Catching up...

I've been doing a lot of reading and not a lot of reviewing, so it's time to play some catch up! Here goes:

I finally finished Inside the Mind of the Shopper by Herb Sorensen. Unfortunately, part 2 of the book was not any more interesting than part 1 of the book. Unless your job is to design grocery store layouts (other types of retail stores are not really addressed) you will likely find this book a snoozefest. My personal favorite part is that all of the charts that are clearly meant to be in color, are printed in black and white. Useless.

Next, The Husband Trap by Tracy Anne Warren. The premise is completely unrealistic, the characters are stereotypical, you can see the ending coming from the first sentence but I LOVED it. Loved, loved, loved it! Enormously entertaining and great light reading. Best for those who love trashy romance novels.

Next up, PopCo by Scarlett Thomas. This is a fairly light read about Alice Butler, a 29 year old woman who works for a toy company designing secret code and spy games for kids. Which is fitting, because she wears a necklace given to her by her father, containing a secret code which leads to some treasure, and she spends a good part of the book trying to decipher it. This sounds much sillier than the book really is... Actually I thought 95% of it was extremely engaging and well written. Unfortunately, Thomas completely blows the ending. Recommended (but please note lack of the word highly...)

And last but not least, Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama. This is a beautiful story about Pei, a Chinese girl whose family can no longer support her and when a fortune teller tells the family he does not see marriage in her future, the family sends her to work in the silk factory. There she becomes good friends with the other girls and the story is about their relationships as they grow older and must face more difficult life decisions.
I got a little bit hung up on the details in some parts of the book, but still felt that it was very good.

PHEW! Enough for now. I'll be back to review Cutting for Stone later this week which I finished Monday.
Currently reading Room by Emma Donoghue. I seriously cannot put it down it's so amazing. Pending the last 25% of the book, this might be a top five for the year pick.

Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters

Unless you are familiar with lesbian slang of the late 1800s, you probably did not know that tipping the velvet has absolutely nothing to do with a) leaving a tip, b) tipping your hat, or c) velvet fabric. (I won't post what it really is as I'm pretty sure my immediate family reads this. If you're curious, just google it.)

The book is a coming of age story for a young woman, Nancy, who at the beginning of the story is about 16 or 17 years old. Her sister's boyfriend works at a theater and when the show isn't sold out, which seems to be every night, he allows the girls to watch for free. Nancy soon becomes obsessed with one of the acts, a masher (which is slang for a woman who dresses up like a man) named Kitty Butler. Before long Nancy is making the trip to see the show every night and Kitty, noticing her adoring fan, offers Nancy the chance to be her dresser. It isn't long before Kitty's act becomes too popular for the little theaters, and her manager, Walter, takes Kitty to London to grow her career. Nancy goes with her to escape her family and the small town oyster life. The girls have to share a bed and so one night they have a little too much to drink and...well, you know what happens. (But of course from Nancy's conversations with her sister about her feelings for Kitty, you'd have to be blind not to have seen that coming.)

Life continues blissfully for Kitty and Nancy in their relationship until other mashers start coming onto the scene. Suddenly Kitty's act is not as unique and exciting as it was before. So when Walter walks in one day to find Kitty and Nancy singing and dancing together, he reacts the way any normal man would. What could be better than one woman? TWO! A new act is created and suddenly Nancy is a star. Unfortunately, her happiness is brought to an abrupt halt when Kitty decides she's ashamed to be a lesbian and secretly marries Walter. Nancy runs away and thus ends part 1.

In part 2, Nancy finds herself wandering on the street wearing her masher outfit (menswear) when she's approached by a man looking for a little fun. Deciding that this seems like an easy way to make a quick buck, Nancy turns to world's oldest profession: prostitution. This continues until she meets Diana, a very wealthy woman who invites Nancy to come live with her in luxury as her companion/boy toy. Everyone is happy and this goes on for a while, but then Nancy has sex with one of the maids and is promptly tossed out on the street. End part 2.

Nancy begins part 3 broke, beat up, and pretty much desperate. She goes to the house of Florence, a woman she met once years before, and after much persuading, talks Flo into letting her stay there in exchange for housekeeping, cooking, etc... After a few months of sleeping on the floor, doing hard manual labor, and making no money, Nancy falls back on what she knows: sex. Though the book tries to convince you that Nancy is in love with Florence, I think it's pretty obvious she just didn't want to sleep on the floor anymore.

