I’m not going to lie; the thing that drew me to tonight’s book was the cover and title.

Based solely on the title I bought the book one day, knowing I would take it to read on my vacation. Though I must confess I thought this would be a chicklit book I would just breeze through. Somehow I missed the word “memoir” on the cover.

This book starts out at what you would assume would be the low point of the author’s life. Due to her surgeon’s error two of her organs were punctured and she had to spend 2 weeks in the hospital and months hooked up to a “pee bag” as she calls it.

Things seem to turn around, her recovery is moving along just fine, and then her husband announces that he is leaving her for Bob. A man he met on gay.com. But that’s not the worst of it, a few days later she is in a terrible car accident that leaves her seriously injured.

With not many options, and a house that costs more than she can afford, Rhoda returns to her parent’s home and the Mennonite community she ran away from. At this point in the book, for an unknown reason I glanced at the front cover and saw the glowing review of this book from Elizabeth Gilbert. After not being able to make it through “Eat, Love, Pray” I almost threw the book down and moved on. . .but, I was on vacation and didn’t have many other book options.

Hesitantly I started reading again. . .and found myself laughing out loud whenever Rhoda talked about her mom. She is one fiery, opinionated woman, who has never lived anywhere but in the Mennonite community her entire life but boy does she have some hilarious perspectives and thoughts that I had to share with my friends.

In spite of Elizabeth Gilbert’s review, I too have to recommend this read. You don’t even have to know anything about the Mennonite community to enjoy this book because I sure didn’t.

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I know, I know Mondays are book review days. . .so I’m a day late but my stupid modem died and we have no internet service, so I apologize.

This week its another Chicklit book but by Whitney Lyles. I read her book, Always the Bridesmaid years ago and thought it was cute, so while browsing the shelves at Barnes & Noble I was happy to stumble upon “First Comes Love.”

Now that Ethan and Cate have been married they begin to struggle with wether or not they are ready to have a kid as all their friends around them are starting their families.

As someone that has never had a child. . .I am now completely freaked out. . .but still I thought the book was hilarious. Cate doesn’t have the greatest experience being pregnant and spends most of her pregnancy in bed.

I absolutely love Whitney’s writing style and find her books to be a fun and easy read. I can’t wait to read another one of her books.

Sorry to keep it short and sweet but when your borrowing internet from your mom it’s better to be in and out!

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I have got quite a few books to discuss after my vacation. . .but in an effort to keep it short but sweet, I will talk about them one at a time.

The first book I read was one I stumbled upon at Barnes & Noble a while back and never got around to reading. It is called, Names My Sisters Call Me by Meg Crane.

This was definitely a quick and easy read but it was also very entertaining. Technically I think this would be considered a “chick lit” book but I thought it had a little more depth to it (a deeper meaning if you will. . .). In a light-hearted and unobtrusive way Crane addresses how one event affects the three very different sisters in her story.

Thirty years prior to the story’s beginning Courtney, Norah & Raine’s father walked out of their lives. The ripple effects of this event in each sister’s life set the course for how they would spend their lives treating or rather hiding from one another.

Without giving away the story, I appreciate that in the end they realize that they may never see eye to eye or truly understand one another but that’s okay they don’t have to.

I definitely recommend this book, so go read it!

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In case you didn’t guess I gave up on Eat, Love, Pray. I hate not finishing a book, but I just couldn’t bring myself to finish this one. Maybe I’ll take it on vacation with me and if I run out of anything else to read I’ll force myself to read it; but no promises.

Friday I got a delivery from Barnes & Noble, but because I went to float the river I didn’t get it until Sunday. Last night I started reading Sliding into Home by Kendra Wilkinson.

I’m not going to lie, I love those trashy reality shows on E! like Keeping up with the Kardashians, Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami, Pretty Wild & Kendra. So naturally I was really looking forward to reading Kendra’s book.
After the torture of trying to read Eat, Love, Pray this is one easy read. I’m already halfway through the book and really just started it today. I enjoy a good biography and reading about how people got where they are today.

