Books to Check Out

I haven't been very good about posting in this Reading List column. Granted, I haven't been very good about reading, either. I'm currently reading two books and have another waiting for me at the library, but for the past few weeks, I have just been so tired at the end of the day that I can't even focus my eyes on a page without starting to drift to sleep. Which means if I, Kaitlin Fink, can't read, then I must be the epitome of exhausted.

But I have managed to make it through the next three books on the list, and so I shall give a short review of them now.

4. The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank

This is not about hunting or fishing, nor is it a guide. In fact, it isn't even a very good book. It's all about this character, Jamie (at least I think that was her name), and her experiences with relationships throughout her life. From her brother's first serious girlfriend to her own affair with a man some thirty years her elder, Jamie comments on her life and love and all that jazz. The title comes from one of the last chapters, when Jamie breaks down and buys one of those "love manuals" meant to help her land a man called, as you might expect, The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing. And as one might expect, Jamie meets an incredible guy and nearly loses him by following the advice in this book.

I rarely find a book or film or show that I can't find something redeeming about it, but this book is not worth your time. I never was able to get into it. I just kept reading, hoping that at some point I might stop hating Jamie and start caring what happened to her. That never happened.

5. Bitches on a Budget:  Sage Advice for Surviving through Tough Times in Style by Rosalyn Huffman

I'm not going to lie...I didn't quite read this whole thing. But then again, it was a financial advice book, and frankly, some of the chapters did not apply to my life. For example, the section on plastic surgery...not really relevant. This book did, however, offer some "sage advice" I found useful regarding things like decorating, shopping, and travelling on a budget. There really isn't much to tell, but if you're looking for ways to cut back on your expenses and still live "in style," then I would check it out.

6. What I Know Now:  Letters to my Younger Self by Ellyn Spragins

Of the three, this book was by far the best. A collection of letters from successful women in nearly every field imaginable, this compilation by Ellyn Spragins is a quick read. It was interesting to read each letter writer's background story and then see what they would tell themselves. In the end, though, most of them were the same:  enjoy your children and stop working so hard, call your mother, do that thing that you're dreading or scared of doing. Exactly what probably any woman might tell herself later in life. But maybe that was the point the author was trying to make...every woman shares common experiences, even if they are on different scales. It is not necessarily a book you'll want to read in one sitting, but it was a nice pre-bedtime read as I was trying to fall asleep.

I'm going to do better about posting things, I promise! Until then, though, as always...

Stay gold.