More reading in the news

Last week I linked to an article in the WSJ by author Ann Patchett, who discussed the rise of reading. I just stumbled upon another great article, this time in The New York Times about President Obama's reading habits.

From Books, New President Found Voice by Michael Kakutani.

Coming soon: a review of Some Like it Haute by Julie K. L. Dam and a very bookish tour!

Movies + Books

Not too long ago I finished The Da Vinci Code, so it was about time to watch the movie too! I always kick myself when I see movies before reading the book, because it takes me far too long to read the book afterwards, since I know what's going to happen and all. But I'm always so disappointed that the movies are never as good as the books. Still, I had high hopes for this one.


What I did like about the movie was that I was actually able to see the details that were described in the book. Sometimes it's just too hard to get the visual that the author is painting, and this is where I'm glad I watched the movie. Some of the details really came to life and I found myself nodding my head because it all made more sense.


The obvious downside to turning a book into a movie is the lack of detail in other places, which certainly occured in this one. The search for clues to the keystone at the library was totally eliminated in the movie, as were many other details I remember from the book. All in all though, I was sucked into the movie but of course, the book was better.


Have you read + seen The Da Vinci Code? I'm curious what others thought about this one.

Patchett hits the mark with "The Triumph of the Readers"

Did anyone see the article in The Wall Street Journal last weekend called The Triumph of the Readers? Author Ann Patchett wrote about the upswing in fiction reading despite the economy's downswing.

I admit that sometimes I just scan the newspaper, even start reading a particular article but don't finish it, for whatever reason. This one though, hooked me from the beginning. It's so very true that reading is on the rise, library usage is on the rise, and that people even go back to school in flocks when the economy is in the dumps. Something that really hit me: Patchett wrote that reading is on the rise - even in the 18-to-24-year-old group. I suppose I could believe this because these are the folks who grew up with Harry Potter (as she so clearly points out) and because every time I turn around there is another teenager engrossed in the Twilight series, which seems to have revolutionized reading for tweens and teens. But this is also the generation that has grown up with a plethora of technology, so while I'm thrilled to hear that reading is on the rise for them, I'm also a bit shocked.

This was one of my favorite parts of the article:

"I'm a firm believer in the fact that it isn't so much what you read, it's that you read. Reading fiction not only develops our imagination and creativity, it gives us the skills to be alone. It gives us the ability to feel empathy for people we've never met, living lives we couldn't possibly experience for ourselves, because the book puts us inside the character's skin."

Another particularly awesome quote:

"I'm all for reading bad books because I consider them to be a gateway drug. People who read bad books now may or may not read better books in the future. People how read nothing now will read nothing in the future."

Patchett went on to discuss how some people who wish to read simply don't know where to start. I admit that my first time through Barnes + Noble was a bit overwhelming. Where to start? What genre to begin with? Avid readers will give a list of good books in a heartbeat to start someone on their way to a lifetime of reading. That, I believe, is a great gift. I'm off to find me some Patchett titles to add to my collection :)

More books

I can't stop! Two more books to add to the mountain: The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright, and The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. Heard great things about both.

Currently reading Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan. She's got some great advice about creating a plan for all age groups. So thankful that I am young while we face this economic crisis, because I have time to rebound from it.

Hope you're all enjoying your Monday! I'm teaching myself how to use Paint Shop Pro and catching up on some DVR shows.

Lottery - Patricia Wood

Oh how fun this book was!

Perry L. Crandall is in his early 30s and lives with his Gram. He is not retarded, as is often said about him, although he is slow, a fact that is constantly with him. He has worked at a boat store in Washington state for 16 years, where he met his 2 closest friends, and the only other people in the world he can trust besides his Gram. When his beloved Gram passes away, and he wins the lottery shortly after, his entire world changes and he is faced with the challenge of everyday life on his own. He struggles in dealing with his mother and 2 brothers, none of whom actually care about him, and he struggles with learning how to get through the day without the help from Gram.

When Perry wins the lottery, Gary and Keith, his two friends from work, assist him as he moves into his new apartment, and with his lottery win. Perry does do a few things he always wanted to do if he won, such as buying a 27" TV and DVDS, and taking a trip to Hawaii. Gary and Keith try their best to help Perry navigate his finances, and to avoid his 2 brothers, who start begging for money once they hear about Perry's windfall. I must say I was furious with Perry's scumbag lawyer-brothers begging for money because they'd created their own problems in life. I just kept turning the pages, hoping Perry would not give in.

