Book nerd

[coffeesnob318]

This weekend, I finished books 2 and 3 on my 50 books this year plan (yes, I know I'm running a little behind). You'll notice that House of Leaves is not in the countdown yet. I am still reading it. It's taking me way too long to get through it. I'm so out of practice. Here's the lowdown on two of my "take a break from actually thinking" choices:

#2 - The Whitney Chronicles by Judy Baer - this book was funny and fairly real, which is something that is seriously lacking in most Christian fiction. The main character didn't always make the best possible decision, and life didn't end when she made mistakes. She just admitted them, picked up, and went on. That won big points with me. She didn't get bogged down with guilt and self-loathing. This is one of the few pieces of Christian fiction that I've made it through without wanting to tear my hair out, because the underlying message in most is that you should feel this huge burden of guilt anytime you mess up, and that is exactly what we should NOT do. Guilt only produces fear and hopelessness and, instead of changing the behavior that we feel guilty for, actually initiates more of the same behavior because people who believe the lie of guilt start to think, "Well, I suck anyway - what does it really matter what I do?"

Anyway, back to the book. I liked it. I won't go so far as to say that it was well-written (seriously - huge gap in Christian fiction. If a person - me, for example - got it into her head to write a book and write it well, these people would be jumping through hoops to publish it). But it wasn't difficult to get through. There were even laugh-out-loud moments. And it talked about speed dating, an idea which seems to be stalking me. Everywhere I turn, someone is talking about it. gradeafan, you should know that I blame you for this. :)

I give it 6/10. Definitely not for everyone, but on the plus side of mediocre.

#3 -Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella - I wish I had read it sooner, because it's a follow-up to Confessions of a Shopaholic, and I didn't remember all of the names and relationships to which she referred. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I did remember.

Or maybe not. I like Kinsella as an author. She's got pretty good character development, but a lot of this book just seems to rehash the same antics and foibles of the first one. The only difference is that they happen in New York instead of England. This is one of those that I finished just to finish it, not because I was riveted, eyes glued to the page. I didn't really care what happened at the end because it was so predictable.

My opinion - eh. 5/10.

Comments

[nonnierms.livejournal.com]

I can't remember where I put the book I'm currently reading. They told me I'd start to forget simple things the further along in the pregnancy I got but I didn't believe them. But that's okay because I'll forget that they were right within five minutes..........

[coffeesnob.livejournal.com]

Margat said that that was the thing that disturbed her the most, not being able to remember simple things.

[nonnierms.livejournal.com]

Its freaky, especially when you normally have a fairly good memory! My poor husband has had to go looking for so many things (glasses, phone, glass of milk, shoe......) because I can't remember where I left them! I even forgot his phone number this morning and I call it ALL THE TIME.
LOL