Because it's one of my favorite movies

Fight Club

I was a little bit mad at this author (Chuck Palahniuk) because I read his book "Choke" and I was really disappointed. However, "Fight Club" is one of my favorite movies, and I figured I should read the book that it was based on and give our pal Chuck another chance. For any of you who don't know, "Fight Club" is about a man whose life is kind of stuck who goes on to help form a club where men beat each other up and the madness that ensues (and quite a lot of madness ensues). That synopsis was very brief, but I don't want to give anything away.

"Fight Club" is worth reading (also, I just liked reading the author's note at the end about the history of the book). First of all, it made me realize just what a good job they did with the movie, and how cool they made it visually. They could have totally screwed it up, but they didn't. For the first 3/4 of the book or so, the movie follows pretty closely. However, the endings get a little different. Two guys I know were arguing, because one of them said the movie ending was a cop out. And the other guy said that the book ending was kind of a cop out. You decide. I think I like the movie ending better, but hey, maybe it is a cop out.

While I was reading "Fight Club," I had a lot of people tell me, "Oh, I didn't like the movie. It was too violent" or "I didn't understand the movie. I bet the book would be easier to understand." And to that I say: 1. Yes, it's violent. That's part of the point, and that's part of what makes it good. 2. The movie is much more clear-cut than the book, so don't look to it for simplicity. The book is very cryptic in some places, but I think that really adds to Palahniuk's overall style and makes the book more interesting. Chuck redeemed himself a little bit. 7.5 pretzel bites!

KAY

I love Sarah Dessen

Along for the Ride

I just finished reading Sarah Dessen's newest book, "Along for the Ride." To give a basic plot summary: a girl who's always kind of kept to herself and been overly caught up in school goes away the summer before college, meets a boy, learns some things about herself, etc. As far as Dessen's books go, this character (Auden) has been the one I've been able to relate to the most. It wasn't my favorite book of hers, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it a lot. It's definitely worth reading. If you haven't read any Dessen before, I'll let you know that she constantly makes subtle (or not so subtle) references to characters/events in her old books in each of her new ones, so if you want to pick up on those, you might want to read the books in the order they were written. Some of the earlier stuff you can take or leave, but I definitely recommend "Someone Like You," "This Lullaby," "The Truth About Forever," and "Just Listen."

Okay. Now I just have to talk about Dessen's books in general. I always end up reading them the same way. I start out reading fast, because they're so easy and fun to read. Then I hit a certain point and I realize that I am now in a Sarah Dessen mood and don't want to move on to reading anything else, and then I start reading extremely slowly to make the book last as long as possible. This is not easy to do, because I really want to keep reading it quickly. Here's the thing: her books are predictable. They follow a sort of formula. They're a little cheesy. But you fall completely in love with them anyway. They're like Disney movies. You know how things will turn out, but you find yourself completely engrossed and enjoying yourself anyway. Plus, I have a lot of respect for her in that she can create these realistic teenage girls that I can totally relate to, and that she's writing teen fiction that's not all trashy and ohmygodyousleptwithmyboyfriend. Basically, I think Sarah Dessen rocks, and I give "Along for the Ride" 8 pretzel bites.

KAY

This book became popular a really long time ago, but...

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I know, how behind the times am I? My family lent me "A Thousand Splendid Suns" (by Khaled Hosseini, the author of "The Kite Runner") about a year ago, and I just now read it. Anyway, for those of you who don't know, this book follows two characters, Mariam and Laila, who live in Afghanistan. It begins when the Soviets are in power and ends after the Taliban is gone, so it covers a pretty large stretch of time. I think some books that take place over long periods can get really slow and boring, but this book wasn't like that at all. In fact, I had to stop myself from flipping ahead to see how certain situations would turn out. The pacing and style of the book were very similar to "Kite Runner," but I liked this one better. Part of that could be due to the fact that it was easier for me to relate to the female characters.

