How NOT to be Popular

I read this book as a sort-of-assignment ( which I need to give myself more of - I miss reading ).  It tells the story of a young girl whose parents are second generation hippies that pick up and move every few months, and now that the girl is a senior in high-school she's sick of it.  Sick of leaving friends behind and hurting - so she decides that this time, in this town, she's going to do everything she can to make sure she doesn't get attached to anyone or anything.

One could argue that it's a tad formulaic but I don't know if that's a bad thing at all for this sort of story.  What this story requires, and has in spades, in a unique voice and point of view.  At it's heart it really tackles the core issues that haunt teenagers no matter what era they are in.  As someone whose getting closer to being the parent of teenage people rather than a teenager himself (holy shit that's scary) I think this book is relatable across the board. 

It's light and fun - if you dug films like Mean Girls or Easy A then this is probably right up your alley.

Tough Shit - Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith was one of those icons I had whilst I was in high school and trying to figure out how to become a filmmaker.  I had won a playwriting competition and the woman interviewing me for a local paper told me I should check out this "Kevin Smith dude - he made his film putting  money on his credit cards", and so my next trip into the city I bought every he'd done up to that point that was on VHS (that's right - VHS, bitches!) and at that point it was Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy.  And it was really interesting seeing the differences between the three - and being a high school student I used to revisit films quite a bit, I think I saw those three films a shit load of times - and forced them on others.  Chasing Amy was also the first film that I double-dipped and bought on DVD as well. 
I'm aware of Smith's shortcoming as is he, but was very curious what'd he have to say in a motivational book such as this.  The first chapter begins with a nice little bit to help ground us all and remind us that we all started out as a load of sperm.  We all are winners already, just by being alive.  The entire book is filled with stories from Smith, some old, some new, but written from his own POV and filtered through the idea that he's trying to help the reader learn about life through his experiences, good and bad. 
I can sum up what the book is about pretty quickly - Smith's main advice is that you have to figure out what it is in life that makes you happy, and just find a way to make it your life.  Life's too short to not be doing something you don't love.  I don't disagree at all, and I've always lived my life this way - so there you are - I just saved you many hours of reading - unless you want all the Smith stories, then by all means pick it up.  There's some pretty great ones there, especially when he talks about the state of the film industry these days. 

Boomsday

I got this book for a birthday present some time ago and I can't tell you why it took me so long to get around to it.  I read in spurts, and I'm a much better reader now than I ever was - but I still have a rather large stack of books to get through on my current, ever increasing, pile.
But I'm glad I finally got around to this one!  Like says on the cover, this is by the same man, Christopher Buckley, that brought us the lovely Thank You For Smoking, and this new book even gives us a nice little nod to Nick Naylor in passing.  It's actually a shame that they just didn't make him the mentor character in this book...
This book tells the story of a young woman who is fed up about the idea that her generation is going to have to cover the Social Security of the Baby Boomer generation before her and decides to do something about it.  It's dark, it's funny, and dare I say relevant.  This is a book full of ideas and characters and moves along at a lovely pace, my only complaint is in it's ending.  Or lack there of, I should say.  The story doesn't build to any grand conclusion it more-or-less just... stops.  It's truly bizarre, especially given how well things were ramping up.  This isn't to say that storylines don't get wrapped up to some degree it's just... really unsatisfying.  Almost made me want to change my grading on this to merely "liked", but I have to say that with the exception of the very final pages, the rest of the book was a pure delight.  There is a film in the works and I look forward to it.  If you like poli-comedy or just good solid fun this one comes highly recommended (for the most part).

World War Z

I've been a little zombie nerd ever since I started reading The Walking Dead comic.  Whenever I'm reading something in this genre I can't help but just see the world differently.  Take stock of the useless stuff people do and buy, how none of it would matter once the Zombie Apocalypse started.  I joined a gym, which may or may not have had anything to do with it :)  I'm not insane, I have no belief that there will be a zombie outbreak - but what an interesting subject.  You can't tell a zombie story without it really being a social commentary.  Zombie stories are always about the break down of society, and World War Z, is ultimately about - what will you do to survive?  Who will you become?  It's told through interviews with survivors and chronologically talks about just before the outbreak, through "The Great Panic", into the War with the Zombies, and then the aftermath.  I found the first two thirds to be pretty damn riveting, and then it died off really fast - the aftermath was a little less interesting to me.  The episodic nature of it starts to take it's toll and you just feel the need to get through it.
Apparently the feature film version that's coming out has very little to do with the actual book (no surprise since the book has no real protagonist outside of, I guess, the interviewer).
It's a book that's pretty good when you think about how much thought into the world Max Brooks has put into it, different countries, groups of people, etc... ideology.  It's a dark and somewhat uplifting book.  If you're a zombie-nerd you've probably already read it - but if you're new to the zombie world, give it a shot along with his Zombie Survival Guide.

