Book Review- Caitlin Moran's How to Be a Woman

I came across Caitlin Moran's How to Be a Woman as an Amazon recommendation. I think it may have been due to my love for non-fiction comedic writers like Jen Lancaster and Laurie Nataro. In any case, Moran's book was on sale and I decided to giver her a chance.

I bought her book in a Kindle Edition for my trip to England, not even realizing that Moran is a British author. I really knew nothing about her prior to buying and reading this book. It was good timing though, as it themed well with my vacation.

In How to Be a Woman Moran tackles a variety of issues facing women (First bras, decision to have children, abortion, female role models, et) and has a feminist slant. Her writing is a bit hit and miss. It's not that she doesn't have a good comedic writers voice, it just feels like her book lacks originality with regard to subject matter. The subjects that she writes about have been done to death. This is not to say that these subjects are unimportant or that the dialogue should stop, but mostly Moran didn't add to the conversation.

I was left feeling like Moran is probably a unique voice in the literary world, but the subjects that she chose for this book did not showcase her talent.

This book had a few highlights, but was mostly a snooze fest.

Since it correlated with my trip, I enjoyed the bits about her life in England. I'm sure that there was plenty that I glossed over and didn't "get" with regards to cultural references.

I was pleased with myself to know that Waitrose is a grocery store chain, having just visited one in the morning and then a few hours later, reading a chapter in which she mentions it. It's always exciting when little things become part of your frame of reference.

I would definitely give Moran another shot with a different book, but I am not sure that I would recommend this one.

Book Review- George R.R. Martin's A Storm of Swords

After many, many months of reading this book in chapter chunks, I finally sat down and pushed through it. As the third season of Game of Thrones starts this month, I felt highly motivated to finish the third book in the series.

Fantasy is not a genre that I normally enjoy. I like Martin's series, because they are generally are more realistic than they are heavy on the fantasy elements. I don't mind the occasional dragon. I like the wars between the different houses and all of the scheming. Martin is adept at creating rich characters with even richer dilemmas.

I found his third book to be a lot slower paced than the first two. Much of the story felt like filler and the story didn't really get moving until the last third. As with the previous books, some of the characters were much more interesting than others. I love the whole Lannister clan, Sansa and Daenerys. I could have done with far less Jon, Arya and Davos, they are a snooze fest.

Martin has an amazing ability to write with such attention to detail. However, these details totally bog down the pacing. I don't need three paragraphs describing what they ate at a feast or explaining the intricacies of minor houses. I like stories with a little less detail, so as a reader, I can fill in the blanks with my imagination. Martin creates amazing settings and characters, but doesn't give the reader much of a chance to engage their own imagination. I feel like this is the big fail in his writing.

I am not sure that I would continue with the series, if I wasn't enjoying the HBO show so much. However, I really want to read the books to see the differences between the books and the show. I feel like I have already read three (and own the fourth book), so I should stay the course. I hope that the fourth book is more compelling than the third. It was often a tedious read.

SPOILER ALERT -SPOILER ALERT-SPOILER ALERT!!!

I was really happy when Martin killed off three of the dullest characters in a span of two chapters. i cheered! I thought that this was a great twist and I was happy to see them go. However, he brought two of them back later on in the book. It turns out that it was a false twist. I was not happy with this at all, what a major disappointment.

Book Review- Bill Bryson's I'm a Stranger Here Myself

After spending two decades living in England, author Bill Bryson moved his family (including English born wife and kids) back to the country of his birth, the United States. A British publication contacted Bryson about writing a newspaper column regarding his thoughts on returning to America and on the differences between American and British living. Bryson's book, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, is a compilation of those articles.

This particular book has sat on my TBR shelf for years, way before I ever met Dan. It was gathering dust for so long, that I didn't remember exactly what it was about, until a few days ago, when I plucked it off of the shelf and reread the back cover. I then got excited and immediately started to read it, as I thought that it might be helpful with explaining some of the cultural differences that Dan and I encounter and a timely read before my March trip to England.

Nope. Not really.

I felt like only about half of the chapters were even relevant to the theme. A lot seemed to be about modern life (computers, transportation, globalization) rather than the differences between the United States and the United Kingdom. I think this is natural, as Bryson often reflected on his childhood in America, but he didn't bring about a unique or interesting perspective to the subjects.

As with most collections, some chapters were more interesting than others. I found myself skimming through about a third of the book. It's a quick read, although I wish it had been more entertaining and engaging.

This is not to say that I didn't find bits funny. One thing that I have learned through dating Dan, is that the sense of humor between Americans and Brits is very different. Obviously it's different, but what I mean is It's different in a way that you just don't pick up on from watching movies and reading books, it's much more apparent when you are surrounded by it all of the time. Bryson's years in England have definitely made his sense of humor less American and it comes across strong in his writing. I don't know that I would have picked up on this if not for having Dan in my life.

As a fan of Bryson, I am sad to report that this is not one of his best efforts.