What I've Finished

So I finished reading Anthology of an American Girl a few days ago and I have to say I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. Part of it may be that I didn't identify with Eveline (the heroine of the novel) as much as I hoped I would. She had way more freedom than I had as a teenager and as a result she was able to drift around, spending entire days at a time away from home without any consequences from her parents (who are divorced). She was also able to drink alcohol in bars, where she was never questioned about her age. In addition, She was very self-centered, imagining every man or boy she ever encountered to be in love , or at least hopelessly obsessed, with her. She broke up with her troubled and drug addicted boyfriend, only to become involved with a guest drama teacher who came to her school to help direct a play for which she (an artist) worked on creating the scenery. Said drama teacher was also a boxer, which held no interest for me. I hate boxing and a part (admittedly very small) dealt with it. Yuck. Later she becomes involved with a rich control freak. Double yuck.

I don't want to give anything away but needless to say it goes on for 600 pages. I do think Hilary Thayer Hamann is a good writer. She does have a way with language, but I think the book could have been shorter, and maybe I would have liked it more if I could have become emotionally invested with the main character. I didn't really like her. Of course, I don't feel that disliking a character is a reason not to like a book. I've read plenty of books where I hate the main character and adore the book. The point is I basically felt nothing for the main character because she was kind of bland. She came across as very weak and I didn't have any sympathy for her. I really felt nothing for her. One of the blurbs on the back of the book basically compared this book with The Catcher in the Rye but I just don't see it. Eveline is no Holden Caufield, that's for sure.

Originally I gave the book 4 stars on GR but after mulling it over for a few days I've decided the book is more like a 3 star book for me. Maybe my expectations were too high and maybe if I reread it later I'll feel differently but for now the book just didn't resonate with me.

In any case, I've just started reading Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby. I'm in the middle of completing the adult summer reading club for our local library along with David. I plotted out the books I wanted to read in advance and although Juliet, Naked looks like it's not going to be more than a 3 star read for me, I'm not going to start putting books down and restarting new ones. I've completed two so far, and so has David, and I'm not about to let him beat me. Shallow and immature? Probably, but it's all in good fun and at least some of my summer reading should be all about fun.

Once I'm done with the "competition" I plan on reading the books I really want to, which are much more lengthy and heavier than the ones I'm reading now. These include Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (which I'll be reading as part of a group I belong to on Goodreads), Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami(for a reading group I belong to on Facebook. This will actually be a reread but it is a multi-layered kind of book that needs to be read at least twice), and finally, I'll be tackling The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, which most of my Goodreads friends tell me is one of the best books they've read.