Monday, July 20, 2009

Spotlight: "Raising the Peaceable Kingdom" and "Baby Proof"

In my quest to become a reader and not a mere book hoarder, I decided to try harder to cross some books off my list. As of last weekend, I have successfully crossed off two: one has been my constant companion to the dentist, and I was determined to finish the last few chapters to get it done and over with. The other was one that I decided to read on a whim. So the list is moving along, and I am proud to say that I have succeeded in not adding to it any further (new discovery: leaving the credit card at home really works!), and that I have avoided any serious browsing in the bookstores.

So, what two books did I cross off my list?

It took me a while to finish reading this book. As I mentioned before, the premise really intrigued me: can a puppy, kitten, two chickens, two rats, and a rabbit peacefully coexist in one home? From the very beginning, I knew it was an experiment. What I didn't count on was the book sounding like a report of the experiment.

In fairness, the author was very personal about it. He shared anecdotes on how he would discover more about the behavior of the animals-- an afternoon on the beach reveals that chickens like to stretch out in the sand, the rats like nesting in his wife's bosom and become most hyper at night, the kitten and the rabbit can become best friends over time. But these anecdotes were also interspersed with his findings and hypotheses, which didn't make for very interesting reading.

I found myself reading until the end just to see what would happen to the animals, if and when his experiment reaches its end. When I was done, I found myself just shrugging and saying, "So he did it. Good for him. On to the next book!"

Which, after much thought, I decided would be Baby Proof by Emily Giffin. I had only read Something Borrowed and am delaying reading its sequel Something Blue, mainly because I'm trying to be fair to my books by reading the ones I had acquired first. I also tried to pose a challenge to myself this weekend: to try reading this book in just one sitting.

It had been a while since I read a book from cover to cover in one sitting, and I just wanted to see how long it would take me. After all, I used to do it all the time (which, of course, led to growing up with glasses, getting laser eye surgery, and wearing glasses again with a more tolerable grade-- but that's another story entirely). So last Saturday afternoon, I decided to forego all plans of watching CSI and instead settled in to read Giffin's third novel.

I realized from the very beginning of the book that I would have trouble liking it. After all, I disagree with the protagonist's stand of not wanting to have children-- even if I do understand that there are women who are not inclined to become mothers, I would like to have children one day. And since reading requires a certain amount of putting yourself in the protagonist's shoes, I had a bit of difficulty doing just that-- most especially when she lets go of the man she loves because he wants to have a baby and she doesn't.

In the end, it was a so-so read for me, which surprisingly makes me even more excited to read the rest of her novels, as I believe that this is just a glitch in Giffin's otherwise brilliant writing. And, despite my misgivings, the book was able to captivate me enough to read it for 4 1/2 hours straight, without breaks. So I may have disagreed with the plot, but it kept me hooked enough to still want to know how it all ends. That, to me, is a sign of good writing and makes me crave for even more.

I've heard that her latest novel Love the One You're With is also really good. I took a look at the summary when I came across it once in the neighborhood bookstore, and in direct contrast to Baby Proof, I think I could relate to this plot too much! Well, just because running into my exes is always a What-If scenario that runs through my head, and my telenovela imagination tends to blow everything out of proportion. I'm scared that Love the One You're With will hit too close to home, but then again, when have I ever been afraid of a book??

Now that my reading list has hit 20 books, I think it's time for a recap:

The 2009 Reading List
1. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
2. The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnik
3. Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
--I boycotted this one.
4. A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern
5. If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern

6. Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
7. Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done by David Allen
8. The Amber Room by Steve Berry
9. Doctors by Erich Segal

10. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
11. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

12. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding
13. Prizes by Erich Segal
14. Live a Little by Kim Green
15. Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss
16. Raising the Peaceable Kingdom by Jeffrey Maoussaieff Mason
17. Baby Proof by Emily Giffin

18. Something Blue by Emily Giffin
19. The Pact: A Love Story by Jodi Picoult
20. Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon

13 out of 20 is not bad at all! Whee! :D