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July 20
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Hetty
gave
 
to:
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia (Paperback)
by Elizabeth Gilbert
bookshelves:
memoir
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in July, 2008
Hetty said:
"I enjoyed the first section immensely. Her descriptions of the foods she tried in Italy made me want to get on a plane and tool around Italy finding these out of the way restaurants immediately! The best pizza in the world? So good that she and he...more
I enjoyed the first section immensely. Her descriptions of the foods she tried in Italy made me want to get on a plane and tool around Italy finding these out of the way restaurants immediately! The best pizza in the world? So good that she and her friend each had a whole pie apiece??
She's an entertaining writer who had an amazingly adventurous year. We benefit from her ability to make friends and provide interesting perspective on other cultures and other people.
But at the end I had a few key problems with her story:
1) A part of me felt like I'd been scammed. She has to be sugar coating something. How could someone who had experienced such bone-achingly intense depression shed it so completely? She must still face those moments from time to time...
2)Everytime she brought up the tragedies she was trying to outrun - the failure of her marriage and the failure of her true-love relationship with David, I felt deceived. She was so vague about the gap between the dissolution of her marriage and her falling in love with David. She tries to imply that as her marriage failed, she fell in love. I feel sure she was being dishonest and there had to be more overlap between the two relationships than she was admitting to. And that she mourns the failure of the marriage, but does not seem to be able to express any tenderness of memory or feeling of her husband of 6 years.
3) Which brings me to the next point. I found it very dishonest for her to say that she didn't want to get into the details of how the marriage fell apart because she couldn't be impartial - lulling us into this sense that she was trying to be fair. And yet, the little she explains about the divorce really made her exhusband seem like a complete jerk! Which, perhaps she was, but she certainly did not take the high road and avoid making him seem awful.
In the end, I enjoyed the story and some of her insights. I appreciated her honesty about embarking on her spirtual journey. But I found it hard to swallow that she had really found what she was looking for. It was all too neat and yet unclear. She was able to find this perfect lover with whom she was able to overcome the deep feelings of loneliness she had felt even within relationships before? As I stepped away from the enjoyment of the novel, I couldn't help but think that this is a woman who would be entertaining and charming at a party, but one I could never fully trust and be friends with.
But maybe that is the nature of a mid-life memoir. And it is unfair for me to expect her to have traveled further in her life's journey when she is still rather young. I guess I just wanted her to acknowledge that as much as she had overcome and as much as that one year had given her, she still had a long way to go. Or maybe I'm just slightly envious and bitter that, despite the traumatic transition from her path on the married suburban life to who she is now, her life seems so perfect and charmed. "I anguished, I searched, I became happy, and found a man again." All in one year....less
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July 19
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Hetty
is currently reading:
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (Hardcover)
by Barack Obama
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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May 26
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Hetty
gave
to:
After Dark (paperback)
by Haruki Murakami
bookshelves:
fiction-general
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in May, 2008
Hetty said:
"For reasons I can't wholly define, I am intrigued by this author's surreal style. Weird things happen in his novels that I compare to the feel of a Dali or other visual surrealist. The events make little to no sense in the real world. The magic is...more
For reasons I can't wholly define, I am intrigued by this author's surreal style. Weird things happen in his novels that I compare to the feel of a Dali or other visual surrealist. The events make little to no sense in the real world. The magic is in the act of trying to connect the surreal to something meaningful for me. The story then takes on an oddly comforting personal meaning. After Dark was a much quicker read than some of his other books that I've enjoyed. I completed in a three hour sitting. I wonder how his stories read in the native Japanese and if the connection with his novels by his countrymen is completely different from my own....less
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Hetty
gave
to:
The Witch of Portobello (Hardcover)
by Paulo Coelho (Goodreads author!)
bookshelves:
fiction-general
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in May, 2008
Hetty said:
"While The Alchemist did not resonate with me at all, this one held a little more for me. I think I am a bit too left-brained to wholly buy in to what Mr. Coehlo offers the world, but there are pieces I can connect to. The Witch of Portobello gave m...more
While The Alchemist did not resonate with me at all, this one held a little more for me. I think I am a bit too left-brained to wholly buy in to what Mr. Coehlo offers the world, but there are pieces I can connect to. The Witch of Portobello gave me the opportunity to explore the ideas of expressing one's true nature and personality, without care of what the world expects or wishes to define you as. I enjoyed the method of telling, from the perspective of other characters within the story. One perspective was particularly intriguing to me as it did not hold the main character in such high esteem and adoration. The idea that a character can be iconic and a leader of change, and yet also encompass real human weakness, seems real and appealing to me. Unfortunately, in the end, the author merely depicted that often, great people may be wrongly judged. Nonetheless, and enjoyable read that left me with a few things to ponder....less
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Hetty
gave
to:
Interpreter of Maladies (Hardcover)
by Jhumpa Lahiri
bookshelves:
fiction-general
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in May, 2008
Hetty said:
"What a lovely collection of short stories. Some reasonated more than others. The ones that did were amazing. The amazing part of the feeling of each story was how deeply she could connect me to these worlds I don't know, immerse me in the perspect...more
What a lovely collection of short stories. Some reasonated more than others. The ones that did were amazing. The amazing part of the feeling of each story was how deeply she could connect me to these worlds I don't know, immerse me in the perspectives of the characters so that I could even find myself relating to what they felt and believed. She touches on the lives of those who are displaced, the nature of family and social connections, and although many of the settings she chooses are exotic and unfamiliar to me, the stories touched me in a very real and immediate way. I particularly appreciated that, despite some bleak reality throughout the collection, she ends with one that is simple and hopeful. Enough to bring tears to my eyes....less
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March 05
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Hetty
marked as to-read:
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (Hardcover)
by A.J. Jacobs
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Hetty
gave
to:
The Count of Monte Cristo (Penguin Classics)
by Alexandre Dumas
bookshelves:
fiction-historical
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in February, 2008
Hetty said:
"Growing up, I had only ever read the illustrated super-abridged version, but I loved it even then. The complete unabridged version is certainly a longer read! Maybe I'm out of practice for reading long novels, but I have to admit I did get a bit lo...more
Growing up, I had only ever read the illustrated super-abridged version, but I loved it even then. The complete unabridged version is certainly a longer read! Maybe I'm out of practice for reading long novels, but I have to admit I did get a bit lost during the middle third. When the perspective shifts to that of Baron d'Epinay for awhile. There was suddenly a flood of new characters I had a hard time keeping straight. I definitely need to re-read to clarify all the various connections between the characters. But it also warrants a re-read because there are just so many rich themes that I was only able to skim the surface of during the initial read. I can't wait to read it again....less
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Hetty
marked as to-read:
The God of Intimacy and Action: Reconnecting Ancient Spiritual Practices, Evangelism, and Justice (Hardcover)
by Tony Campolo
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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January 30
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Hetty
marked as to-read:
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World (Hardcover)
by Eric Weiner
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Hetty said:
"The inaugural selection for a bookclub that I've joined.
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