Modern Romance

Modern Romance Aziz Ansari & Eric Klinenberg 4 / 5	Published 2015 First Sentences "Oh, shit! Thanks for buying my book. That money is MINE. But I worked really hard on this, and I think you'll enjoy it."
Publisher's Description: A hilarious, thoughtful, and in-depth exploration of the pleasures and perils of modern romance from one of this generation’s sharpest comedic voices At some point, every one of us embarks on a journey to find love. We meet people, date, get into and out of relationships, all with the hope of finding someone with whom we share a deep connection. This seems standard now, but it’s wildly different from what people did even just decades ago. Single people today have more romantic options than at any point in human history. With technology, our abilities to connect with and sort through these options are staggering. So why are so many people frustrated? Some of our problems are unique to our time. “Why did this guy just text me an emoji of a pizza?” “Should I go out with this girl even though she listed Combos as one of her favorite snack foods? Combos?!” “My girlfriend just got a message from some dude named Nathan. Who’s Nathan? Did he just send her a photo of his penis? Should I check just to be sure?”  But the transformation of our romantic lives can’t be explained by technology alone. In a short period of time, the whole culture of finding love has changed dramatically. A few decades ago, people would find a decent person who lived in their neighborhood. Their families would meet and, after deciding neither party seemed like a murderer, they would get married and soon have a kid, all by the time they were twenty-four. Today, people marry later than ever and spend years of their lives on a quest to find the perfect person, a soul mate. For years, Aziz Ansari has been aiming his comic insight at modern romance, but for Modern Romance, the book, he decided he needed to take things to another level. He teamed up with NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg and designed a massive research project, including hundreds of interviews and focus groups conducted everywhere from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to Wichita. They analyzed behavioral data and surveys and created their own online research forum on Reddit, which drew thousands of messages. They enlisted the world’s leading social scientists, including Andrew Cherlin, Eli Finkel, Helen Fisher, Sheena Iyengar, Barry Schwartz, Sherry Turkle, and Robb Willer. The result is unlike any social science or humor book we’ve seen before. In Modern Romance, Ansari combines his irreverent humor with cutting-edge social science to give us an unforgettable tour of our new romantic world.
Dear Reader, It me took forever to read this book! Or rather, it took US forever to read this book: I audiobooked it with Troy, and we started it when it was released back in June. But we tend to audiobook together only when we are taking long drives (and very occasionally, long walks), so we picked it up and put it down so many times! Luckily, it was pretty easy to do that, since this didn't have a continuous storyline - just a bunch of interesting chapters. So I started listening to the audiobook (which, by the way, is an entirely different experience from the book - Ansari loves to talk to his listeners in asides, especially about how lazy we are for audiobooking!) because I always love to hear authors read their own work wherever possible. But I hit "pause" quickly - I realized that Troy would also love to listen with me, as we were both huge fans of Parks & Rec, and this was a different sort of celebrity book: instead of memoir, it was a study, and I knew that would appeal to us both. So be began to listen together, which then caused a 6 hour book to end up taking us 4 months to finish! Haha. It might have also taken us so long to read because we were constantly pausing to discuss one point or another! It was a great conversation kindler. Ansari and Klinenberg study people from all ages and walks of life - from an old folks' home in Brooklyn to love hotels in Japan. They explore the world of online dating, of texting (and sexting!), and the huge changes that have taken place both in marriage expectations and in courting rituals in the past hundred years. It was fascinating to consider everything they studied. And Ansari infused the entire thing with his trademark wit, which made even parts that might possibly have come off as dry into humorous episodes! I think this is a great book for our generation to read: it is important to remember we're all in this very odd, unprecedented moment of coupling together. You're not alone if you've received unsolicited "dick pics" or broken up with someone over texts. It's a strange new world we live in, and one where we are so much more conscious of our choices. Sometimes this can be overwhelming, but it is nice to know we're (mostly) all aiming for love rather than just settling down with some kid from the neighborhood. Or doing it for the donuts. Yours, Arianna

