Guest Post: Why Contemporary Fiction Is My Jam

Happy Friday, loves!  FYI, I have a guest post rockin' over at Lost in Books, in honor of Becca's Women's Lit Event (going throughout the month of March!).  It's called Why Contemporary Fiction Is My Jam, and it tells you all the wonderful, lovely things that I adore about modern-day women's fiction.

If you need further temptation, there's a gif from Mean Girls included.  WIN!  Go read it!

Audiobook Review: The Four Ms. Bradwells by Meg Waite Clayton

Title: The Four Ms. Bradwells
Author: Meg Waite Clayton
Publisher: Ballantine Books/Dreamscape Media
Publication Date: March 22, 2011
Source: borrowed from the good ol' public library

Plot Summary from Goodreads:

Mia, Laney, Betts, and Ginger, best friends since law school, have reunited for a long weekend as Betts awaits Senate confirmation of her appointment to the Supreme Court. Nicknamed “the Ms. Bradwells” during their first class at the University of Michigan Law School in 1979—when only three women had ever served full Senate terms and none had been appointed to the Court—the four have supported one another through life’s challenges: marriages and divorces, births and deaths, career setbacks and triumphs large and small. Betts was, and still is, the Funny One. Ginger, the Rebel. Laney, the Good Girl. And Mia, the Savant. 

But when the Senate hearings uncover a deeply buried skeleton in the friends’ collective closet, the Ms. Bradwells retreat to a summer house on the Chesapeake Bay, where they find themselves reliving a much darker period in their past—one that stirs up secrets they’ve kept for, and from, one another, and could change their lives forever. 

My Review:

The general concept of this book intrigued me.  Based on the summary above, my interest was piqued by the meshing of chick-litty women's friendships, plus high-level political appointment: definitely spelled "smart women's fiction" to me.  I liked the idea of "humanizing" a situation that you usually would only see the CNN-proofed version of (ie. a Supreme Court appointment confirmation hearing).  All of this seemed to point to an awesome reading choice for moi.

At the beginning, the book lived up to my expectations.  We see Betts at her Senate confirmation as her three friends gather and look on.  We start to get background on their friendship, which is complex and funny, based on a bit of a joke that occurred in their first semester of law school.  Then the "deeply buried skeleton" comes out at the hearing, and Betts (along with her friends) take off out of Washington DC to hide from the press.

At this point, things started to go a bit sour for me.

Why, oh why, if you were possibly involved in a scandal that happened on a tiny little island in the Chesapeake...would you hide out ON THAT EXACT TINY LITTLE ISLAND?  This was the first point of confusion for me.  The first of many.  And I think I know why the author did it...a lot of the novel focused on revisiting the past, reconsidering past mistakes, facing your demons, etc.  So returning to the scene of the "crime" was symbolic.  But I refuse to believe that these four well-educated women, one of which was a Supreme Court nominee, would immediately flee to such an incriminating locale.  That's like someone accusing OJ of murdering Nicole and Ron, and he goes straight to their house to camp out.  MAKES NO SENSE.  And I do expect my book characters to have more sense than OJ.  That's a minimum expectation.

That particular detail highlights my main issue with this book: I feel like the author had all these MESSAGES she wanted to get across.  Things about women's rights, tests of friendship, girl power, etc.  And in her effort to make those messages crystal-clear to the reader, she sacrificed believability in the plot details, forcing her characters to do absolutely inane things that no real-life person would do in such a situation.  Example: skinny dipping.  No woman skinny dips nearly as much as the ladies in this novel do, but obviously their naked swims were meant to symbolize a release of inhibitions, feeling free from other's scrutiny, etc. so they were mentioned incessantly.  And, THE ENDING.  I nearly crashed my car with all the eyerolling I was doing while listening to the last CD.  Just...no.

Adding fuel to the fire, the characters themselves are not likeable--especially Mia, who is fairly central to the story.  Some sympathy is drummed up for her at the end, but I couldn't get behind it.  Plus, as an audiobook, it didn't do a good job keeping my attention.  The same narrator (Karen White) is used for all four women, and there were many points where I would lose track of who was speaking--made for a lot of rewinding and confusion at times.  I imagine this is not as difficult in print.

I am sad about this book, you guys.  I wanted so badly to like it, but I just couldn't.  I think the basic structure and subject of the novel had a lot of promise, but the actions of the characters started to lose me pretty early on.  I wish Clayton had focused less on getting her messages across, and more on creating a well-crafted storyline.

I need to get back on the audiobook horse--what's your favorite audiobook?

Wondrous Words Wednesday (21)

Welcome back, wordy friends!

Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by BermudaOnion each week. It's an opportunity to share new words you've encountered in your reading, or highlight words that you particularly enjoy.

Here are three of my favorites new-to-me words from 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King.  Yes, I am STILL pulling words that I wrote down from this book back in October.  SK is a master of language!  These are the last three from that list.

 All definitions from Dictionary.com.

