Lookalikes 16

At Face Value by Emily Franklin

Shrinking Violet by Danielle Joseph

So I really really like these covers, like a lot! And I was trying to figure out why. And then I remembered......

I painted these in either 9th or 10th grade. If I remember correctly they are based on a portrait of Julia Roberts of one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People Issues. Thankfully I've gotten a bit better at painting since then! Though I haven't painted in several years :(

I like that these covers are similar but basically show what the other cover doesn't. It's like if you moved up the image on At Face Value a bit more you would see Shrinking Violet, well minus the nose.

Thoughts?

UPDATE: Here's another fun one I just found! Love it!

Finding Grace by Alyssa Brugman

UPDATE: 1/24/09 Australian cover for the Adoration of Jenna Fox via Persnickety Snark

Rolling Stone got a makeover!

Got home and saw the newest issue of Rolling Stone in my room. At first, because of the size I assumed it was some sort of election special issue. But no, it's a new format and I LOVE IT!

Rolling Stone has gone from an oversized staple bound, crappy paper magazine to a smaller, perfect bound, really nice feeling paper magazine! I will definitely be carrying Rolling Stone around a lot more with me now. It's so much more portable! They have also added more pages to bulk up each section!

Apparently last summer they produced an issue in this current size and sent it to 3,000 subscribers to see what people thought and people loved it. I definitely have to agree, this is a great move on their part! They even mentioned using a adhesive sticky address label instead of printing onto the  cover itself. I'm a total dork for details!

Any Rolling Stone readers out there? What do you think of the change?

Booking Through Thursday!

Monica suggested this one:
Got this idea from Literary Feline during her recent contest:
“Name a favorite literary couple and tell me why they are a favorite. If you cannot choose just one, that is okay too. Name as many as you like–sometimes narrowing down a list can be extremely difficult and painful. Or maybe that’s just me.”

I definitely can't pick just one so here are a few:

-Ron and Hermione (Harry Potter Series)
-Nick and Norah (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist)
-Cecilia and Robbie (Atonement)
-Holly and Gerry (P.S. I Love You)

I don't know really how to explain why i like these couples so much besides squealing "They are just so cute!" for one reason or another.

Who's your favorite literary couple?

Lookalikes 15

The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King

Swinging Mademoiselles: Groovy French Sounds From the 60s

Swinging Mademoiselles Deux: More Groovy French Pop From the 60s

So this was a totally random find. I was looking in the world music section of Borders seeing if they had a soundtrack I'm trying to track down and I saw this second cd. 

When you see the illustrator in the context of 60s music it does look sort of retro but when you look at it on the book cover it doesn't give that same retro vibe within the context, in my opinion. Definitely interesting.

What do you think?

"Waiting On" Wednesday! 1

The last few weeks I've noticed several people participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday so I thought I would give it a go! "Waiting On" Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine!

College Girl by Patricia Weitz

Product Description from Amazon.com:

College Girl is a vivid portrait of life on a college campus and a poignant look at what happens to a twenty-year-old college senior (and her self-esteem) when she loses her virginity and falls for the wrong guy.

Just as Curtis Sittenfeld’s bestselling Prep drew us into the world of boarding school and its social relationships, College Girl perfectly captures the experience of college, of being a student at a big state university— complete with its jocks and hipsters, frats and sororities, drinking rituals and cafeteria food, its economic, academic, and social pressures—and how it gets funneled into the campus culture of collegiate sex and dating. In particular, College Girl reveals what all this means for a girl inexperienced in sex and romance, dealing with the demons she’s brought from home.

College senior Natalie Bloom is beautiful and ambitious, but also incredibly insecure and painfully uncomfortable with the subject of sex—let alone the act. She’s awkward at developing friendships with girls, but it’s sexual attention from boys that really makes her lose her cool. At age twenty, she’s a virgin—never having had a boyfriend. Avoiding her peers, Natalie hides out most weekends in the library. That is, until she meets Patrick, her fantasy (she thinks) of a cultured, intellectual Prince Charming—and everything changes. But the more time they spend together, the more Patrick brings out her worst insecurities. Natalie loses her virginity before she’s ready, and as their sexual activity escalates, Natalie’s emotional responses become dangerously self-destructive. Ultimately, she must take extreme measures to reclaim her sense of self, her confidence, and her ambition.

An insightful, moving, and achingly self-aware novel that offers the psychological and emotional insight of Judy Blume and Ann Brashares, College Girl will resonate with anyone who remembers the often awkward transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Graduating from college about a year and a half ago I think I'm gravitating towards anything college related because I miss it! This definitely sounds like an interesting study of the character, Natalie.

