A Life in Books

I've Moved!

2006-06-21T17:49:00.000-04:00

I decided to register my own domain name and switch my blog over, so you can now find me at A Life in Books - hope to see you there!

I Vant to Suck Your Blood

2006-06-20T22:42:00.000-04:00

So, I just got done with reading Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore, a modern day vampire tale set in San Francisco, and told in Moore's typical style. Now, if I really enjoy a book, I can read it in a matter of hours, but if it's just not grabbing me, then I'll take my sweet time, passing up opportunities to read in favor of say, watching Kathy Griffin's Life on the D List (which, by the way, is a great TV show, and I'm glad to see it back for a second season), or browsing around checking out other people's reading blogs and adding even more books to my mountainous wishlist. Such was the case with BF, which is why it took me almost a week to read it. I think I was spoiled by having read one of Moore's other - and by all accounts, better - books, Lamb, a couple years ago, so BF was a bit of a disappointment. It was OK, and I laughed at a few lines, but for the most part when I read something that was supposed to be funny, it was more of an 'ah, there's Moore's humor coming through' thought ... perhaps I may have even smiled, I'm not sure. But, Moore at his mediocre is still better than a lot of other stuff out there, so I'll keep reading his books, I just won't be rushing right out to buy another one tomorrow.

Curiouser and Curiouser

2006-06-13T09:54:00.000-04:00

On a whim yesterday, with nothing really to do (it was too humid to attend to my overgrowing garden - the air was literally wet - and although my closets have morphed into a sort of black hole for clothes, I wasn't in the mood to tidy them up just yet), I perused my bookshelves for something to read and decided upon The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a book I've had for several months but had put off reading, like a child hiding some candy to enjoy later. Of course, this book has been given a lot of publicity, but what hooked me was when I went to look at it on Amazon, and their review described it as 'an autistic version of Adrian Mole.' Since Adrian is one of my all-time favorite characters, I knew that I'd have to read this book.

Basically, it's the story of 15-year old Christopher, an autistic who has a penchant for math(s), a pet rat named Toby, and hates the colors yellow and brown. He lives with his father on a relatively quiet street, until one night a neighbor's dog is killed. Christopher, a lover of animals, decides to find out who the killer is and on the advice of his teacher, write a book about it, and so begins an odyssey that will transform his world. It's at times funny, sad, tense, strange, enlightening and always fascinating. I really felt as though I was in the mind of an autistic person, and seeing how they feel and interact with the world around them. Christopher is one of those characters who truly comes to life and transcends the written page.

Highly recommended, and one of those few books that I would actually want to reread sometime.

A Woman in her Prime

2006-06-12T11:38:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon the film adaptation for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and since the synopsis intrigued me, of course I had to read the book before I could see it. This is one of those books that you always see included in 'best books' lists and lit class curriculum. I'd managed to go through life so far without reading it, but I found a used copy and so was able to remedy that. It's the story of Jean Brodie, a single woman in her early forties, who teaches at a private Edinburgh school in the early 1930s. She is singular in her approach to teaching, and to life, and cultivates a select group of girls to be her 'Brodie set' while at the same time alienating her fellow teachers and particularly, the school administrators. We know from early on that Brodie was betrayed by one of her own and forced to retire from teaching - what we learn as the book goes along is who, how and why. At a mere 160 pages, Sparks packs a lot into her concise prose, but at times, I did wish for more details. It seems the author purposefully leaves much to the readers' imaginations, and even in its brevity, would provoke a good deal of discussion for a reading group of classroom. So ultimately, I'm glad I read it, and I think I will hold onto it for a few years, and see if/how my perspective changes once I reach my own 'prime.'

More online fun for book nerds

2006-06-09T23:03:00.000-04:00

I found out about Library Thing from a forum post over on BookCrossing, and it's my newest online favorite. Basically, it's a catalog system for your books, and you can find others who've got the same books or similar libraries. I'm still learning about it, but I've signed up and have begun listing my books. Funny, I think I don't have that many books, but then I start putting them on LT and in a matter of minutes I've got more than 60 books catalogued - but there are people on there with thousands of books listed, so I guess my library isn't so voluminous. Besides seeing how has the largest registered libraries, You can also see what books or authors are most popular (Harry Potter and JK Rowling) , plus more. It's free for the first 200 books, and then they have annual and lifetime memberships.

Great fun for any fellow bibliophiles out there!

Catching Up

2006-06-08T10:36:00.000-04:00

Things have been kind of hectic around here lately, so although I've been reading books, I'm just now getting around to writing about them. Today also marks the one month 'anniversary' of working at the library, and I have to say, I'm really enjoying it. I love not being in a corporate setting, not being tied to a computer all day long, and of course, the books! Being an aide definitely isn't rocket science, but I was surprised at the volume of all the policies and procedures. One of my duties is to check in the books that have come in, and I am amazed at the number of people who must be reading books in the bathtub, as there are books constantly coming in with water damage. And my biggest pet peeve so far are people who write in books - as someone who keeps my personal collection in pristine condition, I'm amazed and appalled at people who think it's OK to write in something that doesn't even belong to them. Pencil marks are bad enough, since I have to sit there and erase them, but pen - and worse, highlighter! - just astound me.

