Kelly's Review of "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey

Title: A Million Little Pieces

Author: James Frey

Published: Nan A. Talese, 2003

Where I Got It: Goodwill

Why I Read It: I decided to branch out of HF for once!

Oh Oprah, you and your book club choices! I actually scraped the O sticker off my copy of the book before I read it in public...but that's a whole other rant.

Anyways, this was a pretty interesting story about James Frey's six week stay in rehab when he was 23 years old. We learned about his life before he was hospitalized, and then the people he meets along the way. I actually liked hearing about his new friend's lives and struggles more than James'. We are also graced with some really disgusting descriptions of vomit.

I was very disappointed in the way that James actually kicked his habit...he basically passed off his meetings and exercises and didn't do much of anything. I think this is misleading, leading other to think that just staying in a rehab center for six weeks, separated from your drug of choice, will instantly cure you. I don't know, maybe this is the point? In my opinion, it was rather weak.

However, the thing that bothered me most about A Million Little Pieces is rather ADD on my part: there are absolutely no quotation marks in the writing. None. It's a bit of a struggle to read and follow along with who is saying what and when. Also, commas are very sparse, rarely used when they are obviously needed.

Towards the end of the book, James is 'confessing' his sins (even though he doesn't believe in a god) and writes down all the sins he can remember committing, starting from when he was just a child. He truly did some horrible, horrible things in his pre-rehab days; this just reinforced the fact that I honestly never felt sorry for him once...until I go to the very last page. It absolutely broke my heart.

I also kept picturing the narrator as James Franco's character in Pineapple Express....the dirty pajama pants and messy hair.

I missed the whole controversial arguments involving the book, but I honestly don't care, it was still just a 'meh' for me. 3 stars.

Non-Fiction Challenge: February -- Submit Reviews Here!

Welcome to the first FULL month of the Non-Fiction Challenge! Please link up any reviews to books you have read in February. You do not have to link up reviews to participate in the challenge but anyone who links a review at any point up is eligible to be entered to win a book of their choice (under $15) at the end of the year. How many reviews you link up determines how many entries you get.

This month I am happy to announce that I have one ARC of Loud in the House of Myself: Memoir of a Strange Girl to give away at random for anyone who links up a review in the month of February! I just recently read this one for January and will be posting a review of it at some point in the coming weeks!

 




Link up the URL to your review on Mr. Linky and feel free to go check out reviews of others to see what they are reading for various categories!

Non-Fiction Challenge: January -- Submit Reviews Here

EDIT: Guys. I thought this posted but it got put in past posts or something crazy!

Welcome to the first month of the Non-Fiction Challenge! It's a short month since we started this in mid-January so please link up any non-fiction reviews (to your blog or Goodreads) read AFTER January 17th up until January 31st. You do not have to link up reviews to participate in the challenge but anyone who links a review at any point up is eligible to be entered to win a book of their choice (under $15) at the end of the year. How many reviews you link up determines how many entries you get. Additional prizes to be won for specific months may be added once I organize this more and depending on how many people sign up. (International readers welcome if Book Depository ships to you).

Link up the URL to your review on Mr. Linky and feel free to go check out reviews of others to see what they are reading for various categories!

Tahleen reviews: "The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins

Title: The Woman in White
Author: Wilkie Collins
Originally published: In serial form in the magazine All the Year Round in 1859-1860, followed by its publication in book form in 1860.
Where I got it: I read this on my nook, receiving a free copy during a promotion of free classics this past year.

Rating: ★★★★

The Woman in White is largely regarded as the first "sensation novel," a cousin of sorts to the Gothic novel with a few tweaks here and there. Let me tell you, I really didn't know what to expect when I picked up this classic for a readalong in January. What a ride.

We start off with the narrative of Walter Hartright, a drawing instructor who is commissioned to instruct two young ladies in Cumberland, England at a place called Limmeridge House. But before he makes it to the country, he meets a distressed (and possibly disturbed) woman on the road near midnight as he walks home from his mother's home in Hampstead to his own place in London. He assists the woman, only to find out later that it might not have been the best of ideas. (I'll let you find out why on your own.)

