Beautiful Disaster (Jamie McGuire)

I received a text message one day from my friend and all it said was, "You need to read Beautiful Disaster ASAP."  It took a couple months for the library to order the book once I requested it, but I have now successfully received and read the book!

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire is focused around one main character, Abby (aka Pigeon).  She has moved away to school with her best friend, America.  Through America, Abby is introduced to Travis, a bad boy that she can't quite stay away from.  The book follows their year together as they try to figure out what it is about their relationship or friendship that is so complicated.

I'm not sure what to say about this book - I guess I was expecting a lot since it came highly recommended.  I did find myself glued to the book.  On Sunday, I spent the majority of my afternoon and evening reading since I just couldn't put it down. 

I enjoyed how there was so much detail about every event that occurs in the book.  Their relationship is explored, but it's more than some books - there is more of the conversations they have and the thoughts behind their actions.  Instead of just saying that they went out for dinner, there is lots of description about what happens while they are out.

In terms of writing, I wouldn't say that it's a literary masterpiece.  You could often predict what would happen in the book (or maybe it was just me wishing that what I wanted to happen would actually happen) and there isn't much thinking behind what you're reading. 

I would classify it as an easy to read, young adult fiction book.  It definitely wouldn't be a book for everybody, but this week, when I have had so much going on, I found it was a great distraction and was just what I needed.

If you enjoyed Twilight-type books, you will likely enjoy this one.  (Plus, judge the book by the cover - that's an amazing image, right?)

One Day (David Nicholls)

I loved "One Day" by David Nicholls.  I was actually a little sad when I finished it because I just wanted it to keep going.

This book is the beautiful story of Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley.  Each chapter in the book happens on July 15th of a different year.  The book explores how the friendship and relationship between Dexter and Emma has changed and evolved each year from 1988 to 2007. 

"How might she say that?  She couldn't of course.  Faint-hearted as usual, she had left it too late.  In the future, I'll be braver, she told herself.  In the future, I will always speak my mind, eloquently, passionately." (p. 429)

Emma and Dexter met each other at college, but only really started to become friends when they graduate.  They're faced with the challenging question of whether they should keep in touch or pretend that it never happened...  This novel really touches on the importance of timing, persistance, and following your heart.  What happens to a friendship when one person feels more than another?  What happens to a friendship when other relationships become involved?  What happens when you are just in different places emotionally?

"'Live each day as if it's your last', that was the conventional advice, but really, who had the energy for that?  What if it rained or you felt a bit glandy?  It just wasn't practical. Better by far to simply try and be good and courageous and bold and to make a difference.  Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you.  Go out there with your passion and your electric typewriter and work hard at... something.  Change lives through art maybe.  Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well.  Experience new things.  Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance."  (p. 433)

I loved this book because I really think it speaks to the reality of so many readers.  In the movies, there are so many romances where people are just "meant to be together."  In real life, it's sometimes hard to know with some friendships and relationships whether you should carry on or let it go.  Whether you should remain friends or try for something more.  Whether you should take a break and see what happens or take a break and never speak again.  Relationships are complicated and this book stresses the importance of timing and speaking what's on your mind. 

I'm sure we can all think back to past relationships and remember a time when you maybe should have said more than you did or taken a risk for something.  Or when you look back now and wonder why you waited so long to start something or end something.  You can relate to the characters this book.

I thought David Nicholls' writing did a wonderful job showing the inner thoughts and conflict of the characters.  As a reader, you sometimes felt like you knew a lot more about the characters than they knew about themselves. 

I would definitely recommend this novel.  It may be more of a girly book, but the issues are ones that any reader could relate to. 

The movie "One Day" starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess is already available to own on DVD - I am reading this book a bit late, based on the movie release date. And now, honestly, I am just about to start watching the movie.  (So that I can relive the magic of the book one more time...)

Girls in Trucks (Katie Crouch)

I'm not exactly sure why I decided to read Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch.  The cover looked nice (there I go, judging a book by its cover again!) and it seemed like a good summer read.  However, we have been lacking "summer weather" here in Northern Ontario, so I didn't have very many beautiful days to sit outside and read.

The book is about a girl named Sarah Walters, who is born into a "debutante society" called the Camellias.  (For those of you who don't know much about debutantes, don't worry.  All I know about debutantes I learned from Gilmore Girls.  And there wasn't even much about debutantes in Gilmore Girls, so I basically knew nothing.)  Basically, Sarah was brought up in this society where girls were taught to be ladies and generations of rules are passed down in order to help prepare the girls for life with a good husband.  Sarah is a good girl who does not spend her whole life making good choices. 

I wish I were the graceful sort.  I was trained to be. "Never chase men or buses," my mother told me.  "Another one will always come along."  Still, I always run after the subway, and when men go, I follow."  (p. 125, Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch)

Each chapter throughout the book gives you a sneak peak into her life at a certain time.  Chapter one starts out when she is a young, elementary school student and the final chapter shows you her life at the age of thirty-five.  I found that because this was how the book was written, despite getting to look into what her life is like, there are a few missing pieces.  Different chapters also deal with different friends or family, so I was left feeling like I didn't really know how everyone's story had turned out... But I guess that could also be what makes a book a good one - I can pick my own endings for some of the characters.

The main themes were love, loss, family and friendship.  Coming from Sarah's point of view, you can see how she changes and remains the same over the years.  It showed the evolution of different relationships and friendships in her life.  They were the kind of events that readers could relate to. 

There were many quotable quotes throughout the book, one of my favourite being:

"Sometimes, what we all need is for the plain, good-hearted person to win."