I can't wait for College Girl to be released December 26th! I think I will get over my strong dislike of hardcovers and buy this one the day it comes out!

Tuesday Thingers!

Today's question: Series. Do you collect any series? Do you read series books? Fantasy? Mystery? Science fiction? Religious? Other genre? Do you use the series feature in LT to help you find new books or figure out what you might be missing from a series?

I heart series! I do collect and or read a lot of series. Because of the state of my TBR pile I have collected a lot I haven't yet read. I definitely use the series feature on Librarything, I think it's just fun to look at! According to it I have 86 series covering 149 books. It has actually clumped together books that I didn't realized were considered series! My series range from fiction to chick lit to young adult to art to comics! I think two of the largest series I have are the Best American Short Stories and Harry Potter and the largest that I don't own is A Series of Unfortunate Events (I still haven't read the last 2-3 books and at this point I think I should just start over!) The feature is also helpful to figure out the order of a series if I'm unsure!

How about you, are you a series person?

My Husband's Sweethearts by Bridget Asher

From the dust jacket:

When Lucy discovered that her charming, cheating husband was dying, she came home, opened up his little black book, and decided she wasn’t going through this alone. After all, Artie’s sweethearts were there for the good times—is it fair that Lucy should have to manage the hard times herself? In this wise, wickedly funny new novel, Lucy dials up the women in Artie’s black book and invites them for one last visit. The last thing she expects is that any will actually show up.

But one by one, they do show up: The one who hates him. The one who owes her life to him. The one he turned into a lesbian, and the one he taught to dance. And among them is a visitor with the strangest story of all: the young man who may or may not be Artie’s long-lost son.

For Lucy, the jaw-dropping procession of women is an education in the man she can’t forgive and couldn’t leave. And as the women find themselves sharing secrets and sharing tears, they start to discover kindred spirits—and even something that’s a lot like family. But Lucy knows one thing for certain: the biggest surprises are yet to come….

Full of heart, Bridget Asher’s unforgettable novel is about mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and the deep friendships between women. It’s about sweet liars and tenderhearted cheaters—about loving those we love for reasons we can’t always fully rationalize, and about the sort of forgiveness that can change someone’s entire life in the most unexpected and extraordinary ways.

This was a bittersweet story. Humorous yet sad. I think my favorite character was that of Artie's maybe son, John Bessom. I liked his interactions with Lucy, where they talked about Artie. As for the rest of the characters I wish I had gotten to know them better, I didn't feel like I knew that much about most of them besides one of the sweethearts, Elspa. Since the story is told from Lucy's perspective I found myself actually forgetting her name. I would have liked to see more interactions between Lucy and Artie and found out a little more about Artie. You could definitely sense his love for Lucy through the little notes he sent her while she was away on business/avoiding him. I just wanted to see it a bit more when they actually came face to face.

I really liked the idea of a revolving door of sweethearts and really liked the part where several of them were described including a mother and daughter! Again, would have loved to hear about more of them! I think it would have added to the humor of the book. I also liked the idea of women that could potentially be at each other's throats developing a friendship and helping each other grow and prepare for losing Artie.

I definitely knew how the book was going to end but that's the ending I was really hoping for so it was pretty darn satisfying! I hate endings that set you up and then go into a totally different direction! This was a sweet, rather light read!

3/5 Stars
Review copy provided by publisher

I Lied Or I Actually Got A Few More Books Then I Let Onto

So you know how I go to the library book sale every week? Well this week I decided to finally pick up one of their 20 books for 2 dollars grab bags. Those things haunt me every week when I go. I figured I'd just donate or put on bookmooch whatever I didn't want, which was most of it. I just love anything having to do with grab bags! So the one I got was a "Teen Girl"bag. 

The most interesting thing inside of it was one of the books from Meg Cabot's Mediator series which I know nothing about really. I got Reunion, the third book in the series. So what I'm wondering is if anyone has read any of the books in this series? And if so, are they worth hunting down the first two or worth checking out from the library? I can't start with book 3 so I'm just trying to figure out how to go about getting the first two.

I didn't include any of this into my This Week In Books post because I didn't actually get a chance to really look at the books til last night! I think I'm also going to hold onto two Nancy Drew books and a book called Bird by Angela Johnson.

Thoughts on Meg Cabot's Mediator Series or grab bags in general? 