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The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride William Goldman 5/5	Published 1973 First Sentence "This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it."
Publisher's Description: What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince of all time and he turns out to be...well...a lot less than the man of her dreams? As a boy, William Goldman claims, he loved to hear his father read the S. Morgenstern classic, The Princess Bride. But as a grown-up he discovered that the boring parts were left out of good old Dad's recitation, and only the "good parts" reached his ears. Now Goldman does Dad one better. He's reconstructed the "Good Parts Version" to delight wise kids and wide-eyed grownups everywhere. What's it about? Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. A Few Giants. Lots of Bad Men. Lots of Good Men. Five or Six Beautiful Women. Beasties Monstrous and Gentle. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies, Truth, Miracles, and a Little Sex. In short, it's about everything.
Dear Reader, I'll keep this short and sweet. The Princess Bride is every bit as wonderful as the movie. Wait? Shouldn't I be saying that the other way around? It seems like the movie has far surpassed the popularity among the masses over the book. I grew up wearing down my VCR copy of The Princess Bride. I think it was a tie between this movie and The Dark Crystal that caused utter grief and annoyance to my Aunts for the AMOUNT of times I had to watch it. I was a child with a magical and large imagination which could only be sated by the most creative of books and movies. I almost wish that I could have discovered The Princess Bride as a book first but looking back, my attachment to the movie would probably have won out. Now that I'm older, I have a better appreciation of how to separate the two medias and give them equal credit (where due). This might be one of the few book/movie pairings that hold acclaim on their own. I can't say one is better than the other, and even if the magic from my youth wins out on sheer power of childhood alone... that wouldn't be a fair judge. What I can tell you is this... reading The Princess Bride in my thirties has only enveloped me with a magical nostalgia of youthful glee. I still love a great story, one filled with adventure, comedy and maybe a little bit of romance is okay. I'm not going to bore you with a comparison of the two, nor will I go into a boring plot description (since anyone picking up this book must have an inkling of the plot). I'll speak to those of you who've cherished the movie (as I have) and are wondering if you should read this? (as I did). The answer is yes. Happy Reading, AmberBug

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Evil Librarian

Evil Librarian Michelle Knudsen 4/5	Expected Publication: Sept. 9th 2014 First Sentence "Italian class."
Publisher's Description: He’s young. He’s hot. He’s also evil. He’s . . . the librarian. When Cynthia Rothschild’s best friend, Annie, falls head over heels for the new high-school librarian, Cyn can totally see why. He’s really young and super cute and thinks Annie would make an excellent library monitor. But after meeting Mr. Gabriel, Cyn realizes something isn’t quite right. Maybe it’s the creepy look in the librarian’s eyes, or the weird feeling Cyn gets whenever she’s around him. Before long Cyn realizes that Mr. Gabriel is, in fact . . . a demon. Now, in addition to saving the school musical from technical disaster and trying not to make a fool of herself with her own hopeless crush, Cyn has to save her best friend from the clutches of the evil librarian, who also seems to be slowly sucking the life force out of the entire student body! From best-selling author Michelle Knudsen, here is the perfect novel for teens who like their horror served up with a bit of romance, plenty of humor, and some pretty hot guys (of both the good and evil variety).
Dear Reader, We were given this book as an advance reading copy from Candlewick Press before interviewing the Author, Michelle Knudsen at Book Expo America The wonderful Armchair BEA set me up with the publisher and I'm so grateful they did because we loved it. For those of you who don't know, Armchair BEA is a wonderful program run by volunteers who post/publish all book and blogging related posts coinciding at the same time as Book Expo America. So, if you can't attend the event, you can participate with Armchair at home in YOUR armchair. Wonderful, isn't it? Thanks to Armchair BEA, I got to meet Michelle Knudsen to talk about her book "Evil Librarian". You can find that interview here (on Armchair BEA's website). After I read the first chapter, the first thing that popped into my head was that Michelle Knudsen HAS to be a Buffy The Vampire Slayer fan. Many things in the book referenced this and the style of it (comical, goofy but also a little dark) made me jump with excitement. Not that this can replace Buffy in any way, it has different merits and I think will stand on it's own quite well. The Author makes mention that they wanted it to be a "Buffy meets Glee" feeling and I think she has managed to do that very well. The musical she selected for the book was perfect, it had a nice mirroring of the characters. Cyn's best friend falling in love with the demon, while Cyn gushes all over Ryan who plays the "demon barber" in the play. I loved the quirkiness of the book. It also reads like a rollercoaster, at one moment you think everything has peaked and will end soon, but you come down just to go back up that giant hill again. I loved that, you didn't know what to expect next. I can't wait to see they hype build around this book, with all the PR they pushed at BookExpo (devil horns were handed out, pure genius!), this book will no doubt be at the front of everyones radars. Hopefully, we can get Joss Whedon to pick up the book and possibly turn it into a musical, that would be amazing. So anyone with those connections, help make this happen! Michelle set up the book nicely to create a trilogy, but when asked about it... she states that it wasn't planned that way. We do, however, get a hint as to what the next book will include... I think I'll force you to read the interview for that insider info!! Enjoy this book, you can't go wrong reading a fun book like this and I'll go on the record for saying anyone can read this, you'll enjoy the quirks at any age! Happy Reading, AmberBug

