May's Book of the Month

After 2 months our book club met again tonight! We did something a little different tonight. Usually we meet at Bona and discuss our book over a cup of coffee. Tonight we met at Borders and chose our book from the store shelves. We got our drinks and discussed American Wife then we perused the "Borders Book Club", "New Release" and "Top Picks" sections of the store. We returned to our table with about 15 books to choose from. We then pulled out our phones and started reading reviews of the books we were considering. Finally we chose Love Walked In by Marisa De Los Santos. One of the reviews of this book said it was "a chic-lit with a little more meat." We are meeting again in 3 weeks due to Memorial Day and End-of-the-Year events with our kids, we needed something short and easy to read.

Now to address the picture...that's our book of the month along with the great Thirty-One bag we all got...yes, we're book club nerds. :-) They actually are really cute.

Here's what Love Walked In is about:

When Martin Grace enters the hip Philadelphia coffee shop Cornelia Brown manages, her life changes forever. But little does she know that her newfound love is only the harbinger of greater changes to come. Meanwhile, across town, Clare Hobbs-eleven years old and abandoned by her erratic mother-goes looking for her lost father. She crosses paths with Cornelia while meeting with him at the cafe, and the two form an improbable friendship that carries them through the unpredictable currents of love and life. Invoking classic movies to illuminate the mystery and wonder of love in all its permutations. LOVE WALKED IN is an uplifting debut that marks the entrance of an enchanting literary voice.

Belong to Me is the next book that follows these characters...GAB will most likely read that too, but for May we're embarking on a love story starting out in a 20th century icon...a coffee shop.

American Wife-Whitney's Review

I DID IT! I made it ALL the way through the 555 pages of this book JUST in time for Book Club! There was a period of time when this task seemed pretty daunting! I've learned my lesson about choosing a book without seeing it in person. It was long, but I'm glad I've read it.

I'm going to state up front that I'm weird about the books I read...I tend to judge books by their covers...and I prefer books to be broken up into chapters. American Wife was NOT broken up into chapters. It was broken up into 4 parts. There were "natural breaks" within these parts, but I look forward to the close of a chapter and the start of another. That threw me off a bit at first.

Okay, enough about my weirdness...on to American Wife. This book covered a longer time span than I thought it was going to. It starts when Alice is a child and ends when she's in her fifty's. We learn a lot about Alice and who she is in the first part of the book. There's also a tragedy that takes place in the first part. This tragedy becomes a huge part of who Alice is...things happen because of this event that wouldn't have happened otherwise. In the second part of the book Alice meets Charlie...her husband who becomes Governor then President of the United States. For me the second and third parts of this book were the peaks of the book...the fourth part is pretty anti-climatic. But, that was because of my expectations. I expected this book to start with Alice and Charlie already together then focus on his campaign trail and move right into him becoming President and Alice becoming the First Lady. I just thought Sittenfield would spend most of the book with Alice and Charlie in the White House...I was disappointed to find that the highlights of the book took place in the second and third parts.

Even though I expected something different I am glad I read the book. I like a lot of conversation in my books and this one did not have much conversation, rather A LOT of description. There were parts that I skimmed to get to the next event.

What I did love about this book is that Curtis Sittenfield described Alice and who she was and that character never wavered. Alice stayed true to herself and I found myself respecting her.

This book won't make it to my "Would Read Again" list, but I'm happy to have it on my "have read list".

GAB's Book of the Month for April is...

American Wife...

It was my (Whitney) month to choose a book for us to read and I chose American Wife. I'm easily influenced by advertisements so after seeing American Wife on a few book lists as well as on Amazon I knew it would be the book I would chose when my turn came around. Here's a brief synopsis of the book:

A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice Lindgren has no idea that she will one day end up in the White House, married to the president. In her small Wisconsin hometown she learns the virtues of politeness, but a tragic accident when she is seventeen shatters her identity and changes the trajectory of her life. More than a decade later, when the charismatic son of a powerful Republican family sweeps her off her feet, she is surprised to find herself admitted into a world of privilege. And when her husband unexpectedly becomes governor and then president, she discovers that she is married to a man she both loves and fundamentally disagrees with-and that her private beliefs increasingly run against her public persona. As her husband's presidency enters its second term, Alice must confront contradictions years in the making and face questions nearly impossible to answer.

Happy Reading!!
Whitney

Confessions of a Bookaholic

I was in OKC yesterday with my cousin and we went to a consignment sale...JBF (Just Between Friends) for all you mom's out there. I found some cute clothes/shoes for my kids, but what REALLY got me excited were the books I found!
I found Captain Underpants (2), Teacher of the Black Lagoon and Geronimo chapter books for Trey for $1 each! I'd been wanting to get him a few of those books, but didn't want to pay the $5 or $7 Scholastic was selling them for. While I'm thrilled to find those books for Trey, it's what I found for me that is truly exciting...I found the ENTIRE 8 book series of Anne of Green Gables for only $10!!!
I watched the Anne movies all the time growing up, and read the series when I was a pre-teen, but I can't wait to read it again! I started the first book last night. It's bringing back some fun memories. Thank goodness for JBF!
I haven't been too impressed with the clothes and prices at JBF over the past few years, but I might start going again just for the books!!

Until Next Time,
Whitney

The Reader-Whitney's Review

This book was QUITE different from last month's pic! Last month's book was light-hearted, funny and a quick read. The Reader was an easy, quick read, however, the content was quite different.
I can honestly say that I've NEVER read a book like this one. At first I thought it would be hard to read this book since it was originally written in German, but it was translated very well. What really got me was the explicit descriptions of the couple's intimate moments...and the fact that the boy was 15 and the lady was 36!! I guess I'm just sheltered. I read Part 1 of this book pretty quickly, but then I had to take a break in reading it for a couple weeks. When I did pick it back up I finished it in 2 days.
I don't mind comedic romance novels...but serious romance novels are just not my thing. Am I glad I read this book? Yes, I like exposing myself to different types of books. Will I read this book again? No...I already know the story and I won't read it again. Will I see the movie? I'm still thinking about it. I'll really have to be in the mood I think.

Until there's a new book to discuss...
Whitney

Remember Me? -Whitney's Review

This was my first Kinsella book to read. I DEVOURED it in just a few days. I then had to quickly run out and get the rest of her books. At the time I was in Little Rock AR with my Dad and there just happened to be a re-sale book shop across the street. I had SO much fun finding all her books...but back to Remember Me?

I will admit that I haven't read many non-Christian authors so her use of cuss words threw me off for a bit. But it wasn't long before I was laughing out loud at several different things!

I thought this book was a great light-hearted, easy to read book. Which was just what I needed. I enjoyed being able to escape into this comical life of a girl trying to recover 3 lost years of her life.

Would I read this book again?? Most likely not. It was a great book, but I'm just not a big re-reader. Aside from the Twilight Series, the Harry Potter Series or Redeeming Love) I typically don't read books more than once. I'm like that with most movies...once I've seen it and know what happens I don't want to spend time on it again. The book/movie has to be EXTRAORDINARY for me to read/watch it again.

But I obviously LOVE Kinsella's writing style. I read the rest of her 7 books last month! I'm going to take a break and read something a little "heavier" but I'm looking forward to trying her books written under the name Madeleine Wickham!