What's In Your Handbag?

Welcome to my weekly meme, "What's In Your Handbag"? Do you always have a book in your handbag? If you can't leave home without something to read, then "What's In Your Handbag?" is the post for you! Every Friday, I will be posting what book is currently in my purse. 

I have a four day weekend, woohooo!  After my lovely trip to the aquarium this morning, I will be enjoying Wicked Games by Sasha Wagstaff and so far, it is awesome!

Leave the link to your "What's in Your Handbag" post in the comments! Also, feel free to grab the button, the HTML is posted on the right sidebar.

July 27, 2010: Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood:  A Life by Gavin Lambert

Unlike the sexually explicit Natasha, by Suzanne Finstad, or Lana Wood's Natalie: A Memoir by Her Sister, Lambert's take on the luminous star of Gypsy and West Side Story is a relatively discreet, affectionate examination of Wood's short, turbulent life. Groomed by a fanatically controlling stage mother, Wood (1938â€"1981) enchanted audiences in 1946's Tomorrow Is Forever and prompted Louella Parsons to proclaim, "Natalie Wood eats your heart out." Lambert follows her from such childhood triumphs as Miracle on 34th Street to her breakthrough adult part opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. Wood's overlapping affairs with Rebel director Nicholas Ray and cast member Dennis Hopper, and brief romance with Elvis Presley, will be familiar material to aficionados. But Lambert reveals deep sensitivity and understanding of her development as an actress, and he's one of the few authors to capture the depth and beauty of her relationship with Robert Wagner. Lambert also effectively highlights Wood's shrewd professional moves, including her pretense to boss Jack Warner that she didn't want to star in Splendor in the Grass, because she knew he would refuse to let her appear in it if she displayed enthusiasm. The shooting of Wood's film with Robert Redford, Inside Daisy Clover, has special authenticity, since Lambert wrote the screenplay and witnessed her frustrations after several crucial voice-overs were cut from the final print. Details regarding Wood's tragic drowning are inevitably speculative and vital questions remain unanswered. But Lambert eloquently clarifies the self-destructive reasons behind Wood's addictions and insecurities, and in the end, readers will feel they truly know the subject more than they do in most biographies. 65 photos. -- from Amazon.com

I have loved Natalie Wood since I first saw West Side Story when I was a wee child.  There was always something so mysterious and gorgeous about her.  I have had some biographies on my wishlist for awhile, but finally checked this one out from the library.

This book has some of the lower reviews on Amazon, and I can see why.  Most parts of this book were kind of boring and though the product description tells me that I will know more about Natalie Wood now, I do not feel that is true.  I think Mr. Lambert did a disservice here, however, I did enjoy the pictures throughout.

Regardless, I just purchased this book for $0.75 because I want to own my Natalie Woods books and I am so happy I didn't pay the full price for this book (although she does look gorgeous on the cover, so that alone may have been worth the price).

Next up in my Natalie bio readings:  Natasha:  The Biography of Natalie Wood and Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour (pre-ordered!) both of which are heard are better.  I am especially excited about GNGS.

July 26, 2010: My Soviet Kitchen

My Soviet Kitchen by Amy Spurling

Memory loss, homo sovieticus, and a wandering PhD student. This is  Neo-chick lit. with a darker side, a vodka twist and a generous slice of post-Soviet living.

It’s 1994 and English PhD student, Ivy Stone, wakes up in a Moscow flat with a hangover and a vague sense of unease…

Unable to remember what she did last night or why there is a cryptic Post-It note on her fridge, she begins an emotional, alcohol-fuelled journey via an Uzbek wedding, an Estonian sauna, and a Georgian serenade. What dark past haunts her new Russian man? And will she ever find the author of the mystery Post-It note? -- from Roastbooks Limited

First of all, the package that this came in is divine (and of course I forgot to click a picture!)  An awesome little pink bag, a companion guide, and a mini bottle of vodka equals a happy bookaholic!  Seriously the little pink bag has been accompanying me to work every day as my new work companion.
This book is unlike anything I've ever read, Neo Chick-Lit is the term Amy Spurling uses to describe this book.  First of all, I think I got drunk just by reading about all of Ivy's adventures.  How much vodka can one person drink, for crying out loud!?

I liked the Ivy character, however, I could not relate to her in any way and I think this may have been a problem when I was trying to read the book.  I just couldn't - and I feel badly about that because I really wanted to like her.  I guess I shouldn't say I didn't like her, I just didn't love her (if that makes sense!)

