Inner Beauty Friday - Book Club!

Hello,

 Once again I am linking up with Heather from Blonde...Undercover Blonde, for Book Club!



This week I read 2 books, the first was March by Geraldine Brooks.

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com:

"As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the American Civil War, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. Riveting and elegant as it is meticulously researched, March is an extraordinary novel woven out of the lore of American history.

From Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, March, who has gone off to war leaving his wife and daughters. To evoke him, Brooks turned to the journals and letters of Bronson Alcott, Louisa May’s father, a friend and confidant of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

In Brooks’ telling, March emerges as an idealistic chaplain in the little known backwaters of a war that will test his faith in himself and in the Union cause as he learns that his side, too, is capable of acts of barbarism and racism. As he recovers from a near mortal illness, he must reassemble his shattered mind and body, and find a way to reconnect with a wife and daughters who have no idea of the ordeals he has been through."

My thoughts - I loved "Little Women" and reading part of the story from the father's point of view was really interesting.  This is like the gritty old brother to Little Women.  There was some interesting points made about abolitionists and their work - I also like how they are not portrayed as perfect.  If you are interested in the civil war this is definitely
something to read.

I also read "The 13 Problems" by Agatha Christie.

 

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com- "While genial gentle soft white-haired Jane, in black lace cap and mittens of the time, knits, her Tuesday week visitors present early experiences, recently solved usually by confession of participants, for consideration by their club: Sir Henry Clithering last Commissioner of Scotland Yard, nephew writer Raymond West, artist Joyce Lemprière, elderly clergyman Dr Pender, dried-up little bespectacled solicitor Mr Petherick"

 

My thoughts - This is a good one to keep in your bag.  Each chapter is a story told by one of Miss Marple's guests and they know the answer to the "mystery", and everyone puts for the their guesses.  Of course Miss Marple always knows the real answer which would annoy the hell out of me in real life, but when you are just reading these stories for enjoyment it's ok.  And it's fun to see if you can figure it out.

 

What have you read?

 

Jasmine

 

Inner Beauty Friday - Book club

Hello,

I got my act together and I am linking up once again Heather @ Blonde...Undercover Blonde, for Book Club.

This week I read 2 books.  The first was Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline:

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com -
"Nearly eighteen, Molly Ayer knows she has one last chance. Just months from "aging out" of the child welfare system, and close to being kicked out of her foster home, a community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping her out of juvie and worse.

Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.

The closer Molly grows to Vivian, the more she discovers parallels to her own life. A Penobscot Indian, she, too, is an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. As her emotional barriers begin to crumble, Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life - answers that will ultimately free them both."

My thoughts: Although you pretty much knew where this story line was going from the first few pages, the history about the orphan trains really intrigued me.  I want to find out more about the actual orphan trains and hopefully some autobiographies.  I know I have read another books about the trains to Kansas but I can't remember what it was called.  I also can't make up my mind if these trains were a good thing for the children.  On the one hand they got of the streets and got a "home", but then again that home was perhaps worse then what they could have ended up with on the streets.

The second book I read was Divergent by Veronica Roth:

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com: "In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her"

My thoughts: Well first of all I like this book because it takes in dystopian Chicago and the author went to Northwestern.  It also has the kind of hook that "Hunger Games" had - mild girl turns tough and faces all sorts of obstacles.  The whole five factions is interesting as well.  But as I read this book I was shocked at how violent it was - and violence without remorse or any kind of real emotional distress.  The main character Tris was sad for like 5 seconds and then like "this is who I am, I guess I don't care." I feel like that is serial killer mentality - I definitely want to read the second one to see if I feel the same.

Now I am on to a book about the civil war...

Until next week!

Jasmine

Inner Beauty Friday! Book Club!

Hello,

Happy Friday - and I am linking up with Heather from Blonde...Undercover Blonde for Book Club!




This week I read 2 books, both had a hint of the paranormal. 

First was "Sisterland" by Curtis Sittenfeld:


Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com: "From an early age, Kate and her identical twin sister, Violet, knew that they were unlike everyone else. Kate and Vi were born with peculiar “senses”—innate psychic abilities concerning future events and other people’s secrets. Though Vi embraced her visions, Kate did her best to hide them.

Now, years later, their different paths have led them both back to their hometown of St. Louis. Vi has pursued an eccentric career as a psychic medium, while Kate, a devoted wife and mother, has settled down in the suburbs to raise her two young children. But when a minor earthquake hits in the middle of the night, the normal life Kate has always wished for begins to shift. After Vi goes on television to share a premonition that another, more devastating earthquake will soon hit the St. Louis area, Kate is mortified. Equally troubling, however, is her fear that Vi may be right. As the date of the predicted earthquake quickly approaches, Kate is forced to reconcile her fraught relationship with her sister and to face truths about herself she’s long tried to deny."

