The Girls From Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow

Today's review is brought to you by the city of Ames, Iowa - home of the Iowa State Cyclones (booo!), Hickory Park (yay!) and The Girls From Ames.

The Girls From Ames is the story of an enduring friendship between eleven girls - now women - who grew up together in Ames, Iowa in the 1970's. The girls are:

Angela - the newest member of the group

Cathy - the Hollywood make up artist

Diana - the beauty of the group

Jane - the brains and also only Jewish member of the group

Jenny - the group's archivist

Karen - the one with the beautiful long hair

Karla - the adopted one

Kelly - the "free spirit" (which I translate into "whore")

Marilyn - the local pediatricians daughter

Sally - the shy one

Sheila - the sweet one

Don't worry, to keep them all straight, the book begins with a short bio for each girl and three photos of each - childhood, graduation and current. I've mentioned before how I love reference materials in a book and this is no exception. I kept both my place in the book marked and these bio pages so I could flip back and see which girl is being discussed.

These eleven girls began their friendships, certain members at least, in infancy and accumulated more of the girls through grade school, the last, Angela, being added in 9th grade when she moved to Ames. The girls, all in their 40's now, are spread throughout the country but their friendship still endures. They get together regularly for reunions, see each other at funerals, births and such and stay in touch daily through email.

The book covers a few of the girls more heavily than others, with some girls having full chapters dedicated to them. For instance, we hear little about Angela, Karen, Diana and Jenny. But we hear much about Karla, Marilyn and Kelly. I, probably much like everyone else who read this book, formed my opinions about the individual girls and picked out my favorites and least favorites.

Karla spoke to me as a girl who had a lot of adversity and tragedy in her life but also seems to have a good head on her shoulders. She seems like a girl I would like to be friends with. Spunky and funny but thoughtful as well. She knows what's important in life.

Kelly seemed like a whore to me. And a bit of a loud mouth. Sorry, but there it is. She got divorced because she was unfaithful a number of times in her marriage. Her children chose to live with the dad, which goes to show you, children aren't dumb. I don't think I would like Kelly. Or Angela but I think she just has ugly hair in all the pictures. Whoops! Did I say that out loud?

I was afraid, after reading this book, that I would have to change my rating system to hankies rather than bows. The book wants to be a tear-jerker but falls somewhat short. Yes, some of their stories are touching, some even heartbreaking. And the story itself of the girls' friendship is beautiful. But I think we, the readers, are supposed to find the story of eleven women staying friends that long to be remarkable. Perhaps I would if I didn't have numerous examples in my own life of friendships that have lasted as long, if not longer. My dad, now in his 60's, has had the same friends he has had since grade school. He has lunch every Friday with his BFF of 50 years (we call it their man date), and other close friends from school and their wives get together with my parents once a month for dinner at a new restaurant.

The book was fun to read in a "Hey, I remember Betty Lou's Magic Window" or "Hey, I know where Lincolnway is" kind of way. There are familiar landmarks and references that any fellow Iowan will recognize. But beside that it was kind of boring. It's very chick lit too which doesn't usually appeal to me. There is lots of the girls sharing feelings and crying together which I barely do with my own girlfriends so readings about other people doing it doesn't particularly interest me.

My wise and helpful husband suggested I post the actual bows when giving my reviews so here goes - I give The Girls From Ames two and a half bows.

The book was cute but ultimately a little boring and unremarkable. Now, this book wouldn't be on the bestsellers list if there weren't people out there who disagreed with me. Maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea. Maybe it was yours, I don't know. Let me know what you thought of the book. Until then, happy reading!

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Today I will be reviewing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. This is the first in Larsson's Millennium trilogy which, incidentally, has quite a story in and of itself. Legend has it (and by legend, I mean, you know, news reports and such) that Larsson dropped off the three Millennium manuscripts to a Swedish publisher and then promptly died. Now, rumor has it, there may be a fourth unfinished manuscript somewhere but no one is for sure right now. Die hard Larsson fans are lighting little votive candles in prayer for a fourth book to appear, especially since the third just hit bookshelves this week.

In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo we meet first Mikael Blomkvist, a leading Swedish investigative journalist and co-owner of Millennium magazine. Blomkvist has just been convicted of libel for a story he ran in his magazine on a corrupt Swedish businessman and is facing a couple months in jail.