1. fulsome. "'Stabilized' is the fulsome term young Dr. Cody used when he examined me late yesterday afternoon."  
adjective
1. offensive to good taste, especially as being excessive; overdone or gross: fulsome praise that embarrassed her deeply; fulsome decor.
2. disgusting; sickening; repulsive: a table heaped with fulsome mounds of greasy foods.
3. excessively or insincerely lavish: fulsome admiration.
4. encompassing all aspects; comprehensive: a fulsome survey of the political situation in Central America.
5. abundant or copious.

The "insincere" and "comprehensive" aspects of the word seem to be closest to the use here.

2. cant. "He was an imaginative, open-minded boy who was remarkably resistant to cant."
noun
1. insincere, especially conventional expressions of enthusiasm for high ideals, goodness, or piety.
2. the private language of the underworld.
3. the phraseology peculiar to a particular class, party, profession, etc.: the cant of the fashion industry.
4. whining or singsong speech, especially of beggars.

Wow, lots of definition here!  I think the first definition is what he was going for, but the second one is intriguing given the subject of the novel.

3. banns. "Two years later, the girl became engaged to another man.  She broke it off quite suddenly during the week before the banns were to be cried for the second time." 
noun
1. notice of an intended marriage, given three times in the parish church of each of the betrothed.
2. any public announcement of a proposed marriage, either verbal or written and made in a church or by church officials.

Is this an outdated term?  I'm not religious enough to know if it's still used commonly.

What are your new words this week?

Book Review: Be Happy Without Being Perfect by Alice D. Domar

Title: Be Happy Without Being Perfect: How To Break Free From The Perfection Deception
Author: Alice D. Domar, PhD, with Alice Lesch Kelly
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: March 4, 2008
Source: borrowed from the good ol' public library

Plot Summary from Goodreads:

Do you have trouble going to bed at night when there’s a mess in the kitchen? Do you think you would be happier if only you could lose weight, be a better parent, work smarter, reduce stress, exercise more, and make better decisions?

You’re not perfect. But guess what? You don’t have to be. 

All of us struggle with high expectations from time to time. But for many women, the worries can become debilitating–and often, we don’t even know we’re letting unrealistic expectations color our thinking. The good news is, we have the power to break free from the perfectionist trap–and internationally renowned health psychologist, Dr. Alice Domar can show you how.

Be Happy Without Being Perfect offers a way out of the self-imposed handcuffs that this thinking brings, providing concrete solutions, practical advice, and action plans that teach you how to:
• Assess your tendency toward perfectionism in all areas of your life
• Set realistic goals
• Alleviate the guilt and shame that perfectionism can trigger
• Manage your anxiety with clinically proven self-care strategies 
• Get rid of the unrealistic and damaging expectations that are hurting you–for good!

Filled with the personal insights of more than fifty women, Be Happy Without Being Perfect is your key to a happier, calmer, and more enjoyable life.

My Review:

Yesterday, in my monthly review, I alluded to an unfortunate personal event that occurred last month.  My recovery from it was made all the more difficult by my tendency for perfectionistic thinking--something that I've dealt with for many years now!  And when I first saw this book title a few years back, I remember thinking, "OMG, this book was written for ME AND ME ALONE."  It's been on my TBR list for a few years, so even though I am rather behind on my ARCs, I decided to put them aside for a little while and read this book instead--the timing seemed to be ideal, and I needed a book that would help me mentally nurture myself for a while.

If you think perfectionist thoughts are a source of stress for you, I HIGHLY recommend this book.  This doesn't mean that you have to be a perfectionist in all areas of your life--the book is broken into parts, so you can decide if you need to work more on your work life, your home life, your parenting skills, etc.  (I should also note that the book is geared towards women...sorry guys, you might need to turn elsewhere if you're looking for help in this area.)

The book begins with a quiz that helps you identify the parts of your life where perfectionist thinking plagues you the most.  This was helpful for me, because I often use the blanket statement "I am a perfectionist"--but the quiz helped me realize that that is not true in all aspects of my life.  That alone is a stress reliever!  And I'm sure most other readers will feel similarly.

From there, the authors present a set of mental strategies that you can use to combat that type of thinking.  I am a personal fan of the "stop, breathe, reflect, and choose" strategy that they highlighted throughout the book.  They then devote one chapter more specifically to the different areas of your life: health/fitness, housekeeping, work/office life, relationships/marriage, parenting, and general decision-making.  It's likely that not every chapter will be relevant for you: for example, I don't use a lot of perfectionistic thinking at my job, or in terms of my health/fitness, so I didn't devote as much time to those chapters.  But in housekeeping, relationships, and parenting?  I soaked those chapters up fo' sho'.

Did this book cure my perfectionism?  Nope...I still have lots more to work on in this crazy brain-o-mine.  But, the book did help me break my thought patterns down into smaller chunks, allowing me to consider why I put so much stress on certain areas of my life.  And by thinking more critically like that, I am now more conscious of those thoughts and can use the strategies in the book to help me combat them.  This is a lifelong journey for a lot of perfectionists, but I think reading this book is a helpful first step.

Do you struggle with perfectionistic thinking?  And if not, have you read any other self-help books in other areas that were beneficial for you?

Don't Let The Door Hit Ya, February: Month in Review

UGH.  February.  What a craptastic month.