I loved the details about life in Moscow, it seems like an interesting place and it sure is an uncommon setting for "chick lit".  Every time Ivy was eating something, I was intrigued.  I was either grossed out or very interested in what she was eating.  I loved that aspect.

While it was nice to have a companion guide, was it necessary to have a companion guide AND footnotes as well?  I normally don't mind footnotes, but it seemed overkill here.

Overall, I enjoyed this book I didn't love it.  I know it is billed as Neo Chick-Lit, but it didn't read as quickly or as easily as regular chick lit and that is my main disappointment here.

*Book was provided by Roastbooks Limited for review.

July 25, 2010: Dune Road

Dune Road by Jane Green

In the latest inviting summer read from bestseller Green (The Beach House), divorced mom Kit Hargrove learns about family, love, and the price of secrets while rediscovering passion for life and her small Connecticut beach town. As the off-season begins, Kit is still recovering from the breakup of her marriage (to solicitous but work-obsessed Adam), working for famously reclusive author Robert McClore, and practicing yoga with her new friend Tracy. Upheaval soon arrives in the form of a mysterious new boyfriend and a long-lost sister, as well as a scandalous secret regarding Kit's much-desired employer. Green's newest has all the right elements for a sun-baked afternoon of reading: sandy locales, hints of sex and scandal, and lots of strong female characters. With three main plots, however, Green tries to pack in too much story, ultimately shortchanging her characters and her readers. -- from Amazon.com

I am a huge fan or Jane Green's older novels (my favorite is Jemima J), yet I haven't read anything by her in quite awhile.  I did enjoy this book, however, I felt it was totally different from her earlier books.  I was kind of looking forward to more of a chick lit feel.

Having said that, I did really enjoy this book.  I felt for Kit and I was trying to figure out everyone's secrets.  I did wish that there was more closure with Annabel though, I felt that was left open.

I have The Beach House in my TBR pile, it seems like it might be similar.  One thing I do like about Jane Green's newer books is the covers and how they all tie into each other.  I might need to buy them all!  

What's In Your Handbag

Welcome to my weekly meme, "What's In Your Handbag"? Do you always have a book in your handbag? If you can't leave home without something to read, then "What's In Your Handbag?" is the post for you! Every Friday, I will be posting what book is currently in my purse. 

My Soviet Kitchen by Amy Spurling to be enjoyed with a mini-bottle of vodka.  Sounds pretty darn good, doesn't it?

Leave the link to your "What's in Your Handbag" post in the comments! Also, feel free to grab the button, the HTML is posted on the right sidebar.

July 20, 2010: Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang
by Chelsea Handler

Comedienne, talk show host and daring author Handler (Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea) indulges her fans with a new compilation of shockingly direct essays, from which she emerges as a scheming farceur with an expansive range of practical jokes and winning sarcasm, pulled off beautifully against (and with help from) her closest friends and family (including her boyfriend, the CEO of the E! television network that employs her). Handler spins a deliriously sticky web of running jokes while suckering the gullible, again and again, with made-up stories of her transgendered friend, a ludicrous movie deal, and her infamous personal pilot. Never shy, Handler finds room for even more irreverent honesty regarding sex-including her earliest encounters with male genitalia and with "the feeling"-and also lets readers in on her family life, including a family dinner that ends with her missing brother found intoxicated, naked, and celebrating on a dock in the early morning hours. Whether Handler is plotting to get her father committed or convincing her dog never to "shadoobie" in her presence, her essays are packed with enough laugh-out-loud moments to rival a first-rate stand-up act. B&W photos. -- from Amazon.com

I freaking love Chelsea Handler.  Seriously, she is rude and crude and I love it.  I was so excited when I got this for my birthday because I am on a book-buying ban (self-imposed), so I thought I would wait for the paperback.  Once I started reading it though, I just couldn't stop!

Chelsea Handler is a hot mess and she owns it.  Her stories are funny, especially when she tells them.  I just want to have some vodka and hang out with her and Chunk.  This book was the perfect pick-me-up for these long days I've been having.  

If you are a fan of Chelsea, you will love this book. I understand most people will hate her humor, but I happen to love it.

Happiness.....

I recently had my 26th birthday.  I'm getting better about saying my actual age, however, I hate it.  25 was somewhat tolerable - but at 26 people expect things from me.  I'm not married and I don't have children, and it doesn't bother me.  


What bothers me is the questions:  When are you going to get married?  I don't necessarily want to get married.  It's not something I ever dreamed about as a little girl.  If it happened that would be great, but right now I'm okay with my single status. 