Blomkvist is hired by Henrik Vanger, another leading Swedish businessman, although elderly now, to write his family's memoirs officially. But unofficially, he is hired to solve the mystery of Henrik's niece, Harriet, who went missing at a family gathering in 1966. Blomkvist sets up shop for a year in one of Vanger's guest houses on a remote, northern island the family owns. He is reluctant at first, seeing the job only as an opportunity to get away from Stockholm and take stock of his life. But Vanger also dangles a very tantalizing treat in front of Blomkvist's nose. If Blomkvist agrees to take the assignment, Vanger will give him rock solid info on the corrupt business dealing of the man who accused Blomkvist of libel. Eventually, however, Blomkvist makes surprising headway on the disappearance case and finds himself immersed in the Vanger family drama and intrigue.

Second we meet Lisbeth Salander, a troubled goth/punk, brilliant researcher/hacker who is hired by Vanger to investigate Blomkvist to make sure he can be trusted. Salander is a loner, to say the least. Part of "The System" since childhood, she trusts no one. And with good reason as we find out shortly into the book.

When Blomkvist begins to uncover new information in the Harriet case, he convinces Vanger to allow him a research assistant. Salander is recommended since she did such an astonishing job with Blomkvist's background check. The two end up making quite a team and uncover much more than anyone went looking for.

Dragon Tattoo is a thrill ride, to say the least. I'm usually not a huge fan of the murder/mystery, intrigue genre but this book drew me in hook, line and sinker. But I'm going to be honest with you, dear reader. This book is not for the faint of heart. It is filled with quite graphic violence, torture and rape. Larsson leaves nothing to the imagination.

The characters, especially Blomkvist, are a bit stereotypical. Blomkvist is your run-of-the-mill hero. Somewhere between James Bond and Robert Langdon from The DaVinci Code. Impossibly suave and intelligent, no woman can resist him. Even the cynical and world weary Salander. He beds quite a few of the female characters in the novel and even draws the creepy and horrifying interest of one male character.

Those minor items aside, the plot is masterfully crafted. I love a book with some good twists and surprises and Dragon Tattoo has some doozies. Like any good murder/mystery, Larsson provides a number of possible suspects for you to ponder while traveling through the book. Larsson will masterfully lead you toward one suspect only to find it's a dead end and two more suspects have popped up. The book actually opens with a layout of the Vanger family tree. God, do I love a book that begins with some type of reference material - be it a family tree, or a map, or a timeline! It makes me all giddy! But believe me, you will refer back to that family tree often just to keep the characters straight. There are many times in the book when Blomkvist mentions consulting the family tree himself just to keep all the family members straight.

Larsson has a way with words that I can't quite articulate. At first I wondered if it was just the Swedish to English translation but I later found his poetic and lyrical prose flows throughout the book. I found myself actually stopping and admiring the words used rather than the story for one of the first times in my life. As if Larsson is poking fun at this very talent he possesses, at one point Blomkvist describes a character as "dafter than a syphilitic polecat" and then stops and muses "where do I get these metaphors from?". I was just wondering the same thing Herr Larsson!

Overall I give The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo 4 1/2 bows. I would have given it the full five bows if it weren't for the graphic violence. The mystery and all its tangents are wrapped up neatly and satisfactorily at the end of the book it but still leaves the reader wanting more. As I said before, there are two more books in the trilogy. Second in line is The Girl Who Played With Fire. (Are you catching a theme to Larsson's book titles yet?) This book is on my "To Read" shelf in my library and should be making an appearance here on this blog very soon. Until them, happy reading!

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

This is a book I finished just last week although it was originally published in 1993. Some of you may be more familiar with Sophia Coppola's 1999 movie version of the book staring Kirsten Dunst as Lux. I myself have not seen the movie although my husband, Rusty, says it is very good. So this will be a review solely on the book untainted by the movie variation.

Jeffrey Eugenides is a favorite author of mine. I adored his second book Middlesex. I may, one day, do a full review of Middlesex here but it's been a number of years since I've read it and would probably have to go back and reread it to do it justice. Anyhoo, Eugenides has a unique ability to write for/about teenage girls. Having never been a teenage girl (I'm assuming) I am curious as to how he came across this ability and would love to ask him someday. I myself have been a teenage girl and couldn't convey the confusion and turmoil that comes along with teen girlhood better than he. The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex both have a lot of confusion and turmoil.

