Sunday, October 2, 2011

Review: Something Borrowed & Something Blue

Here's another post that's a long time coming. But it's fitting since the current theme of my life is about tackling things that are a long time coming.

One of the biggest reasons for the blog post-delay is because of my recent relocation to Toronto: The Big City. What a cliche. As mentioned, this change has been a long time coming. But I'm in it now and slowly putting the pieces together to have some semblance of a life down here. This includes a job, a place to live that isn't in my boyfriend's parents' house... maybe a dog? I don't know what it is about a dog that makes me feel like I've really made it in "grown up land."


The most recent events of my life are finally taking on the challenge in my blog title. I've finally begun to "turn the page." Try out a new chapter.

Here's where my deep spiritual connection to Giffin's "Something" duo kicks in. It's an amazing thing when you read a fictional novel and feel like the author got to take a peek in your head in order to write her characters.

Which is interesting in this case because Rachel and Darcy couldn't be more different, and yet each woman seemed to represent each of my dual personalities: a quiet, hard working girl, always trying to do the right thing, only to stray from her usual do-gooder path to discover an exciting part of herself she didn't realize she could be... and a fun-loving party girl who is used to having the world handed to her on a silver platter, only to have it all fall away and have to figure out how to live a truly independent life in a new place.

Okay... so maybe I'm more like one than the other. I won't tell you which one.

But the point is, I couldn't have purposely chosen a better time to read these books. Maybe they're not as great as I'm going to tell you they are. They'll probably never win a Nobel Prize in Literature, but like most of my favourites, they're marked as New York Times Bestsellers (though, it might be harder to name a piece of popular fiction that isn't)...

Both novels came into my life at the perfect time to tell me to get out in the world and live a life I want to live. Life's not always easy, and it's not always fair, but it is short... too short to not do what makes you happy. Not everyone might understand your actions, and certainly there will be people who disagree with them, but no one can make a judgement call for you. No one can give you the same feeling your gut can, and if you're wrong, you're wrong... You move on. But if you're right, nothing feels better.

Recommendation: As good as chick lit gets. Worth a read if you're a fan of the genre, or if you've ever slept with your best friend's fiance and want to see how that whole saga could potentially play out. Originally I wasn't going to read the sequel to Borrowed, especially once I found out it was about a character I was less than fond of. But as it turns out, I'd recommend Blue too. Especially if you love to see someone you don't like get crapped all over and then try to redeem herself.

Up Next: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

In keeping with the "time for a change" theme, it's time I take a step away from the Bestsellers and "Now a Major Motion Picture!" types and take a risk on a bit of an unknown. Recommended to me by my friendly neighbourhood Sony Reader Store, I thought I'd take a chance. I'm looking to shake up my life so it's time to put down the rom-com chick lit, and pick up a fantasy romance... Maybe not a huge departure for me, but sometimes it's best to take baby steps. Anyway, I'm told (or I've read) that it's about a breath-taking circus only open at night (see: the title), but "at the center of The Night Circus spectacle are two specially gifted young magicians, Celia and Marco, pitted against each other in professional competition, drawn towards one another in love." The mixed reviews I've read about this novel make me anxious to get started and see for myself if it's "A novel so magical that there is no escaping its spell..." or if it's as disjointed, slow, and indulgent as some other bloggers suggest. Happy Reading?

1 comment:

Dee said...

I wasn't going to read the second book either until a friend urged me to. I really like the second book better, even though I disliked Darcy very much in the first book, Emily Griffith really knows how to hook you!