Devouring Books: Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

I can't remember whether I read the book or saw the movie first, but both versions of The Devil Wears Prada I like quite a lot. I mean... How can you not enjoy Meryl Streep acting like an utter bitch and looking amazing and being the best person in the world? (Also Anne Hathaway is good, too). The movie is awesome and the book is great because it has almost supplementary information that wasn't included in the film but really underlines how awful the whole experience of working for Anna Wintour Miranda Priestly must be.

Since reading The Devil Wears Prada, I've read a couple of Weisberger's other books (Everyone Worth Knowing, Chasing Harry Winston) and... I've been underwhelmed. They're fine, but fairly standard chick lit stuff, and it's hard not to think that maybe Weisberger is just better at fictionalising her own experiences* than she is at making stuff up. After reading Revenge Wears Prada, I'm pretty sure that is EXACTLY the case.

This book is really bad. I don't know if it's bad purely because Weisberger has taken Andy's character and completely fucked it up, or if it's actually bad, but I kind of hated reading it. Why did I carry on, I hear you cry? I think I thought, 'well, this can't be all there is to it' except that it was and suddenly it was the end of the book and I hated myself for reading it. It's honestly the worst sequel I've experienced since Sex and the City 2, and that movie is a fucking abomination.

Ok, so here's the story with this book- it's ten years after Andy quit her job at Vogue Runway and she's set up her own magazine, is marrying the man of her dreams and is best friends with her ex-colleague Emily for no apparent reason other than that Emily is a great character that Weisberger didn't want to get rid of. She's pretty much leading the life that you would have wanted for her and that should be awesome, only it's not because Andy is kind of terrible now. It's possible that she was always terrible and I just didn't realise it, but I don't think so...

Here's the deal- Andy is kind of whiny and complains a lot, when it doesn't really seem like she has anything to complain about. It's made eventually (sort of) clear that she's not as happy as she should be, but the woman is running a magazine, lives in Manhattan, and basically has everything anyone could want in life, and yet this whole book is like 'why is Miranda here where I am? Why doesn't my mother in law like me? Why does everything bad happen to meeeee?' and it's just like, dude, stop being a dick, no one wants to hear it.

I feel like some of this might be a perspective thing- in The Devil Wears Prada, Andy really was treated appallingly, so her whining was sort of justified and I sympathised with her. In Revenge Wears Prada, basically nothing bad happens to her and yet she still thinks it's ok to whine about everything all the time? That's just not cool. And if you lose sympathy for Andy, you lose pretty much all interest in the whole thing because it's just her. Sitting around and moaning. For a whole book.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that, either. There's some semblance of a storyline, but it feels like Weisberger found it really difficult to think of reasons for Miranda Priestly to appear in this story, and since she's really what this is all about, it was really disappointing. It's even more disappointing that she's not even that mean to anyone (that we know of) because the whole point of the Devil is that, you know, she's a massive bitch. I don't even get the title, really, because revenge is so not a part of this story- Andy doesn't get revenge on Miranda, and Miranda doesn't care enough about Andy to want revenge on her, and it's just ridiculous and stupid and I hate it.

Basically, this is a sequel to a book that never needed a sequel. If it had been good in any way, it probably would have been fine, but it wasn't good in ANY way. It was so bad it's kind of sullied my memories of The Devil Wears Prada (the book, not the film) and I'm not sure I could ever read it again knowing what Andy is going to turn into. It's not pretty. If you haven't seen it, I totally recommend you watch The Devil Wears Prada, and you can even read the book! Just don't. Read. This.

*She was Anna Wintour's assistant at Vogue. I... don't know why I expected you to know that.

General Life Update

Guys! It's me! I'm here!

Packing all my things and moving to (technically) London has not killed me like I know we all feared it would. The move itself was something I was dreading (I have a lot of books, guys. A loooooot of books.) but it actually turned out to be a lot more straightforward and less terrifying than I'd thought. This is mainly because my sister's boyfriend is secretly Superman or something and carried ALL THE THINGS, so that was cool. Also I need to know more boys, apparently, cause then I wouldn't have had to carry ANYTHING.

Anyway... Usual feminist activity resumed, now. So I moved on Sunday, after taking an ill advised  but awesome trip to Ikea on Thursday (ill advised because MORE things to carry? Really?) and packing everything I own in the world pretty much just on Friday, and since then I've been trying to unpack things. It is REALLY hard to unpack things when you're waiting for bookshelves to be delivered, especially when most of your things are books. It's crazy. In fact, you're only getting this post now because I AM waiting for said bookshelves (also for my housemate's new phone- I am awesome to live with, btdubs) and the deal is that there's no doorbell and I live in the attic and I'm concerned that I might not hear knocking when I'm all the way upstairs, so I have decamped to the living room with naught but a book and a macbook. So I'll be kept occupied FOREVER.

