welcome to elaney!

Okay, here it is.  Everyone’s favorite post of the month (and the last one for awhile, because after we finish The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing, we are going to tackle Anna Karenina with Reader Betsy).  (And yes, we realize that we’re about 7 years late on The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing.  Might as well read Into the Wild and The Year of Magical Thinking while we’re at it).

The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance, Edna Baker
Memoir of a standup comedian’s experience of dating in NYC as a Mormon.  It’s pretty hilarious, and this Southern Christian girl could relate to her efforts of reconciling religion with dating.  The story about how she tells a guy that she’s never seen snow so she can spend three hours in the car made us laugh so hard it hurt.  It’s smart and funny, but the end is weak and shows her inexperience as a writer.  Bottom Line:  Worth the Wait, er Read

The Sixes, Kate White
You girls know that Kate White, Editor-in-Chief of Cosmo, is our favorite mystery writer.  We’ve read everyone of them, and her latest, The Sixes, did not disappoint.  Set at a college where the protagonist is a disgraced famous writer doing a guest stint, it’s probably not going to win a Pulitzer but it kept us up until 3am one night.  Bottom Line: Better than Cosmo.

Heaven Is for Real, Todd Burpo
Sure, you have to give into the fact that they sell it at Publix and every Southern Baptist in America is doing it for their book club this fall, but it’s a sweet story.  Bottom Line: It will make you cry (probably not as hysterically as Same Kind of Different as Me), and long for the days that childlike faith was easy.

The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing, Melissa Bank
Not quite finished, so can’t speak to every bit of it, but it’s delightful.  Written as a collection of short stories, it’s a coming of age story of book editor Jane living in NYC.  A touch dark, quite witty, Jane will capture the heart of any girl that has ever wondered…”what does it all mean?”  Bottom Line: A great catch!

And we’re off to finally earn the right to have Anna Karenina on our coffee table.  Wish us luck.

Spring break is here, and you need some reading recos.  This March, we split our time with 2 parts chick lit and 1 part heady.

Orange is the New Black
Piper Kerman

This is the story of a woman’s year in Danbury, a minimum security federal prison, after her college girl crimes caught up to her a year later.  This was a reco from Reader Betsy, and truth be told, the only reason I started reading it was because it was on my bedside table, and I left my other book in the car.  However, it’s absolutely fascinating.  Such an honest look at a subculture that we think we have a perception of but we really don’t.  Plus, Piper is relatable and insightful.  Final Verdict:  ”Slam”mer Dunk.

There’s Cake In My Future
Kim Gruenfelder

By the author who wrote my two all time fav beach reads, Misery Loves Cabernet and Total Waste of Makeup, we were excited to give this one a try.  Set in LA (always fun), it has the same witty fast paced tone as her other two, but the plot is just too unbelieveable.  A bunch of bridesmaids pull charms from a cake and their future changes forever?  Please.  Final Verdict:  Pass…and not the fork.

The Perfect Manhattan
Tracey Toomey and Leanne Sheer

Story of a cash challenged Columbia grad who gets swept away by bartending at the hottest club in the Hamptons.  Parts of it were really entertaining, but let’s just say, the authors do nooooooot have much respect for the patrons of the Hamptons, and sometimes they went on some soapbox rants that were not very beachread friendly!  Who wants to talk about Bosnia at a birthday party?  Final Verdict:  On the Rocks.

It’s your favorite post of the month!  What did we read in October that we loved?  This month there were many late nights engrossed in the book everyone is talking about…the story of the Vangers, told through the eyes of Mikeal Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander.  Ooooh it’s so good.  And we can pretty much tell you that November’s book list will be the next two in the trilogy.

All three of Stieg Larsson’s books were published posthumously.  Set in Sweden, the story is just gripping.  You will be endeared to scruffally Mikeal, and you just want to take little Lisbeth in your arms and tell her you love her.  Not only are the characters fascinating, but the plot is so captivating.  Es goo!

Busy month!  Only read one book in September:  Tender at the Bone, by Ruth Reichl.  Have always been a fan of Ruth Reichl’s memoirs.  After acting as the NY Times food critic and later, the Editor-In-Chief of Gourmet, Reichl has had an interesting life.  And, as part of her previous job descriptions, the woman can write about food.  Tender at the Bone tells the story of her youth and early career.  After reading her three memoirs in reverse order, we’d have to say that this was our least favorite…but it is still very good.  It’s just a little more interesting to read about her taking away Le Cirque’s fifth star than her grandmother’s cooked catfish.  But if you like food and like to cook, you will enjoy.

Time for the monthly roundup.