Sneak Peek: Bible Illuminated The New Testament

I have been given probably the most exciting opportunity, related to my blog, to review the upcoming book, Bible Illuminated. The book isn't actually being released until October 28th. But I've been allowed a sneak peek of the book for now, with a full review to come later on.

Having a background in design and photography this book is very very interesting to me. Instantly it reminds me of some of my favorite books including Matthew Barney's The Cremaster Cycle and Richard Avedon's Photographs 1947-1977. Books that give me the chills!

Bible Illuminated juxtaposes powerful editorial and fashion images with the text of the New Testament bringing it into a contemporary setting. The book is laid out like a magazine with different pieces of the text called out, highlighted, and used as captions. 

I'm going to be upfront, I've never read the Bible but was instantly attracted to this approach. I think that this book can be a great tool to get people interested in reading the Bible, even if just to educate themselves to see what the Bible is all about, it's very easily approachable. This is a fantastic concept. 

To put that better, this is the Illuminated World Mission (straight from their website):

Illuminated World seeks to introduce today’s audience to a revolutionary contemporary Bible, one that encourages dialogue and is culturally relevant, accessible and easily digestible for any reader regardless of religious, economic, racial or social background.

We have no religious agenda nor do we support a specific faith. Bible Illuminated is intended to be a unique vehicle for reacquainting today’s reader with one of the most important historical, and cultural texts ever written.

Bible Illuminated: The New Testament will be released October 28th.

You can visit the Bible Illuminated website here. The Old Testament will be released in 2009. The New and Old Testament were originally released in 2007 in Sweden. 

Look for my full review in the coming weeks.

This Week In Books Or *SHAME* Now I've Really Done It!

Er... yeah, bought some books as you can see!

Monday: nothing

Tuesday: According to my sister I didn't get anything and then hiding on the stairs I found two books from bookmooch! How It's Done and Pug Hill!

Wednesday: Holidays on Ice and The Smart One and the Pretty One came in the mail. Thanks Miriam!

Thursday: Popped over to the library and hit the jackpot! They had a whole cart of "new" paperbacks. No idea where they came from but there was some good stuff! I rode home on the overflowing 15+ extra people bus with two bags of books!

I got (gonna do a list!):

Shopaholic Ties the Knot

All About Vee

On Beauty

English As A Second Language

Going Home

The Hindi Bindi Club

If You Could See Me Now

The Autobiography of Vivian

Saturday

Friday: nothing

Saturday: Before I hit the jackpot at the library me and my sister had decided to go to two of our favorite used bookstores this weekend. We went anyways, i had coupons!

At Half Price Books I picked up:

Lipstick Jihad

Inner Circle

Flash Fiction Forward

Secrets of My Hollywood Life: On Location

The Truth About Forever

The Cinderella Pact

The Late Bloomer's Revolution

Sheer Abandon

Andy Warhol: Fashion

(most of these were under 4 dollars, how do you say no!)

At the other used bookstore:

Family Sold Separately

This Year's Model

Tales From the Teachers' Lounge

Microthrills

So that was embarrassing... what did you get/buy/find this week?

Lookalikes 14

Shelter Me by Alex McAulay

Midnighters #2 Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld

Thanks goes to Khyrinthia for pointing this lookalikes out! This is another great example, like this one, of using the same image to create completely different moods.

My vote goes about 1,000 % to the first cover, Shelter Me. How about you?

And oh, P.S. anyone super interested in lookalikes might want to click here.

Lookalikes 13

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Ivy by Julie Hearn

Thanks to both Amee and Khyrinthia for pointing this lookalike out!

Isn't it funny how different an image can look when it's flipped? I think I like the first one better, probably because I saw that one first!

Thanks to Steph for pointing out that the above Ivy cover is probably an import cover. This is the one being used in the US. Thanks Steph!

She sort of looks like the girl that played Claire on Six Feet Under, no?

UPDATE: 2/28/09 Thanks to Deborah for pointing out the below covers! The first one is exactly the same as the above! And I definitely think the second one is the same girl. Not so sure about the last two, what do you think?

Booking Through Thursday!

Okay–here was an interesting article by Christopher Schoppa in the Washington Post.

Avid readers know all too well how easy it is to acquire books — it’s the letting go that’s the difficult part. … During the past 20 years, in which books have played a significant role in both my personal and professional lives, I’ve certainly had my fair share of them (and some might say several others’ shares) in my library. Many were read and saved for posterity, others eventually, but still reluctantly, sent back out into the world.

