Genre Challenge

Samantha at Bookworms and Tea Lovers is hosting:

There are 12 basic genres and she wants us to get reading outside our comfort zones. It runs from November 1, 2008 - November 1, 2009 I'm going to do option A, which is "Read 10 books, drop the genre you read the most and one of your own choosing." I'm dropping horror because I'm a big wimp and I'd say that my beloved chick lit is basically romance, so I'll leave it out, too.

Here's my list (subject to change):

1. Crime - The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz
2. Detective - The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom
3. Mystery - And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
4. Thriller - Vodka Neat by Anna Blundy
5. Science Fiction - A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
6. Action/adventure - Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
7. Fantasy - The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
8. Realistic - Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
9. Historical - The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue
10. Western - The Chili Queen by Sandra Dallas

Review: The Perfect Manhattan

The Perfect Mahattan by Leanne Shear and Tracey Toomey
3 stars

Reasons for reading: sounded fun; Bourbon Heritage Month for Holiday Challenge, New York setting for Triple 8 Challenge

Book description (edited): Meet Columbia grad and aspiring screenwriter Cassie Ellis. Eager to avoid an office job (even if it's for US Weekly) but needing to pay off her student loans, she shocks everyone she knows by opting for a sexier, more flexible job: mixing drinks. Never mind that she doesn’t know single-malt whiskey from Jack Daniel’s: she’s eager to learn. With the help of a bar owner she happens to meet while out for a graduation dinner with her parents, she’s soon cranking out three-olive martinis with the city’s glitterati fifteen-deep at the bar—all while angling for tips, fielding bad pick-up lines, and trying to keep up with the other bartenders who party as hard as their stylish clientele.

When Cassie accepts a summer gig bartending at the hottest new club in the Hamptons she finds herself catapulted into a whirlwind of dazzling celebrity and over-the-top wealth unlike anything she’s ever seen. Life behind the velvet rope is hard to resist, especially when she finds herself falling for a Hamptons hottie named James. But as the summer progresses, and she finds herself surrounded by playboys, moguls, spoiled rich kids, and Paris Hilton clones in strappy stilettos, she soon wonders if playing the ersatz socialite—while actually trying to make a living—is more than she bargained for.

First line: I was drowning in a sea of bev naps, searching frantically for the bottle of Grey Goose, while hordes of people thirty deep with contorted red faces and bulging veins were screaming drink orders at me.

My thoughts: This was a fun, beach-type read. Nothing too serious. I've been quite fascinated by the Hamptons since I read James Brady's Further Lane a few years ago, so I always perk up my eyes, so to speak, when a book is set there. But, I must say, it sounds exhausting! Maybe I'm old before my time, but I can't imagine sharing a house with dozens of people and spending my nights trying desperately to get into places to get drunk. But, I don't know much about bartending or bars, so that made it an interesting read, even if it's not a lifestyle I could manage.

And the snobbery! On one hand, part of my fascination with the Hamptons is that it's for the rich and elite, but reading about it almost firsthand (both authors were, unsurprisingly, bartenders) is really sad - it's hard to believe that people are allowed to treat others poorly just because of their wealth in this day and age. But then, I guess that's something that has never and will never change. After watching the Gossip Girl crowd spend their summer in the Hamptons, this is definitely a view from the other side of the tracks.

The result of the romance with the rich boy is pretty predictable, but the happy ending is a bit unexpected and nice. In the end, Cassie definitely learns that being one of the Pearls Girls, as she nicknames James' socialite female friends, isn't something she's cracked up to be, and that's a good thing.

Blogs I Like!

To kick off Book Blogger Appreciation Week, Amy has asked us to post about blogs we enjoy that weren't nominated for BBAW awards (though I enjoy a lot of those, too). I have a feeling that I'm going to discover a bunch more, too, from her Mr Linky list of others' faves.

There are so many great book blogs out there, so I don't mean to slight anyone, but I wanted to highlight just a few that I really enjoy reading and always look forward to reading their comments on my posts.