My thoughts:  I loved her earlier book "Prep", it was so descriptive and just spot on.  Sisterland felt a little disconnected.  Maybe it's because I don't really like a "whiny" main character - maybe I wasn't supposed to like her.   It was an ok story, but not a knock out like her previous work!

I know, I'm so hard to please!  But I don't want to say a book was great unless it really was. 


Next up :"The Mystery of Grace" by Charles de Lint

 

The synopsis from Goodreads.com: "On the Day of the Dead, the Solona Music Hall is jumping.  That's where Altagracia Quintero meets John Burns, just two weeks too late.
Altagracia – her friends call her Grace – has a tattoo of Nuestra Señora de Altagracia on her shoulder, she's got a Ford Motor Company tattoo running down her leg, and she has grease worked so deep into her hands that it'll never wash out.  Grace works at Sanchez Motorworks, customizing hot rods.  Finding the line in a classic car is her calling.
Now Grace has to find the line in her own life.  A few blocks around the Alverson Arms is all her world -- from the little grocery store where she buys beans, tamales, and cigarettes (“cigarettes can kill you,” they tell her, but she smokes them anyway) to the record shop, to the library where Henry, a black man confined to a wheelchair, researches the mystery of life in death – but she’s got unfinished business keeping her close to home."

My thoughts:  Now this book wasn't the most "intellectual" but it was a good story.  If your looking for something light, but a little different and a touch of the "underworld" - you will like this.  It was a fast read, with nice characters and I look forward to reading more books by him.

Until next week!

Jasmine

Inner Beauty Friday - Book Club!

Hello!

Once again it's Friday and I am linking up with Heather from Blonde...Undercover Blonde for Book Club!





This week I read Jerusalem Maiden by Talia Carner.





Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com:
"In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, a young Orthodox Jewish woman in the holy city of Jerusalem is expected to marry and produce many sons to help hasten the Messiah's arrival. While the feisty Esther Kaminsky understands her obligations, her artistic talent inspires her to secretly explore worlds outside her religion, to dream of studying in Paris —and to believe that God has a special destiny for her. When tragedy strikes her family, Esther views it as a warning from an angry God and suppresses her desires in order to become an obedient "Jerusalem maiden."
But when a surprising opportunity forces itself on to her preordained path, Esther finds her beliefs clashing dangerously with the passions she has staved off her entire life —forcing her to confront the most difficult and damning question of all: To whom must she be true, God or herself?"

My thoughts:  If you don't know a lot about Judaism this is going to be a crash course and bring a Yiddish dictionary.  Luckily I went to a college that required theological studies so I had a good basis.  The devotion these people have to their religion is truly amazing.  And this is a very interesting story...for about 3/4's of it.  Then it just becomes of "why God, why?!?" But you can't be all "why God, why" when you made the decisions.  And then of course it has a cutesy little ending.   uggg this story really shouldn't have cutesy ending.  But overall it's a pretty good read.

What have you read lately?

Also be sure to check out Budget Splurge Beauty's Inner Beauty post as well - and if you know how to navigate the student loan world - give her some advice :) 

Jasmine

Inner Beauty Friday - Book Club

Hello,

Today I am once again linking up for book club! 



This week I read 2 books, both of them pretty good and historically interesting!

First up - The Light Between Oceans by M.L.Stedman


Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com: "
After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them."

My thoughts: I liked the book but you pretty much get the whole plot from the synopsis.  I also just couldn't like the wife either.  The information about the lighthouse industry in Australia was really interesting.  A lot of people are just raving about this book and giving it 5 stars - I mean its a good piece of fiction but is it super original - not really. 


Next up The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan


Synopsis from Amazon.com: "1878 Paris. Following their father’s sudden death, the van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages, and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opéra, where for a scant seventeen francs a week, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work as an extra in a stage adaptation of Émile Zola’s naturalist masterpiece L’Assommoir.

Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modeling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. There she meets a wealthy male patron of the ballet, but might the assistance he offers come with strings attached? Meanwhile Antoinette, derailed by her love for the dangerous Émile Abadie, must choose between honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde. "\

My thoughts:  I really liked how you could look up the paintings referenced in the book on Cathy Marie Buchanan's website.  Also I had no idea about the "petit-rats", I assumed ballerina's came from the middle class.  But then again there was hardly a middle class in Paris in the 1800's.  And life was rough for these poor girls!  If you like historical fiction, art and ballet - you'll love this!