But there is also a category of titles that I’ve clung to for years, as they survived numerous purges, frequent library donations and countless changes of residence. I’ve yet to read them, but am absolutely certain I will. And should. When, I’m not sure, as I’m constantly distracted by the recent, just published and soon to be published works.

So, the question is his: “What tomes are waiting patiently on your shelves?"

Well.... i have a pretty big to be read pile lately. It's grown to 350+ *SHAME*. There are a lot of things that I've had than more than a few years including.... The Best American Short Stories Series and Best American Non-Required Reading Series. I've been collecting them since around 2003. I haven't bought the last 2 since I have barely read any of the other ones I bought! I've been holding onto The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay for several years and really look forward to reading it. I've had Animal Farm since I was probably 9 years old I think, it was a gift.

There is a lot more where that came from....what's one book you have been hanging onto for years that's still to be read?

Silliness or This is for J. Kaye!

J. Kaye was talking about Simpsonize Me today so I thought I would dig up some avatars I've made of myself! I mean who doesn't want to see me as an M&M!

I think I made my Simpson a different way, I remember trying to Simpsonize myself but didn't have a photo that worked so I used a different Simpson maker else. I think it was related to the movie release!

Ok, who else has got some silliness to share!

Tuesday Thingers!

Today's question: Early Reviewers- do you participate? How many books (approximately) have you received through the program? Have you liked them generally? What's your favorite ER book? Do you participate in the discussion group on LT?

I totally participate! I somehow wasn't so obsessed with Librarything at the time that I didn't find out about the program until it's second month. I think this was before I joined any of the Groups on Librarything and literally just used it to catalog my books.

I didn't get any books my first several months and then they started coming in one after another after another. Now I'm back to not receiving anything for 2-3 months. I don't mind at all, the program is so exciting, it's just fun belonging!

I have received 7 books so far and they are (in order, I think):

Gifted-Review

Gossip of the Starlings-Review

Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club-Review

Love Marriage-Review

Loose Girl, which finally just came!-Review

Summer Blowout-Review

American Wife-Review

I've actually also hunted down several other books that I didn't end up getting through the program because I really wanted to read them!

The Early Reviewer's Program is actually what got me to start writing reviews. It also was the first hints of my blog becoming more book related. 

For the most part I've enjoyed the books I've received from the program. I actually didn't really care for my first two but since then they have all been pretty good. It would be hard to pick a favorite so I'll settle on Loose Girl and American Wife.

I totally participate in the discussions. You can find me on the Early Reviewers. Bookmooch, and ARC Junkies boards most frequently!

I Was Finally Convinced...

to join Twitter! Come follow me here! Thanks to Steph and Lenore for the final nudge I needed to actually do it! Who else is on here? Someone yell at me when I forget to update for days!

Loose Girl by Kerry Cohen

From the publishers website:

Kerry Cohen is eleven years old when she recognizes the power of her body in the leer of a grown man. Her parents are recently divorced and it doesn’t take long before their lassitude and Kerry’s desire to stand out—to be memorable in some way—combine to lead her down a path she knows she shouldn’t take. Kerry wanted attention. She wanted love. But not really understanding what love was, not really knowing how to get it, she reached for sex instead.

Loose Girl is Kerry Cohen’s captivating memoir about her descent into promiscuity and how she gradually found her way toward real intimacy. The story of addiction—not just to sex, but to male attention—Loose Girl is also the story of a young girl who came to believe that boys and men could give her life meaning. It didn’t matter who he was. It was their movement that mattered, their being together. And for a while, that was enough.

From the early rush of exploration to the day she learned to quiet the desperation and allow herself to love and be loved, Kerry’s story is never less than riveting. In rich and immediate detail, Loose Girl re-creates what it feels like to be in that desperate moment, when a girl tries to control a boy by handing over her body, when the touch of that boy seems to offer proof of something, but ultimately delivers little more than emptiness.

Kerry Cohen’s journey from that hopeless place to her current confident and fulfilled existence is a cautionary tale and a revelation for girls young and old. The unforgettable memoir of one young woman who desperately wanted to matter, Loose Girl will speak to countless others with its compassion, understanding, and love.

Loose Girl: a memoir of promiscuity was engaging from beginning to end. I can tell I enjoy something when I can read for at least 30 minutes straight without paying attention to anything else (I usually get distracted very easily). This book hooks you and doesn't let go of you until the end. Around the age of 11-12 Kerry discovers the world of boys and how she can capture their attention and hopefully love as well. She basically becomes addicted to boys and eventually sex as well. She reflects it back onto her upbringing, her mom basically leaving her and her sister behind to start her own life and her father that basically let her do whatever she wanted. I actually identified more so with Kerry's sister, Tyler so it was interesting to read about how Kerry didn't understand her sister and her behavior.