So, the first book I read lately was Sand Dollar Summer, which I'd selected to write a review on, and I'm glad I did. It's the story of a young girl, Annalise, and her mute brother, Free, who, after their mother is seriously injured in a car accident, return to the Maine island where their mother grew up. Annalise is a spunky, smart 12 year old, who, along with the situation she and her family face, reminded me of some of Judy Blume's characters. This is Annalise's first encounter with the ocean, and its enormity and wildness scares her. The new environment she's thrown into, and the changes she notices in her mother, make for a emotionally tumultuous summer. When a hurricane threatens to destroy the new life they've made on the island, the family's Newfoundland dog, Babe, helps save the day - so it was nice to see the Newfies represented!

The other book I read was The Kite Runner, which I'd received as part of a BookCrossing bookring. I'd seen and heard about this book for months, but had put off reading it, owing to the hype surrounding it, which tends to turn me off a book anyway, and to be honest, the book description just gave me a lukewarm reaction to it. Wow, was I wrong. This is a great, great book, and one of my favorite reads this year. It's written from the perspective of Amir, a well-to-do Afghani boy growing up amidst the turmoil of his country, as his peaceful childhood is torn apart by war, violence, and his own personal actions. Amir has grown up with Hassan, a Hazara boy who, along with his father, are servants to Amir and his father. After a terrible betrayal, Amir and his father flee their war-ravaged country for America, where they have to deal with new realities. The book is both a inside look into modern-day Afghanistan, and the personal story of one man coming to terms with his own past. It's a sad, funny, wonderful book that I would recommend wholeheartedly. In the back of the book there's a promo for a new book by the author called Dreaming in Titanic City, and I can't wait to read it.

Murder in the Midwest

2006-05-30T11:14:00.000-04:00

Over the holiday weekend, I finally got around to reading a copy of In Cold Blood, the book by Truman Capote that's been getting so much attention lately. I read most of it in the car (thankfully, I don't get carsick!) while we we traveling to and from Fredericksburg, VA, where we went to see some friends - which included going to a live performance of Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion (yes, it was awesome).

Anyway, Capote's praise is well-deserved. As someone who doesn't read true crime accounts or 'investigative journalism' I didn't really expect to like the book, but Capote's storytelling ability and exquisite use of language drew me in. He not only examines the psyches of the killers, what drove them to kill, but also turns his eye to the dynamics of small-town America and its inhabitants. My only complaint is that especially towards the end, he goes off onto tangents of other killers, which while giving greater insight into the minds of people who commit acts of seemingly senseless violence, did more to convolute and prolong the climactic finish.

Now I'm off to add Capote and In Cold Blood to my Netflix queue.

A Peek Into the Past

2006-05-23T10:20:00.000-04:00

Prior to her death earlier this year, I had never heard of Octavia Butler, but Kindred was one of the books mentioned in her obituary, and the idea of it - a sci-fi novel with an African-American woman as the central character who time travels back to the antebellum South - really intrigued me, so I put it on my wishlist. Recently, a fellow BookCrosser invited me to join her bookring for Kindred, and I was lucky enough to be first on the list. It's a rather compact book, that packs quite a punch for all its brevity. This past weekend, I stayed up until 2:30 am one night to finish the last half of it, unable to put it down and go to sleep. The complex relationship between Dana, the main character, and the white slaver owner who unwittingly calls her back in time is fascinating. The intimate, brutal look at the lives of slaves and as Dana discovers, the ease in which a person is made, and acts, a slave is particularly compelling. An excellent intro to Butler's work, and one that has me keen to read her other novels.

I forgot to mention that a few weeks ago I read Women of the Silk, which was our bookclub's May selection. This was a frustrating read, as it was a good book that could have been great. Tsukiyama packs so much into her novel about girls working in a Chinese silk factory in the time between the two world wars, but is maddeningly scant, even with what should be major plot points. For example, the back of the book mentions a strike that the women organize at the factory, and makes it sound as though it's an integral part of the book; however, it's covered in just a few pages. There is one sentence - one sentence! - given to an incident with two of the girls that could have been a book in and of itself, and left me wondering if the author was being intentionally ambiguous or if it was just another example of her skimming over the details. I finished the book feeling that it should have either been twice as long, or had the multitude of extraneous details weeded out. It seemed to me to be a very superficial read, and I came away from it not really knowing the characters and wishing for more.

The 'F' Word

2006-05-18T10:00:00.000-04:00

No, not that one, the other one: F-A-T. I just finished reading Passing for Thin: Losing Half My Weight and Finding Myself, a memoir by Frances Kuffel. Throughout the first part of the book, when she’s explaining her childhood compulsion for food, I empathized with her, and saw myself in several anecdotes. But as she went along, I grew increasingly frustrated with her – in fact, if it wasn’t a library book, I probably would have thrown it across the room a few times during the course of my reading. She’s alternately whiney and sanctimonious, as she talks about going from ‘The Planet of Fat’ to trying to fit in on ‘The Planet of Girls’ – beyond the obvious grating comparison of fat people to non-humans, it even annoyed me that she kept referring to the state of thin as being a ‘girl’ – she’s in her forties, for gods’ sakes, can’t we grow up a bit and at least call ourselves ‘women’ (when she talks about the men she begins dating, they’re from ‘The Planet of Men’ – not boys). That’s incidental, I know, but at that point, every little thing was rubbing me the wrong way. Even her moniker for one of the sleaziest bastards she dates (Canada, following in her theme of naming men after countries), made me want to slap her.

I know the point of the book was to show how Kuffel reintegrates herself into her world as a thin person, but I would have liked to have read a bit about the struggle to get there – she treats her relationship with food as an addiction (ignoring the smoking habit she continues throughout) and goes from 300+ pounds to half that in a matter of a few pages, and nary a word about how difficult it was to completely change her eating habits. I wasn’t expecting (or wanting) a rah-rah-rah, here’s how I lost weight and you can too! type of discussion, but it seems to me that in this case the journey is at least as important as the end result and warranted a paragraph or two. So all in all, while I wanted to be sympathetic and admiring, I was more often just plain irritated.