Bossypants

I bought this for my wife awhile back when I saw that EVERY WOMAN in the subway was reading it (and good for them!).  I love Tina Fey.  I love her sense of humor, her awkwardness.  This is going to sound terrible, but when I watch 30 Rock with my wife, I realize just how much Tina is like my wife - in a good way (and for the record my wife sees it too).
This book is interesting in that it's almost a self-help book in some ways.  It's also part biography, and a little behind-the-scenes.  Some more criticize it for not having a clear direction as to what it's about - that there's no clear direction and each chapter is fairly random - but the thing is that Tina has such a strong and amazing voice that it really doesn't matter.  You keep reading because it's just full of honesty and hilarity.  Two things that were interesting to discover was that - first - Tina Fey has a prominent scar.  Perhaps the magic of TV and film make-up is really great, but I never noticed it.  Now I can see it when I look at her, but I hadn't before (one of the first things she talks about in the book).  And secondly I just loved her outlook on life in general.  Everyone could benefit from reading her chapter on how using the rules of improvisation can improve your life.  I don't think she's wrong.
I imagine this book will appeal stronger to females, but I loved the hell out of it.  There's some great behind the scenes stuff for both 30 Rock, and Saturday Night Live for those who want a behind-the-curtain glance.  If you're already a fan of Tina Fey's comic stylings, reading this is a no-brainer.

11/22/63

I think that Stephen King doesn't get enough credit.  Sure he's an international best-seller but I still think that people often pass him off as a fluff writer, just cranking out books year after year.  Well if this book is any indication of a fluff writer than I say keep on fluffin!
With a title that might turn some off, this is the story of an english teacher who is given an opportunity to go into the past and change the course of history.  The event - the assassination of JFK.  But the beauty of the time travel concept is that the device only allows him to travel back to 1958 - and every time he leaves and comes back he's only gone for two minutes in reality, and every time returns to the past it's still 1958.  Which means that if he wants to stop the assassination of JFK he will have to live in the past for five years.  That in and of itself is a brilliant concept. 
At 800+ pages some of called this book longer than necessary.  I wouldn't cut a single page.  It's amazing how King finds a way to fill the time with such a massive ticking clock down the line.  In truth he's built in several ticking clocks that always keeps us guessing and moving forward.
It's a book that's very clever, integrating a wonderful theme of the past harmonizing with it's old and new self, and ultimately not really wanting to be changed.  It's heartbreaking and uplifting as well.  I don't want to give away a single plot point since this book is just a plethora of discoveries.  I'm not quite sure if this is the best Stephen King book I've ever read, but it's easily the best I've read in a long time.  I'll even go so far as to call it a masterwork.  King should be proud, and you should get your ass on reading it.  Apparently Jonathon Demme is in the process of adapting it.  If it's done properly, this could rank up there with another King adaptation, The Shawshank Redemption.  And honestly, this could even be better.

The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor

This is an interesting book in that I can't imagine anyone who isn't a fan of the comic series picking it up.  The character doesn't exist in the television series (yet) so it's pretty isolated (albeit loyal) market. 
For those unfamiliar the Governor is probably the most sinister of antagonists in the Walking Dead series and the arc with him lasted several trades.  Some will say that the series hasn't been as good since that arc ended.  So with that in mind this book is similar to something like the Star Wars prequels (gag) in that we're exploring how someone was driven to such evil.  How did Philip Blake become the Governor is the main question and the thing that the book dissects.  And it's pretty interesting up to a certain point (which I'll get to below).  So for fans, you'll probably dig this - there is some wonderfully epic scenes that work well in the book and would probably just be too expensive to do on the series.  So for fans - its worth reading.  Not sure you need to own it.

And now... SPOILERS...

