Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Started: 8/11/09
Finished: 8/24/09
Year: 2006
Pages: 334
Genre: Memoir
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: friend gave it to me
Blurb (from back cover): "In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want-husband, country home, successful career-but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and raptuous book is the story of how she left behind all these outwards marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression. Gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasere in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldy enjoyment and divine transcendence."
Opinion: I enjoyed the writing style of Elizabeth Gilbert-just the right amount of sarcasm and humor mixed with the seriousness of one's life. I'll definitely be picking up more of her books.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Hot Six by Janet Evanovich

Started: 8/7/09
Finished: 8/11/09
Year: 2000
Pages: 270
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR pile
Blurb (from book jacket): "Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and Trenton vice cop Joe Morelli join forces to find the madman killer who shot and barbecued the youngest son of international black-market arms dealer Alexander Ramos.
"Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, is caught on video just minutes before the crime occurs. He's at the scene, he's with the victim, and he's the number-one suspect. Manoso is former special forces turned soldier of fortune. He has a blue-chip stock portfolio and no known address. He moves in mysterious circles. He's Stephanie's mentor-the man who taught her everything she knows about fugitive apprehension. And he's more than her friend.
"Now he's the hunted and Stephanie's the hunter, and it's time for her to test her skills against the master. But if she does catch him...what then? Can she bring herself to turn him in?
"Plus there are other things keeping Stephanie awake at night. Her maternal grandmother has set up houskeeping in Stephanie's apartment, a homicidal maniac has selected Stephanie as his next victim, her love life is in the toilet, she's adopted a dog with an eating disorder, and she can't button the top snap of her Levi's.
Opinion: Been a while since I read one of Evanovich's books. A fun and easy read.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Alive by Piers Paul Read

Started: 7/31/09
Finished: 8/7/09
Year: 1974
Pages: 352
Genre: Non-fiction
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR pile
Blurb (from book jacket): "Lost in the vast snowy wastes of the high Andes...all offical rescue efforts abandoned...no food...inadequate clothing for sub-zero temperatures...no mefical supplies to ease the suffering of the dying. So began a terrible ordeal for the young men and women who, on October 12, 1972, had set out from Uruguay in high spirits for a series of rugby matches in Chile. Their chartered airplane had enterd a cloudbank, lost altitude in a series of downdrafts, and crashed into a mountain peak.
"The Fairchild had carried five crewmen anf forty passengers. Some were killed instantly. But those who survived clung to life with extrsordinary tenacity and ingenuity. They formed themselves into an ordered society, distributing tasks according to individual skills and degrees of physical fitness. Leaders emerged who had never been leaders before.
"Realizing that what little chance they had to live lay in their own hands, they planned their escape. Rather than die of starvation, they made a difficult decision: they would use the bodies of their dead companions for food. They were still to endure unexpected and terrible hardships, and one unforseen tragedy almost overwhelmed them with despair. Yet they refused to be demoralize, and their determination to save themselves increased by sheer strength of will."
Opinion: I had heard about parts of this story growing up-mostly about the consumption of human flesh. An amazing story of survival in one of the most harshest territories out there in the world.