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.

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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.

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.

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.

Welcome To My Reading Week: Early July, 2021

 Okay, let's do this. I've got my Belle (Beauty and the Beast) socks on and my reading journal at my side. Here's a look at my read life from July 1-11:

What I read:

Who Is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson? - James Buckley, Jr. Nonfiction. I know that I complained about the 50-page offerings in the Who Was...? series, but this one felt just right. Not rushed at all. I enjoyed reading about how Dwayne Johnson grew up with a father and grandfather who were famous wrestlers, and how Dwayne tried to become a successful pro football player before following in the family business and finding success in the WWE. Despite its brevity, the book did justice to Johnson's charm and charisma.

The Mayor of MacDougal Street - Dave Van Ronk. Memoir. Recently, I watched Inside Llewyn Davies, a Coen brothers movie that came out a few years ago, while I was living in Busan. It was one of the films featured at the Busan International Film Festival, but I couldn't get a ticket to see it. The story of a folksinger going through a rough patch in Greenwich Village in 1961, the title character is loosely based on Dave Van Ronk who seemed to know everyone and everybody across several musical genres, including a new kid from Minnesota called Bob Dylan. Van Ronk died in the middle of working on this memoir, so parts of it feel a bit disjointed, and while his musical insights are illuminating and entertaining, those sections are a bit rambly. Ditto for his political views. Still, I'm glad to have read The Mayor of MacDougal Street. (Many thanks to The Spawn for tracking down both the book and the movie for me.) Dave Van Ronk was a hilarious guy with a trenchant sense of humor, and his chapter about a cross-country trip from NYC to LA with a fellow musician and a 12-year-old kid in tow makes up for the unevenness of some of the other chapters. One big surprise: Dave Van Ronk was also heavily into science fiction fandom. What if he was at a convention I attended in San Francisco back in the early 1990s? My heart beats a little faster to imagine it. By the way: If anyone is working on a time machine, please consider sending me to Greenwich Village, 1958-1961. Thank you.

What I'm reading:

The Night Watchman - Louise Erdrich. Novel. At first, I didn't like the latest winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and complained about it bitterly in a couple of letters to my bookwormy friends Care and Teri. But once I got to the 170-page mark, I settled in, or Louise Erdrich settled in, and now I like it much better. 

Little Bird of Heaven - Joyce Carol Oates. Novel. I'm audiobooking this one, and I love it. Typical JCO dark and depressing and sharp with an upper New York State setting to match the bleakness of the narrative. I never thought of listening to Oates on audiobook before, but it's an inspired match. I feel a little crazy after my commute, but in a good way.

Cheeky: A Head-to-Toe Memoir - Ariella Elovic. Graphic Novel. If Elovic never does another book in her whole career, and she will, because she's only 30, she will have performed a valuable service to female humanity. This funny, frank, charming, whimsical, eye-opening memoir is her effort to change the conversation with herself about her body self-consciousness from "Imperfection!" to "I'm perfection!" I'm already halfway through Cheeky and loving every single page of it. I think it's already influencing my thinking, because I winced when a friend took a selfie of herself and her pet and asked us to excuse her unmade-up face, which is absolutely beautiful as it is. Anyway, I hope Cheeky gathers a wide audience, and I wish it could have somehow been around back in the 1970s and 1980s. There's that time machine longing again.

Yikes, Two Months!

 No, I haven't lost that blogging feeling! I woke up this morning, casting about for reasons and excuses why it's been two frigging months. But nevermind. Blog, just blog!

So waaaaaaaaaaay back in March: That was a good month for reading:

1. Little Town on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder

2. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less - Greg McKeown

3. Always Young and Restless - Melody Thomas Scott

4. Solutions and Other Problems - Allie Brosh.

5. Who Was Catherine the Great? - Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso

6. Who Is Kamala Harris? - Kirsten Anderson

7. Who Was Walt Whitman? - Kirsten Anderson

Notes:

I always love me some Laura, but the minstrel show is pretty ugh. Also ugh but also kind of horrifying and funny was Pa's dream about going to the barber only to wake and find that a mouse has been chewing off his hair to make a nest.