Now that you have a niece, do you want kids?  Yes I want kids but I want to wait until I'm 35!  I'm still young people!  When I was 20 I said if I were single at 30, I would go and get inseminated.  Then Lily came along and I changed my age to 35.  Don't get me wrong, I love my little booger but I also learned that I love having time that belongs to me right now.  At 26 years old, I am being selfish darn it because there are things I want to do (but probably never will) and I think I am at a point where I am truly accepting myself.


Wow....that was long winded.  The point of this post is happiness.  What makes you happy in life?  26 is going to be my year to soak in my happiness and be grateful for all my blessings.    


To me happiness is:

• A thick stack of chick lit waiting to be read.
• An empty DVR.
• Listening to the sound of the rain. 
• Solo Border's trips with a steaming cup of coffee and unlimited hours to browse.
• Girly craft days with Grace and soon Lily.  Who knew finger-painting, jewelry making and squirting each other with a hose would be so fun.
• Hanging out with my boys, because at 7 and 12 they are the sweetest boys I know!
• Reading The Baby-Sitters Club books over again, even though I'm far too old to do so.
• That perfect summer day to re-read Forever by Judy Blume (again and again).
• A perfect, rainy fall Saturday with nothing to do except drink a huge, steaming mug of coffee and read a suspenseful book.
• Kisses with Lily.
• Anytime I get to spend with Miss Lily.
• Watching So You Think You Can Dance for all of my music inspiration.
• Finding copies of The Wizard of Oz at yard sales, library sales, any sale.
• A cheesy Lifetime movie.
• Finding a good book and passing that book to my mom, my sister, my Nani and to anyone else who will listen to me!
• Unplugged weekends.
• My pajamas.
• Rocking out to show tunes in my car.
• Cupcakes and cake.
• Family picnics which happen ever weekend in the summer!
• Random dancing......even if no one is around!
• Laughing so hard that I can't breathe and my face hurts and I almost pee.
• Feta cheese.
• Romantic comedies.
• Playing with the cousins and ignoring all my achy joints because sometimes it is so darn fun to play PIG, or swing, or run through the sprinkler!
• Imagining all the possibilities for my future.

What does happiness mean for you?

July 16, 2010: The Hour I First Believed

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb:  

When forty-seven-year-old high school teacher Caelum Quirk and his younger wife, Maureen, a school nurse, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, Caelum returns home to Three Rivers, Connecticut, to be with his aunt who has just had a stroke. But Maureen finds herself in the school library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed, as two vengeful students go on a carefully premeditated, murderous rampage. Miraculously she survives, but at a cost: she is unable to recover from the trauma. Caelum and Maureen flee Colorado and return to an illusion of safety at the Quirk family farm in Three Rivers. But the effects of chaos are not so easily put right, and further tragedy ensues.

While Maureen fights to regain her sanity, Caelum discovers a cache of old diaries, letters, and newspaper clippings in an upstairs bedroom of his family's house. The colorful and intriguing story they recount spans five generations of Quirk family ancestors, from the Civil War era to Caelum's own troubled childhood. Piece by piece, Caelum reconstructs the lives of the women and men whose legacy he bears. Unimaginable secrets emerge; long-buried fear, anger, guilt, and grief rise to the surface.

As Caelum grapples with unexpected and confounding revelations from the past, he also struggles to fashion a future out of the ashes of tragedy. His personal quest for meaning and faith becomes a mythic journey that is at the same time quintessentially contemporary—and American. -- from Amazon.com

I love Wally Lamb and have had this book for awhile now, so I was excited to finally read it!  We start out in the late 90's before Columbine ever happened.  I had a difficult time reading this part because I was eager to get to April 20, 1999 (sounds morbid of me doesn't it?).  I thought the description of events at Columbine was amazingly written, as well as Maureen's downward spiral after the fact.

I found Maureen to be the most interesting part of this book.  When thinking about Columbine and how the students were affected by this, I never once thought about the staff and how they reacted after the incident.  Were there counseling services available for the adults too? Just an interesting thing to think about.I think this story would be fabulous without all the family history.  If Mr. Lamb just stuck to Columbine and their life after I think this book would have been much better.  It all just seemed so out of place.  A novel does not have to be 700 pages to be a great novel, if he would have focused his attention on the nitty-gritty details of PTSD I think this book would have been a real winner.  Otherwise, he just used too many words to tell this story.

Did anyone else feel the same way about this book or am I just cranky because the huge book hurt my shoulder from carrying it around all week?  Regardless of my feelings on this book, I will most likely purchase the next Wally Lamb novel.

