Book Club: Love Letters to the Dead

Image: here

The first book of break is read! This is a momentous occasion...I can tell you're enthusiastic too. About a month ago I saw Emma Watson on Twitter talking about this book that was coming out by Ava Dellaira, "Love Letters to the Dead." It sounded interesting so I promptly went on Amazon to pre-order the e-book. I started reading it after I finished unpacking here at home. I loved this book!

It is pretty different. It is written entirely in letter form. The reader is able to follow the story pretty easily through what the main character, Laurel, writes in the letters. Throughout the story, Laurel writes to a variety of deceased famous people and draws comparisons from there lives and what is going on in her own. Over the past year, Laurel and her family have been trying to cope with the passing of her older sister, May. Through these letters, Laurel in a way seeks advice and makes slow improvements that also lead to her finding a way to accept her sisters death. The letters start as a school assignment to write one letter to any one deceased person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain, her sister's favorite. From there she writes several others to Amy Winehouse, Judy Garland, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix and a few others.

I found the book to be beautiful. There were a few parts that were pretty heavy, but these occur more towards the end. The end is definitely where I started crying! I definitely recommend this book to everyone. I got through it pretty quickly, which is something that I like in a summer read.

<3 Ashley

Have you read "Love Letters to the Dead?" What did you think? Do you think you will read it if you haven't?

Book Club: The Nanny Diaries

Image: here 

Being on Spring Break really meant for me that I could sit around all day and do all of the leisure reading that I wanted to do. That's why your getting another book club post so close to the last one. "The Nanny Diaries" by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus is not as recently released as the other books that I have been reading and writing about, but it has been on my list for quite some time. I actually was not aware of this book until I had seen the movie--starring Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans. I absolutely loved the movie which I saw in theaters when it came out in like..2007 (the book came out in 2002!)

I realized almost immediately that the book and movie were similar but by no means as close as some movies are to their literary inspirations. The story follows Nanny who is a senior in college and makes her money from nannying gigs around NYC. The focus here is on one family on the Upper East Side, the Xes who pretty much neglect their child. Nanny goes from being a part-time nanny to practically a full time caregiver and assistant to Mrs. X. She also plays witness to the drama and dysfunction of this family and marriage all while developing a relationship with a guy in the building "Harvard Hottie" <---Chris Evans in the movie...I swoon every time. ;)

I did like the movie better but at the same time I did very much enjoy the book! There is a sequel that I MAY get around to reading; not sure if that will be anytime soon. Anyway, I would recommend this book. I got through it rather quickly and found it quite entertaining.

<3 Ashley

Have you read "The Nanny Diaries"? Have you seen the movie? What are your thoughts?

Book Club: The Fault In Our Stars

Image: here

So I finally did it! For the past year or so friends and other people around me have encouraged me to pick up "The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green and give it a read. I am so glad that I did; I found that it really lived up to the hype. That's just my personal opinion though.

The story follows two cancer patients, Hazel and Augustus, as they meet and develop a beautiful relationship. I really don't want to spoil too much for those who have not read it yet! There was quite a bit of humor in the novel, which was very nice considering that the characters were dealing with something serious; it was refreshing to get some jokes from those characters in particular because they're also teenagers.

I went very quickly through this book. It was an easy book to follow and I honestly did not want to put it down. I grew very attached to these characters and their personalities which may have made the last few chapters even worse for me--I cried like a baby! If you do pick up this book, prepare for the feels! I highly recommend this book! Also, I believe their making/have made a film adaptation of the book. Not sure if I'm going to be able to sit through that with dry eyes...I couldn't even deal with the end of "The Last Song" in theaters!

<3 Ashley

Have you/will you read "The Fault In Our Stars?" Thoughts?

Book Club: French Women Don't Get Fat

Image: here

When I sold my algebra textbook on Amazon I got about $30 in site credit. Naturally, I blew that away in 10 minutes with five books that have been sitting on my wishlist forever. Needless to say, I have a much more full looking Kindle now.

The first book that I decided to dive into was "French Women Don't Get Fat" by Mireille Guiliano. The book basically details the differences between the French and American diets and explains where the fault in the American diet is: portions. There is indeed such a thing as too much of a good thing. Guiliano provides tips she learned growing up and during her own weight struggles after studying abroad in America. I found the information interesting and helpful and certainly attainable. These really aren't drastic changes, one just needs to be willing to make changes and trade up to quality. I definitely recommend giving this book a read! Maybe like me, you will be inspired to make even a small change to how you look at food and how you shop for it!

