Missing reviews

I want to tidy things up before the end of the year, so here are some quick thoughts on the last few books I read... and never reviewed.

Misconceptions: Truth, Lies and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood by Naomi Woolf

I was looking for something about the misconceptions about pregnancy and early motherhood, since I was finding pregnancy so different from what I expected. This book is more about the American health industry though so, although interesting, didn't do that much for me. (***)

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

This is ine of those books that I thank the blogosphere for - if I hadn't needed a U author for the A-Z challenge I would have never picked this up in the used bookstore and would have really missed out on a gem. It's a beautifully written heartbreaking story of the realities on life in India - many of you enjoy world literature, seriously, if you haven't read this, put it on your list for 2010. (*****)

Fables volume 1 - Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham

Between Nymeth and Kailana's raving, I couldn't not read this at some point. Charming and original, can't wait to continue the series. Have you watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit, by the way? :-) (*****)

A Break With Charity by Ann Rinaldi

A non-fiction book for teens, I picked this up when we were in Boston earlier this year. It's a story of the Salem witch trials - it had the same characters as The Crucible so I looked things up and it turns out that those characters actually existed! Fascinating. This book isn't exactly well-known and I recommend it for its simplicity and historical interest. (*****)

Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis

The second in the mystery series set in ancient Rome. I like the idea of this series but to be honest I thought that the first book was only mediocre and I couldn't even finish this one... I'm told that it starts getting really good by about book 4. Apparently the historical aspect of ancient Rome is really well-researched and that's very attractive to me so I think I'll persevere... (**)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I still can't believe how disappointed I was with this book. I took it on holiday with me because so many people thought it was the perfect read for sitting by the pool - and I was bored! Seriously bored!

The story centers around journalist Mikael and security expert Lisabeth trying to solve the mystery of a disappearance. The other, parallel, plotline concerns business/finance journalism and chasing a story about a crook in the business world. That plotline bored me to bits, I must say.

The action was only vaguely interesting, the writing didn't flow, I kept hoping it would get better but it never did. I found the style simplistic too. It seems that this book was most definitely not for me - am I the only one in the world who didn't like it?? And I so wanted to read something exciting and gripping!!! :-(

Challenges: 1st in a series, 999 Challenge, Orbis Terrarum, Suspense and Thriller Challenge

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes... But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes

These two books were written by Anita Loos, the first was published in 1925 and the second in 1927. They are both diaries written by Lorelei Lee, a pretty flapper living it up in the 1920s. The subtitle of the first book is 'Diary of a Professional Lady', so I'm sure you get the idea.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is Lorelei's diary about her day-to-day life, her relationships with various men, her trip to Europe and her getting married. She is hilarious - she is striving for intellectual knowledge and loves to learn things. She thinks she is educated and fairly high-class, which makes her social gaffes even funnier. She is very likable. I enjoyed listening to her adventures and her interpretation of how the world works and what men are for.

But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes is in Lorelei's voice once again, but tells the story of her friend. I thought this was much, much weaker... kind of more of the same.

Apparently, Anita Loos got the idea to write these books when she noticed that all the men around her were falling over the blonde in the room and paying no attention to her, a brunette, even though she was pretty and intelligent. I liked that bit of information, I like knowing where an author is coming from.

These books are the pre-cursors of chick-lit - all about men and going out and getting jewellery - entertaining and fluffy.

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, Audiobook Challenge, Classics Challenge, Decades Challenge

Nothing's Sacred

Nothing's Sacred is comedy by Lewis Black - an American stand-up comic. I don't really have much to say about it, other than I didn't like it much. I'm very particular about comedians, because too many of them use profanity that I don't think is needed. That sounds like I'm against profanity, which I'm totally not, I just don't like it used where I don't think it belongs.

So although I agreed with his ideas in general, I just didn't like his style. Too crude for me. Although I did enjoy his comment about finally seeing the end of the world - a place where there's a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucks. That was funny. :-)

I listened to this on audio and I loved his voice - maybe he reads other people's stuff? If not then he should! :-)

To give you an idea of what I do like, Eddie Izzard is by far my favorite stand-up comedian. By far.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Audiobook challenge, Countdown Challenge, In their shoes, Jewish Literature Challenge