Finally, with a bit of foreshadow and foreboding, he makes it to Limmeridge house, where he 1) meets Marian Halcombe, one of the aforementioned ladies, and 2) falls in love with her far more attractive (as well as weak and helpless, but I'll leave that for later) half-sister, Laura Fairlie. After finding out that Laura is engaged to be married to a man named Sir Percival Glyde, Hartright is convinced by Marian to leave on some kind of expedition to Honduras (!) on some sort of exploring adventure (to be honest I wasn't sure what the purpose of this trip was, besides getting rid of him, but whatever).

The narrative is switched from character to character as the plot progresses, and we get deeper and deeper into bad situations for the ladies and conspiracy that is just all-out nuts. The plot, though slow in the first half at times, really picks up around page 300 and crazy stuff starts happening. I found myself incredulous a few times, and I got quite nervous at others because I was afraid of what would happen. What is the Secret (that is always alluded to with a capital "S" in the text), and what does the mysterious woman in white know about it?

Let me just say that the villains are truly terrible, and yet fascinating, in this book. Percival Glyde is indeed a cad, a slimy brute who will do whatever needs to be done in order for his SECRET to remain secret and to get whatever money he can out of his wife. But the award for best villain ever goes to Count Fosco, with an honorable mention for his wife, Countess Fosco (and Laura's aunt). I often wondered myself about his intentions, if they were what we expected them to be or if Collins would just throw us another curveball—he is the type of character who ingratiates himself with everyone he comes into contact with and will not hesitate to ruin them if it will give him gain. And his wife will do just about anything he says without reserve or question, completely cold and calculated. They were chilling.

Perhaps the best heroine I've yet come across in Victorian literature is Marian Halcombe (if not the best, then at least in the top 3). Though Collins makes it incredibly clear that she is ugly and of no comparison visually to her lovely half-sister, she can kick some serious butt. She is not afraid to speak when she needs to and will do detective work AND dirty work to protect those she loves, yet does it with the poise and manners of a true lady. She's just awesome. Unfortunately Laura has no real depth, and her greatest achievement seems to be her beauty and gentleness (which really only hinders our characters). And though an honorable man, Hartright seems a bit wishy-washy for my tastes. He does do some excellent detective work though.

As for the woman in white? She is integral to the plot, in fact she is the reason it escalates as it does. Though not very deep, she is an interesting character that you will want to know more about.

I will say that I was surprised to find out that Collins was something of a feminist for his time, or at least he had more liberal ideas about women's rights than most of his contemporaries. I found parts of the narrative to be a bit sexist, as Marian and Hartright and others had certain things to say about the disposition of women. I highly recommend reading an edition with contextual information included; it really enhanced my reading and understanding of the text.

If you're looking for a good Victorian thriller and are willing to tackle a 600-page classic, look no further. Entertaining and educational (I learned a lot about the time and culture with my editions footnotes and introduction/appendices, which were excellent), it will keep you turning the pages and wanting to unearth all those evasive details.

Also, check out April's post on Good Books & Good Wine titled The Woman in White: A Drinking Game for the More Refined. Go ahead, you know you're curious.

Julia Reviews "Pygmalion" and discusses Books vs Movies

Title/Author: Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Publisher/Year Published: first published 1914
How I got this book: my copy is a B&N Classic eBook that I downloaded free during the summer
Why I read this book: I've always loved Shaw's quotes. I wanted more.
Rating: 4.5 stars

When I was thinking about the review for this week, I thought about all of the award shows going on now. This inevitably brought me to book adaptations and the changes that often occur between the source material and the final product. I thought about the review I did of Pygmalion last summer on my own blog:

Just a warning before we begin. I go a little into detail about the relationship between Eliza and Henry which includes commentary about what happens after. If you have not seen the play and want to be surprised, be warned.

