Book Club Friday!

It’s Friiiiiiday! My week flew by and I can hardly believe Friday is already here. I returned home from vacation on Monday night and jumped right into the work week, still working a schedule of 40 hours (never mind that 8 of those hours was sleeping…) and that definitely contributed to an accelerated week.

This weekend I have some fun stuff planned. A bachelorette party (woot, woot!), Saturday farmers market, wrapping up my last summer class and then some other odds and ends around the apartment.

But, first it’s not the weekend without a proper Book Club Friday! This week I am linking up with Heather again and I am talking about two books that I read this week. Where We Belong by Emily Giffin and The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst.

Where We Belong is Emily Giffin’s fifth novel and this one did not disappoint! I have met very few people that dislike Emily’s novels, so if you’re a fan of Something Borrowed and the sequel, Something Blue, this book is right up your alley.

From Goodreads:

The author of five blockbuster novels, Emily Giffin, delivers an unforgettable story of two women, the families that make them who they are, and the longing, loyalty and love that binds them together


Marian Caldwell is a thirty-six year old television producer, living her dream in New York City. With a fulfilling career and satisfying relationship, she has convinced everyone, including herself, that her life is just as she wants it to be. But one night, Marian answers a knock on the door . . . only to find Kirby Rose, an eighteen-year-old girl with a key to a past that Marian thought she had sealed off forever. From the moment Kirby appears on her doorstep, Marian’s perfectly constructed world—and her very identity—will be shaken to its core, resurrecting ghosts and memories of a passionate young love affair that threaten everything that has come to define her.

For the precocious and determined Kirby, the encounter will spur a process of discovery that ushers her across the threshold of adulthood, forcing her to re-evaluate her family and future in a wise and bittersweet light. As the two women embark on a journey to find the one thing missing in their lives, each will come to recognize that where we belong is often where we least expect to find ourselves—a place that we may have willed ourselves to forget, but that the heart remembers forever.

 

I bought this book the day it came out. Emily Giffin is one of those authors that I will absolutely splurge on her hardcover new releases. Considering I try to keep my monthly book budget at or around $25, dropping $20 for one book is a pretty big deal. I cannot resist her books though. I love ‘em! This one I started to devour almost immediately, and then I realized that I should probably slow down and savor it a bit more, so I put it down to start One Breath Away (gasp! I know, right??). Then, I completely fell in love with One Breath Away and there I was torn between what to read! How often does that happen?? Hardly ever.

The second book I am talking about is The Dogs of Babel, which is a book I picked up at a used bookstore while on the East Coast visiting Becky. I can get out of hand in used bookstores (somehow the term “used” affords me a free pass to buy whatever I want) so I put myself on a budget of $20 and this gem was available for only $4.50.

Becky and I were browsing the classics, where I was looking for Jack Kerouac’s On The Road (which I can never seem to find a sweet used copy) when she asked if I had read The Dogs of Babel. I looked at her blankly and said I had never heard of it.  She promptly marched off to contemporary fiction where she found the book for a such a steal, I could not say no when she demanded I buy it and read it. After finishing Where You Belong on the plane and trying to decided what to read next, Becky once again suggested this book. I decided, why not, and then picked it up. Three days later I had finished it…

From Goodreads: 

Paul Iverson's life changes in an instant. He returns home one day to find that his wife, Lexy, has died under strange circumstances. The only witness was their dog, Lorelei, whose anguished barking brought help to the scene - but too late. In the days and weeks that follow, Paul begins to notice strange "clues" in their home: books rearranged on their shelves, a mysterious phone call, and other suggestions that nothing about Lexy's last afternoon was quite what it seemed. Reeling from grief, Paul is determined to decipher this evidence and unlock the mystery of her death. But he can't do it alone; he needs Lorelei's help. A linguist by training, Paul embarks on an impossible endeavor: a series of experiments designed to teach Lorelei to communicate what she knows. Perhaps behind her wise and earnest eyes lies the key to what really happened to the woman he loved. As Paul's investigation leads him in unexpected and even perilous directions, he revisits the pivotal moments of his life with Lexy, the brilliant, enigmatic woman whose sparkling passion for life and dark, troubled past he embraced equally.

This book was such an original, engaging and sometimes strange read - I loved it.

I’m still planning on posting recaps of days 2 and 3 of my East Coast adventure – so be on the lookout for them!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!