Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day by Winifred Watson

I added Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day after hearing about the movie with the same name. I decided to read the book and I'm glad I did. It was a light hearted romp.
Miss Pettigrew's adventure starts with her looking for employment. Miss Pettigrew is a terrible governess but needs a job in order to keep her room. At the employment agency, Miss Pettigrew is given the name of Miss LaFosse who is looking for a governess. Miss Pettigrew heads to Miss LaFosse's residence determined to make this stick. But when she gets to Miss LaFosse's there are no children, but Miss LaFosse needs a lot of help and Miss Pettigrew is determined to help her. Miss LaFosse leads the opposite life of Miss Pettigrew. Miss LaFosse is a lounge singer, with more men than she knows what to do with. Determined to see Miss LaFosse settled down, Miss Pettigrew injects herself in a world she knows nothing about.
I loved both the fish out of water and the Cinderella aspects to Miss Pettigrew. Miss Pettigrew is about twenty years older than Miss LaFosse and her friends. Their expectations in life and with relationships are completely different. But Miss LaFosse welcomes Miss Pettigrew and gives her a makeover.
I really enjoyed Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day. It was cute and an enjoyable read.

Snow Flower And The Secret Fan by Lisa See

I'm sad that I didn't read this book sooner. It was a bittersweet tale of two women and their friendship over the course of their lives. See does a marvelous job, not only painting the picture of the time period these women lived in but creating characters that I as a reader cared about. From the first few pages I was drawn into Lily and Snow Flower's lives. I enjoyed all the detail that See provides about their day to day lives. The information about how a family in rural China might have lived day to day was fascinating to me. I did sadden me to hear how women were treated and how under valued women were seen. Overall, a wonderful story about women and their friendship.

Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice

I'm a big fan of vampires. Yes even before Twilight and the current glut of vampire books. But I'd never read Interview With The Vampire. Perhaps it was the hype, perhaps it was the fact I'd read countless other vampire books but Interview With The Vampire wasn't my favorite.
Louis tells the story of how he became a vampire, his time spent with Lestat, how they found Claudia, and how Louis and Claudia learned about other vampires. Since Louis is telling his story after it's all happened, he's able to add details and explain how things turned out. I kind of wish that after he started telling the story we were transported back to where Louis' story began. For me the story dragged. I couldn't get into Louis' story. I didn't care about any of the characters that much.
Overall I was unimpressed with Interview With The Vampire. It'll take a lot for me to continue with The Vampire Chronicles series.

The Hours By Michael Cunningham

Since I read Mrs Dalloway a few weeks ago I decided it was time to read The Hours. I wasn't sure I was going to like it but I really enjoyed it.
The Hours is the story of three women-Virginia Woolf, Clarrisa Vaughn, and Laura Brown. Virginia is recovering and writing Mrs Dalloway. Clarrisa is getting ready to throw a party for her friend, Richard, a poet who is receiving an award. Laura is a pregnant stay at home mom who is reading Mrs Dalloway. The story is quite simple. Each woman is going through her day, interacting with spouses, friends, and neighbors. Each woman lives a quiet life but they all have this inner turmoil, this longing for something else. It's quite beautiful how each story unfolds and each woman is revealed.
I have never seen the movie but I want to now that I finished the book. It's an elegant story and an enjoyable read.

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Mrs Dalloway seems like a book I should have read in one of my high school English classes. Since my teacher didn't get the memo, I read it now (some 15 years after high school). I thought I would like Mrs Dalloway since it's very stream of consciousness (no, it is stream of consciousness). And I tend to think and tell stories in the same manner. Sadly, another classic I didn't fall in love with. I did enjoy the writing. It was very beautiful but I couldn't always understand what was going on. I'm glad to have read it so I can read The Hours, also on my Fill In The Gaps list.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

I added Slaughterhouse Five to my Fill In The Gaps list because I felt it was one of those books I should have read. I'm glad I read it but I wasn't crazy about it.
The one aspect of Slaughterhouse Five I did enjoy was the time travel. Billy gets unstuck from time and travels through different parts of his life. I felt it was a unique way to experience the characters. I enjoyed the non-linear path the book took. I found it easy to read and amusing at times. Overall a good read but I didn't find it earth-shattering.

