Book Club August 2016

It’s time for our yearly classic read! Every year, our book club picks a classic novel to read. Our previous picks were Anna Karenina and Wuthering Heights. This year, the pick was Little Women.
 

By: Louisa May Alcott
Original Published Year: 1868
Pages: 449

Amazon Barnes & Noble

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Little Women is the heartwarming story of the March family that has thrilled generations of readers. It is the story of four sisters--Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth-- and of the courage, humor and ingenuity they display to survive poverty and the absence of their father during the Civil War.









                                                        First Impressions

I only have vague memories of the movie and really enjoying it. I remember that at the time, I really loved Jo and even bought a few of the individual novels that were written about her. I was excited to read this book as I haven’t read it before and I haven’t seen the movie in a very long time.

                                                        What I thought

This book is so sweet. There truly is no other way to describe this book other than sweet and heartwarming.

Little Women follows the March family and is written in two parts. The first part follows the March girls through a part of their childhood, while the second part follows their adulthood.

I absolutely loved the first part of this story. I flew through that portion of the book and greatly enjoyed al of the characters. I loved the differences in the personalities of each of the girls and how they each had different bad characteristics based a lot of the age that they were at the time. I also loved how they interacted and the way they looked to their mother for teachings. I also adored the friendship between the girls, particularly Jo, and their neighbor Laurie. I felt like this part of the story just worked so well. It taught some very great lessons that I think would be wonderful for lots of little girls to read. Mrs. March is the epitome of a good Christian mother in that she teaches her children to be kind and trust that God will show them kindness back.

The second part of the book was a bit harder for me to get through. It is a lot less lighthearted because the girls are dealing with adulthood and falling in love and marriage. The family I never as connected in this second half as they are in the first and I think that’s what I missed the most. While I enjoyed getting to know each girl individually a bit more, I missed that the chapters weren’t about all of the girls together, but about their lives separately. I do appreciate that May Alcott wrote in such a realistic way of growing up and the changing relationships within a family, but it lost a little of its magic to me.

I’m so glad that this book was chosen, as I know I wouldn’t have ever picked it up on my own and I’m so glad to have read it. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it. It is definitely a book that is a classic for a reason and, while it has its faults, they do not take away from the wonderful story. 

Everything Everything

When I attended Book Con the Penguin booth was giving away a few audiobooks. I have never listened to an audiobook before, but when I saw that one of the audiobooks they were giving away was Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon, I knew I needed to check it out. I had wanted to read Yoon’s debut novel for a while and thought that this would be a fun way to try it out.

Part of the reason I was always a little wary of listening to audiobooks is that I don’t really have a time to do so and pay enough attention. My commute to work is only about 15 minutes, so it never made sense for me to listen to one on the way to and from work. I figured that the perfect time to try this would be over the summer when I’m at the pool. It would be a great way to not worry about sunglass tan lines from reading a physical book, while also doing nothing and being able to concentrate on the story. 

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster





                                                              \What I thought

I was a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed this audiobook! I found myself looking forward to listening to more of it and eventually got to the point where I was listening to it in the car as well as at the pool because I wanted to know what happened. I know that this is in part due to the story, but I think the format worked well!

The only issue that I had with the audiobook was that it was mostly read by one person. There were a few moments when Olly’s character was read by a young guy and those moments really made me fall in love with his character. However, he was typically voiced by the same female reader who was reading Madeline. I would’ve liked it better if the dialogue of Olly was always voiced by the male reader.

I also found it interesting that I did move through this story at a much slower pace than I would have if I had the physical book. I can’t decide if it impacted my enjoyment of it at all, but it was different. I will say that even though I enjoyed it as an audiobook, I still find myself wanting to go back and read the physical copy.

As for the story, I loved it! Madeline is an 18 year old who has a disease most commonly known as Boy In the Bubble disease. She is allergic to everything and cannot leave her house for fear of her getting so sick that she could die. Madeline is perfectly content with her life as is, until Olly, the 18 year old boy moves in next door. She lives with her mother, has a wonderful nurse, and lives in a world of books. However, once she starts talking to Olly, she realizes that this life may not be enough.

