Tuesday, April 13, 2010

hey, remember me?

I used to blog here quite regularly. But I've recently passed on blogging to instead hop on planes and travel to the midwest every week.

What that travel has allowed me to do, however, is get back to reading, which is something I haven't done in quite some time.

On my last trip to Chicago, I was traveling solo on both legs of my journey, so I was able to relax and read in peace, instead of being made to feel guilty that I wasn't whipping out my laptop and slapping the keys every time I found myself sitting down.

(More solo travel, please.)

I just finished reading "eat, pray, love".

I know, I'm like 6 years late to the party. But they're making it into a movie, so that lit a fire under my ass, as I only see movies that have been books after I've read the book. The movie is slated to come out this summer, starring Julia Roberts (who, btw, is NOT who I would have cast in this role at all. I'm thinking Charlize Theron. Or Gretchen Mol.)

I was excited to read this book for three reasons:
1. it was a memoir, and I thought reading a memoir might make me start writing a memoir
2. it was like literary peer pressure...everyone else had read it
3. it had been sitting in my closet for over a year...taunting me

I thought the book was...good.

Not life-changing (like I had heard), not the best read of my life (also what I had heard).

I'm thinking she kept a journal because if not, she has one mean memory. I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday (which will my MY memoir rather interesting, don't you think?)

I devoured her tales of Italy.
Skimmed (to put it nicely) her stay in India.
And enjoyed her time in Bali.

I give it a B-. Perhaps this is the one instance that the movie will be better.

I'm getting ready to take flight again tomorrow (and next week, too!)...with nothing to read. I think a stop at B&N is in order!

Any suggestions?

9 comments:

FunnyGal KAT said...

"The Lovely Bones" is a great book (sad, but still great). And you can't go wrong with pretty much any Jodi Picoult title (I especially liked "My Sister's Keeper" and "The Pact"). I also just finished listening to Dean Koontz's "Odd Thomas" on CD and really enjoyed it. I hope this helps!

Tasha said...

I really loved Eat, Pray, Love and I'm sorry you didn't adore it.. at least it was better than making small talk to some stinky tourist on the flights. ;-) I'm not seeing Julia Roberts in the lead either, but maybe she will be better than I expect. How about a review of your pick of the top 10 books of all time? :-)

Little Ms Blogger said...

I read Eat Pray Love last year and just finished Lovely Bones 1 month ago.

You should read Drink, Play, F$ck - male version of the book. It is funny and you forget this book is fiction.

Very light read - good for a plane ride.

Stereos and Souffles said...

I'm laughing at LMB's suggestion. Only b/c I think it would be funny to see the look on your fellow passengers faces when they see the title. I read Eat Pray Love the same way you did.

kk said...

FG KAT: LOVED "Lovely Bones"...and those 2 JP books are the only 2 I've ready by her!

TASHA: I adored the IDEA of it...but really liked when she was in Italy. mostly because she kept talking about food.

LMB: Um, that book sounds hilarious.

S&S: If I get any funny reactions, I'll be sure to blog about it!

D-Nice said...

I read a book before you! Might be a 1st. I would give it a B too, her second book about marrying the guy she met came out about a few months ago. There was a good article about the author in the Globe when the book came out and there were a few great quotes from her about deciding to take the trips and getting married again.

GlitterFactory said...

Water for Elephants was a fun and good airport read...

If you're into screwed up stories about childhood trauma and redemption, Five Quarters of the Orange is a good choice...

If you like artistic historical fiction, Girl with a Pearl Earring is AMAZING...

And Bonk is next on my list because I keep hearing it's hilarious. Kind of a dark premise (it's all about cadaver research or some such), but the reviews are so positive I've kept it on the list.

Oh! And!
I finally read The Kite Runner, and was underwhelmed, but overall glad I had taken the time.

Trish Driscoll said...

For me, the content of the book got lost because of the way she writes. As soon as an author puts parenthesi (sp?) around something to point out it's funny or que me how to inteperpret I shut down. She did it constnatly in that book - possibly it was her editor's fault. Write your memoir. It would be terrific. Hope you're well.

Trish Driscoll said...

p.s. - I *really* can't spell...or type...