<3 Ashley

Have you/will you read "French Women Don't Get Fat"? What do you think of it?

Book Club: Gone Girl

Image: here

While working has taken up most of my holiday break (five more days!) one good thing that has come from this break is that I have had the time again to read a book. In school there is no time; I barely have time to do all the assigned reading for classes! Recently, I took to reading "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn. I had heard a lot of good things about this book and thought that it was time for me to follow the herd and read this book.

I loved it! It got to a point when I really could not put the book down. I'm not going to divulge too much of the plot to you; a man's wife goes missing and the whole Missouri town and her NYC parents begin a frantic search for here. The book switches perspective chapter to chapter from Nick's to Amy's diary entries up to the point she was kidnapped. Over the course of reading this book I had developed so many theories as to what had happened to Amy only to have another piece of information introduced in the next chapter that would kill that theory. "Gone Girl" is great at keeping the reader on their toes and making them think.

The ending is not what you would expect. By the end of the book I had so many feelings that maybe it was a good thing that the book ended. Seriously, I was in an empty room and yelling at the characters I was reading about off of my Kindle. If you are looking for the next book on your reading list, I definitely recommend making it "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn. I had a great time reading this novel!

<3 Ashley

Have you read "Gone Girl?" What did you think?

Book Club: Beautiful Ruins

photo above contains small excerpt from 'Someday, Someday Maybe' by Lauren Graham. Check out my post on that one here.

A few weeks ago, I was going through the vast space that is the internet and rediscovered Lauren Conrad’s Summer Reading post. I scrolled through all of the book options, adding each one to my Amazon wishlist. One that I was able to get on my Kindle through the library was Jess Walter's “Beautiful Ruins.” Boy did I love this book!

Image: here

Overall, it is a love story that takes place on an Italian coastal port. The characters are a mix of fictional and real (actor Richard Burton has a substantial role and Liz Taylor is mentioned over and over.) The story is set in the 1960s during the time that the film Cleopatra--starring both Burton and Taylor--is in production in Rome. Another actress from the film, Dee Moray, is sent away to a village on the coast while she is recovering from an illness (this is a huge conflict itself in the book, but I won’t ruin it for you!) There she spends a few days in the Hotel Adequate View owned by a young man named Pasquale who cannot help but fall for her beauty. Her stay, however, doesn’t last very long due to some very Hollywood scandals.

In this novel, the time period and setting are constantly changing from chapter to chapter--most take place in Italy in 1962 and present day Los Angeles where Pasquale has traveled all these years later to find Dee Moray. This changing is not a bad thing, I found. I think it allowed the author to really cover all her bases with character backstories and allow the audience to really learn about what all these characters have had to go through over time and what makes them the way they are. I thought that despite all the time travel, the book still maintained fluidity and made perfect sense to me. I would definitely recommend “Beautiful Ruins” by Jess Walter.

<3 Ashley

Will you read “Beautiful Ruins?” What books are on your reading list?

Review: Revenge Wears Prada

Image: here

At the end of Lauren Weisberger's "Devil Wears Prada" we saw Andrea Sachs leave Runway and its tyrannical editor Miranda Priestly in Paris and begin a bit of her own freelance writing in hopes of being published in The New Yorker. "Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns" opens a decade later as Andy exchanges vows with her love Max (read: not Adrien Grenier or Simon Baker) Andy and Emily--remember Miranda's first assistant--have launched a wedding magazine The Plunge.

There is a lot going on in this story--wedding, business, baby, all sorts of relationships--but what I assumed to be the big conflict does not actually rear its head until well into the book. Elias-Clark, the publishing company that Runway operates under has interests in acquiring The Plunge which would doom Andy to working under Miranda again who is head publishing editor or something.

In my opinion, the book was not at all horrible; it was just a tad predictable. The character of Andy also annoyed me more as the book progressed, often coming of as short-sighted and a bit irrational. I thought that the first book was much better, but obviously I'm not going to tell you to read this book or not. I just had some difficulty thinking the same way as the story's protagonist.

<3 Ashley

Are you a fan of "Devil Wears Prada?" Have you read this sequel? What are your thoughts?