Okay! Here we go.
You know what's annoying about historians? When they bitch and complain about other historians inserting their own personal beliefs as facts in a work of nonfiction and then they turn around and do THE EXACT SAME THING. So I was enjoying Susan Bordo's "Creation of Anne Boleyn", even though I thought she was unduly harsh on some of my favorite authors, and then she went and casually announced that OJ Simpson got away with murder. With no "in my opinion" to preface it or anything else, just dropped it like oh, this is fact and everyone knows it. This kind of thing? Drives me nuts. Do NOT be a hypocrite. Seriously. It's annoying. I could hardly finish the book after that, I was so irritated. The section where she discusses how Anne Boleyn has been portrayed over the years in the media was interesting, but overall it wasn't terribly good.
"The Dinner" by Herman Koch was profoundly disturbing, and I mean that in a good way. Paul and Claire are going out to dinner with his brother Serge and Serge's wife Babette to discuss the recent behavior of their teenage sons. Turns out the kids actually did something pretty horrible, and I don't want to say too much because it will give it away. Let's just say the lines between the good guys and the bad guys gets very blurred.
"And Then I Found You" by Patti Callahan Henry was pretty tepid and predictable. Kate and Jack have been in love since they were kids, but due to Kate's inability to make a commitment, Jack moves on and marries another woman, but not before getting Kate pregnant first. Oopsies. Kate gives the baby up for adoption. Fast forward thirteen years and Kate is dating a great guy but still having commitment issues. She thinks she needs to close the Jack chapter in her life before she can move on, but then her daughter finds her on Facebook and they meet in person. It was just one of those books with a saccharine sweet happy ending that you saw coming a mile away and frankly I don't think a person like Kate deserves such happiness.
"The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green blew me away. I was reading it before work and just sobbing so much I had to stop reading it so I could calm down enough to go. Hazel is sixteen and has cancer. An experimental drug is keeping her alive, and she's grateful. She meets Gus in a teen support group. Gus lost his leg but otherwise his prognosis is really good. They start flirting, hanging out, and sharing their favorite books with each other. Hazel's favorite is by an author named Peter van Houten. His book really doesn't have an end, something which bugs both Gus and Hazel. She's written to him a dozen times, asking what happened to the characters, with no response. Gus uses his wish with a cancer group to fly him and Hazel to the Netherlands, so they can meet van Houten in person and ask him about the book. Van Houten turns out to be a jerk, but they have a lovely time in Amsterdam before bad news comes rearing its ugly head. The ending was just amazing.
Jen Lancaster is back!! Yay :) "The Tao of Martha" was brilliant, hysterical. I howled out loud with laughter. Jen decides to live a year of Martha Stewart: going all out for holidays, organizing and redecorating the house, etc. Of course most things go horribly, disastrously wrong in spectacular Jen fashion. I'm glad she has such a great sense of humor and can laugh about herself. And the thing with the frozen bananas? I totally did that too!
"20th Century Ghosts" by Joe Hill is a great collection of his short stories. I'm not normally a big short story fan, but I enjoyed these. Some of them were a bit odd, but most of them were really good. I especially liked "The Cape" and "The Black Phone".
"Complex 90" by Mickey Spillane (RIP) and Max Allan Collins was typical Mike Hammer shoot 'em up and punch 'em down fun. Hammer is kidnapped while in Russia by the KGB and has to fight his way out and back home to determine who exactly set him up. You're awesome, Mike Hammer.
"Bright Lights, Big Ass" by Jen Lancaster was an unintentional reread. I forgot that I read it last year. I was at the bookstore yesterday, and I thought "oh, why don't I buy that one Jen Lancaster book my library doesn't own?". So I bought it, brought it home, started reading it, and went hey, I know this already. Checked the blog--yep, read it last March. Oh well. I was enjoying it so much I read it again :)
And finally, "Creamy & Crunchy" by Jon Krampner was a fun look at the history of one of the world's all time best foods: peanut butter! I love peanut butter. As a kid I didn't get to eat it. My mother always said it was "poor people's food" and wouldn't buy it because dammit, we weren't poor. Never mind that I liked it. So I ate Budding Roast Beef sandwiches every day at school and only had peanut butter at friends' houses. As an adult, I eat my fair share of (read: way too much) peanut butter and it was neat to hear about how it has changed over the years with different types of peanuts.
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