influental books

I haven't done a follow-friday post in a while, but I liked this week's question.

Talk about the book that most changed or influenced your life (was it a book that turned you from an average to avid reader, did it help you deal with a particularly difficult situation, does it bring you comfort every time you read it?).

I can't say that this book changed my life, but it is one that helped me through a tough time. I feel a bit silly posting about this particular book in this particular context because the author's work falls solidly in the chick-lit category. I really have nothing against chick lit, but it does have a justifiable reputation for being frivolous.

PS, I love you by Cecilia Ahern is a wonderful, uplifting, and fun story about love and loss and grief and learning to cope. I bought it after the unexpected death of my cousin died planning to send it to his wife. Of course I decided to read it before sending it along and I have to say that it brought me great comfort. After reading it, I felt the desire to buy another copy to send to her so I could keep the original copy for myself. Since then I decided that it should be shared rather than hoarded. I've passed along my copy and bought a few others (from the discount bookstore) to share via BookCrossing.

~

If you are visiting this blog for the first time, welcome!
And be sure to check out my giveaway (see this post or the sidebar to the right).

This is Karen. I'm a librarian and archivist and I've been writing this blog since 2006. Some of my favorite books are All We Know of Love (schneider), The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (kundera), The God of Small Things (roy), The Handmaid's Tale (atwood), Pride and Prejudice (austen), The Storyteller (vargas llosa), and Zahrah the Windseeker (okorafor-mbachu).

Second Thyme Around

Second Thyme Around by Katie Fforde

For years, things have run quite smoothly for Perdita and her organic gardening business. So what if her hair needs a complete overhaul, her sweater has more holes than Swiss cheese, and there's no hope of a boyfriend on the horizon? The last thing Perdita wants is a meddlesome man in her life--but she's about to get one, in the form of her completely infuriating ex-husband, Lucas. Lucas is disagreeable, curt, arrogant, and smolderingly gorgeous. He's also the new chef at Grantly House, Perdita's number-one customer. Worse, Mr. Grantly has the insane idea of starting a television cooking show that will put Lucas and Perdita together as "The Gourmet and the Gardener." Now, things are heating up in the kitchen--and elsewhere. With the bright lights blazing and old feelings stirring the pot, it could be a recipe for disaster...or absolute delight.

Second Thyme Around is a quick, but enjoyable read. Beyond the usual chick lit hate-turned-to-romance, there's a secondary plot about the death of a loved one and the drama caused by the unexpected appearance of a long-lost relation with his eyes on the estate.

Perdita is a sympathetic character and is much less obtuse than chick lit heroines can sometimes be. Perdita's neighbor Kitty despite being a secondary character is really the star of the show. Kitty (and her storyline) adds so much depth to the novel.

book club voting lists (3 of 4)

This post explains what the lists are all about...

Mystery/Thriller/Horror

1. Booked to Die by John Dunning
2. A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley (Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip)
3. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
4. The Constant Gardener by John le Carre
5. The Devil's Feather by Minette Walters
6. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
7. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
8. The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist
9. Grave Sight (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 1) by Charlaine Harris
10. Haunted Ground by Erin Hart
11. An Innocent Client by Scott Pratt
12. The Night Villa by Carol Goodman
13. One for the Money (Stephanie Plum, Book 1) by Janet Evanovich
14. Pandora by Anne Rice
15. Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan
16. Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg
17. Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
18. Snow Storms in a Hot Climate by Sarah Dunant
19. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
20. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

SciFi and Fantasy

1. Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey
2. Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
3. Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern, Book 1) by Anne McCaffrey
4. Changing Planes by Ursula Le Guin
5. Excession by Iain M Banks
6. Grass by Sheri Tepper
7. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
8. Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy
9. Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson
10. The Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey
11. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
12. Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
13. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
14. The Unincorporated Man by Dani Kollin and Eytan Kollin
15. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Women's Fiction

1. Addition by Toni Jordan
2. Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
3. Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger
4. The Fortune Quilt by Lani Diane Rich
5. The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
6. The Linnet Bird by Linda Holeman
7. Lord of Fire by Gaelen Foley
8. One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell
9. Patty Jane's House of Curl by Lorna Landvik
10. The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber
11. Star Gazing by Linda Gillard
12. Sullivan's Island by Dorthea Benton Frank
13. Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
14. Thanks for the Memories by Cecilia Ahern
15. Woman's World by Graham Rawle

Katie Chandler series

After reading my post about Enchanted, Inc by Shanna Swendson, my friend Lizzie offered to let me borrow the next few books in the Katie Chandler series: Once Upon Stilettos, Damsel Under Stress, and Don't Hex with Texas.