I'm a sucker ...

2006-05-05T01:20:00.000-04:00

... for eye-catching book covers. Although a good cover won't save a bad book, and vice versa, I still appreciate when a cover is particuarly appealing. I hate when books that have been adapted into movies come out with new cover art showing a scene or characters from the movie - grrr! I go out of my way not to buy those, and track down the originals.

So, I thought it was pretty neat that Penguin has reissued a series of its classics with new artwork. The Dorothy Parker one is my favorite, and although I already have the prior edition, I just may have to get that one, too. I also had a good laugh at the cartoon representations on Cold Comfort Farm, and since I don't have a copy of that book, I feel more justified in adding it to my wishlist.

Good times

2006-05-05T00:34:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I found a copy of Judy Blume's Summer Sisters. I was a big fan of Judy Blume when I was a kid - I remember one of my aunts buying me a copy of Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret, clearing it with my mom first because of its subject matter. I marvelled at Sheila the Great, and bought my own niece a copy of that book, since she reminds me of that character, and I knew she would appreciate Sheila's spunk.

But, I'd never read Summer Sisters, actually never knew it existed, until I saw this discarded hardcover copy sitting on the shelf in the library. Fond memories Blume's characters flowed through my mind, and so I brought the book home. Today, I finally got around to reading it, and it was like visiting an old friend. Blume's style is unmistakable, and for me, nostalgic. The book itself tells the story of two friends over the course of fifteen years, and is kind of a Are You There God, It's Me Margaret meets Forever, meets Little Darlings meets Beaches. Basically, a story about the bonds of female friendship, and a great read.

Writing Your Life

2006-05-04T00:25:00.000-04:00

I love keeping a journal, and still have my old childhood diaries. Lately though, I haven't been journalling as often as I'd like, so I've decided to reread two great books on the subject: Life's Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest (which, in addition to being a wonderful book, features the sublime artwork of Susan Seddon Boulet) and Journal to the Self. Both books greatly enhanced my journal writing practices but since I've somewhat fallen off the wagon, I figure a refresher is in order, and I hope going through them will inspire me to journal again. I know a lot of people use livejournal or a blog as their journal, but there's something about the feel of a book in your hands, the blank page before you, that just inspires me to write more than a computer sceen would (in much the same sense that I prefer actual books to e-books and old-fashioned dayplanners to palm pilots, or whatever gizmo is now in fashion for that sort of thing). I like to browse the journals section at a bookstore almost as much as I like browing the books.

If anyone has any suggestions on other good journalling books, or websites that sell blank journals (and don't charge a small fortune for them), please post them!

"The Sea is Mother-Death"

2006-05-02T14:41:00.000-04:00

Growing up in Newfoundland, I was always aware of the ocean as both a giver and taker of life. I lived in a fishing village where we ate cod taken fresh from the traps, and where men sometimes went out to sea and didn't come back. When we moved to Nova Scotia, we were distanced from that life, and no longer lived in daily contact with the water. Death at sea became more of an abstract, far-away notion. That changed on the night of September 2, 1998, when a Swiss Air flight carrying 229 people crashed into the Atlantic off Peggy's Cove. Like some people remember where they were when the Challenger disaster took place, or Kennedy was shot, I remember Flight 111. I was driving to my home in Halifax, having just broken up with a boyfriend (unfortunately I remember that when I think of this night, too), when I heard the helicopters flying overhead. I watched the breaking news as the blaring sirens outside signaled the ambulances from the nearby hospital racing to the scene of the crash, and hospital personnel readied themselves for survivors - but none came. It was a traumatic experience, obviously for the families of the victims, but also for Nova Scotians, and it's an event indelibly stamped on our psyches.

It was with that background emotion that I recently read Birds in Fall, a new novel by Brad Kessler, in which he takes the events of that fateful night and creates a hauntingly beautiful story. After a Dutch airline crashes into the sea, family members gather on a small island just off the coast of Nova Scotia, the fictional Trachis Island – from the Greek myth – first to wait for any news of rescue, and then to mourn. Myths from various sources permeate the novel, both directly and subtly, as Kessler explores the nature of grief and how we find solace when our lives are irrevocably changed. He has such an exquisite way with language, that even in its sorrow, it is a story that lulls us with its magic.

The sea is mother-death and she is a mighty female, the one who wins, the one who sucks us all up. ~ Anne Sexton

Herbs and Mystery

2006-04-30T17:33:00.000-04:00

Today, on the invite of a fellow BookCrosser, I went to listen to Susan Wittig Albert talk about the history of folklore of herbs – herbs being a key feature of her China Bayles mysteries. She spoke about herbs for love and marriage – such as rosemary – and interestingly enough, herbs for protection from lightning, like hens and chicks (otherwise known as house leeks). She also has a mystery series which features Beatrix Potter as the central character. Some of her books were available for sale, so I ended up buying Thyme of Death, the first China Bayles mystery. Incidentally, she also wrote several of the Nancy Drew stories in the late 1980s – past the time that I was reading them, or the books of my preferred teenage sleuth, Trixie Belden.