What I like about this book is that she gets straight to the point and tells you her story without a lot of extraneous details that don’t enhance the story; instead she just drops in a little humor. You definitely won’t be learning any rocket science with this one it’s just feel good story about how a trouble teen pulled herself out of her drug addiction, became Hugh Hefner’s girlfriend and then found fame.

This is definitely one book I recommend. Now enough of my yakking I want to get back to reading.

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I started reading “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert because, of course, the movie is about to come out in theaters. I guess I should have realized that this wouldn’t exactly be a peppy, upbeat book because she is dealing with the end of her marriage and going through a tough divorce. With that said, this isn’t exactly a book I want to pick up and read so it’s slow goings for me so far. . .

And to avoid getting too long winded I’m going to split up my “review” into at least 2 parts but potentially 3. The book obviously is divided into three parts but if I make enough progress by next Monday you’ll get the next last portions in one review.

As I began reading the “Eat” or “Italy” portion, I was excited. The notion of leaving your current life behind to go explore the world or at least another city has always been a dream of mine. I regret never having studied abroad in college or moving off somewhere and trying to live somewhere other than Dallas. Not sure what it is but I’ve always felt tied down here, maybe its fear, maybe responsibility, maybe family, but maybe one day I’ll be able to muster the courage to try it.

I was disappointed that the book opens with such a bleak picture of Gilbert’s life leading up to her year of traveling. It was also surprising to me how much history she provides on the city, currency and population of Rome as opposed to elaborate descriptions of her exciting journey into the unknown.

I am about 20 pages away from the end of this first section, surprisingly so far the focus really hasn’t been food. She has talked about the large quantities of pasta and pizza that she has consumed, oh and she has become quite a gelato fan. I think she’s up to 3 times a day?

To be honest the loneliness of this section makes me nervous to keep going because Italy was the section I was most excited to read. But I keep reminding myself that this book has received a lot attention (and Julia Roberts is even playing the main character), so with that in mind I will press on and persevere.

Have you read this book? What did you think? Were you disappointed? What was your favorite section?

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I have to confess. . .after being forced to read nothing but the classics in high school and then becoming an English major in college, it took me awhile before I could get into reading for fun. Fortunately my first “real” job included quite a bit of traveling with some really fun girls. One of whom was, Emily, and she was an avid reader. She introduced Rachel and I to Sophie Kinsella.

At the time Kinsella’s only books were the Shopaholic books. So, that is where I started. Now, whenever a new Sophie Kinsella book comes out I stop reading anything else and pick up her newest release.

This time around though I was little tardy to the party, and didn’t pick up “Twenties Girl,” until I could get it in paperback from Target. I was a bit skeptical about it because the whole premise seemed a little farfetched.

Lara’s great aunt Sophie dies at the beginning of the book and comes back to “haunt” her. No one can see her but Lara. . .however, Lara and Sophie develop such a bond as they search for Sophie’s missing necklace that Sophie becomes more like a guardian angel.

The thing I loved about this book was it made me laugh. . .I’m not sure how anyone couldn’t laugh at the journey Lara goes through (accompanied by her “ghost” aunt). . .I was embarrassed for her at times, proud of her, but overall highly entertained. . .

This time of year, if you are headed on any sort of beach vacation or pool time, I highly recommend this read; it is fun and easy. In fact if you are around Dallas, I’ll even loan you my copy. Just let me know. . .

Now I am off to work on next week’s book. Happy reading.

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I know this book has been around for quite some time, but I am just now getting around to reading it.

I had always heard mixed things about this book, some people really enjoyed it, and some people hated it. I have to say that I enjoyed it.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, is the story of a little girl that is murdered and then watches over her family and the investigation of her murder. I thought it provided a very unique perspective.

And. . .like the majority of the things I’ve reading, this book is about to be made into a movie directed by Peter Jackson and starring Mark Walhberg and Rachel Weisz. I can’t wait to see it.

Fortunately the murder happens in the beginning of the book so the majority of the book is spent watching Susie’s family cope with her death and how the investigation unfolds.

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