Oh, I did not like the main character of this book, and while I don’t believe the author intended me to, I disliked her and all her friends and her whole freaking family so much that by the point when the big tragic event of Ani’s high school years was finally revealed, I felt almost guilty at my total lack of sympathy. “It’s okay to be insufferable as long as you’re aware that you’re being insufferable. At least that’s how I justified it to myself.” Ugh. So […]
A lot of cursing, with some food thrown in
Anthony Bourdain published Kitchen Confidential back in 2000, before he became the mega-hit that he is now. I think at the time, he had published a couple of novels and made a bit of a name for himself as a chef in New York City. Now, of course, he’s on every 5 minutes on the Food Channel — so it’s neat to catch a glimpse of his beginnings. “I’ve long believed that good food, good eating, is all about risk. Whether we’re talking about unpasteurized Stilton, […]
Worth it for the pictures alone
I read Steve Martin’s Shopgirl last year and didn’t really like it — the writing was good but I hated the plot and the characters. But I thought I would give his non-fiction a chance, and I’m glad I did. Born Standing Up tells of Martin’s (slow, painful) rise to fame as a stand up comedian, from his start doing magic shows as a teen and working at Disneyland, to sold out arenas every day of the week. “I have heard it said that a complicated childhood can lead […]
Medical Mysteries FTW
It took me a while to really get into Susannah Cahalan’s autobiography, Brain on Fire, simply because I was listening to it as an audiobook when I started The Martian, also on audiobook. And while Cahalan’s mystery disease certainly fascinated me, it’s hard to compete with an astronaut stuck on Mars — even if he’s fictional. But once I devoted my full attention to her medical woes, she hooked me. “We are, in the end, a sum of our parts, and when the body fails, all the virtues we hold […]
This book gave ME a head injury
Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD. What a stupid book. Seriously. At the end, you find out all that most of the main characters died in a fire, and my only thought was “good”. I did feel bad for the doggies, though. Backing up. In her 15th summer, something happened to Cadence on her family’s private island (get ready to meet some really rich people, by the way). Some kind of head injury that wiped out her memories of that summer, and has left her with terrible migraines. […]
Searching for Their Manic Pixie Dream Girl
Falling Together, by Marisa de los Santos, featured a handful of characters that I really liked, all chasing after a girl I could not have cared less about. As a result, my primary feeling when I finished reading was: “I’ll miss these people, but thank god that’s over”. “That no matter what happens, loving someone to the best of your ability is the right thing to do. It’s the only thing to do.” Will, Pen and Cat met in college and instantly became an inseparable trio — […]
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