Decisions, Decisions

2006-04-28T21:51:00.000-04:00

Oh, the pressure! It's my turn to choose the next selection for our book club and I'm having the hardest time making a decision. I fully realize that I'm making this more of an issue than it needs to be, but that's my neurotic side coming out. I've narrowed it down to four options: Atonement, Never Let Me Go, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (thanks to Indigo for her recent post which revealed to me that this book existed, and that contrary to my assumption, it really doesn't have much to do with tractors), or Gonzalez & Daugther Trucking Co (which I learned about from a fellow BookCrosser after posting in their forums asking for help in choosing among the other three).

I want to pick a book that will be an enjoyable read and will foster a good bit of discussion, so if you have an opinion on which one I should opt for, please chime in!

Beware the future

2006-04-27T14:10:00.000-04:00

I just finished writing the review for Sharp North, which I read this past weekend. At 528 pages, it rivals Harry Potter for thickest YA book, at least in my experience. It took me a bit to really get into it, probably because I'm not a big reader of science fiction, but once I got going, I really enjoyed it. It takes place in England a couple centuries from now, when global warming has already flooded the country, and genetic engineering and population control are key interests of the police state society. A group of ruling families habitually (and secretly) clone themselves, which is where the female protagonist, Mira, comes in. She goes from being a complete innocent in the frozen mountains of Scotland, to a kick-ass survivalist in London, trying to figure out what's going on and her place in everything. Her transformation from wide-eyed teenage naїf to a Xena-like character was a bit of a stretch, but still a great read, and Cave's answers to the questions 'what if' are truly frightening.

Working Girl - again

2006-04-24T14:04:00.001-04:00

Hurrah! I applied for a Library Aide position at one of the regional branches for the PLCMC, interviewed last week, and got the call this afternoon that I was hired! It's only part-time, but that's perfect for me, as it gives me time to continue pursuing my freelance writing, and should help me determine whether or not I want to pursue my MLS, something I've had in the back of my mind for awhile. I'm also excited to be working a job that won't require me to sit in front of a computer for 8+ hours, and for the first time in four years, I'll be interacting with people face-to-face, rather than just through phone or email.

Treasure Trove

2006-04-21T13:07:00.000-04:00

Is there anything better than a library sale? Nothing comes to mind, at least at the moment, reeling as I am from the delight of having gotten 28 books for only $23.50 at the Friends of the York County Library Book Sale, in nearby Rock Hill, SC. Some women feel this way about shoes, but for me, it's the book buying high that can't be beat.

I went with the intentions of picking up some good books for BookCrossing, but I confess that I came away with more for my own personal reading - not that I'm surprised by that, of course. A few of the books I got are duplicates from my own shelves, favorites that I wouldn't part with on their own, but can now release in comfort, knowing I still have my own copy, such as The Shipping News, The Secret History, Ahab's Wife, Blackberry Wine, The Queen and I, and Surfacing.

The larger stack by almost double are those books that I haven't read. Some, like The Dress Lodger, Good in Bed and Atonement, were already on my wish list. Others, like The Bean Trees and Visitors, I'd had a notion of someday reading, and so saw this as a way to do so on the cheap. But the majority, like The Country Life, Sister India, The Honey Thief, and I Was Amelia Earhart, were books I was seeing for the first time. The titles caught my eye and the descriptions intrigued me enough to add them to my already overflowing basket.

Now I'm off to clear some space on my shelves for my newest additions, with the hope that eventually I'll get around to actually reading all of them.

Past and Present

2006-04-18T09:29:00.000-04:00

Over the past week, I've read three books that dealt with events of the past affecting the lives of people in the present - one book was a struggle to finish, another I loved, and the other was somewhere in between.

The first was The Photograph, a novel by Penelope Lively which was chosen as our book club's first selection. In it, a man discovers an old photograph of his dead wife covertly holding the hand of his brother-in-law, which sets him off on a quest to find out who his wife, Kath, truly was. What we learn is that no one, from family to friends, really tried to know Kath - everything was superficial. The book is read from the perspective of her husband, her sister, her brother-in-law, her niece, and a family friend, giving us a chimerical Kath, one who never has her own voice. Once I got used to the sparse writing style and slow pace of the book, I really enjoyed it. Lively has an exceptional talent for expressing the thoughts of each character. What really resonated with me was how the loss of her mother when she was in her late teens affected Kath. She was forever in search of a love to fill that void.

I love good YA fiction, particularly those with a strong female character. Such was the case with the second book I read, called A Northern Light, a novel based upon the infamous murder of Grace Brown in the Adirondacks in 1906. Mattie Gokey is a young woman with a talent for writing and a love of books and words. Unfortunately, life in the Adirondacks doesn't put those things in high esteem, and with her mother dead, her brother run off, and a mercurial father, Mattie is preoccupied with the care of her younger sisters and their farm. The novel switches back and forth from the months leading up to the murder, when Mattie was still on the farm, to 'present day,' when she is working at the Glenmore, a nearby resort hotel, where Grace Brown's body has been pulled from the lake and everyone is in search of her male friend. Only Mattie knows the truth, which she learns as she reads a stack of love letters that Grace had given her. Mattie, another motherless daughter, tries throughout the book to reconcile the disparate aspects of her life, to find a place for herself in the world, while holding onto a deathbed promise. I loved this book - it's an example of YA fiction at its finest.