I enjoyed the book.  It shouldn't have taken me as long to read it as it did - It has just been a busy enough summer (plus, I always feel more like reading when I can go sit outside and the weather has definitely not been cooperating this month).  The book was an easy-to-read, good summer book.  I would read other Katie Crouch books in the future.

Willing Spirits (Phyllis Schieber)

I picked up Willing Spirits by Phyllis Schieber when I saw it for sale in the Bargain Books section at Chapters.  I'd never really heard of Schieber, but Jodi Picoult gave her words of praise on the front cover, so I decided to try it. 

The book was about the friendship between two teachers, Jane and Gwen.  Jane discovers her husband with another woman, so Jane goes to her longtime friend, Gwen, for help.  Gwen's husband left her and now she is romantically involved with a married man. 

I've been thinking about my blog lately, thinking that I've never really given a book a "bad" review.  I'm the kind of person who, even though Phyllis Schieber will likely never read this, I will feel bad if I give it a bad review.

I will say that not much happened in the book.  You get snapshots into the lives of Gwen and Jane, but the story focuses mainly on relationships and friendships, with very little other plot.  I went quite a few nights there without opening the book before bed, showing that I really wasn't completely into this book.  I will also add that maybe I am too young to fully appreciate the friendship that is described in the novel. 

I may have just chosen the wrong Phyllis Schieber novel to try - she does have a few other novels that look promising.  This novel probably won't be on my list of recommendations.  (Sorry, y'all...)

Nights of Rain and Stars (Maeve Binchy)

I've made reference to Nights of Rain and Stars in a past post, so I thought it was about time to write a description and brief review of this novel by Maeve Binchy. 

Four strangers from different countries end up in a Greek village.  They have all ended up here, trying to escape from the realities of their own lives.  Tragedy strikes the town and the stories of these four individuals begin to intertwine.  Through the experiences, tales, and advice from some older and wiser individuals in Aghia Anna, the four strangers begin to face their problems and find solutions to the questions they have been asking themselves. 

I enjoyed this book... It took me a while to get into, but once I got to know the characters, I really started to feel for them and started to create the endings that I wanted to happen.  (Isn't that one of the things that happens when you're reading?  I often think I have the perfect ending, but sometimes what I want to happen isn't what happens in the end...)

Maeve Binchy has a long list of novels, and I will definitely keep her on my "to read" Reading List.

A Wedding in December (Anita Shreve)

It seemed fitting to read this book since it is December and all.  I recently finished my first Anita Shreve book, so I decided to give this one a try too!

A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve takes place throughout one weekend.  Seven high school friends (and a few of their life partners) are reunited when Bridget and Bill, high school sweethearts, get married after being apart for nearly two decades.  During this weekend, both good and bad memories are brought up.  All the characters seem to leave their reunion a different person than when they arrived. 

"A twenty-two-year marriage is a long story," Nora said. "It's... it's a continuum with moments of drama, periods of stupefying boredom.  passages of tremendous hope.  Passages of resignation.  One can never tell the story of a marriage.  There's no narrative that encompasses it.  Even a daily diary wouldn't tell you what you wanted to know.  Who thought what when.  Who had what dreams.  At the very least, a marriage is two intersecting stories, one of which we will never know."  (A Wedding in December, Anita Shreve, p. 151)

Meet the characters:
Nora owns the inn where the wedding is taking place.  She's a widow in this novel and has a past with Harrison.  Harrison is a publisher who is living in Toronto with his wife and two children.  He's been keeping a secret since his days at Kidd (their school).  Agnes is a writer and a teacher at her former high school, Kidd.  She's always been known as the "single one".  Bridget and Bill are the ones getting married after being apart for two decades.  Rob and Josh are both musicians.  Jerry and Julie have both have done very well for themselves since high school. 

"I just couldn't stand having you all leave after this weekend [...] and not know this about me.  That I have had a life.  It's a different life than most.  A life dispensed in moments.  But they were transcendent moments, never dull, intensely felt, full of joy.  How many of you can say that?  I have had riches.  I have had my share."  (A Wedding in December, Anita Shreve, p. 262)

This book was good.  It was an easy read, and you often wanted to know what would happen next in this busy weekend.  I liked that in different parts of the book, the narration shifted to different characters.  In one chapter, you heard about the wedding from three different points of view.  It gave you the opportunity to know what the characters were thinking about as they were about to reunite with their long lost friends.  There were lots of little secrets that were brought up at the reunion, things that either happened in high school or that had happened since.  In this way, the book wasn't entirely predictable.  I also liked how the reader is left with the ability to decide how some of the story lines will end. 

"If Harrison had learned anything about private lives, it was that anyone looking in from the outside could never know the reality."  (A Wedding in December, Anita Shreve, p. 151)

When reading some books like this, though, I do sometimes think that it's unlikely for these events to happen.  Who goes to a reunion weekend twenty years after high school and has this much drama occur?  Despite this thought, it was a good read. It makes you think of what your reunion with your best high school friends would look like, and it makes you wonder (at my age, anyway) where you will be in twenty years.

"The things that don't happen to us that we'll never know didn't happen to us," Harrison said.
"The nonstories."
"The extra minute to find the briefcase that makes you late to the spot where a tract trailer mauled another car instead of yours."  Harrison took a bite of buttery muffin and thought about his next cholesterol test.
"The woman you didn't meet because she couldn't get a taxi to the party you had to leave early from," Bill added.  "All of life is a series of nonstories if you look at it that way."  (A Wedding in December, Anita Shreve, p. 207-208)

(If you're expecting something winter-y and Christmas-y, this is not it!  It only takes place in December.)