REVIEW: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert

Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage
Elizabeth Gilbert
Kindle edition (borrowed from library)

I was expecting this to be more like Eat, Pray, Love but right from the get-go Gilbert tells us it won’t be the same.  Where EPL was more about her inward journey (even though she was literally traveling), Committed was more focused on her research about marriage and her particular situation.

I first started reading this book in November 2012, and got 25% through it before my Kindle (keyboard edition) crapped out on me.  I borrowed this from the library, so I had to return it via Amazon and didn’t get a new Kindle until the Paperwhite as a Christmas gift (I love it!).  Fortunately, I was able to pick up around the 25% mark with a fairly decent memory of the beginning.

There were some interesting facts in there and you can tell that when she researches something she really goes all out.  She discusses the history of marriage, all of its incarnations, all of its ups and downs, the fights, the need for it, the reason for it, the social perceptions, and everything in between.  She does talk about her fear of marriage and perhaps she was either hoping to confirm her fears or expel them.

One thing I like about her is that she really wants and likes to learn.  She’ll seek out information anywhere and in any way she can; I admire that.

If you want a general history of marriage, go ahead and read it.  If you’re looking for something similar to EPL, you won’t find it here.

WWW Wednesday (14)

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.  Click the image to be taken to MizB’s WWW post for today.  To play along, answer the following three questions and share a link to your post in the comments on her page. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to leave your WWW right in the comments.

What are you currently reading?
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

What did you recently finish reading?
Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray Love) – review to be posted later this week.

What do you think you’ll read next?
Another of the Tournament books became available at the library, The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson, so I’ll read that next.

REVIEW: Spells & Stitches by Barbara Bretton

Spells & Stitches
Author: Barbara Bretton
Paperback

Goodreads Synopsis: In the latest novel from the USA Today bestselling author, raising a baby is hard, but raising one with magical powers is even harder… 
Sugar Maple, Vermont, knitting store owner Chloe Hobbs couldn’t be happier about her pregnancy. But with the arrival of the town’s newest resident, things are about to get a lot more magical.
Baby Laria is six pounds, eleven ounces of perfect, and Chloe and Luke are over the moon. But when they learn that Laria takes after her mom in the sorcery department, it becomes clear that their baby might have more power than even a pro like Chloe can handle…

This is the 4th installment of the Sugar Maple series.  These books are a fun, quick read.  My mom was the one who found them and always passes them along to me once she’s finished.  These are great books to read if you’re in the middle of a long one and need a break.  I read this over a 2-day period, but it was probably about 6-7 hours of reading total.

The characters are great.   I really enjoy the whole knitting part of it; mainly because I knit.  One thing I enjoy about these books is the patterns listed at the back of the book.  (Similar to other books involving knitting or cooking, some type of recipe is always included, right?)

Anyway, I don’t have much of a review, though I will say I didn’t really care for the baby’s name (pronounced so it rhymes with Mariah).  Other than that, like I said: it’s a fun, quick read.

I’m able to use this book toward my 50 States challenge.

Musing Mondays (12)

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading. Each Monday, she asks a book-related question and we blog our answers, then link back to her original post. (You can find this week’s post by clicking on the above image).

This week’s musing asks…

What are you currently reading? Is it any good? Would you recommend it?

I’m kind of reading a few different books right now.  My long-term is The Count of Monte Cristo. But I guess I shouldn’t say I’m “currently” reading it since I haven’t picked it up in a month or so.

I’m also taking a hiatus from The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, which is a compilation of all 5 books.  I’m about halfway through book 3. Books 1 and 2 were very entertaining but I’ve hit a little wall with it. (It was our June read for the book club on Goodreads you can see in my right sidebar…our first book, and I think maybe slightly ambitious for me to think I could finish all 5 in a month…on top of my other reads).

But I’m reading a book called Plague of Coins by Aiden James. I found this on Amazon (Kindle) and am planning to use it for the What’s in a Name? Challenge.  I’m halfway through it.  Not sure how much I really like it, though.  I’ve come across some very basic grammar mistakes and I really don’t care for the main character all that much….

I also just started Little Bee by Chris Cleave last night.   I borrowed this from my old manager months and months and months ago and it’s been sitting on my shelf.  I asked her about a book I lent her month and months and months ago and then realized that I still had one of hers, but still hadn’t read it.  I figured I might as well at least try the first chapter before giving it back to her.  I read about 1.5 chapters before I went to bed, and I haven’t decided whether to continue reading it or not.  (I forgot to bring it to work today, so I have another night to read a bit more if I choose).  So I don’t have an opinion yet.  Though my old manager said that it was a tough book to get through and she really wasn’t sure which character to “root” for, so I was kind of expecting to not be able to get through the first chapter, but I did.  We’ll see.    Has anyone read it?  Any opinions?

Yay!  Posting my first weekly meme in a while

Related articles

• Musing Mondays (Aug.6) (apaperbacklife.wordpress.com)

Monthly Wrap-Up: April 2012

So I decided to start doing a monthly  wrap-up to help myself get more organized and see how much I have left to do it my challenges.  I’ve seen this done on a few blogs and like to see the progress listed in one place.  So here goes my first attempt.

Back to the Classics Challenge: 3/9 (33.3%)

I really need to pick up the pace with this one.  This was the first challenge I signed up for.  When I first started it, I had a whole idea of how I wanted to complete it (in conjunction with my other challenges) but that whole thing turned on its head.  Now I’m just reading what I want, when I want and if it fits in a category, then yay!   But, I may have to throw Moby Dick to the side and find another book for the first category.  I haven’t picked it up since putting it down back in January and I don’t think I can bring myself to try again… But I won’t give up yet!

