Sarah's Key

My friend Sara gave me this book for my birthday. It is about a Jewish girl whose family was part of a round up of Jews in Paris in WWII. She locks her little brother in a cupboard in their apartment so that he will be safe, but her family is sent to the camps and she has to escape to try to find him. The story goes back and forth between Sarah, the girl, and a journalist in current time who is doing a story on the anniversary of this little-known round up in Paris (called the Vel d'Hiv). The journalist, Julia, uncovers Sarah's secret and how it links to her family. I learned a lot about WWII and how Jews were treated in France, which is not something you usually hear about. The story was sad and heavy, but I'm very glad I read it. It is not one I will forget anytime soon.

Length: 330 pages
Time: August 5-15
Up Next: Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

Julie & Julia

I read this book in a few days on our vacation to Ireland. I actually finished it too fast and ran out of things to read for the last two hours of the flight home (Brian let me read one of his Economist magazines, which is NOT the same as chick lit). I loved the book! Its so quick and fun. A little heavy on language, but really, it just made Julie more real. As you probably know unless you have been under a rock, Julie Powell cooked her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year and blogged about it all. And the movie version comes out today. As a blogger myself, I love the story of a regular girl turned blogger turned writer turned subject of a movie with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams! I loved the book so much that I couldn't wait to get on the computer and do a little googling to investigate about Julie Powell. You can go back and read her blog about the Project (as she calls it) and you can catch up on her current blog about the movie, her new book, etc. Fun!

Can't wait to see the movie!

Read: July 29-August 2
Next Up: Sarah's Key

American Wife

I really enjoyed this book. It is (very) loosely based on the life of Laura Bush but definitely a fictionalized version. The book hits the some of the highlights of Laura's life - only child, marries late, husband drinks a lot then finds religion, ends up as president - but is otherwise fictional (different names, different places, etc). I liked it a lot and read it very quickly, covering Alice's life from childhood up to the presidency. Curtis Sittenfeld is the same author who wrote Prep, which is now on my list of books to read.



Read: July 19-28 (partly while on vacay)
Up Next: Julie & Julia