If this book is about Nancy escaping her small town life, Waters has definitely succeeded in transforming Nancy into a big city girl (errr....boy). But in the process she becomes someone completely different than the Nancy we come to love at the beginning of the story, and you just want to yell at her to go home to her family! Though her sister clearly does not approve of Nancy's lesbian relationships, when midway through the book Nancy moves without telling anyone and stops writing letters, it's hard to feel that the family shunned her for the lifestyle choice. Clearly Nancy has turned her back on them. And so, as she makes one bad decision after another, it's just too hard to be sympathetic.

Verdict: Well written, but the story is hard to relate to and the characters (except Kitty) lack warmth. I heard they're making a movie so I'll be interested to see how the images on screen match the ones in my head.

The Man in the Wooden Hat - Jane Gardam

I didn't realize that this is actually the third book in the series so I'm a little disappointed as reviewers on Amazon gush about how the first really set the stage for this one. I guess that probably explains why I felt pieces were missing from this story...

Although the book's title suggests the man in the wooden hat is a main character, or at least theme, the central people in the story are well known lawyer/judge Edward Feathers (or Filth as he is commonly known) and his wife Betty. The two meet in Hong Kong and although their prior meetings are never described, or maybe there were none, Edward proposes via letter a few days before arriving for a work assignment. Betty, having no other prospects and being very poor, accepts his offer. At a party that evening she meets Terry, another well known lawyer/judge Edward frequently clashes with. Sparks fly and she promptly has an affair with him.

Edward's childhood, which is not explained in great detail (probably in book 1) but is hinted at in this book, has left him with serious issues of abandonment. He makes Betty promise repeatedly never to leave him and Edward's assistant/friend Albert, a dwarf wearing a wooden hat (hence the title?), threatens to "break" Betty should she leave him. It's unclear throughout the book if Albert actually exists or if he is a figment of Betty's guilty conscience.

There's a lack of clarity at times regarding Betty's relationship with Terry, as well as much later in the book with his son Harry. Then again maybe it's left intentionally vague for the reader to view Betty either sympathetically or as a villain. (At the time of the affair, Terry is married himself.) Personally I had a hard time feeling sorry for Betty. She can't seem to make up her mind. One moment she's rude to Edward, running away to a friend's house to escape him without so much as a note, and the next she's declaring her love and delighted to see him when he comes looking for her.

The continuous flashbacks make it a bit hard to follow as do the presence of so many characters. But having finally finished it, I think it's an interesting story about how a very simple, almost businesslike marriage, can become so much more complicated by the longing for and eventual addition of love and passion.

In the works...

Last weekend my mom gave me Cutting for Stone and Breaking Trail. I started Cutting for Stone but due to personal stuff going on the week (i.e. quitting my job), I was too excited to read. I'll try again this week.

I also made a library trip today and am happy to report that I picked out some exciting looking stuff. Whoever said don't judge a book by its cover obviously hadn't seen one with a half naked man it. Here's what I've got:
PopCo - Scarlett Thomas. Here's what it says on the back: "How many novels can you think of that leave the reader with an intriguing puzzle to solve, plus a cake recipe, plus a crossword and a list of the first thousand prime numbers?..." Umm..who doesn't want to read this?!

The Man in the Wooden Hat - Jane Gardam

Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters

I know it's been a while since I reviewed anything so I look forward to getting out of my book funk and finding some good stuff to post here.

Inside the Mind of the Shopper - Herb Sorensen, Ph.D. (Part 1)

Unless you are a massive nerd like me, it's unlikely you will ever need (or want) to read books about why people buy what they buy. I, on the other hand, have been excited about this book since it arrived from Amazon and have been waiting to tear it open like a little kid on Christmas.

