Review: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Title: The Invention of Wings
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Pages: 369
Genre: Fiction; Historical
Publisher: Viking (Penguin Group)
Pub. Date: January 7, 2014



I don't think I was able to give this book quite the fair shake because for the majority of the book I just kept comparing it to The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom which I have yet to review but which I listed on the Best of 2013 list. I read that book back in August 2013 (and this in January 2014), but I couldn't get it and the characters out of my mind! The two stories were very similar. In The Invention of Wings, we follow the lives of Sarah Grimke from the time she is 11-years-old and the same aged slave, Hetty "Handful" Grimke. Sarah is gifted Handful as her own slave for her 11th birthday, but Sarah develops more of a friendship with Handful, even teaching her how to read and write. Sarah has ambitions of a career when she becomes an adult, and even as a child she recognizes that she does not agree with slavery.

Where this book differed from The Kitchen House for me was that the latter was focused much more on the relationship and the characters themselves. In the former, it seemed the first half to 3/4s of the book were focused on developing a timeline and glimpses of Sarah's ambitions and thoughts about slavery. It seemed as though this portion of the book was developing the foundation for the plot related to Sarah's abolitionist leanings as an adult. The Invention of Wings is based on the true story of Sarah Grimke who was an abolitionist and women's rights advocate in the 1800's, who fought for all this much to the chagrin of her family and that of the entire community and culture in Charleston, South Carolina. I was very interested in this part of the story, but because so much of the book was spent building up, I felt like this part was rushed through too fast. I did find it interesting to learn how even the Quakers and other abolitionists didn't necessarily believe in racial equality and how they often demonstrated hypocritical behaviors! It was also interesting the conflict between pursuing abolition of slavery at the same time as women's rights.

I really wish the focus of this book had been the part with Sarah as an adult. I initially rated this 3/5 after I finished the book, but then I realized I spent a lot of time afterwards thinking about the characters and wanting to return to the story. So I changed my rating to a 4. It turns out I did develop a connection to the characters. So, yes, this was in all a very good book. But I can't help feeling that if you are going to read a book somewhere within the area of this topic, I would go with The Kitchen House first!

Review: The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

Title: The Devil Wears Prada
Author: Lauren Weisberger
Pages: 432
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Doubleday (Random House)
Pub. Date: April 15, 2003


So, the reason I picked this one up is because I wanted to read the sequel, Revenge Wears Prada, as soon as I saw it was out but didn't feel right doing so since I hadn't read this one - only seen the movie. The movie version is, however, one of my favorites, and I've enjoyed all of Weisberger's other books (I've read them all) so I figured, why not? (I actually planned on reading the sequel when I went to Thailand, but to date I have not yet read it, lol).

Real quick recap for those who don't know: Andy (Andrea) Sachs, studious and fashion-backwards, is fresh out of college with a desire to work for the New York Times. She ends up taking a job as an assistant to the editor-in-chief of fashion magazine, Runway, Miranda Priestly, who is an icy cold horrid woman whom the fashion world reveres as a goddess. Andy tries to stick it out for a year because she has heard that a year working for her essentially equals three to four years at any other job and could catapult her to any place she'd want to work. But Miranda is the most devilish and difficult boss one could possibly work and whose ridiculousness adds to the book's humor.

Even though I saw the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one! And the movie was different enough that I was kept wondering what was going to happen next while enjoying the parts that were similar. As with all book/movie comparisons, I liked that I was able to read more into Andy's thought processes. In the movie, I don't think we quite understood how much Andy was still hating everything along the way - more like she morphed into one of the Runway girls herself, whereas in the book she may look and play the part but is very clearly still understanding of how ridiculous it is. Just as with the movie I was so saddened by how her family and friends ended up taking a backseat to her job; the movie changed the dynamics, though, in the relationships, and the book actually made things more serious in some ways which was surprising. It made sense in the book but I can see why they changed that in the movie because it did seem sort of out of place with the atmosphere of the story. (But that could also be because it was the biggest difference from what I'm used to watching).

