chicklit – Bookmarked!

Royal Wedding

July’s starting to be really stressful for me, so Meg Cabot’s “Royal Wedding” was the fluffy read I was really excited for. I’ve been reading the Princess Diaries series for over a decade already (down through the horrid books 8 and 9, which were, thankfully redeemed by book 10), and I’ve been a Mia + Michael shipper forever.

I finally got my copy last Sunday, stayed up long after midnight to finish it (while bugging fellow Flipper and Meg Cabot fan Jewel about every other page, LOL), and thought it was the perfect closure for longtime Princess Diaries fans like me.

Continue reading “Royal Wedding”

Shopaholic hits the big screen

(Quick post before I head to a party)

My sisters and I caught the Confessions of a Shopaholic movie on the late night screening last Thursday.

I was not particularly excited to watch this because the Shopaholic series is one of my favorites, and I find Sophie Kinsella one of the smartest chicklit writers I’ve read, and I did not have high hopes for the adaptation.

It was forgettable, both as an adaptation and a chick flick. If I had not read the book, I would have found the movie mildly entertaining but not a must-see, and the whiny Isla Fisher in tacky clothes is more annoying than endearing.

But since I read the book, I have more things to nitpick about the movie:

*** SPOILER ALERT***

1) It’s set in New York and only Luke is British. This is major beef because much of the book’s charm comes from its British crispness.

2) They combined plot elements from Shopaholic Takes Manhattan (Brit: Shopaholic Abroad) to make it easier for them to just move to the 3rd book if they make a sequel. They’ve totally eliminated the pr crisis with Flagstaff life (see #3); the Tarkie-Bex subplot; and all of Becky’s harebrained plans to “economize” — the frames, the curry (I loooooved the curry episode, I think it was one of the defining moments in the book); the headhunter applicaton where she bluffs Finnish — most of the hilarious bits in the book, mainly.

3) Luke is the editor of Successful Saving instead of having his own PR firm (he does set it up by the end of the movie), and Becky takes the job (in the book she already works there) as a stepping stone to the fashion magazine where Alicia Bitch Longlegs (in the book, she is on Luke’s PR team) works.

4) The scarf hullabaloo. Not a major issue, but it was an iridiscent blue-gray in the book, not green, and Becky did not write a column entitled Girl in the Green Scarf (well it does sound better than Girl in the Blue-gray Scarf). The scarf was a significant item that made it all the way to the fifth book, and I think they should have stuck to the 20-quid scene in the book where Becky accidentally blurts it out in the press conference.

5) What was up with the mannequin hallucinations?!?

and 6) Isla Fisher really does not do Becky Bloomwood justice.

Oh well, I guess that’s Hollywood for you.

***
My rating:

Movie 2/5 stars; Book 5/5 stars

Why I’ve been hooked on Emily Giffin

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
Something Blue by Emily Giffin
Book 21 of 2009- Baby Proof by Emily Giffin

I haven’t been reading as much chick lit as I used to, because in the past couple of years I’ve been pretty hard up in finding chick lit that’s worth reading.

Emily Giffin was a surprising discovery I made last year. It started when I found a hardbound bargain copy of Something Blue (I was amused at the title) for around 60 bucks at a roving booksale (Books and Mags).

I knew it was a sequel so I waited for a hardbound copy of Something Borrowed to come up on BookMooch. The US moocher had to delay my mooch for a couple months so I had to wait, but by sheer luck I found a copy — a hardbound library discard with a couple of breaks in the spine, sitting unnoticed on a bottom shelf at Book Sale, and it was only P10!

As soon as I got the book covered in plastic (call me weird, but I can never read a book that does not have a protective plastic cover), I started reading a few pages just to see if I would like it, and I was not able to put it down.

Something Borrowed is the story of Rachel and Darcy, who are best friends. Darcy is engaged to Rachel’s classmate from law school, Dexter. One night, on Rachel’s 30th birthday, the flighty Darcy is missing in action and Rachel is left to celebrate with Dex. After one drink too many, Rachel and Dex wind up in bed together, and Rachel realizes she’s been in love with Dex all along, and gasp! — Dex feels the same way about her.