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Euphoria

Euphoria Lily King 4.5/5	Published 2014 First Sentence "As they were leaving the Mumbanyo, someone threw something at them."
Publisher's Description: It’s that moment about two months in, when you think you've finally got a handle on the place. Everything clicks and it all feels within your grasp …at that moment the place feels entirely yours. It’s the briefest, purest euphoria.”  From the critically-acclaimed author of Father of the Rain comes a breathtaking novel about three gifted and groundbreaking anthropologists of the 30s bound together by an all-consuming passion. For years, English anthropologist Andrew Bankson has been alone in the field studying the Kiona tribe of Papua, New Guinea. Haunted by the memory of his brother’s public suicide, and increasingly infuriated with and isolated by his research, Bankson is on the verge of killing himself when a chance meeting with colleagues, the controversial and consummate Nell Stone and her wry Australian husband Fen, pulls him back from the brink. Nell and Fen have just finished their studies of the bloodthirsty Mumbanyo and, in spite of Nell’s ill health, the couple is ravenous for another new discovery. Together with Bankson they set out to uncover the Tam, a local tribe with an almost mythic existence. As the trio settle with the tribe in their paradisiacal surroundings, inspiration flows and mutual affections swell. In the midst of this new, unchartered territory, Nell, Bankson, and Fen must learn not only to adapt to their invigorating present, but to also confront their complicated and haunted pasts. Set between two World Wars, and based on the adventures of revolutionary anthropologist Margaret Mead, Euphoria is a luminous and remarkable story of the power of possibility, imagination, and memory, from accomplished author Lily King.
Dear Reader, I feel like Anthropologists are all the 'up-n-coming' rage. You heard it from me first, I'm just saying. I'm not going to compare this to The People in The Trees because the only similarity is just that, Anthropology. However, I loved both these books for different reasons and maybe the topic of Anthropology is an itch I didn't even know I needed scratched. Once a topic gets enough attention, you start seeing it everywhere. So wait for it... because I know this is destined to be the next "hip" topic. So yeah, this book revolves around a trio of Anthropologists living and studying the region of Papua, New Guinea. This trio includes a unnerving couple that don't seem to mesh well at all and a loner Anthropologist who is pensive and looking to ease his loneliness. Each of these people are incredibly gifted and show a very different side of what an Anthropologist is really all about. Nell, the warm but questioning one who wants to find the perfect balance of culture and ideas, and thinks this can be found my studying multiple tribes and comparing them with our own civilization. Fen, the husband, is all about living among the tribes and becoming one of them to better understand the why. Bankson is a little reserved and likes to stay back and observe from the shadows, without interfering with the people and their customs. You can't help fall in love with Nell, which seems pretty universal when it comes to those around her, I mean she was modeled after Margaret Mead! However, on the other side of the coin... you can't help but detest Fen for his arrogant, bullying, chauvinistic personality. The minute we see these two interact, you know there'll be trouble. He constantly dismisses and demoralizes her and at the same time you see her hesitate but think better of it and just relent to his constant dribble. This dynamic between the two is so stark and disturbing, the hatred for Fen can only increase from there. Then cue Bankson, the adorable and laid back guy who has only the utmost respect and adoration for Nell. You can't help but want them to fall into each others arms desperately in love. I guess this book has a lot of "you can't help" moments, and maybe the Author leads us down this path purposely. I won't give much away as to what happens, but I think this is a book with a few surprises for everyone. I've established that the characters are wonderfully written and have quite a bit of depth but what about the story-line, what about the tribes? Surprisingly, I don't remember much about them... little tidbits here and there but nothing substantial. I want to say that the brevity spent with the Tam rituals and culture took away from the meat and potatoes of the book, but it really didn't. I'm OKAY that it wasn't the focus, I think having the characters be the shining star really worked well for this book, I wanted to know more about the tribes, yes... but I also loved seeing them through the eyes of the different main characters. The realistic details the Author writes in, like how the bugs gravitate towards someones mouth because of the moisture in high temps. It's the little details like that which have a compelling but realistic look at what it might be like to live amongst a native tribe with hardly any new world comforts at your disposal. As much as I would love to visit places like this, I don't know if I would have the guts to live among them for months at a time. Overall, this story is one of my favorites this year and I'll highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good romantic triangle without the cheese, I will even recommend this to anyone who has that same Anthropological itch as me. Should I have pursued Anthropology as a career? Possibly! I do love to people watch! Does that count? Ha! Happy Reading, AmberBug