My takeaway from Essentialism is that if you say no, people will be pissed off in the short term. If you say yes, they won't really respect you for it. This book was too closely related to a very narrow sliver of the workplace and not enough to other avenues of life.

Always Young and Restless was fun as I expected, but there was also more depth than I expected.

Solutions and Other Problems: I'm just not a fan of Allie Brosh's style of art, but I very much enjoy her writing.

Who Was Catherine the Great?  Who indeed! Wow, the authors tackled some extremely grown up subjects here to present a portrait of a complex woman which is satisfying to readers of all ages.

The Kamala Harris biography felt rushed out and was disappointingly short.

Who Was Walt Whitman? wasn't one of my favorites of this series. It seemed a little hazy.

The Nine of July, 2018

Here are the nine books I read and listened to during July:

1. No Ordinary Time - Doris Kearns Goodwin. A portrait of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt during the WWII years. I audiobooked this one. Found out too late that it was abridged, but the late Edward Herrmann's narration was everything.

2. The Good Daughter - Karin Slaughter. Oh no. No. Did not like. The premise was intriguing -- two sisters, their defense attorney father and a violent crime in their past that collides with the title character's present -- and I appreciated the whiffs of Flannery O'Connor and Harper Lee, but the whole thing was so overwritten and bloated.

3. A Raisin in the Sun - Lorraine Hansberry. I finally read this classic 1959 play about a Chicago family trying to move out of the inner city and all of the stumbling blocks that come from forces both outside and inside. I was impressed and moved by Hansberry's description of her characters and other aspects from the stage directions. I wish she had lived out a full lifespan, because she would be a majestic driving force in so many different art forms.

4. Kitchens of the Great Midwest - J. Ryan Stradal. Audiobook. The story of Eva, a woman with a once-in-a-lifetime palate that she seemed to have inherited from her chef father and wine connoisseur mother, is a delight. The book is structured in chapters featuring characters that all played a part in Eva's life. It's like a recipe, of sorts, which works because food is a recurring theme. It's funny and poignant. The narrators -- one male and one female -- are on point. I can't believe I hemmed and hawed about reading this book for a couple of years. One of my favorites for the month.

5. The Letters of Sylvia Plath Vol. I 1940-1956 - Sylvia Plath. Peter K. Steinberg and Karen V. Kukil, eds. I finally finished this huge tome of letters written by the youthful Sylvia. This volume takes the reader up to October, 1956. Sylvia Plath is keeping her marriage to fellow poet Ted Hughes a secret because she's afraid of losing her scholarship to Cambridge. They are living apart and finding the situation untenable. I wish I could freeze time at this point and leave them in love and trembling on the cusp of fame. Vol II 1956-1963 comes out soon. September in the UK and October 30 in the US. Steinberg and Kukil are brilliant editors. It was such a relief to read Sylvia's words without all the choppy ellipses.

6. Killing and Dying - Adrian Tomine. I was so pleased to find this graphic short story collection. I've been a big fan of Tomine's since I read Shortcomings. He's described as the graphic novel Raymond Carver, and that seems to be apt. The title comes from a story about a would-be comedian.

7. Lover of Unreason - Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev. A biography of Assia Wevill, the woman who is best known for her part in the breakup of Sylvia Plath's and Ted Hughes' marriage. By the time she entered their lives, she was on her third marriage and had a history of infidelities. From her history, one would have predicted that Hughes would have been another scalp in her belt, to put it crudely, but she met her match. I began Lover of Unreason absolutely despising Assia, but by the end, I was surprised to feel deep sympathy. This is for readers who want to know the rest of the story -- what happened after the events of February 11, 1963.

8. Born a Crime - Trevor Noah. Noah's memoir would be entertaining in any form, but I'm glad I got the audiobook. He is so funny and such a great narrator. The people in his life, especially his mother, spring to life. The book is also educational because the reader gets thumbnail sketches of South Africa's troubled history and sharp observations about the hateful, convoluted, contrived system that was apartheid. This was my favorite read (listen) for July.

9. The Bell Jar: A Novel of the Fifties - Linda Wagner-Martin. I'd forgotten how dull literary criticism can be. The Bell Jar is so vibrant, but you'd never know it from these essays about the book that are as dry as Shredded Wheat.

