Book #8

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northrop

320 pages

 

Before it became an award-winning film, I first heard of Twelve Years a Slave many months ago when a co-worker was reading it. I didn't know much about the film at the time, as it hadn't been released yet, but I did recognize the title.

After watching red-carpet coverage during award season, I learned the basic plot of this memoir -- a free man is taken into slavery in the early 1840s, leaving behind a wife and a family for 12 years.

Solomon's story was heartbreaking at many parts in the book. It's heartbreaking in 2014, when most people reading the book now would be pretty educated on slavery in the early days of America, but I can't imagine the reactions it would have had when it was originally published in the 1850s.

The thing that surprised me about Twelve Years a Slave was how readable it was in this day in age -- meaning, I wasn't reading slowly trying to figure out a hundred and fifty years' worth of jargon and tongue. I usually take my time with anything written before 1960 since it is often written in a tone and style I am not always used to reading. But I had no trouble getting through this, as Solomon told his story in a matter-of-fact tone.

It was interesting to me how I felt about this book as I read it, since you already know how it ends. Every time something terrible happened, it was easy for me to remember his story ended positively.  I wonder how this affected my perception of it.

Next up: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

 

Top 40 love

Absolutely my favorite new pop song at the moment. Ugh, and this video! The feels!!

Book #7

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp
294 pages

I really wanted to love this book. The easy-going way the main character narrates about high school made me remember the first time I read Perks of Being a Wallflower. I wanted to love The Spectacular Now like I loved that.

But I didn't. And I'm not sure why.

Actually, I do know why. It's because the ending felt hollow in my stomach, knowing it was the most realistic ending to a young adult book could give.

(Aside: But didn't Perks have one too? I don't know. I'm just feeling torn about this book!)

Since I had seen the preview for the movie before reading the book, Sutter in my mind IS Miles Teller, and since I love Miles, I automatically loved Sutter. Sutter is a party boy, always looking for the next buzz and never really sticking with anything too long. When he accidentally meetings Aimee after an all-night bender, he finds a true friendship with someone he had always looked passed.

I liked that Aimee was a realistic person -- she wasn't the over-the-top nerdy outcast like Jamie in A Walk to Remember, but a genuine character with real personality traits instead of stereotypes.

The highlight of the book was Sutter's relationship with his sister. I wish it had been explored more in the book, and I wonder if the screenwriters expanded that relationship with more scenes in the movie.

Ultimately, though, this book was a deep look into self-destruction. An admirable trait in a book aimed at teenagers.

After finishing the novel, I would definitely check out more of Tharp's work and I look forward to seeing the film version of this book soon. (If only I could watch it and not pay attention to the fact Aimee is played by the Secret Life of American Teenager girl ...)

Edit: It's been two days and I haven't stopped thinking about this book. Ugh. Emotions!!

Up next: Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

Book #6

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

336 pages

 

This got bumped up to the top of my to-read list after I realized Reese Witherspoon was starring in the movie this year. I love Reese! And I usually try as hard as possible to read a book before seeing the movie, so I knew I needed to get to this one fast.

I had a really, really hard time connecting with the protagonist (who happens to be the real-life author, as this is a memoir). She was still reeling from her mother's death five years prior, and had gone off the deep end with drugs and bad relationships, as well as ending her seemingly great marriage to her longtime sweetheart.

However, I thought more than once throughout the book that it reminded me of another lost-single-again-memoir protagonist -- Elizabeth Gilbert from Eat, Pray, Love. Except Strayed didn't whine the entire book, so I had to give her props for that!! (Sorry, Julia Roberts.)

Anyway, the truth is that Strayed didn't stay on the Pacific Crest Trail as much as you'd think when you start reading it. She took detours and completely skipped a part of the trail by taking a bus to her next stop -- which I'm sure really does happen a lot when backpacking, but I am just a little unsure if it's fair that this book is advertised as if she hiked all or even most of the trail.

I liked the other characters in the book that come in and out of the story, especially her friend Doug and her ex-husband Paul.

The thing that bothered me the most is that the title suggests she went from "lost to found." But it's hard to see Strayed as a changed person by the end of the book. Yes, you find out in a few short paragraphs what happened to her in the years after the book took place, but by the end of the actual story, she seems like the same woman who started backpacking months before.

All in all, it kept me mildly entertained and it was an easy, few-day read for me. I will still see the movie, although since so much of it is flashbacks, I'm interested to see how they use the book's material on film.

Next up: The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

P.S. I am adding how many pages each book is to my posts just for my own curiosity. I am using the GoodReads page numbers since different copies of books can have different pages depending on how they're made or whether they are hardback or paperback.

Book #5

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
72 pages

 

It's been a long while since I've seen the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's," but after reading the novella this week, it's definitely on my list to rewatch in the near future. There were  several differences in from the book to the movie, and after I researched a bit, apparently Truman approved pretty much none of them.

I can't remember ever actually reading anything by Truman Capote before (but surely, that's not true ... but maybe it is!) but I enjoyed the style of writing very much. It was very easy to follow and I loved the descriptions of all the minor characters throughout the story.

I especially loved the descriptions of No Name the cat, who is honestly the second cast member of the movie I think of after Audrey Hepburn. The ending of the movie, when Holly goes looking for her cat in the rain, is different from the book. The book's ending rings truer to Holly's character than the end of the movie.

This has been on my to-read list forever, and it's my first "classic" of the year!


Next up: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Trail by Cheryl Strayed