The Overnight Socialite

For some reason I thought Bridie Clark was British - but she's not. She's a graduate of Harvard, and right now I am reading her latest book, The Overnight Socialite. It's a variation on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, which was later made into a movie (one of my favorites) - My Fair Lady.

It's about Wyatt, a stuffy Manhattanite, a wannabe intellectual who just can't seem to be taken seriously - and Lucy, a wannabe fashion designer from Minnesota. Wyatt undertakes the 'remaking' of Lucy into a Manhattan socialite as a scientific experiment, and, of course, so he can write a book that will make him a household name in the scientific world - and a mainstream author to boot (so sure is he of the appeal of his subject matter). Lucy becomes the socialite - and you can guess the rest, even if you don't know the story of Pygmalion. But, really, who hasn't seen My Fair Lady?

I like this book...one of the things I like about it is that it's told from multiple points of view. A lot of authors can't really pull this off without being confusing - but Clark does. She maintains Wyatt and Lucy as the two main characters. The peripheral characters are there to essentially tell the story. This book is fun and a fast read - a nice change of pace.

I did some research on Bridie Clark (just a little) for my most recent column in the Courier and Press - and I found that she's quite accomplished. Besides being a Harvard grad, she's also written for Gawker, and helped found Blue State coffee. And this is her second published novel. And she's only 32...this woman is practically my hero.

Jane Austen Ruined my Life

I'm normally not a fast reader, Jane Austen Ruined my Life by Beth Patillo only took me about a day and a half to read - taking into consideration work and home responsibilities - which is pretty good for me. ;)

First of all, it's classified as 'inspirational fiction', which might normally have turned me off, but it came recommended to me by one of the librarians I work with. She'd seen Beth Patillo at the Southern Festival of Books and liked her; she thought the book was 'cute'. Though it's classified as inspirational fiction, there weren't many overt mentions of God or faith that didn't correspond with the story, it was subtle and upbeat, and a fast read. All in all, it was entertaining, and that's what I liked about it.

It's the story of Emma, a college professor and scholar of Jane Austen's work who finds her professor husband in flagrante delicto with his teaching assistant. She divorces him, he has her professionally discredited, she's invited abroad to study some alleged unseen Austen letters with the aim of disproving the claims surrounding Austen's life, exposing her as 'a fraud', publishing the letters and regaining her lost professional credibility. The premise of the book works, although it's a little far-fetched and silly with it's Da Vinci Code-esque plot. I would've preferred a different ending, too - I found the ending, as compared to most chick-lit and even Austen books, disappointing and a little bit on the unbelievable side.

Still, this is a cute book, and Patillo has a new book coming out this month entitled Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart. There are a lot of books out there capitalizing on the popularity of Jane Austen, and this is, in my opinion, on of the better and more original of the lot.

GoodReads

Chances are, if you're on my email contact list, you got an invitation to join GoodReads. It's like Facebook for people who love books. I actually joined a long time ago, at my little brother's insistence, and sort of, um, forgot about it. In the interim, I tried Shelfari, and LibraryThing...both of which are perfectly fine...but GoodReads is fun. Here's why:

• Alot of of authors are on GoodReads, first of all, so you can hook up with them online.
• If you want, you get regular updates about what your friends are reading.
  
• You can take quizzes.
  
• You can keep track of what you've read, what you want to read, what you're reading - and you can create "shelves" - for instance, I have a "books I own" shelf, and a "hated it" shelf.
• You can take quizzes.

I know most librarians go for LibraryThing, but I have to say, GoodReads has really improved over the past two years - it's much more interactive and easy to use - and it's easy to connect with your friends.

If you join, take the "never-ending literature quiz". You'll be amazed at how much you know - probably more amazed at what you thought you knew and obviously don't know - and you'll be really amazed at how much you've forgotten...so you'll probably have to create a "books to read again" shelf. ;)

WHAT UP?

I'm so glad I am finally done with my MLS. I now have so much more time to - yeah, you thought I was going to say read...well, yeah. That too.

I am not one to really obsess so much about TV shows that I feel I must watch them in sequential order, but I am currently obsessed with How I Met Your Mother. I started watching it while I worked on school projects on the computer...and now I am totally addicted and watching season 3. Oh, and I'm also quite sad that Neil Patrick Harris prefers the dudes. That said, as Barney Stinson, he plays a straight guy better than most real straight guys...I love this show.

In the reading department I have discovered Harriet Evans and am reading Going Home, perfect Christmas-y chick lit (I really am becoming a snob for British chick lit) - although I can't seem to locate it and I think I may have left it at work. Not to worry, I have A Hopeless Romantic in my bag! And many more other books I need to read.

Now, if I could just finish that baby blanket I've been working on since, uh, last MAY.

121909

Ok, so I am still reading Outlander...but it's kind of slow going, mainly because I couldn't really concentrate on much during the last month of working on my MLS. However, I am now finished with my MLS (yay...) and able to read. And knit, and cook, and play with my kids, and clean...it's hard to decide what to do (except I really hate cleaning).

I love Outlander - it's sort of a weird time-travel romance with lots of sex, which sometimes can, in my opinion, detract from the story, but there's plenty of plot and detail and character development in this book, and Diana Gabaldon is a great writer and researcher - so the sex is somewhat peripheral to the story but at the same time integral to it. Does that make sense? At any rate, I do love the book...I am sure I will read the whole series. I might be on my deathbed before I actually finish it, because the books are heinously long and I am a heinously slow reader (odd for someone with an MLS, I know...). But I digress.

So I am plunging back into Chick Lit, because I need some light, relatively mindless reads...and I have chosen Twenties Girl (which comes highly recommended by my co-worker, Mary Pat) by Sophie Kinsella and Going Home by Harriet Evans (who comes highly recommended by my co-worker Erika). So far I am tearing through Going Home, which only further proves that Erika and I have frighteningly similar tastes in books. ;)

I am also endeavoring in the new year to plan a little more in advance for my "Check it Out" columns in the Courier and Press. My February column will be covering novels about great artists...so I am reading The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham, Sunflowers: a Novel of Vincent Van Gogh by Sheramy Bundrick - and some others. Don't want to spoil my fans by listing them all. (Ha, ha...like I have fans...)

In the movies department, I watched Whatever Works, Woody Allen's movie with Larry David in the lead role. I didn't like it - I didn't even finish it. Even Patricia Clarkson couldn't save it for me....Evan Rachel Wood is so annoying, and Larry David should just stick to improv. He's no actor. Skip it.

Spontaneous combustion - and reading

This has been one of the most exhausting weeks of my life. That's really all I can say.

I'm still reading A Separate Country, but I am also listening to Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews (one of my favorites, and I am just now getting around to last year's new book by her) and a book my mom gave me called The Secret Papers of Madame Olivetti by Annie Vanderbilt. In addition to that, I am also finishing up the last semester of school for my MLS, so if I post less than usual (which I realize is not much to begin with), I will resurface sometime around the middle of December. After finals and my daughter's fourth birthday.

I'm also going to try to do NaNoWriMo, so if I don't resurface in December, I may have spontaneously combusted. If that's the case, I'll have my husband log on and post about it -but not before he calls that guy from Destination Truth...because he's actually kind of hot.

Vintage Roadside has the coolest t-shirts ever

I love t-shirts and jeans. I really love retro graphic t-shirts, jeans, and Chuck Taylors. It's been my standard non-work garb since grad school (the first time). So, Mike sent me this link to Vintage Roadside. And they have t-shirts to die for. I love them! I want one of each.

Plus, their website is totally cool. I love vintage stuff, and I love roadside stuff. This is like the best website ever.