november reads

since the middle of december is just around the corner, i gather it's high time i did a bit of a recap of the books i read in november. although i have already written about most of them in various posts, it might be a good idea  to gather them in one post, just for the sake of  consistency.
similarly  to october, november was also the month of easy reads with 7 volumes read, consisting of one biography, three young adult novels, two chick-lits, and a realistic fiction (?)/ travelogue kind of novel. 

• one fifth avenue by candace bushnell - standing in front of the bookshelf and looking for some easy-read chic-flick early november, my finger wandered to the spine of this book. this is exactly what i was in the mood for, so i took it off the shelf and opened up the cover. after being abandoned and waiting to be read for at least a couple of years, i finally dove in and got lost in between the lines of bushnell's novel about the manhattan elite living on fifth avenue. as a big fan of sex and the city (not the book though, but the tv show starring sarah jessica parker), in one period of my life - about two or  three years ago - i decided to gather all books by bushnell and read them. well, with this one and the prequels of sex and the city read, i am finally done with bushnell. i highly doubt i will ever return and reread her books again.


• summer in the city by candace bushnell - last summer i read the carrie diaries, a novel that accounts the teenager and pre- new york city years of sex and the city protagonist carrie bradshaw. summer in the city is the sequel of the carrie diaries, in which 18 year old carrie sets her foot on some serious big apple ground. the novel consists mostly of pointless dialogues, doesn't seem to have any kind of storyline, and the protagonist (carrie bradshaw, that is) appears as an obnixious little brat whom it's really hard to identify with or simply like and cheer for. but since i was sort of curious about the pre- sex and the city years and how the four leading characters met and became friends, i hate not to finish and to abandon books, and i had planty of free time on my hands at work, i made it to the last page. but never again will i return to this book. 


• nanny returns by nicola kraus & emma mclaughlin - it's the sequel of the bestseller chic-lit the nanny diaries which was later turned into a big hollywood movie starring scarlett johansson. i don't remember when i read the nanny diaries the first time, but i liked it enough to buy its sequel a few years ago, and, finally, in november i was in the mood for this very novel. similarly to many other chic lit pieces, once the story pulled me in, the book became quite a page-turner, and all of a sudden i found myself on page 200 (out of 300). it is, indeed, chic lit, but with a sophisticated narrative and a rather advanced vocabulary. all in all, i wasn't completeley happy with nanny returns. i just couldn't figure out what was the point of it? indeed, it was a page turner, still, the plot was quite weak, i found no character development or any kind of entertainment for that matter. not to mention that during the last 50 pages or so i felt like it went on a bit too long and pointless. why was it written? what does the novel serve or what is the purpose with the sequel written? i never found the answers to these questions. nevertheless, i will hunt down other books of the same co-authors and find out what else they can offer.


• anna and the french kiss by stephanie perkins - an excellent young adult book that i enjoyed immensely, and will definitely reread sometime soon. the plot is quite plain and simple: 18 year old girl is transferred to american boarding school in paris, where she falls for the cutest french/american guy with perfect hair and a troubled background. i know i know, it sounds way too cheesy and predictable. still, perkins managed to bring the best out of the classic - and thus predictable - girl-meets-boy-they-fall-in-love-and-end-up-together story with well-thought-out and three-dimensional characters, admirable, hilarious and realistic dialogues, and the best, most palpable chemistry between the protagonists that i have read about in years. and i haven't even mentioned the whole french boarding school atmophere set in beautiful paris. it's definitely a keeper, and on my to be reread list. 


• dash and lily's book of dares by rachel cohn and david levithan - also a highly recommended young adult book, though not as great as anna and the french kiss. still, it's a must read for it's festive atmosphere, and because it's set in snowy new york city, it's utterly bookish, and centered around a red moleskine notebook and new york's most famous book store the strand. i had read  a handful of fairly positive reviews of this novel, so my expectations were quite high. well, in the end, my reading of the book did not meet those expectations, still, it's a fun and festive young adult read that's worth picking up and thumbing through around christmas time. 


• a good year by peter mayle  - being a big fan of its movie adaptation, this book was a bit of a disappointment. the whole provence atmosphere and the busy london businessman settling into a laidback french country life theme work so much better on the screen while on paper i found mayle's two dry - similarly to other works of his. (and that pulpable chemistry between russel crowe and marion cotillard appears nowhere in the book.)


• coco chanel by alex madsen - although i was excited to read about the life of coco chanel - especially how she made it from being a poverty stricken orphan to the queen of the fashion world -, i struggled with this detailed biography for about two months, and never managed to finish it in the end. the first third of the book was quite ineresting, but somehow i didn't find the later years of chanel fascinating enough. the last third of the book was a bit of a bore, to put it bluntly. when i abandoned the volume permanently there was still about 50 pages left unread, and i had lost all interest in all the pointless details of coco chanel's life.

what have you been reading lately? please share!