When I was in high school, I tried out for Pygmalion. I didn't get any part and in my anguish did not go see the show. I had heard that My Fair Lady was based on this play, but I've never seen that. I've read the myth about Pygmalion, but honestly didn't make the connection until I was reading the footnotes. So suffice it to say all I knew about Pygmalion's Eliza and Henry I learned from Family Guy.

So with practically a clean slate I dove in and I must say I rather enjoyed myself. I've always liked the quotes I've seen by Shaw floating around the internet, but never made the connection to the playwright.

It was interesting, surprisingly funny and quite entertaining. I could see in my head some of the cues onstage and how well they would work. I enjoyed Eliza and Henry's interactions the most, and was honestly quite confused by the ending. I clicked next page and there was no more play, but a nice essay by Shaw about what happened after. Toward the end there is quite a conversation between Higgins and Eliza which to me it dripped with sexual tension, but that was just my romance novel reader brain apparently. Because that is not how it ended. It was really interesting reading Shaw talking about why he chose to end the play the way he did going against what the mainstream public would want. Apparently, he added this afterword because everyone kept asking, but why can't they be together?

There have been times, wikipedia told me, that certain directors have changed the ending to suit the happiness of the audience, but I understand where Shaw is coming from. The play he wrote is a jab and society. Its a comedic satire, not a love story. There is no need for a happily ever after, because this is supposed to be real life. It's interesting also because the myth of Pygmalion has the sculptor living happily ever after with his creation, so he even deviated from the source material.

I don't know how I feel about changing the ending to suit the coffers. Part of me says "If you don't like it, write your own play!" but the other part of me says "Gotta do what's best for business." I am not really curious to see how My Fair Lady ends but I would tend to be more lenient about this seeing as it is an adaptation of the play.

So in conclusion, this really is a great play. I really enjoyed it and would love to see it onstage at some point.

Well, I saw the movie adaptation version, My Fair Lady since then and (outside of the fact that I thought it overly long.. but that's a different story) it bothered me that it changed. It gives the feel of the movie something different from what Shaw intended.

There are so many times when this has happened to me, where Hollywood changes some key piece in a treasured piece of literature (I still refuse to see The Golden Compass) and just changes it. Completely misses the point. Sometimes I guess it works out okay. After about three viewings of Return of the King, I felt comfortable with the changes. And yeah there are definitely times where movies make an obscure book known to mass culture. But overall it just makes me sad when things get changed, especially when it changes the intended meaning.

So I open it up to the floor. How do you all feel about books being made into movies and the changes that inevitably happen?

Heather reviews The Lying Game by Sara Shepard

Title/Author: The Lying Game by Sara Shepard
Publisher/Year Published: December 2010, HarperTeen
How I got this book: I got it as an ebook from NetGalley.
Why I read this: I was eager to try my first review through NetGalley and this book sounded really interesting!
Rating: 3.5 stars

Brief Synopsis:  I had a life anyone would kill for.
Then someone did.

The worst part of being dead is that there’s nothing left to live for. No more kisses. No more secrets. No more gossip. It’s enough to kill a girl all over again. But I’m about to get something no one else does—an encore performance, thanks to Emma, the long-lost twin sister I never even got to meet. Now Emma’s desperate to know what happened to me. And the only way to figure it out is to be me—to slip into my old life and piece it all together. But can she laugh at inside jokes with my best friends? Convince my boyfriend she’s the girl he fell in love with? Pretend to be a happy, carefree daughter when she hugs my parents good night? And can she keep up the charade, even after she realizes my murderer is watching her every move?


The Lying Game is the first installment of the new series by Sara Shepard, author of Pretty Little Liars. I've never read any of the PLL books or seen the show, but I've heard they are addicting. This is not the type of Young Adult book I would normally read, but I was intrigued by the description, so I requested a copy on NetGalley. This book reminded me of Gossip Girl with more mystery.