I'm so pleased that she did because I really love the series. My biggest disappointment about it is that there probably won't be a fifth book to tie up all the loose ends. Swendson explains why in the FAQ section of her webpage. I also read the books too quickly and one right after the other. I should have spaced them out a bit to make them last longer.

How Nancy Drew Save My Life

How Nancy Drew Saved My Life by Lauren Baratz Logsted

Broken, smashed and stomped in the mud. That's how Charlotte Bell's heart ended up the last time she let her emotions heat up on a nanny assignment. So taking a new position in frigid Iceland, working for Ambassador Edgar Rawlings, might be just what Charlotte needs in order to heal up--and chill out. This time, she's determined to be intrepid and courageous. She's even read all fifty-six original Nancy Drew books in preparation. Unfortunately, she's neglected to find out anything about Iceland or to look into the background of her oddly compelling employer.

When Charlotte stumbles onto the trail of a mystery that only she can solve, she'll need every shred of Nancy's wisdom to keep her life--and her heart--safe!

I listened to the audio version of this book, read by Elenna Stauffer. How Nancy Drew Saved My Life is very chick-lit-y, but I did like it quite a bit. Stauffer was a very good narrator. Protagonist Charlotte is a sympathetic character, more relateable (to me) than I normal find chick lit heroines to me. The storyline was interesting and somewhat realistic. My only real criticism is that there are a number of things that the author never gets around to explaining like why the Icelanders (are people from Iceland really called Icelanders?) like Nancy Drew so much.

Enchanted, Inc.

Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson

I really liked Enchanted, Inc. in fact I'll go so far to say that I was enchanted by it. It was exactly the right book for me to read this weekend as I tried to relax before a very hectic week.

I thought protagonist Katie was sympathetic, much more so that I usually find chick lit heroines to be. I liked the concept and the way that Swendson incorporated the paranormal into the story.

I definitely look forward to reading the other books in the series (when I get my hands on them). It will be interesting to see how things play out with the love interests as well as how the overall storyline develops.

Divas Don't Knit

Divas Don't Knit by Gil McNeil

(It looks like this book'll be published stateside as The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club in March 2009)

Jo Mackenzie needs a new start. Newly widowed with two young sons and a perilous bank balance, she has to leave London to take over her grandmother's wool shop. They arrive in the pouring rain and Broadgate Bay is the kind of Kentish seaside town where the tide went out a long time ago and the dusty old shop is full of peach four-ply. Marmalade mohair, an A-list actress moving into the local mansion and a 'Stitch and Bitch' group will help, but it's not going to be easy. Very large dogs, celebrity, small town intrigues, packed lunches and romance all loom large in Gil McNeil's funny and uplifting novel. Divas Don't Knit turns prejudices and assumptions upside down and tells it how it really is in the world of knit-one, purl-one. Knitting has never been so much fun.

I enjoyed this book very much and I don't think that you need to be a knitter to enjoy it (though if you don't like "women's fiction", you may want to steer clear of it).

Divas Don't Knit is a heartwarming tale. Our protagonist overcomes the loss of her husband and way of life, but in the end rediscovers herself and in the process creates a life filled with family, friends, and community, completely different than her old life, but better.

I'd definitely be interested in reading the sequel, Needles and Purls.

Karma Girl

Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep

Carmen Cole is a reporter for a small-time newspaper in a Southern town until she catches her fiance and best friend in flagrante delicto on her wedding day. In their passion they let slip that they are also the town's resident superhero and supervillain and Carmen gets her revenge by unmasking them in the media, an act that immediately transforms her career.

Exposing the secret identities of superheros and villains becomes Carmen's calling. She knows she's truly hit the big time when she's hired by Expose, the biggest paper in Bigtime, New York. Unmasking Bigtime's Fearless Five and Terrible Triad and will be Carmen's most difficult job yet...

Karma Girl is a light, but engrossing read. It combines chick lit with comic-book-style super heroes in a very entertaining way. While some of the plot twists are pretty obvious to the reader early on, others are a bit more surprising.

This book could have easily been over-the-top, but is is grounded by Carmen's character, which is both sympathetic and down-to-earth.

Remember Me

It's November 7th and so far I've only finished one book this month. I have mixed feelings about Sophie Kinsella - I really dislike her Shopaholic books for a number of different reasons* but I have enjoyed a few of her others - but when a friend foisted this book off on me during her move I took it and kept it aside for when I needed a light read.

Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella

In Remember Me, 28-year-old protagonist Lexi Smart has an accident and when she wakes from a coma in the hospital she has lost all memory of the last three years of her life. Her life changed drastically in those three years. She remembers herself as overweight with frizzy hair and bad teeth, a low-level worker in a flooring company. She awakes fit and toned with perfect hair and teeth, a gorgeous millionaire husband, a job at the top of the food chain at that same company, and a reputation for being unapologetically ambitious.

Readers follow Lexi as she tries to understand her new life and what caused the drastic changes of the past few years. In typical Kinsella style there are some zany things that happen, particularly at work. There are twists and turns and we really don't know the full picture until the very end of the novel.


* Mainly because I know how easy it is to get in debt and the books really seem to trivialize the problem (yes, I know it's chick lit, but a little realism wouldn't hurt... with Becky's spending habits she should be much more in debt than she is in the book).

Fabulous Nobodies

Fabulous Nobodies by Lee Tulloch

Reality Nirvana Tuttle knows what fabulous is. Being fabulous is her life. She is devoted to dressing up. Her frocks - Gina, Dolores, Tallulah, Petula and Blanche, to name but a few - are her best friends, her closest confidantes. In her role as the doorgirl at the hip, Downtown New York nightclub, Less is More, Reality sees herself as the ultimate arbiter of taste, a goddess who stands above the crowd selecting fabulous nobodies from the waiting hopefuls below. When she and her English drag-queen friend Freddie open what they're sure will be New York's most fabulous club in their tiny apartment, Reality becomes really fabulous, and her new fame brings complications, not least among them Hugo Falk, the gossip columnist. She now must face a true dilemma: can people be more important than frocks?

A friend of mine loaned me this book. It's early chick lit (before people used the term "chick lit") written by an Australian author, but set in Manhattan's Lower East Side.

I've been struggling to put my feelings about the book into words. Fabulous Nobodies was a nice break from some of the more serious books I've read lately (like The Road), but I really can't say that I enjoyed reading it. Reality grated on my nerves, the Manhattan in the novel didn't seem quite right, and I didn't think that an American girl -- even a fashionista -- would refer to her dresses as frocks.

The funny thing is that when I finished the books I liked it. The ending was very satisfying. I'm not sure if that really should have been enough to redeem the novel for me, but it did leave a good taste in my mouth.

book clubbing in October

Austenland by Shannon Hale

Austenland ended up on our book club voting lists as an entry in the romance category. This time around we were trying to hit on more of the genres, though we still wanted books that would be appealing and good discussion fodder.

I'd read Hale before (in fact I really love her books), but Austenland really is a complete departure from her usual. Her first adult offering is chick lit with a dose of Austen. In it, protagonist Jane is obsessed with Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy to the point where she cannot have a healthy romantic relationship. In order to cure her, a wealthy aunt gives her to an all-expenses-paid trip to Pemberley Hall, an English reenactment resort catering to Austen-lovers.

The book club members were pretty split on this one. Personally, I really enjoyed the book (I listened to the audio version), but I went into it expecting chick lit. I thought the book was a nice distraction to my workplace worries (and one of the twists took me completely by surprise). Those who didn't like the book terribly much were annoyed with Jane's character, displeased with the whole set-up, left with a bad taste in their mouths by the resort concept (Pemberly Hall as whorehouse?), and unhappy with the lack of Austen.

That being said, we did have a good discussion about the book. We drew a few parallels from Austen, discussed the Firth-Darcy as a cultural icon, defined chick lit in general (for those who hadn't been exposed to it before), identified devices in the novel, and wondered how we'd each react to a Pemberly Hall environment.

The Next Thing on My List

The Next Thing on My List by Jill Smolinski

When 34-year-old June Parker sets off for her first Weight Watchers meeting, her biggest complaints in life are the ten pounds she wants to lose and a relationship that’s on its last legs. Everything changes when she survives a car accident that left her passenger, 24-year-old Marissa Jones, dead. Tucked in Marissa’s purse, June discovers a list entitled “20 Things to Do by My 25th Birthday” and is crushed to see that only two of the items had been completed at the time of Marissa’s death. A chance encounter with Marissa’s brother spurs June to complete Marissa’s list... in the six months left before her birthday. What begins as an errand undertaken to save face quickly becomes a noble quest that gives June’s life new meaning.

