The Cookbook Collector

Title: The Cookbook Collector
By: Allegra Goodman


I do not think it is possible for me to describe how much I loathe this book, but I will try.

I was told this book was about two sisters and how their relationship evolves. Having several sisters myself, I thought I would be able to relate. Plus, several reviewers had said that Allegra Goodman was the new Jane Austen, so how could I go wrong?

Well, how could this book go so wrong? Or, what was right with this book? Nothing was right- it was all wrong.

Jane Austen would be appalled to find herself compared to Ms. Goodman. Ms. Austen's books told stories of love, patience, understanding, sacrifice. Goodman's book was the exact opposite- nothing but lust, greed, and selfishness.

It is the story of several characters and their experiences of the dotcom bust of the early 2000's. It goes through their rise and fall- from nothing to absolute wealth to nothing again. Several characters emerge- far too many to keep track of. All the characters sleep around with so called boyfriends or girlfriends, who then cheat on them, and then go on to their next romance based on lust and- not surprisingly- doomed for failure.  One boyfriend betrays his fiancee's trust and confidence in order to obtain wealth and prestige for himself. Nice. Another character gets engaged to a man who doesn't even want his friends to meet her because she is half his age and not his type. He insists that he loves her, even though every time they are together all they do is have sex. I am sure that relationship will work out in the end.

Not only could I not relate to any of the characters, I had absolutely no desire to relate to any of them. I thought they were all disgusting people and in real life I do everything in my power to avoid people like them.

If this was a movie, it would be rated R. Based on the reviews, I gave a copy of this book to my mother-in-law for Christmas. I have had to apologize, and I am incredibly embarrassed that I gave her such a horrible book. Cuss words abound, and there is not one redeeming quality I can think of to describe this book.

I will give this book 1.5 stars. The ONLY reason it is getting that extra half star is because there is a Jodi Picoult book that I hate even more, and that book deserves the lowest rating of all. 

The Actor and the Housewife

by: Shannon Hale

Becky, a housewife who is pregnant with her fourth child, goes to LA to sell a movie script she wrote and accidentally meets her favorite celebrity crush, Felix Callahan, and they end up becoming best friends.

I really liked Austenland so I was excited to read this, but I was incredibly disappointed with this book. I already knew it was going to be unbelievable. It being about a super famous actor (think Brad Pitt) and a housewife from Utah being best friends and all, but I almost quit reading it after 50 pages (and oh, how I wish I had!) because it was so incredibly unbelievable. In short, I also found it depressing and the ending... ugh... the ending! I thought if it ended a certain way it would at least be an okay book. But after the ending I thought two things. 1. What was the point of this book? and 2. What a waste of completely good and precious reading time. . .

SPOILER ALERT!!

Would any husband be okay with his wife being best friends with an incredibly famous, handsome actor, who she used to lust over in his movies? No. Would he be okay with her talking to him late at night on the phone? No. Or when she giggles and gets all excited when he calls, would that be okay? No. Yes, the author tried to cover this but I just didn't buy it. I still don't think a husband would be okay with this, no matter what his wife tells him. I, personally, found the whole relationship completely inappropriate and I found Becky to be incredibly selfish. Sure I think it is okay for married women to have guy friends but they went way beyond just good friends.

The most unbelievable part for me was when Becky ends up starring in a movie opposite Felix. Ha!!! I laughed out loud at that part. Talk about far-fetched. You know movie companies always cast completely unknowns who haven't really ever acted before to star in big budget movies... sure...

Felix getting divorced and Becky's husband dying were both very predictable but his death was incredibly depressing. The book just became a downer for me for the rest of it. I thought maybe the end could save it but Becky and Felix don't even end up together!!! What?!?! What was the point of this book then? That after your husband dies you will be in a complete depression for over 3 years and you won't even be able to fall in love with your best friend because you can't get over the husband you lost. So... pretty much you will be alone for the rest of your life... Yippee!

UGH... 1.5 stars