(You can catch up on what my Reading Challenge is all about here.)

I may kick myself in a few days writing up both these books in one post, but I read them so long ago now that I don't really have too much to write about them.

Book: I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

Verdict: Eh, I didn't really enjoy this book all that much. It's described as a female David Sedaris, but I think the problem was I love David Sedaris so much and Sloane Crosley's storytelling ability doesn't even come close to his in my book. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I just didn't find it to be all that funny. It was sort of interesting to read about a woman who is almost exactly my age, going through her first job and living on her own in a city, but there wasn't anything all that special about it. I mean, I feel like I could have written it, and I certainly don't think I have anything interesting enough to say to land a book deal about my 20-something life.

Book: Julie and Julia by Julie Powell

Verdict: I actually thought I'd like this book more than I did, but I found the author to be kind of annoying. It did make me want to learn more about Julia Child, though... maybe I'll pick up her biography. I don't know what it is that bothered me about Julie though... she seemed sort of whiny to me. I liked the idea of her blog/book, the idea of taking on a huge project as she did, than I did the execution. I think I might just be getting tired of the similar writing style after reading the previous book. It seems as though there is more and more of a market for 20- and 30-something women writing autobiographies and semi-autobiographies and they all blend together. Maybe it's because I've been reading blogs for so many years, but that tone just doesn't carry over well for me from the computer to the printed page. The book did lead to some interesting conversations at book club about tackling big projects and blogging, so there's that at least.

Next up on the Reading Challenge: Our book club is reading The Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea for our next meeting, this Sunday. I haven't even gotten a copy of the book yet... I'll be doing some cram-reading on Saturday!