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Eleanor & Park (Review by Marsha Gaylord)

Eleanor & Park Rainbow Rowell 4 out of 5	Published 2013 First Sentence "He'd stopped trying to bring her back"
Publisher's Description: Two misfits. One extraordinary love. Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor. Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park. Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.
Dear Reader, There are several things about this book that makes it dear to my heart: it's set in the 80s, mentions lots of music and bands,and it is about intense high school love. The love between Eleanor and Park is realistic and not sappy. They ride the same bus, she's new and weird and disadvantaged. He's genuine, kind and comes from a normal family. The narrative switches back and forth from her perspective and then his and it's cute to see how they both cannot understand why the other person is so into and attracted to them. Eleanor feels fat and smelly and all Park can do is see her creamy skin and dote upon the location of her freckles and how she smells like vanilla. When Park decides to make a habit of wearing eyeliner; I loved it! I used to eat up boys who wore band tees and had dark eyes. It really brought me back to the years when I was in high school and how I dealt with my obstacles; feeling trapped and helpless. It also captured the intense highs of finding a true love. It was nostalgic to see through the eyes of the two lovers as they discovered each others bodies; a series of momentous firsts. I was sad the book ended when it did. It seemed like an abrupt departure from knowing these characters. What happens next? Yours, Marsha

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Mrs. Poe - Review by AmberBug

