Book 1/65-The Emperor's Children, Claire Messud

I was expecting 'The Emperor's Children' to be a pretty emotional book, bearing in mind that it's set in New York in the Autumn of 2001. I figured we'd be introduced to some characters, get a feel for their lives and then see how they were all changed after the events of the 11th September or something along those sort of lines. It was actually nothing like that at all-for starters you have to read through 500 pages before 9/11 is mentioned at all, and even then it's almost a none-event, a background minutiae in the lives of the book's characters that almost has no impact on them at all.
So what is this book about then? Well...just people. Boring, ordinary, unremarkable people. It's a family and their somewhat spoiled grown up daughter, her grown up friends and their relationships and a cousin who doesn't fit in with their swanky lifestyle. If someone asked me to point out the key events from the story, I would struggle because it's basically 600 pages of nothing at all happening.
The second book I read for this challenge-The Secret History-was also about 600 pages long and, although I didn't really like the characters in it, there was definitely something happening in the story, something I could find and go "There, that's the most important thing that happens in this book". This is not the case with 'The Emperor's Children'. Again, the characters are fairly un-likeable, but they're also quite boring-nothing significant seems to happen to any of them (in my opinion). It's as if someone took a cheap gossip mag and made it into a 600 page book, and I just really couldn't bring myself to care about what was going on. Also I couldn't get on with the writing style at all-Messud has a habit of putting such long winded and rambling sentences in the middle of others with hyphens or brackets that by the time you've read them you've forgotten the start of the sentence and have to go back and read it again.

I dunno, maybe I just didn't 'get' 'The Emperor's Children', maybe it's just not the right sort of book for me-the host of good reviews printed on the cover certainly seem to suggest that not everyone found it as dull and uninteresting as I did, but I am certainly a very long way from agreeing that it's a "masterpiece".
If you like your stories to be about family feuds, about infidelity, about relationships, about enduring friendships and about running away from yourself to become someone new-then you should probably give this book a chance, or at least read it for yourself to see if you agree with me.
If, like me, however, you prefer a book with a bit more substance to it, a book with a definite beginning, middle and end, a book that centres around an event rather than some relationships, then you should probably skip it because you probably won't enjoy it either.

Memorable Quote " It's narcissism, to love a wall and resent it for not loving you back. It's perversity. Love is mutual, it flourishes in reciprocity. You can't have real love without a return of affection-otherwise it's just obsession, and projection. It's childish." -The Fourth of July (3), Pg 373

Book 2/65-What She Saw, Lucinda Rosenfeld

I have to confess that I rather enjoyed 'What She Saw'-most probably because I, like the main character, am a 20-something woman who has been in relationships, and I could easily understand her world and the story through her eyes. The book follows Phoebe Fine through her adventures in life as she tries not to disappoint the people in it, most of all herself. Each chapter deals with a different boy from Phoebe's life-from her first crush to first kiss to first sexual experiences to her first love and first broken heart, and so we see her grow up throughout the book. We see her ever changing cycle of best friends and how she changes from awkward 5th grader to awkward teen to awkward 24 year old. It's very easy to relate to, quite funny and sometimes desperately sad. I reckon a lot of women my sort of age will see something of themselves in Phoebe Fine-whether it's the desperate searching for love in all the wrong places, or the neverquite learning where you fit in society, or just the hopelessness you feel when you don't know in which direction your life will end up taking you. It definitely feels familiar-if you haven't been a Phoebe Fine at some point then you'll definitely have known (at least) one.

I like the way it ends too-it finishes abruptly and with no real definitive ending. After all, she's only just 24, does anyone really have their life sorted by then? (Actually, don't answer that.) It leaves you free to imagine what might happen-maybe she'll learn to love herself better and find her dream man, maybe she'll keep de-evolving and disintegrating forever-who knows? I like the not knowing, I like that we don't get a "happy ever after" ending, because life never just ties off that neatly in reality. And as a woman in my early 20s with no real sense of purpose in my life, I find that oddly reassuring. I'll definitely be making space on my bookshelf for this one.

Memorable Quote: 'She wanted him to be the sunshine to her clouds, she couldn't handle the idea that he had weather patterns of his own, and that he contained within himself the makings of a downpour and possibly even a monsoon.' -In Spitty Clark, pg 124

-Jenni-

Book 4/65-The Secret History, Donna Tartt

Again, I can only apologise for my absence from blogging over the last week. I was hanging out with my boyfriend and having too much of a nice time to spend much time on the internet, so lapsed a little on the blog front.