Like I mentioned above, this book is advertised on the premise of "How did Philip Blake become the Governor" and so the entire book you've been told to watch him.  And then the narrative takes a hard turn at the end where you realize that it's not Philip who becomes the Governor, but his brother doing it in Philips name.  I'm sorry, but fuck you Kirkman and Bonansinga.  That was an absolute cheat.  In fact, it's even worse is because the whole reason I'm reading it to pay close attention to Philip.  It's a cruel bait and switch and more-or-less unnecessary and I'm not sure that I entirely buy it.  Had it not been for the old switcheroo I would probably highly recommend this book, although given how it tries to be super clever in the end it really just ends up being a bit of a piss-off. 

Cinderella Ate My Daughter

I've gotten through a shitload of books recently.  Last year my resolution was to read more, and I think I did a pretty fine job this year.  I've burned through a stack of books that I'd bought over the years but never cracked open, and I also started taking advantage of Toronto's wonderful public library system - although I have to admit that there's been a pretty steep learning curve in terms of using it's website.  Here's a tip - you're allowed up to 50 books at a time (for three weeks - ridiculous amount of books) and so if all the books you want are available right away they send them all to you.  There are ways to keep books on your list and not have them send them and I've since learned it.  Either way I was saddled with a dozen books, and so while I read a good chunk of them over the last month there were some where after twenty pages I just couldn't be bothered anymore.  Sorry books, but if you're not grabbing me after twenty pages, chances are you're not going to grab me any further in.  I apologize for the books that pique late.
This that brings me to this book, which I think I was inspired to read after having read about it on a friend's blog.  First off - I do in fact have a daughter now (tiny though she is) and so a book like this appealed to me greatly.  It's mostly about how girls are marketed to and treated as a whole - it later delves into girls roles in social media and sexting, etc... but the brunt of the topic comes early on.  My issue with the book is that despite a whole lot of wonderful and interesting topics and lessons, I never quite felt like Peggy Orenstein had decided what her book was to be about and what stance she took.  She even, at one point, mentions through a conversation that she has with her husband that she has difficulty making up her mind on the issues. 
Listening to her as she writes about beauty pageants for five year olds and how a New York toy air was about 75% pink are equally frustrating and tantalizing.  It's a tricky subject when you're a progressive parent, and as Orenstein notes, it's even trickier when you're sending your kid out into a world where the people aren't as progressive.  Kids are going to want crap that you don't want to have them to have - we're dealing with that with our two year-old-son right now.  It's tough and it's hard to know where to draw the line, and this book gives you some food for thought.  She clearly has her ideas and while they aren't always firm, they're articulate.  My biggest complaint about the book is that the first hundred pages is super solid and engaging, and then the majority of the back half almost feel like she needed to pad it out to make it 'book size' including a chapter long description of the lives of people like Lindsay Lohan and Miley Cyrus and their rises and falls from grace.  It's a decent talking point, but we don't need a full chapter for stuff like that - and there's several examples of it through-out the back half of the book.
I found it to be a good read with solid information.  If the back-half were as strong as the front I'd easily recommend it, instead it's more about "is this your kind of thing?".  If you're the kind of person who wants to buy your kid the newest and hottest toy and puts them into pageants, this book is probably just going to go a long way in pissing you off.  But if you're a mother, you owe it to yourself to give this book a shot.  Pretty easy to get your hands on through the library.

This Is Where We Live

This is actually a different cover than for the book I read, but somehow I think it fits better.  I picked up this book from the library based off a 'best of' list that I can't even recall.  I was hesitant at first when it started off talking about the lead character's film directing aspirations.  I'm guilty myself of writing stories about artists, although I haven't lately, but I know that a lot of people do as a scapegoat for writing about something more personal.  I have to say that my fears quickly vanished.  What this book is really about is getting over yourself and accepting that you can't just be a flippant artist all the time, that you have to be someone else as well, and that sometimes other things will come before your work.  That's a hard lesson to learn and, to be truthful, one I still deal with.  Janelle Brown does a really good job of taking an honest look at these problems and really putting her characters through the ringer.  I love how much she punishes them, and I know that there were a few instances where I got pretty emotionally involved and thinking - come on!  Give them a break here, please!  And I'm glad that she didn't. 
It's a strong novel with strong characters and themes and I think could make a pretty lovely film if done properly. 

