I finally found time to read this highly-anticipated second offering from the author of
The Time Traveler's Wife. I bought it from Target a while ago, but hadn't had the time to read it until this winter break... I sped through it in 2 days!
This book is a Harry Potter-esque ghost story, full of historical accuracy and whimsy. Niffenegger lets the spirit of her British characters and settings shrine through, and she captures the essence of the culture very well... a rare feat for an American author, in my opinion.
She creates magical character with whom we can relate as well as marvel at. Each character is quirky-- a bit weird, a bit off, but this makes them that much more interesting! They are strange in a good way.
Like Lionel Shriver's characters (
The Post-Birthday World and the forthcoming
So Much For That), their relationships with each other are strained by their abnormal yet all together human complications-- obsessions, aversions and peculiarities govern the lives of these very particular people. Their oddness, however, is somehow entrancing and quite lovely, actually.
The plot is full of surprises and twists, but ultimately this book's characters are what make it a worth while read and accomplish a second success for the author. I can't wait to see the movie of her first!
Finally, Candace Bushnell, one of my self-proclaimed favorite queens of chic-lit in the good old "about me" section of this blog has announced a new release! I can't say I expected this sort of thing from her, but it will no doubt span both the young adult and the adult women's fiction market, which is only a good thing in today's publishing situation. I certainly plan on picking this up and reading it ASAP as soon as it comes out, followed by a viewing of SATC2!
Here's the Gatsby costume I posted about! After scouring a thrift store full of great things from the 60s, 70s and 80s, I was really out of luck for finding anything that matched the 20's era and was still cute enough to go out in. So I bought a pleated skirt, turned it into a strapless dress with a few safety pins and some ribbon in the back, and voila! A Flapper!
I think everyone can relate to this sentiment. Part of the mystique of being a "good friend" sometimes involves grinning and bearing it when your friends make decisions that you don't necessarily approve of, but also don't want to seem like their mothers in flaunting your disapproval. I picked up this book out of a certain identification with the opposite of the situation... have you ever felt that you were finally happy in your life and that your friends who had been there along the way all of a sudden couldn't identify with you anymore? I have.