With entries as simple as “Watch a sunrise”, as difficult as “Change someone’s life”, and as confounding as “Make Buddy Fitch pay”, Marissa’s to-do list is compelling. Told by an endearing first person narrator, The Next Thing on My List is the story of June and her struggle to cross off the items on the list before Marissa’s birthday. Readers can keep track on June's progress by the increasingly stricken-through lists that appear throughout the book.

The Next Thing on My List is a very much a typical chick lit story with a typical chick lit protagonist. A twenty- or thirty-something (in this case, thirty-something) city girl is bumbling through life, career and love, to triumph in the end. In this case, June works at a ride share program in Los Angeles, where she's been passed over for a managerial position. She's single, depressed, and in need of a change. The catalyst for that change is a to-do list written by someone else. However, while completing the list is transformative for June, Smolinski's delivery falls flat. While the subtleties of some list items are thoroughly explored, others are glossed over (much like Marissa's death itself). In the end, though June proclaims herself changed, there doesn't seem to be enough evidence to prove any
lost-lasting effects.

The Next Thing on My List lacks that depth and sensitivity of Cecilia Ahern's debut PS, I love you (a novel this reader recommends on a similar theme). Nevertheless, fans of the genre will rush to pick up Smolinski's second novel and many will be charmed by her relatable heroine.

Read my review at Front Street Reviews...

some recent reading

I have had a chance to do some lighter reading recently, most notably the first two books in Angie Sage's wonderful Septimus Heap series: Magyk and Flyte. I read Magyk a couple of weeks ago. I needed something that could help me decompress from a long week and it was just the ticket: a captivating story full of sympathetic characters. I later read Flyte. It isn't quite as good as the first book, but that's to be expected of the second book in a series. I thoroughly enjoyed both books, am looking forward to reading Physik (the third book in the series), and am planning on procuring a copies for my own personal collection (I'd borrowed the books from a friend).

Here's a little passage that struck me as being very apt to my own situation: "Everywhere you looked there were books. On sagging shelves, in boxes, having in bags from the ceiling, propping up the table and stacked up in such precariously high piles that they threatened to collapse at any moment" (Magyk, 21). Things here aren't quite that bad, but we definitely have the same book hoarding problem as the Heaps.


I also read the first three Shopaholic books: Confessions of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic takes Manhattan, and Shopaholic Ties the Knot. My coworker has been bugging me to read the Shopaholic books for some time. Honestly I was a bit reticent because I know how easy it is to get in debt and the books really seem to trivialize the problem (yes, I know it's chick lit, but a little realism wouldn't hurt... with Becky's spending habits she should be much more in debt than she is in the book).

In any case I finally got around to reading the first few books in the series. They were OK. I actually liked Shopaholic takes Manhattan better than Confessions of a Shopaholic (I'd classify Shopaholic Ties the Knot as more of the same).

And Baby Makes Two

And Baby Makes Two by Judy Sheehan

Jane Howe is a thirty-seven-year-old single woman living in New York City. She has what some would call a perfect life: a satisfying and well-paying job, a great apartment in Greenwich Village, good friends, and family close enough to visit, but not close enough to be involved in her daily life.

When her biological clock starts ticking, Jane realizes what is missing in her life and readers learn the reason for her childlessness and her single status. Apparently the love of Jane's life died of Lou Gehrigs Disease. Although throughout the novel, this relationship is mentioned only in passing, a part of Jane's back-story that has relatively little bearing on her current life. Jane's mother seems more affected by Jane's younger sister Sheila eloping than Jane is by the death of her fiancé. To anyone who suffered a significant loss, this is incongruous.

Jane stumbles across a reference to a group on single motherhood and, from that point on, seems propelled along a trajectory that leads to her adopting a girl from China. While Jane is supposed to be making the most important decision of her life, it never really seems like she's consciously making a decision. Jane doesn't choose to adopt from China after thoroughly investigating international adoption and the various options available to her. Someone else adopts a baby from China and it just seems right to her -- so, China it is. Yes, she faces roadblocks -- a traditional father who disapproves of her becoming a single parent, a demotion at work, delayed paperwork -- but these things end up seeming like minor hiccups in the great scheme of things. Jane's biggest problem really has nothing to do with the adoption, it has to do with a love interest, a married love interest.

Apart from Jane's love interest Peter (who is horribly indecisive, but a very realistic character because of that), And Baby Makes Two has a wide variety of strong supporting characters. There's Ray, Jane's gay best friend and "hubstitute," who despite being a stock character is probably one of the most sympathetic characters in the book; Sheila, a scattered stepmom who was disowned after the incident mentioned above; the Chinamoms, a support group of women adopting babies from China; and a mother-figure in the head of Jane's adoption agency, who turns out to be her former professor (the same one in whose class she met her fiancé).