Full Dark, No Stars

I often forget how masterful Stephen King is.  My grandmother would buy me one of his books every Christmas, and I always enjoyed them - somehow I never really sought him out on my own, and usually just read the ones she gave me.  Weird.  I remember reading Christine the book and then seeing the movie and I think it's the first time, as a twelve year old I thought "They totally fucked that up!".  It's a delicious book, and a terrible film.  Sorry John Carpenter, it is. 
I haven't read all of King's work and if I'm honest I find that I always tend to prefer his shorter work, especially books that are… kind of anthologies, to his full novels.  That's not to say I don't like a lot of the books of his that I've read.  At any rate here's my thoughts on the four books contained in this collection:

1922:  This one really knocked me on my ass.  It's a simple story of a man trying to protect his land by any means necessary from a wife who would rather sell it and move to the city.  He makes a terrible choice and is haunted by it for the rest of his days.  This story has one of the strongest narrator voices I've read in a long time, you can see it being read by someone like Jeff Bridges or the like.  The story would make a really wonderful film, depressing as shit, but it could be quite lovely.  Not sure it's my kind of thing, but it just might be.  I know that King gives the rights to his stuff away for next to nothing.  Might be worth looking into.  It's a really wonderful read.

BIG DRIVER:  Just like the first in this collection I had a really hard time putting this one down.  It's the story of a detective novelist who becomes the victim of a sex crime and decides that instead of taking her injustice to the police, that she'll take matters into her own hands.  At first I had a hard time buying that this woman wouldn't go to the authorities, if I were to adapt this for the screen I think that there would be ways to fix this in the set-up to the "event" that would make it make more sense before the reveal of what she plans to do.  This is essentially a revenge story as told by Stephen King and it's pretty damn delicious.  The more I read in this collection the more I want to read of King in general. 

FAIR EXTENSION:  This is the shortest of the stories, but it's by no means short on substance.  It's an old story about the man who has been dealt a bad hand, and is offered the chance to change his luck - but he has to give someone else the bad luck in return.  Typically this kind of thing turns around and bites the man back in the ass but the interesting thing about this iteration is that it seems more like an exercise in watching a man enjoy the torment he puts upon someone that he genuinely disliked and thought got a life that they didn't deserve.  Almost similar to Breaking Bad in which we watch a man go from hero to villain.  Like the other two I imagine that you could get an interesting film (probably a short) out of this one.  A nice brisk read.

A GOOD MARRIAGE:  This was a great story to finish off the collection.  It's essentially about the idea of - how well can you know someone?  A woman in a happy marriage of twenty-seven years discovers a very dark secret about her husband and she has to decide what to do about that news… Like all the rest of the stories in this collection it's the story of an ordinary person thrown into an extraordinary situation.  All of these stories have made me step back and wonder, well what the hell would I do in that situation?  I won't say which, but I think I'm half and half for which ones I'd be similar to and which ones I'd make the opposite choice.

I can't say that I have a favourite of these four excellent stories.  1922 stands out, but it could be because it was the first and it surprised me.  It's fair to say that any of these could have had that effect had they been the first in the book.  This collection is absolutely a page turner and it really makes me want to read more King once I get through the massive pile of books from the library that are threatening to swallow me whole.  If you're a fan of King you've probably already read this, if you're not then maybe you should consider giving it a shot (so long as you don't mind harsh and somewhat brutal tales - it's not called Full Dark, No Stars for nothing).  I say without exaggeration, this was a pretty excellent work, and each of its stories would make an excellent film...

Better Living Through Plastic Explosives

I have a bizarre relationship with short fiction.  I love it in that it's, well, short.  I love that I can take my time with the book as a whole because I only need to concentrate in small clumps.  That sounds terrible, but with two small children and a busy personal and professional slate, that kind of thing appeals to me.  And with that I've also got a rather large stack of books begging me to read them - many on loan from the library (I swear I'm just now learning how to manage my 'holds' so I don't get a dozen books at a time).  So when a book doesn't grab me within the first chunk of pages, I move on to the next book and don't give it a second thought - life's just too damn short to force yourself to read something.  When it comes to short fiction I'll at least try to read each story in the connection and only skip when I'm just not feeling it at all.  Which brings me to this book of topic. 
I think that Gartner can turn one hell of a phrase, she's a strong writer, great visuals and the usual technical praise.  If I'm honest though, in the entire collection there were only two stories that really grabbed me FLOATING LIKE A GOAT, and SUMMER OF THE FLESH EATER - the later I enjoyed so much I read it several times and I can't help but think that there's a film in there.  It's about a man who moves onto a street filled with men that are more concerned about what rub to put on their piece of meat than how to kill the animal that it came from, and he's more of the killing the animal kind.  It's a fun and smart story that really plays on man's feelings with how the world has changed and so we've changed with it.  Floating Like a Goat is written as a letter from a parent to a teacher condemning for giving their daughter a "does not meet expectations" mark on her report card when, really, the whole point of art is to not meet expectations.  It's a really cute and clever piece.
For me the rest of the book was just fine, but these two pieces were particularly strong.  If you like short fiction (Canadian at that!) then it might just be up your aisle.  It was a finalist for the Giller Prize last year as well.

