In My Sister's Shoes

after reading such a spiritual book as Eat Pray Love, i needed to move onto something fun and light, and that is exactly what i found in "In My Sister's Shoes" by Sinead Mortiarty. this book was very well written chick lit. a story about a girl who moves away from her hometown to make it as a newscaster in the big city. all is great until she gets a call from back home that her sister is ill and she has to go back and help raise her 5 year old nephews. she realizes that sometimes the grass really isnt greener on the other side, you just need to experience both in order to figure it all out.

this book is very predictable, but it makes for great, light reading. i finished the book in about 24 hours, and enjoyed every second of it.

for some easy reading chick lit, i would absolutely reccommend "In My Sister's Shoes" for anyone who is looking for mindless reading.

Eat Pray Love

so this book got me thinking, reflecting on how many internal struggles women go through on a daily basis. hence the reason for my previous blog post- it was just one of the things that plagues my mind on the realization that most women are the same way.

the book "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, has received a ton of publicity- and the movie is slated to be out soon, starring non other then THE Julia Roberts. so i figured i would give it a shot. let me say that these kinds of books (spiritual, self help type) are not my cup of tea. and Eat Pray Love is no exception to this. i found Gilbert to be a whiner, she has complete breakdowns about things that in the grand scope of things is minor, considering there are people in this world dying from cancer, and poverty. yet she can't see around her divorce as being the most devastating thing to happen in this world.

the book is divided into three parts- Italy (Eat), India (Pray), Indonesia (Love). it took everything in me to get through the middle part, she spoke of this major shifting in her life, her becoming a more relaxed person, understanding and accepting person. yet as she goes through you can tell this is just a facade. she is still an insecure girl, who falls in love with a man who basically treats her like he owns her, so much for life changing spiritual solace.

i am certainly going to see the movie (just because Miss Roberts is in it), not because of the story, there isn't enough substance to find the story anything significant. but i don't recommend reading Eat Pray Love.

The Last Song

forgive me book geeks, for i have sinned... it has been 2 weeks since my last confession.

i just finished the book "The Last Song" by Nicolas Sparks. and a Nicolas Sparks book it absolutely is. if you have ever read a book by Sparks you'll know to expect a deep, intense love story between two young people that happens over a summer. to me this book felt slightly young for my reading palate. i can see how the role was perfect for an actress like Miley Cyrus, Ronnie- an adolescent delinquent turned model child who falls in love with the "boy next door" over a summer at her fathers beach house.

Sparks doesn't disappoint for a good tear-jerking, heart- wrenching romance that has all the twists and turns of a true to life first time romance. at various points in the novel- i found myself thinking back to my first love- the ease of summer romance, free of adult pressure and over powering, blissful, naive- love.

again, this is just easy reading. the story is very surface- there really isn't much depth to it. i found it extremely predictable in the first couple chapters it was easy to summize how the story would end, but i did enjoy the lightness of this book. and the tear-jerking ending proved that this book certainly wasn't without emotion.

a terrific light summer reader. i would not suggest reading it after seeing the movie- the literature isn't deep enough to capture you after you know how it is all going to end.

please leave you own comments or pose any questions you have regarding The Last Song- i'd love to see what you thought of the book.

The Lovely Bones

so last night i just finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. i started it around 5pm yesterday afternoon and hammered through it around 3am this morning. i know a little overboard- sometimes sleep needs to be put on the back-burner for this incredible addiction.

this was my 2nd attempt at this specific book. the 1st time i tried to read it, i was a point in my life where i needed something fun and light as my work and life were nothing short of crazy, when the first few chapters discusses this young girls brutal demise, i had to close the book and leave it for another day.

when i started the book yesterday i knew what to expect Susie Salmon discussing her view of her horrendous rape and murder from her seat in heaven. as i continued reading the book i became fascinated by Sebolds direction with it. from the beginning to about half way through the story of finding this girl's killer is at the forefront, but other things are slowly brewing under the surface. Sebolds depiction of suburbia homes and trials and tribulations of marriage and love is so honest and deep. it makes the novel seem so real, as even without describing certain points in the novel, the reader clearly understand where the issues lie.

from the naive yet mature eyes of a 15 year old recounting the lives she watches over daily, her love and compassion for each person comes with the understanding of how the death of 1 person can touch, change and completely transform the individuals left behind. these stories are real, they are happening all over the world: 1 lost child = 100+ broken people left to pick up the pieces and make some understanding of who, what, where, when and why. it is a naivety we all live with- 'that wouldn't happen to me' - but it does and it can, and when something like that happens, there is no way to stop the ripples from turning into tidal waves on the fabrics of the 'ones that are left' lives.

great read- fascinating story of real life, relationships and the unknown.