Raidergirl at An Adventure In Reading
She's my reading kindred spirit!!

Stephanie at Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic
Vampire lit fan and great commenter!

The ladies at Girls Just Reading
Fellow fans of chick lit and YA lit!

Wendy at A Novel Challenge
Fuels my addiction by keeping me posted on all the challenges out there in the book blogosphere!

Book Blogger Appreciation Week

What a fun idea! Amy is hosting Book Blogger Appreciation week next week. I think it's a great idea for the book blogging community.

Click the button below for more info and/or to register. I'm just in the nick of time, registration and voting close tonight, so hop on over!

Review: Indie Girl

Indie Girl by Kavita Daswani
3 stars

Reasons for reading: Orbis Terarrum Challenge; enjoyed one of her adult books

Book description: "Fifteen-year-old Indie Konkipuddi has always dreamed of becoming a fashion reporter. She'd do anything to land an internship with glamorous Celebrity Style magazine -- even babysit publisher Aaralyn Taylor's two-year-old son. Indie's neurosurgeon dad can't understand why Indie would want to spend her weekends picking Play-Doh off of someone else's Persian carpets, and pretty soon she starts asking herself the same thing. hen Indie finds out that (1) Celebrity Style is in trouble, and (2) Hollywood's hottest star is having her wedding dress made in a village in India. Indie's sure she's scored the juiciest gossip in town -- the kind of story that will put the magazine back on the map and finally land her the internship! But when things don't pan out exactly as planned, Indie wonders -- will Aaralyn ever see her as anything more than just the hired help?"

First line: "Today, I would be meeting the woman whom I was convinced would change my life."

My thoughts: I really enjoyed Daswani's For Matrimonial Purposes a few years ago, so I was really interested when I saw she'd written a YA novel.

My library is in a city with a large South Asian population, so I was really glad to be able to get a chick lit novel for the teen girls in that population. One of the things about both adult and teen chick lit is that it's usually pretty darn white. As far as I can tell, white in the Gossip Girl books and even on the TV show, they only have one Asian and one black girl who may as well have TOKEN stamped on their Prada bags. This book addresses issues like that - Indie's dad points out that no matter how successful some Indian celebrities might become at home, they never really break into Hollywood. Aralyn says something I found shockingly ignortant to Indie - "I hear that people from your part of the world are good with domestic duties." Elements like that elevated this book above typical fashion-obsessed teen lit (interning for fashion houses or magazines seems to be the hot trend in YA fiction these days, overtaking the previously popular nannying).

But I liked that Daswani also addressed that, while North Americans may have either no thought about people from other cultures or insulting thoughts like Aralyn's, people from another culture often isolate themselves. After contemplating that, among other things, her family spends American holidays with other Indians eating tandoori chicken, Indie realizes "We were Americans but in name only." It's a tough issue - the desire and need to maintain traditions balanced against the fact that the family has moved to a different country with a different culture.

There's a bit of everything else in the book - a bit of romance, a bit of struggle against parents, a life lesson in being yourself and not letting someone disrespect you. And lots of fashion, as well. I think teen girls from any background would enjoy reading about Indie's unique style and her attempt to follow her dream.

Since this is for Orbis Terrarum, I'll mention how funny it seems that Daswani counts as a Hong Kong author because that's where she was born, but her books are completely, utterly steeped in Indian culture. She has a real gift for making the reader see the beautiful clothing, taste the food, and really be immersed in a different world.

Review: Fairest

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
4 stars

Reasons for reading: I love Gail Carson Levine; Young Adult Challenge

Book description: "Once upon a time, there was a girl who wanted to be pretty . . . Aza's singing is the fairest in all the land, and the most unusual. She can "throw"t her voice so it seems to come from anywhere. But singing is only one of the two qualities prized in the Kingdom of Ayortha. Aza doesn't possess the other: beauty. Not even close. She's hidden in the shadows in her parents' inn, but when she becomes lady-in-waiting to the new queen, she has to step into the light—especially when the queen demands a dangerous favor. A magic mirror, a charming prince, a jealous queen, palace intrigue, and an injured king twine into a maze that Aza must penetrate to save herself and her beloved kingdom."