Although I only read nine for July, I'm pleased with the list, which seems like a good mix, if you don't count my Plath obsession.

Get a load of this: A friend actually told me that I couldn't count the books I listened to because I didn't read them with my eyes.  I took a deep breath and explained without swearing or screaming that the books were merely coming through one of my other senses and still had to be processed by my brain. Any book processed by my brain was going into my reading journal. The End.

Hours later, I realized I'd forgotten to mention people who read in Braille.

 But really. Sheesh.

All About August Reading

I finished seven books in August! Clearly, the heat and humidity didn't slow me down at all.

As you can see, my Hamilton obsession hasn't abated one iota.

Here's how the deal went down:

1. Kick: The True Story of JFK's Sister and the Heir to Chatsworth - Paula Byrne. (biography) With every book I read about the Kennedy siblings, I despise Joe and Rose Kennedy even more. Where they were utter monsters in the case of Rosemary, in Kick's (Kathleen's) case, they were simply overbearing, expecting their adult children to toe their line, especially where religion was concerned. Paula Byrne provides a sympathetic look at a vital, independent young woman who lost her life in a plane crash at 28 amidst scandal. Sometimes the book is a little fangirlish and gossipy and repeated phrases or ideas following a similar theme can be grating, but these are nitpicks. For those who are fascinated by the Kennedy mystique, this lacks the pathos and drama of Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter, but it's worth a look at a life lived with blazing intensity.

2. A Family Matter - Will Eisner. (graphic novel) Written and illustrated by the man who coined the term "graphic novel", this is the uncomfortable tale of an elderly patriarch who is dying, and his children who are greedy, angry and damaged in varying degrees. Their complicated lives are sketched minimally but effectively as they gather to make decisions about the old man.

3. Dead Presidents - Brady Carlson. (nonfiction) A fun, informative and educational look at the afterlife of United States presidents. Carlson covers such topics as memorials that are both large and small; how presidents' reputations change over time (Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon are prime examples); and all sort s of delectable trivia tidbits about each president. Weirdest thing: the LBJ robot! Something interesting: Eisenhower was the last president to have his body taken back to his home by train. Since he was the president who championed and funded the interstate highway system, it would have been much more fitting if he had gone to his final resting place in that manner, but perhaps that is impractical. Carlson's quirky writing and enthusiastic research made for a quick, entertaining read. Fans of A.J. Jacobs and Bill Bryson will enjoy Dead Presidents.

4. Idiot Brain - Dean Burnett. (nonfiction) Welsh neuroscientist Burnett explores what makes our brains tick. Why do our brains understand the right and proper ways to behave and then we turn around and undermine our own efforts? Short answer: the right/proper section of our brain is fairly new and the older part, "idiot brain" "reptile brain" is going with what has worked for survival for thousands of years, thank you very much. Some of the book seems dense with information, but Burnett keeps it light with jokes and humorous examples. Although I enjoyed Idiot Brain, a book I read late last year, Focus, by Daniel Goleman, covers a lot of the same ground, and is my preferred read on the subject. I don't know if that's the newer or older part of my brain popping off. Sorry!

5. The Emigrants - Johan Bojer. (novel) This 1920s Norwegian novel follows the fortunes of a small group of people from a small village in Norway who are down on their luck and decide in the early 1880s to follow a friend who emigrated several years before, to America. The strongest, starkest part of the novel is their arrival and first years on the bleak Dakota prairie, homesteading in sod houses and pitting themselves against nature and isolation. Also effective is Bojer's depiction of feeling caught between two worlds. I really liked this book and wish that I could read a more modern translation. The copy I read was translated in 1925 by someone who was obviously English and hung out with the likes of Bertie Wooster.

6. Burr - Gore Vidal. (novel) I read Burr back in 2012 when my long-lost, lamented book group, Cracked Spinez, decided one month to feature works by Gore Vidal. As I suspected, I enjoyed Burr even more this time, since I am all a-wash in Hamiltonia.  Burr catches up with its title character in old age, an old scoundrel who has just gone fortune-hunting and married a wealthy widow. Although nearing 80, he still has dreams of his own empire, possibly in Texas. Meanwhile, he dictates his memoirs to a young law student/reporter, Charlie Schuyler, who is intent on digging up dirt about Burr's possible relation to presidential hopeful Martin Van Buren. With mordant wit, Burr seems to reveal all, but remains a charming, maddening enigma. I really love this book, and I miss the hell out of Gore Vidal.

