Tuesday, June 30, 2009

June Book Review

This is what I read during the month of June.

This book caught my eye a few months ago. I started it and then put it down, but when we headed to the beach I wanted something easy to read and picked it back up. It tells the story of three women who become friends in a prenatal yoga class and their journey through becoming first time mothers. It covers all the ups and downs of having a new baby, the good and the bad. It is a cute chic lit book and makes an easy beach/poolside read.

I bought A Thousand Splendid Suns while at the beach on the clearance rack at Books A Million. Once I started it, I could not put it down. This book has made the list of my all time favorite books and one I will never forget. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it since it is usually not my type, but the story of these two women is life altering. The book follows the life of two Afghan women over a thirty year period and it is fascinating to see the lives of women in a country so different than ours. This book will break your heart at times and it will truly make you grateful for the life and freedoms we have as women in our country. I highly recommend it.


Um...I'm not quite sure what to say about Barbra Walters. For some reason, I have wanted to read the book since it came out last year and found it at our local library. I'm usually not into biographies because they can get kinda boring. This book was weird in the fact, that at times I was bored out of my mind, but I couldn't seem to put it down. Some chapters were better than others. Her childhood was interesting, but it seemed like at times she dragged it on a little too long. How her job got to the level it is today was interesting, but still at times seemed to drag on. The chapters I enjoyed the most were those where she talks about he people she has interviewed over the years. So unless your really interested in Barbra's life, I would pass. I read all 600 pages, but I think about 200 of those could have been left out and it would have made the book easier to digest.

I have been hearing the craze around the Sookie Stackhouse Novels for the past few months now. Since I am a Twilight fan, I decided to give it a try and picked up the first book in the series. I really enjoyed it. It is an easy read and only about 300 pages. I finished it in two days. The best way to describe it is an more adult version of Twilight. If your an adult and you liked twilight, then you'll enjoy the Sookie Stackhouse series. It was fun and entertaining. I loved the main character of the book. Maybe for those who were intrigued with Twilight, but could not get into it, you might enjoy these since they are more adult. I have already picked up the second book in the series, but haven't started it yet.

I picked up Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) getting by in America from our local library. It is on our county's summer reading list for the high schools. It was once a New York Times Bestseller and looked interesting enough. The book was written by a journalist who took time off to go undercover and see what it is like to live the life of majority of Americans, those who are "just getting by" financially. Ironically, it was written ten years ago long before our financial crises of today. The author tries her hand working for a cleaning service as a maid, housekeeping at a hotel, and a server at a few restaurants making under $10 an hour regardless of what she was doing. The book recorded her struggles on getting by on so little.

Honestly, I was not moved by the book in the way the author was wanting. The only shocking part was the authors ignorance of it all. I'm assuming she was born wealthy because she honestly seemed shocked on how hard the work was and how hard it was to get by. I'm not sure if it is because of where we live, people I know, or where my husband works, but none of this was new to me. I see people struggling like this everyday. The author acted as though this was a secret underground world she is uncovering. I'm sorry, but I'm sure it is not new to majority of us. We all have been or know someone in that situation and we see the struggle on a daily basis. So, unless you're a multi-millionaire that lives in a bubble, then don't bother. It is nothing new to the rest of us.

1 comment:

Laura said...

So I am going to take your advice and start the Sookie Stockhouse Series by Charlaine Harris...:)