First line: "I was born singing."

My thoughts: I usually love the first work I read by an author the best and I loved, loved, Ella Enchanted. But I enjoyed Fairest, too. This re-telling of Snow White has a lot going on - an abandoned baby, a chance to rise above one's station, beauty potions, ogres, gnomes (rather than dwarves), a mean (not quite evil) queen, a magic mirror, a handsome prince (with big ears) . . .

What I liked:

The book had a lot to say about beauty and self-esteem, and not just in an "everyone should feel good about yourself" bland way. The unkindness Aza faces because of her appearance rang true. I liked that the beauty potions were temporary - it wasn't a typical fairy-tale situation where the heroine is transformed by magic, she has to learn to accept herself. And even though Aza does come to accept herself somewhat, it's not a quick and easy change - she still feels it will take quite some time before she can smile at her image in a mirror. She also realizes that part of her problem has been that she believed what others thought about her and so she needed to accept some of the blame for the way she felt about herself. A classic lesson in overcoming a negative self-image. And while he botches it a bit, Ijori eventually convinces Aza that he loves the way she looks and always has, which is what everyone wants from their beloved.

I really liked that Ayortha was a kingdom of singers and that so much of the book was made up of their songs. I'd love to live in a kingdom like that!

The references to Ella and Frell that made Ayortha seem like part of a larger world and gave me a few happy thoughts of Ella Enchanted.

What I didn't like:

The whole magic mirror element was a great idea, but I found it rather rushed. It didn't seem as central to the Snow White-inspired story as it should have been. The mirror is mentioned a few times after Aza meets the queen and she does try to find out about it, but most of the explanation of the mirror's history, the queen's involvement with it, who the spirit in the mirror was (which I didn't find convincing or satisfying), and then Aza's vanquishing of it takes place in 2 or 3 chapters near the end and the real action is too quickly packed into only in a few pages.

Still, Gail Carson Levine is a wonderful author and I'd definitely recommend it. I'm looking forward to reading her latest, Ever.

Review: Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb by Tilly Bagshawe
3.5 stars

Reason for reading: I loved her previous books

Book description: "Honor Palmer has always been a fighter. First, for her father's love, approval or even just his attention. When that failed, Honor switched her efforts to saving the family hotel that shares her name. Palmers, a beautiful old jewel of a building nestled on the coast of the Hamptons, used to be the most glamorous destination in the world. Now Honor wants to restore its reputation, its glitz and its guestlist. But there's a new boy in town with a different plan. Lucas Ruiz is no stranger to struggle. He's worked his way up from the grimy hotel laundries of Ibiza, via Sweden and London, and now as manager of the new hotel on the block, he wants to bring modern boutique-chic to the States. He's got no time for the faded traditions of Palmers - or the ball-breaking girl who's trying to save it. As Honor and Lucas prepare to go head to head to get the rich and famous checking in, the locals are busy checking out the backstairs gossip. Blackmail, adultery and the dirtiest of dirty tricks are all in a day's work behind the scenes of the five-star facades."

First line: "Over my dead body! D'you hear me? You'll take Palmers over my dead body, you scheming, greedy, little - "

My thoughts: I didn't like this one as much as Bagshawe's Adored and Showdown. I didn't find it quite as, well, novel. The influence of my beloved Jilly Cooper (whom Bagshawe says is "is one of my heroines and I'm sure that her books have influenced me") is even more obvious here than in the last two books, even down to having a very long cast of characters outlined at the start of the novel. But it was still a fun read.

I love fancy hotels, so having that as a setting appealed to me. I'd love to stay at Palmers. The foiling of Tisch, the hotel magnate villain, was interesting - his brand of evil was pretty timely and not something run-of-the-mill and he was outed in a funny scene. As with all good bonkbusters, the romances are all predictable and there's lots of sex. It was a perfect end-of-summer read.