September, 2024: In The Books!

 

Ten books in September! I can hardly believe it. I may make my goal of 63 books this year after all.

1. Dear Miss Kopp - Amy Stewart. Novel. This wasn't my favorite of the Kopp Sisters series, but I was glad to see unsung-but-just-as-intrepid sister Norma solving a case in World War I France. Pleased with myself for finally finishing the series. I introduced Constance, Norma and Fleurette to my new book group, and they seemed intrigued.

2. Dear Hanna - Zoje Stage. Novel. Darkly hilarious thriller. The follow-up to Stage's debut, Baby Teeth. So satisfying. I couldn't wait to read it. Now I wish I'd saved it to savor as an October read.

3. Loving Sylvia Plath: A Reclamation - Emily Van Duyne. Nonfiction. Plath scholar Van Duyne uses the latest information from letters Sylvia Plath wrote to her psychiatrist in the last months of her life, in which she confides that she had been the victim of domestic violence. Van Duyne convincingly builds the case that Ted Hughes destroyed Sylvia Plath in all ways, then, as the executor of her literary estate, set out to make her over in the image that suited him best, (which was a creepy sad-girl mythology that was meant to take the focus off of his own horribleness) while also destroying or losing her two unpublished novels and the last volume of her journals. The woman he left Plath for, Assia Wevill, also killed herself and her 4 year old daughter by Hughes, and he silenced her story, burying their ashes in an unmarked grave and forbidding anyone in his circle as well as Plath biographers from talking about her. He mythologizes Wevill as well as the dark temptress who took him from his happy home. "Hating Ted Hughes" would have been an apt title for this book as well. I know I did.

4. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love - Oscar Hijuelos. Novel. Audiobook. I enjoyed the pulsating, jazzy rhythms of the prose, but for a book chock-full of sex, it wasn't that sexy. I watched the movie version as well. It looked great, the music was hot and so was Antonio Banderas, but it just didn't add up.

5. Who Is Billie Jean King? - Sarah Fabiny, Nonfiction. Billie Jean King was the first athlete I remember admiring. I enjoyed reading this for nostalgic reasons.

6. Who Is Lin-Manuel Miranda? - Elijah Rey-David Matos. Nonfiction. Many of the new books in the Who Was...? series seem to be getting more and more workmanlike, stolid and plodding. Lin-Manuel Miranda gave the world Hamilton. He deserves a better biography, and so do the readers.

7. American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath - Carl Rollyson. Nonfiction. In the late 1950s, Sylvia Plath had a dream that she met Marilyn Monroe and Monroe became a confidant of sorts, offering advice and giving Sylvia a great manicure. While recounting Plath's life, Rollyson uses the dream as a springboard to constantly compare the two women, and by extension, their husbands, Ted Hughes and Arthur Miller. Rollyson has a fluid, efficient style that I enjoyed reading, but the Monroe comparisons jarred the narrative.

8. Sociopath: A Memoir - Patric Gagne, Ph.D. Nonfiction. I really didn't like this book at all. The nuanced conversations about sociopathy were too many and too long. In other places, the book was irritatingly vague. The writing style was thin, unsubstantial and belabored. It often felt like it was padded to make the book a conventional volume length. Maybe it's unreasonable, but I had expectations that a memoir called "Sociopath" would be somewhat more piercing.

9. Who Is Travis Kelce? -Ellen Labrecque. Nonfiction. What's not to like? He's a Kansas City Chief. He's Taylor's boyfriend. I may try the podcast that he does with his brother Jason.

10. Lady Oracle - Margaret Atwood. Novel. Audiobook. 1970s Atwood, pre-dystopian. Sharply comic.

BOOK GROUP UPDATE:

I love my new group. This is the format I have been craving. We had such a great time talking about historical fiction in September, that we're going to continue talking about it at the October meeting. I got lots of inspiration for my infinite TBR.

...And August, 2024

 Here's what I read in August:

1. Miss Kopp Investigates (novel) -Amy Stewart. The Great War is over, and the sisters are back home. The Miss Kopp in this book is Fleurette. She is recovering from a lengthy illness, and can't go back onstage. She finds work posing as "the other woman" in divorce cases. (Back then, there was no such thing as no-fault divorce. Someone had to accuse somebody of something, usually adultery or mental cruelty.) During such a case, Fleurette happens onto a fraud scheme and proves every bit as capable of detective work as her older sisters. Great ending to the Kopp Sisters series, if  it is indeed the end. I never stop hoping that Amy Stewart just hit pause.

2. Random Family (nonfiction) -Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. This book has been on my radar for years, and recently came to my attention again when The New York Times put it on their 100 Best Books this century. It's an ethnography. LeBlanc followed two young Puerto Rican women, Jessica and Coco, as well as their extended family, including their partners, George and Cesar, who are in prison for drugs and murder. I admire LeBlanc's ability to portray her subjects without judgement, and the scrupulous way she completely wrote herself out of the narrative. This is often hard to read, but it's worth it. A good choice by NYT.

3. Mornings on Horseback (biography) -David McCullough. Teddy Roosevelt is an iconic figure and a colorful personality that is recognizable to this day. But what and who made Theodore Roosevelt into that person? David McCullough explores Roosevelt and his siblings' early lives as well as providing fully realized portraits of his mother and father. One of the best biographies I've ever read. Highly recommended.

4. Kopp Sisters on the March (novel) -Amy Stewart. In the early  days of WWI, Constance, Norma and Fleurette are at an army camp for women. At first, the camp is a weak and tepid excuse for preparing women to participate in the war effort. Constance's background as a "lady deputy" stands her in good stead when she has to step in and serve as matron of the camp. Meanwhile, Norma is trying to get her carrier pigeon program off the ground, so to speak, and Fleurette is arranging for entertainment to keep up everyone's morale. They are also all puzzling over one of their bunkmates, "Roxy", who isn't exactly what she seems to be. Her story is told in alternate chapters, based on an actual person and case.

5. Bibliophile (nonfiction) -Jane Mount. Everything your little bookworm heart could desire is in this exquisite book: Book lists, thoughtfully divided up by genre and sometimes subgenre, lists of beautiful bookstores and stunning libraries, fun facts about authors, and it's all illustrated in gorgeous color! I must have a copy of Bibliophile for my home library. A lot of hard work and heart went into the making of this book and it shows. And glows.

Book Group News:

My new book group, The Three R's, broke off from the library program and are now meeting independently, although still at the library. A quick explanation: When the group was part of the library program, they were required to meet in the Storytime room, which ironically, has terrible acoustics. The members asked if they could move to the conference room. The program director said they couldn't, but that if they declared independence, they could reserve the conference room for meetings. So that's what happened. 

I couldn't make the last meeting, in which the topic was to read a book in which a character goes to a foreign country to live. For this month's meeting on September 20, the topic is to read an example of historical fiction. I'm going to introduce the members to the Kopp Sisters.

I wanted to tell you about my strange Philip Roth dream, but I'm going to quit while I'm ahead. I've already lost this post once, and AI has offered twice to show me how to write properly. No doubt that you can imagine what I said in reply.

I Can't Help Myself: The Book Group Chronicles

Yeah, yeah. I know what I said. Words like "no more book group". Words like "free to read what I like into eternity". 

Mmmm, words. So delicious. I'm eating them now.

Because: Guess what? I found another book group and I'm going to give it a whirl.

This time, it could work, it could really, really work. (Why do I suddenly feel like Elizabeth Taylor embarking on another marriage?)

Here's how the book group is set up: First, someone (I don't know who! The Powers That Be? The Book Gods? Nancy Pearl?) chooses an author or a genre. Then, the gentle reader/scruffy bookworm goes in search of a book that fits the parameters. Finally, a month later, GR/SB shows up to book group, and each individual presents the book they chose.

Example: This month is "Edith Wharton (Again)". (Presumably, someone in this group has a hell of a girl crush on Edith Wharton, if it's "again".  Can't wait to find out who.) But anyway! Edith Wharton! I'm a fan. Which book should I choose? Should I just go with something I've already read or strike out and read something fresh, something new to me? I can't go wrong; Wharton is always satisfactory. A little depressing, yes, but nobody does it better, to quote Carly Simon.

