Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger

Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger
384 pages
Finished 7/20/08














I bought this book at one of my Goodwill excursions because I had read The Devil Wears Prada and didn't completely hate it (good reasoning, huh?). I'm not usually a big fan of this type of chick lit because they all seem to follow the same format (girls gets fabulous new job, finds true love, loses true love, loses job, finds herself, gets true love back) and there is no imagination in most of the these books.

That said, I didn't completely hate this book. I was actually pretty amused by it, although probably not for the right reasons. I typically get annoyed with books that name drop celebrities, and I think this book showed why my annoyance is so justified. The main character works with famous people, so she puts together a fabulous party, where Ja Rule is in attendance (a name I haven't heard in years), Ashanti is the surprise guest (yay! three years ago...), and Hef is there with his 6 or 8 girlfriends.

It was a quick, mindless fluff read. Moderately amusing. Ooh, and VERY predictable.

Two and a half stars.

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
400 pages
Finished June 22, 2008














I have always been a Jennifer Weiner fan, ever since I read her first book, Good in Bed (which is also the prequel to this book). I LOVED Good in Bed, it is by far my favorite book by Weiner (the 12 year old in me is giggling).

I thought this book started out slow. It follows the main character from Good in Bed, Cannie, 12 years later. The beginning of the book wasn't very good - I was annoyed by the main characters (it seems like the author was trying too hard to make them funny/witty), and I was bothered by the lack of communication between Cannie and her daughter. Ha! Of course, I'm not the mother of the a thirteen year old girl, so what do I know? :)

Anyway, the book was an extremely fast read (I finished it in a day), and it definitely got better in the end. I actually was impressed with the end - I liked that Weiner took it where she did, although I will say that it I totally saw it coming within the first chapter of the book (because I'm that good...or I read WAY too much).

Overall, it was decent, but not nearly as good as Good in Bed.

Three and a half stars.

Six Book Updates

I know I typically put books into their own separate posts, but I'm so far behind and I just don't have the energy to type up six different reviews on books. Sorry. The good news is that I will give one recently read book it's own post. The bad news is, as mentioned, six are combined in this post. Here's a shortened version, and hopefully I'll be back on track.

Insomnia by Stephen King (finished 4/26/08) - Meh. Unfortunately, there is not much to say other than it is a typically Stephen King book. Quirky characters and out there ideas. Because not much can diminish my SK love, I still give it three stars. It started off slow, but got better in the last half of the book.

Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur (finished 4/27/08) - A pretty fast read about a women who is half werewolf, half vampire. The book is also supposed to be erotic and sexy, but it was definitely lacking in that department. Still, the book is the first in a series of four, and it definitely leaves more questions than answers (meaning that I now feel compelled to finish the series. I am currently on book three). Three stars.

L.A. Connections by Jackie Collins (finished 4/29/08) - A HPB dollar bin find that lived up to it's expectations - very fluffy and trashy, and quite the fast read. (I think the book was originally published as four separate stories). I will say I was curiously unsatisfied with the ending, because it didn't end the way most books of this type do (and usually, I like books that go against the grain. Oh well). I still gave it three stars, although I really don't remember why.

The Ugly Duckling by Iris Johansen (finished 4/30/08) - How sad is it that I barely remember this book, and I finished it what? two weeks ago? I do know that the whole time I was reading it, I had a sense of deja vu - I'd either read the book a long time ago and couldn't remember the details, or it was so generic it felt like a book I've already read. Either way, it was just an ok read. Three stars.

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough (finished 5/9/08) - Yay! Finally, a really good book. I loved it. I found this book in a box of books my mom gave me and decided to check it out because the name was familiar, and it wasn't a book I'd typically read (as you can tell by the 4 books mentioned above, I have been in a bit of a book rut). I ended up loving it, it was really good. Set in Australia from 1915-1970 (or therebout, I don't remember the exact date), the story follows on family. It was a really good book - a little long-winded in places, but still a great story. I'm really glad I picked it up, I feel like it got me reading again (there's something else that got me out of my rut, I'll follow up more below). Anyway, I give this book four and a half stars.

Kissing Sin by Keri Arthur (finished 5/11/08) - The second book in the Riley Jenson series (mentioned above). Not quite as good as the first in storyline, although a little bit better in the erotic parts. Still has me hooked, and like I said, I'm currently reading the third book. I give this one three stars.

Whew. I just have one more book to update, and then I will finally be back on track. Yay! One thing I realized over the weekend - one, that I miss reading really good books, and two, that there is nothing like being able to share your love of books with a good friend. I met my best friend from middle school/high school for a bagel Saturday morning, and it was so nice to be able to talk about great books that we've read lately (and some all time favorites). The whole conversation made me want to read a ton (in fact, I went to HPB that night and picked up a bunch)! Of course, while I still miss reading quality novels, I have still somehow dedicated myself to finishing a series on a vampire/werewolf.