Yesterday was a day of thunderstorms (one thing I love about living in the South) so I mostly stayed in and read The Reckoning, a horror novel I'd gotten as part of a BookCrossing bookring. Horror isn't a genre I typically read, and I'm more of a Turn of the Screw or The Haunting of Hill House type horror reader. Four friends are forced to deal with the horrific events of a long-ago summer, when the seeming telekinetic powers of one of them caused the brutal death of her dog and later, her father. What we learn is that it's not the girl that is the source of the power (and evil), but the house itself. What we don't learn, unfortunately, is why. It's got shades of Shirley Jackson's novel, but without the style and nuance that made The Haunting of Hill House such a chilling read. The characters in The Reckoning are wooden, mostly unlikeable, and generally uninteresting. I read it in one sitting so as to not waste any more time on it than I had to, and would not even have done that if I hadn't agreed to participate in the bookring in the first place. Well, lesson learned - stay far, far away from mass market horror fiction.

Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world. ~ T'ien Yiheng

2006-04-10T11:27:00.000-04:00

Well first off, to explain my use of the above quote, my weekend was seemingly filled with tea, or at least Saturday was. In the afternoon, I went to a Victorian-style tea that my library was hosting, which was quite pleasant. They gave away prizes, and I ended up winning 1776, a historical novel about (what else) the American Revolution. It wouldn't have been the book I would've chosen, but I suppose it would do me well to learn a bit more about this seminal event in history, at least from the American point-of-view (as opposed to my Canadian textbooks, where men who left the States during this period for more northernly climes were referred to as 'Loyalists' rather than what I'm sure would be less complimentary adjectives on this side of the border). Anyway, I brought the book home and when I showed it to Mike, he was very excited, as he'd been wanting to read it.

Later that evening, I went to a tea-cupping, which follows the same principles as a wine tasting. It was held at TEA ReX, my new favorite spot. It was presided over by James Norwood Pratt, who is something of a god in the tea world, or at least a very well-respected expert. We tasted a variety of rare and wonderful teas, and enjoyed a fascinating exploration of the complexities of tea, thanks in large part to JNP's personable nature and witty humor. Needless to say, I am now a devoted fan, and look forward to reading his book.

Also, last week, I finished up Once Upon a Day, by Lisa Tucker, which is a novel I selected to review for Authorlink. It was a fabulous book, one of those 'can't put it down til you're done' type reads. It centered on Dorothea O'Brien, a 23 year old woman whose father has kept her sequestered in a remote 'sanctuary' for most of her life. She leaves to go find her brother, who had left two years prior, and sets off on a voyage of self-discovery that will ultimately lead her back to her early childhood, and the tragic events that caused her father to retreat from the modern world. I'd recommend this for book clubs, as it should spark some good discussions.

Not worth the fuss

2006-03-30T22:59:00.000-05:00

I tend to avoid books that have a lot of hype, because they rarely live up to the praise. But once in awhile I give in, if a story appears particularly compelling. Such was the case with My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult, a novel about a pair of sisters - one with a rare form of leukemia and the younger sister who was conceived to be her genetic match. When the girls are both teenagers, after having gone through a succession of invasive medical procedures, the younger sister, Anna, sues for medical emancipation, attempting to deny her older sister Kate of her kidney. While I found the concept intriguing, I was disappointed in the writing. It all seemed so contrived - the impossibly self-aware adolescents juxtaposed with their impossibly unware mother, the love affair between Anna's lawyer and her court-appointed guardian, the too-pat ending. And don't even get me started on the overdone metaphors liberally sprinkled throughout. I found myself rolling my eyes and thinking 'Oh, please!' many times - it just didn't ring true. If this is typical of Picoult's style, I doubt I'll be reading any more of her books.

Book Meme (taken from Susan's Blog)

2006-03-29T23:07:00.000-05:00

Meme Instructions : Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you might read, cross out the ones you won't, underline the ones on your book shelf, and place parentheses around the ones you've never even heard of.

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
~~The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger~~
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
~~The Hobbit - J.R. R. Tolkein~~
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
~~Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut~~
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
~~Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk~~
(Neuromancer - William Gibson )
(Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson)
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
~~A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess~~
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
(Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell)
~~The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkein~~
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Atonement - Ian McEwan
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zago
~~The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway~~
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
~~Dune - Frank Herbert~~

Fish Soup

2006-03-28T22:31:00.000-05:00

It’s taken me more than three weeks to do it, but I finally finished reading Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, the account of a Hmong family, their epileptic daughter, Lia, and the US medical system. I’d seen the book mentioned a few times in books lately, and it’s even the March selection for Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust Calendar, so I had high hopes that this was going to be a compelling read, one that I couldn’t put down. Near the end, she describes her book as a Hmong ‘fish soup’ – a mishmash of different bits all thrown together to create one satisfying dish. All the elements are there: childhood trauma, insight into a little known and vastly misunderstood culture, the clash of modern Western medicine with another worldview, and the ensuing tragedy. And while it was a compelling story, I had more trouble picking it up and sticking with the book.

I think Fadiman has told an important story that has value, and I would still recommend it to people, as the history of the Hmong people and their journey to America is a fascinating one, and one more Americans would do well to learn. I appreciated Fadiman’s portrayal of both sides – the Lee family and the American doctors – as neither ‘good’ nor ‘evil’ but instead, both complicated, caring and wanting the best for young Lia.

Giving 'Chick Lit' a Chance

2006-03-27T16:12:00.000-05:00

I'm not a reader of the books that are commonly called 'Chick Lit.' Even that name is jarring to me, and at the bookshop, my eyes tend to just skip over the brightly hued paperback covers with their cutesy clever titles that seem to epitomize the genre, looking for more substantial reading fare. With the exception of the Bridget Jones books and The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing, I don't think I've read anything in recent memory that would be called ‘Chick Lit’. It's not that I'm trying to come off as some pretentious snob (I disavow any reading of Danielle Steele for that), but the typical subject matter (men, shopping, dating, etc.) just doesn't interest me.