Walks With Men

It's pretty random how I decide to read a book.  Sometimes it's recommended or loaned, but by and large it's because I saw it on a list somewhere and decided to throw it on my library list.  Most often I'm wonderfully surprised (books usually end up on lists for a reason, right?)  But I can't recall how this book got on my list, nor anyone else's… To be fair it's by no means terrible.  The writing itself flows quite nicely, and luckily it's more a novella than anything else, clocking in just around a hundred pages or so, but it's a story that I would classify under "first world problems".  It's about a lazy writer who is uninspired and two relationships she has with men who couldn't be more different.  If that doesn't get you super excited I'm not surprised.  It flows along, has some interesting thoughts, but that's about it.  And even at it's short length I find it hard to recommend.  The author has a slew of books, so I assume that she has a following of some kind, but I found this pretty uneventful and unnecessary.  I can't say that I myself write anything that's life-changing or vastly important, but I was hard pressed to even find a story within these pages.  Felt more like a random selection of scenes cut out of the life of someone who wasn't all that interesting to begin with. 

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

I couldn't help but use the above photo to represent this book because it's exactly how I felt about it.  Oh how I loved the beginning of this book.  It starts out as the story of a twenty-something who ends up having to raise his young brother after both their parents die within weeks of one another.  A great premise - one that I'll borrow thank you very much - and the first hundred or so pages are really quite wonderful.  But then as the book moves along it starts to become a lot more about Eggers and his desire to start his own magazine and how that will work, he tries to get on The Real World San Francisco, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I don't care about because what I really truly cared about in this book was the story of the family, and so whenever that was absent, so was I.  There's a lot of really fun self-referential stuff going on in the style of the book, but my problem is that as he's mocking himself for being a tad pretentious, he comes off as absolutely pretentious in such a bizarre way.  I absolutely loved the first half of this book and absolutely had to force myself to continue through-out it's second half.  Don't get me wrong, Eggers is a talented writer, he's able to keep you going and the man knows how to turn a phrase, but this book lacks focus and it's poorer for it, which is a shame since it's first half shows such promise.  It's a hard one for me to recommend to be honest, but I wouldn't tell you not to read it should you be interested.  How's that for being slightly passive-aggressive?

The Book of Lost Things

I bought this book years ago, the cover drew me in and I think I skimmed the first chapter, and so I picked it up on a complete whim, and now that I'm on my mission to read all the books I've accumulated over the years, I've finally got to it!
So I should start by saying that it's pretty damn rare that a book gets me emotional at all, it's even rarer that it makes me cry, and not only did this book do that - but it did it on page six, on the subway.  Congrats John Connolly, that was no easy feat.
It doesn't hurt that the opening pages are discussing a teenage boy going through the process of watching his mother die to disease, which is a story I know all too well myself, but still the way that it's written is just pure beauty.  I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the author has a similar background in how he just nailed the honest emotions and thoughts of it.  It's truly amazing. 
On the surface this is the story of an angry teenager who ends up in a fantasy world and needs to find his way home, but underneath it's a book about a child becoming a man, and dealing with life and death and the feelings that come with it.  It is a powerful damn book, but it's also wonderfully entertaining.  The fantasy world is a hodge-podge of all the fairy tale characters that we know and love, but re-imagined in a way that so fits with the tone and style of this book.  It's not really a children's story at all, it's barely a teenager's story, although they would enjoy it.  It's a rare treasure and a treat and I highly recommend it.  The paperback version also comes with over a hundred pages of appendices explaining the research he did, and the back story to the fairy tales he used - pretty interesting stuff. 
If you love fantasy, you'll love this, and if you hate fantasy but love great coming of age stories, I don't think the fantasy stuff will bother you one bit.  It's a great read.

