Book Review

In the past few months, I have completed two books: "Time Traveler's Wife" and "The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing." Both were admitadly girly but they kept you engaged.

Each chapter in "The Time Traveler's Wife" opens with a date and the ages of the two main characters, Henry DeTamble and Clare Abshirte, switching from his point of view to hers. Henry has a genetic disorder that causes him to travel in time, he tends to travel back in time as opposed to forward. Clare meets Henry for the first time at the age of 6; a naked man asking her for clothing in her back yard. Henry gives her a list of dates when she is to expect him at her house and Clare waits for each one, Henry a different age each time. As his future wife grows up knowing Henry, Henry does not meet her for the first time until he is in his 30s. The book skips around through their years together, showing how Henry and Clare learn to cope with his time travel as they try to live as normally as they can. The book is confusing and has you rereading but I enjoyed reading the couples woes, the troubles of a tragic couple. The ending was no where near satisfying but it was worth the read.

"The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing" is a book about Jane Rosenal, a quirky girl who isn't quite sure who she is or how to handle herself until she learns who about herself through the many relationships she has: her father, brother, mother, grumpy great-aunt, a serious boyfriend who was 30 years her senior. It travels back and forth through her life, showing her growth always through the eyes of Jane; 12-year old Jane as she describes her brother's serious boyfriend, her college self as she goes through the awkwardness of vacationing with her boyfriends ex. The book had me considering what I have learned about myself through my relationships and, most importantly, how to accept myself for who I am, and know that I will find someone who loves me for me. Teenage girls, a must read I think.

-Danielle Luciano