But, in my searches for my last blog post, a book came up called The Reading Group, by British author Elizabeth Noble. I admit, the title sucked me in, and after a cursory look through it, I started reading. It's certainly no high brow intellectual feat, but it was a pleasant enough read. I liked that I knew of the books that were discussed (and had even read some myself), the women were all likeable in their own way, and dealing with real life issues. I think most women reading this would recognize themselves in at least some aspect of the characters - I certainly did, whether it was the pain of dealing with the loss of a mother or having the sometimes sensation of feeling the grass must be greener elsewhere. Still, there’s no big soul searching for the reader, or pondering deeper meanings or anything like that, but sometimes it's nice to get into a story that doesn't make you do that, while still being a good read.

It's not just Oprah

2006-03-24T11:32:00.000-05:00

Book clubs seem to be the literary phenomenon of the modern age. I recently joined a new group myself, and being the obsessive type that I am, I promptly went to the library and took home everything on book clubs and reading material that I could find, which was four books: The Readers' Choice: 200 Book Club Favorites, What to Read: The Essential Guide for Reading Group Members and Other Book Lovers, A Year of Reading: A Month-By-Month Guide to Classics and Crowd-Pleasers for You and Your Book Group, and The Reading Group Handbook: Everything You Need to Know, from Choosing Members to Leading Discussions.

Each book had its strengths and weaknesses. For example, Reading Group Handbook had a great deal of information on the details of starting and maintaining a book club, but its many lists of books were just titles only, no synopsis - a flaw in my view. On the other end of the spectrum is Readers' Choice, which gives a short intro on the practicalities of running a book club, but its real strength is in the 200 in-depth descriptions of books that have been recommended by multiple book clubs. I got the most additions to my wish list from that book. What to Read was similar to RC - but with more books and less description. Her recommendations are grouped by category (e.g. 'Questioning the Miraculous' and 'Other Lands, Other Voices'). I found this book also most useful as a reference for bulking up my wish list.

A Year of Reading is set up in the most pleasing manner, in my view, and could solely be used as a guide for a book club (at least for one year). I liked the way the authors categorized the books, their offering of different selections under the same theme, and the additional information they provided. They provided info how to organize and run a book club without coming across as too rigid or authoritarian. Overall, I think this was the best of the four.

Reading, Reading, Reading

2006-03-11T16:19:00.000-05:00

I've already gushed in a previous post about how much I like Anna Quindlen, and those feelings were reinforced when I read How Reading Changed My Life, a concise but revealing book about the impact that reading had on Quindlen, from childhood onwards. It's so nice to read about someone else who enjoys books as much as I do, from such an early age - maybe I'm not such a freak after all! She discusses the importance of reading for pleasure and for the betterment of our minds and souls, and includes some lists at the back (because if other readers are like me, we like lists) of select books, under such variegated categories as '10 Books for a Girl Who Is Full of Beans (or Ought to Be)' and 'The 10 Books I Would Save in a Fire (If I Could Save Only 10)' - and of course, I've added a few selections to my wish list.

Hurrah for fellow book nerds!

Girlhood, Revisited

2006-03-10T16:02:00.000-05:00

I just have to say that I love public libraries. They are one of the best inventions of modern civilization. And the inter-library loan system rocks! I've gotten so much use out of mine.

OK, onto the most recent books I've read.

Today I finished The Minister's Daughter by Julie Hearn, which I've had in my hands a few times at the bookstore, but always talked myself out of it before buying. I love good YA and children's fiction, and am not ashamed to say that many of my favorite books fall under that genre. Even before I read the inside flap, as soon as I saw on the back cover that it was recommended by Libba Bray, my interest was piqued. Then, in reading the author bio on the back flap, I saw that she was a student of Phillip Pullman. Add in some historical fiction and witches, and I knew I had to read this book. With young girls claiming possession of the devil and acts of witchcraft, Hearn's novel echoes the tales of the Salem witch trials, and indeed, ties in with them at the end. It reminded me quite a bit of The Limits of Enchantment and The Wise Woman, all three focusing on an older woman and her young charge, and their 'beyond the pale' existence in society.

Earlier this week I read a sadder tale, the memoir of Judith Moore, titled Fat Girl. She pulls no punches, and doesn't seem to sugar coat any of her recollections for the sake of her readers. It's like reading the cathartic journal of a familiar stranger, and in many ways, I imagine it was a release for Moore to put these thoughts to paper, but then again, she's a braver woman than I to even delve into her childhood with such earnestness, especially one such as hers. She picks up each rock of her memory, showing us the worms beneath, with simple yet sometimes shocking candor. I could relate to many of the emotions expressed in the book, even though our personal stories differ in many ways, as I'm sure other women who grew up being called fatso and hating their bodies could as well. I can't say I enjoyed reading this book, as it was just too raw and terrible, but I couldn't put it down until I was finished.

The Road Less Travelled

2006-03-01T23:59:00.000-05:00

This week I read the biographies of two very different men - Into the Wild, which is the story of Chris McCandless, a young drifter who died in the Alaskan wilderness, and Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain's insider account of the life of a top chef and the restaurant business. The two men took very divergent paths in life, yet were oddly similar in that they both followed their passion.

