one-woman book club, April edition

I never got around to finishing Brida. I tried reading it in daylight and it still gave me the creeps.

1. I Love You Beth Cooper Larry Doyle

I have no love for Hayden Panettiere so I’ve never had the urge to watch the movie adaptation, but the book turned out to be quite good. I’ve long out grown high school tales of love, loss and homeworks but  this one to be surprisingly intelligent and lol funny, reminiscent of the great teen movies of old like The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, a little Can’t Buy Me Love and maybe even (a less annoying) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I heard the movie tanked and I say blame it on Hayden!

2. The Miseducation of Tabitha Stone Emily Durkheim

Well, I’m having a hard I’m stringing together something to say about this one but I shall try. Smut? Soft-core porn? Amateur erotica? My best friend, Patty lent me this for a laugh. I suppose one must find creative ways to stay sane in law school. The eponymous Tabitha is your typical 25 year old rich-bitch, LA-bred slut wreaking havoc in the small, east coast college her father exiled her to. If they ever make a Paris Hilton biography (have they already?) and if she ever manages a college degree I imagine it would be quite similar to this.

3. Prom Kings and Drama Queens Dorian Cirrone

I picked this one because I gravitate to all things pink. I do indeed judge books by their covers. A page, I kid you not, a page into the book I started to to wonder why I was wasting my time on it when there are more interesting books to waste my time on. But it was an easy enough read so I finished it. The only thing I hate more than disappointments is not finishing what I started. The book was no different from the sweet valley/sweet dreams/love story pocket books I devoured while growing up. Once upon a time I lived for those but as I said earlier I have out grown high school and the stories they inspire.

4. Laughter in the Dark (Camera Obscura) Vladimir Nabokov

I read somewhere that you can’t claim to be well-read if the only thing you’ve ever read of Nabokov is Lolita. So now, am I officially “well-read”? Where do I get my certificate?

Once again, another literary example of how a girl can frak up a man’s life. The protagonist, Albinus, is not as poetic as Humbert so it didn’t have the lyricism of Lolita. While it is also a dysfunctional May-December romance, and this time the girl is, I use the term loosely, of “consenting age”.

5. The Black Dahlia James Ellroy

I was saving this for May but I figured why not give overachievement a try. I read it in a day with no chick-lit breaks in between. I haven’t read much noir books and I’m reminded why in Dahlia. I would’ve rather just borrowed the DVD. One invests much more when reading than in watching a movie, and not just because it takes longer. Strange, because I tend to enjoy police/detective narratives, Sherlock Holmes being the precursor. I wouldn’t immerse myself in anything this depressing for a whole day again. Once I was done with the book I was ready to throw myself off the Hollywood sign.  I've yet to read LA Confidential. I don't think I even want to. I've seen the film. That ought to be enough.