The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

The Paris Wife is a work of historical fiction – it’s fiction, but based on true people, places, and events. Right off the bat that caught my attention as a reason I wanted to read this. Also, I don’t really know much about the 1920s or Ernest Hemmingway, but it's something that interests me.

The Paris Wife is written from the perspective of Hemmingway’s first wife, Hadley. The story chronicles their history together, from the first time they met until the end of their marriage. Hadley is along for the journey, always in the shadow of her husband’s spotlight. He is the artist, while she is the wife. The book constantly gives us Hadley’s thoughts and struggles. I'm guessing most people know how the book will end, but it left me surprised, speechless, and somewhat sad.

While a lot does happen in the book, there are times when it seems nothing is happening. You can read for pages without anything of relevance occurring. There’s more about Hadley’s day-to-day life than I care to read. Another thing I struggle with is the historical fiction. It’s really cool, but given I don’t know hardly anything about Hemmingway, I wonder how much is true and how much is not. A work like this can leave you with a good (or bad) impression. I will have to wikipedia Hemmingway to get his full story.

The writing is very eloquent. The style and vocabulary capture the time period perfectly. I really do like it. Truthfully, that may be my favorite part of the book. I’m not usually one to be overly impressed by the style of writing, but this may be the lone exception. I found myself wanting to read more because the writing was enjoyable.

My rating for The Paris Wife: 3 stars out of 5. Get it here!

My First Experience With The Nook

I’ve internally debated e-readers for a long time. The story that swayed me towards books was one day in an elevator a lady had a book in her purse. A random rider asked her about the book because she could see the cover. I thought to myself, that would never happen if an e-reader was sticking out of her purse. That was the final straw the made me choose books over e-readers.

Many friends have tried to persuade me to use an e-reader. I finally caved when a work acquaintance lent me her Nook. I read a few chapters of The Paris Wife on it. I’ll go over what I thought the goods and bads were from the Nook.

The Goods: Maybe it was mental, but I swear I read faster on the Nook. The reading flowed easier for my eyes. It’s easy to turn on and get right to the page. It’s convenient to carry around. The screen looks just like a book (it’s NOT hard on the eyes). The bright menu screen goes dark when reading too. I learned after that I could change the pages with a swipe of the screen. I think I would like that. 

The Bads: I wasn’t sure how to hold it. It’s weird. I ended up sitting it on my lap for the most part. When I laid down, it was a slightly easier to read than a book. I found I sometimes had to push a bit harder on the button to turn the pages. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to leave my finger on the button or constantly take it on and off. I dislike the blackness of the screen when changing pages. When starting a new chapter, I wasn’t sure how many pages were in the chapter (for instance, if I was reading before bed, I wouldn’t want to start a chapter that was 30 pages long).

Obviously that's a short list, but those are the things I noticed when reading. I know there are way more benefits of an e-reader, such as being able to buy a book right away versus driving to the store or waiting for shipping to arrive. My final verdict is I wouldn’t get an e-reader just yet. I still like old-fashioned books. I like the feel, I like flipping through the pages. Maybe I just need some more time getting used to an e-reader. 

Bad Books

I didn’t finish reading any books this week. I’m in the middle of a few books now. It’s a bad habit, I know. I should read one at a time. But, I think I have a fairly interesting post for today…books that are so bad I didn’t finish them. You see, I have an Amazon box next to my bookshelf full of books I either want to sell back or give away. Here’s what’s in the box:

• The Picture of Dorian Gray: Required reading from high school…I think I only read the first 30 pages since a bookmark is still on that page.
• Anything You Want: The story of CD Baby and Derek Sivers. See my blog post on this book. I gave it 0 stars.
• Cutting for Stone: I’ve heard this is really good, I just couldn’t get into it. I struggled at the beginning (reading a few pages put me to sleep multiple times) and never went back to it.
• Coming Back Stronger: A memoir by Saints’ quarterback Drew Brees. I received this as a Christmas gift and I did read it because I'm a Saints fan. It was okay. I dislike when people write about themselves in the middle of their careers though.
• Linchpin: Once again, see my post on this one. I will say that I do like Seth Godin’s blog way better than his books.
• Reefer Madness: Required reading in college. This looked at many social issues in the U.S. marketplace. It was actually very good. The only reason it’s in the box is because the book is really beat up.
• The Profession: Only made it to page 23 (that's where the book flap is). It’s a futuristic military strategy story. Not sure what I was thinking with this one.

Maybe all these books aren’t bad (clearly someone thought they were good enough to be published), I just had a hard time getting into the story / didn’t like the story.

P.S. If you want any of these books, let me know. I'd give them away for free.