Walk This Way

Women From the Ankle Down: The Story of Shoes and How They Define Us
Rachelle Bergstein
History

What woman doesn’t love shoes? Okay, that’s a bit of a stereotype, but pretty much every female I know gets a sparkle in their eye when they walk into a shoe store. I know I do (DSW, how I love you). So when I saw this book about the history of shoes and women, I thought it might be interesting. And I was right! I love being right.

Rachelle Bergstein tackles one specific shoe per chapter, starting with the wartime wedge circa 1900-1938 and ending with ruby slippers (2000-present). I was slightly skeptical about how good this book could be because as much as I love shoes, the best part is being able to see them. But I must give Ms. Bergstein credit because I ended up reading this in one day. All the Hollywood shoe anecdotes were great, as were the stories of how some of the most famous shoes in the world came to be (the story of Mary Janes I found particularly fascinating).

Women From the Ankle Down is a quick, easy read that any shoe lover will enjoy.

In Too Deep

Swim: Why We Love the Water
Lynn Sherr
History

I figured this was an appropriate book to read right now since the Olympics are going on (and because I’m the future Mrs. Michael Phelps). I’ve always loved swimming, especially in the hot Arizona summers, so I was intrigued to read about its history and Lynn Sherr’s own personal triumph of swimming across the Hellespont.

Putting aside my misgivings about how boring this book might be, I was pleasantly surprised by how interesting it was. Ms. Sherr discusses how long the sport of swimming has been around (there are hieroglyphics in Egypt that depict it) and she even gets into the art of the backstroke and butterfly. There’s also a section on why African-Americans aren’t as into swimming (apparently, there were a lot of segregated pools back in the day and though progress has been made on that front, today African-American women hate to get their hair wet). It’s a short book, too, so it makes for a quick read.

Anyone who’s interested in swimming will enjoy this book. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to slip on my swimsuit and jump into the pool.

Expect the Unexpected

A Gift For My Sister
Ann Pearlman
Fiction

I cried more than once during this book. A general rule of mine is that I try not to read books that are going to make me cry because I hate being sad. But the flip side to that is that I cry so rarely that when a book does manage to make me tear up, I know it’s a good one.

A Gift For My Sister is about Sky and Tara, two half sisters who have always been at odds with each other. Now, though, Tara is a singer in a popular rap group and Sky works as a lawyer part time and takes care of her husband and young daughter. Then Sky’s husband abruptly dies. Crying moment number one. Tara must help pick up the pieces of her older sister’s life all the while struggling with insecurities in her relationship with her boyfriend. Many more crying moments follow, as you can imagine. I was horrified when Sky’s husband died because I was so not expecting that and I could tell he was going to and I kept praying that I was wrong (the description of the book on the jacket gives the reader no clue about this tragic turn of events).

I loved all the characters and the dialogue was great. My only tiny problem would be that I think the book should end earlier than it does. The last few chapters seem unnecessary. But the relationship between Tara and Sky is the real star of the book. The horrific and wonderful sisterly moments are amazing and so real, I was actually shocked when I read the acknowledgements section and found out Ms. Pearlman doesn’t even have a sister!

I would recommend this great book to everyone, not just sisters.

I Want Candy

Sweet Tooth: The Bittersweet History of Candy
Kate Hopkins
History

I am 28 years old and I love candy. There, I said it. Candy is supposed to be loved by children, not adults, but I am not ashamed to admit that I still glance longingly at Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Milkyway bars, and Sour Patch Kids. Of course, now that I am an adult I know that eating candy for every meal is not a good idea, so I’ve scaled back on how much I consume quite a bit. But my love for candy has never faded. So you can imagine how much my candy craving started spiraling out of control while reading this book.

In the beginning of Sweet Tooth, Kate Hopkins is pondering why she loves candy so much when she decides it’s time to look more deeply into the history of her favorite food. She picks several locales to go visit and get more information on how candy came to be so popular. She visits Italy, Scotland, England and then finally comes back to the US. I especially enjoyed her thoughts and descriptions of candy in Europe because I have found that candy over there is so much better than the crap we have here.

Ms. Hopkins combines a good amount of history and humor, and her writing style goes down a treat (pun intended). I especially enjoyed the little sidebars where she gives more history and info on specific treats such licorice (yuck) and candy corn (yum!).

If you’re a sweet freak you’ll love this book but be aware that you will want to go out and raid the grocery store candy aisle when you are finished.

Fight to the Finish

In Spite of Everything
Susan Gregory Thomas
Memoir

Why do I like reading memoirs about marriage so much when I’m not married, much less dating anyone? It’s one of life’s great mysteries, I guess.

In Spite of Everything is about Ms. Gregory Thomas, who, after going through a traumatizing time when her own parents divorced, vows that she will never divorce. And then, ten years into her marriage, realizes she cannot stay in her marriage. It’s an interesting premise, but unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to sustain the book.

I just could not get into this. I wanted to, and I really loved the descriptions of when exactly the faults in the relationship started (they were there right from the beginning, apparently, but neither the author nor her husband wanted to see them). The writing was good, a little too flowy and dense at times, though. This would be a better review if I could put my finger on why I didn’t like In Spite of Everything. I guess in spite of everything, I just can’t say (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Would I recommend this book? I’m not sure. Like I said, the subject’s fascinating and the writing is adequate. It was just missing something. So, no. I would not recommend this book. There are better memoirs out there about marriages unraveling.

Let's Get Physical

Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection
A.J. Jacobs
Health/Memoir

I meant to get around to reading Mr. Jacobs’ other two books, The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It-All, but I decided this one sounded much more interesting, so I picked it up instead.

For the past few years, I’ve been trying to be healthier. I’ve been exercising on a regular basis and attempting to purge most junk food from my life. The exercise part is going well, the food part…not so much. Which made this book a really enjoyable read for me since Mr. Jacobs delves so deeply into the eating aspect of being healthy.

Drop Dead Healthy chronicles Esquire writer A.J. Jacobs’ quest to live a more healthy life. Each chapter is about a certain body part (eyes, heart, lungs) or food/diet plan and he looks at both sides of the issues, the criticisms and the endorsements. There are chapters on sleeping better, eating less sugar, breathing better, and the proper way to care for one’s teeth. This is not a small book, but I whipped through it in two days, that’s how interesting it is.

Everyone can learn something from Drop Dead Healthy, so I suggest you pick it up today.

Fail

I'm going to talk about two books that I started recently and had to put down by the third chapter.

The Lifeboat
Charlotte Rogan
Fiction

This got rave reviews in several magazines I read, so I decided to pick it up. Then I read the first chapter, in which a newlywed woman discusses how she's on trial for her husband's murder. The next chapter backtracks to when this woman is on a lifeboat with other survivors of a ship crash (think Titanic) and navigating around bodies in the water and people screaming for help. I quickly decided this book was probably going to be a real downer and tossed it back on my stack. Next.

Walking on Dry Land
Denis Kehoe
Fiction

A book about a woman looking for her real mother. Sounds good, right? Well, I suppose the plot was okay, but the writing? OMG. I'd like to copy word for word a page out of this novel, but that would take way too much time so I'm just going to list the new and inventive ways the author came up with to replace the word said: Smiled (how does one "smile" something?), whistled (how can you whistle when you're talking?), interrupted, responded, replied, requested, proposed. I want to scream when I see this ish. I mean, come on, people. Just use said. What is wrong with said? After a page full of that crap, I couldn't keep going. I just couldn't.