Perry's brothers were not the only ones to befriend him after his big win. He turns into somewhat of a local celebrity, which is great for business at the boat shop. And even though Perry is slow, he sees what is happening:

If I look into people's eyes deep down, I can almost tell what they are thinking. Their eyeballs sort of dart around like dropped screws on the floor. Before I won the lottery, they did not want to talk to me. Now they do, but their eyes look the same. It is spooky, but fun. I mean, I do not know how they really feel.

When Perry learns that his best friend Keith is dating Perry's crush Cherry, he is heartbroken, but he continues on, as his Gram would have told him. "Move on, Perry, move on." I loved how Patricia Wood allowed Perry to continue hearing his Gram's messages even after her death.

Soon enough, Perry is facing more challenges and he shines throughout. By the end of the book, he truly seems to have figured out the game of life. He also turns out to be one hell of a businessman, as Gary makes him partner in the boat shop and the business expands.

And in the very end, Perry gives up his lottery winnings to his family. He does not entirely understand what he is doing, but he is willingly giving up the money, because as he says, he doesn't need it and his family does. Perry was obviously much smarter with money than both of his highly educated but morally challenged brothers. I wanted to be mad when Perry signed away the money, but I couldn't, because it was such a great lesson. He gave it away because he didn't need it. (And his naughty brothers got what they deserved anyway.)

Such a great story. Loved it. Highly recommend it!

Free Suze Orman E-book on Oprah.com!

As part of Oprah's new Best Life series, Suze Orman introduced her latest book, Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan, on the Oprah show last week. You can download a copy of the book for FREE until January 15, 2009 on Oprah's website. Go get your free book!

First did-not-finish of 2009

Only 11 days in and I can't finish a book. It just wasn't sucking me in. I didn't want to pick it up because I didn't feel gripped by it. I gave it 145 pages, about 45 more than I should have. With at least 50 books in my pile, I don't have time to waste on non-page turners.

It's like in The Dip...sometimes you just have to know when to quit.

I'm reading Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan, the free e-book from Oprah's website. Also still working on this.

Has anyone else given up on anything this soon into the new year? Do you ever give up on books or do you muddle through? Please share!

Slow moving

I started out the year really great on the reading front, finishing 2 books by January 4. Alas, work started again and well, so did life! I'm about 60 pages into In Search of Eden by Linda Nichols. Too early to tell how I like it.

I've also been reading a little bit of The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby. Trying to learn a bit about how to use my new camera. Tonight I am catching up on magazines - I'm a couple months behind on InStyle and Glamour - and blogs - I'm over 150 deep in my Google Reader.

I can't remember where I first saw a blurb about Jodi Picoult's new book, but I checked her website for details. Handle With Care will be released March 3, 2009, and it looks deep. I can't wait to read it! From Jodi's website:

When Charlotte and Sean O’Keefe’s daughter, Willow, is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, they are devastated – she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain. As the family struggles to make ends meet to cover Willow’s medical expenses, Charlotte thinks she has found an answer. If she files a wrongful birth lawsuit against her ob/gyn for not telling her in advance that her child would be born severely disabled, the monetary payouts might ensure a lifetime of care for Willow. But it means that Charlotte has to get up in a court of law and say in public that she would have terminated the pregnancy if she’d known about the disability in advance – words that her husband can’t abide, that Willow will hear, and that Charlotte cannot reconcile. And the ob/gyn she’s suing isn’t just her physician – it’s her best friend.

Handle With Care explores the knotty tangle of medical ethics and personal morality. When faced with the reality of a fetus who will be disabled, at which point should an OB counsel termination? Should a parent have the right to make that choice? How disabled is TOO disabled? And as a parent, how far would you go to take care of someone you love? Would you alienate the rest of your family? Would you be willing to lie to your friends, to your spouse, to a court? And perhaps most difficult of all - would you admit to yourself that you might not actually be lying?

Everyone is Beautiful - Katherine Center

Recieved this Advanced Reader's Copy compliments of Laura Ford, an editor at Random House.