Suicides is the story of five teenage sisters in the late 1970's living in an upscale Detroit suburb with their strict and conservative Catholic parents. The girls live a somewhat cloistered and protected life, their only friends being each other. They are beautiful, normal teenage girls listening to music and sharing confidences. Until the youngest sister attempts to kill herself. Believe me, dear readers, there are no spoilers here. Eugenides lays the suicides out very early on (as with the title of the novel itself) making the ultimate fate of the girls no secret. The tension and suspense of the novel comes from the question of what leads the girls to take the drastic step of ending their lives.

This is exactly what the narrator of the novel is trying to discover. The narrator is a neighborhood boy - or boys possibly - who, later in life, try to put together the mystery of the girls lives and deaths. The narrator is always an outside observer, never a part of the action, always just off stage. Obsessed with the girls beauty and mystery in childhood, the narrator's obsession continues into adulthood when he tries to put the pieces of the story together through interviews and research.

I found this novel charming - both ethereal and teen angsty (is that a word?) at the same time. I like how Eugenides never clearly defines exactly why the girls are so unhappy. They are unhappy merely for the fact of being teen girls. After the youngest sister's first attempted suicide, the doctor in the hospital remarks that she isn't old enough yet to know how bad life gets. The girl replies, "Obviously, doctor, you've never been a thirteen year old girl."

The novel does get a little tedious at times with Eugenides' constant descriptions of the girls' isolation. But his text is so dreamy and beautiful that I'll let it pass. It's no wonder Coppola chose to create a movie from this book. Coppola is a big fan of the dreamy, little-girl-lost motif and this book is heavy on that front.

It is here that I would like to introduce my rating system. Everyone likes things tied up in neat, idiot proof little bows, including their reviews. So that's what I am going to use - bows. Clever, I know.

I give The Virgin Suicides, my debut review, four bows. The story was engaging and beautifully written and the characters were quite sympathetic. All except Trip Fontaine, one of the sister's love interests, whom you will want to die in a fire. Believe me, you'll know what I'm talking about if you read the book.

Let me know what you thought of the book. Until then, happy reading!

Introductions

Greetings fellow book nerds! I'm Shannon and I read. A lot. Everything. Fiction, non-fiction, religion, biographies, essays, poetry - you name it. I am an accountant by profession but I have an English degree from a small, private Iowa college. Strange, you might think. Accounting and literature don't really mix. I graduated with my degree in English and quickly realized there aren't a lot of professions (aside from middle school teacher) for English majors in Iowa. So I went back to school and got an accounting degree and have been bringing home the bacon ever since.

My mom instilled a love of books in me at a very young age. At around age 10, she started me on my very first reading curriculum. The reading list consisted of Jane Eyre, Heidi and Little Women. These were books, she said, every little girl should read. And to this day they are some of my favorites.

I was an avid reader throughout childhood and high school. I was always reading something independently on top of my usual school work load. Upon graduation from high school, I was posed with the problem of choosing a college major. All the advisers and counselors said to just take classes that interested you the first year and a major will present itself eventually. I took literature classes. Our college had what was called a "May Term". It was a short three week term in May (obviously) in which each student took one blow off course for a couple hours each morning and spent the rest of the day working on their tans and blood alcohol levels. Popular classes were "History of Film", "Learning Piano" and "History of Rock 'N Roll". My freshman year I took an intensive course in a small un-air conditioned room on the works of Flannery O'Connor and loved every minute.

As my college years progressed, however, I became somewhat disenchanted with my chosen major. This probably had less to do with a diminishing in my love of books and more to do with certain literature professors I was forced to take who pushed their super conservative ideals on the students through their lectures.

Following graduation, I took a break from reading for the first time in my life. Not long. Maybe a couple years. I had been "read out", so to speak, in college. And I wasn't sure yet if I enjoyed my new college taught ability to analyze and pick apart everything I read looking for themes and symbolism.

Eventually, however, the desire to read grew again. And has been growing ever since. My readings are eclectic and wide spread. I have been trying to go back and read many classics that my schooling failed to cover interspersed with modern bestsellers and quirky picks that have tickled my fancy.

Here you will find reviews and synopsises of the books I am reading. I may, from time to time, post on favorites I have read pre-blog. I'm sure I will also post on authors I like and don't like, literature news items I come across and the such. Perhaps you will find my reviews helpful and be drawn to read a book I've recommended. Or perhaps you would like to recommend a book you think I would enjoy. By all means, drop me a line. Until then, happy reading!