Seeing what Kerry has gone through and what she has achieved in her life definitely makes her a role model. People can't be "cured" of their addictions with the snap of their finger. She realizes that she can take it day by day and can still be OK. She has written fiction and also is a practicing psychotherapist.

I do wish the ending/resolution didn't happen so quickly but this is a memoir so she wrote it how it happened. Maybe I would have liked the book to extend a bit further into her life than where it stopped. All and all a very engaging and important memoir.

4/5 stars
ARC provided by LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program

This is another of many great memoirs, what is one of your favorites?

Side note: I tried something a little bit different this time. I used the official summary for the book instead of my own very short and holes filled summary and gave a star rating. I haven't done this before but I thought maybe it would give a bit more completeness to the review. Anyone have thoughts on this? What do you think works best?

Entertainment Weekly: The Photo Issue

I don't think I've talked about one of my favorite magazines, Entertainment Weekly in a long time. Probably since before any of you were reading lol! Well I have several favorite issues, one of them being the photo issue. This is a pretty good one!

There is a Hollywood at Work section featuring Tina Fey on the set of 30 Rock! Another great piece is The Hardest Working Actors in Showbiz, which features all those actors that you remember from this and that but you can never remember their names! It's a great article including Tina Majorino from Napoleon Dynamite among other things, Stephen Tobolowsky who has a whole movie that's him telling stories about his life in the movies, Stephen Toblowsky's Birthday Party and John Slattery from Mad Men. I love watching a show or movie and screaming, usually to myself "Oh that guy!" Another great feature is The Year's Best Outtakes from their photo shoots throughout the year. 

Past issues have included themed photo shoots with actors and other great things. I miss those. I think this issue has gotten slimmer each year but it's definitely still worth checking out!

This is one of my favorite magazines, what's one of yours?

Matrimony Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone that entered my third giveaway!

Random.org has selected Veena!

Congratulations!

I have left you a message on your blog so please email me with your contact information so I can send it onto the author!

Thanks again to everyone that entered and helped promote this giveaway!

A big thank you also goes to author, Joshua Henkin!

This Week In Books Or I Didn't Overdose On Books This Week! *pats self on back*

This was a calmer week in books. Still got some very potentially interesting things!

Monday: Best American Comics 2008 and Let It Snow came (the rest of my Amazon order). Anyone else obsessed with any of the Best American Series books? I also enjoy the Short Stories one and Non-Required Reading one. I've held off on buying the last two editions because of my massive TBR pile. Figured I should read all the others from the series that are sitting on my shelf. I also received from a bookmoocher, Find Your Inner Ugly Betty! Thanks Melissa!

Tuesday: nothing

Wednesday: Received Off The Menu for an upcoming Blog Tour. It will be my first!

Thursday: Weekly Library trip found me Vamps. I really know nothing about this book, series, author. Apparently I cannot leave without buying something. Anyone know anything about it? All I know is teenage girl vampires. In the mail from a bookmoocher came I Love You, Beth Cooper.

Friday: Going Down South arrived from author, Bonnie Glover.

Saturday: Lenore suggested Never Let Me Go on her blog this week. I took a peek inside and immediately snapped it up!

What did you get this week? Is your TBR pile taking over your life? Is your great goal in life to conquer your TBR pile and tell it who's boss? 

I HEART your blog!! Take 2

Thanks also goes to Gabbi of All Five Stars for sharing the love! I love your blog too :D

Booking Through Thursday!

I’ve seen this series of questions floating around the ‘net the last few days, and thought it looked like a good one for us!

What was the last book you bought?
Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman, since than, books I ordered a bit ago have come.

Name a book you have read MORE than once
Ghost World, the graphic novel

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?
Not that i can think of

How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews
I'm first attracted to the cover and then the summary usually, if the summary doesn't get me it goes back on the shelf. If I read a review of a book over and over again from different sources and it seems interesting it usually sticks in the front of my mind.

Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?
Fiction

What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?
Plot over writing

Most loved/memorable character (character/book)
That's a hard one!  Off the top of my head I'll say Harry Potter!

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?
The Wordy Shipmates and My Husband's Sweethearts

What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?
Loose Girl, finished it last night!

Have you ever given up on a book half way in?
Off the top of my head, I gave up on The Bell Jar closer to the end then the half-way point. I remember taking a whole summer to read it and then giving up because it was too depressing. That was sometime in high school!

