It's been a looong time since I've posted and the main reason for that is that I've been on vacation! When I go on trips, I try to take in as many books as possible since it's so easy to post up in a chaise lounge and zone out with a book. Unfortunately, two of the books I read on my latest trip were duds. And surprisingly, these were books that I was REALLY looking forward to. I made it about halfway through each of these books before I had to give it up and move on...
Summary: Delightfully smart and heartbreakingly poignant, Allison Pearson’s smash debut novel has exploded onto bestseller lists as “The national anthem for working mothers.” Hedge-fund manager, wife, and mother of two, Kate Reddy manages to juggle nine currencies in five time zones and keep in step with the Teletubbies. But when she finds herself awake at 1:37 a.m. in a panic over the need to produce a homemade pie for her daughter’s school, she has to admit her life has become unrecognizable. With panache, wisdom, and uproarious wit, I Don’t Know How She Does It brilliantly dramatizes the dilemma of every working mom.
This book was reminiscent of Bridget Jones's Diary...a British woman trying to make her way out of mucky situations and has very witty comments throughout. The gist of the book is that our main character is a working mom who refuses to compromise her career and is trying to balance her family life as well. The end result (to me) is a story about a selfish mom who does not have a great connection with her kids. The lighthearted twist on this story is the funny comments / situations that Kate (protagonist) gets herself into. This is nothing against professional mommies, but when you have to buy your children's affection and listen to them ask to see you more and not really do much about it...then maybe you should re-prioritize a bit.
Overall, I never really felt the story was going anywhere. It was mishap after mishap and sarcastic comment followed with witty banter. Once I realized I was antsy to finish the book (and not so I could learn the outcome, but because I wanted to read something else), I had to make a decision to put it down.
Rank (halfway thru): C-
Summary: On May 13, 1945, twenty-four American servicemen and WACs boarded a transport plane for a sightseeing trip over Shangri-La, a beautiful and mysterious valley deep within the jungle-covered mountains of Dutch New Guinea. Unlike the peaceful Tibetan monks of James Hilton's bestselling novel Lost Horizon, this Shangri-La was home to spear-carrying tribesmen, warriors rumored to be cannibals. But the pleasure tour became an unforgettable battle for survival when the plane crashed.
Miraculously, three passengers pulled through. Margaret Hastings, barefoot and burned, had no choice but to wear her dead best friend's shoes. John McCollom, grieving the death of his twin brother also aboard the plane, masked his grief with stoicism. Kenneth Decker, too, was severely burned and suffered a gaping head wound.
Emotionally devastated, badly injured, and vulnerable to the hidden dangers of the jungle, the trio faced certain death unless they left the crash site. Caught between man-eating headhunters and enemy Japanese, the wounded passengers endured a harrowing hike down the mountainside--a journey into the unknown that would lead them straight into a primitive tribe of superstitious natives who had never before seen a white man or woman.
Drawn from interviews, declassified U.S. Army documents, personal photos and mementos, a survivor's diary, a rescuer's journal, and original film footage, Lost in Shangri-La recounts this incredible true-life adventure for the first time. Mitchell Zuckoff reveals how the determined trio--dehydrated, sick, and in pain--traversed the dense jungle to find help; how a brave band of paratroopers risked their own lives to save the survivors; and how a cowboy colonel attempted a previously untested rescue mission to get them out.
After reading the summary and loving similar book (Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand), I thought that I would eat this book up. I wanted to read about the story of what exactly happened, but as the author told the story - he went on MAJOR tangents about background details. Example: we'd learn about a crash victim...and then we'd find out about her family, her friends on the base, her habits, etc. Now that's all well and good to know, but when it takes up several pages that I end up skimming through...no thank you. There were some tidbits that I found interesting (details about indigenous people living in the rainforest), but those were too few and far between for me.
Mostly this book read like a history book. I wanted it to read more like a story told from a historical perspective. Once I started skimming the book and counting down the pages to the end...it was time to put it down and cut my losses.
Rank: C
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