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

I choose to read I, Robot because it's a science fiction classic and I'd seen the Will Smith movie. The movie and the book have nothing in common but the name. There's a brief similarity to one story in the book and some of the names are the same.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I tend to shy away from heavy science fiction. Sometimes it's too abstract for me. I, Robot isn't too abstract or too heavy. Instead it focuses on the human elements of the story. How people interacted with robots, how the robots themselves displayed their own humanity.
The premise of the book is a reporter doing a story on Susan Calvin, a roboosychologist, as she approaches retirement. Susan remembers a world without robots and she's been working with robots since the beginning.  It's through these stories about different robot types that show robots developing a consciousness time and time again. Some of the stories were funny and some were sad.
Overall I enjoyed I, Robot and would read more of Asimov's books.

The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve

I don’t remember why I put this on my FITG list. Probably because it was on Oprah’s book club list. Anyway, I’d heard good things about the Pilot’s Wife and I’m glad I took the time to read it.
It was a fast read. I read it in a day. It was very engrossing. Kathryn is married to Jack, who’s plane crashes while leaving London. Kathryn has dreaded this day. The story follows Kathryn’s grief and discovery of things Jack kept from her.
Overall I enjoy the characters. Kathryn was very understandable. Julia, Kathryn’s grandmother, was wonderful. I couldn’t make my mind up about Robert of Jack. Both were hiding things from Kathryn so neither of them will really likeable.
This would be a terrific book for a plane ride or a beach read. You won’t want to put it down.

The Girl She Used To Be By David Cristofano

I added this on to my Fill In The Gaps list after seeing numerous people talk, no, rave about it. I'm so glad I finally found out what the fuss was all about. This is a fantastic story. I had trouble putting it down. This is the story of Melody. Melody's in the Witness Protection Program. She's been in the program since she was 6. She's about 26 now. Despite this being a short book (only 240ish pages) there's a lot crammed in. We learn about Melody over the course of the book as well as Sean (Mr FBI protector) and Jonathan (has strong Mob ties). And we see Melody grow and change to become who she wants to be. The Girl She Used To Be was wonderful story about finding who you are. Great story, wonderful writing too.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

I don't know what to say about this book. It was a well written book but I didn't care for it. The story follows Yossarian, a bombardier during World War 2. I use follow loosely. The story isn't linear. I had a real hard following what was going on. It was like reading an episode of Hogan's Heroes or Gomer Pyle. Plenty of funny parts, just confusing over all. I talked a few people who stated this was their favorite book of all time and they said I had it right. It's supposed be confusing, ridiculously so. Glad to have this one off my list.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I was anxious to read Water for Elephants before the movie came out. I knew once the movie came out I would picture the actors as the characters so I wanted to make up my own mind about them first.
I loved this book. The imaginary was beautiful that I could smell the popcorn on the midway and hear the horse hooves on the dirt. The world Gruen paints both inside the circus world and later with 90-something Jacob in a nursing home is so magical. Jacob is a delightful character. I could really connect with him.
Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob who joined the circus in his 20's.  Jacob is adrift and finds distraction, a family and love in the circus.  Now I know why people wanted to run away and join the circus. I greatly enjoyed the ride.