Lookalikes 12

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

BIBLE ILLUMINATED: The Book: New Testament

These kind of scare me in a good way, I think. The second

one is almost more scary with the eye not looking directly at you, I've actually been looking at it for so long it's starting to abstract before my eyes. You know like when you look at or write the same word several times, it starts to look weird. This is definitely some powerful photography. What do you think?

EDIT: 10/11/08 Check out this alternate cover for Scott Westerfield's Peeps, that Lenore pointed out! Totally the same image!

Peeps Scott Westerfeld

EDIT: 11/2/08 J. Kaye has pointed out this cover that also shares the same image! Props to this designer for pulling out the green of the eye in the author's name!

Dark to Mortal Eyes by Eric Wilson

EDIT: 1/2/08 Here's another one, found by J. Kaye!

The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton

And one found by Julia!

Demon In My View by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Update: 2/1/09 Here's one found by Deborah!

Elizabeth by J. Randy Taraborrelli

UPDATE: 2/18/09 Here's another!

Waiting to Surface by Emily Listfield

Tuesday Thingers!

This week's question: -LibraryThing's Recently Added feature: do you look at it? Do you use it for ideas? Is there something listed there now that looks interesting to you? What have you added to your LT library recently?

I definitely do look at that. I look at my own recently added to make sure I add everything to my This Week In Books Posts. When I run over 17-18 books a week I gotta make sure I get them all! I think it only shows that many.

I also enjoy looking at friends and similar libraries recently added. I often click on the ones that look interesting, usually the ones with cute covers! It's a fun way to learn about new books! I actually see a lot of comics coming through the recently added which I love!

One thing that looks interesting right now is The Burma Chronicles, which our lovely Tuesday Thingers host, Marie recently added! I keep seeing this one around but know nothing about it so I'll probably click it!

The last book I added myself was the short stories collection called Let It Snow by three young adult authors. I also received two other books yesterday but I'll save them for my This Week In Books post at the end of the week :D

How about yourself, do you use this feature?

Arsenic Soup For Lovers by Georgia Z. Post

Arsenic Soup For Lovers: When Chicken Soup Doesn't Work Very Very Very Short Stories for Very Very Very Busy People is a collection of just that, stories that are 2-4 pages long!

These are clever stories always with some sort of twist at the ending. Be it sweet, hilarious or evil! Personally I liked the sweet stories, people confessing their love to each other or role playing spouses. Some of the plotting cheating spouses stories were rather funny too. I always looked forward to the ending of each story and I didn't have to wait very long to get to it, a matter of minutes! I guess my only problem with this collection was in several cases the endings didn't make sense to me, they left me puzzled.

This would have been a great book for my bus rides but I actually read this over the weekend so it didn't happen for me. The subtitle of this book is very true, anyone can make time for a little reading with this book! Over the weekend I watched the movie, Married Life which I think was a great pairing with this book because of the plot of the movie and the plot of several of these stories.

At 62 pages this may have been the shortest book I have ever read. What's the shortest book you have read?

3/5 Stars
Review copy provided by author

GIVEAWAY Matrimony from Author Joshua Henkin!

Matrimony's author Joshua Henkin was kind enough to offer a personally inscribed copy of the newly released paperback version of Matrimony to one lucky person! Isn't the cover beautiful! You can check out my review here.

Did you know Matrimony was a New York Times Notable book? How cool is that and Joshua also has a website where you can check out his blog, download a reading group guide and see if he'll be visiting your city!

Here's how to enter: 

Leave a comment on this post telling me what about this book sounds interesting to you!

For one additional entry, blog about this giveaway and leave the link in the comments here.

This giveaway is open worldwide! 

Please leave your email address (or have an active blogger account/blog that I can contact you via) in your comment so I will be able to contact you if you are the winner. :)

The giveaway will end Saturday October 11th at 11:59 PM Central Time.

Good luck and thank you Joshua!

Matrimony by Joshua Henkin

Julian and Carter meet their freshman year of college in Professor Chesterfield's, Fiction Writing Workshop. Their professor suggests they befriend each other because they are the only two with any talent. And so they do. Second semester they both find girlfriends, first Carter finds Pilar and then Julian finds Mia. Both couples find themselves still together senior year and also living next door to each other. They are uncertain what they want to do with their lives and where they will go.

The book continues on, flashing forward several years at a time to different parts in Julian and Mia's lives. Confessions will be had and changes will be made over the years. To me this is the study of Julian and Mia's relationship, Julian and Carter's friendship and Julian's battle with himself to finish his novel.