A Lion Among Men: Volume Three in the Wicked Years

I'm a big nerd when it comes to taking known stories and playing with them.  I loved both the musical Wicked as well as the book that it was based on.  The way the story worked within the confines of the original was clever and intelligent.  Based on his other books this seemed to be Maguire's thing to do these twisted fairy tales.  I think I read somewhere that he never originally intended to create an Oz series himself, but that Wicked was the only book he thought he'd write.  Now there's a forth (which I plan to read soon), but it doesn't come as a shock that he never planned for this series...
Here's the thing... I don't think Maguire is as good of a writer as he is an idea's man.  He's got some really clever and smart stuff going on, but with the exception of a few portions of this book I found myself really just wanting him to get to the point.  The man goes on a lot of tangents, and some of then interesting, but some of them just feel like page filler.  The only really gripping parts of this book are when he's dealing with characters that have come before - the Lion's story itself, while good and heartbreaking in spots, just feels a bit 'meh' as a whole.  I think the character and how he's built him is interesting but the way it's told just has such little energy. 
If you loved the first two books in the series (I only liked the second) then you're probably going to (or already have) read this.  If you're not sure, I suggest starting with Wicked and going from there.  This is by no means essential reading, but you might like it anyway.  Not exactly a high recommend, but a moderate one.

Earth (the Book)

This came out sometime last year and I meant to snag it then, but as luck would have it they were giving away free copies of it at the comedy awards, so I grabbed one there!  On a laugh-per-page count this book ranks pretty damn high in being one of the funniest things I've ever read.  Written as a guide to our planet for alien visitors to find after we destroy our race, it's a pretty nasty look at ourselves as a race and tackles pretty much every subject associated with us.  I was tempted to throw some of the better comments in my review here, but they often rely so heavily with the photos associated with them.  If you're a fan of Jon Stewart and his people this is absolutely a must-own, or if you just like to take a cynical look at our species it's hard to go wrong with this.  A perfect coffee table book and a great gift.  I would pay for this had I not gotten it for free!!! 

I Found This Funny

Although Apatow's name is slathered all over the cover, I think it's mostly just clever marketing - I'm not sure how one "edits" a collection... outside of selection... regardless the proceeds for this book go to a good 'cause and not his wallet, so it's all well and good! 
I have a love and hate relationship with short fiction.  When it's good it's absolutely phenomenal, but I'm also a person who likes to be told a story, and there are many a short fiction writer who just likes to play around with tangential material in short fiction, and I find myself skimming that stuff.  This collection was a little from column A and a little from column B in that regard.  I won't go into details on them, but below are the ones that really stood out for me in the collection:

Judd Apatow - How I Got Kicked Out of High School: a Freaks and Geeks Diary

Raymond Carver - Elephant

Dave Eggers - Your Mother and I

Paul Feig - And Now a Word from the Booth

Jonathon Franzen - Two Ponies

Ian Frazier - Coyote v. Acme

Jack Handey - My First Day in Hell

Simon Rich - Six Selected Pieces

Rodney Rothman - Vivian

Paul Simms - For Immediate Release

Robert Smigel - & Conan O'Brien - Lockwell: a TV Pilot

Jon Stewart - Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Sitcom

The collection is a nice mix bag of different styles as well.  In addition to the above there are some pretty fantastic cartoons in there as well.

If you like to laugh, or read intelligent funny writing, I'm sure that there's something in here for you.

