Chaos Is A Friend of Mine

Book Review: Plan B

Plan B by Jonathan Tropper

My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book had a strong St. Elmo's Fire vibe to it (which is one of my favorite movies). It's about a group of close college friends, dealing with growing up and growing apart now that college is over. They are all thirty or about to turn thirty and are very angsty about it. At times I was rolling my eyes thinking, "Give me a break - thirty is not THAT big of a deal." But overall I liked all the characters and the relationships between them. View all my reviews >>

Teaser Tuesday: November 3

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Her face had a rosy blush from the cold air, and as I looked at her, framed by the trees and water behind her, I knew that I would always be in love with her. It was a force coursing through my veins with the whooshing sound of geese's wings."

-P. 181 Plan B by Jonathan Tropper

Teaser Tuesday

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Eggheads love the words, so the more you jam in there, the better. Think of it as a verb sausage."

-p. 125 I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert

Library Loot - October 15

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marge that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

I don't go to the library on a weekly basis but I just went yesterday so I thought it'd be fun to share what I got.

 

Pretty in Plaid by Jen Lancaster, Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter and Plan B by Jonathan Tropper. What did you get this week?

Book Review: This Is Where I Leave You

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

My rating: 5 of 5 stars This Is Where I Leave You follows Judd Foxman and his family as they sit shiva for seven days after Judd's father dies. The family dynamics of the Foxman family really resonated with me - so real and dysfunctional and heartbreaking and filled with humor that was dry as a bone. I was surprised at how well and realistically the female characters were developed, usually not the case with a male author. This is Tropper's most recent book and the first of his that I've read - I can't wait to read his earlier books. View all my reviews >>

Book Review: drink, play, f@#k

Drink, Play, F@#k: One Man's Search for Anything Across Ireland, Las Vegas, and Thailand by Andrew Gottlieb

My rating: 3 of 5 stars A parody of Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love, I found this book to be more mildly amusing than laugh out loud hilarious. I wouldn't recommend it unless you've already read Gilbert's book. View all my reviews >>

Book Review: Rebel Yell

Rebel Yell: A Novel by Alice Randall

My rating: 3 of 5 stars Rebel Yell opens with Abel Jones Jr. passing away after eating at the Rebel Yell restaurant. After his funeral his first wife Hope reexamines their life together and puts together the pieces to discover the true Abel that she never knew. Both Abel and Hope grapple with issues of race and racial identity and I really enjoyed that aspect of the story. I also liked how the author weaved real historical events throughout. However, some parts of the book were too cryptic for me and I felt like I wasn't understanding everything the author was trying to say. View all my reviews >>

Book Review: Such a Pretty Fat

Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover if Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, or Why Pie is Not the Answer by Jen Lancaster

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I think this is the author's funniest book yet. The title sums the gist of the book up pretty well. The first half I was getting frustrated with her for making so many excuses for why she couldn't lose weight but I was still laughing out loud at several instances. (Note: You may not want to read this book in public, I got some funny looks while I was laughing to myself in the middle of Starbucks.) Towards the end it felt a little like an infomercial for Weight Watchers online but the humor made up for it.

View all my reviews.

Book Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was heartbreaking but I loved it anyway. I was so engrossed in the story that my stomach was in knots at some points. It was also a great lesson in the political history of Afghanistan over that past 30 years. It's a harsh reminder that these are real people whose lives we're interfering with over in the Middle East and that today's wars are not fought on battlefields but in neighborhoods. People are dying in their literal backyards.

View all my reviews.

Book Review: Life With My Sister Madonna

Life with My Sister Madonna by Christopher Ciccone

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
God, Christopher Ciccone is whiny. And catty. There is really no new information about Madonna in this book, it’s just Christopher whining about how she’s mistreated him all these years. Basically, every time he works for her, she rips him off (doesn’t pay him fairly, replaces him at the last minute, etc.) You know what – then quit working for her! Christopher can’t do that though because he has no formal training to do ANYTHING. Madonna lets him dance in her videos, design her houses, dress her for her tours, art direct her tours and gets her friends to give him gallery shows, even though he’s never formally trained do any of that (except dance). And all he does is bitch about how horrible it is to work for her. I’m not a huge Madonna fan; I just read this book because I like reading about the entertainment business and stars in general. But there was nothing new here - almost nothing about Madonna’s childhood, no insights into her personality. I really don’t think Madonna and Christopher were ever that close, even though they spent a lot of time together, because he relates virtually nothing about Madonna’s personal life. Or else he was never paying attention what was going on in it because he’s just as self-absorbed as she is.

View all my reviews.