I rather liked this book. I like when a book or even a movie follows a character or two through the ups and downs of their life. You get to see them evolve. I was thrown for a loop about halfway through the book, I suspected what happened would happen later on. I was actually very excited to see where the book would go and how it would end.

Similar to American Wife, Matrimony was able to pick up jump to years later in these character's lives several times. They had new troubles and challenges then they previously had but they were still the same person. I love seeing a character from this perspective, you really feel you get to know them and understand them.

I really liked the details in this book, Julian going to Mr. Kang's grocery or talking to students in Caribou Coffee, if you can't tell Julian is my favorite character. Overall, I enjoyed this book, it's a quiet peek at one couple's life.

What's your favorite book that takes you through one or several character's lives?

3.5/5 Stars
Review copy provided by author

This Week In Books Or It Only Gets Worse... Or Better Depending Who You Ask!

Wow... I think I felt better about myself when my weekly average was less than 10! The past two weeks it has been close to twenty! Got some good goodies this week though!

Monday: Hit the motherload today! From Bookmooch I got The Notebook Girls (which I was actually going to buy myself for my birthday but thankfully I found it this way, amazing) and The Adoration of Jenna Fox (which I hear is exceptional). I also got a review copy of North of Beautiful which I cannot wait to read. (Remember the Lookalikes post that features that book a few weeks ago? Since I first posted it several new covers have been added!)

A majority of my birthday Amazon order to myself also arrived today! Teach Me, which I had to get based on Reviewer X's review. I also got The Center of the Universe: Yep, that would be me, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, I Was A Teenage Popsicle, Not Quite What I Was Planning, and In Cod We Trust (which I just so happened to do some work on the dust jacket for SQUEAL!!)

Tuesday: nothing

Wednesday: nothing

Thursday: Wasn't going to go to the library book sale store but then I didn't feel like standing at the bus stop for twenty minutes so I went. I figured there would be nothing since they just had a big sale, but actually they had new stuff! I picked up Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, The Dewey Decimal System of Love (Librarian Chick Lit- heck yes), Mr Maybe and Shoot the Moon (which I've been hearing a lot about on the blogs lately!)

Friday: Broken arrived which I won from Dar's blog Peeking Between the Pages. Thanks Dar!

Saturday: I went to Borders looking for one specific book and if they didn't have it I was fine to leave I told myself, I would not need to buy anything. They didn't have it. But then, I saw it, freaking Bargain Sale! With good stuff! I picked up The Areas of My Expertise, Bright Lights, Big Ass (whoops there going my kid friendly blog rating, at least this won't get me an X rating like the book I bought a few weeks ago that I left out of the post) and Fargo Rock City (always wanted to read a Klosterman book!) In the mail arrived the tiny little book Arsenic Soup For Lovers (can you see it, it's so tiny)

I've been listening the the Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist soundtrack on repeat all afternoon and it is GOOD! 

Well that's my week in books, what was your like?

Sorted Books Project

I've heard a little about the Sorted Books Project this week, what a clever idea! Lenore over at Presenting Lenore created some of her own and wants to see what the rest of us can come up with! This was too good for me to pass up. Here's my contribution! If you decide to do one let Lenore know, she's keeping a link list! I'd like to see it too! On a side note I'm proud to say I've read all of these but 2!

In case this is hard to read click to enlarge but I will also write it out.

Summer Blonde

Have I Got A Guy For You

Meet Mr. Product

Great Expectations

Will You Still Love Me If I Wet The Bed?

Mortified

Not Quite What I Was Planning

Not The End of the World

P.S. I Love You

One of those moments

Do you ever have one of those moments? You're watching a tv show or a movie and someone looks slightly familiar and you think about it for a few seconds or few minutes and then you scream "Oh my gosh I know that person, they are from so and so!" and then you rush over to your computer as soon as you can to confirm it. 

Well I just had one of those moments at Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which by the way was awesome! There are several bands in this movie and the band, Bishop Allen's lead singer looked strangely familiar. And then I figured it out, he's the star of this movie, Mutual Appreciation. Totally random random low budget movie. Anyhow it was a cool movie too. 

It's always really random too. A few weeks ago when I was watching the movie Speed Racer one of the racers looked familiar and then I figured it out. He was one of the stars of the German movie, Run Lola Run. RANDOM! 