Eternal by Cynthia L Smith

I added Eternal to my Fill In The Gaps after getting it from the library a few times but failing to read it before it had to be back. I didn't want to forget to read it. I also had to keep taking it back because this is the second in the Tantalize series. I finally read the first book, Tantalize (see my thoughts here) so i could read Eternal.
I wasn't crazy about Tantalize but I enjoyed Eternal more. I was also disappointed that I probably could have read Eternal without reading Tantalize. It says the action takes part in the same world but there's no story or character overlap. I heard there is in the third book, Blessed.
Eternal is the story of Miranda and Zachary, her guardian angel. Ok, I love Zachary. Who wouldn't love a hunky angel following them around. But Zachary is funny, sweet and really cares about Miranda. He's everything you want in YA male lead. Miranda starts off kind of weak but grows as the book goes on. I enjoyed the themes of this one more too. Good vs evil. Heaven vs hell. Reminded me of a Supernatural episode (love that show!).
Eternal is certainly not a meaty book but it is a light fun read. I enjoyed the banter. There was plenty of humor in this one. As well as romance. Great second book in the series, left me wanting more.

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

I've never seen Girl, Interrupted but it's one of those movies you hear about from time to time. I do enjoy reading the book before I see the movie if I can help it.
Girl, Interrupted is the memoir of Kaysen's time in McLean Hospital, a famous psychiatric hospital. Kaysen's story is interesting. Spoiler alert: I spent a lot of time trying to understand why Kaysen was in the hospital only to figure out at the end that Kaysen herself was never really sure. But Kaysen's writing wasn't as fascinating as her characters. The stories aren't linear and sometimes I had trouble figuring out when something happened as she talks about the time in the hospital, before she was in the hospital and after she was released.
The overall story made me sad. Rather than trying to trying to help these young women, it was acceptable to lock them away. I don't believe anyone was cured according to Kaysen's account, but either learned to suppress those feelings or outgrew them.
Interesting memoir. Despite being a short book (168 pages), it took some time to read and process.

It's Always Something by Gilda Radner

I've always loved Gilda Radner. Her time on Saturday Night Live produced some of my favorite sketches. I choose to read her autobiography to learn more about her life. Radner started writing this book after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer so much of the book is about her dealing with the cancer. It was really hard to read at times. I knew the ending to the story but Radner was so upbeat about getting better and living 50 more years that it sometimes was too much.
Radner is not the best writer. Most of the time the stories were more like long letters to a far away friend. I enjoyed some of the stories about her childhood and when she first came to New York, but most of them wound up relating to cancer somehow. It was much more the autobiography of Gilda's struggle with cancer than about Gilda's life. It was a bittersweet story. She was such a bright comedic actress and she left a wonderful legacy with her characters and with Gilda's Club. Her story definitely had me crying at times. Her strength and her commitment to beating cancer so others could too was so touching. I'd recommend this to Gilda fans as well as those who's lives cancer has touched.

Friday Night Lights by HG Bissinger

I choose to read this because I like football. I did see the movie but that was a determining factor in reading this. I chose to read this because I like football and I wanted to read a good story about one season in the life of a football team. But that wasn't this book. Bissinger is an amazing writer. He won the Pulitzer Prize for a good reason. The prose flowed like poetry. But there was too much about the town and politics of Odessa, Texas. I wanted more about the team, the games. Bissinger gave away the ends of the game too soon. He's not a sports writer. But I wanted to be taken through the game.
If you've never experienced a high school football game in a town where football is king then you might wonder why an entire town would go to a high school football game. Why a town would treat 16 & 17 year old kids like gods. And those are the questions Bissinger is trying to answer. Not how 30 odd kids survived a season and made the playoffs. But what compels adults to crowd into a stadium on a September Friday night and watch said kids play against other kids. Friday Night Lights examines that phenomena. Gives us outsiders a peek at what it's like to live in Odessa, Texas and cheer for the Permian Panthers.

Lament By Maggie Stiefvater

Wow, I couldn't put this one down. I finished in a day. It's been a while since I read a book I couldn't put down.
Lament is the story of Deirdre, a 16 year old girl. She plays the harp. One day at a competition, she meet a boy, Luke and her story goes from ordinary to damn interesting quickly. Oh I love fairie folk. I especially like dark fey and their trickery. The story was engrossing. I wanted to know what the fey wanted with Deirdre, about her bizarre aunt, Delia, and the gorgeous boys in her life, Luke and James. Parts reminded me of Wicked Lovely and Except the Queen, but Lament was different. Just the right parts magic, mystery and romance for me.  I'm looking forward to continuing the series.

