Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Books.


Anyone who knows me knows that I live for reading. Books excite me. I am a book hoarder. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I've decided I should start to review some of what I read, so you will all be privy to my strongly worded opinions. This idea immediately makes me think of the hundreds (actually thousands) of books I've read in my life that I haven't reviewed, but have wanted to talk to someone about after reading. Despite that daunting feeling and the slight urge to track down the majority of all books I've read, in order to read them again and properly review them, I will simply start now, from here on.

Last night I finished "Recipes for a Perfect Marriage" by Morag Prunty. Did I buy this because I'm getting married in 46 days and want to read marriage-themed books? No. I bought it because it was on the "3 for $10" table at the World's Biggest Bookstore. I actually pick up a lot of those clearance books, and it's a total lottery. I've found amazing books that I absolutely LOVE, and others that are so horrible that they go directly into the recycling bin. (That's my hugest 'YOU SUCK' statement to a book: refusing to pass it on to someone or put it in the giveaway pile, bypassing these options for a direct CHUCK, because no one else should be subjected to its awfulness.)

(Side note: Morag Prunty is an Irish author - I seem to find a lot of Irish authoress' works on clearance racks at bookstores, and so far, I've thoroughly enjoyed every one of them.)

Anyways, "Recipes for a Perfect Marriage" was a novel containing two interspersed stories, one from the perspective of a woman in her late thirties who had just gotten married, and the other, her grandmother. The book started with the younger woman, Tressa, wondering if she'd married the right guy, and knowing that she didn't really love her husband as much as she should - guiltily feeling like she married him just to be married. She had always looked up to her grandmother, Bernadine, and felt like she'd had such a perfect marriage to her (now dead) grandfather. But as Tressa reads Bernadine's stories, she realizes her grandmother had a past love and was somewhat forced into marrying James, her grandfather. Over the years she learned to love him, so that finally theirs was a marriage of love and partnership and respect, even though it didn't start out that way. Her grandmother's journals help Tressa realize that marriage isn't necessarily all about feeling 'in love' every single moment, but that it's a choice, and she makes some bad decisions before realizing that she does want to stay married to her husband.

Reading that summary, the book sounds boring and trite. It wasn't. However, I think the one overused feature in it was the fact that there was a recipe at the beginning of each book. I have read SO many novels that incorporate the food theme, how food and love go together, and especially where the grandmother is passing down recipes to the grandmother. I'm more than a little sick of it. Yes, we all know food is important, we all know we'll never bake and cook as well as our grandmothers did. Stop trying to bait my emotions with this tactic.

That being said, I really, really liked this book. Typically, books written for females involve a lot of crap about following one's heart and being in love, as well as decisions based on feelings, emotion, and not a whole lot of grey matter. I think marriage is much more about a choice to love someone despite your sometimes varying feelings for them, knowing full well that your commitment to that person won't equal goopy lovesick emotion all the time. So generally, my reaction to "chick lit" books where women run off and have affairs and do whatever they feel like at that moment isn't favourable. Which is why I really liked this book. Granted, (SPOILER ALERT) the main character did have an affair, which was ridiculous and not totally fitting with her behaviour previously in the book. BUT, I liked the author's emphasis on a real-ish marriage relationship, and the fact that life sucks a lot of the time. The recipes at the beginnings of the chapters were accompanied by quotes, such as "You don't have to feel love to give it" or "When it feels difficult to give, give more." I liked these quotes. They were refreshing and wise and real, and gave the book a tone of depth.

That's all. I would recommend this book - but probably not if you are being asked to pay full price for it. Then again, I don't pay full price for any book.