Book Binging

Hey there!

I just wanted to give you a quick review on the two latest books that I have devoured on my bus rides to and from work:

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt


This book was one of the strangest books that I have read. It is first and foremost a memoir - which I find very tragic. There was no break to tell when people were talking - no quotation marks at all - so that took some getting used to - to try and sort out who was talking to whom and when. It was such a sad, sad, sad desperate, lonely book. I read this book because I had heard it was a really good book - and possibly one that some schools were reading. After reading this book, I sure hope no kids read this book! Scandalous and pretty dark through the majority of the book.

Summary from Wikipedia:
Angela's Ashes is a 1996 memoir by the Irish-American author Frank McCourt. The memoir consists of various anecdotes and stories of Frank McCourt's impoverished childhood and early adulthood in Brooklyn, New Yorkand Limerick, Ireland, as well as McCourt's struggles with poverty, his father's drinking issues, and his mother's attempts to keep the family alive. Angela's Ashes was published in 1996 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. A sequel to the book, 'Tis, was published in 1999, and was followed by Teacher Man in 2005.

I actually picked up the sequel, Tis, in Godwill just the other day. So, we'll see how that goes!
This book will go into my Swap Stack, but it was an interesting read.

The second book that I read - completely the other side of the spectrum:
Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger (wrote the Devil Wears Prada and Everyone Worth Knowing)


This book was more of a happy fun time book to read after reading Angela's Ashes. It was much much needed! It was a fun read, really quick, but not too memorable or relateable. 

Summary from Amazon.com:
The bestselling author of The Devil Wears Prada and Everyone Worth Knowing returns with the story of three best friends who vow to change their entire lives...and change them fast.

Emmy is newly single, and not by choice. She was this close to the ring and the baby she's wanted her whole life when her boyfriend left her for his twenty-three-year-old personal trainer -- whose fees are paid by Emmy. With her plans for the perfect white wedding in the trash, Emmy is now ordering takeout for one. Her friends insist an around-the-world sex-fueled adventure will solve all her problems -- could they be right?

Leigh, a young star in the publishing business, is within striking distance of landing her dream job as senior editor and marrying her dream guy. And to top it all off, she has just purchased her dream apartment. Only when Leigh begins to edit the enfant terrible of the literary world, the brilliant and brooding Jesse Chapman, does she start to notice some cracks in her perfect life...

Adriana is the drop-dead-gorgeous daughter of a famous supermodel. She possesses the kind of feminine wiles made only in Brazil, and she never hesitates to use them. But she's about to turn thirty and -- as her mother keeps reminding her -- she won't have her pick of the men forever. Everyone knows beauty is ephemeral and there's always someone younger and prettier right around the corner. Suddenly she's wondering...does Mother know best?

These three very different girls have been best friends for a decade in the greatest city on earth. As they near thirty, they're looking toward their future...but despite all they've earned -- first-class travel, career promotions, invites to all the right parties, and luxuries small and large -- they're not quite sure they like what they see...

One Saturday night at the Waverly Inn, Adriana and Emmy make a pact: within a single year, each will drastically change her life. Leigh watches from the sidelines, not making any promises, but she'll soon discover she has the most to lose. Their friendship is forever, but everything else is on the table. Three best friends. Two resolutions. One year to pull it off.

This one will also hit my Swap Stack - though I own both of the other two books she has written.

I laughed a couple of times through the book, but it was just a quick, fun read. 

Happy Reading!

LD