The Devil Wears Prada was a super fun book that I definitely recommend, especially if you're a fan of the movie but haven't read the book yet. I'm glad I went back and read this one.

Review: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Title: Beautiful Ruins
Author: Jess Walter
Pages: 337
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Harper Perennial (Harper Collins)
Pub. Date: June 12, 2012 (hardcover); April 2, 2013 (paperback)


This book was on many "best of" lists in 2012...  I loved Jess Walter's The Financial Lives of the Poets, so that drew me to this as well. But with a fairly vague synopsis and it being so different than Financial Lives, I kept putting it off. But I should have known better! I hate to say the same thing so many other bloggers said, but it really IS so hard to explain, and it really IS about so many things, but I'll do my best.

The main storyline, if you can narrow it down, follows a young man, Pasquale, in 1962 Porto Vergogna, Italy, as he tries to turn his family's hotel, The Hotel Adequate View, into a tourist destination. Then there's the American actress who turns up to stay at his hotel while filming a movie (Cleopatra with Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, yes the real one) in Rome. There's the American man who goes to Italy every year in an attempt to get away and write a book. Then present day, there's a famous movie producer, Michael Deane and his frustrated assistant, Claire. There's Shane, a spoiled script writer trying to pitch his movie. There's a middle aged man whose life has gone pretty much nowhere after being in various bands who then starts a comedy music show. Each of these characters is all connected, and you don't have to wait until the end to find out how. Within the first third of the book at least you know how most are connected. You may not like all the characters, but they are all so interesting and in some instances, scandalous.

It's not just the characters and their stories that illuminate Beautiful Ruins though. Not only is the writing intelligent (and infused with subtle humor), but the storytelling methods were so clever. Though there's mostly traditional narration, there's also a chapter from a book, part of a memoir, a pitched movie script, a play, and I could be forgetting something. Each of these was interesting, moved the story forward, and added so much. Then there's also the themes running through the book of people living their lives trying to accomplish their dreams and not always quite getting there - but maybe finding themselves along the way. It's also about how the people in our lives affect us. I loved the following quotes.

"This is what happens when you live in dreams, he thought: you dream this and you dream that and you sleep right through your life." -pg 218

All we have is the story we tell. Everything we do, every decision we make, our strength, weakness, motivation, history, and character -- what we believe -- none of it is real; it's all part of the story we tell. But here's the thing: it's our goddamned story!" -pg 266

Another interesting thing was the way Walters incorporated the real life scandals that took place during the filming of the movie, Cleopatra. He even made Richard Burton a character in the book!

Anyway, loved Beautiful Ruins! It's still in my head after several days, and now I can't wait to read more of Walter's books!

Rating: 5 out of 5

Best of 2013

This year I read 32 books.... significantly less than I read since prior to 2008! I also did not focus on new releases as much (reading only 6 that were published this year). But, nonetheless, here are my favorites that I read this year regardless of publication date. Also, most of these have not yet been reviewed here but are coming up in the new year. :)

Non-Fiction

#5 The Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris & Daniel Simons (2010)


Fascinating insight into how people can be deceived every day. You'd think you'd notice a gorilla walking across a video of kids bouncing a basketball... you'd be surprised!







#4 Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)

A glaring look at how hard it really is to get by or even get a jump start on grueling, minimum wage jobs.








#3 Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (2013)

Practical and succinct advice on how women can play bigger roles in the workplace. But also can be applicable to men in many ways.








#2 Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon (2012)

 As I stated in my review, "In Far From the Tree, Solomon chronicles the lives of various families whose children have created what Solomon terms "horizontal identities"; this refers to the new cultures their children are inherently born into as a result of the differences they're born with such as deafness, dwarfism, transgender, etc. Unlike "vertical identities" where one's children have essentially the same characteristics and life experiences, children with "horizontal identities" become part of a life that their own parents can't truly relate to. The premise of this book was to be the focus of the families themselves and how they manage their differences, but I found it to be more of a sociological study on the different groups Solomon reveals."

