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Without further ado, I give you:
The Secret Life of Bees 
by Sue Monk KiddThis book was super full of "coming of age" wisdom. Lots of learning about self, and acceptance and I think my period synched up with the book... it was soooo full of estrogen. But despite all that, I actually really enjoyed it.
I picked this book up from the second hand shop. Several weeks ago I heard the owner of the shop highly recommending the book to some friends who stopped by, and of course I eavesdropped. Then I stole a glance at the book cover and planned to snatch it up to read when she was done with it. Sure enough, a couple weeks later, it was sitting on the shelf for two euros.
I didn't relate to any of the characters in the book per se, but It was a nice read nonetheless. I found myself feeling frustrated alongside the girl in the story, Lily Owens when she runs away from home and learns about her mother.
Overall, I'm not sure this is a book that will stay with me in my heart for very long but it was a good, quick read.
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me by Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling is pretty funny, I must say. I never really liked her character on The Office but I did enjoy this book. Some of the chapters at the end were boring and I skimmed them, but I think each other chapter made me laugh out loud at least twice each, which is rare in a book. I related to her in a few ways which made it all the better.
I love that she's comfortable in her own skin and she writes about being a size 8 in a Hollywood world of size 0's. I love her down to earth wit and can imagine a world where she and I would probably be friends.
My favorite chapter overall is called "Best Friend Rights and Responsibilities", which made me giggle because all of them are true.
I would recommend this for all my girlfriends (all five of you). ;-)
11/22/63
by Stephen KingI avoided this book at first because frankly, I find American politics and history sort of boring. Before you threaten to call the FBI and have my citizenship taken away, let me just say that this book was not at all like that - more like a historical fiction. I found myself loving it and even learning a few things about that era.
It's a time-travel story where Jake Epping (the hero) goes through a wormhole to 1958. It's suspenseful because he tries to change the past. It's interesting because he builds relationships with people in the past, and even entertains the thought of staying in the past...
I worried about the ending, and was both sad and pleased with the last chapter. I really enjoyed the story as a whole and would definitely recommend this to a historical fiction lover.
Fifty Shades of Grey
by E.L. JamesI... I don't have words. "Gross" comes to mind. I found it very "Twilighty" and come to find out! It's actually FAN FICTION. Uuuuggghh. I found the heroine, Anastasia, to be very childish and immature. Perhaps that is because she's a virgin, but yikes! She seems to have a vocabulary limited to the words "wow", "geez", "oh my", and "holy cow". Also, she has this "inner goddess" that she listens to, which was ok at first but grew super old, super fast. The hero, Christian Grey is very rich, incredibly hot, and ridiculously into S&M.
I don't know what got me to pick this book up, maybe a recommendation from a friend on Facebook (whom I might consider unfriending now! lol) but anyway, I am certainly sorry I did. I read the first half of the book, with the knowledge that sometimes books take a little while to really "get into". After 60% through the book on my Kindle, I just skimmed and finished it so I could say I finished it.
There didn't really seem to be any plot whatsoever, and I am seriously worried about impressionable young ladies (teens and tweens, specifically) who will pick this up and be dropped suddenly into the world of erotic "literature" without being ready for it. I know that if I had read (or even partially read) this book when I was a teenager I imagine I would have been traumatized!
To me, this book is absolutely awful. The writing is boring, the plot is boring, the characters are very flat - oh, so flat. Additionally, the word "murmur" is used far too often for my liking - more than twice per chapter which I believe is completely unacceptable in such a short book. My opinion for the reason this book is so popular is the same reason Twilight caught on - the middle aged, unhappy, sexually frustrated women out there are picking up this book and living vicariously through it.
I would never recommend this book to anyone. Ever. GROSS.
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