Tag Archives: Shopgirl

August 29, 2011 · 12:24 pm

Bout of Books Readathon – the finish line

Hmm, guess I did have another post to do today! SO the Bout of Books readathon has ended, and here is my wrap-up post! While I wish I had done a little better, I did meet my humble goals so that’s a good thing.

Of the books I had in my to-read pile…

■Shopgirl by Steve Martin
■Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore
■Graceling by Krisitin Cashore (this would be a re-read)
■On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony
■Sense and Sensbility by Jane Austen - started & got about half-way through
■Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
■The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran (another re-read)

+ Fearless #1 by Francine Pascal – not on my original list picked up and read without really planning it

8/22
Number of books I’ve read today: Less than 1.
Number of pages I’ve read today: Only 162! I stink.
Total number of books I’ve read: Less than 1 still.
Today #insixwords: today was my pitiful epic fail.

8/23
Number of books I’ve read today: Finished 1, started the 2nd.
Number of pages I’ve read today: 198. Better than yesterday!
Total number of books I’ve read: 1
Today #insixwords: Amazing that I read more pages.

8/24
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Number of pages I’ve read today: 98 – Terrible!
Total number of books I’ve read: 2
Today #insixwords: I was distracted by my honeyman.

8/25
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Number of pages I’ve read today: 223 – only 69 more pages needed to reach my goal of 750 total pages this week!
Total number of books I’ve read: 3
Today #insixwords: Today was my best day so far!

8/26
Number of books I’ve read today: 0
Number of pages I’ve read today: 57 – Awful!
Total number of books I’ve read: 3, started the 4th
Today #insixwords: Work was awful, I was tired.

8/27
Number of books I’ve read today: 0
Number of pages I’ve read today: 59
Total number of books I’ve read: 3.33
Today #insixwords: I worked, I shopped, I crashed.

And there’s my little recap. Overall I read 797 pages, so I beat my goal of 750 pages. Yay me.

How did ya’ll do?

~Sarah

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August 24, 2011 · 9:03 pm

Shopgirl by Steve Martin

I feel like I’m missing something.

Shopgirl is about Mirabelle, a young woman in her twenties who works the glove counter at Neiman’s in L.A. She’s bored, struggling financially, and has what seems like a drastic case of depression. Always wishing for company and for someone to hold her, she attracts the attention of a lazy guy named Jeremy and a womanizing millionaire from Seattle named Ray Porter.

I felt kind of bored with this book… I’m not sure what it is. I didn’t really care for any of the characters. I have a hard time relating to characters with depression in books – it always comes off as whiny and emo and makes me want to slap them out of their funk. And obviously I had issues with both of the men that were attracted to her.

I think another reason I was kind of bored was Steve Martin’s writing here. I really enjoyed his book The Pleasure of My Company – it was fresh and interesting and witty. But in Shopgirl, it’s almost like I could tell how aware he was of his writing style – it all sounded too clinical and distant. The  blatant sexual references seemed like they were just there to kind of shock and awe.  Maybe it’s just me, but I missed Steve Martin’s quirkiness and sharp wit here – the whole thing was overall kind of bland and dark. Weirdly, the only parts of the book I really liked was when Mirabelle mentioned exactly how much she could afford to spend on lunch, or parking. I have that same sense of frugalness when I’m getting my lunch at work sometimes.

Overall, I didn’t really like this one. But I will probably try another Steve Martin book because I liked the other one I read, so I feel like I need a tie-breaker.

Sarah Says: 2 stars

 

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