This is most certainly not my first book on the subject. Paco Underhill's Why We Buy pretty much changed my life, as did Martin Lindstrom's Buy-ology. (Side note: Dave Eyler - if you're reading this I REALLY want my copy back.) Most companies, specifically retail, believe that getting consumers in the door is the hurdle, and they have spent billions of dollars on advertising and other promotions thinking they are accomplishing the goal: get people to buy our product. What they've neglected to understand is how consumers interact with the space one they're in and the impact that has on the purchase decision. (Too academic? Ever walked out of a store because you couldn't find what you were looking for, the sales person was too pushy, or the line to try on clothes was too long? That's what I mean.)

Creating a retail environment that appeals to a wide range of consumers isn't easy. Consider the grocery store: I've run in to grab a bottle of wine on my way to a party, and I've spent an hour roaming the aisles on a trip to stock up. Sorenson knows that shoppers fall into buckets (in the market research world we use fancy words like "behavioral segmentation") and appealing to the various buckets means finding out who they are and what they want.

Now that I've built this up, let's bring it back down. This book is boring. I can't read on the train because the book isn't engaging so I get distracted by every little noise, and I can't read in bed because this book puts me to sleep. I've been "reading it" for 2 weeks and am on page 54. Surely at some point this will get interesting...right?

It's clear I need to live up to my blog's name and pick at least one other book to read so I don't waste all of time playing BubbleLabs on my phone. Please leave suggestions!

Don't worry though, part 2 of this book review is coming...eventually.

It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken

When my friend "C" told me she was reading the breakup book, I was intrigued. My enthusiasm quickly turned to skepticism. Could there really be an alternative to sitting in bed throwing chocolates at the cheesy romantic comedy on the TV? (Ok, I've personally never done this but ever since I saw it in Legally Blonde it's been on my to-do list.) And finally, my skepticism turned into full-on panic. Would Ben and Jerry's go out of business? What would I do without their delicious chocolate fudge brownie ice cream?!

I decided to see how big of a threat this book really was to the feeling-sorry-for-yourself-in-bed-wearing-pajamas-while-eating-ice-cream-out-of-the-container-with-a-spoon industry and read it for myself. The verdict: If I had recently been dumped, I actually think this book would have been enormously helpful.

The book is empowering in a silly way, but when you've just been broken up with, it's kind of nice to have someone who thinks you're a "superfox", even if they've never met you... The authors, married couple Greg and Amiira Behrendt (if that name sounds familiar it's because Greg is the author of  the now famous "He's Just Not That Into You") share their own break-up stories, answer questions, and remind you that calling your ex is not a good idea under any circumstances.


If you have your rose colored goggles on, there are helpful little exercises to remind you about all the things that were not so great. Great dresser, degree from Princeton, etc... go ahead, list all his/her good qualities. Cheated on you with your boss? That goes in the douchebag column. 


My personal favorite are the psycho confessionals. Think drunk dialing your ex was bad? Reading these horrifically embarrassing stories from girls who...
a) climbed through a window and snuck into their ex's room
b) left their ex by the side of a highway
c) spent hundreds of dollars on a new look and spent hours scheming up a way to run into him
...will make you feel WAY more sane.


Also pretty hilarious are the Dear Greg questions. But Greg, what if he has my CDs?! (Does this remind anyone else of Dane Cook or is it just me?) Dear CD owner, 1992 called... 


I laughed, I felt sorry for some of these people, and sadly, some of their words hit home. Break ups are no fun, but if you follow the book's advice I actually think you might get over it faster. Fortunately for me and the ice cream industry, I'd still rate the threat level as low. 

Curious?

Here's a fun exercise for introverts: carry around a large bright yellow book that says Curious? in giant black letters. If that's not a conversation starter, I don't know what is...

There are a lot of books that promise to help you find the key to happiness. There are a lot of books that don't deliver. Curious? by Todd Kashdan, is not one of those books. Over and over again I found myself nodding, wanting to highlight things or make notes in the margins. Kashdan blends years of scientific research with everyday stories readers can relate to, and the end result is a highly engaging, fun, and interesting read.

The idea behind it all is that we need to feel like we're "seeking the new" to feel fulfilled. But obviously we can't spend every moment seeking out new experiences, so we need to learn to be curious and explorers in our daily lives. From our intellectual pursuits to relationships to mundane chores, Kashdan offers in depth look at how to expand our curiosity to become a more fulfilled (and yes, happier) person.

This is a must read!