Likeness of me in February

I didn't THINK it was going to go that way, but it did.  I got slammed with a pretty awful personal situation in the middle of the month, something that really knocked me for a loop.  I am not ready to post about it here yet, but I think I will in the future.  For now, suffice to say that it just made last month into a very difficult one.

As such, I apologize for my relative absence.  I know my posts have been kind of "blah" lately, and that I've been Twitter MIA, but the calendar has flipped to March and I am going IN LIKE A LION!!  Watch out, world.  Rawr.

(I guess I should say that there was ONE good thing about February, and that was the creation of the Harlem Shake.  I could sit on YouTube for HOURS and watch this crap.  Amazing.)

Anyway, let's talk about books!

The February 2013 Fave/Least Fave honors go to:

February 2013 Favorite: Indiscretion by Charles Dubow
February 2013 Least Favorite: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

In total, I read/reviewed 6 books:
White Dog Fell From The Sky by Eleanor Morse
Indiscretion by Charles Dubow
Political Suicide by Michael Palmer
Just One Day by Gayle Forman
God Grew Tired of Us by John Bul Dau
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

I also posted one new Small Fry Saturday Review of the Good Night Our World books.

In other book talk, we discussed cover snobbery, I was spotlighted by Christine, I had another fun giveaway, and I MET JODI PICOULT.  Total highlight of my book month!

So, here's hoping for a much better March.  Peace out, February.  Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

Jodi Picoult tour kickoff!

If you've spent any time hanging around this blog o' mine, then you already know that I am a Jodi Picoult SUPER FAN.  I've read all of her books, and I love her style.  She writes amaaaazing family dramas, and she is a fan of the twist ending--something I never tire of.

Every February/March, I wait patiently for her latest release to come out.  This year's novel, The Storyteller, came out this past Tuesday (woo wooooo!).  And imagine my excitement when I saw that she was touring not very far from me, in New England!

("Not very far" being a relative term...the event I went to was 3 hours away in Vermont.  But totally worthsies.)

Even better, my friend Cari agreed to meet me there, so it was a killer author event and a BFF reunion all in one.  SCORE.

The event at the Wilder Center in Wilder, VT was the VERY FIRST stop on her book tour.  It started at 9am, and when I checked in, I got a copy of the book--possibly one of the first copies obtained on release day.  I felt mighty special, yes ma'am!

Cari and I grabbed our seats and immediately loved the intimate atmosphere of the event.  The Wilder Center is a beautiful renovated church, and the organizers brought in a local baker to provide the refreshments.  They capped attendance at about 30-40 people, which was perfect--no crowd fighting necessary.

Jodi showed up and was amazingly chipper for 9am!  She did an emotional, captivating reading from a Holocaust scene in The Storyteller (as Cari said, I would have liked for her to just keep reading me the whole book).  Afterwards, she talked to the audience about her inspirations for the novel, which was easily my favorite part of the morning.  All of the research she did with Holocaust survivors was fascinating.  Honestly, the research she does for any of her books is pretty great to hear about (she just got back from Botswana doing elephant research for a future novel).  I apologize for not taking detailed notes on her talk (like I have for other author events), but I was enjoying myself too much to take out paper and pen.

There were a few Q+A's at the end, and then the signing began.  People, Jodi Picoult is SO FREAKING NICE.  She thanked everyone so sincerely for coming, and graciously agreed to take a picture with me.  Naturally, I was super excited for that, but unfortunately, my iPhone disagreed.  Cari tried to take the picture twice, but my phone wouldn't focus, and we didn't want to hold up the line so we moved on.  So here is the photo evidence of me and my new friend JP:

Seriously, what is up with my weird hand?

FRAME WORTHY.  My phone has been adequately flogged for its transgressions.

Overall, this event made me SUPER excited to delve into The Storyteller, and I might just adore Jodi Picoult more than I did before.  Which I did not think possible, but there it is.

Have you read The Storyteller yet?  Are any of Jodi Picoult's other novels on your favorites list?

Happy Release Date to...

...The Trajectory of Dreams by Nicole Wolverton!

I don't normally do release date promos.  HOWEVER, a ways back, I agreed to review Ms. Wolverton's book, which sounds pretty twisted and awesome:

The novel exposes the chaotic inner life of Lela White, a Houston, Texas sleep lab technician and mentally-disordered insomniac, believes she has been tasked with protecting the safety of the revitalized U.S. space shuttle program. She breaks into the homes of astronauts to watch them sleep, and she is prepared to kill to keep those with sleep problems from the shuttle launch. Her delicate grasp on reality becomes more tenuous when annoying co-worker Trina Shook insists on moving into her house and visiting Russian cosmonaut Zory Korchagin inserts himself into Lela's life. Korchagin's increasing interest puts her carefully-constructed world at risk of an explosion as surely as he does his own upcoming launch. Lela's tragic childhood unfolds throughout the novel, revealing the beginnings of her illness and long-buried secrets, and as Lela’s universe unravels, no one is safe.

Unfortunately, my month of February has been rather tumultuous, and as a result, I am behind on reviews.  So, I will have a review of The Trajectory of Dreams comin' atcha SOON!  But in the meantime, help celebrate release day and check it out HERE!