It wasn't horrible, but it also wasn't the best chick-lit I've read recently. I felt like the lives the people in this book were living were more normal and less high-drama than a lot of books. I had trouble keeping the characters in the house straight for the first ten pages or so and then it sorted itself out. It was predictable, but how it got there wasn't. But in the end, the puzzle pieces all fell together.

I liked the use of the letters to set the scene and I liked the quirky characters. There were some I didn't like much and some I really wanted to meet...

It was a good, quick, easy read. Perfect for the beach. Or the couch. I still have it and it's going to get donated unless someone (local) wants it. I think it would be perfect for a wet, rainy, Vancouver Saturday or Sunday. With a cup of hot tea and a little plate of chocolate covered McVities digestives. Yum.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Okay, so let us go back in time a bit. To June. I finished this book very late at night on June 30 and just barely squeezed in my two books. Harry Potter is my go-to set of books when I get in a reading funk but it took a while to kick in this time...As always, I enjoyed this book. Nothing new or surprising popped out at me, but there is something comforting about a familiar friend!

PS Excuse the horrible photo...

Goodbye Book Diet rule

I've changed the rules. It's my challenge. I can do that. Besides, the rule I changed was the book diet rule.

Rule 8 is gone. I'm mostly going to read "free" books, but as we've weeded out our books and I'm getting much better at giving away books I don't care to ever read again, well, the book diet rule is done.

So. Stay tuned. June, July and August books will be posted soon.

Yes. I'm behind. But that's just the way it is.

When We Were Strangers

I picked up When We Were Strangers because it was the book Laurie's book club over at Crazy Aunt Purl was reading in, oh, February.

Because of the parameters I set for myself in this challenge and the book diet, I requested the book from the library. I was the first one to get it, but it didn't make it into circulation until May. And it's taken me a few weeks to read it. At one point I put it down and thought I wouldn't be able to finish it. But I'm glad I kept going because I did quite enjoy it in the end! My only frustration with the story was that although the author did a good job of describing her characters, I still had a hard time picturing them. I'm not sure why ... maybe because I mostly read before bedtime and my brain was shutting down? I don't know...

Opi, Irma's village, is in the same region that my maternal grandmother's family was from - it is a very beautiful part of Italy...we spent part of our honeymoon there (although we were pretty much on the opposite side of the region)

I enjoyed the book...I like how Irma learned from what happened around her and in most instances made positives out of very negative situations...and I love how she adapted her sewing skills into a completely different career. I liked that the ending wasn't all happily ever after except that it was...that like doesn't make sense but if you read it, you'll understand what I mean.

The discussion over at Crazy Aunt Purl in March is here and there is also a Q&A with Patricia Schoenewaldt over there too.

The Courilof Affair

I have really enjoyed everything else I’ve read by Irène Némirovsky, but this one not so much. I didn’t not enjoy it, but I loved Suite Française and quite enjoyed Fire in the Blood. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a completely different book – it is most certainly not set in the French countryside.

Interestingly, because it was set in Russia, pre-revolution, my brain kept turning back to The Kitchen Boy (which I also enjoyed immensely and has absolutely nothing to do with this book or this author.

Because I read this a month ago, I don’t think I have anything else to say about it…I’d like to read it again, maybe not when I’m tired and it’s late at night…

City of Fallen Angels

Hi. Do you remember me, blog? I’m your writer and reader. I fell off the face of the earth for a while. I wish I could say it was because I was reading, but I can’t. But I’m back now.

I read my two books in May, I just never got around to posting them. Actually, I read both before the first week of the month was up. I thought I was going to have a very productive month, book-wise, but no. May kicked my butt. And not in a good way.

Anyway, City of Fallen Angels is the fourth book in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series. I got sucked in by the first book and now I’m addicted. I got to read a very nice new copy of the book though – I was probably the first or second person to borrow my copy from the library.

So, what did I think? Well…it was good. Until the last chapter. Something is up because there’s no way the characters would have allowed what happened to happen. I was talking to a friend who has also read all four and she felt the same way. The characters are too smart and would have been too cautious in a situation like that to do what they did. I don’t want to give it away because, well, there would be little point in reading the whole book if I told you the last chapter.

The only thing that has my hopes up is that at the end of the first book a devastating secret was revealed, but through a series of twists and surprises by the end of the third book (I don’t think it’s the second) it turns out the secret wasn’t quite accurate…

But it’s a good book. Read the first three first and if you can, read the first Infernal Devices book, Clockwork Angel. It’s not essential, but it explains some things quite well…

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

It was time…I hadn’t read any Harry Potter for a very long time and this week I became engrossed in the first book…which means the next six will likely follow quickly!

I picked up some interesting things – like the part where Harry offhandedly mentions that it feels like Snape can read minds…There’s a lot of foreshadow that I had never noticed before – some of it might be coincidental, some of it isn’t. This is why I love Harry Potter – every time I read one of the books, whether it is book one which I’ve read countless times or book six or seven which I’ve only read a handful of times, I find something new!

Goddess for Hire

Okay, before I start, I owe the Fred Factor a few more words...I think I hit post and I wasn't finished or I saved it to finish later, but I hit post by accident (I can't remember...it was too long ago) because I told you nothing other than read it!

The Fred Factor is a motivational book (I've decided) that bases its message on the story of Fred the Postman. Basically Fred provided exceptional customer service to the people on his route - held onto their mail while they were away, kept an eye on their property, was super friendly and very devoted to his job. The message is that we can all be a Fred in some way, every single day. I loved the book. I loved the message. I did not like the Christian Bible stuff that snuck into the last pages, but I'm willing to overlook it because I liked the rest of the book so much...and I've been asking myself almost every day since I read it "Was I a Fred today?"

On to Goddess for Hire. Which is a totally different kind of book. Try chick lit. Bad chick lit.



Basically unemployed, spoiled Maya who lives in LA is the incarnation of the goddess Kali. And she keeps it a secret while tries to harness her powers. At the same time her family (of doctors) is trying to set her up with an Indian husband. Who she hates. And he hates her. Do you get where this is going?

I don't recommend it. It's in the pile for the thrift store. I finished it over 10 days ago and kept forgetting about it. I didn't really like it...I didn't hate it, but it was too mindless for me...

Bonus Book 2: The Fred Factor

This is actually a March book...I just didn't post it before the month was over. My boss has been talking about The Fred Factor for ages - I finally had a chance to grab a copy off her bookshelf at lunch the other day. Seriously, I read it during my lunch break. It took less than an hour. And I think it's a great book - probably one I'd suggest everyone read. I think I might just have to go get a copy for Alex.