Pear-Shaped

Photo taken by Ms. C. 

I found Stella Newman's Pear-Shaped at a little bookstore in Newcastle, UK.  To be honest, I was attracted by the cover.  The light blue background, teeny tiny pear shaped white dots, bright pink font, and 1950s style woman beckoned to me.

Pear-Shaped is about Sophie, an English girl, who meets and falls in love with James, a man who is completely and utterly bad for her sanity.  James is an older and slightly overweight man who has a history of dating models and fraternizes with a host of womanizing men.  Newman's tale focuses on the turbulent relationship between Sophie and James.

I am torn with this book.  Newman's writing is, at times, hilariously funny.  I think many people can relate to Sophie's story - a girl who falls in love with the wrong man.  Newman is able to depict Sophie's dilemmas in an entertaining, engaging, and funny way.  However, most of the time I wanted to slap her characters.  Why?

Twilight: New Moon

Awhile back I read and reviewed the first installment of Twilight (you can read it here).  I found the first book so addictive that I had to borrow K's copy of New Moon a few weeks later.

The Best of Me

Photo taken by Ms. C. 

I began Nicholas Sparks' latest book, The Best of Me, tentatively.  It's not that I don't like his other works.  I love his older novels.  However - prior to reading The Best of Me - I found his recent tales tiresome, repetitive, and with too strong a focus on criminal activities.  Sparks came to be an author who wrote love stories that always included a crazy person with a gun somewhere within the plot.  And that, to me, is not an attractive story.

Written Impact

I recently finished a Jojo Moyes novel.  I cannot get enough of her writing!  I began a Google search of her work after I finished the final page of Me Before You (Moyes, 2012).  I had already read The Last Letter From Your Lover (which is high up on my favourite book list - check out my review here).  Moyes has a couple other books out which I know I will soon be reading.

My Google search was fruitful apart from finding Moyes' other novels.  It turns out Moyes, a journalist, has also written some interesting articles for The Telegraph.  In one from 2010, she explores how difficult it is to write a sex scene in a novel.  She also discusses literature's ability to help calm individuals (both readers and writers) under stress, anxiety, and depression.

One of my favourite Moyes' lines is: 

...writing really well about sex can be problematic in itself. If I write about war brides, Sixties society, or haute école dressage, everyone assumes I’ve read around my subject matter. Equally, on the few occasions I’ve written something even vaguely explicit I’ve had knowing looks – even the odd wink – at the school gates.

~ from: Writing a sex scene is an impossible task.

I love how Moyes, apart from producing amazingly powerful novels, is also able to explore the intricacies of writing in an engaging and entertaining way.  Thank you, Moyes!

Something From Tiffany's

Melissa Hill's Something From Tiffany's questions the decisions behind love, engagement, and ultimately finding one's happily ever after.  How do you know your partner is truly 'the one?'  Is 'the one' even a honest-to-goodness real concept or are people just settling under its pretenses?  Is the bling more important than the love that is shared?

Can't Believe I Read It

I love my Sony eReader so much that  I decided to load it up full of books (purchases, author reviews, and library loans) prior to leaving Canada last month.  I had around six electronic novels waiting to be read and I thought I would be set.* 

One of the books I brought along, electronically speaking, was Twilight by Stephenie Meyers.  Twilight has such a bad reputation - before purchasing it on my Sony eReader account I ummed and awwed while wondering if I really wanted to bridge into the universe of Twilight.  I remembered reading one chapter after the first movie was released and deciding it just wasn't for me.  Was it time for me to revisit this book?

RSVP

Helen Warner weaves a tale of weddings, lost loves, and mixed messages in her novel RSVP.  Warner tells the story of Anna, a love lorn young woman who never got over her ex, in modern London.  Emotions come to a boil when she is invited to her ex's wedding ten years later.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday, a weekly meme at shouldbereading lets readers share two random sentences from a random segment of their current reading material.  I haven't participated in this meme for a verrrrry long time (perhaps a year!?) so here it goes:


Book:  Something from Tiffany's by Melissa Hill



 "He ran a hand through his dark hair, wondering why all of this felt so surreal now, when back in Tiffany's it had seemed so right.  Covering her little hand with his big one, he continued: "just know how much I love you."" - Hill, 2011, p. 24.

Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe

Jenny Colgan's Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe explores one girl's highs and lows while establishing her own little bakery in London, England.

