Woman in Red by Eileen Goudge

Woman in Red by Eileen Goudge
352 pages
Finished 8/20/08













You know it's a bad sign when you can barely remember a book you finished a week ago, but unfortunately that is the case with this book. Granted, I've completed one other book, and am half way finished with another in that time, but still.

This book is a fiction novel about a woman released from prison after a nine year stint for attempted murder (she tried to run down the man who killed her son) who comes back to her hometown, an extremely small island. She tried to get re-acclimated with the world and her family. At the same time, a man comes back to the island after the death of his grandfather, and the two connect. The story follows what they go through, and it also follows a back story of their grandparents during WWII. (And yes, I just had to look at the back of the book to get this refresher on what it was about)

Overall, the story was a little weak, but I did remember what exactly I hated the most about this book. Apparently it had little to no proofreading done, because there were typos galore throughout the thing, and it drove me nuts. I noticed two within the first 35 pages or so, and that was enough to make me almost quit right there (missing quotation marks was the biggest offender, along with missing capitalization and some spaces issues).

It was a very fast read though, and not as entirely horrible as I've made it sound. I think the typos and the fact that I can't remember much about the book has made the review a little more negative than it would have been if I would have written it last week.

Two and a half stars.

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.

Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy

Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
236 pages
Finished 1/16/08













I had a really hard time getting into and then through this book. It is an autobiography (really?!) of a woman who had cancer when she was a child. As a result of that cancer, she had to have part of her jaw removed, leaving her disfigured.

The first thing that bothered me is that I wasn't a huge fan of the author's writing style. I know what she was going for with the visualizations, etc, but it just seemed like she was trying too hard. That wasn't the biggest thing that bothered me, though. The whole time I was reading it, I was annoyed by the lack of family relationships that were mentioned. She talked some about her father and her mother, but her twin sister was barely mentioned. It just felt there was this huge aspect of her life that was missing while reading the book.

I did find the afterword written by author Ann Patchett really interesting - it really shed some light on Grealy and her thoughts behind the writing of this memoir.

Two and a half stars.

Also, is it bad that every time I see the book, I kept thinking "So's your face!" (an insult from Scrubs) and then will usually start singing Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face"?

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
563 pages
Finished 12/31/07












What a disappointment! I was a little worried this would happen - it seems like teen authors are trying so hard to become the next JK Rowling, and it's just not happening. New Moon is the second book in the Twilight series, and to be quite honest, I thought it was pretty bad. I'm trying to put into words my distaste for the book without giving much of the plot away, and it's hard. (I don't want to give up the plot because I know how annoying it is to read information about a second novel in a series when you haven't read the first - too spoilerish).

My biggest issues stem from the main character - she absolutely drove me nuts. She's so melodramatic about everything! I don't think she has a ton of redeeming qualities, and yet somehow every guy she meets is drawn to her and in love with her. It was forced a little too much in this book.

The last quarter of the book was by far the best part, and that really wasn't good enough.

Two and a half stars.

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
234 pages
Finished 11/21/07













I'm not going to lie, I only picked this book up because it was on my banned books bracelet, which is my new favorite piece of jewelery - here's the link: http://www.alastore.ala.org/SiteSolution.taf?_sn=catalog&_pn=product_detail&_op=2151

Anyway, I actually really didn't know much about this book until I started reading it. It's essentially a love story about two high school students - both female. It is a young adult novel and was written and published in the early '80s (1981 or 82, I can't remember).

In some ways, I think the story was extremely well written. The blossoming love between Annie and Liza was sweet, and I honestly think that anyone who reads it will be able to relate to the feelings they have - nervous, unsure, etc. On the other hand, there were little things about the characters and the story that drove me nuts - mainly the constant foreshadowing ("And by the time the whole thing was over with, I wished she'd known..." and "But, oh, God, neither of us had any way of knowing that I would do something..." are just two examples from the first quarter of the book).

I can definitely see why this book has been challenged, although there are no overt sexual scenes in the story (there are probably more explicit things shown on prime time television).

I give it two and a half stars.