From the back cover:

Lanie Coates's life is spinning out of control. She's piled everything she owns into a U-Haul and driven across the country with her husband, Peter, and their three little boys. She's left family, friends, and a comfortable life behind - all so her husband can realize his dream of becoming a professional musician. But somewhere in the eye of her personal hurricane it hits Lanie that she once had dreams, too. If only she could remember what they were.

Now, fifteen years, three babies, and more pounds than she's willing to count since she said "I do," Lanie desperately longs to feel like her old self again. It's time to fish her moxie out of the diaper pail and find the woman she was before motherhood capsized her entire existence. So Lanie sets change in motion - accidentally creativing waves that come to threaten everything she holds dear. In the end, Lanie must figure out once and for all how to find herself without losing everything else in the process.

When Lanie and her husband Peter pack up their boys and move from Texas to Cambridge, Mass., Lanie is just going through the motions. She doesn't have any plans for herself except to follow her 3 boys around, while her husband chases his dreams. While Peter is holed up in the house giving lessons, writing music and practicing, Lanie is hitting the parks and trying to navigate her way through a brand new city. She is delighted to discover a friend from high school, Amanda, lives in town. Amanda and her daughter become her saving grace and they meet up regularly. Shortly after Lanie is asked that dreaded question by another woman, "So, when are you due?" when she is not pregnant, Lanie becomes slightly obsessed with her body and joins a gym down the street. And that becomes her nightly routine after putting the boys to bed - a whole hour at the gym, just by herself, for herself.

Life takes a turn for Lanie when she receives her mother's old cameras in the mail and rediscovers her artisitic side. It doesn't take her long to get swept up in the world of photography, and she sets out taking photos of anything and everything. As she becomes more passionate about photography, she sets a goal to take and compile a book of photos on beautiful women.

With Lanie buried in her new found passion of photography, she continues to drift further away from her husband Peter, who she has been with for 15 years. She is also so wrapped up in her activities that she realizes, a little too late, that her photography instructor is in love with her. When he kisses her one night and Peter witnesses it, Lanie fears it is the end of their marriage. Unfortunately, Peter is off to California that night for a 3-week-long fellowship in his graduate program.

Lanie feels every emotion while he is gone, and when her family shows up from out of town, she begins to realize what she's been missing with Peter since they had children 4 years ago. She sets out on a red-eye flight to surprise her husband and tell him to come home. After Peter hears a bizarre and untrue tale of Lanie's sadness from her friend Amanda, he sets out for the airport himself and almost misses his wife. The two talk - really talk - for the first time in the entire novel and rediscover what made them fall in love in the first place.

I loved this book. (Maybe even better than her first book, The Bright Side of Disaster, which I reviewed here.) I felt like I was there with Lanie, watching her just move through each day until she found her own passion again. Then it was like watching a woman with tunnel vision. She was so consumed with photography that she forgot other things in life. But she came out a better person in the end because she found herself again. Perhaps my favorite part of the book was this part at the very end of the novel:

And here, after all that, is what I have come to believe about beauty: Laughter is beautiful. Kindness is beautiful. Cellulite is beautiful. Softness and plumpness and roundness are beautiful. Big boobs should have a big ass to go with them. It's more important to be interesting, to be vivid, and to be adventurous, than to sit pretty for pictures. A woman's soft tummy is a miracle of nature. Beauty comes from tenderness. Beauty comes from variety, from specificity, from the fact that no person in the world looks exactly like anyone else. Beauty comes from the tragedy that each person's life is destined to be lost to time. I believe women are too hard on themselves. I believe that when you love someone, she becomes beautiful to you. I believe the eyes see everything through the heart - and nothing in the world feels as good as resting them on someone you love.

Everyone is Beautiful will be released on February 17, 2009. I highly recommend reading it!

2008 in Review

My 2008 reading round-up:

44 books read
57 to go to hit 101 in 1001 days

Favorite reads of '08 (click on the title for my review):

• The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama


• The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch


• Lucky Man: A Memoir, Michael J. Fox


• Change of Heart, Jodi Picoult


• In The Woods, Tana French


• The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown


• Good to Great*, Jim Collins

*I just realized I never reviewed this book! In all honesty, I spent a great deal of time leading up to my new job reading business books, and I would like to read this book over again someday. Please let me know if you have reviewed this book!

