Why Not Me And Other Stories

One upside to all the traveling I’ve been doing lately is all the books I’ve been able to read while waiting at airports, sitting on planes, and unwinding in my hotel room. I’ve read a serious family saga, science fiction, a contemporary novel, and a celebrity biopic. 

The most serious book I read was Trail of Broken Wings by Sejal Badani.

As the story unfolds, the patriarch of an Indian American family is in a coma. His wife and daughters come together in the hospital, but the walls the sisters have built up to establish their own identities keep them apart. Over time, they face the family secrets they have been hiding from and learn new truths about the man they love and fear. The ending is more hopeful than happy, but not disappointing. 

The science fiction book was The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber, and it was pretty serious too. This was one my Blogging For Books selections, which means that I received a copy of The Book of Strange New Things from Blogging for Books for this review. 

This story follows Peter, an evangelical Christian missionary who leaves his beloved wife to travel to a different planet to spread the Gospel to its alien inhabitants. “The Book of Strange New Things” is what the aliens call the Bible, and while Peter expected to face an uphill battle to “convert” them to Christianity, he is surprised at how eager they are to hear more about the Good News. While he adjusts to life on the distant planet, word from home gets increasingly desperate. Will he stay to carry out his mission, or return to earth to be with his wife?

I’ve oversimplified the plot to avoid spoilers. so you will have to trust me that it is a compelling story. That said, I was disappointed that it ended with a lot of loose ends–like why or how the aliens were so interested in Christianity and whether the agency that sponsored Peter’s trip was benevolent or evil.

Another book I selected from Blogging For Books was The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger.

In The Divorce Papers, Sophie, a mid-level criminal law attorney, is asked to handle the divorce of the daughter of an important firm client. I was intrigued by the structure of the book–the story “unfolds” through “papers” in the file–but the attorney in me had a hard time overlooking all of the things that never would happen in real life–the memos that never would be written (does anyone write interoffice memos these days?), the things that never would be done (sending a client a court decision and suggesting they read it?!). 

I skipped over most of the “legal” documents–excerpts of statutes, court decisions, “worksheets” for calculating alimony/child support–and I hope others do too because unless you are in law school or being paid $100/hour, that stuff is pretty dry. While the book has a “chick lit” look and feel, Sophie’s love life is a minor story line. All in all, I think a law student or new lawyer might enjoy reading this book but I’m not sure I could recommend it to any of my friends. 😉

(As noted above, I received a copy of The Divorce Papers from Blogging for Books for this review.)

The celebrity book I read was Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling.

This book read like a combination of her first book (Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? which I reviewed here), Amy Poehler’s Yes Please (which I reviewed here) and Tina Fey’s Bossypants (which wrote about here).

If you like Mindy Kaling, you probably will like this book. The tone and sense of humor are similar to The Mindy Kaling Project, even when she is explaining that she is not really an OB/GYN. 😉 If you haven’t seen her shows, you might not get the references, understand the characters she refers to, or recognize the actors she talks about, but you still might find yourself laughing at her stories and “advice.” 

Do you have a favorite “celebrity” book?