7. My Theodosia - Anya Seton. (novel) More evidence of my Hamilton mania. Blame this one on Goodreads. They saw that I was reading Burr and so kindly and considerately recommended My Theodosia to me. Thanks, guys. Theodosia was the only child of Aaron Burr and Seton's 1941 novel details their devoted and intense relationship.  An excellent blend of "historical" (wonderful, thorough research!) and "novel" (a teenaged flirtation with Washington Irving? A passionate affair of the heart with Merriweather Lewis? Eliza Hamilton referring to Alexander as "Sandy"? Hmm.). There are a couple of Easter eggs in My Theodosia: Hamilton has a thought that could possibly be a clue about what led to their fateful meeting in New Jersey; and Seton makes a glancing reference to the woman Burr would end up marrying late in life for her fortune.  Good stuff; I ate this book up like potato chips. Now the bad: My Theodosia was Seton's first novel, and she had some rookie problems with pacing, characterization and other pesky novel-writing things. At one point, she had a POV switch that nearly gave me whiplash. (No, that's not so bad, yes you're right.) Here's what's really bad: Even though I enjoyed this book, I really can't recommend it because there are some severe problems with racism. Political incorrectness doesn't even begin to cover it. Although I argued to myself that the racist passages in question could be an accurate depiction of how Theodosia, Aaron and other characters talked and thought in the late 18th and early 19th century, Seton went way over the top and there was a lot of gratuitous nastiness that was permissible in the publishing world in 1941. If I could unread some of those passages, I would. Not enough Visine in the world. I ended up not rating the book on Goodreads because of this issue. I lovehate and hatelove My Theodosia, and hesitate to read any of Anya Seton's other work. 

A Four-Book February

Four books again this month, and I even had an extra day in February this year! Not horrible, but not my standard. Packing and moving and driving...oh my!

This is what I read:

1. Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier. After reading The French Lieutenant's Woman, I didn't want to leave Lyme, where most of the novel takes place, so I decided to stay there with Remarkable Creatures, a historical novel (early 1800s) about amateur paleontologist Mary Anning and her fossil-hunting friend, Elizabeth Philpot. They were confederates in a world of men greedily eager to take credit for their accomplishments while harrumphing about how unladylike it is for women to take an interest in fossils. I loved Mary and Elizabeth, and hated that they had a catfight of sorts over one of these stupid asses that couldn't have found a T. Rex if he'd had it served to him on a platter for Sunday dinner. I remember enjoying Girl with a Pearl Earring, but I was really impressed with this novel by Chevalier. Can't decide which of hers to read next.

2. The Revenant - Michael Punke.  I liked the novel, but it was a bit stiff and starchy. It read like nonfiction, but not in a good way. Didactic is the word I think I am looking for. The only part where it seemed truly lively was when Hugh Glass was travelling with a group of French-Canadians down the river. Otherwise, it was a slog. Bit of a disappointment; but I'd gladly see the movie again.

3. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen - Lucy Knisley.  Wow. I typed this title and got hungry all over again. Graphic novelist Knisley grew up with a chef for a mother and a foodie for a father, so from the very beginning, she was exposed to the very best of culinary delights. She recounts these delights in gorgeous illustrations and recipes. So good. So satisfying. How many ways can you say Yum?

4. Think Small - House Beautiful. I was enjoying reading about how people make the most of their small living spaces and devouring the color-soaked photos as I turned the glossy pages, but then it started getting a little book-unfriendly. Draperies to conceal your books?  NO. Hang artwork over the  books on your bookshelves? NO.  No, no, no. There just aren't enough noes.

Mom has been sprung from the nursing home and we are getting settled into the new place, so my reading should pick up again. I'm reading The Boys in the Boat. Great stuff.

