Twenties Girl By: Sophie Kinsella

As a huge fan of Sophie Kinsella, this book caught me completely off guard. My personal opinion about books is to never read the jacket sleeve. You may think that is bizarre, as how will you like the book or not, but I think it usually gives away too much about the book and I would rather be surprised. I stick to books that I have been recommended or books by authors I already admire.
So when I read this book and find out that it is about Lara and the fact that she can see her great aunt Sadie's ghost I was genuinely shocked. This was so far off base from what I usually expect from the author and to be honest for the first half of the book I was not impressed.
Sadie is only seen by Lara and although she died at 105 she returns as a young girl in her 20's thoroughly enjoying life and boy oh boy does she love to dance. Really gives you a small glimpse into how much fun the roaring 20's would have been to experience.
She is searching for a necklace that she loved more than anything and with the help of Lara they go on a quest to track it down.
It's actually a really beautiful book and probably one of my favorites by Sophie Kinsella. This woman who died had no life really left behind and its rather tragic. Later on you find out she is the subject of one of the most treasured pieces of art and everyone is awed and amazed by her beauty and anonymity. She left behind nothing in life except this painting and at the time of her death was quite forgotten and literally remembered by no one.
Its very sad to think about how true that must be for a large number of the elderly, hell even the general masses. Though this book brings with it tears and laughter and a lot of good humor, it has an unsettling quality to it because it speaks of these sad forgotten people, who we all have in our lives, and you really feel guilty, but in a good way I think.

I've Got Your Number By: Sophie Kinsella

Entertaining. Sophie Kinsella always finds a way to make all of her books impossible to put down. I truly love the way she writes, as it is in the same way most of us think.  (Well, that's obviously an assumed fact, at least the way I think).
A modern day romance about a woman, Poppy, who loses her engagement ring and is frantic (as you would expect), and then gets her cell stolen. After finding a phone in the bin she assumes it as her own and bargains with the owner, Sam, (well it was a company phone) to carry out its use until she replaces it.
Of course how can you be sharing a phone and not get mixed up in each others lives?
As someone very approachable and people pleasing, Poppy ends up interfering with Sam's business, though she means well, and for someone as closed off and serious as he is, it causes tension and eventually an understanding between them that really proves that opposites attract.
This book really makes me appreciate the fact that there are authors out there simply writing about normal mundane life. Poppy is engaged to a man who is highly intelligent and has an extremely successful family and well she is quite normal. She finds herself again throughout the novel and realizes happily ever after doesn't always mean what you think it will.
Poppy represents a lot of the simple qualities that you see within yourself. She can be kind of scatterbrained, insecure, frantic and altogether a genuine person.
Sophie Kinsella is extremely talented in the fact that every single one of her characters can easily be someone in your life and you see yourself walking in their shoes and really empathizing and laughing along with every twist and turn along the way. Sometimes starting over can be the best thing for you.

The Fountainhead By: Ayn Rand

I must admit I was a little over ambitious in the endeavor of reading this monster of a book.
I really became interested in Ayn Rand because of Terry Goodkind. I am a huge fan of his ideals and beliefs portrayed in the Sword of Truth series, and I found out about six months back that he based it off the ideals (or objectivism) as stated in Ayn Rand's novels!!
As an obsessive fan of Mr. Goodkind, it was very exciting to discover similar reading material. Of course I was mildly disappointed. Not for the fact that it was a bad story or that the characters were not developed or you know whatever else is usually wrong with a book. In fact the characters of this book were overly defined in their roles and characteristics. The main character Howard Roark was the "ideal man." One who is willing to stick to his ideals and personal opinions through whatever means available including personal loss and a result of becoming an outcast from society and his profession as an architect.
His love interest Dominique Francon, is similar in the fact that she believes that anything beautiful should be kept to those who believe and actually recognize it for what it was. With that philosophy she would obtain statues and art she found beautiful and then destroy them so no one could destroy them with their criticism and disapproval. Its fairly maddening. They are truly meant for each other and she refuses to be with him because of her pessimistic belief that he must be held down under her hand in a sort of "mercy killing" where he and his work I deemed to be too beautiful for the common man and will be demoralized and defaced with their negativity and misunderstanding. So she just destroys him. Well attempts to.
I think what I couldn't stand about this book was that she takes all of her ideals and shoves them down you throat. Ayn Rand really puts all effort into expressing her ideals and belief, which is great, but she gives you no other opportunity to think it over or even process what she had just said before you hit another 5 page monologue. its strange the book reads more like propaganda than a novel.
Then you have characters such as William Keating and Ellsworth Toohey, both of whom you just despise. Keating because he is altogether undesirable and a complete fake, doing whatever it takes to please the masses, and Toohey who is just manipulative and evil. He goes through every length to control the masses and steer them in the most undesirable directions, telling them that the ultimate virtue is selflessness and to achieve that you must sacrifice everything, especially your values.
Which when thinking about the novel and the characters individually, I find them to be very interesting and worth the time to consider, but reading the book was a chore and not one I would embark again in the foreseeable future.
I guess what I am ultimately trying to say is, I found the book dry and uninteresting as a whole. Maybe next time I will take it slower and really break it all down further. Meh.