“She would say that we create our own reality-that the truth, ultimately, is what we choose to believe.” Daisy and Violet Shramm are identical twin sisters who grew up in St. Louis to an ambivalent mother and a much older father. They are also psychic. In the more present day Daisy, now going by Kate, is a stay at home mom to two young kids and the wife of a college professor, Jeremy Tucker, who teaches geology at the local university. She has renounced her […]
Y’all, Reese Witherspoon has a book club!
It’s hard to believe that the girl from Cruel Intentions and Sweet Home Alabama* would grow into a feminist, taste making mogul but here were are and Reese Witherspoon is one of my favorite people to watch for their next move. She has optioned countless books into film and television projects, many I’ve already read & loved, and I seek out a lot of her recommendations. All of this is to say I was thrilled to discover Reese has an Instagram book club! May’s book club selection was Curtis Sittenfeld’s You […]
Pride & Prejudice in Ohio
As a general rule I try to avoid sequels and modernizations of classic literature when possible (i.e, when it’s advertised glaringly). Sometimes though, the story is so good (Pride & Prejudice) and by a writer I have enjoyed (Curtis Sittenfeld), I can’t resist. Such is the case with Eligible, Sittenfeld’s go at a modern retelling of Austen’s best (imho). The crucial elements of the story are still there. Lizzy Bennet meets and despises haughty, rich Fitzwilliam Darcy. She has four sisters, most of which are […]
a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife
The problem with waiting way too long to write reviews is that I forget all the details. I read Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld because it’s a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, and it was on NPR’s list of recommended books from 2016. I remember enjoying it. It was fun and well done, inspired by Pride and Prejudice without being too tied to it. Liz Bennett is a magazine writer while her sister Jane is a yoga instructor, and they both live in NYC. Jane is almost forty and ready to start a […]
Okay, so I HAVE to read Pride and Prejudice now, right?
Oh my god, y’all, this book was so fun. As I’ve admitted in shame before, I’ve never read Pride and Prejudice before (I know, I know). But I grabbed this one on audiobook after approximately one million of you reviewed it favorably, and I really enjoyed it! The audio version in particular was a fun distraction while training for my latest run. So this tells the modern day story of 5 unmarried sisters, and their various shenanigans as their parents’ financial situation falls to pieces. It’s […]
Pride and Prejudice…. if the Bennetts were worse than the original
First, a disclaimer. I LOVE me some Pride and Prejudice. I own several copies of the book, I love both the BBC miniseries, and the Kiera Knightly movie. I have a scarf printed with text from the book. I have read many of the modern ‘spinoff’ novels, and have enjoyed most of them. So when I saw Eligible in the Charlotte airport while looking for a book to kill time during an unexpected layover, it was a no-brainer for me. All that to say….. meh. […]