Written as a work of fiction, Colgan tells the tale of Issy Randall. Issy, who recently became redundant at her office job, searches for her life's meaning and a way to pay the bills in Colgan's work. Vibrantly colourful characters and a shifting plot-line are introduced throughout the text. Not only do readers learn the intricacies of Issy's personality, but the ins and outs of creating a bakery, too.

Katy Carter Wants a Hero

Ruth Saberton's Katy Carter Wants a Hero chronicles one woman's tale of self-discovery. Katy Carter, Saberton's protagonist, is a disgruntled London high school teacher who believes that the kind of men from her well-read storybook romances truly do exist. But... do they really?

A Weekend With Mr. Darcy

I finished reading A Weekend with Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly a few weeks ago. The book's jacket attests to it being a 'joyous' and 'terrific' read. It was not mistaken. Connelly weaves a tale that is engaging, fast paced, funny, unexpected, and memorable - exactly as a contemporary work of fiction should be.

A Weekend with Mr. Darcy portrays both the romantic and professional lives of a group of women attending a Jane Austen conference in the twenty-first century. Connelly's work asks the question that many modern (and book loving) women have asked - where are the heroic, chivalrous, stoic, and romantic men in today's society? Do men with nineteenth century principles exist? Can we expect to find our very own Mr. Darcy?

The Last Letter From Your Lover

I just fell in love... with a book.

The Last Letter From Your Lover is one of the best love stories I have ever read. I know that is a huge statement. Jojo Moyes' work speaks to me. I find her words echoing within my mind hours after putting her work down.

Moyes' tale portrays the growth and endurance of a love affair that faces all odds. It is a tale of forbidden and unfilled love. It is a tale of a woman's self-discovery. And, it questions just how far one should go to be with their 'soul mate,' just how long one should wait to be with the one they love.

When I started Moyes' book I assumed I was in for a light, cute, and chipper piece of contemporary chick-lit. Instead, twenty pages into her work, I found myself confronted with a love story that spans over forty years. This book is powerful, emotional, romantic, dramatic, and suspenseful.

Wordsworth Classics Reading Challenge 2011 - North and South

The first time I read North and South was during the Fall of 2010. Elizabeth Gaskell's work was on the syllabus for one of my university courses and, due to time constraints, I had to read through it very very quickly. After finishing my classes (and joining the Wordsworth Classics Challenge 2011) I wanted to read more Victorian work... and I thought a thorough read of North and South would be a good place to start.

North and South depicts a wealthy southern family's move to the manufacturing town of Milton during the 1800s. Gaskell expertly describes tensions between northern and southern regions of England, religious denominations, the education system, science and technology, and society's increasing scrutiny of the role of mothers in a child's upbringing. Gaskell's work both highlights these themes and, through doing so, provides a pertinent window into nineteenth-century English society and culture.

Irresistible

Love is a complicated affair.

Susan Mallery's Irresistible tells the tale of two young Americans who pledge to avoid relationships and love at all costs.

Walker and Elissa, partners in an "it's-not-a-relationship" relationship, are brought together through a series of unfortunate events. Car troubles, bad dreams, overexcited children, unpleasant grandmothers, and restaurant jobs lead to increasing contact between the couple. Elissa's past as a struggling single mother and Walker's ex-Marine lifestyle create commitment issues for the pair, respectively. As this is a romance novel you know what eventually 'should' happen. However, I'll save you from any spoilers.

Plot for 'Smut'

K and I have been discussing the intricacies of plot... and, quite frankly, I couldn't let this gem of a question fade into nothingness.

K asked:
"Have you ever read smut books and the page before smut happens your thinking "so your going to..." And then BAM. And yet you're still thinking wtf?""

All I could do is laugh and shake my head.... oh smut books.

Matters of the Heart

One of my friends recently recommended reading Danielle Steel's Matters of the Heart. She claimed that it was the best Steel book she had ever read. According to her it was a page turner, suspenseful, and a novel she couldn't stop reading even on her honeymoon this past June. With that kind of acclaim I had to give the book a shot.

Taking my friend's word, I began to read the book on an early flight out of Vancouver. I did manage to finish the book yesterday though I read the majority during my flights.

I must admit that at first I was a bit skeptical of this novel. I am an avid reader of Steel but I find her work repetitive. How many times does she have to reword the same sentence, allude to certain plot twists, or repeatedly mention a character's wealth? To me a Steel book has always been a source of cheap entertainment. Her work can be engaging, fun, and romantic... but it is not a ground shattering, award-winning piece of fiction by any means.