You would think it’s pretty hard to feel sympathy for a girl who steals her best friend’s fiance and a guy who cheats on his fiancee with her best friend, but Giffin manages to pull it off. I knew they could have handled it better, and thinking about it makes me cringe a bit, but I was rooting for Rachel and Dex. (On a side note, I am glad my best friend and I have totally different tastes in men!)

Being privy to their secret was sinfully addictive, and I won’t say any more to keep from spoiling it, but I actually read Something Blue because I couldn’t get enough of Rachel and Dex, although the 2nd book is really about Darcy.

I can’t blog about Something Blue without any major spoilers, so let me just say that it’s from Darcy’s point of view this time around. I’m not Darcy’s biggest fan, and it was pretty hard to read a book from the point of view of a character I didn’t really like, but I was relieved that Darcy grew up a lot in this book, and by the end of the book I learned to appreciate her character.

Baby Proof is Giffin’s third novel, separate from the first two but towards the end of the book there is a remote link via one character (Ethan).

The book is about Claudia, a book editor, who appears to have the perfect (=child-free, in Claudia’s perspective) marriage until her husband Ben decides he wants them to have a baby.

Baby Proof tackles a more serious topic, raising questions that are often taken for granted: is a marriage necessarily lacking without kids? Is it okay for a person to not want to have children?

The book is a confirmation of all the things I love about Emily Giffin’s books: real people with flaws, relevant issues, female friendships, excellent introspection, and writing that just keeps you reading, and reading, and reading.

Chick lit authors are a dime a dozen these days, but Emily Giffin is one of the very few who can pull off substance with style.

Aargh. Now I want a copy of Love The One You’re With…

***
(photos from emilygiffin.com)

My copy: hardcover copy of Something Borrowed (library discard), replaced with another hardcover in better condition; hardcover copy of Something Blue, missing its dustjacket; trade paperback of Baby Proof

My rating: Something Borrowed 5/5 stars; Something Blue 4/5 stars; Baby Proof 4/5 stars

Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella

Becky Bloomwood is back! This time, with a bump — Becky and Luke’s first baby!

Becky Bloomwood is back in the 5th novel of the Shopaholic series, armed with her credit card as she prepares for the baby’s arrival – booties, designer rompers, prams, you name it and Becky has to have it. So when news of a celebrity ob/gyne Venetia Carter breaks out, Becky has to have her too, and decides to switch from her old ob/gyne. All’s well, until she finds out Venetia is Luke’s ex-girlfriend from college, and still carries a torch for Luke, posing an impending threat to their fledgling family.

My sisters, my mom (yes, my mom likes chicklit, especially Sophie Kinsella and Meg Cabot) and I are Shopaholic fans, so I was delighted when Tattie (my eldest sister) bought me a copy of Shopaholic and Baby a couple of months ago when I complained that I couldn’t find one (of course now, it’s back in stock).

I liked Shopaholic and Baby, although I think I really love Shopaholic Ties the Knot and Shopaholic and Sister best. Becky is up to her usual antics, but I guess some themes in this book make it a bit more serious than the rest in the series. I guess, Becky has to grow up sometime, well at least more grown-up than Becky has ever been in her life, and it shows in this book.

The supporting cast is still a riot, though, especially Suze, Janice, Danny, and Mr. and Mrs. Bloomwood. Jess is back too, hint, hint, I wish Sophie Kinsella would write a book about her as well, haha like the Shopaholic’s Non-Shopaholic sister. Heehee.

Of course, all’s well that ends well, and it’s still a great addition to the series :)

***
My copy: Gosh, I have three copies of this book – 2 hardcovers (one mooched, one from NBS) and one large paperback…

My rating: 3/5 stars

Rosie Dunne by Cecelia Ahern

Rosie Dunne and Alex Fletcher are best friends who are the living example of right love at the wrong time, for the most part of their lives, starting when they were five years old. Their story plays out in a series of letters, notes, emails, text messages, and IMs between themselves and their friends.

It’s way longer than it really needs to be (and the frustration builds up to the very end chapter — to the point you keep muttering, man, can’t you two just get it on?!?), but any girl who has fallen for the best friend type of guy will be able to relate to this book. It’s funny, yet poignant at the same time. I cried a lot reading it… maybe because I could relate to it so much.

***
My copy – mass market paperback, given up for mooching

My rating- 2/5 stars