Anyway back to Nick and Norah. I loved the movie, just about the sweetest thing ever with a great soundtrack! I was hoping the book would be fresher in my mind since I just read it this past spring but not so much. I did recall a scene or two that I expected to see but never did. Must read book again ASAP.

Did you go see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, will you? Have you had one of those moments?

Lookalikes 11

Thank You For All Things by Sandra Kring

When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson

Aren't these cuties! Thought you guys might like some titles and authors this time, in case they can't be read on the covers. 

I can't help but pick a favorite this time and that is When Will There Be Good News? Better colors and composition in my opinion. In a way the titles are almost similar too, like "things people would say".

Which is your favorite?

EDIT 10/4/08: Found another to go along with these two! Love the colors and curls on this one!

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

Booking Through Thursday!

What, in your opinion, is the best book that you haven’t liked? Mind you, I don’t mean your most-hated book–oh, no. I mean the most accomplished, skilled, well-written, impressive book that you just simply didn’t like.
Like, for movies–I can acknowledge that Citizen Kane is a tour de force and is all sorts of wonderful, cinematically speaking, but . . . I just don’t like it. I find it impressive and quite an accomplishment, but it’s not my cup of tea.
So . . . what book (or books) is your Citizen Kane?

I read this question this morning and thought about it all day. I was going to answer The Lovely Bones but that one I just downright hate and don't think it's a good book whatsoever. So I looked at my LibraryThing ratings and discovered a better answer: A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

I know this is an important book, heck it keeps getting republished and updated. I had to read this for a program in college. Every semester a book was picked and we would discuss it at a colloquium. Big to do! They were a lot of fun but this one (along with Godel's Proof come to think of it) went right over my head. I tried to read this book and learn from it but I'm pretty sure my eyes glazed over and I didn't really read it, just thought I was. I liked the pictures, how horrible is that. I guess I've never been too into science so it wasn't surprising to me that I didn't really like it. But I do recognize that this is an important book.

What book made your eyes glaze over?

Pushing Daisies Season Premiere or SQUEAL Part 2

I hadn't realized just how long it had been since this show was on until I watched the first episode of Season 2 tonight and it all came back to me. Because of the writer's strike Season 1 was only 9 episodes long! Thankfully the new season has started and Season 1 on dvd arrived from amazon this week! I'm crossing my fingers for some good special features! 

Star Lee Pace, is also in the movie I recently mentioned The Fall. Other star, Anna Friel is in this great little gem of a movie, Me Without You. And Kristin Chenoweth is just awesome at everything she does. 

This show is like a mini movie each week! What a great first episode, bees bees bees and a ton of books at the very end! Did you watch tonight?

This Year In Movies: September

I watched 11 movies this months and one tv show season. Looking back this month was full of some great stuff. Frankly it's usually a bunch of so-so stuff. But this month was great!

Cry-Baby- This John Waters movie kept popping up on the Netflix Recommends page so I decided I needed to watch it. It was funny.

The Life Before Her Eyes- This was a really good movie. Beautiful flower imagery, great, moving plot. Made me cry. GOOD MOVIE!

21- This was a fun movie. I picked up the book it was based on, Bringing Down the House. I have a feeling that might be more interesting. I liked the lead guy in Across the Universe much more than in this movie. 

Baby Mama- Funny! The movie has a twist, I think I would have liked it more if it stuck to what we were to assume from the trailer. Great cameo part from Steve Martin. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are so funny together!

Outsourced- This was a sweet movie about an American man that goes to India to train his replacement, his division has been outsourced. There is a lot of culture clashing going on but also understanding as well. Good!

Burn After Reading- Wow was this movie funny!! Did anyone else see this, the whole theatre was just cracking up. Pretty sure the advertising images were based off of Hitchcock's posters designed by Saul Bass, which is awesome!

The Fall- This was another great movie. By the man that directed The Cell. This movie is far less creepy though. A very talented little girl stole the show!

Ghost Town- Funny but not as funny as The Office (UK Original version) or Extras. Ricky Gervais was almost too serious. He has a great laugh and we hardly got to hear it

Speed Racer- Ok. I can see why this didn't do so well. It was just meh. I was surprised I didn't hate it, not really into race cars.

Made of Honor- Funny! I especially liked the very beginning, 20 years ago part. I wish that was more of the movie. 

30 Rock Season 1- Good good good! This has a very strong cast of comedians. Great plot lines. Made me cry from laughing several times.

Flakes- Sweet little movie about competing cereal bars. Got it because Zooey Deschanel was in it.

Here's the trailer for The Fall. See doesn't that look good!

What was the best thing you saw in September?