November: Reading and Writing Cage Match

So, November was National Novel Writing Month.  Reading was to take a back seat, or perhaps get out of the car and take a bus.  But you know what? Reading did not go quietly.  When Reading saw an opportunity to triumph over writing, Reading was not shy about pressing the advantage. Here are the highlights:

1. Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton.  Hamilton had me jumping every which way in this black comedy that's sort of like Mr. Hyde and Mr. Hyde.  George Harvey Bone, the main character, is an oversized alcoholic who idly spends his days at the cinema waiting to drink again in London with a particularly nasty bunch who barely tolerate his presence. His chief attraction to this group is Netta, a would-be actress whose beauty is only just skin-deep.  George Harvey Bone is also mad. With a click, he goes into "dead moods" in which he realizes how badly he's being treated by Netta and makes meticulous plans to kill her.  I didn't know which way to turn! Part of me wanted George to stay in his dead mood and finish off the despicable Netta and her equally horrible friends, and the other part of me wanted him drop that crowd and go towards the few people who appreciated him.  This unease about the character is heightened by the setting of the novel:  England is but months from war with Germany.  Neville Chamberlain has just made the "Peace in our time" speech.  Hamilton's writing is freakish and brilliant.  I couldn't leave this book alone till I finished it, NaNo or no.

2. Friends with Boys - Faith Erin Hicks.  YA Graphic novel.  Maggie, a homeschooled young girl in maritime Canada with three older brothers enters high school.  With all the awkwardness of starting high school and public school, she also is haunted by the ghost of a 19th century sea captain's widow. I love Hicks' art, that very clean looking black and white ink style.  I loved the family dynamics. I loved their Canadian-ness.  I loved that I had a library I could walk to and get away from my computer and NaNo.

3. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - Marie Kondo.  The Japanese decluttering expert has a system for ridding one's life of clutter: Make categories (clothes, books, etc.) and individually handle each item asking: "Does this spark joy?"  If it doesn't, throw it out.  Sounds weird, but it works. Kondo herself has a weird sort of OCD charm.  Her favorite book is Alice in Wonderland.  It shows.  Oddly relaxing, like lying back with a cool cloth on my forehead after spewing words hour after hour after hour during NaNo.

4. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath - Sylvia Plath.  What a pair we made, Sylvia and I.  Running away from NaNo and my writing block, I fell upon the futon and started reading about SP's writer's block which seemed to leave her when she journalled. She always had plenty of words to beat herself up about not writing.  And this, always this as a refrain: "Learn German."  The only time she seemed quiet(er) in her mind was when she was observing something in nature. Maybe being a scientist would have saved her, although that is a preposterous thing to say 50 years on.

5. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - Marie Kondo.  At this point NaNo was going reasonably well, but I still felt the need.  The need for read!  Especially on the subway.  So I read this again and basked in the idea of having so few belongings and so much space that things could be stored vertically. Even folded things like shirts and socks and underwear.  Then I would get off the subway and fly into a tidying frenzy. Even as I write this, I want to get up and start tidying now. This book is strange, and sometimes a little cheesy, but it got under my skin. Worth the Kindle price of $9.99.

6. The Slaves of Solitude - Patrick Hamilton.  In this novel, the war is on and rationing is making its painfully pinching self felt. Miss Roach has moved into a boarding house in a small town near London to escape the Blitz. Life is a series of small aggravations growing larger and larger, like the pompous old boarder with whom she has to eat dinner each night who has decided that she's fair game for his hateful remarks. There's also the American Lieutenant who sees all of England as his very own pub and brothel, and may or may not be Miss Roach's sweetheart.  Then there's Miss Roach's acquaintance, the German-born Vicki, who becomes the very definition of "frenemy".  As in Hangover Square, there is lots and lots of drinking, except with rationing, whiskey is in short supply, so it's mostly gin served up every conceivable way.

7. How Koreans Talk - Sang-Hun Choe and Christopher Torchia.  I was using this as a reference during NaNo since that project is set in Korea, but when the writing was going slowly, I ended up reading huge chunks and eventually finished it.

Still working on:
Insomnia by Stephen King.  I dipped into this novel at intervals, trying to absorb King's storytelling technique.  Trying to figure out how he avoids adverbs, only to find them cropping up here and there.  I was reassured.  More often than not, after a session with Uncle Stevie, I felt like I could NaNo again.

