I'm participating in a personal challenge for Litsy called Litsy A to Z. Ages ago, before I found the black hole that was Litsy, I had decided I was going to pick a book in our local library written by an author for every letter of the alphabet. It was no surprise to me that I made it to letter B before I got distracted by some other new and shiny series. It might have been Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I absolutely loved that series! I digress, however. When I found the A to Z challenge, I was thrilled! I could finally get back on track with my plan and have a form to fill out to document my progress! It was foolproof! Well, it's been alright. I'm already in a slump but that's only because I've been reading books without the actual A to Z challenge in mind. I have been inadvertently been reading books beginning with letters I've already filled out. The Stepford Wives was one of those books. I had listened to the audio for Straight Man by Richard Russo, which is an incredibly funny book, and forgotten that S was taken when I saw The Stepford Wives at the library while I was doing A to Z research, oddly enough. There will be spoilers although I don't really feel too bad about giving up the details on a 46 year old book. The firs thing I was struck with was the length of the book. I felt that The Stepford Wives was more of a novella and, even with my crazy schedule of kids' activities and regular house work, I finished it in a few days. It's about 145 pages and it reads really well, almost like a conversation, and those are the kinds of books I love breezing through. In 1972, you can only imagine that, after the social upheavals of the 1960s, the most horrific thing a woman could be is a perfect, Donna Reed like housewife, concerned only with what cleaning products were best and her husband's happiness above all else. Something like that is ironic even today, as a stay at home mother writes a book review about women being terrified of becoming exactly what I am! The book begins with Joanna and Walter moving their family into Stepford for Walter's job. The women in town are all sort of robotic and perfect. They are always concerned with cleaning and making sure things are perfect in their homes for their husband and children. Trust me, that's an actual nightmare and I could never pull it off myself! Joanna has been a freelance photographer for years and hopes to continue but has a hard time connecting with the "hausfraus", as she and her friend, Bobbie, call the Stepford women. She and Bobbie go around town trying to drum up interest in a chapter of NOW, without much luck. They persist and just can't make any headway. They both conclude that there must be something involving the Stepford Men's Club. Many of the men in town work locally as professionals in chemical companies and seem to be very exclusionary. When Bobbie turns into a true Stepford wife, Joanna goes on her own downward spiral. All in all, this book was very scary for me. I think it's because, as a stay at home mother, you lose a lot of your identity when you devote your time to your family and not a career. I never had much in the way of education, although I should have, but those are things you take for granted when you're single and right out of high school. I love being home and having the opportunity to volunteer at my children's school and be available for their daily needs but it is as daunting as any other job and the hours are grueling. Coming off the feminist movements of the 1960s, I could see how a woman would be frightened to be pulled back 20 years to being a "hausfrau". It's not for everyone, but The Stepford Wives is definitely a level I don't think I could ever acheive! Now, let me tell you about this great bleach I just found to get your whites super white!
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I read a large variety of genres but one I have real trouble with are mysteries. I grew up as a sergeant's daughter so amateur sleuths never hit me in the same sweet spot as others. It could very well be that I wanted to escape that world of New York City crime that my dad had seen the worst parts of. Recently, I've begun reading Harlan Coben, who is a wonderful storyteller and crafts the most amazing intricate stories. I think, maybe, that I had always been looking for that sharp turn at the end of a story and just kept finding a gradual exit ramp off the highway.
Also new for me is the audiobook. Briefly, I majored in English in college. (What true reader hasn't, am I right?) For the longest time, I derided both audiobooks and comics as totally invalid reading materials. Sure, I read comics as a kid, and I loved She Hulk and The Crow, but that was where it was supposed to end, right? Well, my husband is a big comic reader and I changed my tune pretty quickly. Audiobooks were a more difficult sell, however. I couldn't stand being read to in high school, so much so that I'd trade Shakespearean monologues for getting a hall pass when the class was reading The Great Gatsby out loud! (GATSBY DISCLAIMER: I would have married Jay Gatsby, given the choice and I hated Daisy for treating him the way she did. I just didn't feel like the captain of the football team really understood Gatsby's angst.) It dawned on me sometime last summer that I could be "reading" while doing super boring and menial labor so while weeding my flower beds, I took out my first audiobook. Things changed for me and I'm slightly less snobby for it. I'll still judge those romance novels you read, though. Nobody's perfect. I took out Caught on Monday and finished it up on Tuesday. Coben is a really compelling storyteller, as I mentioned, so plowing through a 10 hour book at 1.6 speed, which does make audiobooks easier for a fast paced suburban New Yorker, was not that difficult of a task. I don't want to give away a lot of spoilers, because you need to know that things are never how they seem, so here is a brief idea. A well known social worker, Dan Mercer, is accused of pedophilia on one of those expose sting news shows. Wendy Tynes, the reporter, ends up getting the case thrown out because she didn't follow procedure. With Mercer free of charges and on the run, he calls Tynes to meet with him and explain what's really going on. One expects to hear him say he's been set up and one of his suspected victim's parents is after him. Wendy Tynes agrees to meet him and then, buckle your safety belt and go along for the ride! From this point on, you're introduced to an array of characters, from Wendy's family and her husband's killer to Mercer's eclectic college roommates and even more eccentric Father's Club. Coben introduces characters quickly but promptly provides enough backstory to flesh out many background characters. It's a style that reminds me of another one of my favorite authors, Carl Hiaasen. One absurdly ridiculous character I ended up liking for all his foolishness was the white, middle aged rapper dubbed Fly, short for Tenafly. One thing this book does well is familiarize readers with the dangers of anonymity on the Internet and how that anonymity isn't always truth. This was an excellent fluff read for me and I will definitely be looking forward to more of Coben's work! Like all readers and reviewers, I've been reading for as long as I can remember. I tell everyone they are a reader but they haven't found the right book yet. I brag about my lack of interest in all prime time television shows and stand strong in the face of adversity when I tell people I don't like Jane Austen.
I am a stay at home mom with two elementary school kids but before you think I'm on my couch daily, catching up on the latest YA trend, I'll tell you I am quite active in the PTA and both my kids are in several activities. At best, I'm sneaking in a chapter over morning coffee or listening to an audiobook on the way to the supermarket or folding laundry. Things get extra challenging this spring with my daughter in Girl Scouts and playing softball, my son is joining track and we've put swimming on hold while I teach a crochet class! There's never a dull moment around here and that's why I tell people they're never too busy to read. I've been keeping a list of books I've read since 2007 and, while it may not be that impressive to some, I feel like 220ish books is pretty good for a person who got married, fired, went to culinary school, raised two kids, moved into a house, raised a puppy and gets suckered in to too many PTA events! Last year alone, I read 50 books,which is more than I've read since junior high, even if some of them were children's books. The best thing about being a reader is that my children see me reading and they know that this is the norm, not grabbing an iPad or device. Most of all, thanks for taking this journey with me. I don't have many reader friends to bounce my reviews off of and I thought this would be a great place to have my say! Thanks for reading and I hope to inspire you, pique your interest, start a conversation and open both you and myself to suggestions. Push yourself out of your comfort zone and stick around for some awkward posts! XO, Jess |
Hi, I'm Jess 😁Readers gonna read! Hope you can find a review that inspires you to grab a book. ArchivesCategories |