As you can see, I'm already in love with this book group format. No more turning pages with one hand and holding my nose with the other. Even better: Since the group meets around lunchtime, we can bring our lunches! In my previous book group, NO FOOD OR DRINK ALLOWED. I always thought it was a shame; I'm not one of those wispy, ethereal bookworms. Sometimes in books, characters eat, and when they eat, I get damned hungry. So yeah: Lunch!

This all takes place July 19. Stay tuned.

*

In other news, the bookgroupless me read 7 books in June:

 1. It Ended Badly: 13 of the Worst Breakups in History -Jennifer Wright- Nonfiction. If you're suffering from a bad breakup, or you know someone who has just had one, or if you've ever had one, you need to read this book. Jennifer Wright, covering ground from Nero to Norman Mailer will put it all in perspective for you. Your rotten ex-partner couldn't possibly be worse than Henry VIII (killing two wives) or Norman Mailer (attempted murder, laughed off). There is also a great rebound story: Effie Gray's husband, John Ruskin, was horrified by her naked and completely normal form and refused to have sex with her. She rebounded years later with a painter friend of Ruskin's and the happy couple went on to have several children. Edith Wharton's in here, too. After an unhappy and mostly unintimate marriage, she finally found a journalist who made her toes curl. Unfortunately, he was a jerk. Speaking of jerks, Lord Byron was of that variety, but his lover, Lady Caroline Lamb, stalked him unmercifully and even sent a bloody tuft of pubic hair in one of her many, many, many letters. And there was poor Oscar Wilde, going to jail because of his affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, only to have Alfred abandon him, then write self-serving crap about everything. Read it, and you'll either say, yeah, I don't have it so bad, or you'll have someone historical to compare your scummy ex-lover to, and your friends will be impressed.

2. Come and Get It - Kiley Reid - Novel. Audiobook. Agatha, a well-known author of nonfiction books signs on for a year as an author-in-residence at the University of Arkansas. Millie is a senior and a Resident Advisor at one of the dorms. Agatha starts out interviewing students about how they feel about weddings for her new book, but suddenly her focus shifts to how these same young women talk about money. After accidentally overhearing a conversation, Agatha compromises Millie's position as an RA  and her own as writer-in-residence by paying Millie to let her sit in Millie's room and eavesdrop with a tape recorder running. This novel is long on character, seemingly short on plot, but rich in awkward situations. I liked Come and Get It well enough to seek out Reid's debut novel Such A Fun Age. Nicole Lewis narrates both audiobooks and her gift for voices and accents is superb.

3. Rx -Rachel Lindsay- Graphic Memoir. Rachel was diagnosed as bipolar as a young adult, and she must stay on medication to stabilize her condition. That means that her jobs must include health insurance. She gets a good job in advertising, but finds herself developing ads for an antidepressant drug. As she becomes both the target audience and the targeter, she starts to destabilize and soon requires hospitalization. As soon as she's "better", she's expected to hop right back into this twisted cycle again, and that's when she takes a step back and scrutinizes the situation. Read this, it's good.

.IV. The Road to Oz - Kathleen Krull - Biography, picture book. L. Frank Baum was an imaginative, daydreaming child who retained those same qualities as an adult. He failed at business repeatedly, but never ran out of ideas for his next creative endeavor. Author Kathleen Krull follows Baum through his checkered careers, showing the various inspirations for what finally catapulted him into literary legend. She did a great job of bringing Baum's quirky personality to life on the page, but she would also insert these parenthetical asides that seemed to be the equivalent of eye-rolling, and that was so jarring and annoying.

V. When Christ and His Saints Slept - Sharon Kay Penman - Novel. Book 1 of 5 in Penman's Plantagenant saga. In this volume, Stephen and Maude battle for England's throne. Stephen seems to be a weak king, but the English aren't about to accept a woman ruler. Historical fiction that feels so fresh and alive. I'm working on the second book in the series now, which follows the fortunes of Maude's son Henry II and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. 

6. Lost Boy -Jane Yolen- Biography, picture book. This biography of J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan was exquisite. Jane Yolen related anecdotes about Barrie's life and tied in quotes from his work.

7. Who Gets the Drumstick? -Helen Beardsley - Memoir. This memoir has an alternate title, Yours, Mine, and Ours. Two movies under that name were based on Beardsley's experience of suddenly becoming a widow with eight children and almost as suddenly, meeting and falling in love with a widower with ten children, marrying him, then having two more children. It's a charming little book with a quirky story sincerely told, but the first part gave me weird vibes. Beardsley's first husband, a Navy pilot was killed when the plane he was flying crashed. At the time, she was six months pregnant with their eighth child. After the child is born, a well-meaning nurse and her own sister seem hell-bent on pushing Helen to forget her former life and make a new one with the children, and her sister pushes her into moving from Washington to California, then immediately into dating. One of these dates leads to the father of ten, Frank Beardsley, also a Navy man. He and Helen get married fairly quickly. Here's the timeline: The first husband dies in July of 1960. Frank and Helen get married in September of 1961. There are light and humorous anecdotes throughout the book and no one could deny the strong human-interest appeal, but it feels as if there is more conceal than reveal. Everything's a little too good to be true. In spite of my reservations, I did enjoy this book.

May, 2024: Quit Book Group. Don't Care.

o

Bookworms work in mysterious ways, and one day last month, I woke up and decided that I didn't want to be in book group anymore. I didn't like that itchy feeling of having to read a book that I really didn't want to read. A book in which I didn't even want to crack the cover, not even the teeniest bit, and I damn well didn't want to sit and talk about it, nor did I want to answer inane questions about (cardboard) character motivation.

Regrets? Sadness? None so far. Instead, I have a feeling of buoyancy. I can read anything I want FOREVER.

 If I were to return to book groupdom, I would want to be in one of those new silent book clubs in which people sit around reading to themselves, then at the end of the meeting, they go around and share brief details and impressions of what they've been reading. If I liked the look of their book, I could quickly borrow it and make a note of the title, author, and some keywords that led to my attraction. So yes, I've had some pleasantly hazy reveries about this sort of book grouping, but I can't figure out why I am picturing all of us in semi-formal clothing!

...

In other news, I decided that I wanted to belong to all the libraries in the area, so I started patronizing the university library ten miles down the road. Wandering around in the stacks which seem to stretch for miles is both relaxing and exhilarating. Even better, it's free! I don't have to pay a fee to check out materials. Contrast this with an earlier attempt to join a community college library in a nearby town: 

1. No, you can't join. You don't live in our preferred counties.

2. No, you can't pay a fee to join. We just don't want your other-county ass.

3. Even if you were eligible, you still couldn't have access to all the available materials, because you aren't a student.

I know, of course, that this library has its reasons, rules, and regulations, but this Fuck You gift-wrapped in a Fuck Off stung a bit. I felt ashamed and unwashed. I felt like a bumpkin; how dare I inquire, how dare I try to walk my stinky feet through its shining portal? I slunk away, but regained my equanimity within a day: I'm not the bumpkin! They're the bumpkins! 

Everything is fine now. I joined the university library, and it's free and they sent me an email welcoming me, and you know what else? They could fit all of Bumpkin Library on one of their many floors! So there.

...

Finally, I'm going to talk about my May reading:

1. What Were the Shark Attacks of 1916? -Nico Medina. Nonfiction. These attacks are what the bestseller Jaws was based on. It seems so strange that just barely a century ago, people and even scientists knew so little about sharks.

2. What Was  the Great Molasses Flood of 1919? -Kirsten Anderson. Nonfiction. My jaw dropped so many times reading about this preventable disaster. I know that companies can be inept and unscrupulous, but this was really blatant.

3. Emma -Jane Austen. Novel. Back last century, when I took that Jane Austen class and read six novels in six weeks, I had the sense in my bruised brain at the end that Emma was my favorite of the novels. I've been going back and rereading, and so far, I'm not wrong. There's only Mansfield Park left, and that was the one I ranked at the bottom. I'm not in a tearing hurry to read it. But Emma! What a treat! Audiobook.

IV. (for some reason, the numeral four isn't working on this keyboard) The Sunne In Splendour -Sharon Kay Penman. Novel. Rich and rewarding historical fiction about Richard III and The Wars of the Roses. I've got a stack of Penman novels that should take me to the end of the year.

V. (hmm, this is interesting.) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest -Ken Kesey. Novel. While I appreciated the novel, this is one of those cases in which the movie was better. McMurphy as a Christ-figure was too heavy-handed. Audiobook.

6. Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? -Philip Gefter. This book seemed like one of those long New Yorker articles padded into book-length. Although it was repetitive, I enjoyed the backstage drama involved with the making of the movie, and at the end, Gefter's look at other movies about marriage that were influenced in one way or another by Who's Afraid...? I followed up this read with my own viewing of the 1966 movie, and relished it more armed with the insider knowledge and trivia Gefter's book provided.

...

Other stuff.

What I'm working on now: 

It Ended Badly: 13 of the Worst Breakups in History - Jennifer Wright. Nonfiction.

When Christ and His Saints Slept (Book 1 of the Plantagenet Saga) -Sharon Kay Penman. Novel.

Come and Get It -Kiley Reid. Novel. Audiobook.

Wishlist: The Alienist -Caleb Carr. Novel.

February, 2023 Reading: Graphically Yours

Six books in February.  A very good reading month!

 Ducks - Kate Beaton. Graphic Memoir. Saddled with a load of college debt, 22-year-old Katie Beaton decided to leave her home province of Nova Scotia and go to work in the oil sands in Alberta. Although the pay is good, the environment is toxic -- often the only woman among numerous male coworkers, she's subjected to sexual harassment and worse. She gradually realizes that the toxicity extends to the damage her company is doing to the land. This book is brilliant. I've been a fan of Beaton's artwork since I read Hark! A Vagrant! when I was in Korea.

Spare - Prince Harry. Memoir. Audiobook. After having had his life story manipulated by the press since he was born, Prince Harry finally is having his say. Unfortunately, he's doing battle against a Hydra and probably always will. I found his memoir touching and horrifying and occasionally funny. I hope that one day he and his family can have some peace.

Last Rampage - James W. Clarke. True Crime. The story of killer Gary Tison's 1978 escape from an Arizona state prison with the help of his three sons. What the sons seemed to see as a family reunion takes a hellish turn as they come to see, too late, that they've actually unleashed a monster.  Disturbing. It's right up there with In Cold Blood.

Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery, Mariah Marsden. Graphic Novel. I actually liked this better than the novel. Instead of pages and pages AND pages of Montgomery's overly flowery prose, there are these beautiful drawings of Green Gables and Avonlea. The characters look like they jumped straight from the original source. I fell a little in love with Marsden's rendition of Matthew. Highly recommended. Many thanks to The Spawn for bringing this one home to me.

Hey, Kiddo - Jarrett J. Krosoczka. Graphic Memoir. Jarrett's parents bailed on him early in his life and he was brought up by his maternal grandparents. This graphic memoir is a beautiful tribute to them. His love and admiration is palpable; I grew to love and admire them myself. You don't want to sleep on this one. It's wonderful. Krosoczka is a new graphic artist to me and I'll be watching his work from now on with great interest.

The Year of Less - Cait Flanders. Memoir. Audiobook. Cait Flanders imposed a shopping ban for herself back in 2014, but the book isn't really about that. It's more of a memoir. It's also monotonous and repetitive as if she just stitched together a bunch of her blog posts. There are only two things I liked about this audiobook: Cait's Canadian accent, and her epiphany that much of her shopping was not for a real Cait, but an aspirational Cait. I'm guilty of this with books especially, so I could relate. I am planning to use the aspirational question  in the future as a rule-of-thumb.

What I'm currently reading: Oh my God. Too much. I'm still wending my way through Poison a few pages at a time. Ditto the Edward Hopper biography. I'm almost done with the final audiobook in the House of Wang trilogy, A House Divided by Pearl S. Buck. Now that March is here, I've got to get serious about Sooley, by John Grisham, which is the book club's (more about them below) next read, but wait! Somehow, I found myself on Twitter getting distracted by a 1938 novel called Young Man With A Horn by Dorothy Baker. A short work based on the life of virtuoso coronet player Bix Beiderbecke. I need a pajama day or two so I can get all of these done. Kind of hoping for a snowstorm.

Book Club Update: I went to the Tuesday afternoon group, and it was glorious. The conversation about the book never stopped; the participants crackled with intelligence. I'm never going back to Monday nights -- I'm home.

January, 2023 Reading

 Nine books this month, which is a really good number for me. I can't take total credit; some of them were books that followed me into the new year.

Before I discuss those nine, here's what I'm in the middle of reading now:

Spare - Prince Harry. Memoir.  On audiobook. Of course.

Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography - Gail Levin. Aren't all biographies intimate to some degree?

Poison - Susan Fromberg Schaeffer. Novel. It's a roman a clef with a weird Virginia Woolf vibe.

Here's what I want to read:

Ducks - Kate Beaton. Graphic Novel. It just arrived today via ILL. Squeeeee! I know it's going to zoom to the top of my reading pile, but when? Tomorrow? Tonight? As soon as I get off this computer?

Here are the nine for January:

1. Sons - Pearl S. Buck. Novel. The second in a trilogy following The Good Earth. Wang Lung's three sons are an interesting bunch, especially the youngest, Wang the Tiger, a soldier turned warlord. I'm eager to finish the trilogy.

2. The Man Who Invented Christmas - Les Standiford. Nonfiction. An examination of Charles Dickens and his most popular work, A Christmas Carol. I liked it, but it felt padded, as if it were really meant to be New Yorker article-sized rather than book-length.

3. Who Was Michelangelo? - Kirsten Anderson. Nonfiction.

4. Moloka'i - Alan Brennert. Novel. For several decades, Hawaiians exhibiting symptoms of leprosy were ordered by law to leave their families and go into an undetermined quarantine on the island of Moloka'i. This story follows the life of Rachel who is five years old when her symptoms first appear. I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked all the history of Hawaii, but felt the crashing weight of information dumps throughout. Brennert writes beautiful descriptions of the islands. The reader can really see their rugged beauty. The characters are mostly sympathetic and their rituals are presented respectfully and often movingly. My interest in learning more about Moloka'i was piqued. On the other hand, the prose style is a little clunky. The dialogue often seemed anachronistic and POV was all over the place, sometimes all at once. I wish that Brennert had just committed to doing this as straight nonfiction; I think the result would have been more satisfying.

5. Joan is Okay - Weike Wang. Novel. Joan is an attending physician who works in an ICU unit in New York City right about the time that COVID-19 is starting to make its frightening presence known. At times, the novel and the title character have a sort of flat affect, but then there's a good deal of sharp commentary. This is one of those novels I'm going to have to read again to fully absorb.

6. Opening the Road: Victor Hugo Green and His Green Book - Keila V. Dawson (author) and Alleanna Harris (illustrator) Nonfiction.

7. Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver. Novel. Basically, David Copperfield set in Appalachia during the opioid crisis. I never realized that Kingsolver and Dickens had so much in common. You don't have to have read David Copperfield to "get" Demon Copperhead, but it enhanced the experience for me. I suggest pairing those two books, or pairing Demon Copperhead with the nonfiction book Dopesick by Beth Macy.

8. Who Was Shaquille O'Neal? - Ellen Labreque. Nonfiction.

9. Starring Steven Spielberg: The Making of a Young Filmmaker - Gene Barretta (author) and Craig Orback (illustrator). Nonfiction.

DNF:

A House Divided - Pearl S. Buck. Novel. The third book in the House of Wang trilogy. I got a quarter of the way in and had an audiobook malfunction. I'm hoping to get back to it after I finish listening to Spare.

IT'S NOT ME, IT'S YOU, I THINK:

I've been in my book group for a year now, and we just don't seem to meld, or click, or whatever you call it. Our group dynamic is chilly. We engage with the leader (who is the Outreach librarian) but there's no rapport among ourselves. It's painful and I'm frustrated.

I need to feel some sort of connection. As a last-ditch effort, I'm going to try the library's other book group, which meets a little earlier in the day. The leader said that this other group is 'harder to please' and 'complains a lot more', so I'm interpreting that to mean that they are lively and interesting, and that maybe discussions are a little more organic. Wish me luck???

June, 2022: What I Read

 

 

Here's what I'm thinking about today: Val dressed up like a tomato (pronounced Toe-MAH-toe) for the Toecheon Tomato festival in South Korea. For the talent show portion, she wrote and sang a song to the tune of "Feelings" about all the delicious things one can make with tomatoes. She even worked in some Korean lyrics. Val was the hit of the show, and her tribute was not misplaced; the tomatoes from Toecheon are the best tomatoes I've ever eaten.