Madeline is such an interesting character, because she is mature as her only daily interactions have come from adults and books. She always wrote these little spoiler book reviews and I loved that when writing those she shared that the meaning that she found in the book changed every time that she read it. This thought resonated with me so much because I feel like it is so true. Whenever I re-read a book, I find something new in it that I loved.

Olly is also adorable beyond belief. He is such a good guy and has a great sense of humor. I could visualize him so well with the descriptions and felt how he was in constant motion every time he talked. The interaction between him and Madeline was so sweet. He really drew out her youth and her fun side.

While parts of this book were predictable (Olly and Madeline falling in love and having to deal with her sickness), there were parts that definitely were not. I was completely in shock with parts of the storyline and I loved that they took me by surprise. I’m not often taken by surprise with stories, so I don’t know if this was because of the writing, or partly because of the format. Either way, Yoon took me by total surprise and I loved it. 
 

This audiobook was such great experience. Yoon’s writing was captivating and her descriptions worked very well audibly. I don’t know if I would grab an audiobook over a physical book in the future, but if I’m ever going on a road trip I think I’ll b…

This audiobook was such great experience. Yoon’s writing was captivating and her descriptions worked very well audibly. I don’t know if I would grab an audiobook over a physical book in the future, but if I’m ever going on a road trip I think I’ll be more open to the idea! It was such a fun experience and definitely will make me remember this book even more in the future. Like I mentioned, I really enjoyed the story itself, so much so that I want to go back and read the physical copy of the book. I also highly recommend this book. It is so different from everything that is out there and Ollie and Madeline’s romance is so sweet. If you’re looking for a fresh young adult novel, please check this book out!

Have you read audiobooks? Is there one that you’ve listened to that you think I need to listen to?
 

Play! By Sephora July 2016

Play! By Sephora is a new monthly subscription box b Sephora. It costs $10 a month and you received 5 beauty and skincare samples plus a perfume sample each month. Previously, you needed to put yourself onto a wait-list and wait to receive an email before you could subscribe, as they were rolling it out to limited quantities.

In addition to the products, Sephora includes a booklet that includes information about the product, the brand, and then tips of how to use the products. Also at the back of the book is a Play! PASS. This Pass gives you a complimentary one-on-one session with a Sephora artist as well as an extra 50 Beauty Insider points when you scan the pass at the register with any purchase. If you have the Sephora app, you can also scan the images of the products to learn more about them.

The past couple of months, the boxes were not personalized and everyone who signed up for the subscription received the same products. This month, they sent out two different boxes for different skin types (dry or oily). The theme for this month was Effortless Summer.

As a heads up, the boxes are a little bit larger and will not fit into a small apartment sized mailbox. For reference, a Birchbox box is able to fit almost perfectly into my mailbox, but this one has no chance. Therefore, I’ve had to go to the post office both months to pick up my box.

First Aid Beauty Skin Rescue Deep Cleanser with Red Clay (Full Size $24)- This is a gel cleanser that targets unclogging pores, removing excess oils, and cleansing the sin. Clay is really good for when you want to take impurities out of the skin, so I’m excited to try this. They state that it is specifically good for anyone with acne-prone skin. Lately, my skin has been breaking out again, so I’m looking forward to trying this. First Aid Beauty is also a natural beauty line, so there are no parabens or sulfates.

Beauty Blender Bloterazzi (Full Size $20)- Blotterazzi is a reusable oil blotting sponge. The beauty blender foam material is a special foam that is “thirsty” and enjoys sucking up water and oils. Supposedly, this sponge will take the oil off of your first as good as an oil-blotting sheet would with the benefit of being reusable. The single sample also came with a sample pack of the liquid cleanser. This is great because I would not want to use this product more than 2-3 times without washing it. I tried it briefly and it didn’t seem to do as much as a blotting sheet would, but I will continue to try it as it seems like a fun product.

Ouai Wave Spray (Full Size $26)- I hate receiving wave sprays. I have curly hair and they are kind of pointless for me. This specific wave spray is said to hold the perfect beachy waves without any dryness or crunch. I will try it just to see if it does anything for my hair (occasionally wave sprays have relaxed my curls a little bit), but this will more likely than not be passed on to a friend.

