Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Happy New Year fellow readers!

I recently read "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez for my book club. I didn't finish it, but was filled in by Cynthia in my book club on the ending. This is currently the Oprah Book club selection. I have no idea why! The writing is all prose--not a lot of dialogue. This book has been translated from Spanish into English so we all wondered if there wasn't anything lost in translation. Apparently there wasn't. The plot didn't move forward in the middle of the book and the only reason I kept reading was for book club. The characters didn't have a lot of depth in my opinion--the main male character, Florentino was a pervert and obsessed with sex. He was promiscuous which all of us had a hard time with and when he finally ended back up with the woman he's loved for over 54 years, he complains about them both smelling "old." I didn't think this was a romantic story at all. Overall, I could have lived without reading this book.

I would not recommend that any of you read this book. I'm hoping that the reason Marquez won the Nobel prize is based on his other works.

"Book of the Dead" by Patricia Cornwell

The Kay Scarpettas series is one of the most interesting I've read. She is a medical examiner/forensic investigator. This latest book takes place in Charleston, SC. If you've read the previous books, you will appreciate the twist of events that takes place with Scarpetta, Marino and the other characters. I won't give anything away in my blog, but I was shocked at where Cornwell took this book. There's a big cliff-hanger at the end too so I guess we'll all just have to wait and see what comes from her next book.

Now back to the Boleyn Inheritance...

The next book for my book club is "Love in the Time of Cholera."

Books and holidays

I finished "Lipstick Jungle" during my week off from work last week. It was a really fun read. I got sucked in right way and really enjoyed the story about three successful women and what it takes to stay on top of their game. I enjoyed this book by Candace Bushnell much more than "Trading Up."

I started reading "The Female Brain" recommended by Amy in my book club. Sorry Amy, but I just can't get past the second chapter. I think there are tons of differences between men and women and this book explores those differences by explaining what's happening hormonally in the female brain. there are huge generalizations in this book. I'm just not into it right now.

So on to "The Boleyn Inheritance" the sequel to "The Other Boleyn Girl" and I've decided that I need LIGHT reading this month! Have a good weekend everyone!

Lipstick Jungle By Candace Bushnell

I started Lipstick Jungle on Sunday. It's a bit like Sex and the City without the sex. It's fun and just what I need this week since I'm off work.

I have HUGE pile of books to get through. Here are some of them:
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Wuthering Heights by Bronte
Wings of the Dove by Henry James
In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
My Antonia by Willa Cather
Jane and the Stillroom Maid
The Painted House by John Grisham

and more....can you tell I've been wanting to catch up on reading the classics?

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving! I'm very thankful for books and stimulating conversation around books! :)

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

What does your name mean to you? How does it define who you are?

For Gogol Ganguli his name is significant. He should have originally been named by his grandmother but unfortunately the letter never arrived from India to his parents in Boston. So his father chooses Gogol. Gogol doesn't like being named Gogol--it's different. When he's older he changes his legal name to Nikhil which confuses his family, his friends and the ones who know him by Gogol. He doesn't learn the significance of his name until he's older from his father. He's known that he was named after Nikolai Gogol, but wasn't sure why. Guess you'll have to read it to figure it out.

The book was easy to read--Lahiri has a way with words. She won the Pulitzer for "Interpreter of Maladies", a great collection of short stories. I really enjoyed her writing and can't wait to see what she brings us next.

One thing I didn't know was that Indian food is all eaten without silverware. I didn't know that at all. I guess the only Indian restaurant I've been to served food with utensils. maybe it wasn't truly authentic after all. :)

Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich

Fun fun fun! This is a fun series (starts with "One for the Money") about a bounty hunter in Trenton NJ. Sure the writing isn't fabulous or what would be considered great literature, but they sure are entertaining. Stephanie Plum finds herself a murder suspect for her ex-husband Dickie. All kinds of things happen yet she manages to entangle herself from the mishaps. She can not decide between her two beaus, Joe Morelli (the Italian cop) or Ranger (the stud bounty hunter/who knows what he really does). We find out Tank's real name is Pierre! It was just the book I needed after the serious ones I've read lately.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

This was the book that my book club just read. This was a fascinating book. It is about two girls in China who grow up communicating with a secret language "nu shu" that Chinese women invented. This was passed down to daughters from their mothers. They write the symbols on a fan that they send to each other when they aren't together.

The book goes through in great detail of the footbinding that each girl had to endure. It sounded painful and we all wondered how could any mother make their daughters go through this--the answer is that it would help them to marry well. See the author's website for pictures: www.LisaSee.com.

These two girls (Lilly and Snow Flower) are called laotongs or "old sames" and are the best of friends until one betrays the other. I won't spoil it--you'll have to read it in order to find out what happens.

I haven't read many books about China. If you liked "Memoirs of a Geisha" (that's about Japan) then you will like this book.