Very Valentine - Adriana Trigiani

I have not read any of Adriana Trigiani's books before but I couldn't resist two things about this book:

1. It's cover (the one in the picture above - different to the US copy I think)

2. It's locations (New York and Italy)

I was thinking even if the book wasn't so great I would enjoy being transported to these places. Turns out that Very Valentine was a great book!

Valentine Roncalli is an Italian American woman in her mid-30's living in and working in Greenwich Village. Valentine lives and works with her grandmother in the family shoe company - Angelini Shoes - making wedding shoes for the women of New York since 1903. Valentine loves her work and has dreams of taking the business further - but the company is in financial trouble and may have to close its doors before Valentine gets her chance to move things forward.

There are of course the family and relationships sub plots as well but the real focus of this book for me was Valentine - and the choices she has made, and will make, in regards to her life and her future.

It was so refreshing to read a "chick lit" book that did not focus on the main female character in pursuit, or in the midst of, being a wife and/or mother at the expense of everything else in her life. Not that there is anything wrong with these pursuits - they are just not usually characters that I can connect to or care about as much. Valentine was a strong, independent woman - sure, she made some mistakes (don't we all?!) but I loved reading about her and her story. Apparently there is a sequel in the wind - can't wait to read it!

When I Am Not Reading...

These days I am becoming a little obsessed with the TV show Mad Men and it is taking up a bit of my non reading time.

For those of you who don't know the show is set in New York in the 1960's and the main focus is an elite advertising agency where the men make the ads and the women support the men - at work and at home. Despite the era that the show is set in (or maybe because of it) the strength of the women characters comes through in so many ways - and the fashion is gorgeous! I can actually watch this show and imagine myself in these outfits. I'm only mid way through series one at the moment so I'm looking forward to more to come!

I am loving watching a show set in the 1960's so I am wondering if anyone can suggest some great books set in this era??

Look at what I Did Not Buy...

How strong am I??? These shoes are divine, pretty and ON SALE and I still left them in the store... I just had to put them up here - I'm still not completely over them!

That's not to say that absolutely no purchases were made today. I showed my partner the Penguin Fine Books and we came away with a copy of Crime and Punishment.

So, not a no shopping day but definitely a step in the right direction!

Gorgeous Books

I found these beautiful books from Penguin at Borders today (apparently they are exclusive to Borders in Australia).

Each book has a different hard cover fabric design and the titles are:

Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë

Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell

Tess of the d'Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë

The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

I know I am on a reduced book shopping diet but I am very tempted...

The Piano Teacher - Janice Y. K. Lee

I have to admit that I picked up The Piano Teacher mainly because of it's stunning cover - I know this is something you should never do but a great cover will grab me every time. I had also read some good things about this one in the blogging world - mainly from Matt - so I did have something to go on besides the beautiful cover!

The Piano Teacher is a book set over two main time periods - 1942 and then 1952/3 in Hong Kong. Will Truesdale is an English man who has come to Hong Kong and fallen in love with Trudy, a wealthy and privileged Eurasian woman, in the period just before the invasion of the Japanese. In 1952 we meet Will again, now working as a driver for an influential couple who have hired Claire, a recently married woman and new in Hong Kong, as a piano teacher for their daughter.

There are some significant events and plot constructions in the novel but for me the real content of the book was the development and "showing" of the characters - just simple dialogue between them was what I enjoyed reading - it wasn't really until the end of the book that I stopped and thought about the plot.

I have to say that I don't think my reading patterns with this book really did it justice. I started it weeks ago and then got distracted/bored with the middle section of the book so I put it aside for a while and picked it up again last night when I finished the second half of the book in one sitting. I think this says more about my need to be reading a book that suits my mood at the time more than anything else.

The characters in The Piano Teacher are intriguing and complex, and written beautifully - at the end of the book I still felt like I had so many questions in relation to each of them - particularly Will and Trudy.

I would call this a subtle book - it crept up on me and I will be thinking about it long after finishing.

How To Give Up Shopping - Neradine Tisaj

For those of you who don't already know - I love to shop. Books certainly, but I also have a weakness for shoes, clothes, shoes, bags and shoes. I wouldn't go so far as to say I have an addiction - but there is a definite fondness there. My partner and I have been on a savings plan for our overseas trip later in the year and so some of the shopping joy has had to be cut back - painful but necessary. So, when I saw How To Give Up Shopping (or at least cut down) I thought this was the perfect read for me.

The author is an Australian woman working in the media industry and she is candid and open throughout the book about her shopping experiences. Tisaj states from the outset of the book that she is not a psychologist or a financial expert - the expertise she brings to the book is her experience of over-shopping and where that has led her. I found the book honest and easy to connect to - I identified with quite a few of Tisaj's stories and anecdotes (scarily so!) and the narrative style of the book made it quick and easy to read. I can't say that I felt that any earth shattering or new advice was put forward in relation to cutting back on shopping habits but then maybe that's not the complete point of the book. It did make me think about my shopping and the place and space it takes up in my life - and what I could be spending my money on if I didn't have so many pairs of shoes!

Atonement - Movie

I have finally watched Atonement. After reading, and absolutely loving, the book last year for lots of reasons I have been putting off and putting off watching the movie version. My best friend saw it as soon as it came out in Australia and she has been pestering me ever since to watch it myself - I even bought the DVD as soon as it was released and have had it sitting on my shelves since then, waiting and waiting...

I'm not really sure what was stopping me from watching it except for the fact that I loved the book so much I didn't want anything to spoil it. I'm glad to report that I loved the movie. I'm still glad that I left so much time between the reading and the watching but I am ultimately glad that I finally gave in. The movie is gorgeous in so many ways - not least of all the magnificent English country home and estate that plays the part of the Tallis home so well. And that green dress worn by Cecilia - if only I had one myself! I thought the roles were cast beautifully - who could go wrong with James McAvoy really??!

I often find I am so disappointed by movie productions of my favourite books but this one really hit the mark for me.

Photo taken from http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/