A Favorite Author and Genre

THE FORTUNE HUNTER                      By: Daisy Goodwin                  5 Stars

Daisy Goodwin has a way with words. She can paint an image of such strength; you will feel as if you were living within the character’s world. When you are introduced to Caspar you can almost hear his endless ramblings as if you were in the direct path of his spewing words. She always leaves me enraptured in her talents and wishing for a quick passage of time before her next release.

The Fortune Hunter is a historical novel based around the Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) of Austria in the 1800s. She was known as one of the most beautiful women in Europe with hair down to her ankles. The book is based around a trip to England to hunt foxes on her magnificent horses.

The plot line follows Sisi, Charlotte and Bay. Charlotte is an average girl who is the sole heir to an enormous fortune. Bay has no title other than Captain and being an incredible horseman. Bay is caught between two women and deemed a fortune hunter no matter which one he chooses. This is a character driven novel that flows with the elegant grace only an empress could possess.

Where'd She Go?

IF I STAY Series                        3 Stars

IF I STAY                      By: Gayle Forman                   3 Stars

The description of this book kept me from reading it many times. Eventually a movie preview helped me realize the storyline actually sounded interesting. The movie helped me realize it was about a girl who has the perfect family, perfect boyfriend and a promising opportunity at Julliard, only to have it all snatched away in a horrible accident leaving her to choose life after so much loss or death with her sorrows.

At any given time I have a plethora of books, too many to ever actually read. For this reason, when I try to simply my stacks, I look at reviews for the questionable books. The reviews I found for this book, specifically on Goodreads, were mostly positive. Fabulous!  It has felt like forever since I have read a really good fictional book. It is a shame that I didn’t feel as attached to this book as others seem to be. Good thing it is a quick read.

Mia wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t think her “perfect family” was actually that perfect. It felt more like they were teenage parents who couldn’t comprehend that Mia didn’t need friends, she need responsible adults. There were some moments when it seemed like her mom and dad were starting to get it right, mainly her father based around when her younger brother, Teddy, was born. However, it never seemed to last long. Once I thought they had figured things out they did something else that reverted them back to the 60’s hippy/flowerchild, everything is groovy, underage drinking and teenage sex is totally fly, irresponsible parenting style. Even though they had Mia around 23, they seemed like they were teenagers that missed the opportunity to grow-up, so they never really did. Ok, I my rant is out, moving on.

To be honest, I didn’t get into most of the relationships presented in the book. Mia’s boyfriend, Adam, was likeable, but I never really felt the passion that made me want to root for them to be together even if she did get into Julliard. Plus the sex scene where they played each other like instruments was incredibly weird. Maybe you had to be there. Frankly, I am glad I wasn’t.

There were only two relationships that seemed to work. Mia as the first to see Teddy when he was born, being one of them. They just stared at each other, kind of like a parental bond with their child. (Mia did seem to be the responsible one, even if she made teen decisions, hey, she was an actual teenager.) There were certain situations were only Mia could comfort Teddy. A moment when he had yet to outgrow her showing affection when he put a stop to others doing similar things. That was pretty adorable. In fact, Mia never seemed to really care that her parents were gone. The only time she seemed to struggle with how much she had actually lost was when she worried about Teddy.

The only other relationship I understood within the book was Mia with her best friend Kim. They went from being forced to always be together, and hating it, to being inseparable. Some of the best moments include when Mia was going to give up music and Kim convinced her not too. Not only did she recognize what a horrible decision that would be for Mia, she understood enough to present summer music camps to Mia’s parents. Kim furthered showed her friendship to Mia by making sure Adam was at the hospital by physically bringing him there. On top of that she collaborated with him to make sure he got in to see her, despite the fact that Kim and Adam were never really friends in the first place. A true friend really looks out for the other’s interests and future.

The most redeeming part of the book was the author’s decision to portray Mia’s musical instrument as the cello. I am not quite sure if it was planned or a pleasant coincidence. The haunting melody of a cello is the perfect backdrop to describe Mia’s life, current predicament and decisions she has to make. It is the one thing that truly sucked me in. In fact, it is the cello that finally caught my attention in the movie preview. Even though this book was only average for me, the storyline still has so much potential. I hope the movie can portray the attachments I was unable to feel within the book pages.

 

WHERE SHE WENT                  By: Gayle Forman                   2.8 Stars

This book is all from Adam’s point of view. Three years have passed since Mia’s accident. Adam is a big time rock star who hasn’t handled what life sent him very well. He has a small drug problem and hates playing with his band. The storyline is him finding out what really happened with Mia and why she left.

These two books weren’t really for me. I didn’t find myself really liking anything about them until about 60ish pages from the end of the 2^nd book. I can see the appeal that others might have for them, but I didn’t really enjoy reading about trying to be hip or cool or in or whatever they call it now days. I liked when it got down to the relationships and didn’t so much care about the lifestyle scenes. If the movie has a lot of cello in it, I might still want to see it.

For the Love of Food

THE GIRLS’ GUIDE TO LOVE AND SUPPER CLUBS           By: Dana Bate        2.7 Stars

Chick lit is hit and miss for me. The Confessions of a Shopaholic series is a personal favorite of mine, but most of the other ones turn out just ok. I can’t totally pinpoint why I prefer some and not others, so I do feel bad when I criticize the authors who don’t quite catch my attention. Sorry Dana Bate, but I have to add you to my just alright chick lit list.

As a general overview, we have Hannah. She is a girl in her mid-twenties who has a horrible boyfriend, a horrible job, basically horrible everything. I started reading this book when I was not having one of my finer moments, so I was actually glad that everything went wrong for Hannah. However, that soon changed and I could barely stand her or any of the characters by the end.

