Genre Fiction

I haven’t read any of the Shopaholic books by Sophie Kinsella that inspired Isla Fisher’s new starring role as Becky in the film Confessions of a Shopaholic. I have, however, read two of Sophie’s other books: Can You Keep a Secret? and The Undomestic Goddess. Here’s a snapshot review of the first.

Novel Title: Can You Keep a Secret?

Author: Pen name Sophie Kinsella; real name Madeleine Townley Wickham.

Year: 2003

Story Behind the Book’s Name: The main character, Emma, spills her inner thoughts to the man sitting next to her on a plane when the flight experiences turbulence.

Type of Story: Friendly stranger turns out to be the new boss.

Main Setting: London office

First Sentence: Of course I have secrets.

My Thoughts: I grabbed this paperback from the used bookstore before I had heard of Kinsella, based on the bright pink cover and “New York Times Bestseller” label. The story is very formulaic chick lit - bumbling girl struggles with love, work, and finding her way in the world - but the witty dialogue and easy to relate to awkward situations make it a bit more. It’s fun and light, an entertaining, easy read.

Similar Reads: Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger. Kinsella has a similar tone and style to Jennifer Weiner.

Other Books by the Author: The Shopaholic series, which consists of five books published from 2000 to 2007. Outside of that series, she wrote The Undomestic Goddess (2005), Remember Me? (2008), Twenties Girl (2009), and contributed to Girls Night In (2004). Under her real name, she also wrote another seven novels.

Novel Title: Banana Rose

Author: Natalie Goldberg

Year: 1995

Story Behind the Book’s Name: The main character, Nell, transforms from a New York City girl to a southwestern commune woman. With her personal changes, comes the change of her name to “Banana Rose.”

Type of Story: Coming-of-age. Love. Life through the eyes of an artist.

Main Setting: Taos Mountains commune, New Mexico.

First Sentence: “The first time I saw him, he was standing in a corral.”

My Thoughts: When my creative writing professor, during my senior year of college, assigned it as required reading for discussion, I was hesitant. The summary on the back cover did nothing to strike my interest. Trying to be a good little student though, and since I liked this professor and trusted his opinion, I read it. I loved it.

Similar Reads: The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts; Barbara Kingsolver’s books, especially The Bean Trees and Animal Dreams.

Other Books by the Author: Natalie Goldberg has written and co-written dozens of writers’ manuals. Some of her titles include Chicken and in Love (1979), Writing Down the Bones: Freeing The Writer Within (1986), Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life (1990), Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America (1993), Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America (1994), Living Color: A Writer Paints Her World (1997), Thunder and Lightning (2000, also recommended by my professor), The Essential Writer’s Notebook (2001), Top of My Lungs (2002), The Great Failure: My Unexpected Path to Truth (2004), and her newest one Old Friend From Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir (2008).

Here’s a quick rundown of books that were made into movies, that I have both read and watched, and whether I liked one more than the other.

* The Secret Life of Bees: I wasn’t able to get fully into the book, but sobbed through the movie.

* Running with Scissors: Augusten Burroughs’s writing is what makes this quirky story make sense. The movie is a fun supplement to the novel, but on its own struggles and leaves the viewer lost and confused.

* White Oleander: Book? Awesome. Movie? Awesome.

* Bridget Jones’s Diary: Hands down, the movie is better.

* The Da Vinci Code: Both are very good, but the book captured me more.

* Riding in Cars with Boys: The movie gets a slight one-up because of Drew Barrymore.

* The Devil Wears Prada: The book manages to focus on developing, changing relationships more and less on vapid, superficial stuff. I’d read the book again before I watched the movie again.

* The Nanny Diaries: I would have guessed that the novel, being written by two people, would be confusing and disjointed, but it wasn’t. Scarlett Johansson saved the movie; the book stood strong on its own.

* Girl with a Pearl Earring: Everyone I know that read this book and then watched the movie agrees that the filmmaker missed the target. The best scenes to read were not even incorporated into the film.

* The Notebook:I’m slightly leaning toward favoring the movie, but like Riding in Cars it’s because of the cast. Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling nailed their roles as Allie and Noah - just check out the chemistry in this cover art photo!

I have certainly cut back on my spending on books, only buying used ones or trading them online. It seems lots of people are cutting back on book shopping in this down turned economy: Borders is “consolidating.”

Six vice president and ten director positions were eliminated this week from corporate Borders. Most of the positions were based out of the company’s headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Those cut were newer hires, joining the Borders’ team in 2007. While those that will sticking around and doubling up on responsibility have been with the book store company for upwards of 15 years.

“As we address the immediate priority of getting our company’s financial house in order, one of our goals is to more aggressively reduce annual expenses,” said Borders Group Chief Executive Officer Ron Marshall. “It is difficult to make the decision to eliminate jobs, especially those of talented and dedicated leaders who have significantly contributed to our organization, yet streamlining our leadership and eliminating management layers will help us be more agile and at the same time advance us toward our expense reduction goals.”

The continual rise of the Internet’s popularity has people speculating the downfall and demise of printed material, particularly books. Despite the United States Census Bureau’s findings that the number of adults that read for enjoyment has increased in recent years, many naysayers sadly - and incorrectly - still think books are a dying breed.

British artist Kyle Bean envisions such a world, one where books are no longer opened. So he’s created an artistic solution that will give future generations a reason to crack a spine from time to time: he put a computer in it. Bean’s “The Future of Books” makes for great social commentary. I’m not sure whether the computer is a working one or not; it appears to be a lamp that makes a statement.