Book Review: Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult

I have never read a Jodi Picoult book before. I saw My Sister's Keeper in theaters shortly after losing my Big sister to cancer in college. It destroyed me, so I pretty much never wanted to deal with anything Picoult ever again.Then, I had a lot of them donated to my classroom and since I like to read books before I give them out so I can talk to kids about them, I picked up Harvesting the Heart for fun over spring break.

This was Picoult's second novel and it told the story of a creative young woman who falls into love at an early age and finds herself a reluctant mother. Overall, it's very much a coming of age story, but it also delves into women's issues like abortion and young motherhood. I liked how the story flipped between Paige's and Nicholas's perspectives to show the all-around version of the same story.

It was a relatively quick read that I finished it in two days while I was on vacation. I appreciated it for encompassing so much in only 460 pages. From Paige's turmoil in her first love relationship, her subsequent abortion and the story of unyielding love she found with her heart surgeon husband and their son. You saw this character grow up as the novel progressed and in it heal not only herself, her relationship with her mother, but also her father and her parent's own relationship with each other.

The novel was written in 1993, so it was also nice to read a more modern book without all of the complications of cell phones and facebook.

Final score: 4/5 stars
Book Information: Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult with ISBN 0140230270 was originally published by Penguin Books on April 1, 1995.

Coming January 22, 2016

In these last ten years in Boston, Lorelei Winston has achieved everything she ever wanted, and has finally left the past behind. With a fabulous apartment, a well-known fiancé, and a successful art career, the last thing on her mind is a return to her hometown. Then comes the phone call that changes everything. Lorelei's childhood friend, Cole, has killed himself, and his family asks her to return for his funeral. As Lorelei makes her way to New Jersey, Cole begins to appear to her, describing the last decade of his life. Is it all in her mind? Or is it something supernatural-- and perhaps even sinister?

 

The reason why I haven't been posting and why I still owe Disney World an entire post, is this. It comes out in two weeks. I can't tell you how I have wrote, re-wrote, questioned...all of it...so much. The end result may be a little dramatic and my main lady really does go through a lot, but I think it will be appreciated for the chick litty, dark romance that it is. 

 

That said, any book blogs want a review copy? E-mail me if you'd like a copy to review: katherine [at] katherinekb [dot] com  .

Book Review: Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Phil took me to see this in theaters over my Christmas break. I love every minute of it, largely because my girl, Reese was the leading role. I also liked it because it showed a woman's insane journey back to herself following traumatic experiences within her own life. I identified with Cheryl greatly because I too have had periods in my life where I was totally lost and heartbroken.

The book in comparison was much more detailed than what they were able to fit in the two-hour movie. What I appreciated most about the book was Cheryl's honesty even in the grittiest of parts. It made her real and greatly humanized her for me.

Overall, I going in just greatly admired her balls for walking the PCT by herself and then as I read, I admired her even more for writing such a candid memoir about her experience. This is a must read, for sure.

This review refers to the Vintage Books first edition from March 2013 of WILD  by Cheryl Strayed with ISBN 0307476073.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Book Review: Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

I have to admit, I saw the movie about a thousand times before I actually got around to reading the book. I even let my students watch it the last couple days that I was teaching French this year. I loved how the two stories went together and I love seeing Julia and Paul Child in 1950's France, it was great.

I hadn't planned on reading the book until I found it in the dollar store, to be honest. I liked Amy Adams Rom-Com version of the real Julie Powell and I kind of wanted to hold onto that.

Overall, I liked her memoir. It was fun and Julie Powell became more realistic, instead of perky Amy Adams. Julie Powell is harder, more sarcastic and a lot less bubbly and I guess that fits because when her story begins she's married, pushing thirty and beginning to feel the ticking of her biological clock.

Insert many vodka gimlets, cigarettes, meltdowns and full-blown realizations as she works her way through her self-imposed blogging project where she cooked her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

I liked it in that I identified with it. I'm nearly the age she was when she wrote the book, so I guess I get what it is like to realize your 30th birthday is closer than your 20th and that you better start getting on with it before you're stuck in a life you didn't want, in a job you don't like with looming possible infertility problems and the anxiety that you have to figure it all out and soon. 

And so, she creates a project and a blogs about it like we all do and thus Julie & Julia is born.

In the end, I could have done without a lot of the whining and self-absorbed moments, but I guess we do all have them. And if you have a blog you then blog about them. I should probably thank her for making me more self-aware of that.

Score: 3.5 out of 5
Book Information: Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell is available for purchase with ISBN 9780316109697 via Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company. It was originally published in 2005. 

Book Review: I Don't Care About Your Band by Julie Klausner

I read Klausner's book following my breakup from yet another guy claiming musician. I read it solely based on two facts: 1.) my book club had picked it for our April meeting and 2.) because of the slightly long-winded subtitle, "What I Learned From Indie Rockers, Trust Funders, Pornographers, Felons, Faux-Sensitive Hipsters, And Other Guys I've Dated."

I absolutely loved her opening chapter where she compares us to Miss Piggy and these men to Kermit. I found myself laughing to myself as I read. There's is a lot of truth to it. Miss Piggy was awesome and spent a lot of time chasing Kermit, a guy that would never really work to make anything work with her because he was content being with his friends (sans attachment) and working on making his show and it worked as long as Miss Piggy didn't ask for more. But that's the thing when you love someone or even really like someone, eventually you do want more than that. I have spent a large expanse of my dating life going after these guys that have no real sense of obligation, adulthood or anything other then the need they feel to be sitting by the swamp mindlessly strumming their banjo a la Kermit the Frog. 

Klausner really nailed what it is like to be a 20-something trying to navigate the pool of toads in search of the prince. She does it sarcastically and with a great sense of humor as she candidly describes her failed attempts at romance with all sorts of guys that just, well, seemed absolutely clueless. 

What made me want to stop reading her book was when I got to the parts where Klausner seems to have lost her sense of self and overall, her standards for herself. It's one thing to get so wrapped up in someone that you don't really realize how crappy he's treating you until you finally have that moment of clarity, but with a lot of what Klausner writes about, she openly says how there were guys she was with that she didn't even like and often slept with just to prove something. The worst being the guy that used to abuse her that she sleeps with again years later or that one night stand she gets into where she goes home the next morning completely infested with bed bugs. Standards, we need to hold on to those!

Overall, I enjoyed the book despite those sections where I just wanted to grab her and shake her. It was also refreshing to get to the end of the book and not have her end it with a fairy-tale romance of her thirties because that's not how it's always going to happen. Your 30's are not going to be the magical time where it all comes together just like your 20's haven't been either. 

Score: 3 out of 5

Book Information: I Don't Care About Your Band by Julie Klausner is available for purchase on amazon with ISBN 1592405614 from Gotham Publishing. It was reprinted in February 2010.