Look what's coming in 2016!

 

I didn’t want to read this book. I didn’t want to like Lena Dunham. I will typically shy away from things so popular, books, people, events, holidays; I prefer the odd, unknown and gleaming with possibility to the while in utero born into prosperity individual. I always vote the underdog!

So when everyone on earth it seemed was helping take Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl straight up the New York Times bestsellers list,  I most certainly passed it up.

Then I watched Tiny Furniture one lazy Sunday afternoon and was drawn to the character of Aura. What a great actress I thought. Watching Lena onscreen was like peering through her kitchen curtains and watching her life unfold, but still, I had no idea it was Lena Dunham I was watching. As the credits rolled and her name rolled on screen, I was shocked. The following week I heard her on the Mark Maron podcast (a podcast I hear when Joe Rogan has no new ones posted) and I liked her even more.

So I bought the book and I am now mildly obsessed with her. She is funny, intelligent, witty and so honest at times, I love it. 

So stay tuned to Anthem Book Review for reviews on the wonderful Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl and Amy Poelher’s Yes, Please.

After all these fun reads, it's time to read what I love most in literature that being, Russian Literature. I will review new  Russian writer, the amazing and talented, Kseniya Melnik and her collection of short stories “Snow in May”,  I have been dying to read and have had the most difficult time obtaining a copy (story to be included in review), but trust me it was well worth the wait. It is a beautiful piece of work and I am only on the third story and I am in literary love with Melnik's writing. She is an example of why Russian writers remain pillars to this day and, Melnik, shares the same brilliance in story telling as the great works of Tolstoy and Chekov.

So stay tuned Anthem Book Review has exciting things going on in 2016, like new logo book bags and book marks, a newsletter, great reviews, new contributing writers and much, much more!

 

Happy Reading!

~Francine

End of Year Reads

As 2015 comes to a close, I have been reading plenty of biographies/memoirs penned by the stars. I will continue to do so and review these as time permits, but definitely by the end of 2015.  The tab name where these book reviews will be located has been changed from “Books from Famous People” to “Penned by Stars” (please make note).

Contributing writer Freddy Ramos is also doing the same and is currently reading Half a Life by Darin Strauss. This was a required read by his mother (me) that before he gets his driver’s license he read Half a Life. I read it and was floored. I think it should be required reading for all teens in the process of receiving their driver’s license.  

I am currently reading the funny Bossypants by Tina Fey and loving and laughing my ass off the entire way. OMG! I love Tina Fey; she is so hilarious. After I complete this, I will read Amy Poehler’s, Yes, Please. 

Lastly, I will finish off the year with my newest obsession the talented writer and amazing actress, Lena Dunham and her bestselling memoir, Not That Kind of Girl.

You are welcome to read along with me, as I take in the end of the year with some lighthearted reads from strong, funny women! If you don’t fancy the books mentioned, I welcome you to read along with contributing writer, Freddy Ramos and his end of year read, Half a Life by Darin Strauss.

Whatever you may choose, may you just choose to read. As you know, here at Anthem Book Review our motto is #smartpeopleread.

J Happy Reading

~Francine Ramos

Second Time Around

In my search for books, I often scour Thrift Shops, used book stores and yard sales. While searching the Goodwill, I could not believe my eyes.

Mark Arax's In the Name of My Father, Daniel Chacon's And the Shadows Took Him (hardcover & autographed), Joyce Carol Oates, Wonderland, and Isabel Allende's Paula were all there waiting to be given a home for the second time around.

Gladly, I opened my doors and my wallet and purchased all four books for a criminally insane low price. These books are priceless. I have been dying to read Arax's book about his father. And well Chacon, I am a fan of all his work.

Allende and Oates are always treasures that I welcome to place among my collection. I look forward to reading these book and reviewing them.

In my blog absence I have read: Hope by Amanda Berry and Gina Dejesus, `Wild by Cheryl Strayed, Forgiven by Chiqui Rivera, F.X. Toole's Rope Burns, The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber, Different Kind of Same by Kelley Clink a memoir and my current read, the amazing Toni Morrison's God Help the Child. 