Sometimes, I want to turn this into a Val blog. She was (is!) a lot more interesting than all my bookworming about. But then I hear her voice asking me, as she so often did: "Are ye daft?" And the way she asked it -- always like she was sincerely wondering. My answers varied.

I know that somehow I must bring this back around to my own book Blob. 

Okay. 

Yes. 

June, 2022 reading:

1. My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business - Dick Van Dyke. Memoir. Audiobook, read by the author. Enjoyable, but a little on the bland side.

2. Who Is Jimmy Carter? -David Stabler. Nonfiction. VERY well done. Carter's life has had so many acts, there is a vigor in the portrayal of him at all junctures and well into old age.

3. Who Was Johnny Cash? -Jim Gigliotti. Nonfiction. The first part of the book is good, then it seems to lose some energy. I think it's hard to pin down the essence of Cash's mystique in a book for younger readers. The best description I've ever read of him is that he was kind of a cross between Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley.

4. Happy-Go-Lucky - David Sedaris. Humor, Essays. Most of the essays seemed familiar; I listened to A Carnival of Snackery not too long ago, but I can never get enough of Sedaris. His father's long, slow decline struck a chord.

5. Pretty Baby - Mary Kubica. Fiction. Audiobook. Suspenseful. I liked the multiple narrators and the Chicago setting.

6. Vinegar Girl - Anne Tyler. Fiction. Re-read. Book group read for July meeting. Anne Tyler is always comfort reading. This is her retelling of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. I want to go back and read Tyler's older titles, starting with A Slipping-Down Life or Celestial Navigation.

7. The Thorn Birds - Colleen McCullough. Fiction. Re-Read. Comfort reading. This time I was entranced by the description of Australia's many micro-climates. Paddy, Fee, Frank and even Mary Carson deserve their own novels. Meggie/Father Ralph had me rolling my eyes. Luke really struck me as a real bastard this time. Still find the Justine section of the book zzzz, although I recognize that Justine is the character McCullough most identifies with -- noticed they are approximately the same age.

8. Who Is Chloe Kim? - Stefanie Loh. Nonfiction. Usually I don't like the 50-page Who Was...? books, but this one was entertaining and well-paced. I didn't know much about Chloe Kim before reading this book, but now I look forward to following her snowboarding career.

The end of June meant that half the year was over, and out of the 39 books I had read so far, four emerged as favorites:

1. Taste - Stanley Tucci. Memoir.

2. Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco - Alia Volz. Memoir/Social History

3. Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner. Memoir.

4. The Leavers - Lisa Ko. Novel.

Fishtailing Out of February OR I Don't Think Snow

 Yeah, I'm done with winter. You'd think that my being a December baby and my birth kicking off Snowmageddon 61-62 that I would love a snow globe world, but no. And where do I live? The Midwest! I want to castigate myself for my geographical shortsightedness, but my teeth are chattering too badly. Let's talk about books instead.

What I read:

Who Were Stanley and Livingstone? - Jim Gigliotti. Nonfiction. A dual biography of the internationally famous British scientist who went missing and the intrepid American journalist who set out to find him.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette - Maria Semple. Novel. I really wasn't getting along with this book at all. It seemed brittle. Glib. Overly aware of its own cleverness. Then I read somewhere that Semple wrote for Arrested Development, and that helped. I began to see Elgie, Bernadette, Bee, and the other characters as extensions of the Bluth clan. But I have one last hangnail annoyance: Why doesn't the title have a question mark? I should have brought that up in book group. (More about book group later. Favorable impression!)

Chasing the Last Laugh - Richard Zacks. Nonfiction. I went down a sad little rabbit hole after finishing this book. I found articles online about a woman named Susan Bailey who had memories as a child that led her to believe that she was the secret great-granddaughter of Mark Twain, and even wrote a book about it. I was pleased because I'd always felt bad that Mark Twain's direct descendant line died out back in 1966 when his granddaughter, Nina died (presumably) childless. But then some Twainite who was really into genealogy wrote a lengthy paper disproving Susan Bailey's claims, and that seemed to put an end to the discussion. Feeling deflated, I ranged between Well, thanks for clearing that up and You asshole.

Garbo - Robert Gottlieb. Biography. Not just a biography, but an exhaustive one. I don't think I'll ever really be able to enjoy a biography again if the biographer isn't madly obsessive. This beautiful volume explores Garbo's early life and career in Sweden, and analyzes her US film career in great depth. There is also a large section of impressions by her contemporaries and much discussion of her abrupt departure from films and into a life where safeguarding her privacy became Job One. From reading Garbo, I got some good ideas for the wishlist. (See below.)

What I'm reading:

The Lincoln Highway - Amor Towles. Novel. Audiobook. I'm not sure how I feel about Towles' latest book. Right now, it's meandering along. Of course, it's meandering with purpose, but still meandering.  I'm engaged enough to be worried/curious about how things will turn out for the main characters, but I did swear at the narrator when the book made another hard left in the narrative. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think The Lincoln Highway will replace Towles' earlier novel Rules of Civility in my affections.

And Never Let Her Go - Ann Rule. True Crime. This is about the 1996 murder of Anne Marie Fahey, a 30-year-old woman who was an administrative assistant to the governor of Delaware. She was involved with Thomas Capano, who was wealthy, successful and also in the upper echelons of politics and business. Although married with four children, he was reluctant to let Anne Marie pursue a future without him. When his charm didn't work, he killed her. This is the first Ann Rule book I've read since Bitter Harvest, and I'd forgotten how she has a tendency to overwrite, but it's so compelling. I can't stop reading.

What I want to read:

What Were The Salem Witch Trials? - Joan Holub. Nonfiction.

Aru Shah and The End of Time - Roshani Chokshi. YA Fiction. This is the next pick for book group. Not really my cup of tea, but I enjoyed my first book club meeting in years, and want very much to continue. The leader, Sarah, is enthusiastic and well-prepared. I knew her when she worked at Reader's World. When we talked, it was like cartoon characters who have big hearts dancing in their eyes, except in our case, it was books dancing.

Dust Bowl Girls - Lydia Reeder. Nonfiction. Women's basketball. Barnstorming. 1930s. Must read. I've been needing a Dust Bowl-themed palate cleanser since I read the abysmal The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah last year.

Change Lobsters and Dance - Lilli Palmer. Memoir. An excerpt from Palmer's memoir was featured in Garbo. I loved her clear and lively writing.

James Harvey wrote about film, and in Garbo, Robert Gottleib included Harvey's gorgeous essay about Camille. I immediately wanted to go find all three of his books:

Watching Them Be: Star Presence on the Screen From Garbo to Balthazar

Romantic Comedy in Hollywood

Movie Love in the Fifties

It's supposed to snow again tomorrow. I see myself curled up on the couch with a book and a chai tea latte.

End of January, Beginning of February, 2022: Too Many Books On The Go

What I read:

Fates and Furies - Lauren Groff. Novel. The story of a marriage from both the husband's and the wife's decidedly different points of view. I loved this book; I ate it up like candy, probably because the second half resembled a soap opera.

The Fran Lebowitz Reader - Fran Lebowitz. Essays. That was a hard go, but Fran, I love you. Truly I do. You are the Dorothy Parker this generation needs and deserves.

Murder Book: A Graphic Memoir of a True Crime Obession - Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell. Graphic memoir. I liked this book so much! Campbell examines why she and her mother are true crime fans, and revisits the cases that most resonated with her (Zodiac, Ted Bundy) gives a generous shout-out to authors and podcasters, and looks at how the narrative has changed since more women are now telling the stories of the crimes. Unsettling, thoughtful, and strangely funny at times. I am now inspired to read more true crime.

What I'm reading: 

Too many books on the go. I'm reading like a butterfly flitting from flower to flower.

Chasing The Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous, Redemptive, Round-the-World Comedy Tour - Richard Zacks. Nonfiction. Audiobook. Mark Twain and his family have been in India for what feels like forever. I'm eager to see them hop to another country.

Memoirs of Stockholm Sven - Nathaniel Ian Miller. Novel. I think I know why I've stalled on this book. Takes place in the Arctic region, and I'm simply too cold for that right now.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette - Maria Semple. Novel. I am really trying with this novel, because it is my first book group book in a looong time, and I really want to be in a book group again. Next Monday night's the night! I'm going to wear my book earrings that my friend Becka gave me!

