Book Reviews: November 2015
I did a massive re-read of the 7 Harry Potter books, re-read the Martian after watching the movie and re-read the Bronze Horseman Trilogy because I'm a masochist. I did branch out and tried some NEW books and wrote some reviews below:
The Boston Girl - A coming of age story of a young woman living in Boston. It's a (fictional) first person account of a Jewish grandmother telling her history to one of her granddaughters. Her story begins in the early 1900s and ending in the 80's and covers woman's suffrage, friendship, family, love, loss, etc etc. I enjoyed the story as it has some similarities to my own Bubbie's history.
The Royal We - This is a love story based on Prince William and Kate Middleton's courtship. It is a fictional behind the scenes story of a commoner falling in love with a prince and all the drama that comes with his status, her non-status and the press up until their own Royal Wedding. I enjoyed it a lot and although it was a little bit long, I read it in just a couple days.
Fates and Furies - A story of a marriage in two parts. The first part told from the husband's point of view - he comes from a wealthy family but found his own success as a playwright after first trying to make it as an actor. The second part gives you the wifes' backstory and her POV of some scenes from the first part. The wife has a little Amy from "Gone Girl" in her which I found refreshing after reading about her from her husband's point of view. The narration was a bit scattered, time and places and POV flow quickly and sometimes it's hard to keep up with how much time has passed. Overall, I didn't have a strong opinion of the book but I can tell it will be on one of those end of the year must-read lists, so I'm glad I read it.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl - A low key high school boy is forced to befriend a classmate with cancer and all his high school plans go out the window. The main character and his friend make movies for fun and find out their new friend Rachel is a willing viewer and she inspires them to make more films. The book is an interesting style, some chapters are written in screenplay form or interviews or sometimes movie reviews. The author actually made this book into a movie that did pretty well at Sundance this year - it was a good adaptation and honestly the music made me cry. Thanks Brian Eno.
The Boston Girl - A coming of age story of a young woman living in Boston. It's a (fictional) first person account of a Jewish grandmother telling her history to one of her granddaughters. Her story begins in the early 1900s and ending in the 80's and covers woman's suffrage, friendship, family, love, loss, etc etc. I enjoyed the story as it has some similarities to my own Bubbie's history.
The Royal We - This is a love story based on Prince William and Kate Middleton's courtship. It is a fictional behind the scenes story of a commoner falling in love with a prince and all the drama that comes with his status, her non-status and the press up until their own Royal Wedding. I enjoyed it a lot and although it was a little bit long, I read it in just a couple days.
Fates and Furies - A story of a marriage in two parts. The first part told from the husband's point of view - he comes from a wealthy family but found his own success as a playwright after first trying to make it as an actor. The second part gives you the wifes' backstory and her POV of some scenes from the first part. The wife has a little Amy from "Gone Girl" in her which I found refreshing after reading about her from her husband's point of view. The narration was a bit scattered, time and places and POV flow quickly and sometimes it's hard to keep up with how much time has passed. Overall, I didn't have a strong opinion of the book but I can tell it will be on one of those end of the year must-read lists, so I'm glad I read it.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl - A low key high school boy is forced to befriend a classmate with cancer and all his high school plans go out the window. The main character and his friend make movies for fun and find out their new friend Rachel is a willing viewer and she inspires them to make more films. The book is an interesting style, some chapters are written in screenplay form or interviews or sometimes movie reviews. The author actually made this book into a movie that did pretty well at Sundance this year - it was a good adaptation and honestly the music made me cry. Thanks Brian Eno.
