Tuesday, May 31, 2011

May Reading Round-Up

I only got through one more book this month than I did last month but at least it's not one less!  




"Pledged" by Alexandra Robbins
I went to a small liberal arts school and although we had sororities and fraternities they did not play a huge role on campus.  However, I must confess that as a GDI I was curious to get a peek inside Greek life which is why I bought this book.  While the author apparently got a lot of grief for writing it I thought it gave a pretty balanced view of the pros and cons of Greek life and it satisfied my independent curiosity!





"The Alienist" by Caleb Carr
This was a best seller in the mid-90s and I bought it in 1999 at the Lincoln Square Barnes & Noble in NYC (yes, I can probably tell you where and when I bought most of my books.  I am a freak like that.)  And yes, it's taken me 12 years to get around to reading it!  That also means it's travelled from NYC to Chicago to Bermuda.  Not bad for a little paperback!  Anyway it's a historical, detective novel.  Set in NYC in 1896 it follows a team investigating a series of gruesome murders of child prostitutes and coming to grips with new ideas (the existence of serial killers and psychopaths) and methods (fingerprinting).  Lots of historical detail (although it occasionally feels a bit excessive) and interesting psychological ideas as well as a good old fashioned murder mystery.
   



"Last Night at Chateau Marmont" by Lauren Weisberger
I needed some fluff.  I enjoyed Weisberger's first book ("The Devil Wears Prada").  Her second book not so much and I skipped her third all together.  However, this one ended up in my hands and I needed something light after "The Alienist".  Not as good as "Devil" but better than the other one.  A story about finding fame and hanging on to your relationship in the process.  





"One Day" by David Nicholls - Recommended
Definitely liked this a lot better than his first novel, "Starter for Ten".  It's a fantastic, quirky, When Harry Met Sally-esque love story.  The end of chapter eighteen actually made me exclaim out loud in shock and brought Luis running into the room thinking I needed rescuing from some giant insect.  :)

2 comments:

Virginia L. said...

Hi Jen, thanks for the lovely comment in my blog. Here's the link to the Hero Arts stamp that you asked about: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15636237@N04/5762925390/in/photostream

Brandi said...

How funny! I thought I was the only one that had "Pledged" on my book shelf. I haven't read it yet but I am thinking about picking it up, dusting it off and reading it because of your post! Thanks girl!