The Lying Game is packed with suspense, deception and a whole lot of pop culture references. I have never read a book that throws modern technology and current fashion trends at you like this one. The title comes from a game created by Sutton and her friends that involved playing pranks on each other and the people around them. Each prank was meant to outdo the previous one. As Emma learns more about the game and Sutton's friends, she begins to see how twisted these girls were and makes it her mission to find out what the game has to do with her sister's murder.

Now for a couple of issues I had with this book. The narration took some getting used to. Shepard switches between Emma and Sutton's ghost a little to quickly sometimes, making it difficult to discern which character's point of view we were seeing things from. The ghost of Sutton was unable to remember much about herself or how she died other than a few memories that came to her throughout the book. Her character was much more appealing dead than alive. I couldn't stand Sutton based on the memories she had or the way she was described by others. I got the sense that as she remembered the things she had done, she saw how despicable she could be. It reminded me a bit of A Christmas Carol. I think if she had the chance to do it over, she would have been a better person. In a way, Emma has the chance to make up for those mistakes Sutton has made in the past. I'm interested to see how that plays out in the next installment.

I also found the level of cattiness to be almost unbelievable. If girls are really treating each other the way Sutton and her friends did, I am really scared for our future. It worked in this novel because it added to the tension, but mostly I just wanted to slap all of the female characters except for Emma. I definitely would not want to come across Sutton and her friends, or be on the receiving end of one of their pranks!

If you enjoy drama or mystery, this is just the page turner you're looking for. However, I would not recommend this for young, impressionable teenagers. It paints a very unrealistic picture of what high school life is like, even for the richest of people. Despite its overly dramatic portrayal, The Lying Game kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading and I will most likely pick up the second book when it comes out in the fall so I can find out more about Emma and Sutton.

Jamie's Top Ten Favorite Debuts (ever!)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can't come up with ten, don't worry about it---post as many as you can!

Next week the topic is: TOP TEN CHARACTERS I'D NAME MY CHILDREN AFTER. See a list of future TTT here.

1. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield: This book was incredible. I need MORE from Diane. What an amazing debut and definitely a book for book lovers. Apparently she is working on something new and I am eagerly anticipating it.

2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: This is what I call a genius one hit wonder. Can you imagine writing only one book in your life and it becoming this important work in the literary cannon? I love this book to pieces and find it to be an amazing debut.

3. Wither by Lauren DeStefano: I know this book isn't out until March but I would be remiss if I did not include this one. ONE OF MY FAVORITE RECENT DEBUTS! Oh my goodness. I feel as though I cannot adequately express my love for this book. It would be one I'd recommend to both YA readers and readers of mainly adult fiction.

4. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneggar: This book blew my mind when I read it. I just kept thinking how meticulous she had to be while writing this to get the timeline of all the events and the time traveling just right. It was so intricate.

5. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer: I actually read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close AND saw the movie before I actually read this book. I didn't love it as much as I loved EL&IC but I still found it to be an incredible debut by a promising author.

6. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins: I did NOT think I would like this book. I scoffed at the title and the cover and kept ignoring all the reviews for this one. I'm glad I have book pushing friends *ahem Steph Su* to demand that I read it. This book was a charming young adult novel and a spectacular debut!

7. Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson: I loved this book something fierce. I love any sort of book that lets me travel or road trip vicariously. This book was incredibly and I can't see what else Matson will come out with!

8. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold: I know some people didn't like this one but I read it when it first came out when I was in high school and I loved it so much. I was a little underwhelmed by the movie but I still remember the book fondly. I'd like to reread it soon to see if I still feel that way.

9. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: After writing poetry she decided to write a novel under a pseudonym. This novel just happens to be one of my favorite novels in the world. Sylvia is just so tragic and I can feel her pain through this novel.

10. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer: I'm not here to discuss the literary merit of this book or the series or debate if I'm Team Edward or Team Jacob. I'm not a crazy Twilight fan by any means. HOWEVER, this debut did two things-- got me back into reading after taking a break during college AND made me more open to reading young adult novels and books outside of the realistic setting. I never used to read anything with fantasy or paranormal elements. For those two things, this book deserves a spot on my list.