I guess you can take the girl out of the trailer, but not the trailer out of the girl. :)

Baby Proof by Emily Giffin

Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
340 pages
Finished 1/26/08












This book is your typical chick lit - career woman falls madly in love with the man of her dreams, only to find that things aren't as peachy as she thought it'd be. In the case of this book, the main character, Claudia, has always maintained that she didn't want children - ever. She eventually meets a man that feels the exact same way about that (and, apparently, everything else under the sun). They get married, and after a few years of marriage, one of them eventually decides that hey, maybe they do want kids.

This book is exactly what I envision most chick lit to be - simple, predictable, and an easy read (I read in a day, no problem). It wasn't a great book, but I didn't despise it. I'd probably read other books by the author (as long as I found them in the dollar area at HPB).

Three stars.

Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell

Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell
435 pages
Finished 12/11/07













So, a funny thing happened this morning as I was watching my DVR'd from last night Biggest Loser (which, side note, can I just say how annoyed I am about an all-Black Team finale? Grr, Bill or Hollie better win, because I will be so annoyed if either of the blondes win it). Anyway, as I was fast-wording through the commercials (and half the show, really), I saw Brooke Shields on my screen, so I rewound a bit because I like her. Turns out it was a promo spot for the new TV show she is in...called Lipstick Jungle! I had no idea this book was being made into a TV show. Apparently it starts in February. Yeah, I'll probably watch it (I'll probably be starved for new TV, what with the writers strike and all).

Ok, on to the book. My first feeling when reading this was extreme annoyance. One thing that it always seems about chick-lit books - the main characters always have ridiculous names. The three main characters are Victory, Nico, and Wendy. Ok, Wendy's not bad, but the other two? Come on! (Although, there was a two week or so period in 6th grade where my 3 bestest friends were Danette, Minta, and Windy, so...)

There were a few things that made me crazy - mainly, the lack of details. The timeline drove me a little nuts - it seemed like it went from around the Oscars (February) to Cannes (May) within a few pages, when it had taken 200+ pages just to get to the Oscars. The author tried to run all of these parallel storylines, but it just seemed like she had so much going on (and the book was getting so long) that she decided to say fuck it and started chopping out parts. The ending was crazy - it was all wrapped up neatly with a bow within 10 or so pages, and it didn't make sense. Without going into detail, one of the main character's storyline went from pretty good to over in a matter of sentences. Grr.

Three stars - but that's on a curve, taking into a count that it's a chick lit book, and not literary genius. Off topic a bit - this author is the same author that penned Sex and the City. I've never watched the TV show, and I didn't know it was based off of a book. Curious.

Rosie Dunne by Cecelia Ahern

Rosie Dunne by Cecelia Ahern
431 pages
Finished 12/1/07












This book has an interesting gimmick - it is written as a series of letters, emails, and instant messages. To be quite honest, if I knew that was the case, I might not have picked up the book (although, since I found the hardcover for a dollar at Half Price Books, who knows?).

I was a little annoyed by the format, mainly because nothing is dated. The book spans 40+ years of Rosie's life, and the letters can jump a year (or more) on the same page. I was also a little confused by some of the time line, because certain things just didn't always seem to add up, especially when it came to Katie, Rosie's daughter (are one year olds still considered colicky? Shouldn't a three year old have said "Grandma" a long time ago?).

Overall, though, it was a really sweet book, and you couldn't help but root for the two main letter writers to get together. This is definitely a chick lit book, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

Three stars.

Babyville by Jane Green

Babyville by Jane Green
438 pages
Finished 11/28/07













I am having pretty mixed feelings on this book. I am not typically a fan of chick-lit, and this definitely fits into that category. The novel is about 3 women, in different stages of their lives - Julia, who desperately wants to be pregnant, Maeve, who is single and loving it and unexpectedly becomes pregnant, and Samantha, married with a new baby.

So many things about this book drove me nuts. First, the fact that it is a British novel, so there a bunch of phrases and words that I'm not familiar with. There weren't so many that I couldn't understand the story (actually, I could pretty easily figure out what they meant), but they still drive me nuts. And yeah, I knew that would happen going into the book, because I've read the author before, but still... Second, I couldn't stand (or understand) the three female characters and their relationships with the men in their lives. I seriously cannot imagine anyone being that blind, dense, and crazy - and that goes for all three of the ladies.

Reading my review and thinking about all of the things that bothered me about the book make me feel like I should be giving it less stars than I am. No idea why I feel inclined to give it the stars I am - probably because the bottom line is that this is a chick-lit book, and it was exactly what they all typically are...mindless "brain candy" that you don't read for intellectual reasons, but more to escape.

Three stars.