Catherine’s Comments (group member since Jan 06, 2013)

Catherine’s comments from the Challenge: 50 Books group.

#4 I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Wow I liked this book. It was an easy to read book that was direct and to the point with tangible steps that one should take as a young adult in their 20s. I read several reviews that did not like the tone of the author, but it didn't really bother me. Yah...he does kind of yell at people and seem snarky and a know-it-all, but I think he acknowledges that and makes fun of himself through the novel too. Before reading this book, I didn't think too much about my personal finances, and now I have an idea of what I want to read further into.

Note: I am a Canadian, so sometimes I had to google things to find the equivalents (i.e., 401(k) = RRSP, Roth IRA = TFSA, etc.) but in doing so, I just found more references and blogs to read after I finished the book.

#3. Poor Little Bitch Girl by Jackie Collins

I picked up this book during a kobo sale and I thought it was a lot of fun. It was a fluffy read, but I really liked some of the characters and I sped through the book. It mostly covers four perspectives: Annabelle, the poor little rich girl whose mom has just been shot and is dating a loser coke head; Carolyn, mistress to a powerful senator; Denver, an up and coming lawyer who has proven herself in some high publicity cases; and Bobby, a successful heir who also made his own money running nightclubs. All four of them went to the same school, and now a murder causes them to reunite. Many parts of the story seem familiar to news that is splashed on the tabloids and is relevant to current pop culture.

Denver is definitely my favourite and the one that we seem to be rooting for. She's got a firm head on her shoulders and we follow her through several romantic interests. Annabelle is definitely annoying and definitely lives in la-la land. She is very self-centered and uses people as much as she can. She is very reminiscent of American heiresses that end up on the tabloids. Carolyn is an ok character, but I didn't make much of a connection to her throughout the story. She's a sweet girl, but very blinded by her love for the Senator and you're constantly yelling at her to see through what's happening. Bobby is a great alpha male for a romance novel - handsome, rich, strong, and I definitely wanted the couple to happen at the end.

#2 The Blondes by Emily Schultz

The Blondes is about Hazel Hayes, an academic who in is NY when a pandemic like rabies spreads through the world. In this case, the disease only seems to attack blondes and those who shave are less likely to become infected. Throughout the story, the details are vague and the science is unclear. The more interesting part is how society reacts.

I thought this would be much more exciting and more of a popular fiction type of novel, but it definitely seems to stray more toward being a high brow or academic novel. I'm not sure how well it succeeds. Although it touches on many interesting pop culture, gender studies, and media studies issues, the topics are only lightly discussed.

As a Canadian, I did enjoy seeing Toronto and Canadians being a part of the book.

#1. Bumped by Megan McCafferty

I wasn't a huge fan of the book but finished it because it was a pretty easy read. It was just too straight forward and crammed their obvious themes down your throat - "religion is controlling and bad": insert female protagonist who lives in a super protective culture that covers women and controls their marriages similar to portrayals of middle eastern culture. The characters are all just too one dimensional and superficial though it does hint that there's something deeper to the characters near the end of the novel. But it comes as too little too late. The novel ends right when it seems to get interesting but not enough that I want to read the sequel. It felt like nothing really happened and there was no character growth, though when I think back objectively, I can see how they did learn some lessons. They just started off so unrealistic that there is no satisfaction at seeing them make obvious revelations. It's not like I disagreed with the themes of the story, it was just not presented very well.

The storyline seemed like it would be interesting, but it just wasn't. The science fiction part of the world where most people become sterile around age 18 is glossed over and the repercussions of the world are touched on - such as how young is too young to promote reproduction too. Once again, it's pretty superficial and I don't make much of a connection to the characters that are presented.

Wow seems like a pretty lofty goal but I wanna give it a try =).