The Pact- Jennifer Sturman

The Pact is maybe the most easily defined chick lit book that I’ve read in a long time. Which is of course, totally ok by me! What was different about this one is that it also had a murder mystery aspect, which combines my two favorite guilty pleasure reads: chick lit and thrillers.

Rachel Benjamin is an investment banker in the Adirondacks for her best friend Emma’s wedding. The morning of the ceremony, she finds him floating in the pool, dead. From then on she picks up on information and evidence leading to the killer.

This was a cute, girly book. Exactly what you’d expect from a chick book, which is why I don't have much to say about it, and the added mystery aspect was a good bonus. I’m definitely not opposed to reading more in this series, but I didn’t love it enough to re-read. Another solid 3.

Then Came You- Jennifer Weiner

Then Came You is the story of four different women wrapped around the life of one child. A child that is not born for most of the book, but is present nonetheless. The women are: Jules, the egg donor, Annie, the surrogate mother, India, the aging mother, whose motives for wanting a child may be tied to her reputation as a gold digger, and Bettina, her stepdaughter. I think based on those descriptions alone, you should be able to figure out how things progress throughout the book.

Written in the same style as Maine, where each character narrates a chapter, Then Came You is an entertaining, if not enthralling book. I think I’ve come to expect as much from Jennifer Weiner. This is disappointing in many ways, not least of which is that the first book I read by her, Good in Bed, is one of my all time favorites. But I think since Certain Girls, the sequel to Good in Bed, was published (which I will freely admit that I hated, and which tarnished Weiner’s writing and judgment in my eyes) I have completely different expectations for her books.

This book was good, not great. Better than Certain Girls and Best Friends Forever, on par with Fly Away Home, and not as good as the pre-Certain Girls books (Good in Bed, Little Earthquakes, In Her Shoes, etc). Definitely a good beach read, and what you’d expect for the type of book that it is.

It’s somewhere between a 3 and a 4 for me. Again, good, not great.

State of Wonder- Ann Patchett

State of Wonder is, by its description, the kind of book I thought I would get involved in. Essentially, a pharmacologist is sent to the jungle to investigate both the recent death of a colleague and the progress of a study being done on fertility for her company. It seemed incredibly intriguing: ethical predicaments, pharmacology, research in the wild, what’s not to like?

However, I was slightly disappointed. Three quarters of the novel was slow, plodding, and not entirely relevant to the parts of the book I was most interested in. The main character, Marina, was weak and marginally pathetic. I could tell that Patchett wanted me to love and identify with her being put into such a mess, but all I could think of was how sad she seemed, and how easily she could get out of it, if only she wanted to. Most of the first half of the book was getting Marina to the jungle and Dr. Swenson, her former teacher and the conductor of the fertility study, and it was boring. After they arrived at the site, things picked up slightly, but I was still largely unimpressed.

But then I realized something with about 100 pages to go- the book had me. I cared and was thinking about the ethical dilemmas it wanted me to think about. I cared about the characters. Hateful Dr. Swenson, boring and tedious Marina, horrifying Dr. Fox (Marina’s boss). The only perfect character in the book is Easter, a native child from the jungle, who I (like Marina) liked from the beginning. I was pretty surprised to realize that I was disappointed to stop reading. I wanted to finish it, to see how things were resolved.

That remains the book’s saving grace. I think it was worth it to slog through the first 250 pages to get to the last 100. Solid 3. I’m not going to read it again, the majority of it was too boring to warrant that, but the ending made me glad that I spent the time and picked it up.

I can’t decide if I’d actually recommend the book to anyone though. I am glad I finished it, and didn’t give up halfway through like I considered doing, but I have mixed feelings on both the way we were brought into the final conflict and the conflict itself. To explain further would be to give too much away.

Inheritance- Christopher Paolini

And here we are again… I find myself reading the fourth, and last book in Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series, the third book of which made me want to swear them off forever. But after several years’ anticipation for the final book, and apparently a dulling of how excruciating I found Paolini’s writing, I put a hold on Inheritance and waited, more eagerly than I’d care to admit, for my turn to read the end of the series.