May Reading and Reading and Reading

In spite of all those abandoned books, I got a lot of reading done during May:

1. The Kindness of Strangers - Mike McIntyre. Nonfiction.

2. The Total Money Makeover - Dave Ramsey.  Nonfiction.

3. 31 Tasty Boneless Chicken Breast Recipes - Jenny Collins. Nonfiction.

4. The Man Cave Cookbook - Matt Thompson.  Nonfiction.

5. Labor Day - Joyce Maynard.  Fiction.

6. Rifles for Watie - Harold Keith.  Fiction.

7. Our Only May Amelia - Jennifer L. Holm.  Fiction.

8. Call Me Zelda - Erika Robuck.  Fiction.

9. Good Eggs - Phoebe Potts.  Graphic memoir. (About infertility, not food)

10. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind - T. Harv Eker.  Nonfiction.

11. The Sportswriter - Richard Ford.  Fiction.

12. The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green and the Gilded Age - Janet Wallach.  Nonfiction.

13. The Guts - Roddy Doyle.  Fiction.

14. A Mummer's Wife - George Moore.  Fiction.

15. Hark!  A Vagrant! - Kate Beaton.  Graphic novel.

16. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou.  Memoir.

Favorites:
The Kindness of Strangers, The Total Money Makeover, The Man Cave Cookbook, Rifles for Watie, Good Eggs, The Guts, A Mummer's Wife, Hark! A Vagrant! and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

If I had them to do over again, I might not:
31 Tasty Boneless Chicken Breast Recipes, Labor Day, Call Me Zelda, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and The Richest Woman in America.

Happy Mother's Day To Me

Couldn't resist.  I ordered a copy of Alison Bechdel's latest graphic novel, Are You My Mother?  I'm a huge fan of Fun Home, and Bechdel's work in general.  "Fan" seems like the wrong word -- my feeling is more of a hushed admiration and awe.

The mother theme and Mother's Day approaching seemed to dovetail nicely, and I've always been about patting myself on the back for giving birth, even though it was nearly 3 decades ago.  Also, Are You My Mother? promises to be a richly layered treatment of a complex relationship.  Even better. Motherhood comes in all flavors and textures, and I'm not in a Marmee mood this year.

All the books I order from overseas fly to me, but I hope this one really flies.

Two Cents!

Oh. My. God.  Bookish delight.

 I stumbled into the graphic novel section at Hastings today.  It was kind of funny right from the beginning.  I was squinting at the shelves (bifocals, I scorn you but I need you) looking for some Rick Geary.

 The sales associate came up to...associate?  I mentioned Geary's name and his series of books based on grisly events like the Lizzie Borden case, the bloody Benders, the murders of Lincoln, Garfield, etc. and he looked blank.  Then he admitted that even though he's read 300 and The Crow, and graphic novels were a cool medium, his knowledge of the genre "basically suck[ed]" and he was being transferred to another department.

The section wasn't anything to write home about, but I found a GN for $1.99 called Last Exit Before Toll, and decided to give it a try.  Then I found another graphic novel called Maria's Wedding.  Not bad; I decided to get it as well if it was the same price as the other book.  I peered at the back.  $0.02!  Really?

At the register, I handed the book to the checkout guy.  "Is this price for real?"

He immediately went into a whispered conference with his supervisor, who was standing nearby.  The supervisor said, "Go ahead," in a loud, pissed-off voice.

"OK," the checkout guy said, "Two cents."  He rang up both books.  "Your total is two-seventeen."

"Wow," I said.  "That's mismarked, isn't it?"

"It might be."  He sounded a little pissed himself.  I wondered if he was pissed at me; if he thought I was moving stickers around on books.  I wanted to pursue the subject, but there were customers behind me, so I took my books and moved on from concerned to triumphant as I exited the store.

 Two cents!  Have you ever high-fived yourself?   I'm so going to enjoy this book.

January: Reading & Reviewing Part 2

I had such a good reading month, but I've got so much (too much?) to say about these books and so many to review. Even after I natter on and on about a book, I'm still not sure if I've conveyed the essence and struck the spark that will make everyone want to go out and read it immediately.
Oh well, here we go again:

7. and 8. Maus I: My Father Bleeds History and Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began (graphic novels) - Art Spiegelman. This complex and subtle Pulitzer prizewinning graphic novel is a must-read. More than once, to tease out all the levels of meaning. I didn't know what to make of it at first. It seemed strange to see the characters drawn as animals. Then, later on when Art's old comic from the 1970s is found, it seems even stranger to see Art and his family represented as human. It was almost like they were too vulnerable, so it was a relief and felt normal when they reverted to mice again.