One interesting thing about this book is that although by the end the time period is pretty close to the present, it still seems like it's happening such a long time ago, because living situations in Afghanistan are so different from the U.S. Obviously, I knew customs were different in Afghanistan, but I don't know if I ever fully considered how different they were so recently.

I expected this book to be completely depressing. It wasn't. It was sad, certainly, heartbreaking in places. However, depressing, to me, equals painful to pick up and read, and this book wasn't. I found myself loving and rooting for the characters, and in the end, there is a bit of hope. 8.5 pretzel bites!

KAY

UGGGG

Civil Action

Wow just got done with a big read. Civil action by Jonathan Harr. All i can say is wow. I now know way more than i ever wanted to know about lymphoma and bankruptcy. It was a totally true story unfortunately. It wasn't really well written it was basically a 500 page book of facts. It was basically just painful to get through. So this sad little story gets a pitiful total of 4 pretzel bites.

Tee

Latest summer reading

The Lie

Alright. I just finished reading this book by Chad Kultgen. Let me give you a basic plot summary: Boy likes girl. Girl is actually completely materialistic. Boy's best friend just loves demeaning women in general. Everyone tries to ruin each others' lives.

I was a little disappointed by this book. The back makes it sound really intriguing and intense. In reality, a majority of the book was pointless descriptions of sex. The characters all seemed shallow and one-dimensional. I hated all of them. I understand what Kultgen was going for: a story where there is no hero, no happy endings, something to confuse and challenge the reader. And I guess he accomplished that, to some degree. It was an easy book to get through, but overall I was disappointed, and got a little bit scared of college (although I'm pretty sure it's not actually the way it's portrayed in this book). 6 pretzel bites

KAY

Good summer reading

Airhead

I just finished reading this book by Meg Cabot. I don't think it's my favorite of hers (that's probably "All American Girl"), but it was still a good, fast, light summer read. It's one of those perfect books for when you're just lazing around, and there were lots of very funny parts. It's one of those books you could sit around reading all day and still be enjoying yourself. Basically, it's about this girl who's always been nerdy who suddenly ends up as a supermodel (for reasons I won't get into).

I have to say, it's a little frustrating when you know/figure something crucial out before the narrator, and that's what happened with this book. Then you end up reading these big long sections where the narrator's like, "What is going on?" and you're like, "C'mon, figure it out already," and that can get a little old. However, that's not totally the author's fault. I guess it's more my fault for reading the back cover. The other complaint I have is that not a whole lot happened in the book. Not that that's always a bad thing, but this mostly just felt like a lot of intro. Then again, that also makes sense, since there's a sequel that I'm sure Meg Cabot wants people to go read now. I'll add it to my list of sequels I'd like to get to. 7 pretel bites!

KAY

A review of...

Franny and Zooey

Alright. So this book, by one of my favorite authors J.D. Salinger, was divided into two sections. Can you guess what they were called? If you guessed Franny and Zooey, you're right! They're brother and sister (Zooey is a guy), and the book is basically about this mental collapse Franny suffers and her resulting interaction with Zooey. The Franny section was pretty short (originally the two sections were published seperately in "The New Yorker"). I liked the Franny section a lot better. It was similar to a lot of Salinger's other short stories. I really like and respect the way he can create stories by giving weight to these moments that could be deemed insignificant. He makes you feel like you know a lot about these characters while giving very little exposition or direct description, which is pretty amazing. A lot of his work (Franny section included) has that beautiful heartbreaking effect which all my favorite books seem to have.

That being said, I didn't like the Zooey section quite so much. I think it got a little wordy and slow. I'll tell you right now that nothing really happens in this book, which can be okay, but sometimes gets a little hard to read. If you've never read Salinger before, don't start with this book. In fact, I don't think I would recommend reading this book at all unless you've read "Nine Stories," which is his amazing collection of short stories. If you have read "Nine Stories," then "Franny and Zooey" is interesting because it deals with the Glass family, the family of a few characters from "Nine Stories" (Boo Boo and Seymour). Overall, I give it 7 pretzel bites.

KAY