Garbo -Robert Gottlieb. Biography. It's gorgeous, with photos of Garbo scanned right into the text, but it's printed on coated paper, like a coffee table book, which makes it heavy as hell to hold up in bed at night or carry around.

Kings Row - Henry Bellamann. Novel. Arrgh, this novel is giving me a headache with its rusty prose style and labored psychological stylings. Still, I can't give it up.

What I want to read:

Little Big Man - Thomas Berger. Novel.

And Never Let Her Go - Ann Rule. True Crime/Nonfiction.

"It's probably all Enid Blyton's fault.": A Secret Seven Conversation with the Terrific Two

My Cracked Spinz book group read Puzzle for the Secret Seven by Enid Blyton for our September meeting. Unfortunately, I had spoiled any enjoyment I might have gotten out of the book by first going to YouTube and watching Enid. This biopic presents a rather unsympathetic side of Blyton. Helena Bonham Carter starred as the title character and she really nailed it. I found myself -- and still find, actually -- frozen by that performance from reacting to her work.

Luckily, help was on the way. Cracked Spinz members Val and Paul both grew up in England and read Blyton's Secret Seven and Famous Five books at a young age. I was interested in their "double-vision" --what they remembered all these years about the books and what is there for them now as adults. For a couple of weeks they carried on the following email conversation which they've generously allowed me to turn into a blog post.

Paul:  Hi Val.  First, thanks for reuniting me with the Secret Seven after our 35 year separation.  It was quite an eye-opener.  When I was a kid, I used to prefer the Secret Seven to the Famous Five - Blyton's original band of investigating kids - because I felt I could relate to them more.  The Famous Five were clearly upper class kids from another era, whereas somehow the Secret Seven felt more modern, more democratic.  I can't believe I really felt that way after just reading Puzzle for the Secret Seven.  I was surprised at how dated the mindset was.  Although it was written in 1958, these are more like little Edwardian kids, kids of the empire, with a belief in racial superiority and a duty of care towards the lower orders.  It was appalling really how they fixed up the gipsy woman's caravan, then thought nothing of walking into it uninvited to search for the stolen violin.  I definitely want to read a Famous Five book now to check if they are really more patrician than the Secret Seven.

I don't have any problem with these books still being published and read by kids today, but I wish they wouldn't tinker with them.  In this edition, they've updated the money with references to '50 pence' which didn't exist then, and kids being given 20 pounds - a vast sum in the 1950s - to go to the fair.  It should be kept clear that these books are period pieces and that these people and they way they think belong in the past.

Val:  Paul, I totally agree with what you are saying.  As a child, I found the storylines to be kind of comforting with the cosy tales of tea and parents who were around  but not interfering with adventure!  Reading it as an adult I kept getting tripped up by the language in particular.  They way Blyton describes the poverty-stricken woman is so negative.  Meanwhile, her oldest child is portrayed as being 'not quite right in the head' -- an observation which is unchallenged by any of these so called detectives!

What did you make of her usage of the 'SS' represented in symbols on group badges and the shed door?

I also felt myself getting annoyed at the gender stratification, with the girls often being left out of the most exciting projects.

Paul:  Dunno about the SS thing, but people have tried to make the Nazi connection with Blyton.  I just Googled an article in the Independent about how she seemed not to object to talk of appeasement at some party in the late 1930s - really poor stuff, a complete non-story (it actually has a gaudy "Revealed" headline too, but it doesn't reveal anything).  I doubt she was a Nazi-sympathiser then, but Peter out of the Secret Seven - I could definitely see him in a Gestapo uniform.  I'm not sure she always presents Peter as a hero, though.  He gets called an idiot in this book for insisting on passwords from people he knows, and Blyton really does paint him as an idiot in scenes like that.

And yeah, the sexism was something else that wouldn't be tolerated now.  The girls weren't allowed to investigate anything after dark!  I'd be interested to know what you think about kids reading this kind of thing now.  Do you think 21st century girls could, or should, enjoy these stories?

Val:  My guilty secret is that I saw a lot of myself in Peter!  His need for order and protocol made me cringe but nevertheless...I never thought about the fact that she was belittling him in those scenes, though now you say it, it makes sense.  I have a lingering suspicion that he was much more a reflection of herself.  If you have seen the film 'Enid' on YouTube you'll know what I mean.

The story you linked to seems to be a clear case of self-promotion for the writer!  While I do believe that she had a lot of faults, I would hesitate to paint her as a Nazi sympathiser on such flimsy observations.

As for the sexism, sadly I think these days neither boys nor girls would be really allowed to wander around so freely.  That's a terrible shame as crime stats (concerning children as victims of abduction or assault) really haven't changed since then.  It's all about perception, I suppose.  On that subject, I felt uncomfortable when the hired hand went into the caravan - where the blind child was sleeping alone - and forbade the kids from going in with him.  It's really hard to read this stuff without being influenced by cultural perceptions of appropriate behavior.

The stories seem so old-fashioned to me now, in the language as much as the attitudes.  I'd like to think modern girls would see through that, but can't be sure.  The shelves of W.H. Smiths were stocked so I have to assume somebody is reading these!

The foreword to this story was written by one of Blyton's [two] daughters.  Did you know they tell completely different tales of their childhood?

Paul:  That's interesting about how kids wouldn't be allowed to roam free like we did in the 70s.  During summer holidays we would be out of the house after breakfast sometimes, going on long walks or bike-rides with a butty*-box and coming back around 5pm for our tea.  It was all quite Enid Blyton-ish, I suppose.  (We also formed secret societies and had meetings in sheds and garages).  When we were a bit older we'd be getting on buses and trains and generally getting out and about in the world without adult help.  It seemed like a normal part of growing up but I'm afraid you're right that kids don't do that so much now.  I was walking to school without adult supervision when I was eight or so I think, half an hour each way.  It seemed perfectly safe because there was a couple of hundred other kids all walking the same way.  You'd be hard pressed to find a kid of any age walking to school these days.  All this must distance modern children from the Blyton stories even more, but clearly there is still an appeal.  What could it be?  Why are they still reading them?  I'd love to know.

I never felt creeped out by the bit about Matt in the caravan with the boy, but I've looked back at it and I do a bit now.  "Matt walked into the dark caravan making soft, comforting noises in his deep, kind voice.  Peter flashed his torch swiftly inside and saw Benny's dark head on a pillow in the corner.  Old Matt bent over him."  Is there something wrong with how we assess interaction between adults and children now?  Surely Blyton never intended to suggest anything untoward going on, but this passage does make alarm bells ring in our modern sensibilities.  (My cousin is a primary school teacher in the UK; she has been advised never to touch a child, even to comfort a five-year-old with a scraped knee).

I don't really know anything about Blyton's life, character or her relationship with her daughters.  It's interesting that they have different stories to tell though - were they a bit dysfunctional?

* sandwich - for our transatlantic readers

Val:  My life growing up was pretty much like yours.  We had a massive field at the back and spent entire days there making camps and wishing for a tree house!  We also had secret societies, though nothing much mysterious ever happened.  This led us to go looking for things.  I remember once we decided the bloke down the street was kidnapping people and cutting them up in his shed. (He was always in there banging about - it kind of fit.)  I'll never forget the day we were skulking about in the bit of the field behind his house, peering through the hedge and taking notes (lol).  Then the man himself came up behind us and asked what we were up to.  I have never run as fast in my life.

I wonder if kids today like the books for the same reasons I did - they represent something you can't quite touch but yet it all seems very real, like it could very well happen to somebody - not just you, and kind of comforting.  Maybe we should do some more research on this topic.  I'm going to ask about it on Twitter.

Maybe I noticed the (unintended I am sure) connotations of Matt's actions because I was reading it with an eye out for how it seems in current society and the entirely different place kids today occupy there.

I think I was about 10 or 11 when my mother told me that Blyton was 'not a nice person'.  I can clearly remember that this information upset me, and I read a lot more about it as I grew up.  In a nutshell it seems that she craved attention from children but had no real interest in her own.

I remember reading Noddy and Big Ears (very un-PC names these days), and I also loved Blyton's boarding school books.  Did you read more than the SS and FF?