The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery

I enjoyed The Teahouse Fire. The story follow Aurelia as she travels from France to New York then to Japan. Determined to make her own luck, to change her fate, she finds herself in the Shin household, one of Japan's most famous tea families. The way the family accepts her as different but not a foreigner was truly a gift to her.  I love the contrast later when the Westerns come to Japan. The divide between adapting to the Western ways and keeping with tradition was fascinating to me. I really enjoyed The Teahouse Fire. I'm sad it took me so to read it.

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Yea! Finally done with Middlemarch. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy it. It was a long book and it took me almost a month to read. I summarized my thoughts halfway last week but I thought I would talk a little about the characters and why I liked or didn't like them.
Dorothea-Probably my favorite character in the book. Dorothea longs for a life different that she has. She longs to be poor (or maybe just not as rich). She wants to learn more and not be constrained by what's right for women to learn. Dorothea speaks her mind overall and, in my mind, is the most steady of the characters.
Mr Casaubon-I liked Mr Casaubon at the beginning. Over time, I pitied him. Here's this older gentleman, doing ok in life. He meets this young woman who wants to be his companion and assist him with his writings. After marrying Dorothea, it seemed like he didn't know what to do with her. Honestly I think he probably would have been better off with a secretary than a wife.
Mr Brooks-This man's speech patterns annoyed the crap out of me. Overall nice man, just never looked forward to him speaking.
Celia-Not as much substance as Dorothea. But she served as a nice opposite to Dorothea. Celia was happy to get married, have babies, and do as expected by the rest of society.
Rosamond-Similar to Celia. She was a good opposite to Dorothea as well. I did want to write her off but she proved helpful at the end. After she marries Mr Lydgate, Rosy has to learn that life sometimes isn't as easy as it was when you live with your folks.
Fred & Mary-Probably my favorite couple. I loved the evolution of "them". I was excited by their happy ending in the Finale. I also liked her mother and father. Could have read a book about the Garths on their own happily.
Will-My favorite male character. In the beginning he seemed like a shyster but redeemed himself in my eyes by refusing Mr Bulstrode's money and attempting to leave Dorothea to live her life without his interference.
Overall I enjoyed Middlemarch. Especially the last half. Once I understood what was going on and what Eliot was trying to do (the life of a town's inhabitants and how they affect each other), I relaxed and enjoyed Middlemarch. It's a beautiful story of love, family, honor, trust, patience, and society.

Dry by Augusten Burroughs

I had never read any of Augusten Burroughs' work. But I cannot wait to read some more.
Dry is the story of Augusten getting sober. Since I didn't read Running With Scissors first, I didn't know Augusten had problems with alcohol/pills. I love his dry wit and sarcastic tone. I don't think anyone could make rehab this funny. If I wind up with an addiction, I request a rehab with Augusten Burroughs.

Six Characters In Search Of An Author by Luigi Pirandello

 

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players

-As You Like It, Shakespeare. 

I thought of that quote while reading Six Characters In Search Of An Author. I thought how we all play parts and roles throughout our day and through our interactions with others. It's a true statement and shown so brilliantly in this short play.
The stage is set with a director and cast rehearsing a play, one that has been written and performed by other players. In the midst of the rehearsal, six people, characters walk in and ask for their drama to put forth as a play. Since their play has not been written the characters act out their drama, melding it with the director's vision of what a play should look like. These six characters have pain, love, shame, hatred, and grief to show. The story is disjointed like if you were at a dinner party and everyone was telling you their viewpoint of the same story. The end didn't feel like an ending to me. It just kind of stopped but the characters continue on. They don't stop.
A lot different than I was expecting but enjoyable all the same.