THE BOOK REPORT 3
One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper
Ha. I love this author. Jonathan Tropper has the kind of humor I love, witty, sad and self-deprecating. One Last Thing Before I Go follows Drew, a washed-up divorcee with a life falling apart, in a last ditch effort to bring meaning to his life. Like This Is Where I Leave You, I loved it from the very beginning and was sad to finish it up.
I'd recommend this to anyone who's a screw up or wants to have a good laugh.
Lizzy & Jane by Katherine Reay
Lance and I were walking the aisles of Barnes & Nobles, as we often do, when it jumped out at me. A 50% off sticker! There it was on the cover of Lizzy & Jane. I almost thought it was a mistake. We'd just gotten married and already decided to limit our book buying, but Lance could not deny the deal I'd just found. I'd been wanting to read both of Katherine Reay's books (the other being Dear Mr. Knightley). (Sidenote: I'm a sucker for their cover art. I love it. And I love that the two books match.) I'd even just listened to a podcast interview with her. So how fortuitous it was that I stumbled upon this 50% discount! Of course I bought this book and read it. It's a hefty bit of a book. The characters, Lizzy & Jane, are much like their Austenian counterparts. Lizzy being strong willed and passionate; Jane being reserved and responsible. It chronicles the struggles of two sisters torn apart by their mother's death and thrown back together by Lizzy's career funk & Jane's own battle with cancer.
This one, at times, was difficult for me to read being so close to my own experiences losing my mother to cancer and watching how each of my siblings dealt with her death differently. Thankfully, we all pulled together, and I think became closer, unlike Lizzy & Jane, but I digress. This like many other chick/young adult fictions is fairly predictable but I enjoyed the how Reay painted Lizzy & Jane's relationship, the colorful characters and the delicious foods in her writing. (Lizzy's a chef.) I loved all the reference to Austen novels.
I'd recommend this to anyone with a sister and a sucker for Austen.
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey Overrated?
I bought this with caution. Actually, that's why I bought the cheap trade paper version. I was so unsure of Bossypants. It has so much hype I was afraid I'd hate it just because everyone loved it. But, Ali gave it rave reviews, noting it made her laugh out loud and that she's read it more than once. So I gave it a go. I painfully read the introduction, cringing at jokes I just didn't think were funny. I read on, determined to give it a chance. Lo and behold, Ali was completely right. Again, Ali was spot on with her book recommendation. I literally laughed out loud reading through Bossypants. I love Bossypants' humor afterall. It was hilarious. But aside from its humorous aspects, Bossypants is a book of empowered women in a man's world, of women building each other up and doing whatever the bananas they want… and having faith in yourself to see something through. That was a pretty cheesy summary of her book, but seriously, Tina Fey does not fail. Read this book.
I recommend this to anyone who needs a laugh, likes to laugh and/or loves an underdog.
Read my other book reports and check out all the books I've read over the years here.