Bookshelf: Multiple Reads

Confession: I read all three Grey books.  I am embarrassed, but I had to come clean.  Phew.  What a weight off my shoulders!  They were awful, they were infuriating, they made me cringe and pull out my hair... I couldn't put them down.  If you've read them and felt much like I did then you'll enjoy this marvelous blogger. who also wrote a marvelous review of each book (with giffs!) on Goodreads.  Anyways, her blog is here.

After my vacation I got back to real life and good books.  I started with Elizabeth Gilbert's "Stern Men".  Unlike "East, Pray, Love", "Stern Men" is a short fiction book.  I was about two thirds of the way through, unsure of my feelings for the story and thought to myself, I would definitely recommend this to readers, but how the heck would I go about explaining it?  And suddenly Seinfeld popped into my head.  Random, yes, but actually a perfect comparison.  Seinfeld was described as a show about nothing.  As awful as that sounds, "Stern Men" could be equally described.  Don't get me wrong, there is an actual plot, but not a whole heck of a lot happens until the end.  But that's the point, when your setting is two twin islands off the coast of Maine where pretty much every man owns a boat and lobster pots, the women are tough and foul-mouthed, and not much else happens.  Decidedly, I loved it.  It took me a while to come to that conclusion, took me all the way to the back cover to assess my overall feelings, but it's really a great story.

Next up, I decided on a fluffier story.  I need to balance out my emotions.  I could never read "The Invisible Bridge" backed up against "Sarah's Key".  It would be much too heavy.  So I picked up "Last Night at Chateau Marmont" by Lauren Weisberger.  It's fun, easy to pick up and put down, and exciting in that way Weisberger has mastered.  And, thankfully, it didn't follow the same plot equation that her other books have followed.

And now taking up residence in my bag is Wayne Pacelle's "The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them".  Admittedly, I didn't discover this book on my own.  Pacelle was on Ellen to discuss the book as well as his work with the Humane Society.  As President and CEO he is very well qualified to write about the topic of animals.  But this man has done so much research in preparation for the topics.  I'm only 34 pages is thus far, but I've already welled up once (on the T) and feel like I'm learning so much.  Did you know that animal testing still goes on in the US?  I had no idea.  I had assumed, stupidly, that archaic practices like this had been banned decades ago.  I'm actually surprised that I didn't know that, seeing as I get emails from HSUS, Sea Sheppard, and WWF.  I like to think I'm in the know with most animal welfare subjects, but I somehow managed to miss this one.  In the current chapter I'm on, Pacelle is discussing and dissecting the history of human-animal relationships in regards to domestication.  It's interesting to discover how animals have played a role in so many cultures throughout history and how dependent upon us animals have become by our doing.  I'm only just beginning the book, but I know already that this book with have a huge impact on me.

What did you spend your summer reading?

Happy Reading!
~Stephanie