Yet again, Sephora has knocked it out of the park with their box. I love the variety of products that are in this box. I’m excited to try all but one of the products and can’t wait for next month!

Book Club July 2016

This month’s book club was picked by Stephanie. She picked The Assistants by Camille Perri. It is Perri’s debut novel.
 

Published Year: 2016
Publisher: G.P Putnam's Sons
Pages: 288

Amazon Barnes and Noble

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Tina Fontana is the hapless but brazen thirty-year-old executive assistant to Robert Barlow, the all-powerful and commanding CEO of Titan Corp., a multinational media conglomerate. She’s excellent at her job and beloved by her famous boss—but after six years of making his reservations for restaurants she’d never get into on her own and pouring his drinks from bottles that cost more than her rent, she’s bored, broke, and just a bit over it all.
 
When a technical error with Robert’s travel-and-expenses report presents Tina with the opportunity to pay off the entire balance of her student loan debt with what would essentially be pocket change for her boss, she struggles with the decision: She’s always played by the rules. But it’s such a relatively small amount of money for the Titan Corporation—and for her it would be a life-changer . . .

                                                          What I thought

I was a bit nervous about this book. I was worried I wasn’t going to enjoy the main character and therefore wouldn’t enjoy the book. I was also worried that the book was going o be slow going and take a while to get things moving. I was pleasantly surprised to see that none of this was true.

The Assistants follows Tine, who is the assistant for the media man and one of the richest men in the world. As an assistant, she barely makes enough to get by in New York and is also working towards paying off student loan debt. When she accidentally receives a check for $20,000 she figures, what’s the harm in keeping it and using it to pay off the rest of her debt? When she is found out by another assistant, they use their invisibility and knowledge to steal money from men who have so much they wouldn’t even notice it was gone.

The Assistants addresses the unfairness that is the 1%. The men who work for Titan Corp make insane amounts of money, while their assistants make minimal and drown in student debt. As women in a male media world they feel kept down. Tina gets the chance to take the amount that Robert, her boss and head of Titan Corp, would drop on two sorry necklaces for his wife and justifies that she needs the money more than he does. She struggles with the moral dilemma of taking the money or giving it back but ultimately keeps it.

Tina then finds out that she is not alone in her struggle. Women everywhere are drowning in debt and being underpaid and underappreciated. As a young career woman with a crazy amount of student loan debt, I understand the struggle. I related to Tina in that if I received a check for the amount that I had left owed on my loans from a man who spends that in a day without thinking about it, I would be extremely tempted to keep it. The amount that these men think of as nothing is life changing to so many people. While I wouldn’t have actually kept the money, Tina did and that created a great moral dilemma throughout the story.

Perri kept the pace of the story moving very quickly which I enjoyed. I felt myself worried and anxious on behalf of Tina and the other assistants, so it was nice not to have to have that dragged out. Once I started the story, it was very easy to keep reading. I didn’t want to put it down as I wanted to find out what happened to Tina and the other assistants.

This story would make a wonderful romantic comedy. It has the feel of Devil Wears Prada or The Shopaholic with the modern struggle of student loan debt that so many women can relate to. I really enjoyed this book and felt like it would make a great beach read.

                                                       What Book Club Thought

This was such a great book club choice! It had so many great discussion points. We all enjoyed the book but at the same time had minor issues with it that made for great discussions. The general consensus was that the story was fun and moved quickly but that there were some plot and character issues. One of the book club members works in a large company and actually has experience with filing expense reports, so her knowledge of that was really interesting. I have never had to file expense reports (as I work in the schools) so I had no knowledge of how correct or probable that part of the story was. After some discussion, it seems as though Perri did not compete a lot of research on that portion of the story.

One good question that came up for discussion was “At any point did you feel ok with what Tina did?” And then we had a follow up of “Would you have ever done what she did?”

Next Book Club: August 12th 2016

Book Club Pick: Little Women  By: Louisa May Alcott
 
Amazon

It’s time for our yearly classic! August is typically the month that we pick to read our one classic and this year we collectively picked Little Women.