I also had reservations about the juxtaposition of the WWII storyline and the subplot chronicling Art's frustration, anger and worry over his father's increasing frailty, his realincomprehensible behaviors (like destroying Art's mother's diary) and his stubborn habits. It works though -- Young Vladek Spiegelman is brave, cool and resourceful. He's a survivor. When Art was irritated with Vladek, I understood that, but I felt much more compassion for Vladek, seeing him as a shadow of his former self. I was irritated with Art because it felt as if he couldn't understand what Vladek went through, even though Art is getting the story from his father and Art is the one who is presenting the fear and horror of the Holocaust to the readers. Quite an interesting feat with this arrangement of layers. Almost sleight-of-hand. Art Spiegelman really digs in and is unafraid to show himself as uncomprehending and angry, and all of that makes Maus that much more powerful.

9. A Boy Of Good Breeding (novel) - Miriam Toews. No one can accuse Miriam Toews' novels of being plot-driven. Her method is to create lovable, quirky characters, give them odd names (like Knute or Summer Feelin') then mine those quirks and oddnesses for all they're worth.

On one hand, I actually felt as if life in Algren, Manitoba (population, 1,500 -- give or take a few) might be what life is really like in a small town (the smallest?) in Canada and I was awash in all that folksy charm. On the other hand, Hosea Funk, the mayor of Algren was really quirky and really sweet and I began to get that jangly feeling that occurs when I sit on the couch eating Kellogg's Frosted Flakes right out of the box and watch too many sitcom marathons in a row on TV Land.

Shockingly, I found myself wanting Anne-Marie MacDonald to darkly descend and overpower Miriam Toews and order her out of the office to the nearest Tim Horton's just for a couple of chapters so she could shake her bleak, depressing thang and mitigate some of that sweetness and quirk.

Even though this wasn't my favorite read of the month, I'm grateful to Shanna for passing it along to me, happy that I'm now a Grain Elevator or something like that (4 books) in The Canadian Book Challenge and believe it or not, still game to read another Toews book, preferably the memoir about her father, but The Flying Troutmans would suit me fine, too.

10. Haiku (poetry) - Basho. How can verse so compressed be so fully sensual, playful and at times, belly-laugh humorous? These haiku were composed in the 1680s and 1690s, but they feel so fresh. Since I did a triple play of old, global and poetry with this selection, my Tough & Cool Inner Bookworm is completely docile right now and has vowed only the kindest words in next year's evaluation post. That's what I'm talking about, Bookbitch. Here are several of our favorite haiku from Basho: (who was only 50 when he died. eeeek.)

In my new robe

this morning --

someone else.

Winter downpour --

even the monkey

needs a raincoat.

Bright moon: I

stroll around the pond --

hey, dawn has come.

Moon-daubed bush-clover --

ssh, in the next room

snoring prostitutes.

Noon doze,

wall cool

against my feet.

.

Rainy days --

silkworms droop

on mulberries.

Girl cat, so

thin on love

and barley.

Old pond,

leap-splash --

a frog.

Year's end, all

corners of this

floating world, swept.

Samurai talk --

tang

of horse-radish.

Now then, let's go out

to enjoy the snow...until

I slip and fall.

Readathon: Hour 14

Pages read: 78
Blogs visited: 5
Snacks: bottled water

I'm still reading Persepolis 2. It's engrossing. I love Satrapi's artwork. Many thanks to my son for buying this for me. He's such a completist -- he couldn't stand it that I had the first volume but was dragging my feet about buying the sequel.