#1 Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind by Ellen F. Brown & John Wiley Jr. (2011)

This might be suited to a more specific demographic, those who find both the publishing industry interesting as well as the hugely loved and classic status of GWTW. Fascinating narrative about how the rights of GWTW were protected by the author herself despite all she was up against.

Fiction

 #6 The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom (2010)

I believe this was our book club's favorite this year. An Irish orphan is taken in by a plantation owner and lives and works with the slaves in the kitchen house. But as she becomes older and starts to be treated differently from the main house she struggles to maintain her familial relationships.






#5 It by Stephen King (1986)

Hubby and I read this book, about a group of kids trying to overcome a monster that kills children every 2-3 decades, in Sept/Oct and both really liked it. I surprised myself with how drawn I was to this and how much I flew threw it. I thought I'd be scared but turns out I can handle horror after all. (Thought that was something I left in my teens!) The only downside was that at almost 1100 pages, it was a tad too long and I did think there were some parts that could have been shorter. (Somehow it (the book as well as subsequently watching the movie) lessened my fear of clowns! Weird!


#4 Where'd Ya Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple (2012)

This one was a surprise for me, but it has not left my head since I read it. Actually, hubby and I listened to the audio on a road trip this year, and the audio is fantastic. This story about an agoraphobic mom who promises her daughter a trip to Antarctica, who antagonizes the stuck up people at her daughter's school, and who corresponds with a personal assistant in India is so quirky and charming and fun! My husband feels the same way about this one. Turns out this is being made into a movie as well.



#3 Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain (2012)

Last year I would have agreed with those who argued over the two, that The Yellow Birds was the quintessential novel about the Iraqi war. But then I read this, which has a completely different tone, and now I don't know! They're so different - this one being more light hearted and satirical - but either way this was one of my favorites this year.





#2 Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight (2013)

I don't necessarily know about the comparisons this one has received to Gone Girl. It's different. But it does give you a similar rush when reading and by the end I felt like I had been punched in the gut! Maybe that's not a good metaphor, LOL, but I could not put this one down.






#1 Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (2012)

Like I said, full review to come later, but this was so good and so creative! I put it off for so long because of how vague I felt the description was but I loved this one!

2013 Year In Review

2013 was quite a different year in blogging for me, as I took an inadvertent hiatus. Things had already been slowing down at the end of last year, but this year I only had TEN posts... the entire year!!!  Although I miss the book blogging community (and am noticing that a lot of other book bloggers have sort of disappeared too), I did find the break and change in priorities relaxing. I didn't feel the silly pressure to read or obligation to review new books, and I found time for other hobbies and activities. But the downfall was that I ultimately overwhelmed myself by focusing too much on work and sort of forgot how to escape work by putting time into hobbies. And then that translated into not being able to take work off my mind EVER. So I do realize I need more balance overall.

This year, to date, I've only read 32 books (and may finish one more by the end). But I feel pretty good about that. I have not written reviews for most of those books but still plan on it! So maybe I'll end up having a lot to post in this new year. As far as the blog itself, I've made some efforts to make it more anonymous than it was. Anyone know how to/if I can change the main blogger sign in a different google mail account? Also this year I joined a dinner party book club started by my sister and some of her friends, and I was able to invite one of my best friends who recently moved back from New York after several years, so that has been a fun outlet.

As for the non-reading year itself, the hubby and I finally jumped back into dealing with our fertility issues which included additional tests, another HSG, an MRI, and ultimately surgery for me in July. Then I had the mandatory waiting period and we have finally started the next step. For travel, we took a road trip to North Carolina to visit my brother-in-law and his fiance, and in November we took a family trip (husband's side of the family) to Thailand for two weeks! Would you believe that with over 24 hours of travel in each direction, a 10 hour road trip (each way), and other bits of free time I only finished reading one book (and one novella)!?

So when it comes to blogging, I'm still around, and I do still read my favorite blogs (though I still need to comment more). But it probably won't ever be like it was for that few year stretch there! I will be back in a few days with my best-of-2013 lists!Here's to making blogging (and reading) fun again and not full of silly pressure in the new year!