Paul:  No, I never did read any Blyton outside of FF and SS, but I think you really got to the core of the appeal there, when you said that what happens to the kids in the books could, maybe, possibly happen to you and your 'secret club'.  A member of our secret club also had a sinister neighbour we used to spy on and keep notes about.  We imagined him getting up to all sorts of dastardly deeds and would often sneak into his back garden and try to look through his windows.  We got chased once or twice, too.  Our stories are really similar and it's probably all Enid Blyton's fault.  There were probably kids all over the country harassing perfectly innocent neighbours after reading her books.  Growing up in the suburbs was so boring that you always craved excitement and when it never came you just had to invent it.  Blyton was certainly an inspiration there, and it makes me think of her more sympathetically.  You don't critically examine your influences as a kid, but looking back, I think my childhood experiences were much more colourful because of what her stories egged us on to do.

I'm interested in how culture-specific all this is.  I'd like to read some Korean children's literature to find out what kind of examples it's setting.  I'm guessing there very different.  but the whole thing is skewed by chronology, Blyton being so dated, so you might have to go back in time for a true comparison.  Also, Korean children's literature today, as far as I can see is dominated by foreign stuff like Harry Potter - though I hope I'm wrong.

It's also interesting how most of our observations on this are sociological and not literary.

Bybee:  I have a question:  What would be the approximate age a child would become interested in Blyton?  Also, at what point would they have outgrown the FF or the SS?  Are there any books of hers that appeal to older children, like young adults?

Paul:  Probably started when I was sevenish.  I was done with em by the time I was ten, I think.  Val?

Val:  I am pretty sure I was into the boarding school books by 11 or so.

Paul and Val, thanks so much for agreeing to do this!  I hope you'll both decide to reread a Famous Five book and come back for another conversation.

2011 Pulitzers: New Kid On The Shelf

Warmest congratulations to Jennifer Egan for winning the 2011 Pulitzer fiction prize for her novel, A Visit From The Goon Squad. I'm really looking forward to finding this book, reading it and adding it to my Pulitzer pile. I'm so torn. Should I order it online or cruise the bookstores until I find it here in Korea? These are the kinds of geeky decisions that make life enjoyable.

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In the last hours before the announcement, I had reluctantly abandoned my first choice, Freedom by Jonathan Franzen because I had become firmly convinced that The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee would win. This is as close as I've ever gotten to being right about the Pulitzer -- Lee's book was also nominated. Now that it's out in paperback, my plan is to talk it up as a choice for either Bookleaves or Cracked Spinz.

True Grit, Truly

I reread this 1968 Charles Portis novel again for Bookleaves Book Group. Veronica, Sandra, Bernadette, Jill and I ate at Tony Roma’s and discussed the book, then we went to see the new movie version (which was retitled The Brave for its release in South Korea) at Cine Cube. Then I found a copy of the movie a few days ago. I’m up to four viewings.

My friend Leigh is going back and forth, trying to decide who is the better Rooster Cogburn: John Wayne or Jeff Bridges? I’m going to have to go with Bridges. When I watch the 1969 True Grit, I’m seeing nothing but The Duke. That's John Wayne up there, except the other characters in the movie are calling him Rooster. In the 2010 version, there is no Jeff Bridges, just an old reprobate named Rooster Cogburn. Glen Campbell vs. Matt Damon as LaBoeuf is a no-brainer; I’m more and more charmed by Damon’s nicely nuanced performance with each progressive viewing. Kim Darby vs. Hailee Steinfeld: Even though I love Kim Darby's hair, for the sake of authenticity, I gotta go with Hailee. Poor kid, she got robbed at the Oscars this year.

The thing that really clinches the Coen Brothers' version for me is the music. I really like Elmer Bernstein's scores, but in True Grit, the music is too upbeat. Mattie's father was murdered and she's out for revenge and justice, so it doesn't feel right. The music in the new movie weaves snippets of the hymn "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms" throughout. Steadfast and sad, it seems more appropriate. It is also very fitting for near the end of the movie when Mattie must be quickly borne to safety by Rooster Cogburn.

Although I prefer the remake, something young and primal within me cries out for the original movie as well. Sometimes I require both movies on the same day. I’ve hardly spoken of the book, but Oh. My. God. Even better than either movie. If you haven’t read True Grit yet, stop wasting time on this blog and go find it.

Real Life vs. Read Life

Faaarrrrgghhh!

It's happening again, except this time we're slated to discuss The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, which is a bookish book about books and booksellers and...O the agony.

I wasn't sure about the 2 conflicting events on October 9/10 when I was at the BOOKLEAVES meeting last week, but I did have a funny feeling:

Well, I can't skip book group. As much as I love the Readathon, I'd feel like an ass if I passed up Real Life for Read Life. I'll participate as best as I can, then one free weekend this fall when I'm coin-foraging-broke before payday, I'll have a private little readathon with all the nice Newbery titles I've got stockpiled.

But still: Damn.

Thanks to Veronica for the photo.

Missing Out On A Great Read: The Lost Mind of Me

I was out of BOOKLEAVES for most of the summer because of my trip back to the US, summer camp and all that. Before I left, though, Shanna suggested The Lost City of Z as a future read. At some point, it was decided that this would be our book for the August 29th meeting. I made note of the title and the time when I received Veronica's update.

Perhaps I was distracted by the end of the semester business and busy-ness. Perhaps I was focused on my upcoming trip and didn't pay attention to Shanna's description of the book. I must have had my head elsewhere or I would have noticed the book's subtitle.

However the events transpired, I somehow got the idea that The Lost City of Z was a children's book or perhaps an SF/Fantasy novel. Long story short, I didn't make much of an effort to find this book during Bybee's Book-Buying Binge (BBBB) 2010.

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When I got back to Korea and was giving all those bookly props and bookish devotion to What The Book?'s new location and its luscious contents, I still didn't seek it out. In my mind, I'd already moved on. So what if I didn't read it? I reasoned. Book group members skip books all the time. Some of the greatest sports heroes in history have warmed the bench a time or two. This would be one of those times for me.

Imagine my surprise and subsequent mortification when I went to the meeting and found out that The Lost City of Z is NOT a children's book nor is it part of an SF/Fantasy series. I can't go on; I'll let Publisher's Weekly via Amazon take over:

In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn't stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who has bad eyes and a worse sense of direction. He became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission. Largely about Fawcett, the book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann's vigorous research mirrors Fawcett's obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle. By interweaving the great story of Fawcett with his own investigative escapades in South America and Britain, Grann provides an in-depth, captivating character study that has the relentless energy of a classic adventure tale. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

The Lost City of Z is nonfiction! I like nonfiction! It's about an expedition! I like reading about expeditions! The expedition was ill-fated -- even better!

.Realization was slow to dawn, but as Veronica, Bernadette, Jill, Sandra and Shanna all discussed the book in-depth, insightfully and intelligently, I began to warp-speed through Kubler-Ross's famous 5 stages. Swears poured from me like lava. By the time the book was passed to me and I saw the really cool photos and maps and read snippets here and there of David Grann's intriguing prose, I was past swearing. All I could do was make sounds like "gluhr" and "fuhmyop", punctuated by whimpering. I was so flummoxed that I wanted to smite my own forehead, but I wasn't sure I could locate it properly.

.This has been a hell of a month in Bookworm Central. September can only be better.

Not My Cup Of Whatever They Drink In Sweden

Nothin' seems to change/Bad times stay the same/And I can't run/Sometimes I feel/Sometimes I feel/Like I've been tied/To the whipping post/Tied to the whipping post/Tied to the whipping post/Good Lord, I feel like I'm dyin'...

-Allman Brothers-

I'm not getting on well with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I'm really bored. I don't like the writing style. It is taking way too long to get off the ground. I'm 215 pages in, so I think I've been patient but I'm not being rewarded for my patience.

If this were any other book, I'd abandon it. I'd break up with it via text message. I'm curious to know what became of Harriet Vanger, but every bookworm has her limits. As it is, I feel duty-bound to finish since I'm the one who suggested it for BOOKLEAVES. How was I to know? I was so sure that reading a Swedish novel would be so cool and so hot.

The movie is getting great reviews. I'm sure I'd enjoy it tremendously because the filmmakers have already cut the sludge and bloat and waded hip-deep to retrieve the good story that I know must be in here SOMEWHERE! Hello? (hearing echoes) Hello!