If you want more Inner Beauty readings check out Ember @ BudgetSplurgeBeauty! 
We're both committed to getting an Inner Beauty Blog Hop going!!  If you want to join let me know - we will link up on Fridays!


Until Next week!

Jasmine

Inner Beauty Friday - Book Club

Hello:

Once again I am linking up with Heather @ Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club!



This week I read to pretty diverse books and both of the were just ... "meh".

First up Miss Timmins' School for Girls by Nayana Currimbhoy:


Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com:  "A murder at a British boarding school in the hills of western India launches a young teacher on the journey of a lifetime.
In 1974, three weeks before her twenty-first birthday, Charulata Apte arrives at Miss Timmins' School for Girls in Panchgani. Shy, sheltered, and running from a scandal that disgraced her Brahmin family, Charu finds herself teaching Shakespeare to rich Indian girls in a boarding school still run like an outpost of the British Empire. In this small, foreign universe, Charu is drawn to the charismatic teacher Moira Prince, who introduces her to pot-smoking hippies, rock ‘n' roll, and freedoms she never knew existed.
Then one monsoon night, a body is found at the bottom of a cliff, and the ordered worlds of school and town are thrown into chaos. When Charu is implicated in the murder—a case three intrepid schoolgirls take it upon themselves to solve—Charu's real education begins. A love story and a murder mystery, Miss Timmins' School for Girls is, ultimately, a coming-of-age tale set against the turbulence of the 1970s as it played out in one small corner of India."

My thoughts - I don't get the blot - how does it change!?! (if you read the book you'll know what this means).  And the whole story is covered in the synopsis, you just get more detail.  For some reason this book was just hard for me to get through, the pace of the book was just to slow, and I feel like too many stories were trying to be told. 



Next up Tethered by Amy MacKinnon


The synopsis from Goodreads.com: "Clara Marsh is an undertaker who doesn’t believe in God. She spends her solitary life among the dead, preparing their last baths and bidding them farewell with a bouquet from her own garden. Her carefully structured life shifts when she discovers a neglected little girl, Trecie, playing in the funeral parlor, desperate for a friend.
It changes even more when Detective Mike Sullivan starts questioning her again about a body she prepared three years ago, an unidentified girl found murdered in a nearby strip of woods. Unclaimed by family, the community christened her Precious Doe. When Clara and Mike learn Trecie may be involved with the same people who killed Precious Doe, Clara must choose between the stead-fast existence of loneliness and the perils of binding one’s life to another."

My thoughts: The synopsis is a bit misleading, it really doesn't matter if Clara believes in God or not.  It should just say "Clara, an emotionally fragile, anti-social, Trichotillomaniac has to start dealing with life when a series of crisis happen."  Again, I just couldn't connect with the story, it felt forced.  And the description of her and the cover picture confuses me, and I am one of those people that likes the cover of the book to give me some link to the story.

So it wasn't a great reading week but I just started "The Painted Girls" and its very good so far. 

Also very good would be if you wanted to link up with me & Ember @Budget, Splurge Beauty next week for Inner Beauty Friday!  If you write a post on Friday that could be considered Inner Beauty Related - link it up here next Friday for everyone to enjoy!

Coming Soon!

See you next week!

Jasmine
 

Inner Beauty Friday

Hello!

It's time for Inner Beauty Friday and usually I link up for Book Club, but I haven't finished my book yet sooo... I thought I'd share some of my reflections on Inner Beauty.

via tumblr

 As I grew out of my selfish teenage years and into the learning curve that was my 20's, I have arrived at my mid 30's both matured and a bit selfish.  I don't have kids, I don't have a husband - I don't have much responsibility.  And the picture above always makes me think.... I want to be able to look straight at that "mirror" should it cross my path one day.  So here are some of my inwardly beautiful traits that I have definitely worked on - I think it's good to acknowledge your own kindness and good traits!  "Because if you can't love your self, how the...." (if you know the end of this quote 10 points!).

1) I am really polite and even if people are really rude to me I don't snap back.

2) I am very thoughtful and try to make people I am close to feel special.

3) I am the friend that will help you move, build your IKEA furniture, and take you out when you are down.

4) I try very hard to make sure I am always radiating positivity - I WILL find the silver lining.

So what are some of your beautiful traits?  It's hard to express them but lets do it!  GO - tell me what's great about you!

Jasmine