Bite

Rating:
Summary: Go on...take a Bite!
Review: Bite is a light read, but thoroughly engaging thanks to the clever writing. C.J. Tosh does an excellent job depicting the lives of twenty-something, status-conscious New Yorkers looking to advance their careers and their social lives. I felt part of this close-knit group of friends, and looked forward to catching up with them whenever I had a free moment! I also love the book's philosophy: "Life is short, so take a big bite."

Rating:
Summary: Fun at times, but mediocre nonetheless (2 1/2 stars)...
Review: I read this book some months ago but didn't write a review because I had nothing to say at the time. However, a few friends of mine have asked what I thought of it, so here goes. I thought this comic novel about two friends starting an original concept for a magazine was mediocre at best. The development of the plot is too slow and the secondary characters aren't well developed. The mishaps and disasters that occur at Tom's party are the highlight of the novel -- everything else revolves around the circumstances that lead to the development of Bite magazine and the misadventures that transpire when they work on the same. I think the novel is somewhat autobiographical, for the two main characters of the novel had thought of writing a novel together, not unlike the two authors of this novel (C.J. Tosh is a pseudonym). All I can say to my friends and other potential readers is that Bite has its fun moments, and said moments reminded me a lot of the show Will and Grace, but the overall book is nothing original or special.

Rating:
Summary: Funny. Definitely a fun vacation book
Review: I started reading this book during my vacation and once I started, I couldn't stop. It is SO entertaining! The characters are very vivid, they make an exciting bunch. The story is so hilarious that I found myself laughing out loud. I even made my husband read it and he was laughing too! This book will not make you smarter or give you some great insight in life. It will definitely grab your attention until its finished with you (or you're finished with it). I imagined there must be a group of friends like this in real life, and I wish I was a part of it. How exciting!! And yes, the ending does make you feel all warm and cozy. A necessity for a fun book.

This is definitely a fun book to read while sunbathing by the pool.

Rating:
Summary: Juicy and addicting
Review: I was hooked after reading the first few pages. The engaging dialogue has the humor and juiciness of Sex and The City, but the characters in Bite have more depth and authenticity. I had moments of empathy with each of the characters, as the thoughts and fears that run through my own mind played out in theirs. I didn't want the book to end!

Rating:
Summary: Juicy and addicting
Review: I was hooked after reading the first few pages. The engaging dialogue has the humor and juiciness of Sex and The City, but the characters in Bite have more depth and authenticity. I had moments of empathy with each of the characters, as the thoughts and fears that run through my own mind played out in theirs. I didn't want the book to end!

Rating:
Summary: Tasty
Review: Many of us think that working at a glossy magazine is glamorous. It's not. But it can be fun, especially if it's your own baby. "Bite" tells the story of a magazine writer and editor (one who is dropped by her magazine, the latter who leaves) who start their own glossy with their close friends, colleagues and hot, young interns.

"Bite" is a quick read, but the appeal is in the people. The characters are people we want to know and whose circle we want to join. Their world is hip and a bit incestuous. They do what us married folk miss (or missed altogether) like drinking martinis on a Tuesday night (not evening) and having sex with repairmen on housecalls. The writing, too, is smart, funny and sexy as the authors describe why true love isn't easy to find in NYC. Whether we yearn for the shmuck or forge a platonic marriage with our housemate, the romance and relationship is doomed before the first kiss. Don't think for a second that the book is weepy. While the writers show the characters' soft spots, they are still witty and at times cunning, if not ruthless.

If you're looking to nosh on a good book, read "Bite".

Rating:
Summary: fine chick lit tale
Review: Sam Leighton works for Star Face magazine interviewing Hollywood stars. Her best friend Tom Sanders edits the lifestyle column for Profit magazine. Sam is assigned to learn whether Gibson had hair plugs, but instead gets in trouble because rumors fly that she lost her reporting impartiality by becoming too close with Russell Crowe.

Tom feels bad for his pal so he takes her out on a martini lunch to drown her sorrows. A few drinks later, Tom proposes that they combine their expertise and begin their own magazine. Thus Bite is created as an entertainment magazine that emphasizes Hollywood sex and fun in that order. Bringing other artistic but ennui pals into the fold, Bite begins to take shape in spite of the eccentricity and sexual inclinations of the staff until treachery threatens to destroy the project before the first issue is published.

This is a biting satirical look at the glamour magazine world. The story line is amusing as the lead duo struggles with leading the publication rather than segments. The support cast is stereotypical, but mostly as a means of adding humor to the lighthearted romp. Fans of chick lit tales will appreciate this insider back room look at the goings on of a magazine trying to release its first edition in a competitive back biting world.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: really readable, but kinda silly
Review: So Sam (foxy, straight, outlandish) and Tom (foxy, gay, uptight) have these great magazine jobs in this great city, which they experience through great restaurants and great bars. But they aren't happy, and luckily one of them gets fired for a reason I can't imagine anyone in the hepcat magazine world getting fired for: an untrue rumor that she got to have sex with a movie star. It's a lucky firing, because it forces Sam and Tom to reexamine their happymaking first principles. What would really make them happy, they decide, is to start their own magazine. And that's the book. They start their magazine, kinda with breaks for bedhopping by all of the characters, each christened with generic names that I couldn't keep straight.

Still, I ripped through this soapy roman a clef (even though it could have been shorter), which seemed so clefy that if I ever met the authors I'd think: I know what time you get to work, where, when, and how much you drink, and how you aspire to have sex. But it didn't really have much of a point (by which I mean a novelistic purpose or groovy commentary on a social class - here, the fabulous one involved with New York glossies). Instead, it seemed like pure wish fulfillment by "C.J. Tosh," one half of whom is a writer for a magazine I scrutinize like the Talmud: Entertainment Weekly. But good on them for getting a book contract to write up their dreams, and hey, I shelled out hardcover bucks for it.

Best scene: as they're developing the magazine, Tom gets everyone together for what turns out to be the worst party ever, in which everybody involved with the start-up realizes that they inappropriately love or hate at least one other person involved with the start-up. It was a great "this town is too small" moment, really rang true, and had me cringing to see what would happen next.

Rating:
Summary: Eagerly Awaiting
Review: This was such a tremendously fun read. The characters' lives felt so similar to mine that it was both terrifying and comforting at the same time. Terrifying because I truly am that bachelor girl in her late 20's/early 30's living in NYC working in the media world with tons of gay friends to boot. Comforting because I must not be alone! I highly recommend this book to both the city slickers, boys and girls, as well as our surbanite friends. All will enjoy. I shall be eagerly awaiting the next book from C.J. Tosh as they simply must tell me how my life turns out!