From reading the blurb on the back cover, I know that Blomkvist and Salander are eventually going to meet up and work on solving the mysterious case of Harriet Vanger. I like Salander better, but so far, she's only in the book for brief pages at a time. Every time one of her sections ends I let out an obscenity because I know I'm going to have another long and interminable stretch with Blomkvist, who has had a rather interesting life, but it's detailed so blandly. No, blandly is not the right word. Blandly would feel like red-hot excitement right about now. Is it Larsson's writing or the translation? I wish I knew.

If I hope to finish this book before 1 pm on Sunday, I've got to pull out the big bookworm guns. It's time to get interactive. Although I really hate doing this, I've gotten out my pen and started writing in the margins, having a conversation with the novel. I'm making predictions, educated guesses, rants, rude comments and anything else I can think of to muscle on through and not resort to skimming. Plus, it keeps me awake. This novel has been like a healthy dose of sleeping potion. My poisoned apple. The spindle on the spinning wheel in my attic...well, you get the idea.

Here's hoping that my struggle and effort pays off. Here's hoping that things pick up and get really cliffhanger-ish and I end up loving this book so much that I quit Korea and move to Sweden.

I'm bummed that when I'm finished with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, no one else will ever be able to comfortably read my copy. Unless the next reader feels like I do.

Talya With Cracked Spinz And Bookleaves: My Book Groups

I'm really lucky to be part of 3 book groups. Here's a report of our recent activities:

1. Talya's Book Group: Talya has finally realized that Seoul Women's Book Club is a deadly moniker that hardly matches her vibrant personality, so she's in search of a new name for the group. Any ideas? Meanwhile, in April, we read The Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malott, a novel about three people who gather in Sarajevo to get answers about Gray Banick, a journalist they were all close to who disappeared five years before. Malott's novel capitvated almost everyone in the group. Reading the acknowledgements, I noticed that he studied writing with Steve Heller at Kansas State University. I got to meet Heller almost 20 years ago and read his short story collection The Man Who Drank A Thousand Beers as well as his novel The Automotive History of Lucky Kellerman. It's funny what a small world it can be with readers and writers. Anyway, for our next meeting, we're reading Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. A few months ago, I saw this novel everywhere. Now that I'm looking for it, I can't find it, but the meeting isn't until very late in May which gives me time to track down a copy.

2. Cracked Spinz - Unlike Bookleaves and Talya's Book Group, this one, comprised of individuals who share my workplace, is almost all-male, which makes for some interesting selections. We kicked off the new year with Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. James had the most amusing comment -- he said that it reminded him of a video game -- the characters move into one place and there's a fight and lots of violence, then they move into another place and there's a fight, lots of violence and so on throughout the novel. Paul said that the first time he read the book he didn't get the humor as he did this time around. I was reminded of the first season of Deadwood. For our next read, Alex suggested The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton. I know that the novel deals with anarchy and that the author is famous for creating the detective Father Brown, but little else, so I'm looking forward to expanding my knowledge and seeing what the guys come up with next. Paul suggested Poe's only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838). Gotta admit, I'm intrigued.

3. Bookleaves is already on its sixth book for the year. The only book so far that I have truly loathed was Wicked, but we switched gears big time with Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan, a gripping book of short stories about children living marginal, often dangerous lives in Africa. After that, we read Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, which is a feast for the senses. We're keeping up that international bent by looking to Sweden and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I've been shying away from this book for my own usual stupid, stubborn awkward reasons: it's a mystery, it's a bestseller, but I've got to break free of my snobbish and narrow prejudices, or why be in a book club -- let alone three of them? The next meeting should be doubly interesting -- we're meeting at COEX on May 16, during which time there will be an International Book Fair that we'll be attending. I'm excited, but trying not to get my hopes up too much. Finally, Jill has encouraged us as a group to do more book-swapping at our meetings, which has been fun and added to our already rich and varied conversations about books. Not to mention that there's something so rich-feeling and indulgent when you see piles of books spilling over on a table that's laden with good food.

Isn't it funny that all three groups chose books whose titles mentioned people by their gender, and that the girl groups chose books with girl in the title and the almost all-male group chose a title that included the word man? I wonder if something like this could happen again...or has it in the past and I've just been lazy about spotting patterns?

What's your book group been up to lately?

January: Reading & Reviewing Part 3

I feel like one of those marathon runners who finally stumble across the finish line a week after all the other participants have gone home. Maybe I should make a rule for myself that I can't go on to the next book until I've written a review for the one just finished.

11. An Angel At My Table (autobiography) - Janet Frame. Wow, Janet. Even her quirks had quirks. I'd had this on my TBR for over a year, but had put off reading it because it was the second of a three-volume autobiography. I'd still like to read the other two, but this one is where the real meat, the drama of her life is. I'll write more in a separate blog post since I did it as part of the book/movie challenge.

12. The Rough Guide To Classic Novels (nonfiction) - Simon Mason. As far as book-buying is concerned, this is the best-spent money for the month of January, because I'll be referring to this brilliant little gem over and over again for years. Mason's book could have been a real snoozer, but he shakes it up with recommendations from all over our big blue marble. He also runs the gamut from old to new. In addition, there's a thumbnail suggestion about "where to go next". Mason helpfully mentions the best edition or translation and just when you thought that it couldn't get any better, he gives you a movie tie-in analysis. This is my introduction to the Rough Guide series; I'm truly impressed.

13. Caucasia (novel) - Danzy Senna. This novel is also known as From Caucasia, With Love. It's the mid-1970s. Birdie and her sister Cole are the offspring of a biracial marriage. Cole resembles their African-American father while Birdie has her mother's light skin and Caucasian features. When the parents split, Birdie goes with her mother and Cole goes with her father. Birdie and her mother go underground, living on the run for a couple of years since Birdie's mother may face jail time for questionable activities. Senna keeps that element of the subplot deliberately murky.

Senna's style is compulsively readable, but I was distracted by the bad editing of the edition I read. Stupid, minor stuff that could have easily been cleaned up like referring to actress Hattie McDaniel as "Hattie McDowell", anthropologist Margaret Mead's last name was spelled "Meade", awkward grammar and there's a mild anachronism with the TV show What's Happening. I'm sure that this nitpicky stuff was cleared up in future editions. Another thing that annoyed me was that Birdie seems to be the only one in her family -- immediate and extended -- who has any brains or drive. (It must be a sign of age that I'm growing to despise The Tale Of The Plucky Child. Call me Curmudgeon.)

After finishing this novel for Talya's book group, I thought I was done with Danzy Senna, but I was wrong. As I told Talya in a recent message, I discovered a memoir Senna published last year called Where Did You Sleep Last Night? in which she struggles to untangle the skeins of her father's confusing history. I can't help but wondering how Danzy's story compares with Birdie's.

Bookleaves And Talya With Cracked Spinz

It's been a while since I've written about my book groups. With 3 of them, you'd think they would pop up all over this blog like zits on a middle schooler.

Oops, that wasn't a nice simile. Let me try again: You'd think they would pop up all over this blog like daisies in a lovely meadow.

Anyway, I've been remiss, so let me make it good and give a brief report on each in the order I joined them.

Bookleaves:
Our last meeting found us -- Dana, Rebecca, Shanna and me -- in Chinatown in Incheon. The weather was perfect, so we had tea on the rooftop garden of a coffee shop. Gorgeous. We discussed The Cellist Of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. Although I was initially underwhelmed by the quiet tone of the book, it seems to have grown on me since reading it, and I got even more out of it during our discussion. Shanna has a friend from that area, and has visited Serbia, so I enjoyed hearing about her experiences there. After the meeting, we walked up to a beautiful park that commemorates General Douglas MacArthur's landing at Incheon and viewed his giant statue. (I didn't realize that he was 70 years old at the time of the landing. That's a good set of bowels, and the wattles on his neck were faithfully replicated in bronze for posterity.) After that, we wandered back through Chinatown, browsing and shopping. Up next is The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova on Halloween, which shows brilliant forethought and scheduling. Can't take credit for that, sorry to say. In November, we're reading White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, which will be my second go-round since Cracked Spinz chose it for October, but you won't hear me complaining. In fact, if I could pull off a hat trick and get Talya's Book Group to read it, I'd be feeling a whole new level of bookworm awesomeness.