DISCLAIMER:  Remember, this is just an opinion on the books we read inthe previous month.  We cannot be held responsible for our undying love for the beach read.

Twenties Girl, Sophie Kinsella.

UGH.  It is so, so, so bad.  Like all of her books since Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Sophie has truly lost her spark.  We don’t know why we continue to read them all.  This is the story of a floundering head hunter who starts hanging around with the ghost of her dead aunt.  Yes, it’s as ridic as it sounds.  Final Verdict:  AVOID.

One Day, David Nicholls.

The story of two people who connect the night of college graduation at the University of Edinburgh and then stay friends for the next 20 years.  Ohhhh it’s so delightful.  Nicholls is a brilliant writer!  Capturing so well the evolution of relationships, as well as the maturation of two characters.  We had a little bit of a slow start with it, and then we could not put it down.  Smart and thoughtful.  Anne Hathaway is currently filming the movie, and we cannot wait!  Final Verdict:  We envy those who haven’t read it.  Wish we could do it all again!

Short Straw, Stuart Woods.

Your typical Stuart Woods (although, there is only one Stone Barrington).  Listened to it on tape.  Feel like a good story that you may or may not remember two days later?  Stuart Woods is your man.  Final Verdict:  Nothing to write home about.

Heart of the Matter, Emily Giffin

Like her cover art, Emily Giffin novels are all very similar.  Sort of sad, very real, more narrative than action.  Every time we finish one of her books, we are left sort of disappointed and feeling like the outlook for the world is sort of bleak, yet there is something honest about them.  Final Verdict: Like.

As we mentioned, vintage elaney has been on the mind lately, and we’ve been thinking about some of the old segments of yester year (when readership was limited to Readers g-love, c-handler, shawtygetlow, Kenny (then called Kelly), and a VERY skeptical version if emum (not yet named).  So, Once Upon an elaney, one of the favorite reader segments was the monthly book list!

How It Worked: At the end of the month, we shared all of the books we’d read the previous month and gave a short opinion.
Why We Stopped It: The disproportionate amount of beach reads got embarrassing.
Why We’re Bringing It Back: We’ve embraced our inner love for beach trash.

So here goes!  July 2010′s Book List:

The Man of My Dreams – Curtis Sittenfield

After LOVING Prep and American Wife, we decided to read Ms. Sittenfield’s lesser hailed second novel.  While it’s clear that Sittenfield is gifted with words, the protagonist Hannah is so hard to like that it was difficult to give in to the world and relate to the characters.    The story doesn’t feel totally believable, and we were pretty ready for it to be over about 2/3 of the way through.  Verdict:  Eh…glad to’ve read it as a lover of Curtis, but not something we strongly recommend.

Hush – Kate White

Have read every one of the Kate White, Editor-n-Chief of Cosmo, murder mysteries, and like the others, this one delivers!  This is her first standalone mystery (not part of the Bailey Wiggins series), and we quickly fell in love with the new protagonist, a marketing consultant in NYC going through a messy divorce.  They are super quick reads, but White has a gift for making the high profile NYC life come alive.  Verdict:  Fun and frivolous.  Borrow, don’t buy.

Prospect Park West – Amy Sohn

Stumbled upon this one at the library, and let us tell you, it’s scandalous.  It is tantalizing, sneaky, and steamy from page 1 on, but it’s also seriously well-written.  Sort of like Candice Bushnell for Brooklyn, follows 5 women around Park Slope and explores their secrets, relationships, and “neuroses.”  The story sort of abruptly ends with no real resolution but the characters are complex and intiguing.  They’ll make a complicated woman feel simple.  Verdict:  So bad, but so good.

Past Lists:
May ’08
April ’08
March ’08
February ’08
January ’08

1.  Mergers and Acquisitions, Dana Vachon.  Vachon, a 2002 Duke grad and former employee of JP Morgan, writes an account of a male protagonist’s first year out in the world of NYC investment banking.  What the novel lacks in plot (the story doesn’t develop with the appropriate robust), it almost makes up with vivid scenes into a greedy subculture.  The dinners at Cipriani, the galas at Moma, and the summers on the shore vividly offer hilarious, poignant, and often sad insights.  Bottomline:  A mediocre version ofThe Bonfire of the Vanities with a cup of The Devil Wears Prada.

2.  Remember Me?  Sophie Kinsella.  This book makes the official decrowing of the former Queen of the Beach Read.  After Shopaholic and Sister, we didn’t think things could get much worse.  And they don’t.  But they don’t get any better with this strange tale of a 28 year old city savvy exec that got amnesia and can’t remember getting her teeth done.  It is painfully predictable, and we suggest rather than reading the book, just read the back cover.  Nothing much else interesting happens.