The Secret History is a story about those sort of friendships you make whilst at college or university-the ones that form out of the unique pressures that you find yourself in in that situation. We are told the tale through the eyes of Richard Papen-who grew up in an ugly suburban town in California, longing for somewhere more beautiful and who settled on Hampden College, Vermont simply because he liked the pictures in the promotional brochure. He studies Greek under the very elitist and somewhat eccentric Julian Morrow-so elitist in fact that Richard becomes one of only 6 students under him. He soon falls in with his fellows and the story follows their friendship over a year or so of "study" (surprisingly little is mentioned of it) and the dramatic events that brings them all closer together than ever and then ultimately shatters them apart again.

Did I enjoy it? Hard to say really. I did recognise the feelings of being an outsider desperate to get in with a group and the elation when they finally start to accept you as one of them, but don't we all? I also liked the familiar way that the friendships were described-everything is more intense than usual at uni because life is placing its pressures on you at the time and I think anyone who has been a student will understand something of that. I can't say I fell for any of the characters though-they were all written in a way that made them rather dislikeable-all fiendishly clever  (to the point where you know they would look down your nose at you) but with character faults that I certainly wouldn't want in my friends-neurotic, manipulative, possessive, a money leech, incredibly selfish etc. They didn't get under my skin in the same way that some characters in some books do, and I found myself utterly unmoved by the terrible events that befell them-I was certainly a long way from heartbroken.

Tartt also does something I really hate in books-where the course of a year or so takes up most of the 600+ pages and then all the messy ends are neatly tied up in the last 20 pages in a 'some years later' sort of way. (Think Harry Potter 7's awful final chapter if you don't get what I mean). I'd almost rather be left wondering what happened to the characters than have their stories clipped so neatly and abruptly at the end.

For that, I think 'The Secret History' is well written and does capture the spirit of being away at university very well-the hedonism, the friendships, the loneliness, the way you don't really feel part of the real world etc. On the other hand though, the casual way that the darker parts of the story are revealed by the characters-delusions, alcoholism, incest and even murder-as if they are nothing more important than a change in the season jars heavily with me and makes it feel a little unreal. It's just not a story that feels like it could happen in real life, but it's trying very hard to convince you otherwise, that this is just a normal bunch of teenagers doing normal student things, and for me it seemed to take a step too far in the other direction in doing so.
Will it end up on my bookshelf to be read again? Almost certainly not. I didn't find myself able to care for the characters and the story left me pretty cold, and as it's some 600+ pages long it takes far too long to actually tell for my liking.

For me, at least,  'The Secret History' should remain just a secret.

-Jenni-

Book 56/65-How To Be A Woman, Caitlin Moran

A couple of months back I mentioned that I was starting a book list challenge that I had found on the internet entitled '65 Books to Read in Your 20s'. When I saw that this one was on the list I was very happy because I had already decided that I was going to read it again, and I love serendipity. Also because it mean that I could begin my challenge straight away-I didn't have to hunt through dusty second hand shelves (one of my favourite things in the world to do, in fairness) to find a specific book but merely walk to my bookcase and pick one up. I can cross an item off the list without any effort at all-and everyone knows they're the best things to cross off lists (like adding things to your to-do list that you've already done so you look more productive!).


I read HTBAW for the first time after some very insistent recommendations from some good friends of mine, and on more than one occasion having bewilderingly out of context yet still hilarious pieces quoted at me by text message. In her own words, Moran says that HTBAW is "a book about feminism! A funny but polemic book about feminism. Like 'The Female Eunuch'-but with jokes about my knickers!"
She doesn't disappoint, either-it's very funny. Re-reading for the second time whilst at work in a semi-professional environment, I often found myself clamping my hand over my mouth to try and stifle the gigglefit that was making my shoulders shake and my sides hurt.
It's delightfully anecdotal-cringeworthy-ly, head nodding in agreement-ly anecdotal. We've all been there, one way or another-every woman will be able to empathise with at least one of CatMo's tales, or top it with one of her own. It's also interspersed with some excellent life advice that doesn't feel preachy or teachy but more like an incredibly wise friend is telling them to you while you sip cider in a sunny beer garden somewhere. You start to question why you hadn't already formed opinions on these subjects yourself, and suddenly realise that they actually matter to you more than you'd ever realised.

