Just a couple books to share with you this week!
Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover if Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, or Why Pie is Not the Answer by Jen Lancaster - I was approxomately halfway through this book when I texted my friend Mo and asked her if she read it. (Note: Mo lives in Chicago). She hadn't but she quickly downloaded the sampler and read the first chapter. That one chapter was enough for her to discover that Jen Lancaster also lives in Chicago -- and that one chapter was enough for the two of us to decide that, whenver I make it back to the Windy City, we might just have to stalk Jen Lancaster. I LOVED THIS BOOK! Oh my goodness. I loved it, loved it, loved it. Parts of it were laugh out loud funny. It reads almost like reading someone's blog and the absolute only thing I can say I wasn't crazy about was that it just starts. There's not much back story (i.e. this is my husband, Fletch, we met at blah, blah, blah). This isn't a real complaint which should just further prove how much I adore this book. Let me tell ya real quick what I really appreciate about it: it's written by a Big Girl. And she is legitimately a Big Girl. This is not someone who wants to slit her wrists over being a size 12. Very early in the book she states that she's a size 24. She tries several different diets before she hits her stride and finds what works for her best. If you have ever struggled with your weight, this is a must-read. Please. Just.read.it.
(And Jen Lancaster? If you ever Google your name and find this review on page 238402289 of the searches, drop me an email. Let's have pizza with my friend Mo the next time I'm in Chee-ca-go).
Summer Island by Kristin Hannah - The only other Kristin Hannah book I've read is Distant Shores and I really enjoyed it. This one? Notsomuch. It's almost as though the author was rushing to finish the book and, therefore, doesn't provide a lot of depth. It's the story of a mother who abandons her family when her daughters are teenagers, becomes a celebrity based on promoting family values, and then has a very public fall from grace. The book focuses on her relationship with her younger daughter. Neither of the main characters are all that likeable, everything - everything - in the whole book is predictable, and the way conflict is resolved is very unrealistic. Honestly, I felt like I just wasted my time by reading this one. Such a disappointment.
Right now I'm reading a Jane Green book. After that one? I Happy Birthday'd to me and downloaded the Bloggess' book the other day. I can't WAIT to read it!
