Monthly Book Club

"She read's books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live" - Annie Dillard

Well the month of January is officially over so its time for us to review our January books. The book's this month where Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham and The Goldfinch by Donna Tart.

 

First up lets start with Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham. This was a fairly quick read for my, I really like books that are set up in short story style, I thought the book was layed out well and I loved the illustrations through out. I have been obsessed with everything Lena when I first started watching HBO's Girls so when Lena's memoir was released I ran out and bought it straight away. I didn't love the book like I had hoped and I almost feel guilty about it.
I have 3 little sisters and through out reading her book I had a hard time understanding the dynamic between her and her little sister it seemed like she thought her little sister was a object she owned and I really had a hard time identifying with their relationship. I know that Lena has received a lot of criticism about sexually assaulting her sister, whilst I found it odd that she decided to look at her little sister like that, I did not think that she, in any way assaulted her sister. I think maybe Lena had a issue with personal boundaries and a few self centered behavioral issues but she is not a molester.
When Lena discussed her sexual encounters and the period in college where she shared her bed platonic-ally with men just to feel a level of comfort I really felt uncomfortable. I believe this was partly because I felt sorry for Lena and her need for any sort of intimacy but mostly because I in a way related to her need for intimacy when I was younger and reading these details in her memoir created a self refection in myself that I did not like thinking about.
I feel in the end that my love for Lena Dunham may have slightly changed after reading her book, I also realize that I may have associated Lena with the character Hannah she plays on Girls more that I should have and my love may have been more with Hannah then Lena.
I thougth this book was a interesting read and gave it 3 out 5 Stars.
Not That Kind Of Girl Questions: What was your thoughts on Lena?  Do you think that you may have thought of Lena more as her character Hannah for Girls? What is your thoughts on Lena's drug use? Did you have any many issues with the book? What did you think of the illustrations? What was your favorite scene from the book? Would you recommend this book to someone? How many stars did you give it?

Next up for January was The Goldfinch, this was the largest book featured in this years book club with a whopping 771 pages which in some area's I felt the plot was getting no where and then in other area's I felt that the plot was jumping all over the place. The description Donna Tartt put into this book was amazing, it has to be one of the most descriptive books that I have every read which may possibly be what caused it too feel like the plot was not going anywhere.
The book started off with a fast pace, I felt a certain investment with Theo from the get go. The desperation in his current circumstances that the book starts with and then regresses back to his childhood to explain how he found himself in this dire situation kept me riveted . I was saddened with the sudden death of Theo's mother, I really loved the way she was described and would have preferred to read about her longer. I loved the the description of the Barbours, Hobie and Boris. One of my favorite aspects to the book was the way in which she wrote Boris, I found myself reading everything he said in a broken English-Russian accent which kept me enthralled through the slower part of the book when Theo moves to Vegas to live with his father. 
I felt that Theo's whole stay in Vegas with his father was long and drawn out, there where many moments that I thought where completely unnecessary such as his dabble in homosexuality with Boris, that really gave nothing extra to the story and I felt it certainly could have been cut out. At this point the book lost it for me, I kept reading but just felt that everything had been to convenient and the plot was too ridiculous to follow. I feel that at some point the book got away from Donna so she started killing people off quickly, jumping a whole eight years with out any real reason, bumping into people on the streets of new york to tie the plot holes up and just rushing through the end of the book.
I really did love the description of this book but had a hard time dealing with the plot, for this reason I gave it 3 out of 5 Stars.
The Goldfinch Questions: What was your thoughts on Theo as a Character?  Do you think that the book explained in detail his thoughts on why he took the painting? What are your thoughts on the sudden deaths throughout the book? Are their any plot points you have issues with? What did you think of Fabritius's Goldfinch painting? What was your favorite scene from the book? Would you recommend this book to someone? How many stars did you give it?