Read my full review at Front Street Reviews...

Because she can

Because she can by Bridie Clark

Because she can opens on an extravagant New York wedding. Book editor Claire Truman is marrying the man of her dreams, Randall Cox, her college crush. Everything is going well until her nightmarish boss, the notorious publishing queen Vivian Grant, shows up in the bridal suite to work on some projects.

The novel then flashes back exactly one year to Claire sulking in her tiny apartment. Fresh from a breakup, she has just found out that her beloved mentor is retiring. When her best friend drags Claire to an opening in hopes of raising her spirits, she reconnects with the fabulously successful Randall Cox. After they hit it off, Randall offers to introduce her to Vivian Grant. Though Grant is the most reviled person in the industry, Claire takes a job at Grant Books to forward her career. When the rumors about Vivian turn out to be more true than she could have imagined, Claire sticks it out in order to see her new friend Luke Mayville's first novel published.

Debut novel from Bridie Clark, who once worked for the infamous Judith Regan, seems to be a blend of fiction and tell-all. One can't help but describe it as a The Devil Wears Prada for the book publishing world. While Because she can is not a cookie-cutter book, the similarities are striking: including a crazy boss and stressful work environment, the need for the protagonist to stay a year in the position, weight loss, and a public scene marking the end of the protagonist's employment.

Claire is a very sympathetic character, more realistic than many chick lit heroines. Her personal struggle is less about her career than it is about coming to terms with the fact that sometimes Mr. Perfect isn't perfect for you. While readers may get impatient with Claire, her eventual self-realization is satisfying.

Read my review of the audio version on Armchair Interviews...

Can you keep a secret?

Can you keep a secret? by Sophie Kinsella

Synopsis:
Emma is a nervous flyer and she can't help but tell the man next to her - quite a dishy American, but she's too frightened to notice - all her innermost secrets. She survives the flight, but when the American boss of the whole corporation visits the company, he seems strangely familiar.

When my coworker realized that I hadn't read Can you keep a secret? , she brought me her extra copy and insisted that I read it (It's her favorite Kinsella). So, when I needed something light to read before the stress of holiday get-togethers, I decided to give it a shot.

A quick, easy read; I tackled it in one afternoon. Emma is a realistic protagonist, quirky, but not too quirky. The interaction between the two main characters is entertaing and fairly believable. I found the story itself enjoyable even though the plot was pretty predictable (it seemed like I guessed Jack's secret very early on).

The Undomestic Goddess

I needed something light to read last night so I decided to pick up Sophie Kinsella's The Undomestic Goddess.

Synopsis:
Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She's made a mistake so huge, it'll wreck any chance of a partnership. Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she's mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they've hired a lawyer — and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can't sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope — and finds love — is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake. But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does, will she want it back?

A quick, easy read, this book was a perfect choice for reading after a long day at work.

The Undomestic Goddess was my first experience with Kinsella (in all honesty, I don't read a lot of chick lit).
I thought Samantha was an interesting character and a good protagonist, quirky without being over the top. The story was good, though it did get a bit annoying toward the end (what I mean is that her indecisiveness at the end started to get on my nerves).

At the moment I'm on my lunch break and I just wild-released this book over in the law school ;)

Artistic License

Artistic License by Katie Fforde

(I actually posted on this book yesterday, but for some reason that post magically disappeared during blogger maintenance)

Synopsis:
Fed up with being mother to a houseful of students, Thea accepts her bossy friend Molly's offer of an art appreciation holiday in Provence. While there, Thea meets gorgeous Rory, an artist who, despite being several years younger, is as attracted to her as she is to him.
So, when Thea hears that her student lodgers have had a party and her house is a tip, she decides to extend her holiday and accept Rory's invitation to his house in Ireland, where she discovers a studio full of wonderful painting. But her home life won't leave her alone. Molly, her annoying niece Petal, not to mention their enigmatic cousin Ben and his son Toby, all appear on the doorstep, just as Rory's dog is about to have puppies. And then everyone is roped into helping when Thea decides to open an art gallery to show Rory's work. But will she end up with Rory, who wants her, or with Ben, who, maddeningly, doesn't seem to?

I had a stressful day at work on Friday so I just wanted to read something light with a happy ending. I saw this book on my TBR bookcase and it looked like it fit the bill.

An enjoyable, relatively quick read. It was a bit hard to get into the book at first, but then the story seemed to flow quite well. Thea was a very sympathetic character (even though she has way more gumption than I ever will).