Eventually Hannah and her boyfriend part ways and Hannah moves into a basement of a town house owned by someone who works with congress (the book is set in Washington D.C.). Hannah’s parents and ex-boyfriend never understood her love of cooking, so this new starts means she can finally hold the underground supper clubs she has been so enamored with.

Tragedy soon ensues when Hannah’s apartment floods and she has nowhere to hold her club, except her landlord’s place, who is conveniently out of town and left her his house keys. Hannah doesn’t feel too bad about trespassing since her supper club isn’t exactly legal either. She doesn’t have a license from her health department to charge people for food among other problems, like her landlord is running for a community political office and his platform is none other than these possibly illegal underground supper clubs.

Of course disaster after disaster happens to build up drama for the book. My biggest problem with this drama is it doesn’t feel like bad luck or an addiction or impulse that is hard to avoid, it is because the protagonist just dives in without thinking anything through. She has another option to hold the supper club, but after one failed try to use it, she just gives up and continues with trespassing. On top of that, she complains that her parents treat her like a child, but in fact she does spend most of the book acting like a child who doesn’t have a backbone and will take whatever is given her without any thought of how those actions might have consequences. She needed some serious lessons on how to take control of her life and make a plan (legal) to work toward her goals.

After her break up she meets her landlord and another guy through the supper club. None of the guys are really that intriguing. In fact, like Hannah, whose last name is Sugarman, her landlord’s last name is Fischer. As if it wasn’t enough to have a cook/baker with that last name, her landlord is constantly talking about ships, and the sea, and seafood and uses phrases for anything that will fit into that area. The characters (and the language) just seem too forced into the stereotypes.  

I think I might be done with what I didn’t like about the book. What I did like was the food. I loved the themes and the menus that went along with them. The recipes in the back are always a nice touch, but I was disappointed that Hannah’s famous cinnamon rolls and carrot cake recipes were missing.

All in all, not one of my most favorite, but if I were lying on a beach somewhere and just looking for a mindless read with a little entertainment, then the book would have been much better. So perhaps if you are a foodie, or even a want-to-be-foodie, and just desire to have a little fun, this might be the perfect book for you.

Road to a Classic

THE PRINCESS BRIDE:  S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure            By: William Goldman                                      4 Stars

 

I have wanted to read more classics lately. They are stories I have known forever and seen in movies in various forms. Yet, I have a desire to learn how those stories originated. The Princess Bride hasn’t been around as long as most stories that are considered classics, but I believe this one will stand the test of time. Even the author believes this as the title clearly states it is a classic tale.

When I started to read this book I was slightly confused. Apparently, the book was an abridgement of the original book which was quite a bit larger than the book we know of 300 pages (450 pages if you add Buttercup’s Baby and Goldman’s multiple introductions). Morgenstern’s version includes a more detailed history of Florin as well as pages on trees and princess training and other drawn out information.

On top of all the information I learned about S. Morgenstern, it seems that there is even a museum. What wouldn’t I give to visit that!  Fortunately, I decided to do a little research in this area as I was confused about my complete lack of knowledge on the subject. It turns out the reason I was oblivious is because this is all just part of the story.

Goldman decided to write the book as if he abridged an out of print book from his childhood instead of actually creating the story himself. Even in all of the introductions used for multiple year milestones, he still keeps up the ruse. While doing so he creates a fake wife and son. In addition to that, he talks about how he is not allowed to include certain information within the story such as the reunion scene between Buttercup and Westley. The reason behind the missing information will be blamed on such issues as disagreements with the publisher or problems with the Morgenstern estate. You can view examples of the letters you would receive when you write in to request the missing information here.

Goldman shows his personality and sense of humor by setting up the book in this format. While I found it entertaining throughout most of the book, I had to wonder if I would still be as entertained when I find time to read the book a 2^nd time. The closer I got to the end of the book I decided that upon rereading the book I would skip all of the Goldman commentary and just focus on the story. By the time I read Buttercup’s Baby, I had enough of the game. I became annoyed that the story doesn’t end because the “Morgenstern estate” wouldn’t allow Goldman to abridge anything else. Goldman is starting to get up there in years now, so I can image how frustrated all of his readers will be if he never completes the story.

Now, let’s focus on the content of the story. The reason I wanted to read this book is based on my love for the movie. Without all of the Morgenstern distractions, the book is close to the movie, but that isn’t really surprising when you learn that Goldman wrote the screenplay to the movie as well. The book does go slightly into more depth with each character, while the movie does give you the reunion scene between Buttercup and Westley.

An interesting thing about the book is that you learn about each of the characters when you need to. For example, you learn the names and back story of Inigo (as well as the remaining trio) as the man in black is about to fight him. This allows more sympathy for Vizzini’s team. It is a shame that I did see the movie first because now it is hard to discern if I would have thought that man in black was trying to save the princess or, if I should have had the same fear that is instilled in Buttercup, think he was even more dangerous than her original captures.

All in all I liked the book as much as I like the movie. The only downfall was the fact that I did get tired of the Morgenstern back story by the end of the book and I didn’t at all feel that Buttercup was worthy of Westley. In the book she wants others to think she is more than just beautiful, she is smart when in fact she could use a little education. I never had that feeling while watching the movie.

Another thing that did grate on me after a while was the way Goldman portrayed women. I believe it was all part his joking personality, but after a while it too got old. Additional warning, the chapters can be extremely long for those like me who prefer short chapters. For these few downfalls the book goes from a 5 to a 4. I still love it though!