Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

I finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan over the weekend. This book was thoroughly absorbing. I have always been interested in Chinese literature, especially footbinding. I do however consider this a "girly" book. The theme of the book wraps around two women and their inner worlds. I, being a woman, found it fascinating. Though, I found it strange that the husbands’ names were never mentioned (except once Lily calls her husband by his name) and we never find out the names of Lily or Snow Flower's sons. It goes to show how women were valued in that time and in that society.

The writing was very crisp and clear. It was easy and absorbing to read. I didn't want to put it down, as I always wanted to know what was going to happen. The emotion in the writing was beautiful. It tore at the heartstrings and was actually quite sad in the end.

Beautiful, beautiful book.

Next up:

Rumspringa

Dogs Who Found Me

I just finished Dogs Who Found Me by Ken Foster. This was a quick read. If you love dogs, you will enjoy this book. You really understand how the author feels about his dogs and the dogs he just seems to randomly find. Foster is very honesty and realistic about his and other people's relationships with dogs. The stories were sweet and touching. It makes me angry to read about all these people who are able to just abandon dogs. It also made me wonder now if I starting paying more attention I might see more lost dogs. People can be so selfish sometimes. It wasn't the most exciting thing I have read lately, but I enjoyed it.

I did start The Known World, but after 30 pages, I had absolutely NO IDEA what was happening. I couldn't keep the family trees and bloodlines straight. It was definitely one of those books you really really have to pay attention to while you are reading. I couldn't do it. Maybe I will pick it up again some other time.

Next Up:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. (I am already LOVING this book!)

Julie and Julia

I finished Julie and Julia. (#9)I found this book quite annoying to be honest. I found the writing style overly wordy and hard to get through. I found the author to be pretentious and a little snobby. How on earth did she have enough money to buy all of these crazy ingredients all the time, even though she was a temp? (Which was made quite clear through out the book). I also thought she assumed a lot. There seem to be a lot of skills necessary to complete such a project and somehow magically Julie knew all of them. Now, I am a cooking novice here and I just didn't quite understand all the techniques she was talking about half the time. I didn't realize it was a requirement.

Her endless ranting about her friends and "bleaders" was just plain obnoxious. Who cares about your friend Isabel or Sally or whats-her-name. Sometimes I found this book more to be about her weirdo friends than cooking. And then all of a sudden national newspapers and TV shows start calling? All because of this cooking blog? Hummm.. not sure I buy it. To me it just seemed she was bragging about it and made me dislike her even more.

But kudos to her for completing her goal. I always like to see and hear about people who follow through on things.

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I also finished a Breath of Fresh Air. (#41) This book wasn't quite what I was expecting. It was mostly an Indian love story. But that doesn't mean I am discounting it. It was beautifully written and laid out. I liked how there was a bit of mystery to it. I loved how real the characters were. They were all very human. The author did a fantastic job of building the novella up.

I enjoyed very much the switching points of view so the reader was able to get a clear concise picture of what was happening, and not just who was initially perceived to be the main character, Anjali.

I also appreciated all of the Indian history that was thrown into the mix; The Bhopal Gas tragedy (which I honestly knew nothing about, but now thankfully I am reading up on) as well as Indira Ghandi's murder.

At first I thought I was going to be disappointed, but in the end I was not at all. Though I thought the ending was a bit lackluster.

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Next up: The Known World