Opinions of a Wolf

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I didn’t read very much this month because we went on vacation to Las Vegas, Nevada. You’d think with that long of a plane ride (between 4 and 5 hours, depending on the tail wind) that I’d have completed a lot of reading but on the first flight I slept and on the second it was a redeye so I tried to sleep while listening to my audiobook. There’s no complaints from me, though, because the trip was amazing! We saw so much natural splendor – rode a Harley through Fire Valley, hiked the Red Rocks, saw the Grand Canyon and hiked below the rim (something I’ve read only 20% of visitors do). Sometimes reading takes a back burner, and that’s ok.

I did see some bookish things on the trip though. We seek out indie coffee shops when we travel, and one had the wonderfully eclectic book selection you can see above.(If you want to see some more pictures from the trip, check out my Instagram!) We also went to the National Atomic Testing Museum and saw their reading room of archives. Oh and I can’t forget that one of the Grand Canyon’s gift shops had a wonderful graphic novel version of Native American tales that I wanted but couldn’t fit in my luggage.

On to what I actually finished reading in December, both of which were chick lit.

First up was Little White Lies by Gemma Townley. Natalie Raglan quits her advertising job, breaks up with her loser boyfriend, and moves to London, taking over the lease on Cressida’s flat (another woman who she’s never met). Her life in London is much more boring than she thought and somehow she finds herself opening Cressida’s mail and taking on her life. This was ultimately readable and had a relatively appealing plot but I struggled with being able to really side with the protagonists. Natalie struck me as rather dumb (and not in a lovable way) and there was a particular plot point that bothered me. Natalie works in an upscale clothing boutique and the women who work there are not allowed to wear the clothes and don’t get a store discount. The latter I can sympathize with. The former they seemed to think of as their right, so much so that they borrow the clothes, wear them out for a night, and then pay to have them drycleaned and re-stock them on the floor. Natalie never does this but we’re clearly supposed to think that it’s silly she doesn’t. I’m not sure why it would ever be ok to be selling upscale pre-worn clothes at the expensive price of brand-new. Both of these issues together just made it hard for me to root for Natalie.
(3 out of 5 stars, buy it)
(source: purchased)

Next I picked up an Australian chick lit book that was recommended to me on GoodReads based on my large Liane Moriarty kick. Sex, Lies, and Bonsai by Lisa Walker follows Edie, the daughter of a famous surfer. When she gets dumped via text message, she moves home and takes on a job drawing crab larvae at the local university. When her father’s girlfriend’s much younger brother comes home to roost as well, things take an unexpected turn. This is another book whose plot sounded unique and wonderful but that had some issues that I couldn’t get past that actually bothered me more than those in the other read this month. First I was disappointed that the bonsai is played for laughs and isn’t a more interesting feature of the book. Basically, Edie had given a bonsai to her ex-boyfriend and so when he breaks up with her she takes it with her to her dad’s house but then proceeds to just let it die and throw it away. I actually love bonsai so this really bothered me. I do realize it wouldn’t bother most people, though. Second, both the new love interest and Edie herself are romanticized as tortured artists, a trope that bothers me. There’s nothing romantic about being depressed and you can make beautiful art without that too. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend it.
(2 out of 5 stars, buy it)
(source: purchased)

My total for the month of December 2017:

• 2 books
  • 2 fiction; 0 nonfiction
  • 2 female authors; 0 male authors
  • 2 ebooks; 0 print books; 0 audiobooks

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