Chicks Lit Choice for March 07 Discussion

After discussing the options with Lizzy, we have determined the next book discussion will be Freakanomics.

Our recommended "acquired by" date is 02/14/07 (Acquired is defined by Lizzy as.... "beg/borrow/steal/buy as suits your lifestyle and budget")
The discussion will begin on 03/15/07 and will last about a week.

Hope you all enjoy the book and, as always, HAPPY READING!

John Adams

I usually don't pick up nonfiction, especially biographies, but I'd been interested in learning about John Adams, the 2nd President of the United States (among other honors), since I saw the way his character was painted in the movie version of the musical 1776 . . . and, of course, with the tricentennial of Benjamin Franklin's birth last January 17th, Founding Father Fever was in full swing!

(Yes, I realize this strikes many of you as odd. This is how my brain operates. Deal with it.)

I really enjoyed learning about this "Founding Father" once I got past the complete vehicle change from fiction-fiction-fiction to biography-by-a-historian. David McCullough's style was kind of dry and scholarly at points, but, all-in-all I will say that I really enjoyed reading the book.

I'm not sure what my next project will be, but I might want to look for a published collection of his and Abigail's correspondence; they were fascinating! No other First Lady features as prominently in her husband's private and public faces as Abigail before the 20th Century and Eleanor Roosevelt. (True, Dolly Madison saved some paintings and important papers, and I don't begrudge her that, but what else do we hear about her? And how many of today's 30-somethings only associate her name with ice cream?)

Anyway, if you're interested, definitely pick this book up.

Freakanomics

It may not be Fiction (or maybe it is, depending on how you look at it). Let me rephrase, if you were to go to a bookstore in search of this book, you would not find it in the Fiction/Literature section, nor would you find it hiding in the shelves of other genres. But, I really enjoyed this book. It was fascinating. You may or not agree with everything that is being proposed, but that's ok. The author's arguments are fascinating no matter what your personal take is on the certain subjects.

So, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up. ;o) You won't regret.

The Other Boleyn Girl

Usually, I'm not one for historical fiction. I hate the way the thees, thines, and thous get thrown in merciously into works just so they sound posh. As I said to Lizzy the other day, I can guarentee if some mother was reprimanding a kid in Henry the 8th's time, she did not say, "Make sure thou dost not do that again. Otherwise I shall punish thee." No, they would say, "Pick up that cake RIGHT NOW!"

The Other Boleyn Girl did not make me cringe. It made sense. There were a couple highnesses and the like, but DUH, it's the court, of course there would be. Plus, it's a fascinating story. A fictionalized story about Mary Boleyn and her role in Anne Boleyn's rise to the throne.

I highly suggest taking a crack at this book. It's not a "quick read," but it's worth it.

Oh Our Poor Little Neglected Book Site!

Anyway, enough with the lamenting.

Not everyone had the three solid weeks' worth of vacation time I did, so not all of us had the time or the wherewithal to spend catching up on our reading lists.

Of course, every time I visit the bookstore, I make a list of books I intend on buying because I want to read them (or re-read them, as the case may be), and I do occasionally indulge in a copy of something for myself. Especially if they're running one of those "buy # get # free" deals that I'm such a sucker for.

Anyway, I recently finished reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards.

Ordinarily, this isn't the type of book I'm burning to read, nor is it usually the type of book I usually pick up or even recommend.

However, there are exceptions to every rule and seeing as how this is yet another example of how self-publishing a novel can get someone noticed (see Christopher Paolini's Eragon, which is now a major motion picture, for the other example in recent years) I figured it was worth a try. Plus, parts of the story actually hit very close to personal experiences. (No, I was never a nurse, or from Kentucky, nor did I ever live in Pittsburgh or West Virginia; I am not a twin, nor are any of my relations physics professors or orthopaedic surgeons or Julliard-trained classical musicians . . . well, that's not entirely true, but seeing as how I've never met Nana's cousin Walter, that's a moot point. More than that I will NOT say.)

You can get the plot summary from Amazon, or from the cover-copy, but whichever you choose, it's a very interesting book. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did, nor did I think I would connect with it as I had. Ms. Edwards is a thoughtful, sensitive and careful writer, who I would love to read again.

And now, back to the biography of John Adams I promised to lend to my grandmother when I'm finally finished with it.