Bitter is the New Black - Jen Lancaster

About a month back I read Bright Lights, Big Ass by Jen Lancaster and laughed out loud through several chunks of the book. It was by far one of the funniest books I had read in a long time. So, after my last few "heavier" books, I decided I needed to lighten it up with another good laugh and picked up Bitter.

Bitter is the New Black is actually the prequil to Bright Lights and details the time in Jen's life when she devolves from a VP in a large corporation to being laid off and almost homeless. It was during her time being laid off that she decided that writing was her new direction, and hence, Bitter was born.

This book wasn't as funny as Bright Lights, but it was extremely entertaining and a good read. This book smacked of a little more realism as you really started to really feel bad for Jen and Fletch (her boyfriend/husband in this book) as they had to make their way through some pretty tough times in an impossible job market. I would definitely recommend this book, and will definitely be picking up Jen's newest book, Such a Pretty Fat.

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides

This book sat on my to be read pile for a good two years before I finally decided to pick it up and give it a go. In all honesty, the content (hermaphroditism) really just creeped me out a bit and I just wasn't sure if I wanted to read it at all. But on a whim I picked it up last weekend and gave it a whirl.

I have to say this was a really, really great book. One of the best written books I have ever read. I can see why it won the Pulitzer. Yes - I can check another book off of that Pulizer list!

This book really contains two stories in one book. There is the backstory of Callie/Cal's grandparents and parents, narrated by Callie/Cal. Then there is Callie/Cal's story. Both stories are intricately woven into a wonderfully tangled mess of who's related to whom and what actually caused the genetic mutation that transformed Callie into Cal.

My favorite part of the novel was the backstory of Callie/Cal's grandparents and parents. It was so wonderful and mesmerizing. So intricately told that I could visualize every detail. We aren't really fully introduced to Callie/Cal until half way through the book. By the time we are introduced to Callie, the topic of hermaphroditism is so understated that it almost gets lost in the intricacy of the whole of the storyline.

In Middlesex, Eugenides tells the tale of the immigration of assimilation, of suburban America, of social awkwardness and survival. The more I read, the more I was convinced that the book was a memoir, and not a novel. It was that believable. Wonderful. Simply wonderful.

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splended Suns is Hosseini's follow up to his previously published and critically acclaimed book, The Kite Runner. I actually read this book when it was first published, but recently reread it for my bookclub.

This book, like Kite Runner, is set in Afghanistan and depicts events covering the last thirty years from the Soviet invasion, to the reign of the Taliban, to the post-Taliban rebuilding. These events serve as a backdrop and play an important part of the story as we follow the lives of two women - Miriam and Laila. Their stories are so raw, so wraught with emotion, so real that I had a very difficult time reading this book. At the same time, the story was so profound and so powerful that I couldn't put it down.

Growing up in the United States, it never ceases to amaze me just how sheltered a life I lead. I am a college educated woman with the freedom and capability to do anything with my life that I want to do. It is so disheartening to me to confront the true realities of what happens in other parts of the world. I realize how blessed and lucky I am to have been born where I was born. There are so many women like Miriam and Laila with no choices who have to settle for whatever is destined for them.

This book tore my heart out. Even though it is a work of fiction, there are women who live the lives described in this book. As heartwrenching as this book was for me, there was a lot of hope that I took from the book. The love and bond between the two women was inspiring to me. Books like this one open our eyes to a lot of things that all of us living in this country really need to see. And for that I am truly grateful to Khaled Hosseini. I hope that he continues to create wonderful stories like this one.

Julie & Julia - Julie Powell

Ok, so I finally finished this book. I was really excited to read this book. Anything that has to do with cooking and food, I am excited to read. Reading and cooking/baking are the two things I love to do the most.

In this book, Julie Powell, who is at somewhat of a crossroads in her life, cooks all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I, in a period of 365 days. A briallint concept, in my mind. This is one of those ideas that would cross my mind, but I would quickly brush away due to the amount of time and dedication it would require.

Unfortunately, I just didn't love this book. As much as I really, really wanted to love it, I just didn't. I guess I wanted to read more about her experiences with the food. I was less interested in her personal life, and the personal lives of those around her. And that's what the bulk of the book focused on. I just didn't find her life all that interesting. She depressed me at times. Where are the stories about the food and about the recipes? I forced myself to keep reading, and I did. But I had a hard time finishing this book. And I was oh so sad when I finished because I expected so much more.