While I haven't been unpacking (which is a tiny portion of time, really) and, in fact, even while I have been, I've been watching US Netfliiiiiiiix and I am so happy about it. This is the real bonus of living with new people- they know how to do things that you might not know how to do, and then all of a sudden you're watching United States of Tara and Futurama like there's no tomorrow. It's awesome, basically. On UK Netflix, of course, there was the final Breaking Bad and don't even talk to me about how it's over because I don't know how to cope with that. At the moment, I honestly feel like I'd give up almost all over tv series just to get one more episode of Breaking Bad. Yep, that's how much I love it.

So anyway. That is my life. Blog wise, I'm going to try and get a couple of posts written today during my self-imposed exile to the living room, but it's no biggie if I don't (well, no biggie to me. You might live for my blog posts, how would I know?) And I'm not stressing about this, but I am REALLY sad that I haven't gotten much reading done for RIP this year because it is my FAVOURITE blogging thing ever. But, you know, big life changes must take precedence over, like, reading scary shit, at least for a couple of weeks or whatever. Normal business will be resumed soon, I'm sure.

Devouring Films: Out of Africa

Or, The Most Romantic Thing I've Ever Heard

This isn't going to be strictly a review of Out of Africa, because I've seen it a grand total of once, and that was three and a half years ago(ish). What I'm saying is, I don't really remember much about it, apart from that there was this one character who said 'my waters have turned black' which made me HORRIFIED that such a disease could exist, and there was also a supremely awkward sex scene between Meryl Streep and Robert Redford that to this day can still make Frances and I giggle for AGES just at the mention of it.*

Anyway. The fact that I don't remember much about the story isn't important, because there's one more bit that I do remember and, as I have implied above, it's pretty much the most romantic thing I've ever heard. And it's not romantic in a disgusting, cutesy, annoying way, it's romantic in a way that appeals directly to me and my entire way of being. So, towards the end of the film, after Robert and Meryl have spent some time apart (don't ask me why, don't ask me if they end up together, I HAVE NO IDEA) he goes to see her, and he says:

"You've ruined it for me, you know... Being alone."

 Here's why this is so romantic to me: I love being alone. Being alone is pretty much my favourite state,  and much as there are other people I like (it's good to know I'm not a robot person, correct?) and much as I do like spending time with them, I do always need to spend some time alone after spending time with a lot of people because it's exhausting to me. I'm a classic introvert, is basically what I'm saying. So yeah, I like being with people, but I also like being alone, but to find someone I like so much that being alone would become an undesirable state? Well, I kind of want that.

There's also this love letter that Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote to his wife**, where he says, along similar lines,

"Thou art the only person in the world that ever was necessary to me. Other people have occasionally been more or less agreeable; but I think I was always more at ease alone than in anybody's company, till I knew thee. And now I am only myself when thou art within my reach."

I just... Isn't that the best thing ever? To be like 'hmm, people are ok' and then find a person who is necessary to you? Who becomes the one person you can't even imagine living without, and who changes you so that, instead of being happiest alone, you're happiest when they're near? I want that! Everyone wants that, I guess, but these are the two places where I've best heard it expressed, or at least that have stuck with me for the longest.

So, I don't really know if you should watch Out of Africa or not, but I do know the way I want to be in love someday. That's much better, right? Right.

*I tried really hard to find this sex scene for you on youtube, but it's not there. If you can find it, I commend you. And giggle.
**Of course I own a book called Love Letters of Great Men. Of COURSE it was a Sex and the City movie tie-in. I feel no shame about this!

Sunday Sundries: Bits and Bobs

Guys, it's Sunday and I move in a week and I should probably be packing and so I'm giving you bullet points today. It's fine, you'll love it.

• Apart from packing/pretending to pack/looking at all my books, sighing and then laying down again, my life has become consumed by Breaking Bad. Ridiculously so, since it takes up 46 minutes of my week (75 minutes starting tomorrow) but for all of Monday I was in the worst mood because of it, and any time I've thought about it this week, I could honestly cry. If this seems like a ridiculous response to a TV programme then shut up, I don't need you in my life.
• I've started using Bloglovin to read ze blogs so that *whispers* I can read some posts at work, and also because it's just generally more convenient to read them on my phone than my computer, most of the time. BUT- I am having issues commenting on blogs that use disqus or just general blogger commenting (wordpress and intense debate are fine) on my phone, and I don't know whyyyy. Technical help would be appreciated here, guys!