Talya:
This isn't the actual name of the book group. It's really called Seoul Women's Book Club, but I hate the name -- sounds too staid and boring for a vibrant group whose book selections really kick ass -- so I just refer to it as Talya's Book Group, after our fearless leader, Talya. A couple of meetings ago, we trooped over to Dr. Fish and munched on bread and jam while discussing The 19th Wife, then let the fish munch on our feet. Everyone seemed to enjoy the book, and there was some spirited discussion about which part of the book was more engrossing: Ann Eliza's story or Jordan's efforts to prove his mother innocent of killing his polygamous father. I missed last month's meeting for Burnt Shadows, but I'm told that some people became tearful while discussing the book. I can see how it would happen -- there's so much beauty and pain mingled in that story. Next is Skin by Dorothy Allison -- it's a book of essays in which the author writes about growing up poor in the South and her feelings about being a lesbian, among other things. I won't be able to make that meeting either because of the Readathon, but I find Allison's raw prose compelling.

Cracked Spinz:
In September, we read The Road. For that meeting, Alex, Chris and I met outside The Chicken Shack, which is a scruffy-looking but comfortable establishment nestled in our apartment complex. We shared a couple of baskets of chicken, drank beer and soda, read different passages aloud and wondered about the long-delayed movie version. The concrete background, the twilight hour and the low meeting turnout seemed to go with Cormac McCarthy's stripped-down prose. In October, we read the brilliant and abovementioned The White Tiger. Chris compared it with Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, which has whetted my desire to attempt that book again after nearly two decades. (I used to DNF like a pig running through the corn. I'd hate to see an actual list of books I've abandoned.) Our November book, selected by Becka, is a little gem from 1961*, The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. Becka's choice has garnered a good deal of attention, so I'm expecting a healthy turnout for that meeting. I've encouraged the other Spinz to view the 1969 movie on Youtube so we can have a book vs. film discussion. We'll wrap up the year with Alex's choice, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Being in 3 groups sometimes leaves me a little breathless, but always in a good way.


*Actually, most things that came out in 1961 have a rather gem-like quality.

Bookweek In Ten Short Chapters

I'll bet you thought with these last few posts that I'm all about reviews. I'll bet you also thought that I was all about reading. Well, I am, but I've also been bookSocial and bookShopping this past week. Here's my bookStory:

1. My new(est) book group met to discuss Laughter In The Dark last Wednesday evening. We had a great time talking about the novel and trying to figure out who should be cast in a movie version while munching on pizza and chicken and washing it all down with soda and beer. Our next book is the 1889 humor classic Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. I'm coveting the audiobook version, read by *sigh* Hugh Laurie.

2. This new book group has a name now. We are THE CRACKED SPINZ. That's pronounced "spines", of course.

3. I had to visit my bank in Gumi on Friday, so I made lunch plans with my first bookworm buddy in Korea, Pablo. Looking back, I think that I'm more interested in nonfiction now because of him. Pablo just finished a book about the immigrant experience in the UK called Dark Heart by Nick Davies. He described it at great length, and I added it to my wishlist. Pablo thinks that the US immigrant experience is probably parallel to what's described in Dark Heart.

4. On Saturday, I went to Seoul to meet some of my non-bookish friends and chow down at TomaTillo's, a new Mexican restaurant I'd heard so much about. Happily, the restaurant is at Jonggak, and one of the Bandi & Luni bookstores is right there in the subway. Exit 2. It's imprinted in letters of fire on my...well, anyway...I bought a third copy of Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (one was loaned out in 2005 and never came back and the other was for CanadaBoy's birthday). I also decided to buy Haruki Murakami's memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. I'm not exactly a Murakami fan, but I couldn't resist that play on Raymond Carver. Just when I was about to leave, I spotted -- BIG BOOK SCORE!-- The Egg And I by Betty MacDonald. I've been hoping that this book would pop up in Korea. I also have The Plague And I and Onions In The Stew and Anybody Can Do Anything on my wishlist. By abebooks website I sat down and wept.

5. My friends, burritos and lime margaritas were all waiting for me right outside exit 6 of the Jonggak subway. Approaching the steps, I ran smack-dab into ANOTHER bookstore! Who knew? I made a quick survey of the store, but didn't buy anything. I would've stayed longer, but I was thirsty.

6. Flash-forward 5 hours. My friends and I were still at TomaTillo's. We'd had our fill of Mexican food and drink. Now we wanted dessert. I craved a big piece of chocolate cake like nobody's business, but suddenly, something else was on my mind. I had to visit the Kyobo bookstore over by the U.S. embassy, which was about 10 minutes from where I was sitting. I had to get there before it closed, because I had an overwhelming feeling -- it was almost like panic -- that a copy of Olive Kitteridge was there, waiting for me. My non-bookish friends had roused themselves enough to have a conversation about favorite childhood books (Nancy Drew, Enid Blyton, Judy Blume, C.S. Lewis), but I regretfully said goodbye and hurried off down the street.

7. BINGO! BOOK SCORE! Olive Effing Kitteridge! Damn, it was expensive -- 26,000W for a trade paperback. I couldn't be deterred. It's a Pulitzer fiction winner. After that, I was all done in. I had to find a pillow.

8. Sunday. Itaewon. Talya's book group was meeting at 2 pm to discuss My Place by Sally Morgan. Just enough time for lunch and a visit to What The Book? where I found what I was after: The Log From The Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck for the Eco challenge and Girlfriend In A Coma by Douglas Coupland so that I might finish the Canadian challenge before the Canada Day deadline. I met up with Val who was trading in a bunch of paperbacks. She got 27,000W in credit. That's something that never happens to me.

9. Talya's book group AKA "Seoul Women's Book Club". More chocolate cake. I didn't finish My Place, but neither did most of the group. I'm going to, though. The next book is A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I read for my original book group, BOOKLEAVES.

10. Took the subway home. I got a seat and eagerly cracked open Olive Kitteridge. A few chapters later, I noticed that none of the stations we were going through sounded familiar. WTF? I missed my transfer at Guro and ended up somewhere near Incheon, which is way way west of where I live. Backtracking put me out of a reading mood, but not for long. Shortly after I left Guro for the second time, I was back in the biblio saddle again. That's me, yodeling.

Bookleaves Meeting: The Red Tent

While I was reading The Red Tent, I kept trying to imagine exactly how it looked. The closest I could get in my mind was this: Something tells me I'm pretty far off.

Anyway, the BOOKLEAVES book club met at Mitzi's, and she created a red tent by draping a wine-colored throw over her exercise machine. It was exotic, imaginative and funny -- just like Mitzi. I forgot my camera, so I hope someone took a picture of it.

Even better, Mitzi went to Ali Baba in Itaewon and had them make up a gorgeous feast of Middle Eastern cooking to fit in with the book's locale. We had pitas -- both steamed and baked, sweet yogurt, sour yogurt, yogurt with nuts, hummus and falafel. That was actually the first time I'd eaten falafel, although I've loved that word for decades. Delicious. I may have to make a trip to Ali Baba myself. Since Mitzi's birthday was the following day, she ordered a scrumptious lime pie from Tartine's and Veronica brought a beautiful ice-cream cake from Baskin-Robbins. Wonderful stuff.

Most of the group had a favorable response to the book, but it didn't seem to generate a lot of conversation. While I was reading it, I wished several times that I had a Bible with the Old Testament, so I could compare The Red Tent with Genesis 34. I also mentally kicked myself once more for not buying a book I saw last year called Reading The Bible As Literature. I think it would've helped.

Although I like the idea of a red tent for those special days, and I enjoyed reading about the daily routines and customs of Jacob and his wives, The Red Tent didn't really rock my world. The pacing of the story often felt off -- either too rushed or too leisurely. Also, I don't think the first-person narrative by Dinah was the best choice stylistically. Another thing that bugged me is that Diamant seems to tip her hand too much. For example, young Dinah is practically dying with excitement to meet her grandmother. She goes on and on about it so much that the eventual disappointment she encounters is somewhat diluted for the reader.

I'd really like to hear other opinions of this novel because part of the problem was me. I'm at a point in my life where I'm just not interested in reading about mating and menstruation and childbearing. Twenty, fifteen, even ten years ago I couldn't get enough of stories like these. Now they just make me tired. I would rather have been following Jacob and his sons through their workdays.

Because of this, I was relieved when one of the BOOKLEAVES members, Rebecca, pointed out that we've been reading a lot of books lately with a feminine bent and she suggested Child 44 as a future read. I've seen this novel reviewed on several blogs, and I'm looking forward to it.

I'm going to head over to the library now and look for a copy of the Old Testament.