HTBAW covers all of the important things in life (and some more trivial)-underwear (and how it is shrinking), porn, brazilians (the pubic topiary, not the people), fat, sexism, fashion, children (and why you should and shouldn't have them), abortions, bras and what to call your genitalia, amongst others! It was the first thing I'd read that made me actually realise that those things I'd been thinking all along meant I was a feminist, that that was a word I could-and should-use to describe myself, that this was an excellent thing. I know that to some people saying that you like CatMo is a serious feminist faux pas (Feminists, why you so judgy?) and I will agree that she does have a terrible habit of saying some truly awful things and then making it worse by being a dick about it afterwards. But no-one's perfect, and I can think that just because you agree with and admire one thing that someone's produced, it doesn't mean you have to agree with everything. There's no such thing as the "perfect feminist" because it means something different to every person, and everyone does it differently. I think that what should matter is that you are one, rather than what type of one you are.

I reckon every 20-something woman (and probably man too) should read this book because HTBAW is the friendly, paddle-in-the-shallow-end kind of introduction to the idea of feminism that you need. After that, you can choose your own way-read some fabulous blogs, talk to some wonderful people, watch some awesome videos, form your own opinions and disagree with people. On my second read through of this book I found myself wholeheartedly disagreeing with CatMo on some points-and that's how it's supposed to be, there's nothing wrong with that. HTBAW isn't an instruction manual on how to lead your life, how to be a feminist, or even how to be a woman, but more of a key to a door and a gentle push over the threshold to the world of feminism, and then you get to make your own way from there.
I, personally, think it's fabulous.

Memorable Quote: "Why are we starving our bottoms of the resources-like an extra metre of material-to stay comfortable? Why have we succumbed to pantorexia?" (page 97)

-Jenni-

The Book List Challenge

[Source-Open Clip Art Library]

Recently, whilst browsing through Buzzfeed (the King of procrastination websites, if you didn't know-to the point where I've just lost half an hour on it instead of writing up this post...) I came across a list entitled '65 Books You Need To Read In Your 20s' which caught my interest enough for me to actually read it rather than just skim through it.
I was intrigued because it wasn't full of the usual books which seem to populate the numerous '101 books you should read before you die' lists that I've seen in various corners of the internet-lists that are usually full of archaic classics that people think will complete your life when you read them. Here's the thing (and call me a heathen if you like) but I don't really enjoy reading classics-I find them really difficult to get through and the story lines are tiresome and tedious. I really don't like the excessive amounts of detail in them-every little thing has paragraphs of unnecessary description that you have to wade your way through to get back to the important plot points and I just find it really rather dull. I can't say that I wouldn't enjoy the stories in  the end (as I've never really given them a chance) I'm just really unmotivated to actually try and find out really. If given a choice I would always prefer to read one of my gory, modern-day thrillers over a classic book, even if they are all almost the same. I will let you judge me as you will.

This book list though, is different, because it is mostly comprised of books that I've never even come across before-I've only heard of 3 or 4 of them, and I've only actually read one. Plus I love a challenge with a time limit-I'm in my 20s, I love reading, I could totally tackle 65+* books in 7 years. I could probably read them before I was 25 actually, if I had them all already in a nice, teetering stack, and didn't have to physically locate them all.

So there we go. I'm setting myself a challenge-complete the list before the end of my 20s (Deadline: 7/7/30). It means I'll read books from all around the world, from every genre and most importantly ones I probably wouldn't have chosen to read for myself. I'm always wanting to increase the range of books that I read because I do have a bad habit of sticking to the same genres again and again-essentially reading the same story a hundred times. (Seriously, if you want to know how to write a crime/thriller/police novel I can give you the perfect formula off the top of my head!)
I'm not saying I'll enjoy every book, but I will endeavour to read them all cover to cover (unless they turn out to be truly awful a few chapters in, to the point where I can't bear to read any more). The ones I love, I'll keep, the ones I'm not so fond of will go to a charity shop or back to the library (if I ever get around to setting myself up with a library card, that is!). I'll review them, if I remember, or at the very least record whether I enjoyed them or not. I'm not going to read them in the right order, and I'm not going to solely read books from the list because I've got 7 years to do it, I'm not in a big rush. I only need to read 10 a year or so to keep on track, and I probably read at least five times that each year.

Whatever happens, my bookcase will be full and my brain will be brimming with tales. It should be fun!

-Jenni-

*I say 65+ because some of them on the list are trilogies or series, so it's definitely a bit more than 65 in total.

P.S This is my 100th post, hurrah! Here's to the next 100 more, ey?
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