More July Reading

A Single Shard - Linda Sue Park. This 2002 winner of the Newbery Award was my favorite read for the month of July. The story of Tree-Ear the orphan who goes to work for Min the master potter and helps to enhance his reputation is as exquisite as the celadon pottery Min creates during the story. Park evokes the feeling of 12th-century Korea so well that it's practically a character in the book. I loved the depiction of Tree-Ear's relationships with Crane-man, the old man who befriends him as a small child, and Ajima, Min's wife. If you haven't read it yet, you're in for a treat. This is my new favorite work of children's literature, and it's an added bonus that I was fortunate enough to read this novel with the Korean countryside right outside my window.
Fun fact: Linda Sue Park was on Jeopardy! back in 2006. Apparently she didn't do very well, but I wish I could have been watching and cheering her on.

Winter At Valley Forge - Matt Doeden, Ron Frenz. A perfect read for blossoming American history buffs. Ron Frenz, the illustrator of this graphic novel, is apparently very well-known and respected for his illustrations of superheroes Superman and Spiderman. In Winter At Valley Forge George Washington has the look of a superhero as well, and considering what he accomplished in those few months in Pennsylvania, it definitely fits.

Public Enemies - Bryan Burrough. I discussed this diligently researched look at the early days of the FBI here.

Barack Obama: United States President - Roberta Edwards, Ken Call. Originally published as Barack Obama: An American Story last year, this juvenile biography was recently rewritten and now tells Obama's story up to his inauguration.

The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff. There are two stories going on here: One is a murder mystery in which a polygamist in Utah is supposedly killed by his 19th wife and their son, who was excommunicated from this splintered-off sect of the Mormon church, comes back and is determined to find answers. The other story is an "autobiography" of Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young's 19th wife, who is divorcing the Mormon leader and going around the country on tour to tell her story and open people's eyes of the "evils" of polygamy. Ebershoff's pacing is taut, and while I wanted to find out if BeckyLyn was guilty of murder, I couldn't help being more interested in Ann Eliza's story, which covered a number of years. Ebershoff does a great job of showing how the stories interconnect at certain points and he doesn't overdo it to the point of implausibility. Many thanks to Talya for choosing this book. Now I want to read Under The Banner Of Heaven.

Not a high reading count for July, but there was a lot of variety and what I read was engrossing. Whew, I hope I never get that far behind again with my reviews.

Banned Books Week

I've been thinking a lot about banned books since I found out recently that my birthplace was the site of such a controversy a while back. I felt a little cringe-y about it at first, but everything worked out all right. Still, as a bookworm, I'd like to think that I was born in a place where everyone would consider book banning anathema.

Marshall, Missouri. Population around 12,000. They've only had a public library since the 1980s or 90s. Anyway, almost exactly 2 years ago, some relative (?) of Sarah Palin's was sashaying through the stacks and came across a copy of Fun Home, the incredibly wonderful graphic novel by the incomparable Alison Bechdel.

You know the distasteful and distressing drill by now: The patron failed to recognized that it was a richly layered coming-of-age story and focused his/her blinders-vision on the nudity and lesbian relationship in one tiny section of the novel. This person was shocked! Shocked! He or she said it was pornography! This person also ragged on Blankets by Craig Thompson, another graphic novel. (I haven't Blankets yet, but now I really want to badly.)

Soon, there was an uproar in the media as other citizens made their way to the library (I'd almost be willing to bet some of them had to ask directions) and demanded that these books be *banned* immediately. Those curious tracks in the dust around the town square? Yup, all made by knuckles dragging the ground. I don't want to, but I can almost see the forefingers up the noses, trying to keep down the deafening sound of those lone brain cells, rattling around like the last bean in a maraca.

The library's director, Amy Crump, defended Fun Home and Blankets, pointing out that they'd both been reviewed in reputable book journals. Crump also correctly pointed out that if these books were banned, Marshall Public Library would be taking that first step on "the slippery slope of censorship" that it might be best not to travel. Good on her for having a brain, a heart and courage. The library board met, banned the books briefly while they worked out a new policy, then reinstated the books the following year. Sounds like they handled the situation with intelligence and skill. But a slap in the face with a 3-days-dead fish to the original idiot and all who supported the banning is so in order.

Alison Bechdel took the situation in stride, calling the banning "an honor".

On the off-chance that I should ever meet Alison Bechdel and in the even more unlikely occurrence that she should ask where I was born, I can't decide whether to be forthcoming or just mumble something like, "Oh, somewhere around Kansas City." Meanwhile, I think I'll reread Fun Home and try to hunt down a copy of Blankets.