Euphoria by Lily King
Epilogue by Will Boast
Secret Lives of the Tsars by Micahel Farquhar (received through NetGalley)
The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg (received through NetGalley)
Recent Reviews:
Summer House with
Swimming Pool by Herman Koch (received through the publisher)
4 stars
I can’t really say why I actually like this book. The characters are all fairly unlikable and the plot is dark, depressing and disturbing. The narrator was unreliable and pretty icky in his own right. However, I found that I read through this really quickly and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next to these horrible people. The narrator is a doctor to the artists (writers, actors, directors) of the Netherlands and makes a living by pretending to listen to their maladies and being easy with the prescriptions. One of his clients, a famous actor, invites him and his family to a summer house on some unnamed beach. The summer turns out very badly and the narrator leads the readers through the sequence of events leading to his medical license being under review and in jeopardy of revocation. There is definitely a lot of violence and disrespect towards women and the male characters are all incredibly horrible but this book is readable and the plot suspenseful. I am not sure this would be for everyone but I did find it very strangely compelling. I received this book for free through a publisher giveaway.
Drunk Mom by
Jowita Bydlowska (received through NetGalley)
4 stars
Jowita Bydlowska writes an
unflinchingly honest memoir of her time as an alcoholic during her son’s early
years. She writes in a manner that
brought to mind someone sitting down and just getting it all out. The result is a very inside look into the
mind of an alcoholic, including visits to liquor stores, the search for bottle
hiding places and waking up after a blackout.
It is not a pretty picture and is more than a little claustrophobic but
I think this is the first substance abuse memoir that I really felt what it was
like to live with that compulsion to drink all day long. It wasn’t always easy for me to read, especially
as a fellow parent, so I took multiple reading breaks in order to completely
finish it but it was a well written and candid memoir. I received this book through NetGalley in
exchange for and honest review.
Jennifer, Gwyneth & Me by Rachel Bertsche (received through
NetGalley)
3 – 3.5 stars
I am completely torn by this
book. On the one hand, I understand what
it feels like to be in a slump and have to force yourself out of it, on the
other hand I found the continuous celebrity advice sort of grating. Rachel Bertsche found herself working from
home after being laid off from her job.
All of her pre-conceived notions of working at home were quickly
dispelled and she found herself in a rut.
She slept in, stayed in her comfy clothes all day and found herself
skimping on her exercise routine. This
did not sit well with her “perfectionist” self so she decided to turn to the
celebrities to help invigorate her lifestyle routine. Jennifer Anniston’s body, Gwyneth Paltrow’s
diet, Sarah Jessica Parker’s fashion, Tina Fey’s professional motivation,
Jennifer Garner’s marriage and Beyonce for the whole package. Each celebrity gets their own chapter with
lots of sound bites and advice. I liked
the author and a lot of the steps she took were very common sense and could be
applied in small doses to anyone. I
especially like her very personal stories about her attempts to conceive a
baby. I think my main problem of this
book was the unrealistic lifestyle advice taken from the various celebrity
women. Bertsche tried to put it all in
perspective and apply it to her more modest life, but I just couldn’t
relate. I received this book from
NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment