Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

The Group, as a whole, loved this book.
It was entertaining, light, and fast.  The perfect book for mid-winter.

Bernadette is a "wonderfully told story about a rather dysfunctional family (aren't they all), with a mother (Bernadette) who is a genius hermit former architect, the daughter (Bee) who is a brilliant young girl with a medical history and a love of life, and the father (Elgie) who is a workaholic genius microsoft project head who loves his family, if from a distance.  Blech, sounds boring the way I just did that.  Trust me, it's not." (that is from my personal blog: see the full review here!)

Maria Semple, like many authors these days, took on the challenge of a mixed-media (ish) book.  The story is told through e-mails, letters, instant messages, and other written forms (a report from a doctor, for example).  Semple, however, succeeded where many others failed.  The story is successfully told through the mixed media.  Unlike with other books where it is frustrating receiving partial information and/or awkward presentation in unnatural formats, Semple has a gift of somehow presenting a complete story in such a fashion.  The various tones were expertly maneuvered -- ranging from the innocent pre-teen to the evangelical Christian to the professional tone of a doctor.  All are convincing, and all are endearing.

In reading the book, there is laughter, surprise, sympathy, and empathy.  Most of the characters are not only relatable, but salvageable.  They are impressive and crazy, rising just enough above the "normal" to make them interesting.

The group appears to highly recommend this book -- so much so, in fact, that we are yearning for another similarly satisfactory read.  Comments welcome!

**MY personal thoughts:
of course a lof of the thoughts above are conveyed through my lens, but, yes, I loved the book.  I give it FIVE of 5 stars and highly recommend.  It was fun and intriguing.  It really did make me laugh and I'm sure there was a tear shed around there somewhere.  I loved all of the characters, and I am very MUCH looking forward to reading another Semple!

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris

The overall swing of the group was mild disappointment.  One member really did not like the book.  Another "didn't hate it."  But once we got to talking about it, flipping through the book and parsing out the stories, most agreed that the book was fine, if you like that sort of thing....

For you Sedaris fans out there, of which there are many in our group, if you are going to read this book, PLEASE NOTE it is NOT his usual style of funny most-likely-true essays.

These are .... well, simply put, they're animal allegories.  They are allegories of essentially crap people, but in the stories, such "people" are animals.  For example, there is the story of the Bear who lost her mother and needed sympathy.... and then kept asking for it...  and, well, i hate spoilers.  Suffice it to say, these are not characters that endear themselves to you.  But for many, they are relatable experiences - someone you know, someone you wish you didn't know, some conversation you overheard.

One of the girls in the group really liked the book.  This was a reader who did not, however, have any other Sedaris familiarity.  Which made us think... we were probably harder on the book because of what we were hoping for... what we were expecting.

So the short of it?  If you are a Sedaris fan, pick up this book w/ the knowledge that it is NOT a "Sedaris."  It's good.  It's insightful.  It's dark.  It's funny (in that dark sort of way).  But it's different...

Next up?  Anne of Green Gables.  Yep, we're takin it back to the Old School, 'cause I'm an Old Fool, who's So Cool......
(need sleep)

Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon

The Group met and discussed Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon around mid-July.

I was somewhat surprised by the responses.  On the whole, the Desert Girls were not great fans.  The problem most of the readers had with the book was that they felt that it was a little cliched, a little too simple, a little too surface... not to mention depressing.

BUT.

The readers also felt that the book served as a good reminder for those of us in marriages (more than half) and a sense of camaraderie for those no longer in marriages or in marriages struggling.

It was kind of cute, it was kind of endearing, and it offered a very REAL view into a type of life.  The author is a good story teller and a good writer, but the characters simply weren't terribly endearing.  And it is *noteworthy* how well Gideon employed texts, facebook entries, emails, chats, and common dialogue without the story being weighed down or annoying.  Her style certainly warrants more attention in future books.

Also, the topic is interesting -- a woman involves herself in a study about 21st century marriage and, through the course of the study, finds herself questioning her own life, marriage and family. But the problem is, ultimately, the characters are a little lost in the grandness of the situation.

There was the main character -- Wife 22 herself.  She seemed to be rather selfish and self-obsessed person, a fact not lost on her supposed best friend, to the point of missing some rather big markers about the situation she has embroiled herself in.  Her husband seems to be an oblivious, also selfish, unaware, dishonest, but seemingly "good person."  Her children are precocious and selfish... and yeah, there was a whole lot of selfishness.

I don't believe any of the Desert Girls would recommend NOT reading the book, but we would say, go ahead, it's simple, it's a beach read, and most importantly, know what you're getting into.  We don't want to add spoilers here... but we're happy to share the spoilers if you're sure you want to hear them (just send us an email or post a comment!)

<<note: I had an ARC copy of the book, but the rest of the Desert Girls bought/rented/borrowed their own copies>>

BossyPants by Tina Fey

I think I can safely say that, as a group, we not only loved the book, but we love (or at least strongly like and admire) the author.  This was not, however, universally true prior to our reading the book.  Some in the group were prior fans, some were prior non-fans, and some were neutral.

Tina Fey has written a very accessible book with a feminist-but-intelligent-and-thoughtful perspective.  She's funny, there's no question.  But she's not just funny.  There were points when we laughed at out loud, and there were points where we disagreed with her political statements, but overall, reading her book was like talking with a good friend.

The members of the group who had not watched or did not watch 30 Rock did not read (or closely read) the portion of the book that dealt with the show - but the book was complete without it and, those members included, fully enjoyable on its own.

As a group, we highly recommend the book.

And personally, I probably recommend it even higher than that.  It was truly an enjoyable experience.  I was one of those people who "couldn't stand" Ms. Fey ... and then I saw her in Baby Mama with Amy Poehler (who I have always loved) and begrudgingly admitted that she was funny and a decent actress... and then my husband's slight obsession w/ 30-Rock allowed me to watch the first 1/2 of the first season in succession... and I was completely won over.  She's self-deprecating in a completely endearing way.  And she's smart.  And funny.  I read the book in the couple hours it took to fly from Milwaukee to Phoenix and enjoyed all of it.  I hope there's a second!