The White Mary

by Kira Salak | 368 pages, published 2008

I always took the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” to mean “Sometimes things look really stupid, but they are actually great inside.” I never imagined – until now – that it might also mean “Sometimes things look really great, but they are actually stupid inside.” (At least I don’t remember having imagined this before.)

Probably part of the trouble was that I just finished reading The Testament, and I wasn’t quite ready for another white-person-searching-for-a-different-white-person-hidden-in-the-tropics book. Also, the main character (Marika) was utterly unlikable. She and all the others characters were so exaggerated in their personalities that none were believable. An example (assuming you are never going to read this book and it won’t be a spoiler): Marika has a big fight, the first one, with her boyfriend. She storms off, decides things are over between them, hooks up with her go-to friend with benefits, then regrets it and goes back to her shared apartment; she and the boyfriend (Seb) break up and she heads to Papua New Guinea. When she calls him on a satellite phone at the end of the book because her passport and money have been stolen and she needs help getting out of the country, they have a heartfelt, tear-filled conversation in which Seb apologizes for not being more understanding and for not listening to her. Seriously. Even for literature, that’s unrealistic.

Anyway, the book also had descriptive sex scenes. Just preparing for a movie adaptation, I guess. I suggest not wasting your time on The White Mary, even if the cover looks amazing. Not worth it.

Buy The White Mary on Amazon, ignoring my recommendation

Reading list 2011

New books: 35 ( 11,042  pgs )

Longest book: Pathfinder (672 pgs)
Shortest book: Kekula (32 pgs)
Oldest book: Crime and Punishment (1866)
Newest book: Secrets of the Crown (September 2011)
Best book: Beyonders
Best children’s/YA book: Heidi
Worst book: Sundays at Tiffany’s
Most disappointing book: How to Train Your Dragon

Diana Wynne Jones, House of Many Ways
James Patterson, Sundays at Tiffany’s
Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon
C.S Lewis, The Four Loves
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
Michael Gruber, The Book of Air and Shadows
Stephenie Meyer, The Host
Chris Cleave, Little Bee
Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Fiery Fingers
Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Careless Kitten
Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Sulky Girl
Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days
Jahcolyn Russell Neiman, Kekula
Johanna Spyri, Heidi
Matt Haig, The Dead Fathers Club
Brandon Mull, Beyonders
Maryrose Wood, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place
Maryrose Wood, The Hidden Gallery
Garth Nix, Abhorsen
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Kathryn Stockett, The Help
Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, & Sheila Heen, Difficult Conversations
Susan Coolidge, What Katy Did
Ninni Holmqvist, The Unit
Susanne Dunlap, The Musician’s Daughter
Roald Dahl, Danny the Champion of the World
Madeleine L’Engle, Many Waters
Orson Scott Card, Pathfinder
Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson, Secrets of the Crown
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
John Grisham, The Testament
Adrian McKinty, The Lighthouse Land
Tina Fey, Bossypants

Previous: 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004

Bossypants

by Tina Fey

{ 2011 | Reagan Arthur Books | 288 pgs }

I’d heard so much hype and praise for Tina Fey’s new book, and I confess, Jarom and I really like 30 Rock. Mostly. Jarom ended up reading this before I did, and laughed a lot. I expected to laugh a lot too, but I mainly chuckled or smiled. Not laughed. It was a little disappointing, since I thought there’d be fall-off-your-seat funny parts. So I gave up about 2/3 of the way through.

And finally tried again here at the end of the year. Fortunately, it picked up not long after my stopping point, and I enjoyed the rest of the book. Still not enough to laugh out loud, sadly, but it was amusing.

Sigh. I wish it had been hilarious.

Buy Bossypants on Amazon