Matters of the Heart did live up to my friends praises. Steel expertly creates a love story between an isolated, but intelligent and well-balanced, woman and a sociopathic man. She illustrates the traumas of being in a physically and psychologically abusive relationship. Her descriptions are vivid, intense, and original. And, most importantly, she creates a fast paced and non-repetitive tale. This book manages to escape the downfall of many Steel novels, that being repetitive descriptions and dialogue.

Interestingly, the sociopathic man in Steel's work is portrayed as an acclaimed writer. Steel links the man's unbalanced behaviour to his writing by stating "it was why he wrote the books he did, all those dark characters lived in his head, and were different sides of him, the ones that didn't show" (Steel, p 275).

This reminded me of our previous discussion on how a library relates to one's personality.
Just how personal is a work of fiction?

Having written a little bit of fiction myself, I do believe that writing style and theme are more intricately connected to someone's personality than the books they store on a shelf. Writing comes from within a person and is a direct expression of their thoughts, censored or uncensored.

But even the notion that what someone writes reflects their own character is troublesome. Does that mean Steel is prone to affairs or Stephen King has murderous tendencies? The psychology behind writing is an interesting topic that I would like to explore.

Overall, Steel's novel is enthralling. Though a significantly darker tale, Steel maintains her tradition of captivating the audience and producing a quick read despite its many pages. I would recommend Matters of the Heart to those who are already familiar with Steel's work... and those, who like me, had become tired of her repetitive writing style.

Can't Stand the Heat

Louisa Edwards knows how to write an enjoyable, addictive, and modern romance... with a twist.

I don't think I have ever read a book like this one. It was definitely a good read but I reckon a reader needs to have an open mind to fully enjoy Edwards' work. While Edwards writes an engaging love story between a male chef and a female journalist in New York City, she also meaningfully portrays a male homosexual relationship. The characters are well formed, the plot twists (though, admittedly, the twists are sometimes expected), and there's even a madman with a gun. I couldn't help thinking of Mathew McConaughey and Kate Hudson in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days or Aaron Eckhart and Catherine Zeta Jones in No Reservations as I read through the book - Edwards creates a literary equivalent of these films.

When I was reading Can't Stand the Heat I began to think back to the last time I read a work of fiction that involved a homosexual relationship of some form. I'm pretty sure that there must have been a homosexual relationship in at least one of the many many books I have read over the years. But as I search through my memory I can't think of any examples. Even homosexual secondary characters in books, characters that were hardly mentioned in a plotline, are hard for me to recall (probably because they were minor characters themselves). I do remember Bridget Jones' Diary mentioning a homosexual male best friend... but I only remember this because of the Hollywood film. I suppose Brokeback Mountain exists in fictive form as well.

On the other hand, or maybe just because I'm an optimist, I reckon that these books do exist... I just haven't encountered one while in the local libraries or bookstores (and, admittedly, I haven't searched for them). Now, after thinking about it, I wonder if it is one of those elusive book genres where you have to know specific titles and put in pre-orders?

The thought that the public is exposed to reading material that is heterosexist and does not reflect diverse experiences is troublesome for me. In fact, while I have thought about representations of gender I have never really considered how sexual orientations are portrayed in novels until now. Reading Can't Stand the Heat made me ponder how popular fiction portrays sexual orientations and reflects societal ideals.

Hero at Large

I wasn't planning on writing a review for this book because really it's pointless dribble. However, this blog can't just be praises...

First off, I must say that I try to not judge a book by its cover... but this one I really should have. The cover's depiction of a big burly dog and a rabbit sending out little red hearts is just corny and trivial... Unfortunately this theme continues into the pages between the cover.

Written by Janet Evanovich, Hero at Large is a novel based on a love affair between a figure skating instructor and an unemployed man... who magically turns out to be a multimillionaire. The woman in the relationship is the figure skater, the man is the one with the cash - Evanovich does a great job with gender stereotyping! Included in the book is a batty Grandmother who stops at nothing to force the pair into a relationship. Oh, and a good dose of drama and heartache (once the woman finds out her man is a multimillionaire she wants nothing to do with him?)... all to end with a happy ending.

Really, I don't know what I expect when I purchase these books.

In the long run it's not so bad though. Evanovich's novel passed time, was good for a few laughs (ie - multimillionaire's apparently can't cook), and it was a welcome light read for the afternoon.