Betty Halbreich is who I want to end up being. She’s 86, no longer cares what anyone thinks, has 12 closets of gorgeous, classic clothing, and is the founder of Bergdorf-Goodman’s personal shopping service. I’ve been to BG once, was so intimated with how posh it is that I walked in one door and went right back out the next. I’m less dainty society woman and more bull in a china shop, but I love beautiful things. So does Betty, which is a big basis […]
Two Novels, One Book
I have never read a book like this before. There might be others like this, that combine two separate novels into one very large book, but none that have crossed my path. This book was ambitious, long, and ultimately successful. I’ve read Westerfeld’s Uglies series, and the first in theLeviathans, so I was hoping I would enjoy this story of an author and the book she writes, and boy did I.
I Was Here, But I Wish I Was Somewhere Else
I have devoured 5 of Gayle Forman’s previous books. I distinctly remember when Just One Nightcame out that I camped out in bed, reading it all in one night because it was that good. For me, it’s impossible not to compare I Was Here to the rest of her three-word-title books. They’re all so ingrained in my head, filled with technicolor worlds populated with life-sized characters and storylines that were both fantastical and yet somewhat real. I wonder if I hadn’t read those, hadn’t been so familiar […]
Gods and Monster Potential
For Christmas this year I got my 8 year old nephew the Percy Jackson books. I’ve seen trailers for the movies and heard a little bit about the books to figure he’s about the right age for them (and is already reading the first Harry Potter one.) He was happy and went on his merry way. Then a couple weeks ago, my husband is cleaning out stuff in the basement and finds the first book down there! I figure, well, might as well read it […]
Oh Just Read The Damn Book Already
I didn’t want to like this book. I went into it planning how I was going to be apologetic in my review; I tried, but it just wasn’t my thing. I’d seen it pop up in my Amazon recs, on a few year end lists. I read the summary. I thought it was going to be “Mommy Lit,” those books about rich, white mommies who have problems with cheating husbands and thieving maids and out of control children. This just isn’t for me, I thought, buying the $3.99 […]
Survival is Insufficient
Normally when I love a book, the highest compliment I can pay is saying I want to live in the world the author created. Here, I have to say that’s the last thing I would do. I didn’t want to read this book. I mean, I wanted to read this book a lot (which is why I own it), but about halfway through I put it down and started reading something else. I didn’t want this book to end, and the faster I read it, the […]