• I went to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert yesterday and it was HIlarious and also I need all the costumes, but then there was a really racist bit that made me feel kind of uncomfortable... If you've seen the movie, you'll probably know which bit I mean, but I was like... Really? It felt like a very outdated version of humour to me, but there you go. Other than that though? It really was a lot of fun.
• Alley is hosting a readalong of The Corrections in October (so, like, in a week) and you should all read it with us whilst we mock Franzen but also hopefully enjoy his words..? We shall see!

Either way, there'll be gifs like these, so it'll be all good.

• In other blog goodness, there's still time to sign up for the Halloween Ninja Book Swap hosted by Bex and Hanna- send a book, get a book. It's alllllll good!
• Speaking of moving (like I did, like, 50 bullet points ago. Try to keep up.) I'm actually fairly pleased with myself for posting two reviews this week because WHUT I have spent basically no time blogging (I just turned my computer on Thursday night and spouted shit about Fangirl, basically). I can't promise I will keep this up because obviously I have to pack all my things, and less obviously, I'm reading The Girl Who Had Things And Did Things Trilogy by Steig Larsson and have decided to review them all in one post, so... This could take some time. Also this feels like a stupid move when there are like 2000 pages or something to review. Oh well.

• I know you probably won't read these links for I am a savvy internet user myself, BUT you really should read/watch all these things: Margaret Atwood's review of Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (how much do I love that ATWOOD is reviewing Stephen King? A LOT); Jesse Pinkman hanging out with puppies (!); Book Riot's take on the ridiculousness that is banning Eleanor and Park; and (more Book Riot awesomeness) The greatest bookish moments in Futurama.

Phew, that was a lot of bullet points! Did everyone make it out to the other side ok? Good. I am unsure about whether I'm going to do a Sunday Sundries next week because Sunday is ACTUAL MOVING DAY (OMG) but it would just basically go 'packed all week. Took days off work to pack. Moving today' and oh look I just wrote that so no need for another post next week! Or... we'll see.

Devouring Books: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

"'How do you not like the internet? That's like saying 'I don't like things that are convenient. And easy. I don't like having access to all of mankind's recorded discoveries at my fingertips. I don't like light. And knowledge.''"

I finished Fangirl two days after I bought it on my Kindle, and that was only because I didn't have much time to read on one of those days because, social life. That was a week ago, and I still don't know how to talk about it without squealing about how much I loved it because my GOD I really did and also have I mentioned lately that Rainbow Rowell is the actual best and I love her? Because that's about as useful as I'm going to be in this review, to be honest.

Ok, no. Actual words. So Fangirl is excellent, and it's excellent in ways that I didn't even expect it to be. If I'm honest, I expected to love it in the general way that I'm always going to love a Rainbow Rowell book (I assume!) but maybe to feel less connected to it in the way I did to, say, Attachments, or to Eleanor in Eleanor and Park because I don't really know anything about being a fangirl. Or, at least, I don't know anything about being a fangirl where I share all those thoughts with everyone on the internet- I've been pretty good at being a Les Miserables fangirl this year, for example, but that was mostly in my own brain.

Does being obsessed with one dude also count as being a fangirl? Cause if so, I get it!

BUT. Whilst I might have been expecting to be less into this book than her others, I was so completely wrong about that, and that's really all down to Rowell. Here's the deal with Fangirl- it IS about a total Fangirl (Cath- she's really really into these 'Simon Snow' books and writes fan fiction where the hero is in love with his mortal enemy- the Simon Snow books bear a striking resemblance [kind of] to the Harry Potter books, and Rowell is a fan of Harry/Draco...) but it goes so far beyond her life as a fangirl that it stays readable for, I think, even people who don't use the internet that much,* and definitely for people who wouldn't really consider themselves fangirls.

Midway update: We've established there's more to this book than the title.

I'll say some more things about it, shall I? Just as a personal thing, Fangirl really hits some of my soft spots- a 'going away to college' (or just any new situation) narrative, Cath is a TWIN and twins have kind of been my favourite since that time I read Sweet Valley High all the time**, and there's an adorable boy character. I can't be too clear on this point- Levi is FANTASTIC and I love him and I want to go live on a ranch with him and raise cattle and babies and I DON'T EVEN EAT MEAT (or babies. But that's beside the point.) Really the only disappointment I have about Fangirl is that Levi doesn't exist so I can't make him mine. Hmph.

