August Reads

My pleasure reading ain't wait it used to be.  I basically took a hiatus from high school until the last year or so, with the exception of Twilight and Chelsea Handler books.  But I've been making an effort to read better books when I can (i.e.; this summer, and not again until January) and I made it through two books in my last week of "vacay".

The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing was a super quick collection of short stories about a girl sifting through all the various love advice we ladies receive from childhood on. Chronicling various relationships, their flaws, and the idea that women are supposed to sit back and wait for a man to come to them, when the main character just wants to be funny and act naturally.  It's definitely worth an afternoon.  I especially liked the depiction of women without boyfriends as in their "seahorse" period: "when we were told that we didn't need mates; we were supposed to make ourselves happy just bobbing around in our careers."  Obviously, this is an idea that I can't relate to at all.

I've wanted to read this for years and finally made good on it.  It was at times crass and jarringly violent, but a vivid depiction of multiple generations of Dominican-American culture, struggles, and heartbreak.  I loved the use of Spanglish, even though a lot of it was slang that I had to look up.  A lot of images will stay with me (spring break 2007 in Punta Cana suddenly has a different tinge to it?), and I'll spare you that kind of haunting.  I especially liked the voice of the narrator, almost justifying his urgency and tone throughout: "If you didn't grow up like I did then you don't know, and if you don't know it's probably better you don't judge."  

This was my set up:

This was my soundtrack.  Doesn't do justice for how close the loons were, and there's a hawk flying overhead and dive bombing the loons and their bebe.  (Maybe the dingo ate your baybay?)  

Now I'm mourning summer and back to classes tomorrow.  

(Source)