taryn k.
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My name is Taryn. I'm in my twenties. I come from the land down under. I'm married. I work full time. I like pretty things. My favourite food is watermelon. I hate dancing. I like to talk. I tend to contradict myself. I hate snails. I like you for reading my blog.

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23 April 2011, 9:10 PM
What I'm Reading - Theme: Nostaglia

I've been loving my ereader the last few weeks.  As soon as I'm done with a book, I'm frantically searching Amazon/Borders for another.  I think it's the weather getting (slightly) cooler; I love that wintery feeling of curling up in bed with a good book, drinking tea and eating Ferrero Rochers (by the boxful).


I've read a few books the last couple of months, most of which have been a nod to my teenage library.  I suppose I'll start with the most recent - finished less than a hour ago, started around 2:30pm this afternoon.  "Finding Cassie Crazy" (also known as "The Year of Secret Assignments") by Jaclyn Moriarty.  I loved it so much I wrote a review for Amazon, even though you know I'm really not the best at writing informative or helpful reviews.  Well, I doubt this one will be any different.  You judge:

"I decided to download this book to my ereader after rediscovering "Feeling Sorry For Celia" in the back of my bookshelf and getting all nostalgic. I'm 23 years old now, but read "Celia" back when I was 14 (or thereabouts) and absolutely loved it, found it summed up my experience of being a teenager.

I didn't even know that Moriarty had any other works besides "Celia", but was so excited to discover that "The Year Of Secret Assignments"/"Finding Cassie Crazy" was a kind of companion novel. I was especially excited to see the characters from "Celia" popping up, as the books run on a similar timeline (although it seems that the timeline of "Assignments" runs slightly after the events of "Celia").

The plot follows three girlfriends from Ashbury High - Emily, Lydia and Cassie - and their respective penpals from Brookfield High - Charlie, Sebastian and Matthew - told through their letters to each other, diary entries, emails and other forms of correspondence. What starts out as a tedious English penpal assignment soon develops into much more - intriguing relationships, tragic events, a full-out battle between rival schools and examples of true friendship - all from the point of view of emotional and believable teenagers. My favourite part about Moriarty's writing is the banter between characters and their tendencies to exaggerate and actually behave like teenagers. The romance was so realistic, it reminded me of my own teenage crushes and experiences. I laughed out loud on more than one occasion, much like I did with "Celia".

Five stars to this fantastic teenage read - did I mention I read the entire thing in one afternoon? Give this novel a go - I'm quite confident you won't be disappointed."

Prior to that was "Sweet Valley Confidential" by Francine Pascal (yes, by not created by - apparently the first in the entire series written by the lady herself).  This book was technically terrible.  Awful, even.  But I loved it because it was about the ever-perfect, ever-dramatic Wakefield twins.  If you haven't heard about it, "Sweet Valley Confidential" is a story about Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, ten years after their highschool graduation.  They are now twenty seven and, in my opinion, far more pathetic than they ever were.  The thing I found most annoying about this book, is that Pascal seems to ignore the entire "Sweet Valley University" series.  Almost every single event is conveniently forgotten about, as if it didn't exist.  I don't think there was a single mention of any of the characters, besides Mike McAllery and Tom Watts.  Frustrating, since it was my favourite spinoff and I preferred it to the original SVH books.

I must also point out that I found Jessica far, far more psychotic than I remember her being.  Like to the point where it was disturbing.  There was so much yearning and wanting and craving and needing for her sister and for her sister's touch and her sister's arms around her and her sister's smell and her sister's sweet smile and her sister's forgiveness, yet she DOESN'T MAKE ANY EFFORT TO RIGHT HER WRONG.  What the hell is wrong with the woman? 

Elizabeth wasn't much better, but at least she was kind of true to the teenage version of herself. Apart from the claim that she has a deserving reputation of always being faithful in her relationships - uh, really Liz? Really?

The final chapter really pissed me off, and creeped me out.  I won't say anything about it because it may spoil the book (even though anyone with any intelligence can see the resolution coming a mile away).

I will say they really managed to throw everything into this one little book: romance, mystery, sex, drugs, alcohol, cancer scares, marriage, affairs, characters coming out as gay, death, sibling rivalry, theatre, betrayal, career highs and lows, baked goods, fistfights, jealousy, unrequited love, car crashes, even a birthday party. Everything, I tell you. I was under the impression that this was to be the first in a new series, but they kind of wrapped everything up in the last chapter, gave you a live summary for pretty much every character from SVH, so I don't really see where they can go from here.

Truth be told, I enjoyed reading this book (apart from the ending), but only in a "E! True Hollywood Stories: Where Are They Now" kind of way.

Now to my comedic recommendation (although SVC is so laughable, you could put it in the comedy category).  "5 Very Good Reasons To Punch A Dolphin In The Mouth" by The Oatmeal aka Matthew Inman.  I love The Oatmeal.  Love it. 

The Oatmeal is a blog/website based around the comic strips, commentaries and 'useful guides' by Inman - so popular it has been converted into book form.  I kind of regret downloading this to my Kobo as I find myself wanting to show other people what I'm reading and the Kobo

Believe me, it's hilarious.  One particular comic "5 Reasons to Always Carry A Shovel" had my giggling manically for a good ten minutes while my husband looked on in confusion.  I've found myself trying to narrate the comics to work colleagues, but unable to get the words out through my laughter.

The best way for me to convince you to buy the book is to point you in the direction of his blog. Click there. Do it.  Hell, even if you have no intentions of buying the book, go there and read all the comics for free.


I can't keep writing about this book without giggling to myself like a crazy person, and I'd rather people not think I'm crazy, so I'll stop there.  Just go to the site. For me.

I received "Makeup: The Ultimate Guide" by Rae Morris in the mail this week.  Such a stunning book, gorgeous photography,  easy to follow tutorials, fantastic tips and hints.  I've been meaning to order this book for months and finally bit the bullet a couple of weeks ago - and I don't regret it one bit.

It's really quite inspiring.  There are a couple of looks in there that are only suited for a costume party, so now I'm eagerly waiting for someone to throw one so that I can throw GLITTER all over my face.  As per the instructions in the book.

And since I got my copy directly from the Rae Morris website, it came signed, which is a nice little bonus.

I also read "Pretty Little Liars" by Sara Shepard not long ago and started reading the second novel in the series "Flawless", but found myself not that interested.  I'll finish it eventually and maybe do a little review (if you can call them that) about it after I've decided if I liked it or not.  I've got about four of the novels downloaded, waiting to be read, but haven't felt really compelled to read any further.

Next up I plan on re-reading the "Flowers In The Attic" series by Virginia Andrews (again for nostalgic purposes), "The Intimate Adventures Of A London Callgirl" by Belle du Jour, "Warpaint: Madame Helena Rubenstein and Miss Elizabeth Arden" by Lindy Woodhead, "Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen (when I can get it on my ereader), "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins (same applies), "Babyville" and "Bookends" by Jane Green, "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens, "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte, "Interview With The Vampire" by Anne Rice, "Persuasion" by Jane Austen and "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy.  That should keep me busy for a while.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Easter weekend and that I haven't bored you too much with my rambling (brava! if you've made it to the end). Feel free to leave any recommendations or comments about these books.  Talk to you soon.

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