Booking NY to NC Master List

Master list of books read:

December 2010
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

November 2010
Room by Emma Donoghue


October 2010
The Art of Losing by Rebecca Connell

September 2010
The Homecoming Party by Carmine Abate

August 2010
Death Be Not Proud by John J. Gunther

July 2010
Month off

June 2010

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb

May 2010

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

April 2010
Push by Sapphire

March 2010 Selection

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

February 2010 Selection

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

January 2010 Selection
Dancer by Colum McCann

December 2009 Selection

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

November 2009 Selection
Stitches by David Small

October 2009 Selection

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

September 2009 Selection

Songs for the Missing by Stuart O'Nan

August 2009 Selection

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

What's In Your Handbag

Welcome to my weekly meme, "What's In Your Handbag"? Do you always have a book in your handbag? If you can't leave home without something to read, then "What's In Your Handbag?" is the post for you! Every Friday, I will be posting what book is currently in my purse. 

It's Friday!!!!  Wooohoo.  This weekend I am reading The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb for my book club.  I am about 400 pages in and have 200 to go.  It's not my favorite Wally Lamb book but it's pretty good!

Leave the link to your "What's in Your Handbag" post in the comments! Also, feel free to grab the button, the HTML is posted on the right sidebar.

What's In Your Handbag?

Welcome to my weekly meme, "What's In Your Handbag"? Do you always have a book in your handbag? If you can't leave home without something to read, then "What's In Your Handbag?" is the post for you! Every Friday, I will be posting what book is currently in my purse. 

Today is my birthday, so please forgive me because I am going offline for the weekend!  If you're looking for me I will be sitting outside, sipping an alcoholic beverage and crying over the downhill spiral to 3-0.  That's right, I am 24 26 today.  I said it.  I've been telling people I'm 24 for the past two years because I don't want to get older and 26 is depressing.  I know I'm dramatic, but I am now closer to 30 than 26. It''s my party birthday and I'll cry if I want to.  Do you know what will make me feel better?  A pile of chick lit and some margaritas!

Leave the link to your "What's in Your Handbag" post in the comments! Also, feel free to grab the button, the HTML is posted on the right sidebar.

July 5, 2010: Of Bees and Mist

Of Bees and Mist* by Erick Setiawan

Setiawan's debut novel spans 30 years in this heartfelt magical-realist story of two rival families living in a mystical world that transcends both time and place. Meridia is a lonely child; a mysterious incident when she was an infant has torn apart her parents, leaving them sharing nothing but a cold, mist-filled home. Not until Meridia meets the charmer Daniel, at age 16, does she finally feel loved. They marry and move in with his family and at first Meridia loves her life in Daniel's home. But she quickly learns of matriarch Eva's deceitful, manipulative ways and her power, both natural and supernatural, which she uses to control her family. When Meridia rebels against Eva, finding unexpected support from her parents, the rivalry solidifies and a lifelong battle begins. As time passes, Meridia faces heartbreak and betrayal, becoming a strong, fiercely independent woman. While filled with fortune-tellers, ghosts and unexplained phenomena, the relationships between the various characters are true to life so that fans of fantasy and fiction lovers alike are sure to enjoy this magical tale. -- from Amazon.com*

I have to be honest here.  I had an extremely difficult time getting into this book, I would say it took me a good 100 pages to get interested.  The writing was good, however I had a difficult time with the mist and the bees.  I found it a little confusing.  Once I looked past the fantasy elements, I became extremely interested in the story between Meridia and Eva.  Eva was a fascinating character, a true manipulator.  It was so frustrating to read about her controlling ways!  I just wanted to shake her children and tell them to wise up!

The characters were very well developed; I could picture each and every one in my head and I seriously hated Eva.  I also like that this book doesn't appear to have a specific time frame and you can almost picture living in this world.  I did find this book a little lengthy, yet somehow once I got into the book the ending came quickly.  

I will be interested to see what Mr. Setiawan writes next, will he stick with the fantasy world or will he go in a completely different direction?  This was definitely a bold first novel!

*affiliate links used

* book provided by Simon & Schuster for review.

What's In Your Handbag?

Welcome to my weekly meme, "What's In Your Handbag"? Do you always have a book in your handbag? If you can't leave home without something to read, then "What's In Your Handbag?" is the post for you! Every Friday, I will be posting what book is currently in my purse. 

What a week I've had.  It involved no reading, just some roadtripping to West Virginia on Friday and then Pittsburgh (Tuesday/Wednesday) to see the fabulous Idina Menzel!  It was epic.  Anyways, now that I am back on earth I will be reading Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan.

Leave the link to your "What's in Your Handbag" post in the comments! Also, feel free to grab the button, the HTML is posted on the right sidebar.

moment of silence...