And then, there's Cath. I love Cath. You kiiind of have to love Cath if you're going to read Fangirl, because it's all from her point of view, but I really really love her. The thing I love most about her is that, even though certain things are expected of her as a freshman in college (i.e. she's supposed to be a wild partier) she has literally no interest in bowing to the things she's 'supposed' to do, and pretty much does what she wants. And yeah, some of this comes from the anxiety disorder she's dealing with (trying to deal with) but even without that- she doesn't want to go to parties. She's not very concerned about making friends. And that's a perfectly valid choice for her to make and everyone doesn't have to be all social all the time, ok?!

And this being a Rainbow Rowell book, Cath is dealing with things apart from her anxiety that I won't tell you about because spoilers, but they bring juuust enough sadness to counteract Levi's cuteness, but not so much that I wanted to die, and THAT is the perfect amount. Also being a Rainbow Rowell book, some of the sentences were so awesome I could have cried. Seriously, here are a few:

"'The Triangle House!' Courtney said. She said it the same way you'd say 'the Playboy Mansion!' if you were a total D-bag."

"The squirrels on campus were beyond domestic; they were practically domestically abusive." 

"Levi's eyebrows were pornographic."

And just, kind of, all the rest of the words? Yes, those.

And then there are the fangirl bits, and, rather than excluding those who don't really know what fangirling is all about, they seem deliberately inclusive- since they're centred around a fictional series (that, actually, I would definitely read) it's not like a massive amount of prior knowledge is expected, AND they fit in with the plot in interesting and unexpected ways- Cath, for example, has written about love so much in her fanfiction, but is woefully unprepared when it happens to her, but it's all ok. It's about the limits of existing in a mainly fictional universe, but is always respectful of the incredible amount of work that (sometimes) goes into writing fanfiction.

It's also about a lot of other things- feeling like a fish out of water, feelings of abandonment, growing apart from a sibling, finding friendship and love in unexpected places, finding yourself and so so so many other things- and each of these things is handled so well, and with real thought and in an awesome writing style. Do I have to say it again? I LOVED this book, I would kind of have babies with it, and if you're holding off reading this because you're scared you might not like it as much as Attachments or Eleanor and Park, then DON'T BE because it's awesome. I promise you. Now go and read it. Now.


*Do these people exist? And WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM?!
**Ages 9-15

Devouring Books: The Kid by Sapphire

Remember when that film Precious came out and it got nominated for loads of Oscars and was totally critically acclaimed and I watched it and cried all over my face and was fairly grateful I'd watched it alone?* Well, that film was based on a book- Push by Sapphire (which I also read around the same time) and The Kid is the sequel to that book/the film. I'm glad we got that sorted and also can you tell that I'm stalling here because I sort of don't want to talk about this book so much? Because that's what's really going on here.

Ok, so. I really liked Push- it's written in a really interesting way, to show Precious's growing literacy and empowerment and all sorts of things like that, and above all, it leaves you with a sense of hope- that, even if bad things happen to you, even if some of the WORST things happen to you, you're still allowed to do everything you can to rise above all of those bad things (to Push your way out of them, if you will). So, it's horrible but there's kind of a purpose to the horror, and it at least doesn't leave you feeling like you want to die (or at least not so much...)

The Kid, on the other hand, starts with Precious's death (oh yeah) and goes rapidly downhill from there. Before I even start, I really have to emphasise how upsetting Precious's death is- all you want when you read Push is for her (and her child, Abdul, the kid of the title) to be ok, to escape the ridiculously horrible circumstances of her upbringing and live a long happy life. She dies when she's 27, so yeah. It's horrible. What's really clear from the outset is that she's raised an intelligent, curious, fairly sweet nine-year-old boy, and even though she's dead before the book even begins, her influence is clear in him, at least to begin with.

So it's all... Not good, but at least bearable, until Abdul gets taken into care and everything turns to shit. At every single facility charged with his care, he's failed by all authority figures, he gets beaten, raped, all the possible bad things, and he spends his first years of puberty being raised by Catholic priests who very much conform to the popular image of Catholic priests these days (child rapists, that is). And it's SO horrible, and there's a whole thing about how he's being redeemed by dance, but I was still trying not to throw up after his great grandma explained her rape as a 10 year old so I kind of missed that bit.