This was not my best year as far as completed books go. I read many more books in 2006 and 2007, but I started my career this year and it's been a struggle to find balance in work and life. I'm catching on, though, and just appreciating what time I do have to enjoy good books. (Another reason for the low number of books read - my new blog!) I also feel I wasted time on some so-so reads this year, and also with a couple of unfinished books.

My personal favorite posts from the year include the review of Barack Obama's memoir, and The Last Lecture. I was so inspired by Randy Pausch's book, and yes, it did make me cry. I posted some of these quotes on the original review I posted, but here are my favorites again.

p. 33 - "Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome."

p. 79 - "Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

And now for a little looking ahead. My reading goal for 2009:

Simply to read more! No more excuses for not reading. I used to read before + after dinner and again before bed. I rarely, if ever, read right when I get home anymore, and sometimes I don't even read before bed. I got out of this habit when I started reading just about every blog under the sun. It's hard to keep up! But part of my own goal for '09 is to stop spending meaningless time on the internet. Reading good blogs and posting to my own are allowed, but no more pointless searching! It's not good for my eyes either (I think I need glasses, but that's another story).

What are your goals (reading + general) for 2009? I'd love to hear them!

My Blogoversary!

A year ago today, I decided to tackle the book blog idea I'd been pondering for awhile. (Also last year, I started a life blog, K Squared, but that's another story.)

I am still working on my 2008 reading recap, so bear with me. I'm blogging today simply because it's my blogoversary, and because my boyfriend and I got some great finds at Barnes + Noble yesterday, and who would I be if I didn't share with you?

The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown

Queen of Babble in the Big City by Meg Cabot

Away by Amy Bloom

The Chicago Way by Michael Harvey

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

and Kevin got these, some of which I will probably also read:

The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracian

Warren Buffet and the Interpretation of Financial Statements by Mary Buffett and David Clark

Descartes' Bones by Russell Shorto

The Snowball - Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder

The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost

I also bought a new bookcase from Target today, so I got to partake in my favorite bookish activity - besides reading itself, of course - organizing my books!

Happy Blogoversary to me! Stay tuned for a 2008 wrap-up post.

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Scratch that part about reading Half Broken Things! For some reason I couldn't get into it - it was an award winner, so I'm still not sure what the deal was. Perhaps my mood wasn't right for it - so I started The Da Vinci Code...

...and devoured it in a little more than 48 hours! It was so good! It's one of those books about which I'm now saying "what the *&$% took me so long to read that?!" I bought the book over 2 years ago before I moved to Florida, but I have no clue why I didn't pick it up. Don't ask. I have no answers.

What I know now though is what a brilliant piece of work it was. I loved reading about the art, the history, the religion, and I loved the suspense. As is typical of me, I had pegged the wrong person. (For once I'd just like to read a suspense novel and get the killer right!) Reading this book really made me want to go to Paris!

I realize I'm probably about the last person on earth to read this, so I'm not doing a complete review. More like just spilling my thoughts about this incredible read. Bear with me, my thoughts my jump around!

The most astonishing part of the book, and what really hooked me, despite not being a religious person, was all the talk of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the possibility that they had a child. I was enthralled with this religious history and kept asking my boyfriend, "is that true?" (He's been dying for me to read this book so we can watch the movie!) I can't believe the research and the detail that went into this book, dragging us from place to place across Europe in search of the Holy Grail. It was also interesting to read so much about religion, and just to reiterate the fact that religion is the reason for so much hatred and violence, and always has been. It's easy to see why when people are so blinded by one thought they believe is true. It has always amazed me the amount of people who believe in something simply because it's what they were told.

Another amazing part of the book were the cryptic codes. I just couldn't wait to figure out what each one meant, and how it tied into the overall story. Man I looked forward to every place they went in Paris and beyond, racing against the clock through cathedrals and the like. The fact that Sophie's grandfather was such a master coder and left her all the clues to unscramble was unreal! What a legacy to leave behind...the fact that he was in a secret society and he entrusted in her the keystone to the most wanted piece of information of all time!

I loved this book. I can't believe it took me so long to read it. Definitely one of my favorite reads of all-time.