I had first picked up Into the Wild at a the annual giant Goodwill used booksale in Atlanta. I must not have looked at it very closely as I mistakenly thought it was a true crime book. I ended up selling my copy to a used bookshop without having read it. So when I finally realized what the book was really about, I borrowed a copy from my local library. Chris McCandless was a young nomad of sorts, having left his well-to-do life behind to travel the roads for two years, searching for truth and beauty, both within and without, eventually ending up in Alaska, where he entered the woods one May day and was found dead four months later. The biographer, who sees similarities between himself and Chris, traces McCandless' footsteps and tries to delve into the deeper mystery of why he chose to do what he did and why ultimately, he died.

While Chris McCandless eschewed the excesses of modern life, Anthony Bourdain positively delights in them. I have to admit right off that I am in love with Bourdain, since first watching his show on the Travel Channel. He has that bad-boy image down pat, and has the cohones to back it up. All the attitude that comes through on TV is in the book full-force. He dishes on the rock n' roll lifestyle of chefs, the ordered chaos that is a restaurant kitchen, and oh yeah, the food - all with his typical sardonic wit and audacious attitude. Whether it's slurping down raw oysters straight from the seabed, creating culinary masterpieces on a drug binge or revelling in his scarred hands, Bourdain takes on life for all it's worth.

A New World

2006-02-26T13:20:00.000-05:00

I’m a big fan of historical fiction. With all that’s out there in the genre, especially it seems recently, it’s rare to find one that seems so meticulously researched, such a true vision into a long ago past – and even rarer to find one that takes on the Norse culture. So, when I saw Judith Lindbergh’s The Thrall's Tale a couple weeks ago, I knew I had to read it. I was not disappointed. She offers a glimpse into the fringes – both geographically and genderwise - of Norse society in Greenland, circa 1000 CE. Focusing on the lives of three women: the wisewoman Thorbjorg, her slave Katla, and Katla’s daughter, Bibrau, as they are caught up in the tumult of settling a new land and dealing with the insurgent Christian faith, the story weaves through the intertwined lives of each woman, and their destinies.

Growing up south of Greenland, in Newfoundland, the North Atlantic setting particularly intrigued me, as I could vividly imagine, drawing upon my own childhood memories, the cold, ice and winds of winter, the sea as giver and taker of life, and the sense of isolation from the rest of the world. Also especially compelling was the predominant aspect of religion in the novel, with its brutal yet simple and sometimes beautiful pagan imagery, to the new, foreign Christianity, and its encroachment and eventual acceptance from the Norse populace.

It took the author ten years to write the novel; I hope her next one does not take as long, but is as satisfying a read.

Feeding My Habit

2006-02-17T14:17:00.000-05:00

The good thing about reading books by fellow 'readaholics' is that I always discover new reading material. The bad thing is that I always discover new reading material. I came across Sara Nelson's So Many Books, So Little Time, at my library earlier this week; I'm a sucker for good books about books and reading, so brought it home and read it over the course of a couple days. It's part memoir, part reading journal, as Nelson takes up the challenge to read a book a week for one year. She weaves personal anecdotes into her year-long chronicle, seamlessly tying the written word to the real world, thereby giving me greater insight into the type of reader and woman she is. I'm always keen to read books by people as infatuated with reading as I am, fellow bibliophiles who also have a 'to-be-read' pile on their nightstand, as well as unread titles on their bookshelves, who feel the same trepidation about book recommendations and friends, who ensure they are never without reading material, and while I think Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, is a better book about the love of books and reading, Nelson's was more helpful in giving me ideas for future reading.

Nelson mentions a few books that I've read (such as Bird by Bird and The Crimson Petal and the White), and it was interesting to read her take on them, where we were similiar in our views and where we differed. After I finished, I went through and looked up on Amazon each book that she mentioned and added over 30 titles to my wish list. Oy!

Irreverent and Enduring

2006-02-15T20:17:00.000-05:00

There are few characters that have stayed with me through the years, with the ability to come alive off the pages. Adrian Mole is one such character - I can picture him living his life in the English Midlands, with his delusions of intellectual grandeur, his quest to be a writer in the absence of talent, and his long-suffering love for Pandora. I first read his diaries when I was in my early teens, and found humor and common bonds in his teenage angst. Adrian has grown up over the years, with Sue Townsend chronicling the passages of his life in various books. The latest one, Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction, has us once again reading his diary as the latest war in Iraq is announced and his eldest son, Glenn, is sent off to war. Once again Townsend mixes current affairs and her subversive commentary throughout the books, with hilarious results. In the 1980s it was Thatcher; in the 21st century, it's the moral issues of the Iraqi 'conflict'.

Adrian falls in love again, still has issues with his parents, and still craves the recognition due a published intellectual. But things turn out okay, and I closed the book feeling good about where this longtime friend ended up - and I've love to check back in on him again in a few years. I hope Townsend feels the same.

A Kindred Spirit?

2006-02-13T08:23:00.000-05:00

Remember when Anne (of Green Gables) realizes she's found a kindred spirit in Diana? I think I've discovered mine in Anna Quindlen. I read her novel One True Thing a few months after my mother died, and it carried the essence of my own experience so closely it brought me to tears several times. Her short but sweet treatises on life, A Short Guide to a Happy Life and Being Perfect, are as sage advice for living as any I've heard. She's also written a book about how her love of reading affected her life (it's on my to-be-read list). Now, I find she shares a longtime love for London and its literary history in Imagined London, in which she contrasts the fictional city against its real, current counterpart, finding both similarities and differences. At less than two hundred pages, it's not an in-depth analysis but mentions several authors and their novels, which serve as suggestions for further reading (if, like me, you haven't read the entire English literary canon) and gives some insight that isn't found in a typical travel guide or memoir. It's part of a series published by National Geographic, focusing on travel writings with a difference. As an aside, since I lived a good part of my life in the province, I have My Famous Evening added to my wishlist, which is a book on Nova Scotia, from the same series.