Here's the thing about this book, though. While with Push I very much felt emotionally connected to Precious, and while there were bits that were shocking, they had a purpose- showing the things that Precious has to overcome to become who she wants to be, with The Kid... it was really difficult to feel connected to Abdul because of the things that he does. The whole theory behind this book is that abuse begets abuse, I think, but when that means that Abdul rapes a child because he thinks that's the only way to show his love... I just don't know what to do with that. Because he's smart, and he knows what he's doing, and I just... That is SO not what Precious would have wanted him to become, and it kind of hurts to read.

But it more than hurts to read, it's gross, and to very little purpose, it seems. There's no situation I can imagine where a great-grandma would tell her great-grandson about the time she was raped (in detail) and, I mean, does Abdul have to be raped in every situation of care he's in? Is that really that likely? I mean, stop me if I'm being truly naive about the care situation in New York City, but it has to be better than that, surely? And yes, I understand it's for, you know, dramatic emphasis, but does that mean it has to be so graphic and horrible and just... hopeless? Are difficult situations only escapable for a tiny amount of time before you have to return to them? Am I ever going to stop asking questions?

Basically, I don't even know how I made it to the end of this book, and I have a feeling I only finished it to go 'DON'T read this, but you can definitely read Push, or, at least just watch Precious.' Because Precious had a lot of the same things to say, but did it in a more concise, less horribly disturbing and much less hopeless way, and The Kid was just not a pleasant experience in any way. Which I realise it wasn't supposed to be, but that didn't make it any better to read.


*You definitely don't remember my part in this, because it was pre-blog. Otherwise, I would have had to write a post immediately, going ZOMG EMOTIONS.

Sunday Sundries: Please Let Me Send You A Book And Save Me From Myself

This is what it's like in my brain when I think about the fact that I'm going to have to move 600 books into an attic room.

It's not pretty, but it does got character.

Anyway. The point is, I've been both thinking about packing and sorting things out this week (sorting things out=looking through all my books, sighing, then putting most of them back. No actual packing has been involved.) and basically I've weeded out a fair few books that I probably don't need to desperately cling to. Of course, there's a certain amount of guilt attached to this process (I LOVE YOU BOOKS, I'M SO SORRY) and to make it better I want to give you some of my books.

I really do. Except they're only the thin ones because I don't want to pay a lot to post them, which I think is fair! Basically, the deal here as always is, if you want any of these books I'm about to list, just tell me and leave me your email and I'll get your address and yadayadayada we know how these things go.

You want a list? Here's the list:

Push (Precious)- Sapphire
Walden- Henry David Thoreau
The Newlyweds- Nell Freudenberger
Robinson Crusoe- Daniel Defoe
What Maisie Knew- Henry James
Wide Sargasso Sea- Jean Rhys
Into The Wild- Jon Krakauer
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee- Rebecca Miller
Election- Tom Perrotta
Treasure Island- Robert Louis Stevenson
The Europeans- Henry James
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat- Oliver Sacks
The Turn of the Screw- Henry James
Lady Chatterley's Lover- DH Lawrence
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- Robert Louis Stevenson
The Road to Wigan Pier- George Orwell

So, yeah, if you fancy any of them then just let me know in the comments, my pretties, and we'll see what we can do.

What else have I done this week? Well, my friend Justine moved to Bristol (today, in fact) so I saw her on Wednesday for the last supper (last until, you know, I go and visit her in Bristol or whatever) which was a pretty good dinner but also, you know, I was all sad. Obviously.

Yesterday was cool though- I took a bus to my almost-home, which is something I'm going to have to do a LOT in the future (have I EVER mentioned that I don't drive? I totally don't drive!) and in spite of a series of unfortunate events (I missed the first bus and the one I was on made me transfer to a new one for no apparent reason...) I made it there in one piece without any unfortunate getting-lost issues or anything, so that was good! And then I laid on some dude's bed to decide if I wanted to buy it off him or not (I do!) and hung out with my friend Becci for the rest of the afternoon. It was nice.

Annnd... That's about all the excitement there was for this week! I worked some, read some (DUH), nearly DIED waiting to watch Breaking Bad on Monday because I had to work all day... you know, all of the usual things. The weather has been TRULY appalling this week, and has basically made me want to take to my bed at all times, but instead I did All The Walking to work, including getting completely (COMPLETELY) soaked on Friday. Always take an umbrella, is the only advice I can offer you, guys.

And that's pretty much it. Laura out! I'll go back to moving things around but not actually packing, and you have another look at that list and tell me if there's anything you fancy. I'm setting a cut off of, say, Wednesday lunchtime (UK time) and any books not selected by then will be off to a charity shop. I'm a cold evil bitch, really.