Reviews to come soon.

Happy Reading

Francine

Beloved

I have been dying to read this book. Last week I spent my lunch hour at Book Nook on Herndon and First and browsed their used books for goodies. And I was fortunate enough to find this gem.

Toni Morrison is such an amazing, talented and gentle writer. She writes with such tenderness that her sentences make my heart ache, a good ache, an ache of love. I wish I could somehow capture her technique and write with her keystrokes, but still like myself of course.

This is my fun read. The book I read in between reading Powell's 25 Books to Read Before You Die. I really just read everything I can. I am also re-reading Stephen King's "On Writing", which is essential for writers.

I will review this book once I am done. So stay tuned in the American Writers tab for this beauty.

Happy Reading!

~Francine

New "Before You Die" book

Well this is 7 of the 25 "Books to  Read Before You Die" for me. I purchased this book at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, against my will of course. I promised myself that I would not buy any of these books full price. I went to local used bookstores & thrift stores and was unable to find any of the books listed on Powell's 25.

It was a very inexpensive purchase, around $8 bucks and in a small but fat paperback. I am on chapter 2 and so far in awe of it. Abbey's writing is raw and in just a few chapters I have already began to flow with the beauty his sentences form. It is like swimming in a calm river and taking in every vibrant feel, touch, and scene to behold. It is writing of the world and nature at its finest. Mind you; I am only on the 2nd chapter. I look forward to devouring this book.

Happy Reading!

Stay tuned for the review.

Francine :)

Loving Geek Love!

photo credit: Francine Ramos (me), Red Devil Hot Sauce added for oddity factor, in juxtaposition with books contents.

 

 

I just picked up Katherine' Dunn's, Geek Love. Geek Love is one of Powell's Books- 25 books to read before you die. I have now read 5 of the 25 books and am on number 6, only 19 more to go.  

I purchased this book at Book Nook in Fresno. It was very inexpensive priced at only $6.

I am completely loving this book so far and I am only on the second chapter.

It is odd, nothing I expected and I am in complete awe of it. Stay tuned for the review and I hope that some of you, any of you are following along and up for the 25 books to read before you die challenge.

Francine

What's on my nightstand...

 

 

 

 

Four and a half days off of work and what do I do but read at every free chance I get. Here are a few of my nighttime reads; Five books, a journal, two New York Times Book Reviews, my Kindle and a pair of reading glasses with an attached don't-lose-me-nerd-chain. There are also a few pens hiding behind the books.

 

I enjoy reading short stories or plays for fun. They are just short little pieces of heaven and if it is good, as these two books are, then I am happy. This week I read Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and started The Crucible. Miller is one of my favorite playwrights. I just love his flawed characters and the epiphanies that come to each as their human shortcomings are revealed. I could only imagine how wonderful these plays must be like to view on stage. 

 

I found it interesting that the phenomenal actor Daniel-Day Lewis is married to Arthur Miller's daughter Rebecca Miller. And Daniel Day-Lewis's father is former poet-laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. O the great genes of those two! Talk about literary royalty.

 

The second book I am reading is 2013 Nobel-Prize winner in literature, Alice Munro's short-story collection Something I've Been Meaning to Tell you. Munro is such a fabulous writer. Her stories are like droplets of sugar, so comforting and profound it will have you wanting more.

 

 

I am also reading Into Africa by Martin Dugard. This was a recommendation from my boss. I just started it. Cannot say much about it other than Dugard's use of adverbs can be excessive.

 

I also lightly reread Virginia's Woolf's A Room of One's Own. I want to memorize the entire book. It is amazing, completely inspiring for any woman.

 

The fifth is The Wet and Dry by Lawrence Osborne. I like this book but always put it down once I get a new one. It is on my to read list by the end of the year.

 

Lastly, is my journal. I rarely write in it. I keep it nearby incase an idea for a story pops into my head.

 

There you have it. This is what I have done and will continue to do as the holiday continues. Reading is so relaxing.

 

So what is on your nightstand and what will or are you reading this holiday weekend?

 

 

 

~Happy Reading!

Francine