What’s in a Name? Challenge: 1/6 (16.7%)

I’ve definitely neglected this one.  I think it’s because most of the books I selected for this were on my TBR list on Goodreads, but I don’t actually have them yet…so I should take a look on Amazon and see if I can get some cheap for the Kindle, or if I can borrow digital copies from my  library.  (it’s way easier for me to borrow digital copies than  actually get to the library!).

50 States Challenge: 5/50 (10%)

I still haven’t even selected all 50 books for this.  It’s much more difficult than I thought!  I do have 11 listed (not including the ones I’ve read) for some of the states, but that still leaves quite a number of states without a book.  When I read my books I keep in mind where the setting is so I can try to add it to this challenge.  Though, most often, I’ve already read a book that takes place in that state, or the story takes place in a different country… any suggestions???

Historical Fiction Challenge: 3/20 (15%)

Since there are no categories, I have a bit more freedom in this.  Even though I’m not very far in the challenge, I’m not concerned because I know I’ll fill this list by the end of the year.

Mount TBR Challenge: 3/25 (12%)

I have MANY books on my Kindle and my physical book shelf to fill this category…I just need to read them!  Again, not really concerned with this, plus I only signed up for it in March.  I’ll get it done by the end of the year!

Overall Reading Challenge: 17/75 (22.7%)

I only have 16 listed because I still haven’t written the review on my most recently finished book.  I’ll get it up there sometime this week.

REVIEW: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern

Goodreads Synopsis: In this mesmerizing debut, a competition between two magicians becomes a star-crossed love story.

The circus arrives at night, without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within nocturnal black and white striped tents awaits a unique experience, a feast for the senses, where one can get lost in a maze of clouds, meander through a lush garden made of ice, stand awestruck as a tattooed contortionist folds herself into a small glass box, and gaze in wonderment at an illusionist performing impossible feats of magic. 

Welcome to Le Cirque des Rêves. Beyond the smoke and mirrors, however, a fierce competition is underway–a contest between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood to compete in “a game,” in which each must use their powers of illusion to best the other. Unbeknownst to them, this game is a duel to the death, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will.

I’ve written about it in a few different posts, but just to recap:  I bought it on my Kindle back on November 20 (fun fact: that’s my birthday, I had just gotten an Amazon Kindle gift card. hehe), but I had it in my Amazon wish list for a few months before that.  I’m not sure what took me so long to buy it, and then again what took me so long to finally read it once I bought it.  So I think I have the Mount TBR Challenge to thank for finally picking it up!

Onward to my review —->

I absolutely LOVED this book!  It took me a bit longer to read than anticipated due to starting a new job this week, but I ended up staying up until 1 this morning to finish it.  Toward the end I was getting a little confused as to the timeline because it moves back and forth to see the same time points from different character points of view, but I think that was more to do with the fact that it was after midnight than because of the writing (I figured it out, though!)

Anyway, I thought it was well written and had really great, vivid descriptions.  I read some other reviews, and I think it had been on Goodreads where I found one that complained about the extent of the description.  When I saw that, I got a bit nervous because too much description can really turn me off, but I thought no such thing at any point in the novel.

It is such a unique and new concept for a story line (to me, at least) and I thought it was so interesting.  The characters were all great and you can really grow to like/dislike/pity/etc. them.

There was one particular chapter that I actually really loved and it was about the Rêveurs (“Dreamers” in French).  The actual name of the circus is Le Cirque des Rêves (Circus of Dreams), so the rêveurs are the “followers” of the Circus.  I think this was one of the best chapters because it steps away from the circus itself and shows how it has affected people all over the world.  It shows how these people are connected and how they create more than just a “fan club” for the circus.  It gives them a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves.  I thought there were some beautifully written passages about them:

“They are enthusiasts, devotees. Addicts. Something about the circus stirs their souls, and they ache for it when it is absent.” (p 143, Kindle edition)

“They seek each other out, these people of such specific like mind. They tell of how they found the circus, how those first few steps were like magic. … When they depart, they shake hands and embrace like old friends, even if they have only just met, and as they go their separate ways they feel less alone than they had before.” (p. 143, Kindle edition)

This was just such a wonderful story with so many vibrant characters,  I strongly urge everyone to read this!

Challenges, Challenges

I’m big on details.  A lot of people might call me too detail-oriented (I can manage to make a 5 minute story 15 minutes long…I like details, so I assume others will too….see, I just did it again!)  I like lists and order.

I’m taking part in 3 challenges: Back to the Classics, What’s In a Name?, and 50 States Challenge. Each challenge has a list of categories.

Let’s go back to my earlier statement about lists.   My goal was to read the books in the order of the categories. As I joined more challenges, I decided that I would read one book from each challenge (obviously, the first category for each challenge, and then go to the 2nd category…but I didn’t need to tell you that, did I?)

HOWEVER, I’m currently reading Moby Dick and it is taking longer to read than I thought…much longer.  Because I set the goal above, I also feel like the book is dragging even more since there are other books waiting for me to finish Moby Dick and I am excited to start them.

Then comes my issue with the 50 States Challenge: I haven’t found a book for each state yet. My personal goal of reading all new books (aka first reads for me) makes it harder for me to find books for these categories as well. How am I supposed to start reading for that challenge without books for the first few categories?!  Ahhhhhhhhhh!

So, I’m throwing out my OCD for details, lists, and order and I’m going to read multiple books at the same time (which is what I normally do when not reading for a challenge) and I’m just going to start with the first state for which I have already chosen a book.  <gulp>

This post alone should be a testament to my detail craziness.   Do I need to explain the way I’m reading for these challenges? Nope.  But I feel like I have to.