For those who might not know, the Eragon series is a typical fantasy epic that includes dragons, elves, dwarves, and humans. Some may say too typical, as a lot of the elements of the story are strikingly similar to those of other series’. This one is focused on a dragon, Saphira, and Eragon, her “Rider,” a special bond between dragon and human or elf, called upon to save the empire from a malevolent dictator.

Now, keep in mind that I hated myself for wanting to know how this series ends badly enough to slog through 850 pages of what I was certain would be more of the same rambling and self important prose that Brisingr (book three) contained. But here I am. I want it on record that I am the appropriate amount of ashamed that I’ve read (and for the most part, enjoyed) this series that at best can be called a good plot with poor writing.

But dammit if I wasn’t hooked. This was the first book I’ve read in awhile that had me thinking about what was going to happen next while I was at work and staying up late to read. It actually disappoints me a little when I think about how good this series could have been if not put in the hands of Christopher Paolini. Take one look at the incredibly poorly written recap of the first three books and I guarantee you’ll see what I mean.

What Paolini needs more than anything is a good editor. The parts of the book that deal with Eragon and Saphira, as well as those including Angela the herbalist are nothing short of captivating. But I could 100% go without the Roran (Eragon’s cousin) and Nasuada (the leader of the Rebels) parts. In fact, at one point I caught myself skimming through these. There are only so many battles and deaths I can read about before it becomes monotonous. Basically, Paolini needs to get on with it. The way he makes huge revelations and then dilly dallies into another plot line drives me freaking crazy.

That said, one of Paolini’s strengths is his build up to conflicts. The crescendos. But he ABSOLUTELY SUCKS at writing the big moments. Even coming close to delivering on the huge pronouncements he makes seems impossible. The last 100 pages of this book took FOREVER. That’s not how this should go. And the final battle with the so-called unstoppable villain? Mysteries that have been building up for several books? Unbelievable let down. It’s like he a) ignored some of the things he made huge plot points out of in the first place, b) knew that he made this guy completely unbeatable and couldn’t come up with a way to get out of it, and c) realized that he had messed something up and scrambles to fix it at the last minute. So ridiculously anticlimactic that no description will even begin to cover it.

However, that being said, I was pleased with this book as the end of the series, as well as the series as a whole. I can get past the writing enough to know that I wouldn’t have gotten through four giant books if the idea behind them wasn’t interesting. I just wish Paolini had done a better job.

3- despite all the complaining, I liked this book enough, and this is another fantasy series that I think at some point I’ll be re-reading (although I’m pretty sure I’ll be skipping over book 3).

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns)- Mindy Kaling

I have to admit that I was hooked on this one from the title. I mean come on, who reads that title and doesn’t a) at least smirk in appreciation, and b) realize that this is something that they’ve thought at least once in life. I suppose the second point is one that should only be applied to girls.

In the vein of Bossypants and Seriously… I’m Kidding, Is Everyone Hanging out Without Me? Was another celebrity memoir that I was never not going to like. The early Office episodes that Mindy Kaling wrote are some of my favorites, and Kelly Kapoor remains one of the funniest parts of the mediocre later seasons. What I didn’t expect was to identify with it quite so much. Through her stories of childhood, struggles in New York, and life as an Office writer in Los Angeles, I found that I was nodding or laughing along with some of her better made points. For example- the chapter about never having a one night stand chiefly because she is significantly concerned about personal safety. I mean really, the point that you are either inviting in or accepting an invitation from a person you know literally nothing about is a legitimate one.

Aside from these observations about obviously important things in life, I enjoyed the book because a lot of it was written in list form. Another highlight was the “11 Favorite Moments in Comedy” chapter, which, spoiler alert, is topped by Will Ferrell crying about his punted dog Baxter in Anchorman, a personal favorite.

I’m not sure how you read this and not at least enjoy it a little bit. Personally I have it somewhere in between a 4 and a 5. It’s not quite to the Bossypants level, but this is a point Mindy Kaling makes herself very early on, and that in itself makes the book even more endearing.