Victoriana with a twist

2006-02-10T15:33:00.000-05:00

I just finished a marathon reading of Sarah Waters' Fingersmith, the third novel of hers, which is set in Victorian England. This is really one of those ‘can’t-put-it-down-til-you’ve-finished’ books, with a lesbian love affair wrapped up in Dickensian settings, typical of her other novels. Now I want to go back and reread the other two, particularly Affinity, as that is my favorite of the three. True to form, Fingersmith was very atmospheric, with so many twists and turns - a truly satisfying read. Her newest novel comes out in the spring, and although it’s a departure from the typical setting (taking place in WWII London), I can't wait to read it.

I need to read more from this author

2006-02-08T16:50:00.000-05:00

I read The Poisonwood Bible a few years back (*before* it became an Oprah pick, I feel compelled to add) by Barbara Kingsolver and once I got past the first few pages, really enjoyed it. For whatever reason though, I didn't search out more of her books. Last fall I was in the Atlanta airport, about to get on a plane for Charlotte, and had already finished the book I'd brought with me. Faced with a tedious wait in the airport along with the trip itself, minus any decent reading material, I made my way to one of the airport bookshops and tried to find a worthy candidate amongst the spate of recent bestsellers. Kingsolver's The Prodigal Summer caught my eye, attracted by the bright green cover. The book, set in southern Appalachia, held the promise of a good story and so I bought it. But then it was set aside when I got home, lost in the shuffle, and it has sat unfinished on my bedside table for months while other books came and went. Finally this week I felt the need to finish it. The story reminds me of a Maeve Binchy novel for thinking people. Everyone goes through their trials and tribulations, but all ends well, at least for the most part. Along the way, we're shown the lives of three people and the world around them, as well as lessons on the natural world and our place in it. A great story and one I would heartily recommend.

Maybe I just don't get it ...

2006-02-03T21:05:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel, an author newly arrived on the Canadian fiction scene. I had seen the book in the stores for months, but never really looked at it, and then when I saw it among a shelf of books on sale for $1 at my local library, decided the price was worth finding out what all the fuss was about. Both of my former bosses had recommended it and it certainly had enough rave reviews, if the comments from various media outlets were any indication. That's where I made my mistake. I really should know better than to read, and worse, believe, the comments the publisher includes that hype the book. You'd think I'd be smarter than that. But no, I fall for it (almost) every time. So, based on the praises that had been heaped upon it, I had pretty high expectations for this book. Maybe it was just too deep for me, and I missed it, but I really don't get what all the fuss was about. It started off good enough, a young Indian boy who wants to follow his native Hindu religion, as well as Islam and Christianity. But once the story shifts to the main focus, the tale of a boy lost at sea, well, for me, it just falls short of the promise. It's a fine adventure story, and Martel has superb storytelling ability, but I just kept expecting more. Perhaps the more subtle meanings elluded me - I'd be interested in talking over this one with someone else who'd read it and see what insight they had.

I also wrapped up my reading of A Field Guide to Buying Organic which in my admittedly limited experience, is one of the more factual books out there on the subject. Other things I've read, both online articles as well as books, seem to be at either end of the spectrum: either organic food is an over-hyped elitist waste of money, or the answer to all of our health and environmental woes. In reality, it's somewhere in between. It's co-authored by two people with different perspectives, which gives the book a hard-to-find balance. I didn't feel like I was reading some starry-eyed hippie's view of the world, nor the cynical denials of an agribusiness advocate. It's helped me figure out what foods I should focus on buying organic whenever possible, and what is fine from the conventional offerings. This book should definitely be on the reading list of anyone thinking about eating organic foods but confused by all the hype.

Lukewarm Verdict

2006-01-17T15:55:00.000-05:00

Well, I finished Julie & Julia by Julie Powell last night, and eh, it was OK. I wouldn't reread it and probably wouldn't recommend it to any diehard foodies or Julia Child fans. Lots of things, like her two-time selling of her eggs (the baby-making kind), her rabid hatred of anyone Republican, and the pseudo-conversations between Child and her spouse in the 1940s, were unnecessary and if anything, detracted from the book. I expected there to be more discussion about the actual recipes and experiences with them, but really, they almost formed the backdrop to the larger story of a 20-something married woman and her friends in NYC. The book was formed out of a blog that Powell had kept during the experience, and in a way, it still feels like you're reading that type of medium, rather than a book. The best part about this book was the cover, which is a lovely shade of green -- I'm now thinking of painting my kitchen in that color.

So far in 2006

2006-01-14T14:05:00.000-05:00

I started the year reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, which on the heels of reading Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall, just furthered my commitment to eat healthier in 2006. Obviously each author had their own agenda, but even taking that into consideration, some of the stories and information were pretty frightening -- and enlightening.

I decided to take a break from the subject of the globalization of the food industry, and instead read the story of a woman who made the globe her home. Rita Golden Gelman, in Tales of a Female Nomad, shares the story of her life and travels over the course of about fifteen years. Starting in Mexico after separating from her husband, Rita 'took the path less travelled' and explored the world and its people. A great read for women as well as armchair travellers.

Next up is Julie and Julia, another foray into food, this time one woman's quest to prepare every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. As someone who has cursed many a recipe that did not turn out quite as designed, I can't wait to dig in.