What Alice Forgot

In all the lead up to my film being released I completely forgot to write about this until I saw a note on my desk that was to serve as a reminder.  I saw this book randomly when were were in P.E.I. this summer and the premise intrigued me.  It's about a woman who gets a concussion and loses ten years of her life's memories.  The last thing she remembers is being pregnant with her first child and happily married to the man of her dreams, and then all of a sudden she's forty with three children, and moments away from finalizing the divorce from said man-of-her-dreams.  And the good goes about her filling in those blanks.  There's a lot of charm to it - it's being adapted into a film, and I think that's actually the better medium for this story.  I did enjoy the book, but it had these two other narrative bits which included her sister's letters to her shrink, and a great aunt's (I think) letters to an old lover.  Neither needed to be in the book.  The sister's helps out the narrative a bit in the beginning but very quickly just becomes filler.
The writing is good, even if it does feel like tangent after tangent in several sections of the book.  One review I read for it said that it was the perfect beach book, and perhaps that's the aim for this, in which case, I agree.  That being said, it's completely charming and it's no surprise that this book has become popular.  It's good, not great, but it's worth the read if you're even remotely curious.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I bought this book for my mother-in-law when it first came out.  The premise really grabbed me and I thought she'd dig it.  When she finished I borrowed it and it's say on my shelf ever since.  The film came out, which I've seen (which I'll probably revisit this week), and of course having Rachel McAdams in it assures that I'll watch it at some point. 
For those who don't know the story, this is about a man who time travels without control of when or to where, and so this is a love story about he and his wife at different points in their lives.  Sometimes they are both in the present.  Sometimes she's 6 and he's 43.  Sometimes he's 28 and she's 20.  It's a very charming premise.
Now, first off, I did enjoy this for the most part - there is a lot to like beyond just the clever concept.  But since this is my own personal soap box, I think I'm allowed to gripe.  The book is an international best seller - me poking holes in it is not going to hurt it :)  So, with that said, SPOILERS AHEAD.

At 500+ pages this book is at least a hundred pages heavy.  I'm a big fan of keeping things tight and moving, but in novels you don't always get that.  There are numerous sequences wherein you wonder what the point of this is.  Why does it matter.  Early on in the book Henry mentions that there is a cage in the library where he works, and if he gets stuck in there he'll never get out.  And, of course, many years later he does get stuck in it.  But he gets out.  'Causing him to get stuck makes him have to out himself to his co-workers - but there's no consequence to it.  It doesn't make a lick of difference.  The book has a lot of stuff like this.
I think that this book would do well for the religious crowd who believes that your life is mapped out and that there is something else controlling it all.  I'm a big believer in freewill, and so there was a lot of frustrating stuff here.  Henry continues to insist, as he moves through time, that he can't change anything - everything has already happened.  If I'm to a tad cruel, a more ambitious writer would try and challenge both sides of that argument - but not this writer - she just plods along and everything you've been told will happen, happens.  It's like watching a ball slowly deflate.  Not very exciting.  The book starts off extremely well - the first half is great, and then it just starts a slow and steady decline, and I started to get more annoyed and frustrated by these characters, caring for them less and less.  There is a sequence in which Henry wakes up early to watch the Twin Towers on September 11th, because he wants to remember what the world was like before it changed.  I don't know about you, but reading that I just thought that Henry was a complete asshole.  He knows that thousands of people are about to die, and he's done nothing to try and prevent it - it's hard to come back from something like that.
So for me the book was interesting - I give it a soft recommend - the writing is good - but I just think that the story is a bit weak.

Juliet, Naked

I've pretty much enjoyed everything I've read from Mr. Hornby.  As a fellow-writer who attempts to look at the human condition it's hard not to expound upon this man's mad skills in that area.  In High Fidelity he really taped into men, but as he's gone along, and especially here, he is equally skilled in the area of women - phenomenally so.
This book is about passion and art, and how both can be misdirected and confused, misunderstood or over and under-appreciated.  It's about Duncan, the world's largest fan of a, now recluse, rock star Tucker Crowe.  He's got every bootleg, every album, he's spent thousands of hours trying to breakdown the meaning of all his songs, the influences and whatnot - posting them all on his website along with the other "Crowologists".  And his long-suffering girlfriend sits idly by, someone interested herself, but mostly just not sure if there's anything to be done about their relationship.  The rock star's famous album is a break-up album called 'Juliet', and one day an album arrives at Duncan's door, "Juliet, Naked" a never-before-heard bare-bones version of the much-loved album.  Duncan LOVES it.  Annie, his girlfriend HATES it.  And when Duncan writes a glowing review of it online, Annie decides to counter it with her own take - and out of the blue, she's contacted by the reclusive rock star.  And if you want to know the rest, you best pick it up.
There are a lot of lovely and meaningful thoughts about the nature of relationships and how they work, how we think about them - why we sometimes settle, and why we sometimes can't.  I'm behind on this one so I'm sure that all big Hornby fans have already discovered it, but if you're new to Nick Hornby, or behind like me, there is a good chance that you'll find something in this to love as well.
Juliet, Naked: a novel