Mrs. Poe Lynn Cullen 4.5/5	First Sentence "When given bad news, most women of my station can afford to slump into their divans, their china cups slipping from their fingers to the carpet, their hair falling prettily from its pins, their fourteen starched petticoats compacting with a plush crunch."
Publisher's Description: A vivid and compelling novel about a woman who becomes entangled in an affair with Edgar Allan Poe—at the same time she becomes the unwilling confidante of his much-younger wife.   It is 1845, and Frances Osgood is desperately trying to make a living as a writer in New York; not an easy task for a woman—especially one with two children and a philandering portrait painter as her husband. As Frances tries to sell her work, she finds that editors are only interested in writing similar to that of the new renegade literary sensation Edgar Allan Poe, whose poem, “The Raven” has struck a public nerve.   She meets the handsome and mysterious Poe at a literary party, and the two have an immediate connection. Poe wants Frances to meet with his wife since she claims to be an admirer of her poems, and Frances is curious to see the woman whom Edgar married.  As Frances spends more and more time with the intriguing couple, her intense attraction for Edgar brings her into dangerous territory. And Mrs. Poe, who acts like an innocent child, is actually more manipulative and threatening than she appears. As Frances and Edgar’s passionate affair escalates, Frances must decide whether she can walk away before it’s too late...  Set amidst the fascinating world of New York’s literati, this smart and sexy novel offers a unique view into the life of one of history’s most unforgettable literary figures. (Published 2013)
Dear Reader, I absolutely loved everything about this book, starting with the literary references right down to the forbidden romance. Cullen took all the pieces, fact and rumors, about Edgar Allen Poe and the characters around him and wrote a beautiful story that delves into feminism, technological progress, NYC literary society, and so much more. Right away Cullen gives us the setting perfectly, telling us of the NYC smells as horse manure, garbage and urine. This gives us a picture of what NYC was, pushing us into the past. I love when historical fiction adds quaint and factual details such as this. The characters, based on real life, are strong, opinionated and made me want to jump into a time machine to attend one of their conversaziones. Frances Osgood, the struggling poet that has chosen the wrong man to marry and struggles with this throughout the book. Samuel Osgood, the husband of Frances, who is the master charmer portrait artist, one we would call a player in our time. Virginia Poe, the wife of Edgar Poe, sick and fragile but has a dark side. Edgar Allen Poe, the famous poet/writer, creepy yet extremely intelligent and charming (in his own way). Cullen wrote Edgar with finesse, he comes across with dry humor which he even admits, "I do not joke... I never joke". That spoke to me because I'm a believer that the truth is what makes something so funny. As Dane Cook (I believe it was him) says, "It's funny because it's so true". Poe's personality is so dark with macabre retorts that had me enamored, I think I fell in love with him right along with Frances. One of my other favorite characters was Mrs. Fuller, even if she was only a minor part. She loves stirring the pot, has definitive views on feminism and is fantastic at defending her fellow females. Feminism plays a large part in this book, the idea of "free love" is brought up a few times and the conversations that play out around that theme are really interesting. One of the central ideas to "free love" is how "marital relations without the consent of the wife amount to rape." How complicated things were back then, suffocating in a marriage that wasn't right. The inequality of it all, something that is really hard to fathom in present times. The Author actually uses the doomed love of Edgar and Frances to show the injustice of the way things used to be. Shouldn't we be able to be with the one you love? Even now, with such changes in marriage, we suffer with the ideas of adultery and bad relationships. Should you stay with someone out of loyalty even if it means we'd be miserable? Doesn't that just make the person we're with suffer just as much if not more? A great quote from the book sums this up beautifully, "Why must women always deny their desires? Why must most men always deny theirs? It is completely unnatural to do so." This book might seem like a romance, but to me it was so much more. I'd normally run for the hills at the first mushy paragraph... However, this book spoke to my geeky side. Mrs. Poe is chock full of technological progress, like having a fun history lesson; how roads started, NYC indoor plumbing bringing the rats, daguerreotypes, the first x-mas trees, etc. I really loved the argument brought up around daguerreotypes(develops a portrait by exposing chemicals to light.. Ahem, photography anyone?) this brought up the argument of Fine Art vs. Photography, which interested me quite a bit, being an artist myself. Samuel Osgood, the artist, believed that daguerreotypes were a fad that would pass with time. Poe, on the other hand, felt it was a fantastic technology that was truest to the subject. How I would have likes to be a part of these discussions. I really would recommend this book to anyone who loves literature combined with history. Cullen gives us so many literary figures (mentioned or cameo); Walt Whitman, Mr. Audobon, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, even Charles Dickens. It left me star struck and wanting more. I can't wait to pick up another of her books, it left me wanting more. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - Check out Arianna's review of this book... Lynn Cullen commented on her post commending her for understanding where she was coming from, you have to read it!